"Hold on!"
Thuds of flesh smacking against flesh echoed in the darkness.
"We don’t need to fight here. Save it for when we get home—"
I parried the girl’s frenzied attacks while trying to calm her.
"Home? What home? What use is ‘home’ to someone like me?"
Huang Yingdie’s strikes grew faster. I had to kick just to block them.
Bad sign. I’d clearly triggered her again. At this rate, reinforcements would find us soon.
"Pathetic, isn’t it? Me… wanting protection. Wanting to hide behind others. So weak."
Moonlight sliced through the factory gates, spilling silver dust over the concrete clearing. Wind whistled past us.
"Wanting protection is natural for any girl."
I deflected another vicious kick, glancing warily at the exit.
"Then why are *you* so calm? Answer me!"
Her legwork faltered with ragged breaths.
"What’s *wrong* with you?!"
Cornered against the factory wall, I finally snapped. Blocking her strike, I drove a kick into her stomach, spun behind her, and slammed her against the cement wall. My knee pinned her back. My foot pressed down on her denim-clad thigh.
*SLAM!*
I pinned Huang Yingdie’s wrists against the wall, my face inches from hers. "Listen. Outside your parents and a book’s readers? No one cares about some ordinary person’s tragic life. And guess what—we’re not protagonists in some story. So *value yourself*."
I finally understood.
Huang Yingdie had grown up drowning in suffocating privilege. Mayor’s daughter. Pretty. Skilled in combat. Always the untouchable star at school, the idol of petty thugs. She’d never faced real humiliation.
Recent failures. Hiding behind me out of fear. Her pride must be shattered.
"You have no right—"
"*I* am the right."
I leaned closer, my lips half a centimeter from hers. "I won. Know your place."
She struggled.
Uselessly.
"Let go!"
"If I weren’t Yi Yao—if I were some stranger with bad intentions—would you still talk to me like that?"
*Damn it. Keep stalling and I’ll ditch you. One gunshot and we’re both dead.*
"..."
After another futile struggle, her face flushed crimson. She stopped fighting.
"Yi Yao."
She turned her head away in the moonlight.
"What?"
"Let go."
"Changed your mind?"
"...Yeah."
I released her right wrist.
She shifted stiffly, then scoffed. "I just want to leave this hellhole. We’ll settle this later."
"Sure, whatever you say."
*Like I’m your damn boyfriend.*
I walked back to where we’d been tied up and picked up a fallen bread roll. "Hungry?"
"Tch. Who knows what you put in it? Eat it yourself."
"Fine. I’ll keep it."
I stuffed the bread into my pocket. Outside, wilderness swallowed the horizon—thick grass, tangled forests. My head throbbed.
"Which way?" Huang Yingdie crept beside me, eyeing the bushes. "Snakes in there?"
"Snakes or not, we walk."
I took two steps forward, scanning for paths—
*THUD THUD THUD!*
Footsteps crashed from the factory’s far end. Shadows sprinted toward us.
Reinforcements. Just as I thought.
"Move!"
I grabbed Huang Yingdie’s hand and plunged into the grass.
"D-do you know the way?!" Her voice trembled behind me.
"No. But I know we leave *now*."
Night. Wilderness. Even if they knew this land, we had equal footing.
*Unless they’re armed.*
*BANG! BANG!*
Gunshots ripped the sky. Something whizzed past us. Huang Yingdie screamed.
I skidded to a stop. "Hit? Are you hit?"
"I-I—"
She clutched my arm like a lifeline, sinking to the ground. "I’m fine."
"Then *move*!"
I yanked her up. She didn’t budge.
"FREEZE!"
The shadows were 800 meters out.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Three shots. One shattered a sapling behind Huang Yingdie. Branches clattered down.
"Yi Yao…" She bowed her head, hair spilling over her shoulders. "Just go…"
She was shaking.
Violent tremors ran up her arm into mine.
"Don’t be stupid! Running might not save us—but staying *kills* us!" I shouted to cut through her fear.
"Yi Yao…" Moonlight caught the tears tracing her cheeks. "You’re… not scared?"
"I’m terrified! More than you! But fear changes *nothing*!" I wanted to slap her. "Scared to see your dying mother? Will that cure her? Scared to go home? Will strangers suddenly give you warmth? Scared of *them*?" I jerked my chin at the approaching shadows. "Will they spare us out of pity?"
500 meters. Closing fast.
"Happiness and dreams? You *fight* for them. Depend on others? You’re worthless. Where’s that fire you had when you fought me? Afraid of a few thugs when you’ve faced black belt instructors?"
"I…"
Moonlight painted her pale face as she stared up at me, stunned by my ferocity.
"Answer me! What’s the Taekwondo spirit?!"
"C-courtesy, integrity—"
"LOUDER!"
"COURTESY! INTEGRITY! PERSEVERANCE! SELF-CONTROL! INDOMITABLE SPIRIT!"
I hauled her upright.
Bullets hissed past our ears.
"RUN!"
We crashed into the forest.
"Don’t look down! Eyes *forward*!"
I didn’t know what lay ahead. Only that stopping meant death.
No effort? Starvation. No drive? Obsolescence.
This world owes you *nothing*. Never has.
After thirty minutes in pitch-black jungle, I stopped.
"...They’re not following?"
Silence pressed in, thick and wrong. Danger hummed in my bones.
*Don’t show it. If I falter, we both break.*
"This way."
Huang Yingdie followed silently. No phones. No compass. Only moonlight to guide us.
The shooters had fired freely—they weren’t ordered to take us alive. They’d likely given up.
"Inside."
The cave was tiny. Barely fit two girls. I shoved Huang Yingdie in first, then dragged a boulder and branches to seal the entrance. Darkness swallowed us whole.
"Xiaodie?"
"Here."
*Whimper…*
I crawled toward the sound. A small cat huddled near her.
"Shh. Cats don’t bite."
Remembering my pet shop days, I massaged its cheeks until it quieted. Then I pulled out the bread.
"Eat?"
"Not hungry. Thanks."
*Still tsundere at a time like this? We haven’t eaten since noon.*
I set the cat aside and tore open the wrapper. "Think it’s poisoned? Fine. I’ll eat half. The rest is yours when you’re starving."
