“Xixi, be careful…”

Reluctantly, Luo Shanshan let go of Nana Toki’s small hand. She stood in the waiting area like a little pier, worry pooling in her eyes like rainwater.

It’s not life and death. Don’t get so dramatic, storm in a teacup.

Beside Bei Yuan, Jiang Xinli stuck her tongue out at them, chin high like a proud cat.

She clearly held some inexplicable grudge against the two of them.

But—

Fuck.

Her words cracked like a slap, and even inside a government office, Nana Toki shot back with a clean middle finger, a blade of defiance.

In an instant, the room fell silent like fresh snow on a field.

Every gaze swung and nailed itself to Nana Toki and Jiang Xinli like arrows to a target.

Who is she? Who dares mouth off here and isn’t afraid of getting hauled away?

“You… you…”

Under the odd stares, Jiang Xinli’s face flushed like a kettle left on the flame, and she couldn’t find a comeback for a long beat.

“Don’t waste breath on idiots. Go buy me something to eat.”

Unbothered by the stares, Nana Toki tapped Luo Shanshan’s little head, like a dragonfly skimming water. “I’m hungry. Get the snacks ready. I’ll find you when I’m out.”

“Then you better come out fast!”

Luo Shanshan tugged Nana’s hand, reluctant, like a child clinging to a kite string.

“I know, I know. You nag too much.”

With a huff, she slipped her hand free. After a brief goodbye, Nana Toki joined Jiang Xinli and Bei Yuan, following the nurse into another room like fish sliding into a quieter pool.

Still smarting from being shut down outside, Jiang Xinli shadowed Bei Yuan in silence, her mood scrunched like damp paper.

The air along the corridor felt strangely still, like a hallway made of glass.

Soon, the nurse broke the quiet, handing three forms to them like paper boats, and the awkward calm cracked.

“Fill them honestly, according to your actual condition.”

She spoke while orchestrating the others to prep the machines, hands flicking like swallows.

“Huh? You’re drawing blood here?”

Jiang Xinli checked the items on the form and pointed at the analyzer in the corner like a curious guest in a museum.

“Yes. It’s a full-body check. Blood, urine, scans.”

She didn’t hide it, listing what would come like beads on a string. “Strangely, most people sent before were mentally unstable. Survivors from the fog with steady minds like you are rare.”

Mentally unstable?

A prickle jumped through Nana Toki’s brow like a sparrow darting.

That trashy System never mentioned this.

System: …

“Will all this take long?”

Just imagining hours in this disinfectant tang made Jiang Xinli’s face collapse like wet paper. “Blood, urine, scans—when does it end?”

“Can we do it in phases?”

She asked like a stray cat pleading. “My parents are waiting for me to come home for dinner.”

“No.”

The head nurse, a stack of files in hand, looked at Jiang Xinli like a judge under a cold sky.

“You can’t leave until the checklist is complete.”

She barked orders while she scolded without ceremony, like a whip cracking in the air.

“Mm…”

Compared to Jiang Xinli’s fuss, Nana Toki and Bei Yuan stayed unusually quiet, like stones sunk in a clear stream.

Since entering the room, they barely made a sound; if not for sidestepping passing nurses, they could have been statues.

“What? Been staring at my face—see anything worth seeing?”

Nana Toki’s smile hooked like a blade as she baited Bei Yuan’s absurdly handsome face. “Gonna fall for me? How troublesome. Stealing the leading lady’s man probably earns heavenly retribution.”

Arms crossed, she stood beside Bei Yuan, chin lifted like a banner, eyes locked with his.

It was a look upward that felt like a monarch looking down, pressure cascading like a hard rain.

…

They faced off, their air thickening like storm fronts colliding.

Nurses paused, instruments in hand, drawn by the tension like moths to a lantern.

Watching from not far, Jiang Xinli felt something nameless rise inside, like sour heat in the chest.

“Hey, Yu Xi, what are you doing!”

She shoved between them, a tigress guarding her cub, yanking Bei Yuan to her side.

She glared at Nana Toki. “You’re trying to steal my man?”

“Steal your man?”

Nana almost laughed; she felt the absurdity fizzing like soda. “Do I look so sick I’d fight you for a man?”

“People lining up to carry my shoes could circle the globe three times.” Her words rang like bronze.

“A pretty shell of a man isn’t worth the trouble. Ask yourself—does he deserve it?”

She sneered past Jiang Xinli at Bei Yuan. “In my eyes, he’s not even worth the earthworm in the soil.”

System: Keep bragging.

In Nana’s head, the System refreshed its disdain like a black screen flicker. “If I bought that, I’d livestream eating shit.”

“Stop hustling for free meals.”

Nana rolled her eyes inward at the pop-up, like flicking a pebble off a path. “Believe me or not, none of my business. I’m telling the truth; whether you buy it is on you.”

“And how does a System even eat shit? Digital shit?”

The mooching System went silent.

Despite the sharpened taunt on Nana’s face and the stream of self-glorifying lines, Bei Yuan’s expression didn’t change, calm as a winter pond.

He’d seen proud women like her in his previous life, bright as meteors and just as doomed.

Confident in their strength, convinced they could hold up their sky; in the end, they became prisoners or playthings under stronger hands, birds with clipped wings.

In his world, life was a menagerie of hunger; the strong ate the weak like wolves at dusk.

He was numb to it, and a woman in a peaceful world—how strong could she be?

Women like this, he could kill thousands with a flick of a finger, sweeping ants off a table.

No need to get angry.

In his eyes, women who can’t read the board end as the world’s sacrifices and men’s stepping stones, like flowers pressed under boots.

So he saw no reason to argue.