“See me?”
Su Li’s expression was somewhat surprised.
“No.”
You Xue instinctively denied it, but then thinking about how clear her words had been just now, any rebuttal would be weak.
After a moment of thought, You Xue went along with what she had said.
“I wanted to find you.”
“Did something happen?”
Su Li’s tone maintained a careful distance, like a stranger he’d just met on the street.
“Earlier, I ran into a group of people in black robes fighting an older man. The older man seemed to be at a disadvantage, and then he called out to me, said his name was Anbian Du, and that he seemed to be a teacher from your Academy.”
To make her lie sound credible, You Xue even mentioned Anbian Du’s name.
“He told me to go to the Academy for help, said he wouldn’t be able to hold out much longer. The only person I know connected to the Academy is you, so I wanted to come find you.”
After she finished, You Xue cautiously studied Su Li’s expression. He was frowning, his face somewhat dark.
Su Li was silent for a few seconds.
“Teacher Anbian?”
“He looks like a very scruffy man with a messy beard. He seemed to have just smoked; the area around him was full of cigarette smoke.”
“That’s him.”
Su Li thought for a moment, then said.
“Got it. I’ll head back to the Academy immediately and notify the Defense Department.”
“Then my mission’s delivered…”
You Xue breathed a sigh of relief and was about to leave when she heard Su Li say.
“You Xue, you’re coming with me.”
“What?”
“The city isn’t safe right now. Walking alone is even more dangerous.”
Su Li’s tone was completely non-negotiable.
“Besides, the Academy has so many Superpowered Individuals; it can guarantee your safety too.”
The Academy was safe, but not truly completely safe. You Xue had always understood that.
If she went to the Academy, her condition might be discovered, plunging her into meaningless treatment.
And then there were the moles—mixed in among the teachers, mixed in among the students. She had read the Original Story and knew some of their names and faces, but she also knew the Original Story hadn’t listed every single mole.
“Those people’s target isn’t me. I’m perfectly safe.”
You Xue still tried to argue.
She wasn’t a very good liar. In her Previous Life, she would go against her conscience and say her brother’s jokes were funny, but he would always see through her.
But in this Current Life, perhaps because she always kept a blank expression, her lies weren’t so easily pierced anymore.
“No. Using the reason of protecting the one who delivered the message to the Academy, you have to come with me.”
But Su Li completely ignored You Xue’s lie. His tone was stubborn.
You Xue understood that Su Li was that kind of person. Once he decided on something, he would put all his effort into accomplishing it.
She had learned that as a reader, and she could also sense it from the bits and pieces of past memories.
You Xue thought, she had still made a mistake. Her method of cutting ties had been too soft, not decisive enough. Maybe she should have done something worse.
But in the end, she couldn’t do it. After all, with him… in her memories, they had been that close.
So You Xue chose to compromise. She lowered her head and said quietly.
“Okay, I’ll go with you.”
Su Li walked half a step ahead of You Xue, without turning back, just instinctively maintaining that careful distance.
They walked forward in silence, neither of them making any small talk.
‘I really want to talk.’
You Xue hung her head. Her grayish-white hair fell across her cheeks, hiding the emotions in her eyes.
In the past—not her past, but she was a little envious of that past.
The two of them would always walk together, on the paths through the countryside fields. Back then, they could say anything without worry.
Life as children hadn’t been carefree. With no relatives, the two had relied on each other, always struggling to get by.
But leaning on each other could ease many worries and give them a lot of hope.
And now, it was better not to say anything.
After all, trouble comes from the mouth. The less she spoke, the fewer flaws she’d have, right?
It was probably because of that conversation at the Academy earlier that Su Li had made this decision now.
As she walked forward, she suddenly bumped into Su Li’s outstretched right hand. You Xue looked at him with some confusion.
Then she heard Su Li explain.
“There’s movement ahead.”
You Xue heard hurried, chaotic footsteps coming from the corner ahead.
“Those guys ran so fast, I wonder if we can still snag some credit now.”
Then came a somewhat slick male voice.
You Xue unconsciously clenched her fist. She didn’t want to reveal her current state, but Su Li’s combat power in the early stages really wasn’t that strong.
If he had to fight a group of Superpowered Individuals, there was no way he could do it.
After a moment, a man with a unibrow emerged from around the corner. When he saw the two of them, he exclaimed.
“Target…”
But he only spit out two words before Su Li shot a ray of light into his eyes.
“My eyes!”
The unibrow man screamed, covering his eyes and stumbling backward.
Su Li acted decisively. He stepped forward and punched the unibrow man down with one blow.
You Xue watched all of this silently, a strange emotion brewing in her heart.
‘Is this what being protected feels like?’
Looking at Su Li’s back, she suddenly recalled many similar scenes from past memories.
The unibrow man’s screams attracted more footsteps, coming from deeper in the alley.
“What happened! Over there!”
Shouts were approaching. Su Li’s expression changed slightly, and he glanced back at You Xue.
He didn’t retreat. Instead, he grabbed You Xue’s wrist.
The people emerged from the corner, and the first thing they saw was a light bright enough to blind them.
Su Li pulled You Xue forward, using the moments they were blinded to push aside the Dark Crow members blocking their way.
You Xue felt the warmth of his palm—broad and warm.
They shouldn’t be touching this intimately.
But You Xue didn’t resist. Feeling the strength coming from his hand, she suddenly thought, this feeling wasn’t so bad.
You Xue ran with him, but in the corner of her eye as she looked back, she saw that one of them had already recovered. His eyes were fixed on them, glowing red.
You Xue knew this Supernatural Ability: [Laser Eyes]. This special eye enhancement did provide resistance to intense light.
But it provided no resistance to Throwing Knives. Because if a person is killed, they die.
While running, You Xue secretly threw a Throwing Knife. Very stealthily, unnoticed by Su Li.
Even if he did notice, it wouldn’t have mattered much, but You Xue just didn’t want him to know. She didn’t want him to feel that the Childhood Sweetheart from before had become such a cruel person now.
‘How strange. I already destroyed the Childhood Sweetheart’s image in Su Li’s mind, enough to make him completely disappointed in her.’
‘What is she even hoping for?’
In truth, You Xue couldn’t quite figure it out.
The Throwing Knife accurately embedded itself in the Laser Eyes user’s forehead. Then that person collapsed to the ground, never to rise again.
She looked back at Su Li, who was pulling her in a mad dash. He hadn’t noticed what had happened, focused solely on running forward.
That knife, she hadn’t been able to retrieve.
After escaping danger, they ran for a while and finally neared the Academy.
At this point, they could instead see those Dark Crow members in black robes again, but they were all lying on the ground, scattered here and there.
And in the center of these people scattered like dead insects, there stood a woman with cyan hair tied in a high ponytail.
She clenched her teeth, her tone full of anger.
“What the hell has gotten into these rats from Dark Crow?!”