Ice skates forward, regardless of east or west.

1

The air in the abandoned ice rink was thick with the smell of alcohol.

Gu Xidong collapsed to the ground, like a lump of mud.

He was still clutching the empty bottle tightly in his hand, the dark liquid overflowing from the bottle opening, wetting the stray hairs on his forehead, and sliding down the contours of his cheeks like a black tear.

His face was flushed, his breathing was heavy, his chest heaved violently, and he was muttering incoherently.

"Drink...keep drinking..."

"Who's afraid of who..."

Ling Wuwen stood at the edge of the ice rink, holding a dry towel in his hand.

She looked at Gu Xidong on the ground, her eyes no longer showing the usual disgust and irritation, but only a cold, scrutinizing look.

She knew he was acting.

Since their confrontation in the storage room, they have entered a dangerous honeymoon period.

Or rather, it's a truce period.

But at this moment, Gu Xidong's sudden "indulgence" was clearly not for the sake of simply getting drunk.

He was testing the waters.

He was using her "care" for him to gather intelligence.

Ling Wuwen took a deep breath, suppressing the cold laugh in his heart.

it is good.

You want to act.

Then I'll play along with you.

2

She walked over, squatted down, and reached out to help him.

"Gu Xidong, get up. Don't lie on the ice, you'll freeze."

Her tone carried a perfectly balanced, helpless gentleness.

Gu Xidong's body suddenly stiffened.

Then he began to struggle violently.

"Don't touch me!" he roared, his voice hoarse. "Get away! All of you get away!"

He swung his arm and smashed a bottle onto the ice, sending shards of glass flying everywhere.

"You bunch of bastards! You're all liars!"

He cursed and coughed, his face covered in tears and snot.

"Gu Xidong, wake up!" Ling Wuwen grabbed his arm, trying to control his movements. "It's me, Ling Wuwen!"

"Ling Wuwen?"

Gu Xidong suddenly stopped moving.

He looked up, his eyes, red from the alcohol, fixed intently on her.

His eyes were empty and lost, like a drowning person grasping at the last straw.

"You are... Ling Wuwen?"

"Yes, it's me." Ling Wuwen supported his swaying body, letting him lean against her. "I'll take you back to rest."

"No! I'm not going back!"

Gu Xidong suddenly began to struggle again, like a wild beast out of control, and pushed Ling Wuwen away violently.

Ling Wuwen stumbled and fell on the ice.

Gu Xidong didn't look at her; he just held his head and curled up in pain.

"My head hurts... my head hurts so much..."

"The lights that night..."

"The stadium lights... why did they suddenly go out..."

"I remember... I remember it was very dark... I couldn't see anything..."

As he spoke, he pounded his head hard with his fist, as if trying to force those fragmented memories out of his mind.

"Why...why did the light go out...?"

"My partner...where is my partner...?"

His voice was filled with pain and fear.

That cannot be faked.

Ling Wuwen sat on the ice, watching his pained expression, and his heart clenched.

She knew what he was talking about.

That was just before the "black swan event" occurred.

Just before the show that would decide the fate of the team began, the main lights in the stadium suddenly went out for three seconds.

Although the backup power immediately started and restored the lighting, those three seconds of darkness became a turning point in Gu Xidong's career.

The official explanation is: circuit malfunction.

But Gu Xidong never believed it.

At that moment, he was pretending to be drunk, but he brought up this detail.

He was pressuring her to respond.

He was forcing her to expose herself.

3

Ling Wuwen sat on the ice, motionless.

She watched Gu Xidong writhe in agony, repeating the same question over and over again: "Why did the light go out...?"

She is waiting.

She was waiting for him to reveal more flaws.

But Gu Xidong is very cunning.

He was just repeating that sentence; there were no other clues.

Time passed by, second by second.

The temperature inside the ice rink is getting lower and lower.

Gu Xidong's body began to tremble uncontrollably.

His lips turned somewhat purple.

That wasn't an act.

He had really been lying on the ice for too long, and his body couldn't take it anymore.

Ling Wuwen knew that if she didn't take the bait, his act would be over.

Or rather, his health might actually develop problems.

She slowly got up, walked to his side, and squatted down again.

This time, she didn't help him up.

Instead, she sat beside him, looking at the dim light bulb in the center of the ice rink, and said softly:

"Because someone cut off the backup power."

4

The air froze instantly.

Gu Xidong's trembling suddenly stopped.

He didn't look up, he didn't look at her.

But in his bloodshot eyes, all traces of drunkenness vanished instantly.

Instead, there was a sharper, colder light than ice.

He succeeded.

He used himself as bait to lure her into the trap.

That's not just a circuit malfunction.

Someone deliberately cut off the backup power.

Those three seconds of darkness became a fatal foreshadowing.

This detail has never been made public.

Even the police investigation report only stated "the main circuit was short-circuited, and the backup power supply started normally."

The conclusion that "someone cut off the backup power" is a conjecture that Gu Xidong came to over the past three years through countless simulations and deductions.

He never told anyone.

And now, Ling Wuwen, the woman he had known for less than a month, the "Avenger Goddess" he thought was just there to use him for revenge, casually stated his conclusion.

She knows too much.

This was definitely not the first time she had heard this story.

She might even...

Right there on the scene.

Ling Wuwen regretted saying those words as soon as they were spoken.

She saw Gu Xidong's stiff body and the change in his eyes.

She knew she had fallen into a trap.

But she didn't panic.

She just sat there quietly, watching him.

"How did you know?" Gu Xidong finally asked.

His voice was no longer muffled or hoarse.

Clear and calm, like an ice dagger piercing straight into the heart.

"Because..." Ling Wuwen's brain was racing.

She was thinking of an excuse.

A perfect excuse that can be used to cover things up.

"Because I've investigated it."

"I checked all the information from that year."

"I guessed."

But Gu Xidong didn't give her the chance to make up lies.

He braced himself against the ground and slowly stood up.

His movements were steady and powerful, without the slightest trace of drunkenness.

He looked down at her, his eyes filled with a dangerous sense of oppression she had never seen before.

"You didn't guess."

He approached her step by step.

"That investigation report only mentioned a main circuit failure."

"Whether the backup power outage was caused by human error or an accident is not determined in the report."

How did you know that "someone" cut it off?

Were you... there at the time?

His last words were like a bomb exploding above Ling Wuwen's head.

5

Ling Wuwen sat on the ice, looking up at him.

He was no longer that drunken, useless man.

He was the proud albatross who once stood at the top of the world.

The despondency and confusion of the past were gone from his eyes.

Only a cold, scrutinizing, and even slightly murderous glint in its eyes.

He knew she was lying to him.

He knew she had a secret.

But what he didn't know was that her secret was much bigger than he imagined.

Ling Wuwen slowly stood up.

She and he were face to face, less than ten centimeters apart.

She could smell the strong smell of alcohol on him, and she could also smell the vibrant life force beneath his skin, the kind that belongs to a top athlete.

"Gu Xidong," she said softly, "some things are better left unknown than known."

"Dead people won't be hunted down."

Gu Xidong smiled.

It was a cold, slightly mocking smile.

Are you threatening me?

"No," Ling Wuwen smiled as well, "I was... reminding you."

"Your enemy is much closer than you think."

She reached out and gently straightened his disheveled collar.

"For example, the guy who brought you the wine... Old Zhao."

Gu Xidong's eyes narrowed sharply.

He looked at her.

He was trying to determine whether what she said was true or false.

She was telling him that she knew Lao Zhao was a "black swan".

She was telling him that they had a common enemy.

But is that really her goal?

Or is this just another, more sophisticated trap she's set?

Gu Xidong closed his eyes.

When he opened his eyes again, the dangerous, lucid "albatross" had transformed back into the drunken, decadent Gu Xidong.

He swayed slightly, as if everything that had just happened was merely Ling Wuwen's illusion.

"Old Zhao? The one who delivers the alcohol?" He hiccuped, his eyes becoming glazed over again. "Oh...right...Old Zhao...where's the alcohol...I want some..."

He muttered to himself as he stumbled toward the edge of the ice rink.

After taking a few steps, he suddenly stopped.

Without turning around, the voice came clearly.

"Ling Wuwen, remember this."

"In this ruin, don't easily trust anyone."

"Including... the person who seems to need your care the most."

After saying that, he walked into the darkness without looking back.

Ling Wuwen stood there, watching his disappearing figure.

She raised her hand and touched her cheek.

Just now, as Gu Xidong passed by her, he said something in a voice that only the two of them could hear.

He said:

"How did you get that scar on your neck?"

That was the mark he left when he accidentally cut Ling Wufeng with his ice skate years ago.

A secret known only to Ling Wufeng and Gu Xidong.

Gu Xidong, how much does he actually know?

His words were a warning to her.

Or are we... confirming her identity?

Ling Wuwen slowly clenched his fist.

She looked in the direction where Gu Xidong had disappeared, and for the first time, a genuine, undisguised panic flashed in her eyes.

This cat-and-mouse game.

She thought she was a cat.

Little did they know that they might be the mouse being played with in the palm of someone's hand.