"Sister Yue Ran! Are you guys okay?"

Ji Yueyi spotted the two drenched girls from afar. She snatched Ji Tianyang’s jacket right off him and sprinted toward Mu Yue Ran.

"Hey, little Yue," Mu Yue Ran greeted, lifting her aching arm. Ji Yueyi was here because Mu Yue Ran had called her. She’d timed it perfectly—the Yu family’s arrival and Ji Yueyi’s school dismissal—before sending that text.

The message had been vague, asking Ji Yueyi to have Ji Tianyang drive them home. Family was safer for this. Mu Yue Ran had mostly taunted House of Yu in the forest just to buy time.

Even with the unclear text, Ji Yueyi hadn’t hesitated. She’d clearly been waiting a long while.

Ji Yueyi handed Ji Tianyang’s oversized jacket to Mu Yue Ran. Then she stripped off her own coat, draped it over Yuchuge, and lifted Yuchuge off Mu Yue Ran’s back onto her own.

Carrying Yuchuge, Ji Yueyi trudged forward. She glanced back—Mu Yue Ran stood frozen, staring at them. "Sister Yue Ran! Hurry up!" Ji Yueyi hissed anxiously.

"Oh! Coming!" Mu Yue Ran snapped out of it and jogged after Ji Yueyi to the taxi. Ji Yueyi shoved Yuchuge into the far back seat, squeezed in beside her, and patted the space next to her. "Get in!"

Mu Yue Ran scratched her head as she climbed in. She waved at Ji Tianyang in the driver’s seat. "Thanks for this, Uncle Tian."

"Eh, no trouble at all," Ji Tianyang replied. But he glanced at the empty passenger seat. Through the rearview mirror, he saw the three girls huddled together in the back. A pang of loneliness hit him—like a father watching his daughter marry, bittersweet and hollow. He felt a chill, as if wearing a drafty coat in winter, and turned up the car heater.

Ji Yueyi’s full attention was on Mu Yue Ran. She didn’t notice her father’s quiet sadness. She cupped Mu Yue Ran’s cold hands in her palms, rubbing them gently while blowing warm breath over them.

Mu Yue Ran wasn’t truly cold—just exhausted. But she knew how worried Ji Yueyi must’ve been after that text. So she let Ji Yueyi fuss over her.

Warm air filled the car. Safe and cozy, Mu Yue Ran’s eyelids grew heavy. She fought to stay awake. They weren’t safe yet. She couldn’t slip up again.

The taxi pulled onto the road. Mu Yue Ran sank low in her seat, eyes scanning the streets outside. Her quick escape had left House of Yu scrambling. She’d glimpsed a few Yu members boarding a ship at the docks. No one noticed their ordinary taxi passing by.

Finally, past the toll booth and onto the highway, Mu Yue Ran’s willpower crumbled. She slumped against Ji Yueyi, her forehead resting on Ji Yueyi’s lap. Finding a soft pillow, she drifted off instantly, murmuring sweetly in her sleep.

Ji Yueyi chuckled softly, tugging the jacket higher over Mu Yue Ran. Suddenly, pressure weighed on her other thigh. She turned—Yuchuge had also curled up on her lap.

Ji Yueyi’s expression flickered. She huffed, tilting her head away to stare at Mu Yue Ran. *Fine. I’ll ignore it.* She adjusted Yuchuge’s jacket too. Then her gaze swept over Mu Yue Ran, lingering on a split lip. A dried blood scab roughened the skin. *Why is Sister Yue Ran’s lip hurt? Did she bump it?*

If Ji Yueyi had glanced at Yuchuge, she’d have seen matching bloodstains on Yuchuge’s lips. But she didn’t know what had happened in the sea yet.

...

An hour after Mu Yue Ran’s escape, House of Yu’s first search team returned empty-handed. They brought only a waterlogged shirt—Yuchuge’s. Madam Yu clutched it, dazed, as bad news kept pouring in.

Yuchuge had vanished again. This time, right before her eyes—like a dazzling bubble popping into nothing.

The old butler went to the inn, using money to pull Mu Yue Ran’s personal details. He got her ID number and, through connections, her records.

But the file on his phone stunned even him. It was nearly blank. Only a birth registration. No updates for over twenty years. The only recent trace was today’s inn registration—useless now.

"It’s as if she hasn’t left her house in decades..."

"No. Not just that. No internet. No public records..."

"Could someone like this even exist?"

The butler muttered to himself, baffled. If it was forged, it was too crude—House of Yu’s experts would’ve spotted it. Their analysis called it flawless.

But was it possible?

Twenty years without a footprint in the world.

Even Yuchuge, hidden by House of Yu, had occasional paper trails to prove she existed.

But this Mu Yueran—did she truly walk the earth?