“How’s it looking, Sister Yiyi? I’m only counting to three!”
Second Brother stepped in front of me and pressed the still-warm gun barrel against my forehead.
“One!”
He swept his gaze across the roaring inferno and shouted.
I dropped flat on the ground, hands clamped over my mouth and nose. Having a gun aimed at me was pure agony—I felt half my soul already shattered by terror.
Heat thickened around us as flames crept closer. Other burning coffins exploded at random with violent booms, each blast jolting me, nearly knocking me unconscious.
“Two!”
Second Brother roared again.
...
“Don’t shoot! The Golden Crow Jade is right here…”
The words barely left my lips when Mom appeared behind Second Brother, holding the black-cloth-wrapped Golden Crow Jade.
“Heh… hehehehe…”
Second Brother let out a twisted, unnatural laugh.
...
“Sister… everything we’ve become today is your doing. Do you finally see how foolish your choice was?”
He swung the gun toward Mom without a glance at me. Firelight contorted his face into a grotesque, manic smirk of triumph.
“Is that so? I’ve never once regretted it.”
Mom smiled calmly and lifted the cloth-wrapped jade.
...
“Have you ever wondered why the Yan Clan fell?”
“If you’d refused Wei Chuanyi back then, I wouldn’t be pointing this gun at you now!”
Second Brother advanced slowly, voice trembling with rising emotion.
On the ground, I strained to lift my head again, tears blurring my vision as I gritted my teeth, glaring at his back.
...
Suddenly, a flicker in my periphery—a hand waving. I shuddered and turned.
Wei Qiuying! She crouched behind an unburned coffin nearby, gesturing urgently.
Relief flooded me—she was alive—but I couldn’t decipher her signals.
...
“The Yan Clan should thank Wei Chuanyi. Without him, we wouldn’t have scraped by this long.”
“Ask yourself: what truly turned us into enemies?”
Mom remained serene, turning the question back on him.
Second Brother’s fury boiled over:
“What the hell are you spout—"
Before he finished, Mom’s wrist flicked. A puff of fine white powder—like flour—shot from the cloth straight into his face. He jerked back.
In the same instant, Wei Qiuying lunged like lightning, short knife aimed at his gut.
Seeing the shift, I gritted my teeth and threw myself at his legs to pin him.
But Second Brother, unfazed, spun with terrifying speed and kicked me hard. I slammed sideways, crumpled, unable to rise. A salty, metallic taste flooded my mouth…
First time in my life I’d coughed up blood.
...
Wei Qiuying’s side strike was instantly countered—her wrist pinned, knife clattering down. But she wasn’t a pushover. Gripping his arm, she poured every ounce of strength into a sharp kick toward his groin.
Yet his reflexes were monstrous. His physique dwarfed ours. Those muscles alone looked capable of crushing my skull.
...
He sidestepped, used her momentum, and in one fluid motion, slammed her to the ground with an over-the-shoulder throw. Pistol raised, he pulled the trigger—point-blank at her head.
I froze nearby, tears and snot streaming, screaming “No!”
Click. Nothing. Empty chamber. He hesitated, then swung the gun to smash her face.
Wei Qiuying clung fiercely to his hair with both hands, never flinching. Beneath that human-skin mask, I wished I could’ve seen her fearless, resolute expression.
...
Then—Mom appeared behind him, arms locking around his neck, wrestling him down. They tumbled into a desperate struggle.
Flames now licked at my side. Vision darkening. Breath fading…
Judging by Mom’s slender frame, she shouldn’t stand a chance. Frustration choked me—why was I so useless?
I remembered strutting through school, all bluster and bravado, thinking attitude alone kept bullies away…
Today, I finally learned: against raw power, posturing is worthless. No matter how fiercely I glared, he’d kicked me aside like trash.
So pathetic.
...
Dazed, lost in thought, fire swallowed me whole. Just as tears welled and darkness pulled me under, strong arms hauled me up.
I blinked—Wei Qiuying. Blood soaked the right side of her mask, torn open to reveal raw skin beneath the firelight.
“Damn, you’re heavy,” she grunted, dragging me toward the exit.
“Mom… where’s Mom…?” I gasped, barely conscious.
“She told us to go. She’s holding off Yan An.”
“No time left.”
She quickened her pace. Looking back was impossible; staying awake was all I could manage.
I couldn’t help but admire her grit. That throw would’ve left me paralyzed.
...
Somehow, we burst free of the inferno.
Vaguely, I felt her dragging me up the slope we’d entered on.
Leaning on her shoulder, I heard her ragged, determined breaths.
Gratitude swelled. If I lived… I’d skip fried chicken for her. For real.
...
Water roared around us. She secured me to her back with rough rope.
“Hang on. We’re getting out.”
“If you die halfway, it’ll become a legendary meme.”
“So hold on, damn it! Don’t die pathetically!”
Her voice echoed, distant and hollow in my fading mind.
“Jinx… shut… up… I’m not… gonna… die…”
A weak smile tugged my lips as I whispered.
Then—icy cold swallowed me whole. I held my breath. One thought screamed in the silence:
Where’s my oxygen mask?
