Sima Qing turned and walked away.
"You go back to your room first. I’ll come find you later." His retreating figure faintly betrayed a hint of fleeing in disarray.
But Jiu Yue had no mind to dwell on it. She stood frozen in place as if struck by lightning, staring down at her own hand, her mind replaying the scene of Sima Qing’s nosebleed over and over…
Her mood grew heavy.
Returning to her room, Jiu Yue immediately pulled out a dagger and without hesitation drew it across her arm—
The wound wasn’t large, but blood quickly welled up.
The deep crimson liquid was strikingly vivid.
Her heart gave a heavy thud. Belatedly, she pressed a hand to her chest, then rubbed her eyes. What she saw before her was still bright red blood.
Not green pixels.
How could this be?!
Jiu Yue felt dazed. She hadn’t gone out to kill or blur anything these past few days, nor did she know when this change had begun…
Her gaze remained fixed on the wound. She closed her eyes briefly, then quickly steadied herself.
Suddenly, she recalled her afternoon chat with Mei Wuchang on the rooftop, the snake he had been flicking in his hand…
Right—back then, she had still seen green pixels!
It couldn’t be that the protection mechanism had failed just from sleeping, could it?
Today wasn’t even her birthday!
Puzzled, Jiu Yue began retracing her steps from the afternoon… After waking up, she’d eaten a meal and then provoked the yin-yang master.
Sima Qing…
Her lashes fluttered slightly as realization struck. She hastily summoned the progress bar in her mind and saw the increased value at a glance.
It now read 95%.
And the latest entry in the details was her own "affection value."
3%.
Jiu Yue pressed her lips together, closed her eyes, and called out to the system.
"I can’t see the green pixels anymore," she cut straight to the point. "Is this related to the progress bar?"
The system paused, seemingly just as surprised. "How did this happen?"
Jiu Yue: "…You’re asking me?"
Sensing the emotion beneath her calm tone, the system hurriedly reassured her, "Host, wait a moment—I’ll look into it!"
The system fell silent.
Meanwhile, Jiu Yue stared absently at the fresh wound.
Truthfully, after transmigrating for so long, she’d been able to play the role of the top assassin without psychological burden precisely because of the green pixel setting—it was just an immersive game experience.
Sometimes, she didn’t even feel much reality in her interactions with others.
Deep down, she had always believed none of this was real.
But now, she was suddenly seeing real blood… as if it meant she was on the verge of becoming Jiu Yue of this world.
Becoming… a person of this world.
A knock abruptly sounded at her door.
Jiu Yue snapped out of her thoughts a beat too late. After responding, Sima Qing pushed the door open and entered.
"Earlier…" He barely started when his gaze swept over her arm and immediately noticed the anomaly.
"What happened?" His brows furrowed unconsciously.
Jiu Yue shook her head, her emotions tangled, and answered offhandedly, "I was playing with a knife and accidentally cut myself."
Sima Qing: "…"
Naturally, he didn’t believe her.
But when he looked up and saw the absentmindedness in her eyes—how she seemed like a pearl suddenly frosted over, listless and lost—he let go of pressing further.
"That really was careless," he remarked flatly before stepping out again. When he returned, he was carrying supplies.
Neither spoke after that.
One was lost in thought; the other focused on bandaging.
Watching his lowered lashes and attentive expression, Jiu Yue suddenly rested her chin on the table and asked, "What color is the blood you see?"
It was a bizarre and abrupt question.
Sima Qing paused, reacting almost instinctively. "Are you poisoned?"
Jiu Yue: "…No."
But he studied her for a long moment.
Unsettled under his gaze, Jiu Yue averted her eyes first and deflected with a laugh. "I was just asking randomly, haha. It’s silly—"
"Red."
He cut in suddenly.
"And you?"
"Ah…?"
"What color do you see?"
Jiu Yue answered casually, "Red, of course."
"So… it’s red for you too." His tone was light, as if merely repeating her words, yet not quite.
Jiu Yue couldn’t help but look at him again, but Sima Qing had already turned away, shifting the topic to Emperor Yan’s letter.
"If you’ve avenged enough, the Wuying Sect’s guardians should be appointed soon," he said slowly. "Once arrangements here are settled, we’ll return to the palace."
Jiu Yue propped her chin on her hand and mulled over the sect’s affairs.
"Let’s set it for half a month from now."
"Very well."
…
Late at night, in the quiet.
Jiu Yue finally received the system’s reply.
"It is indeed related to the progress bar," the system admitted, clearly also caught off guard by this hidden rule. It ventured cautiously, "Perhaps it serves as a reminder… to prevent the host from becoming too immersed?"
Jiu Yue stayed silent, staring at the bandage on her arm—now obscuring the deep red of the wound.
A small injury, yet within half a shichen, it had already healed completely.
Suddenly, she asked, "And when it reaches 4%… what will remind me then?"
The system hesitated. "The self-healing buff might be revoked…"
Jiu Yue said nothing. After a long while, she finally sighed.
…
In the neighboring room.
Sima Qing sat by the window, his gaze fixed on the candlelight spilling from the two windows outside. It was impossible to tell how long he had been watching.
Unconsciously, his thoughts wandered through many things.
The corpse he had buried with his own hands had been a feigned death—that, at least, could be explained.
But the day she was poisoned, he had stayed by her side the entire time. Witnessing her return from death had been nothing short of a seismic shock to his understanding of life and demise.
Emperor Yan assumed Mr. Bai had provided the antidote; Mr. Bai believed Sima Qing had administered a detoxifying pill in advance. Yet Sima Qing knew the truth—Jiu Yue had awakened simply after days and nights of sleep.
And tonight, she had suddenly become so distraught, asking that strange, almost nonsensical question…
What color is blood?
Could blood be any other color?
There were no questions without reason… What had she been thinking when she asked that?
Lost in thought, the light outside suddenly went out.
The neighboring room had extinguished its lamp.
After a silent pause, Sima Qing rose and blew out his own candle.
He did not sleep the entire night.
