The moment gunfire erupted, Tong Tong bolted forward with Pupils clutched tightly in her arms. Rain lashed against her skin, a bone-deep cold seeping in. Bullets whistled past her ears, but she had no time to flinch—only to run, desperately forward.

"Damn it! Shoot this kid dead! If you can’t even handle a child, what the hell are you bodyguards for?" Chen Yang roared, fury boiling over as he watched Tong Tong vanish into the woods. He immediately led his men in pursuit. As for Qin An? He dismissed the boy as a fluke—just a stray bullet claiming a bodyguard’s life. The others agreed. A thirteen-year-old sniping heads clean off? Their decades of guarding lives would’ve been worthless.

What followed would haunt them straight to hell. The pistol in the boy’s hand became Death’s scythe. Each muzzle flash claimed at least one life—every single shot piercing a forehead dead-center.

Amidst the storm of bullets, the boy moved like a ghost. Afterimages trailed behind him, a lethal dance where he twisted away from gunfire at the last possible second.

Worse still, his bullets seemed alive. They deflected off incoming rounds, altering trajectories mid-air to claim another life.

*Is this a dream?* If so, it was a nightmare carved into bone—a sleep from which none would wake.

Qin An’s magazine emptied in under a minute. Rolling to dodge fire, he snatched a fresh pistol from a corpse.

*Survive by fighting. Nothing more.*

Soon, the black-clad thugs stopped fighting. They scattered like roaches, but their panic only hastened death’s spread.

When the last thug fell, Qin An turned toward the forest. Torrential rain poured over him, washing away neither the blood soaking his clothes nor the crimson painting his face. His hand trembled slightly from the pistol’s recoil—still too harsh for his small frame.

He drew a new dagger and strode into the woods. *Pupils, please be safe. Or this won’t end with just one or two deaths.*

Hunter and prey had swapped roles.

Wind and rain battered Tong Tong relentlessly. Her body grew colder, her steps heavier. Her arms shook violently as she clutched Pupils. She’d stumbled countless times, hair matted with mud, face streaked with grime.

"Heh—heh. *Wife*," Chen Yang clapped his hands, stepping into her path. "Had enough of this cat-and-mouse game? Doesn’t it bore you?"

"Get lost, Chen Yang! Don’t you *dare* call me that!"

"Wife, don’t you remember our vows? ‘Through thick and thin’?"

"Chen Yang, my greatest regret was ever meeting you. Not seeing your true face sooner."

"Hmph. You bore my child. What dignity do you have left, Tong Tong?"

"I—"

"How about this? Become my mistress. I’ll keep you and the girl comfortable. And once I rise to power? You might even reclaim your ‘wife’ title."

"Hmph. You just can’t let go of the Tong family backing me, can you?"

"Tong Tong, you ungrateful bitch!" Chen Yang’s slap sent her sprawling into a puddle. A crimson handprint bloomed on her cheek; blood trickled from her split lip.

"Mom! Are you okay?"

"Pupils, come here. To Daddy." Chen Yang reached out.

Pupils slapped his hand away, eyes wide with fury. "Get away! I don’t know you! You’re a bad man!"

"Hmph. Mother and daughter—cut from the same rotten cloth."

Suddenly, the umbrella above Chen Yang tore free in the gale, rain flooding his mouth and eyes.

"Useless bodyguards! Can’t even hold an umbrella? You all deserve to die! Keep your damn pay!" He froze. The thug holding the umbrella lay dead nearby, a grotesque flower of blood blooming from his neck. *How?*

"As you wished—they’re all dead. No need for pay anymore."

"Who are you?!" Chen Yang whirled, scanning the rain-lashed darkness. No one. Only the storm deepened his terror.

"Who I am doesn’t matter. Remember only this: I’m here to end you."

"Don’t come closer! Or else—" Chen Yang lunged, pressing his gun to Pupils’ temple. His hand shook violently; the trigger could slip any second.

"Chen Yang, do you even deserve the title ‘father’?"

"Did I ever claim to be one?"

"Let Pupils go!" Tong Tong threw herself at him, sinking her teeth into his arm with all her strength.

"Filthy whore!" Chen Yang shoved Pupils aside and fired wildly.

*That reckless woman…* Qin An sighed. His body was near collapse. Every step in this downpour felt like carrying a mountain. Blood—his or his enemies’—drenched his clothes. Only his blazing eyes cut through the crimson mask on his face, making him look like a demon risen from hell. His dagger was fresh; he’d discarded countless others, their blades chipped beyond use.

As the blood-soaked figure drew nearer, Chen Yang retreated, snatching Pupils back as a shield. She’d long lost consciousness—surviving this would still leave her broken.

"Don’t come closer! I said *stop*! Or else—" Chen Yang pulled the trigger. *Click. Click.* Empty.

His foot hit empty air. The cliff’s edge. Ice flooded his spine.

"Aren’t you afraid she’ll die?"

"Her life means nothing to me. I only want *yours*." Qin An’s smile was pure demon.

Chen Yang truly feared this 130-centimeter reaper. He gambled.

He thrust Pupils over the cliff’s edge. No reaction. Not even a flicker crossed Qin An’s face as he kept walking. Only Tong Tong screamed, scrambling to cling to Qin An’s leg. "Please… stop! Pupils will die… I beg you…"

*Mothers are all fools cut from the same cloth when their children are in danger.*

Qin An frowned. Complications.

A flashlight beam sliced through the rain. Sirens wailed faintly in the distance.

Qin An kept walking, muscles coiled for one final strike.

A police officer charged forward, posture rigid as a spear.

"Freeze! Police!" Yi Xiaobo drew his gun.

His shout died the moment he saw Chen Yang’s face.

Rage erupted from him like wildfire.

"Chen Jingyang. We meet again."

"Who are you?" Panic clawed at Chen Yang’s throat.

No one knew his past: the thug, the prison sentence, the name Chen Jingyang. How he’d clawed his way up from a tofu-seller’s bed, faked his age, studied in libraries until 3 a.m. to seduce heiresses. From beggar-adjacent scum to one of Nanan’s richest men. These secrets were his armor. Would he die with them still buried?

If he escaped now—if he married that military bigwig’s daughter in the southwest—his career, his empire, everything would fall into place.

"Don’t you remember? Westside tofu stall—*Yi’s Tofu*. A naive woman named Yi Xiaoli. And her foolish little brother, bought off with money. *Me*. Chen Jingyang—do you dare say you’ve forgotten?"

"Xiaobo? It’s you?"

"Yes. I’m here to kill you. For my sister. My greatest regret was introducing that beast to her. Her suicide note was filled with your name."

"Suicide note? Xiaoli she—"

"She didn’t kill herself. She waited for you. She died of illness—*because you stole her medicine money*."

"What?!"

Yi Xiaobo unholstered his service pistol. "Chen Jingyang. Die."

Even in the icy rain, his fury burned visible.

"Don’t shoot!" Qin An yelled. Too late.

The bullet flew like a caged bird set free—straight for Chen Yang.

Rain blurred Yi Xiaobo’s aim. The shot tore through Chen Yang’s right hand. He howled like a slaughtered pig. Pupils slipped from his grip like a kite with a snapped string.

Below yawned the black abyss—the cliff’s hungry maw.

Qin An’s pupils dilated. He lunged like a hunting leopard, afterimages blurring behind him. A gust of wind brushed Chen Yang’s face as Qin An snatched Pupils mid-fall—but momentum dragged them both over the edge.

Tong Tong’s face turned to ash. All life drained from her eyes. Rain fell on her, unnoticed.

A phone shrilled. Chen Yang snatched it up, voice strained.

"Darling, our flight leaves in five hours. Where *are* you? I miss you…"

"I’m coming, sweetheart."

The situation reeked. Yi Xiaobo was a rabid beast now—no threat—but the police swarm behind him? A hundred mouths couldn’t explain his way out.

Chen Yang shot Tong Tong a venomous glare and bolted. Yi Xiaobo gave chase, but within minutes, the storm swallowed Chen Yang whole.

Yi Xiaobo's furious roar echoed through the forest: "Chen Jingyang, I swear I'll kill you next time!"

Tong Tong crawled toward the cliff edge, step by step. Just as she was about to fall, a slender yet strong hand grabbed her, snatching her from death's jaws.

"Sister Tong, it's time to go home."

"But Pupils is gone, Pupils is gone, my benefactor is gone too, everything is gone... Sobbing, it's all my fault."

Tong Tong wept bitterly against the slender, lovely figure.