After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

Zhu Xunchuan completely abandoned the attack.

He didn't fight back.

Xiao Bai's attacks were like a storm, his black short blade weaving a web of death around Zhu Xun Chuan.

Zhu Xunchuan's black trench coat was slashed three times. Fine lines of blood appeared on his arms and ribs from the blade.

He let the sharp metal cut his skin.

He knew that if he retaliated, this force would definitely severely damage Xiaobai.

Zhu Xun Chuan retreated step by step until his back was against the cold metal wall. There was nowhere left to retreat.

Without pausing, Xiaobai leaped into the air. Gripping the two short blades in reverse, the tips aimed at Zhu Xun Chuan's heart, and using the force of the fall, plunged them down fiercely.

This is a dead end.

Hide, or kill.

Zhu Xun Chuan neither dodged nor raised his hand to block. He even lowered his arms completely.

He raised his head, his deep eyes fixed intently on the pale, expressionless, exquisitely beautiful face in mid-air. There was no anger, no fear, only utmost indulgence and tenderness.

The knife tip pierced the fabric of the bespoke suit, pressing against the skin of Zhu Xun Chuan's left chest. Just half an inch further, and it would pierce his heart.

In that very instant.

Zhu Xun Chuan parted his lips slightly. He spoke four words in an extremely ordinary, languid tone, as if he were having breakfast every morning in his penthouse in the China World Trade Center.

"It's time to eat."

Time seemed to stand still in that second.

Little White, hovering in mid-air, suddenly froze.

The courtyard of an old house in Jiangnan. A blind old woman. A worn-out wooden table. A can of iced cola, dripping with water. And the man who made her pull down her mask and sit at the table to eat openly.

That sentence was the only anchor that bound her soul. Even if her brain nerves were pierced by a physical electric current, this bond was deeply imprinted in her bones and blood.

Xiao Bai's originally stagnant eyes trembled violently.

The empty pupils focused instantly.

Large tears welled up and fell onto Zhu Xun Chuan's cheeks. They were tears of extreme fear and heartbreak.

She did not continue stabbing with her short blade.

In the fraction of a second before the blade pierced her skin, Xiaobai demonstrated a level of body control that surpassed human limits.

She forcefully reversed the direction of her waist's force in mid-air, her bones creaking and grinding. Her entire body twisted a full 180 degrees in mid-air.

The leader of the Dark River, behind the glass, still wore a sinister grin.

Xiao Bai landed on both feet and turned around smoothly. The muscles in her right arm tensed completely, and the black short blade in her hand flew out like a black lightning bolt!

"Snap!"

A bulletproof glass curtain wall, up to 15 millimeters thick, was directly penetrated by the sheer speed and force!

The spiderweb-like cracks in the glass exploded instantly.

The short blade, still brimming with momentum, pierced precisely into the throat of the Dark River leader.

The hilt of the knife even sank into his neck.

The leader's laughter caught in his throat, his eyes bulging. He stared intently at the girl outside, her face streaked with tears, standing up again. He couldn't understand, even in his dying moments, why the lab's most advanced brain erasure technology had failed.

How could a heartless killing machine possibly defy its lower-level orders for the sake of a man?

The leader's tall body fell heavily to the ground.

His hand slammed onto the red flip button on the control panel as he fell.

The piercing alarm instantly resounded throughout the entire underground space.

The red warning lights were flashing wildly. A countdown timer appeared on the control panel screen.

"Base self-destruct sequence initiated. Detonation in thirty seconds."

After delivering that blow, Xiaobai was completely exhausted. The nerve damage left by the brainwashing and the strain from the extreme twisting she had just endured caused her to collapse instantly.

She fell forward.

Zhu Xun Chuan took a step forward, caught her steadily with both hands, and held her tightly in his arms.

"Master... I'm sorry..." Xiaobai leaned weakly against Zhu Xun Chuan's chest, her tears quickly soaking his shirt. She looked at the bloodstains she had cut on Zhu Xun Chuan's arm, her voice trembling uncontrollably.

Zhu Xunchuan lowered his head.

He paid no attention to the deafening self-destruct alarms around him, nor did he heed the rapidly ticking countdown.

He lowered his head and kissed Xiaobai's forehead, which was covered in cold sweat.

"Have you forgotten the rules?" Zhu Xun Chuan's voice was deep and domineering, leaving no room for argument.

Xiao Bai raised her head, her eyes, shimmering with water, filled with longing and submission.

"Husband," she whispered.

Zhu Xun Chuan's lips curled into a smile. He put one arm around Xiao Bai's waist and lifted her up in his arms.

"Let's go home."

The night wind swept through the dense forest at the foot of Mount Fuji.

Zhu Xun Chuan carried Xiao Bai out of the main gate of the manor.

Silence reigned all around. The security network Xia Wanying had bribed had turned this place into a no-man's-land.

He took out his phone with one hand and pressed the shortcut key.

The call connected. The roar of a helicopter engine came through the receiver.

"Wan Ying," Zhu Xun Chuan said calmly, "I've picked her up."

Inside the cabin, Xia Wanying immediately pressed the speakerphone button. Pei Yanyu and Su Mucheng's eyes simultaneously swept towards the phone on the table.

"Are you hurt?" Xia Wanying tightened her grip on the wine glass slightly, but her speech remained steady.

"It's just a superficial injury, nothing serious." Zhu Xun Chuan paused for a second. "The helicopter will take us back to the Aman Hotel. I'll take her to see the sunrise, and we'll go back later."

The cabin fell into dead silence instantly.

Su Mucheng bit her lip, her eyes reddening. Pei Yanyu lowered her gaze, her fingers slowly smoothing out the fine wrinkles on the silk skirt. Xia Wanying looked at the red wine in her glass and took a deep breath.

"Understood," Xia Wanying replied, her voice regaining the competence of a chaebol queen. "Come back soon. There's a mess in Tokyo waiting for you to clean up."

The phone hangs up.

Su Mucheng clenched her fists and looked up at Xia Wanying: "President Xia, Brother Chuan just bled, and Sister Xiaobai was frightened. It's so cold outside, how can you go out and enjoy the sea breeze?"

"Alright." Xia Wanying put down her wine glass, crossed her legs, and glanced at her. "That girl risked her life, jumping from ten thousand meters in the air. Now, you want to fight her for her?"

Pei Yanyu picked up the warm water in front of her and took a sip, her cold and beautiful face revealing no emotion: "President Xia is right. Insisting on Brother Chuan going back to fetch water at this time would have been a bad move. We've been saved, there's plenty of time to settle things slowly."

Three stunningly beautiful women reached a subtle consensus at 10,000 meters in the air. Jealousy churned in the cramped cabin, but they were forcibly suppressed by their respective high intelligence and skill.

There is a secret passage behind the manor that leads directly to the bay.

Zhu Xun Chuan found a spare speedboat with a full tank of gas. He placed Xiao Bai on the leather-clad passenger seat and started the engine.

The speedboat cleaved through the black waters of Tokyo Bay, circled the winding coastline, and headed towards the uninhabited area behind Mount Fuji.

Forty minutes later, the speedboat anchored below a secluded cliff.