What puzzled me was this: I clearly remembered being sucked in by a powerful current. That meant getting out would require Wei Qiuying to fight that brutal suction—dragging my limp body up the rope.
From my own experience, no human strength could overcome it. Especially while carrying me, dead weight.
Even if I held my breath five minutes, escape seemed impossible. Humans can’t conquer nature.
...
My body convulsed uncontrollably. Water seeped through my chattering teeth—cold, briny, assaulting my senses. Only endless despair remained.
...
Yet... was it an illusion? We seemed to move unnaturally fast, as if the current itself pushed us forward.
But it couldn’t save my failing lungs. I gulped a mouthful of lake water. Then everything spiraled. Darkness swallowed me. I sank into deep unconsciousness...
...
...
...
"Hey, you’re such a damn useless piece of crap."
"Snap out of it! We’re out! Damn it, don’t scare me!"
A pleasant voice shouted near my ear—distant, dreamlike. I thought I’d died.
Something slammed my chest. I coughed up a jet of icy water.
Gasping, I pushed myself up from the freezing ground. *I’m alive...*
After endless coughing, I rubbed blurry eyes and stared around in terror.
Pitch black. A biting wind lashed my wet face, sharp with pain.
Wei Qiuying rushed over, wrapped my mom’s mink coat around my shoulders. She wore a thick olive-green military coat herself.
"Can you move?"
She hauled me up, steering me toward the unknown.
"My... Mom..."
I scanned the darkness. No sign of her. Voice weak: "Where is she?"
"No clue. But she’ll make it out—I still need her to pay me extra!"
"She lied! Said I was just filling a spot for show. Damn, this ‘show’ nearly killed me!"
"And babysitting her useless daughter?! Triple pay. Not a cent less!"
Her anger flared. I swayed, head drooping, letting out a faint, helpless laugh.
"Let’s go! Once your second brother’s lackeys arrive and catch you—game over."
She helped me onto the motorcycle.
...
"This place... Haixin Island?"
Squinting into the dark from the bike seat, I frowned.
"What else?" Wei Qiuying snapped, strapping a helmet and scarf onto me.
"I thought it was King Yama’s court," I joked with a bitter smile.
"Stop babbling. Back in the water, you’d already stepped halfway across its threshold."
She stared at me, frozen a moment.
...
"Hm?"
I tilted my head, confused.
...
"Hold tight! Fall off? Not my problem!"
She shook her head, pulled on her helmet, and shouted.
Yet—she secured us together with a strap like a seatbelt.
...
Honestly? Her riding sucked. No speed, no stability—nothing like Mom’s skill. Clearly a newbie. Twice we nearly tipped; only last-second brakes saved us.
...Though I had zero right to judge.
...
Eventually, I lacked even the energy to fear. Leaning against her back, I drifted into hazy sleep.
Dawn broke. Gentle sunlight warmed my helmet.
We’d reached a run-down complex. Wei Qiuying parked, unfastened the strap, helped me down.
"This bike’s expensive. Modify it later for personal use," she muttered, helmet tucked under her arm, heading toward a shabby building.
"Where... are we?"
I rubbed my eyes. This place was as dilapidated as Liu Xiaozhen’s Wanxiang Residential Complex.
"My place. If you weren’t Sister Yanzi’s daughter? You’d be roadside bait for wolves."
"Hurry up. So many damn questions?"
She looked fierce. I stumbled after her.
...
Worst stair climb of my life. No elevator (not that I’d trust one). Top-floor apartment. Every step agony.
After a grueling climb on all fours, reaching the top felt like summiting Mount Everest.
...
...
Her apartment surprised me: tiny one-bedroom unit, but soft pink decor, spotless, filled with a delicate floral scent.
Then—*scritch*. My diving boots smeared two dark red streaks across white tiles.
"STOP! WAIT!" Wei Qiuying yelled.
"Plastic bags! Shoes off! Cover your feet before entering!"
I bowed apologetically, reached to close the door—
"Don’t touch my doorknob with those filthy hands!"
"Okay."
...
...
Still, I’d ruined her space. The stench clung to me—the foul, metallic reek of Whispering Maiden’s blood flooding the room.
Luckily, she was a mess too. Or I’d be tossed out already.
...
After a long soak in the tub, I hobbled out wrapped in a towel. Scrapes everywhere. At least two cuts needed stitches.
"Thought you died in there!"
Wei Qiuying turned on the TV and approached—still wearing that old man’s human-skin mask. Awkward didn’t cover it. Felt like facing a greasy, dark-skinned middle-aged man bare-faced.
*Is that mask a family heirloom? Why keep it on here?*
She warned me ten times: "Don’t touch anything. Except the remote."
I agreed instantly. Zero energy for sightseeing.
Collapsed on the sofa, the nausea replaced by a creamy, milky scent. *If she finds out I used half her body wash bottle... will she murder me?*
[I’m alive!]
I stretched lazily on the sofa, staring at the pink ceiling patterns.
Has Mom made it out? Where would she go...
No answers.
Memories of the underground palace flickered like a slideshow...
And I drifted off again...
...
