Ruo turns in bed, takes a deep breath and smells a wonderful comfort like a mixture of roses, berries and wine. From the comfort, Ruo Yu imagines herself and thinks that she is in the afterlife - in a place where pain ends.
She smiles but suddenly she is alerted by a feeling that she should wake up.
She opens her eyes and touches her stomach and finds that she no longer feels pain. When she turns to her left, she finds the man from yesterday - Xiu Yan - lying next to her, wearing the same black clothes but now they are open at the chest, revealing his chest and abs. Ruo Yu contemplates the situation for a moment and then falls out of the bed. "What the hell is this.." Ruo Yu whispers as she scans the room.
The room was large, the walls were black, there was a large painting next to the bed, but she only glanced before quickly turning and standing in front of the window After she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door, she opened it and looked outside - then inside, and finally she lifted herself up to the window, and jumped easily without difficulty or hesitation.
Xue Yan had his hands behind his head, opened his eyes and looked out the window, then at the servant who had entered, "How should I punish you now?…"
The servant trembled with fear, "Yes, sir? May I ask what I did?" The servant quickly knelt down.
Xue Yan adjusted his posture, "Because of you, you made the little kitten run away."
The servant raised his head in confusion, "A kitten???"
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Ruo Yu walked far away, far away from where Xue Yan was, whose name she didn't even know. She didn't quite understand how she ended up next to him, or why he saved her. Xue Yan was a secret she had to find out. If he wanted to kidnap her, He wouldn't be so careless and indifferent, and a man like him couldn't help but notice the chaos she caused as she woke up. Yet he did nothing -- for a young girl, she seemed to know more than she should.
"I wonder what happened to Ling Yi.. Is she okay?" Ruo Yu stood for a moment wondering about Ling Yi's condition, as now she had no place to go back to.
She sighed.
Ruo Yu put her hands in her pockets, "The dagger… he must have it." She turned to look at the path she had already walked, the difference between the world she had seen, and what she would see, was vast and terrifying.
She walked until she reached the black market - where weapons and other illegal items were sold. The black market was one of the most important places in Liu Mu City, as this trade was their source of income and pride. She entered the black market, which was filled with all the disgusting types of men she had seen since she had come to Liu Mu. The smell was rotten and worn out, the smell of sweat mixed with the smoke of cigarettes and poisons sold here, along with the smoke of guns.
She tried to pretend that the filth didn't affect her and made her way, ignoring all the looks and ugly talk, until she stopped at a shop that sold daggers and weapons. Luckily for her, there were no customers. She stood looking at the weapons on display, and for a moment her eyes seemed to shine, or maybe it was the reflection of the daggers.
The seller came out in front of her from where she didn't expect, so she took a few steps back. He was smiling, but when he saw her, he didn't know whether he should smile or not. "What is this... a child?" Ruo rolled her eyes at his words. "I want a dagger."
His smile completely disappeared and Ruo Yu began to analyze, "A dagger? And why would you want a dagger, girl?" Ruo Yu smiled, a smile that meant everything but kindness, "You really ask because you don't know?" The merchant looked into her eyes and for a moment it looked like he was going to get lost in them.
He nodded, "Well… who doesn't know but money speaks louder." "Don't worry and give me the best you have." Ruo Yu said without hesitation.
He looked at her somewhat pitifully, "Do you even have a job?"
"Um, until yesterday I was working as a mermaid, but unfortunately my job was ruined."
He raised his eyebrow in question, "Do you mean that famous comfort place?" "Yes, suddenly strange soldiers appeared out of nowhere and attacked the mermaid."
The merchant looked around then lowered his voice and motioned for her to come closer. She took what was said to her and came closer. "They're not soldiers, they're shadow ghosts."
"Shadow ghosts? What is this?" Ruo Yu asked in surprise.
The merchant lowered his tone even more, "They are Ying Gui, shadow ghosts, appearing suddenly and disappearing just as they please, they are not soldiers, here there is no government, nor does the emperor's authority lie here, sometimes it seems that even God has abandoned this place."
"What do you mean there is no government, and who are these people?" The merchant sighed, "Look girl, here there are no rules, the power lies in the hands of whoever is strong, you may be a slave, but if you're middle-aged, and you beat someone to death, as long as there is no evidence nothing will happen."
"So even if there is evidence, won't you be punished?"
The merchant laughed so hard that tears came to his eyes, "If you kill a slave, the work will take longer, and the officials will beat you and break your bones. It is not fair there." "I see, as you said, the Lord must have abandoned this place."
The merchant smiled, "Despite this survival of the fittest law, there is an organization and a supreme authority, worn by ghosts who appear in the dead of night. Masked people with different tasks and there is no information about them or their special tasks, but I heard a few rumors about the reason for their appearance yesterday, their appearance was exaggerated unlike usual because they don't usually do things like this. Hui Lang is unexpected. "
"What is the rumor?"
The merchant approached and looked challengingly into Ruo Yu's eyes, "I think I've told you enough, I just felt sorry. That's enough, you're not supposed to say or talk about them in public. Now leave."
"What about my dagger?"
"You don't even have money to eat, do you?" the young merchant asked in disapproval. A passing man spoke sarcastically, "If the girl doesn't have enough money, Ren, make her pay in another way."
"Didn't I tell you not to call my name in front of strangers?" Ren said in annoyance,
Ruo spoke in a soft voice, "Strangers? I thought we became friends.."
A deep voice came from behind her, "Then we should be more than friends if that's the case."
The voice was so familiar that she felt her heart sink under her feet.
She smiled in defeat, and made a quick move to run away, but the man put his hands on her shoulders. She pushed his hands away violently, tearing her clothes. She ran away as quickly as possible. Xue Yan smiled, "Interesting kitty." He then looked at Ren with disdain. Ren who stood there dumbfounded.
Then Xue Yan looked at his hands, which were scratched because of Ruo Yu.