The last vestiges of sunset were swallowed by the earth, darkness descending like velvet soaked in ink. Ultimately, they chose a hardware store facing the street for shelter. Jiang Jin roughly yanked open the rolling shutter, the screech of metal grinding against metal piercing the dead silence of the street. After the three of them slipped inside one by one, he slammed the door shut with a thunderous clang, as if sealing off the last vestiges of warmth.
He strode straight to the farthest corner of the shop, sat down with his back to everything, and curled up in the shadows. Even his silhouette radiated an icy chill that warned strangers to keep their distance.
Gu Xun and Lu Zhao guarded the entrance. Lu Zhao slid down the cold wall, his fingers absentmindedly picking at the accumulated grease on the floor. He listened to the unnaturally heavy breathing from the corner, then glanced at Gu Xun beside him, who appeared to be resting his eyes—the other's eyelashes trembled faintly in the dim light, his tightly pursed lips stretched taut like a bowstring. The air was thick with the scent of rust, engine oil, and an almost palpable tension, so viscous it felt suffocating.
Time crawled under the weight of the oppression. A sliver of moonlight seeped through the door crack, illuminating dust particles suspended in the air like countless restless ghosts.
Lu Zhao's consciousness drifted between drowsiness and alertness. Suddenly, deliberately quiet yet desperate footsteps jolted him awake. Through narrowed eyelids, he saw Jiang Jin's towering figure emerge from the corner's shadows, like a stalking leopard, advancing step by step toward the seemingly sleeping form by the wall. Lu Zhao's heart leapt into his throat. Fear coiled around his limbs like vines, paralyzing him. He clamped his eyes shut, screaming inwardly: Don't go... Stop... Gu Xun, you're awake, right?
Jiang Jin crouched before Gu Xun, the shadows completely swallowing him. He stared at the face that remained exquisitely defined even in the dim light. Days of pent-up rage, resentment, and the shame of being rebuked churned within him like molten lava. He extended the hand that had once blazed with flames, its fingertips trembling imperceptibly as they hovered above Gu Xun's cheek, yearning to touch that icy skin.
"You weren't asleep..." Gu Xun's eyes snapped open, clear as cold stars over a snowy plain. There was no trace of drowsiness within them, only complete alertness and icy vigilance. Jiang Jin's hand froze mid-air, his hoarse voice tinged with the awkwardness of being caught red-handed.
"I dared not sleep," Gu Xun replied calmly. His voice was soft, yet it felt like three ice spikes, piercing precisely through the last shred of hope lingering in Jiang Jin's heart. The weariness and unmasked wariness in his tone made Jiang Jin's facial muscles twitch violently.
This unmasked distrust instantly ignited Jiang Jin's suppressed fury. "I did it for you..." His voice twisted with agitation, thick with choked emotion. "...killed so many monsters... I nearly died..." He tried to trade his grueling "achievements" and painful sacrifices for a shred of mercy, as if that could erase the absurdity of his current actions.
"That was for your own survival," Gu Xun cut him off ruthlessly, his gaze sharp as a scalpel, slicing through the self-righteous facade to expose the raw core of survival instinct beneath.
Exposed to his raw vulnerability, Jiang Jin snarled like a whipped animal: "Without me, you'd be dead! Gu Xun! How dare you—" How dare he enjoy his protection unscathed? How dare he treat his devotion with such contempt?
"Because I refuse."
Gu Xun's voice wasn't loud, barely a whisper, yet it cut like a dagger tempered in the coldest northern ice, piercing with deadly precision the very foundation of Jiang Jin's entire rationale. His grand narratives of strength, sacrifice, and protection crumbled before those three words, exposed as laughable and despicable.
Jiang Jin's expression went blank, as if his soul had been ripped from him. Then, his handsome face twisted into a terrifying madness. "...Unwilling?" he murmured, his voice filled with the utter emptiness of final rejection. That emptiness was swiftly devoured by deeper savagery. "Good... good... unwilling..."
The bridge of communication shattered completely. Like a cornered beast driven mad, he lunged forward, his hand clamping down on Gu Xun's slender wrist like iron pincers, the force nearly crushing bone! His other hand, hot with fury, clamped brutally over Gu Xun's mouth, silencing any possible refusal. Simultaneously, his entire body, with an irresistible weight, slammed Gu Xun hard against the cold, hard wall, attempting to forcibly imprint his mark in the most primitive, savage way.
He's gone mad! He actually dares! Lu Zhao's pupils contracted sharply in the darkness, narrowing to pinpricks. The scene before him—brimming with aggression and coercion—felt like a bucket of ice water mixed with rage, dumped over his head, instantly washing away his earlier fear. A surge of emotion—a mix of utter shock, physical nausea, and revulsion at the violence itself—roared up his throat!
"Let him go!" Lu Zhao's voice cracked with trembling, shattering the deathly silence with its sharpness. He nearly sprang to his feet, though his legs were so weak they barely supported his weight.
Jiang Jin's movements froze abruptly as he whipped his head around! The warmth that usually lingered in those eyes vanished completely, replaced by furious rage at the interruption and a bone-chilling, murderous intent.
"Get out!" he roared, his free left hand lashing backward. A searing wave of fire erupted from nowhere, a roaring dragon of flames. The scorching blast made Lu Zhao's cheeks burn, instantly carving a dangerous boundary before him. "Or I'll burn you too!"
In that split second when Jiang Jin was distracted by his rebuke of Lu Zhao, Gu Xun—held fast and unable to speak—flashed a look of icy, resolute determination, as if resolved to destroy everything. The last remnants of his spiritual energy were frantically squeezed and condensed!
Amidst this violent struggle and energy surge, Gu Xun's phone in his pocket was violently slammed onto the hard concrete by Jiang Jin's elbow. The screen instantly shattered, fragments scattering everywhere. That faint glimmer of light, representing the last link to modern civilization, was extinguished forever.
The dazzling white light no longer radiated warmth or healing. Like a miniature sun suppressed to its limit until it finally erupted, it violently burst forth from every inch of his skin!
"Buzz—"
A powerful shockwave of light energy, carrying pure repulsion and purifying force, exploded outward from Gu Xun's body!
"Ugh!" Jiang Jin let out a short, pained grunt, snapping his hand away from Gu Xun's grasp as if it had touched a red-hot branding iron! The sheer force of the impact hurled him backward like a kite with a broken string , staggering and tumbling until his back slammed hard against the metal shelving behind him! Clang! Crash! The shelves toppled, sending a torrent of tools and parts cascading down. He was half-buried in the cold metal wreckage, completely obscuring the shattered phone screen on the floor.
The light gradually faded, leaving only a lingering afterimage on his retina. Gu Xun remained standing where he was, breathing slightly, fine beads of cold sweat forming on his forehead. The violent red marks circling his wrist were startlingly vivid in the dim light, his lower lip bleeding slightly from the rough pressure moments ago. He didn't even glance back at the man he'd driven away. His gaze held a bone-chilling detachment and coldness Lu Zhao had never seen before, as if everything that had just happened had frozen the last shred of warmth in his heart.
Turning to Lu Zhao, who stood pale and shaken, his voice was unnaturally weak from exhaustion. Yet it carried a resolve that severed all retreat, cutting through the deathly quiet, despair-filled air with clarity:
"Lu Zhao, let's go."