"Then we'll part ways here." Jier Yisi dissolved into glittering particles under the white beam from the sky, fading from everyone's sight like snow in sunlight.
"Young master, the medical team is here. Your orders?" Several Lin Clan elites closed in around Lin Fan, like hawks circling a landing point.
"Have them stand by. We're heading over now." He held Xiao Qianxue close, a fragile moon in his arms, and let the men lead him to the med unit.
On a mid-slope not far off, a young man in a blue cloak watched, eyes like half-lidded blades. "Pulling out was the smart play. Even that young lady showed up here. Lin Fan's resources and methods run deeper than I thought."
Ouyang Si toyed with a floating water orb, narrowed gaze tracking the group as they left the forest that had been turned inside out. "Since it's done, I’ll retreat too. No idea what those old men up top will make of this. Just don’t send me to needle Lin Fan again." His cloak flicked like a wave, and Ouyang Si vanished.
One day later, Lin Fan's group reached their main base. They said he laid the golden-haired girl on a hospital bed, then dropped from sheer exhaustion. When Lin Fan woke, he was inside a medical pod, the glass cold as winter water.
"Sleep treat you well, Lin Fan?" Jier Yisi stood by the next pod, fingers dancing over controls like birds on a wire.
"Jiemeng, how long was I out?" He straightened his clothes, hopped down, and stepped to her side. Xiao Qianxue lay in the other pod.
"You two slept fine," Jier Yisi joked, but her hands kept moving, steady as a tide.
"How's Xiaoxue? How long till she wakes?" His voice carried worry first, action second.
In the world of minds, no one cut deeper than the blue-haired girl beside him. Her specialty was the brain, famed even beyond her teleportation. She could shatter a mind, seize it, seal it, or rewrite memories. She could trace them backward like footprints in fresh snow.
But using those powers drained her, like burning oil through the night. Sleep fought her; dark crescents nested under her eyes day after day. Even so, her influence in the organization’s upper ranks ran far. Her past was a sealed room; no one knew the story inside.
"Honestly?" Jier Yisi turned to him, sea-blue hair catching the lab light. "It's a bit better than I expected—Xiao Qianxue's condition."
Lin Fan's relief rose like dawn—then her next words doused it like cold rain. "There's something mysterious inside your girlfriend's brain. When the Ouyang Clan moved on her, that thing seems to have shielded her. I tried to repair her brain, but that strange thing kept me out."
"It's like a firewall," she said, tapping the pod lid, calm as ice.
Lin Fan fell silent, looking at the blue-haired girl with her chin propped in one hand, waiting for the next stone to drop.
"I’m blocked out, but as a third-party viewer, I can still watch. Her brain is chaos. From the waves, that 'firewall' and the Ouyang machine fought a memory war. After that, it was like a bomb went off. The girl fell into madness, and became what you saw." Her gold-and-blue eyes held on the sleeping, golden-haired girl.
"Damned Ouyang Clan… damn them." Lin Fan clenched his fists, wanting to smash something, then swallowed the urge for Xiaoxue’s sake. His teeth clicked hard.
"Right now we can only wait, like those trashy TV dramas—pray she wakes on her own. I can’t help any more. Hopefully that firewall will repair her brain by itself. If not…" Her gaze met Lin Fan’s dark eyes, deep as a night lake. "You know the consequences."
"It’ll have to be this way. Thanks, Jiemeng." Lin Fan drew a long breath, steadying like a pillar in wind.
"I don’t recommend keeping her in a pod. A long coma hurts the body. Even if she wakes later, some damage won’t reverse." Jier Yisi sagged against the wall, strength ebbing like low tide. Lin Fan set his hand beside her, letting her rest against his arm.
"Thanks. Get a room ready. I’ve got a setup that can handle this for now." Leaning on him, she opened her phone and made the call.
Ding-ling-ling. Lin Fan’s phone rang too. He fished it out with his free hand. The caller was Tang Shaoyu.
"Lin Fan, everything wrapped up on your end?" Tang Shaoyu's voice came over the line, steady as gravel.
"All done. Jier Yisi’s right beside me. And hey—this time you really saved my skin. I’ll find a chance to thank you properly."
"Thanks are a must. I won’t say no." Tang Shaoyu paused, then shifted tone. "Can Qingxing stay with me a while? Till she’s fully healed."
Lin Fan knew what his brother was angling for. He smiled without arguing. "If she’s willing, I don’t mind."
"My side’s set, but delivery needs a bit of time," Jier Yisi said, lowering her phone.
"Much appreciated. Want to crash at my place for a bit?" Lin Fan eyed the drowsy girl, concerned.
"Sure. Lying beats standing. Lead the way."
Tang Shaoyu hung up and looked at Qingxing, bandaged head to toe on the bed. The doctor had just warned of multiple fractures. Even for an ability user, she needed days of quiet to knit back together, bones like splintered ice.
Her silver hair spilled over the white quilt, eyes closed. If you didn’t know her deeds, you’d only see a wounded, gentle girl.
"Asleep like this, she’s really cute," Tang Shaoyu murmured, a half-smile like a soft light.
Outside the villa, Ah Hui stood with a group, weathering the breeze. "Muzhen, the boss went in with Tyrant and still hasn’t come out?"
"Yeah. It’s been a while. Only the doctors came and went." Muzhen kept a respectful distance. He’d just learned what Qingxing had done.
"Our boss wouldn’t have something going on with that girl, would he?" The red-haired Xinyu blurted out her thought like a spark.
"It’s not impossible…"
"If it’s true, that’s terrifying."
They bunched at the door, a tide of gossip rising and falling.
Clatter-clatter. Suddenly, hail hammered down from the sky—fist-sized chunks, white fists pounding the earth.
"I swear I checked the forecast. It said sunny!"
"It’s summer. Where’s the hail coming from?" The sudden strike left them blinking, stunned.
"Don’t think I don’t know what you’re whispering about. Keep it up, and I’ll send every one of you out on missions." Tang Shaoyu’s voice carried clean from the villa, sharp as a bell.
