Chapter 8: Mutation (Please Add to Favorites and Recommend)

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PS: The new book has reached fourteenth place on the rankings. Thank you all for your support! Please keep up the momentum so we can break into the top ten. Add to your favorites and let's reach 300 as soon as possible—currently at 218, the daily increase is slow. If we reach 300 in two days, I'll add more chapters. I promise.

Two groups: one chasing and one being chased, a figure pursuing the man in black, a mysterious man in black, and another group of police officers!

What a chaotic stew this was.

Clack!

A gun was drawn!

The police officers were completely unaware, for the scene was too chaotic and too dark; they only saw the knife in the hands of the man in black and the person chasing him.

In an instant!

Sui Yi braced herself on the railing with both hands—she pushed off!

Whoosh!

She leapt over the railing without hesitation!

Bang—a gunshot rang out!

Chaos erupted, unrestrained and wild!

"Sui Yi!!!"

———

From the third floor, not to mention a young girl—even an agile police officer would have a hard time jumping down from there. Lin Quan and the others all thought the troublesome girl would break her leg.

"Who fired the shot!"

"Someone just fired!"

At that moment, the man in black also leapt from the third floor!

Amid the chaos, a group charged down the stairs, police in pursuit, shouting, roaring, threatening. In the crowd, one figure curled his lips coldly, turned his steps, and slipped into the darkness of the stairwell...

A police officer leaned over the railing to look down.

Two people had jumped from the third floor, but the reality was—no one was on the ground floor.

Where had Sui Yi and the man in black gone?

———

In the pitch-black night, beyond the shadowy grove, the Nanxun River flowed merrily, water gurgling. In a patch of darkness, Sui Yi, her legs aching terribly, was thrown to the ground by the man in black. She drew a deep, heavy breath, forcing down the blood burning in her chest.

"It wasn't me who hurt you..." Sui Yi uttered.

The man in black turned, clutching his bullet-pierced arm. "I can see that."

From the way those people were after him, and how Sui Yi seemed oblivious and focused solely on her escape, he could tell.

Sui Yi stared at him coldly.

"But it doesn't matter now. You and I are both involved."

"You know I have nothing to do with this…" Except for that inexplicable fragment.

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"Yes, I know," the man in black grinned, licking the blood from his lips with a cruel smile. "But I have to drag someone down with me, don’t I…"

"Down with you? Seems like there’s someone with a gun after you…" Sui Yi replied nonchalantly, bracing herself on the grass.

His face darkened. "I don’t even know who that is. Maybe your boss hired a hitman."

That remark actually made Sui Yi smile for the first time that day.

"Hiring an armed assassin is too expensive."

In other words, you overestimate yourself—and underestimate Old Tang’s stinginess.

The man in black’s expression stiffened. "He’s looking for me, just for those items. Since you’ve had contact with me, if I say you took something, he’d probably believe it… I think you’d better help me get out of here."

This girl was able to escape the police; she must have some unusual skills. He was desperate and could only treat her as his last hope. Otherwise, he truly had no idea how to escape being surrounded by three sides.

Sui Yi understood his intentions. So, realizing his predicament, he wanted to drag her down with him and force her to help him.

Such a clever ploy!

But Sui Yi didn’t refuse outright. At the moment, the man in black could still kill her.

Her gaze lingered briefly on the knife in his hand.

"All right," she agreed, then tried to move but stopped.

"What’s wrong?" he frowned.

"My leg’s injured. I can’t move..." Sui Yi replied coolly.

He hesitated, but suddenly heard some movement in the distance. His body tensed.

He quickly strode over, grabbed Sui Yi’s arm, and snarled, "Hurry... they’re catching up. Help me find a way out!"

Sui Yi was yanked up by him, her arm swinging instinctively—a handful of sand flung into his eyes.

"Ah!"

Her hand clamped onto his wrist; the knife fell to the ground!

With a clang, the knife was kicked far away, splashing into the river.

"You!"

Now unarmed and blinded, the man in black was crazed and furious. He lunged for Sui Yi. She tried to dodge, but a terrible pain shot through her hand. Her body convulsed, arms tightening as he seized her.

"Go to hell!"

With a mighty heave, the already exhausted Sui Yi was flung straight into the river.

Splash—she hit the water!

On the riverbank, beams from flashlights pierced the woods.

The man in black desperately rubbed his eyes, regaining a little vision through the pain—just enough to see ahead, his face turning deathly pale.

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———

Gurgling, the river seemed tranquil and beautiful, but beneath the surface, especially for Sui Yi—whose every bone ached—it was pure torment.

She could swim, but had no strength; she couldn’t move. Her palm throbbed with pain, crimson threads of blood swirling from her hand, the metallic scent almost suffocating.

Underwater, as her nerves weakened, Sui Yi glanced down and seemed to see the fragment embedded in her palm glowing, dissolving, and then… seeping into her body. No one noticed that, deep in the river, tens of meters below, a body floated as light began to radiate from within her—a shimmering, ancient light, as if from a distant past. Silver threads unfurled from her palm, penetrating her body, wrapping around every cell… enveloping her. Perhaps, it was more a rite than anything else.

———

When Sui Yi awoke, she lay on a soft mattress, wrapped in a faintly scented silk quilt—thin, covering her aching body. She glanced around the room.

Subtle luxury, elegant antiquity.

Beyond the wooden fan doors, the river shimmered, the scenery picturesque—lush trees, tufts of cloud, sunlight streaming in.

Sui Yi sat still for a moment, then propped herself up, suddenly dizzy. Instinctively, she glanced at her palm.

The wound where the fragment had entered was now smooth and unblemished, as though nothing had happened at all.

Was everything last night just a dream?

But if it was a dream, she wouldn’t be here now.

Sui Yi rubbed her palm and remembered to check herself—she was wearing a pale moon-white sleepwear.

It looked like a hospital gown.

But as for the things a girl should be most concerned about, Sui Yi only glanced over them carelessly; her worry was her own condition.

No one was in the room. Sui Yi, unfazed by where she found herself, got out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom.

She swept her gaze around the bathroom, finding no surveillance equipment, but there was no reason for such precautions—if anyone had intended her harm, they could have done so last night.

She observed her surroundings—it was simply a habit.

She checked herself and found that all her previous wounds, including the cut on her arm, had completely healed, not a mark remaining.

In fact, since she was very young, Sui Yi had known there was something odd about her body.

Her recovery rate was remarkable. No matter the injury, she always healed quickly—some twenty or thirty times faster than normal, she’d observed. Strangely, though, her constitution was extremely poor; strength, endurance, speed, resilience—she was lacking in all areas.

Pale skin, frail health—this was what others saw in her.

This strange body seemed even stranger now.

"A wound that large healed in one night. My recovery rate must have increased a hundredfold… Is it because of that fragment?" Sui Yi murmured, touching the mirror, feeling her reflection. She sensed her body was both her own and not her own.

After a while, she put on her sleepwear.

The house was neither large nor small, built in ancient style—likely from the Tang Dynasty, with an open, spacious layout, exquisite yet grand.