Finally, she was going home.
You Xue recognized the familiar streets in her field of vision.
She had run all the way back, step by step.
Her body ached terribly, yet it felt like she had an endless supply of strength.
Taking the secluded paths, avoiding people, and dealing with a few pursuers from the Dark Crow Organization along the way, she finally reached the edge of the city.
A few more steps and she’d be in the slums.
But before that, she still had to go somewhere else.
You Xue arrived at the small clinic.
As usual, the young doctor was flipping through a thick book behind the counter.
Seeing a visitor, the doctor glanced up briefly, then was startled.
His voice trembled nervously.
“Miss… you don’t look well.”
The doctor noticed the girl in front of him was covered in bloodstains, her clothes ragged, with scratches of all sizes on her arms and legs.
Her gray-white hair covered half her face, but he could still make out some traces of blood on it.
“Actually, I’m fine.”
You Xue answered casually.
She even felt like she could still smile.
At least the power she had gained was real.
That barely counted as one good thing.
“My body hurts a bit, so I want to get some medicine.”
The doctor twitched the corner of his mouth.
Aside from the initial shock, he wasn’t too frightened.
He just said helplessly, “This is just a small clinic. I don’t have medicine that can handle all those wounds on you. You’d be better off going to a hospital.”
You Xue shook her head.
“There’s really no problem. I just want some medicine. Painkillers will do.”
“You’ve run into trouble, haven’t you? How about calling the police? They can definitely help you,” the doctor suggested again.
“No, really, it’s not necessary. Just give me some painkillers. Everything else is fine.”
You Xue was growing impatient.
“If you won’t sell them, I’ll leave. I don’t actually need them that badly. It would just make me feel a bit better.”
The doctor hesitated for a moment but finally relented.
He took a bottle of painkillers off the shelf.
“Do you need any ointment for the scratches?”
“No need.”
In the end, You Xue took the medicine and left the clinic.
The sunset clouds were dazzling.
Strips of gold and crimson ribbons lingered and intertwined across the sky.
The colors of the sky were gentle, but the wind was cold.
It blew through her hair, across her face, and against her wounds, as if it could ease the burning pain a little.
In the slums, low, dilapidated shacks lined the street one after another.
Everyone on the street—men and women, young and old—had haggard faces and eyes full of exhaustion, yet they remained vigilant.
Normally, in such lawless streets, showing weakness would immediately make you a target.
Someone would take everything of value from you.
But even though You Xue looked terrible, no one dared to stand in her way.
After walking a short distance, You Xue returned to her home—a dilapidated little shack with peeling earthen walls and an old, cracked wooden door.
Small and broken, but it was the only home she had.
She pushed the door open, then closed it behind her.
She lay down flat on the ground.
The gray-white hair that had been covering her eyes fell to her chest.
‘What a mess. I’m filthy. I want to take a shower.’
But You Xue didn’t move.
She just took out the painkillers.
Painkillers.
Chew, chew, chew.
Then she took a deep breath in and out.
‘So tired. I don’t want to move.’
She closed her right eye.
Her left eye’s vision didn’t disappear—she could still see the peeling ceiling.
‘What went wrong?’ she murmured to herself.
According to the original story’s setting, this eye should slowly wither, lose its power, and eventually be completely destroyed.
But why?
You Xue reached out her hand, made a fist, then opened it again.
She could still feel that sudden surge of powerful strength within her body.
‘That’s fine too. At least I won’t have to rely only on the Guardian Engraving, which can only be used once in a short time.’
‘I ran into Alice…’
In the original story, most readers considered Alice to be the female lead.
At the very beginning of the story, the first female character described—aside from the childhood sweetheart in memories—was Alice.
Throughout the main storyline, Alice always stayed by Su Li’s side as a reliable companion.
She seemed to harbor quite a bit of affection for Su Li.
But until the very end, when everyone fought the Beast King and Alice died before Su Li’s eyes, she still never spoke the words of affection hidden in her heart.
Because she knew Su Li couldn’t love her.
His heart was already too full—grief, hatred, the expectations of others, the conviction to protect…
Too much, too much.
So much that there was no room for the life an ordinary young man should have, nor for the love others offered him.
He had lost too much, carried too much.
Fate pushed him forward, forcing him to move on in haste.
The story ended poorly after that.
The city was destroyed, the people he wanted to protect died.
All that was left was Su Li staring at the silent city, howling at the injustice of fate, cursing his own powerlessness.
‘Su Li…’
‘Now that I’ve made so many changes to the story, will the final outcome be better?’
‘Maybe not. But I hope it will be a little better,’ You Xue thought.
After all, everything she had done was to turn this story around.
So she absolutely couldn’t deny everything she had done.
The power of this eye already belonged to her.
It hadn’t fallen into the hands of the Dark Crow.
That was good.
Actually, she didn’t even know what kind of resolve she had mustered to gouge out her own eye.
Luckily, the Dragon’s Eye was also plug-and-play.
‘Hmm, that’s fine.’
The downside was the real pain.
Even now, her body still ached from the Dragon’s Eye.
It was different from the pain of Magic Rejection Syndrome.
The pain from this eye was more intense, like being scorched by fire.
And the side effects were probably far from over.
You Xue lowered her eyelids.
She remembered the strange surge of longing for Su Li that had welled up inside her while talking with Alice.
She felt uneasy.
This kind of unexplained emotional fluctuation was unacceptable to her.
Carrying out the plan required rationality.
Not those sweet or sorrowful feelings.
It wasn’t that she didn’t need them—it was that she didn’t want to be swept away by those emotions and make the wrong choice.
Because most of those feelings for Su Li weren’t hers.
You Xue closed her eyes.
Her thoughts drifted, slowly returning to the past.
It was night—it had to be night.
Only in such a pitch-black world could the light of an oil lamp shine so brightly and warmly.
A hand reached toward her forehead.
“Are you sick?”
A gentle voice sounded in her ear.
You Xue turned her head.
The boy beside her had half his face lit by the lamp—clean, radiating warmth.
It was Su Li.
“I’m sorry…” she said in the memory.
Su Li shook his head.
“There’s nothing to apologize for. If you’re sick, you need to rest.”
He filled a cup with hot water and held it up to You Xue.
“Drink some hot water. It’ll make you feel better.”
You Xue nodded and drank the water.
She lay back down on the bed.
Her body was cold, her head a little dizzy, but her heart was warm.
They stayed together like that, neither of them speaking.
Neither mentioned buying medicine.
Because they had no money.
Not for medicine, and even meals were left to chance.
Finally, You Xue murmured, “Will I get better?”
“You will. Hold on a little longer. You definitely will.”
The boy’s voice was firm.
The firelight reflected in his eyes.
You Xue slowly opened her eyes.
Her blue-gold heterochromatic eyes held a complex mix of emotions.
Will things get better?