But another voice overpowered the fear.
She was running.
Really running.
No one was stopping her, no one was gripping her wrist, no cold fingers pressed against her waist through her clothes.
Since the fifth day after she'd crossed into this world, she had been chased, caught, locked up, watched, controlled, forced to obey orders.
Now—
Wind rushed into the alley, carrying the metallic smell of rain, making it hard to keep her eyes open.
But she was running.
With her own legs, in a direction she had chosen.
The feeling almost made her want to laugh out loud.
She took a deep breath, letting rain and cold wind flood into her lungs.
Then rationality quickly returned.
The tracking function on the collar wasn't active now, but that didn't mean there were no other ways to track her.
The safest move was to shake Sister Zhou off first, find a place to remove the collar, toss it in the opposite direction to create a false signal, then blend into the refugees in another district and get a new identity.
The alley ahead suddenly opened up.
A clearing surrounded by ruins. Not very large.
The ground was cracked concrete, overgrown with knee-high dead weeds in the middle, surrounded by collapsed building remnants on all sides.
The rain was falling harder now.
The sky was dark and heavy, and the curtain of rain struck the puddles on the ground, splashing up countless tiny white droplets.
Jiang Nuan stopped at the edge of the clearing.
Sister Zhou kept walking forward, but after a few steps realized she wasn't following and turned back anxiously.
"It's right up ahead, let's go!"
Jiang Nuan stood in the rain, her soaked hair plastered to her cheeks, water dripping from her chin.
She looked at Sister Zhou.
"Sister Zhou."
"Who exactly sent you to find me?"
Sister Zhou's footsteps faltered.
"You… what nonsense are you talking about?" She forced a smile. "It was your friend. Didn't I tell you? Someone came asking about you—"
"You mean," Jiang Nuan interrupted, "my 'friend' kidnapped your son and threatened you to find me and bring me here?"
Sister Zhou's face instantly collapsed.
Rainwater streamed down her short hair, flowing over the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes.
"How… how did you know?"
Jiang Nuan looked at her. "No mother leaves her sick son alone in a clinic to run around with someone who's barely an acquaintance."
Sister Zhou's lips began to tremble.
"Your son isn't in that clinic at all," Jiang Nuan continued. "Combined with what you're doing right now, the only possibility is that he was taken away."
"They made you take me somewhere."
Silence.
Only the sound of rain pelting the gravel.
Then Sister Zhou's body seemed to lose all its support. She went limp, wrapped her arms around her head, and squatted on the ground.
"I had no choice… Xiao Jiang, I really had no choice!"
"That clinic is their safe house! Those people… those people in white coats, they're all part of it. They came yesterday and took Yang Yang. They said if I tricked you into coming, Yang Yang would be fine…"
She lifted her head. Her face was a mess—whether rain or tears, it was impossible to tell.
"What was I supposed to do? He's my son… he's dying, and he's all I have…"
"I didn't even know where to find you. But then you came to me."
Jiang Nuan finally understood why so many white coats had suddenly poured out to cause chaos earlier. It turned out that place was one of the so-called "friend's" locations.
Jiang Nuan stood quietly, watching the kneeling woman break down and sob. She didn't feel much anger inside—only a deep sense of sorrow and caution.
This was the apocalypse.
Everyone was struggling just to survive. Betrayal and selling people out were the cheapest currency.
Hadn't the original owner's note already warned her?
"First, tell me who sent you to find me."
Jiang Nuan reached her hand into the inner pocket of her combat suit.
"Explain clearly, and I'll consider going with you. If not—"
She pulled out a small silver handgun, the muzzle aimed steadily at Sister Zhou.
Of course, she wouldn't actually go with Sister Zhou. But she had to know who was looking for her.
Sister Zhou's eyes went wide. Panic made her scramble backward, crawling on her hands and knees. "A gun… how do you have a gun?"
"Speak," Jiang Nuan said coldly, spitting out a single word.
Sister Zhou waved her hands frantically, stammering, "It was something like… Heaven… uh…"
"Heavenly Revelation Society."
A man's voice cut in from behind, out of nowhere.
The voice was clear, relaxed, carrying a hint of carefree amusement, lazily cutting off Sister Zhou's words.
Jiang Nuan's pupils contracted sharply. Her body's instinct moved faster than her mind. She spun around, both hands gripping the gun, the muzzle instantly aimed at the source of the voice.
Less than ten meters away, sitting on an abandoned oil drum, was a man she hadn't noticed before.
He held a black umbrella. He was tall and lean, wearing a well-tailored black coat.
His skin was a pallid, sickly white, the kind that never saw sunlight. His eyes were long and narrow, with a faint, knowing smile curling at the corner of his mouth.
Flanking him stood two burly men in black clothes, their bodies imposing.
Rainwater dripped off the umbrella's ribs. The man looked at Jiang Nuan and raised an eyebrow.
"After all this trouble, haven't you had enough fun?" His voice drifted faintly through the rain. "It's time to come with us."
Jiang Nuan's grip on the gun tightened.
Had enough fun?
Those words stabbed into her mind, into the blank stretch of her erased memories.
His tone was too casual—casual, like he was calling a runaway home.
She didn't know him.
But he knew her.
A strange chill rose from her stomach.
The man watched her defensive posture as if it were something amusing and sighed helplessly.
"Looks like the fun isn't over yet." He shook his head, his tone like he was indulging a child throwing a tantrum. "But this time, you have to come back with me. The leader's patience has limits."
Jiang Nuan's mind raced.
Heavenly Revelation Society. The original owner's note: "Don't trust anyone." Wiped memories.
This man clearly knew the original owner, and the connection was deep.
But her gut told her that going with him would only lead to disaster.
And she absolutely could not reveal that her memories had been altered.
Without a moment's hesitation.
Jiang Nuan's eyes sharpened. Her fingers squeezed the trigger.
"BANG!"
The silver handgun spat fire. The bullet tore through the curtain of rain, aimed straight for the man's forehead.
But the instant the bullet was about to hit him, his figure blurred.
Jiang Nuan's vision flickered. The oil drum was empty.
The next second, his voice came from less than five meters to her left.
"Your marksmanship has gotten rusty."
Jiang Nuan whipped her head around.
Her mind went completely blank in that instant.
The man stood there, completely unharmed. Rainwater dripped quietly from his umbrella, as if nothing had happened.
Teleportation?!
Space-element ability?
Tumultuous shock surged through her heart. Not just because of his ability, but because of his words: "Your marksmanship has gotten rusty."
Was the original owner very good with a gun?
She had only learned how to use a gun back at Zero Squad’s base!
In that erased stretch of memory, just how many more things had the original owner hidden from her?
“Sorry.” The man’s smile faded, and his eyes turned cold. “The leader gave orders this time—no matter what, we have to bring you back.”
He lifted his chin slightly and waved a hand.
In an instant, the man in black standing beside him raised a miniature submachine gun.
His movement was too fast—far too fast for Jiang Nuan to even react.
“Bang!”
The moment the gunshot rang out, Jiang Nuan felt a searing, scorching pain in her right calf.
The bullet had grazed the outside of her lower leg with deadly precision, tearing a spray of blood.
A fiery, agonizing sensation instantly spread through her entire body, draining the strength from her leg.
“Hnngh...”
Jiang Nuan let out a muffled groan. Her legs gave way, and she stumbled backward, collapsing onto the rain-soaked, rubble-strewn ground.
Muddy water splashed all over her.
Blood gushed rapidly from the wound, dyeing the rainwater around her a vivid, piercing red.
