The night of the plan arrived quickly.
Without warning, Yue, clad in a tight black outfit, suddenly shattered the glass and burst into Yao Xing’s room.
Crash!
This really gave Yao Xing, who was preparing, a huge fright.
“You useless Hero, what are you standing around for!”
“Hurry—up—!”
Yue, impatient as if grabbing a chick, tucked Yao Xing under her arm and jumped out the window, leaping across the rooftops.
On the corner of the unnoticed desk, Yao Xing had specially left a note that read: “Bye-bye, never see you again!”
The night-time Royal City was rapidly receding.
The cold wind cut like a knife across Yao Xing’s cheek.
Yue’s strength was astonishing; with one hand she tightly gripped Yao Xing’s side, while with the other she lightly tapped the roof tiles with a longsword to absorb the impact.
“Be careful—”
“You burden, just shut your mouth!”
They leaped on the steep eaves, each landing as light as a feline, only the faint scraping of roof tiles beneath their feet concealed by the heavy bootsteps of the Imperial Guard changing posts in the distance.
They swept past the bell tower, past the outer wall of the White Tower Restaurant that had once made Yao Xing tremble in fear.
Below, the crisscrossing torchlight of patrolling soldiers swayed on the stone path with an orange-red glow, but was always half a step slower than this black afterimage.
“Don’t shake, coordinate!”
“I’m trying my best…”
Yue’s figure flickered in and out of the moonlight, precisely using every architectural shadow for cover.
Her red hair was pressed low in the night, only her eyes, faintly glowing in the dark, locked onto the weakest sentry post at the edge of the city wall.
They slid down the drainpipe, avoiding the view of the main road, and slipped into a dark alley.
It was piled with discarded wooden crates, precisely the “blind spot” that Huan had specially mentioned.
The city wall was right in front of them.
Yue did not pause for a moment; she abruptly lifted Yao Xing upward, her toes repeatedly tapping the rough city bricks, and she climbed straight up as if defying the laws of physics.
“Watch out ahead—”
“I know!”
In the instant the last squad of guards turned their heads, the two completely vaulted over the black high wall that symbolized imprisonment.
Behind them, the Royal Palace was still brightly lit, as if no one had yet discovered the arrogantly written note left on the corner of the desk.
The two plunged headfirst into the dense, pitch-black forest outside the city.
Tree branches tore at Yao Xing’s clothes, and the smell of earth hit her face.
After landing, Yue did not let go but pulled Yao Xing to run wildly through the dense forest.
Until the outline of the Royal City was completely hidden by the hills, until the first harsh alarm bell faintly rang from within the city in the distance.
‘I… escaped…’
Yue merely cast a displeased, quick glance at Yao Xing.
“I’m going back to find my sister, you look out for yourself!”
With that, Yue ran far away.
‘Is this… the taste of freedom?’
Yao Xing slumped onto the cold mud ground, gasping for breath.
The night forest was terrifyingly still, only the sound of crushed twigs from Yue’s departure, as if mocking her solitude.
That red-haired ferocious girl really kept her word; after completing the “transport mission,” she plunged into the darkness without even looking back, to protect her only sister.
“So sudden…”
Yao Xing gave a wry smile, but before she could feel sorrow, her ears caught an unusual vibration.
Clop—clop—clop…
Heavy, rhythmic hoofbeats mixed with the clatter of armor were rapidly approaching from the main road outside the high wall.
‘Damn, it’s the Lin Qi pursuit squad!’
Yao Xing shuddered all over; survival instinct made her instantly scramble into an extremely hidden pile of rocks beside her.
The area was overgrown with weeds, and the gap between huge granite boulders could just fit a small body.
She curled up, clamping her hands over her mouth and nose, not daring to breathe loudly.
One hour.
Two hours.
The outside world seemed to have fallen into a frantic hunt.
The torchlight filtered through the cracks in the rocks, like death rays repeatedly sweeping across the dense forest.
“Damn it, a coward who only knows how to run can’t get far!”
“His Majesty said, bring her back alive, or bring her corpse!”
The soldiers’ roars echoed right above her head; Yao Xing felt her heart was about to jump out of her throat.
Cold sweat soaked through her black undergarment, and the night wind brought piercing chills.
‘If I can just get through tonight… if I can blend into a border trade caravan after dawn…’
Time became distorted under extreme pressure.
Just as Yao Xing thought she had successfully evaded the strictest search, and even felt a wave of drowsiness…
Whoosh!
A sharp sound of cutting air pierced the dead silence.
Yao Xing instinctively looked up and saw a huge fire signal flare explode in the air above the forest.
The light was not ordinary red, but a nearly pale brightness with some kind of searching magic, illuminating the entire dark forest like daylight!
The strong light instantly stripped away the cover of darkness.
“There!”
A sharp-eyed soldier holding a hunting dog locked onto that patch of black clothing in the rock pile in the last second before the flame went out.
“Got you, you damned Hero!”
‘Crap—’
Before Yao Xing could even stand up to attempt the slim chance of escape, several thick iron hook chains came whistling through the air.
Clang!
The chains precisely wrapped around her ankles and arms, and with immense force violently yanked her out of the rock crevice.
Yao Xing crashed heavily into the mud.
Before she could see her captor, a heavy scabbard slammed into the back of her neck.
Her vision went black instantly.
….
When she opened her eyes again, the smell of forest earth was gone, replaced by the familiar, nauseating scent of high-grade incense.
Yao Xing found herself tightly bound to a cold metal chair, surrounded by the deepest “interrogation room” of the Royal Palace.
Right in front, the King of Lin Qi’s face, always wearing a hypocritical smile, looked eerily sinister under the dim candlelight.
In his hand, he was fiddling with the note that Yao Xing had purposely left, the one that said “Bye-bye.”
“Never see you again?”
The King of Lin Qi read softly, then brought the note to the candle flame, watching it turn to ashes bit by bit.
“Hero, it seems you have some misunderstanding about the word ‘home.’”
In the shadows, kneeling on the ground, was Xing Cai Yue, her face livid, head bowed, silent.
‘I was still caught…’
The King of Lin Qi looked displeased at Yue: “You truly are my failed child.”
At those words, Yue seemed to realize something and began to struggle desperately: “What did you do to my sister! What did you do to her!”
A desperate scene.
As the door behind the King of Lin Qi opened, Huan’s nearly insane appearance—drooling, uncontrollable, as if wild instinct had erupted—horrifyingly appeared before the two of them.
Yue’s pupils constricted, her face full of disbelief, shaking her head in fear: “Father, you wouldn’t do this… you couldn’t do that… impossible… impossible…”
“Answer me, Father! You wouldn’t do that! Answer me—”
The King of Lin Qi gave a disdainful smile.
“As you can see, Yue’er.”
“Your dear sister has just now been infused with massive amounts of dragon blood by me!”
‘Dragon blood!!!’
Ignoring the pain, Yue desperately tore at her chains: “I’ll kill you! I’ll slaughter you!!”
The King of Lin Qi pointed at the despairing Yao Xing.
“That is the consequence for you. Who told you to save the Hero on your own?”
“Furthermore, the throne cannot be without an heir for a day. Since you, Yue’er, have become useless, your sister naturally must try this dragon blood as well!”
“Don’t worry, after a while, your sister will get used to the taste of dragon blood! She will forget all you insignificant pests! She will become the most suitable heir to Lin Qi!”
Listening to the King of Lin Qi’s words, Yao Xing felt he was completely unworthy of being a father, let alone a ruler.
“You will face retribution!”
The King of Lin Qi flew into a rage and with a heavy kick, sent Yao Xing tumbling under Huan.
“My obedient and docile Huan’er, listen to me, eat this useless Hero!”
‘!!!’
Hearing this, Yao Xing’s pupils trembled.
Within her sight, Yue could only cry in fear and worry.
Looking up at the “Huan” above her, she was no longer Huan, but now only a beast.
A beast that was crying constantly.
“Huan’er, eat her.”
“No—sister—no—”
Thud.
“You failed product! Since you love your sister so much, then become a part of her!”
‘Is this… my retribution?’
From the thick brick crevices of the interrogation room oozed a viscous, cold air of death.
Yao Xing lay on the cold stone floor, the sharp pain in her abdomen making her see stars.
Within her line of sight were bare feet that no longer belonged to a human, covered in fine green scales.
“Drip, drip.”
That was not the sound of water.
It was the liquid constantly dripping from “Huan’s” mouth, a mix of dragon blood and saliva.
A low growl like a broken bellows came from her throat, the lament of a noble soul being utterly torn apart by violent draconic nature.
“No—sister! Please wake up! Kill me! You kill me! Don’t touch that useless one!”
On the other side, Yue was frantically slamming against her chains, her wrists bleeding from the iron cuffs.
Her cries echoed through the empty room, but failed to move the King of Lin Qi even a little.
The King of Lin Qi stood with his hands behind his back, his eyes full of fanatical greed: “Look, this is the perfect work of art. The power within the Hero’s body, combined with the toughness of dragon blood… Lin Qi will win without a fight!”
Yao Xing felt a burning sensation spreading from her chest.
Trembling, she looked up and met “Huan’s” golden eyes that had turned into vertical pupils.
In the depths of those pupils filled with killing instinct, Yao Xing actually saw a trace of struggle.
That was Huan’s last shred of rationality, like a lone lamp about to go out in the chaos.
‘Is this… what you meant by being selfish, Huan…?’
“Huan…”
Yao Xing braved the intense pain and reached out her mud-covered hand, actually touching that scaly head voluntarily.
The King of Lin Qi was stunned.
Yue also stopped crying and stared blankly at this scene.
‘That time I asked, why should a Hero protect such greedy humans…’
The pain made her unable to think, but her broken thoughts suddenly connected again.
‘Because… because…’
“Because I don’t want you… to suffer such inhuman torture again…”
“Because… I respect your idealistic…”
[Bad End]
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