"Are you going to carry me or not?" Xiao Jinsheng clung tightly to his arm, squatting down while holding onto him for leverage, and lifted both her feet off the ground.
Seeing her casually cling to him, Que Zelian bore her entire weight with one hand and even gave her a light swing. "If you don't mind, I can carry you like this to outrun the Fog Corpses."
"I'm just hanging around for fun, don't take it seriously!" Xiao Jinsheng exclaimed in alarm.
"How heavy could she be? If you can't handle it, just forget it." Su Ye stepped forward with his long legs, stretching out a hand toward Xiao Jinsheng. "Come on, I'll carry you."
As soon as Xiao Jinsheng looked at Su Ye, she couldn't forget the skinned rabbit head, drenched in blood, from their first day here.
That memory alone left her instinctively afraid of Su Ye.
Especially now, with his sudden friendliness—a complete change from his usual demeanor. Xiao Jinsheng was suspicious he might be plotting some mischief to mess with her again.
Hurriedly, she leapt down from Que Zelian's hand, intending to evade him.
Que Zelian misunderstood, thinking she was moving toward Su Ye. With a swift motion, he pulled her back into his arms and cradled her princess-style.
His gentle smile met Su Ye's slightly cool golden gaze, and he chuckled lightly. "I'd better do it. After all, I've got experience carrying her while escaping from Fog Corpses."
After saying this, Que Zelian's gaze shifted to the massive saber blade strapped to Su Ye's back. "You'll need both hands free for fighting. If she's with me and we're surrounded by Fog Corpses, I can still ascend into the sky."
"But, with her in your arms, won't drawing your blade during combat pose a risk of accidentally injuring her?"
Xiao Jinsheng silently agreed with Que Zelian's point.
Since childhood, she had a knack for overthinking dangers.
Standing on a rooftop without railings, she'd imagine falling off. Even with railings, she'd worry about them collapsing and then falling.
She could even picture a knife slipping out of her hand while cutting vegetables, the blade striking her foot precisely.
So naturally, the thought of the 2.2-meter-long saber on Su Ye's back filled her with dread.
If danger arose and she stood nearby as Su Ye unsheathed his weapon, one misstep could see that blade slicing right through her.
Scared by her own vivid imagination, Xiao Jinsheng clung tightly to Que Zelian's neck, laughing as she declined. "I think I'll stick with Que Zelian. He has more experience getting me to safety."
"Fair enough." Su Ye suppressed the storm brewing in his golden eyes as he watched their close interaction and turned his head aside, lips pressed tight.
"Told you, she hates you," Mo Jiao snickered, making no effort to hide his mockery as he approached.
"How much better are you in her eyes?" Su Ye sneered under his breath.
"Unlike you, I'm planning to divorce her," Mo Jiao responded coldly.
"Oh, negative 54 points. To reach 100 and finalize the divorce? Best of luck to you," Su Ye mocked with a grin.
Mo Jiao fell silent, rooted to the spot.
He never cared much about Xiao Jinsheng's pointless scoring game.
So in their interactions, his go-to move had always been to bicker with her whenever possible.
But given the current situation, it seemed this silly game was something he could no longer ignore, even if he wanted to.
The thought of his score being entirely dictated by Xiao Jinsheng's whims felt utterly absurd. If raising his score meant being good to her, he couldn't help but laugh grimly.
Good to Xiao Jinsheng?
If not for the title of "Beast Husband" still hanging over him after death, he would've just killed her to simplify things.
Each man was lost in his own thoughts, while Xiao Jinsheng nestled in Que Zelian's arms, relishing the thrill.
This kind of adrenaline-pumping escape, with her life guaranteed, felt comparable to a death-defying roller coaster or free-fall ride without safety measures.
Her peculiar knack for attracting Fog Corpses was uncanny.
Last night, she stayed within the villa grounds, and with no Fog Corpses in the surrounding kilometer, they enjoyed a peaceful evening.
But today, the moment she stepped out, within the dense fog they could only spot the eerie silhouettes of the Fog Corpses when they were five meters away.
They hadn't even covered a hundred meters before a hundred Fog Corpses began trailing them.
Thankfully, the highest-ranking ones only reached 4 Stars, which the five men could handle with ease.
As Que Zelian carried Xiao Jinsheng princess-style, she peeked back over his shoulder. Through the dense fog, all she could make out were agile shadowy figures chasing after them.
With experience from yesterday's encounter, once they attracted two hundred or more Fog Corpses, the group searched for a tall building to use as shelter.
With wind under his command, Que Zelian reached the rooftop first, safely setting Xiao Jinsheng down.
Yu Yunxiao climbed up using long vines, making a quick sweep around the rooftop and locking its door.
As someone with a Healing Element Superpower, he wasn't well-suited to fighting Fog Corpses directly.
Thus, he was tasked with protecting Xiao Jinsheng. Since this was a team effort, everyone contributed equally, and the Star Stones collected at the end were divided among all.
In Xiao Jinsheng's case, she even received two shares—one for luring the Fog Corpses and another given by the five men collectively.
She stood half a step away from the railing, bending down to peer at the streets below.
This time, however, it was the sixth floor. With the thick fog obstructing her view, she could only hear the growls and sounds of battle below, unable to see what was happening.
"Step back from the railing. These buildings have been corroded by the fog—they're far from sturdy. Be careful not to fall," Yu Yunxiao's voice came from behind her, reminding her.
When it came to matters of life and death, Xiao Jinsheng wasn't one to disregard sound advice.
She turned around with a haughty tilt of her chin. "Since you care so much, I'll add… wait—why are you smiling like that?"
Xiao Jinsheng looked at Yu Yunxiao in confusion as he smiled at her with an unsettling gentleness.
The word "gentle" had nothing to do with Yu Yunxiao.
From their two days of interaction alone, Xiao Jinsheng had come to see him as an easily flustered, prideful little cat.
But now, Yu Yunxiao was smiling gently at her, his mismatched golden and blue eyes fixed on her intently—it all felt undeniably eerie.
Her heart leapt into her throat. Carefully, she began to edge away, her voice soft with feigned calm. "Do you think they'll get hurt fighting the Fog Corpses? You're the healer… maybe you should go check on them?"
"You…" Yu Yunxiao's lips pulled into a grin so wide it reached his ears, while chunks of his facial flesh began to peel away. With a voice as raspy as metal scraping against metal, he spoke: "You've realized it already, haven't you…?"
In that instant, Xiao Jinsheng understood. This person wasn't Yu Yunxiao at all.
She spun left to dash away, but the figure blocked her path. She tried right—he appeared there too.
Xiao Jinsheng had no way out. Step by step, the blood-streaked figure cornered her until her back was against the railing.
The creature's grotesque face was blood and bone, a patch of peeled skin dangling from the right side.
It grinned as it reached a crimson hand toward her. "Star Stone Origin… found it."
"Help, help—HEEELP—!"
"Que Zelian! Su Ye! Huaiqing! Yu Yunxiao! Mo Jiao—!"
Nineteen years alive, Xiao Jinsheng had never so quickly rattled off a list of names with such precision.
The bloodstained monster drew closer. Pressed against the railing, fragile as tofu from the fog's erosion, she toppled backward in a single motion—both she and part of the wall plummeting downward.
"Something's wrong on Xiao Jinsheng's side!" Su Ye shouted in alarm.
Que Zelian blew away the Fog Corpses rushing toward him and ascended to the rooftop on the wind.
But on the rooftop, aside from an unconscious Yu Yunxiao lying on the ground, there was no sign of Xiao Jinsheng.
Xiao Jinsheng, having fallen, didn't end up crushed as she'd feared, nor was she fortunate enough to have been caught by Que Zelian or the others.
She scanned the area—pitch black, stretching endlessly into obscurity.
There was nothing visible in her surroundings, not even faint silhouettes.
Suppressing the rising panic, Xiao Jinsheng crouched down and began feeling her way forward, moving slowly in the dark.
"Que Zelian? Su Ye? Huaiqing?" Still clinging to hope that she'd run into one of the others, she weakly called out. "Yu Yunxiao? Mo Jiao?"
But the inky silence around her was unbroken, save for the quivering, fearful notes of her own voice. No other signs of life surrounded her.
Until, in the midst of her despair, her hand, groping along the ground, touched a shoe—a leather one, judging by the texture.
Xiao Jinsheng's heart jumped to her throat. The thought of how a mere shoe had scared her embarrassed and annoyed her. Picking it up, she prepared to stomp on it a few times out of irritation.
But when she tried to lift it, it wouldn't budge.
On her second, more forceful attempt, it still didn't move.
Feeling a sense of foreboding, Xiao Jinsheng reached upward from where the shoe should have been, and her hand landed on a leg—warm to the touch.
Her trembling fingers tightened on the stranger's pant leg as she froze.
"Those names—are they all your lovers?" A lazy, magnetic voice filled with amusement spoke from above her head.