In the dark, still-collapsing houseboat room, the faint smell of wine, burnt flesh, and blood lingered as river water gurgled softly below, blood dissolving at the figure's feet into spreading dark red symbols. Gu Yanzhen stood there alone until finally, after a long while, his head jerked to one side, not knowing where to look.

Wind swept through the forest and mountains behind with a low "whooo" sound.

The door had been shattered, tiles and pieces of the collapsed roof still falling as faint starlight revealed the nearly dried blood on the floor. Three corpses lay in the room, including the Yang brothers—those two giants who'd seemed so fierce every time he'd seen them had just died like this, and the scene before him told him plainly that this entire houseboat was dead!

It should have been a very simple matter—walking through the mountains and forest with no ripples in his heart, thinking only of matters after arriving in Leping, Old Liu following beside him. They'd go to that houseboat where those fierce brothers waited, desperados perhaps but at least on his side, along with the captured Ning Liheng and the Yang brothers' family.

But in that instant when Old Liu gently pushed the door, the beam struck out, the roof collapsed, floorboards shook with dust falling everywhere—and in that moment he discovered everyone who should have existed in his imagination was already dead.

The whole world seemed to press down on him as blood spread below and darkness surrounded—eerie water, wind, forest—the entire world filling with malice at this moment, leaving only him alone.

"Old... Old Liu..."

He swallowed, calling out softly. The deathly silence around made his voice seem especially loud, yet those arrows had pierced through from behind without reservation. The corpse in the water showed only flowing blood, nothing else moving—it didn't even look like a corpse. How could blood flow so fast from such a thorough corpse? One moment alive and vigorous, how could death be so complete?

As if expecting that body to move slightly, he called again softly: "Uncle Liu."

Dark red had already dragged ribbons of crimson silk across the water's surface, and no answer would come. Only then did Gu Yanzhen turn in confusion and begin walking slowly toward the shore.

About halfway there, he saw that figure in the forest.

The figure had made a sound—"urgh"—like vomiting, and from afar he could only vaguely see the silhouette sitting in the darkness among the bamboo, body slightly hunched. He almost instinctively stopped, wanting to run toward the river—the water wasn't deep, but looking back at Old Liu's arrow-pierced body, he still didn't jump in, instead walking quickly forward. The figure in the bamboo grove stood up holding something, walking toward him. Gu Yanzhen heard night wind carrying that faint, strange song—the melody odd, sung slowly, voice not loud, seeming somewhat weak:

"Left~ three circles... right~ three circles... neck~ twist twist... butt~ twist twist... early to bed early to rise, let's all... do exercise..."

The figure revealed itself.

Under starlight—Ning Yi, Ning Liheng.

The figure looked somewhat weak, hands wrapped in bandages spotted with blood, yet carrying an indescribable presence. Gu Yanzhen hesitated only two seconds before running along the riverbank toward the forest on the other side.

...

...

When Old Liu was struck by the beam into the river, Ning Yi had already been sitting in the darkness waiting for a long time.

Pain from his left hand, shoulder, and chest still surged in waves, each time more clearly pulling at his nerves as he sat there slowly chewing tree leaves—the bitter and astringent taste continuously stimulating his taste buds and brain to keep his mind sharp. But holding out until midnight to use the torch signal to lure someone over was still too much; his stomach cramped and he vomited once.

By now, seeing that unfamiliar scholar, he couldn't help vomiting again, then stuffed a few tree leaves in his mouth, picked up the crossbow beside him, and hummed that absurd song brought by the signal as he walked out of the bamboo grove.

The scholar took off running toward the bamboo grove on the other side. Ning Yi carried the crossbow following at a moderate pace, the lyrics jumbled in his memory, but too lazy to try remembering properly now, so he sang: "Shake shake feet ah... shake shake feet ah... practice deep breathing... let's be happy happy and you won't grow old..."

The running figure ahead tripped over a rope—with a swish, a small bamboo pole whipped up without much force. This was a failed trap, Ning Yi thought, but the scholar still fell to the ground in panic. Ning Yi saw him turn over, struggle to get up to run again, and actually trip over the same rope twice, falling again.

"How did it come to this?" Ning Yi raised the crossbow, aiming at him, then closed the distance by several meters. By starlight he carefully examined this person's features and finally confirmed he didn't know him: "Who are you? What have I... cough... what terrible thing have I done recently?"

The voice was hoarse, tired, and weak. The wind seemed especially strong at this moment, shaking the forest behind. The fallen scholar looked at him in terror, and after a long while: "Gu... Gu Hong... Gu Yanzhen..."

The wind suddenly stopped. Ning Yi froze there, opening his mouth slightly with a somewhat stunned expression. This name—he'd heard it, of course he'd heard it! But... somewhat absurdly he blinked, and moments later his mouth opened wider, his brow furrowing as if rolling his eyes. He raised his right hand holding the crossbow to wipe sweat from under his nose produced by weakness. His gaze was no longer on Gu Yanzhen as he turned and took a step as if pacing. Gu Yanzhen on the ground was just relaxing slightly when that figure suddenly turned back, raised the crossbow, closed in two steps, and pulled the trigger. The string twanged!

"Fucking lunatic..."

Gu Yanzhen hadn't even reacted before Ning Yi's muttered words reached him. His body suddenly shook, then he looked in disbelief at the arrow piercing his abdomen. The shaft embedded in his body stood tall under the starlight. His jaw trembled, expression as if about to cry yet also as if completely unable to comprehend this concept. Blood seemed to be seeping out, a hot patch. He instinctively reached to press it.

"Ha... ah... ha..."

No tears, but he looked like he was crying—not loudly, just somewhat panicked. Ning Yi threw aside the crossbow, watched this scene, then took a deep breath and squatted down.

"Press with both hands, come on, bring that hand over too. Press here with both hands, that's right, that's right. Don't move around, don't shout too loudly—all that will make you lose too much blood and then you can't be saved." Gu Yanzhen's hands pressed on the arrow wound in his lower abdomen, stopping the bleeding. Ning Yi also placed his right hand there to help press, his words calm and steady, as if coaxing a child. Gu Yanzhen seemed to be crying, crying while looking at him.

"That's right, just like that. If you're lucky, this arrow shouldn't have severed your intestines. Don't get excited, don't cry. My voice isn't loud either, I'm very tired. We should calm down and communicate... So, you made a move on Nie Yunzhu?"

Gu Yanzhen almost instinctively shook his head. Ning Yi watched his eyes, then nodded with a smile—in fact his face was paper-white too, covered in cold sweat.

"Good start, Brother Yanzhen. Thank you. So... besides those already dead, who else knows you came here? Did these things?"

This time Gu Yanzhen hesitated for a long while.

"I... I'm a court official... I'm a court official. If I die, you..."

He spoke these words haltingly. Ning Yi's gaze gradually turned cold as he drew the steel blade from behind with a backhand motion and chopped down at his thigh.

"AAAHHHHH—"

The scream tore through the night sky. By the riverside forest, roosting birds startled into flight. Gu Yanzhen's face was covered in tears, he'd wet himself, blood flowing freely from his thigh. After a while like this.

"Come on, bring one hand over, press here too. Press it, that's right. I'm suffering too, we should be understanding of each other... Look, Brother Yanzhen, Brother Official, next we can repeat the question from earlier... or you can repeat your answer from earlier..."

When flames roared up in that houseboat, Ning Yi turned and walked toward the forest, utterly exhausted, nerves twitching weakly with pain.

The corpses of the Yang family, Gu Yanzhen, and Old Liu were all consumed in the flames. By the time they were discovered downstream, who knew what they'd be burned into.

Completely undeserved disaster!

He'd encountered many things in this life, good and bad. In his youth he'd fought for his life, had experiences of being severely injured near death. But this time was the most inexplicable—no wonder he couldn't sense any warning signs beforehand. He'd just been racking his brains over this, never expecting such an absurd reason.

That Gu Yanzhen.

Fucking lunatic!

He didn't even know him before this.

What he hated most were these meaningless troublemakers!

Cursing inwardly while forcing his mind to stay alert, he had to walk this stretch of road and get as far away as possible. According to what Gu Yanzhen said, there were still one or two people who knew about this, but he couldn't go kill them now—he'd have to wait for later, or ask Lu Hongti for a favor to settle the debt, since this wasn't a small matter after all.

Thinking this way, his mind grew more and more tired. The road ahead alternated between bright and dark, clear and blurry. At some point, it seemed birds chirped by his ear—that sound strange, vaguely familiar. Not long after, when he tried to focus his gaze again, a figure whooshed over on the small path ahead, reaching his side in an instant to support him.

"What happened to you!"

This was Lu Hongti's voice.

His spirit relaxed and he passed out.