“Did Arthur already fuck you?” Emir noticed the disgust and disdain in Tang Mi’s eyes and loosened his grip slightly.

“No,” Tang Mi answered coldly, staring blankly ahead.

“Heh, good! But I can see he’s very fond of you, isn’t he?” Emir suddenly laughed, then ordered to the guard behind him, “Go! Bring the camera.”

“Yes, sir!” The guard immediately opened the door and left.

Emir leaned in, his hand sliding gently across Tang Mi’s cheek before he slowly put his blood-stained fingertip in his mouth, savoring it. “Your blood is sweet—I like it. But I want more.”

With that, he tore open Tang Mi’s outer clothing, revealing her body clad in black lace lingerie.

“I’ll make Arthur watch as his beloved woman writhes and moans beneath me like a whore, then dies with every last drop of blood drained from her severed arteries. And all he’ll be able to do is stare helplessly at the screen, like a defeated hyena!” Emir smiled, his once-beautiful blue eyes now bloodshot and terrifying. That cruel and twisted smile reminded Tang Mi of a medieval executioner who slaughtered women to harvest the blood of virgins.

“Killing me won’t hide your fear. Your ugly truth will soon be exposed. When the president of Country Z finds out you’re secretly leading the rebels, I’m afraid your fate will be worse than mine,” Tang Mi lifted her face with a cold smile. These were her true thoughts—she couldn’t control her words, and she didn’t plan to.

When faced with fear, if you can’t escape, the best way is to confront it.

“Shut up!” Emir tightened his grip on her throat and shouted over his shoulder, “Where’s the camera?!”

“You’ll never see your camera, because a dying man doesn’t need any footage,” came a cold voice from behind, like the silent breath of death.

Emir turned around in shock. The dark barrel of a gun loomed large before him, with Arthur’s emotionless face behind it. He quickly glanced to either side; the guards in the room had had their throats slit and were lying limp on the floor, without him even noticing.

Of course, Emir couldn’t have known that Arthur had leapt from the helicopter, climbed onto a fire truck entering the palace, disguised himself as a firefighter to reach the floor where Emir’s room was, and swiftly taken out all the guards outside before walking in, as if he were entering his own bedroom.

“Didn’t you just say you’d cut her arteries and watch me grovel like a dog?” Arthur pressed the gun to Emir’s forehead, his tone calm, as if he didn’t care about Emir’s earlier threats. There was even a hint of friendliness in his eyes, though Tang Mi knew better than anyone that this was a sign of his impending fury.

“I—” Emir had barely moved his lips when Arthur’s fist smashed into his nose, filling the air with the sickening crack of bone.

Emir’s vision went dark. Before he could even process the pain of his broken nose, a cold bullet tore through his heart. In the darkness, he heard the sound of his own blood gushing and the labored breaths of life slipping away.

Arthur pushed Emir’s body aside, used a knife to cut the ropes binding Tang Mi’s hands and feet, and quickly pulled out a small syringe he always carried on missions, injecting her with the liquid inside.

“This is a mild stimulant; it’ll help you regain strength quickly. Now, let’s go!” Arthur grabbed Tang Mi and ran toward the massive floor-to-ceiling window at the end of the room, biting open the pin on a grenade as he ran and tossing it back.

Outside the room, footsteps and shouts grew louder: “Someone’s broken into the chief’s room! Quick! Kick down the door!”

With a deafening blast, the ornate stained-glass window shattered into pieces. Arthur dropped the heavy chair he was holding, wrapped his arm around Tang Mi, and jumped out of the sixth-floor window. The grenade he’d tossed exploded just as the soldiers burst into the room.

With an even louder sound and impact, a huge ball of orange flames exploded behind them, scattering sparkling glass fragments across the night sky. The vivid light of the flames illuminated their falling figures with a strange, desperate beauty, like two golden-winged birds blazing through the air in an unbreakable arc.

Arthur held her tightly around the waist as they plunged downward. Countless glass and metal shards flew past her face, and the intense heat from the explosion scorched her back. Yet, she felt no fear. She didn’t know if it was the stimulant in her body or the strength of his arms that gave her an inexplicable sense of safety, creating the illusion that she was soaring freely through the air.

As the ground’s grass grew closer, Tang Mi suddenly felt the urge to close her eyes and drift into sleep. But a sharp tug around her waist made her open them. She saw that Arthur had gripped a strong silver wire, with the other end connected to a circular metal anchor attached to the building’s outer wall. They hung suspended between the third floor and the ground.

“Hold on to me. We’re jumping down,” Arthur’s voice echoed in her ear, and in the next moment, they were falling fast again.

The stars over the plateau were as beautiful as ever, but the lawn below had turned into a living inferno. Searchlights on the roof lit up, sweeping the area with blinding beams that left nothing in darkness. Alarms wailed across the sky, intermingled with chaotic voices that sounded like the final cries of a doomed world.

Guards clutching their guns searched everywhere, like unleashed hunting dogs, snarling and panting as they ran wildly. Their prey, however, was just two: Tang Mi and Arthur.

The palace’s security chief stood on the rooftop, binoculars glued to the lawn below, sweat pouring from his forehead. The Emir had been assassinated, the confidential document stolen—all right under his watch. If the culprits escaped, he’d be the first to be sacrificed as collateral, hunted down by every faction. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t spot those two among the chaotic figures of the soldiers.

“Damn it, where could they have hidden?”

“Capture them, dead or alive! Or I’ll execute every last one of you!” the chief yelled into his radio. His bloodshot eyes and trembling, dry voice made him look like a dying jackal, howling hopelessly into the night.

Meanwhile, Arthur and Tang Mi were hiding under the belly of a massive gargoyle statue on the second-floor ledge. The statue’s shadow shielded them from the searchlights and the soldiers’ view.

But this “sanctuary” was only temporary; it wouldn’t last long.

At this moment, Arthur and Tang Mi were hiding under the belly of a gargoyle statue on the second-floor ledge. The statue’s massive shadow shielded them from the searchlights and from the guards’ view. But this “sanctuary” was only temporary; it wouldn’t be long before the guards would find them. Arthur frowned and was just about to pull out the two M12S submachine guns from his backpack when Tang Mi grabbed his arm. He turned to see her pointing down at a drainage manhole below.

He immediately understood—she was suggesting they escape through the manhole, using the underground drainage system to get out. It was a clever idea that would let them slip away silently from the palace and avoid direct confrontation with the guards. After all, there were only two of them, and a frontal assault would be doomed. “She’s like a spell,” Arthur suddenly remembered Yise’s words.

Yes, Tang Mi really was like an enchantment. She always seemed to have something surprising and captivating about her, drawing him in against his better judgment.

Arthur smiled slightly as he looked at her, then quickly and silently dropped to the ground, pulling her along with him. As Arthur supported himself against the manhole’s walls and quietly replaced the cover, the searchlight swept over the bushes in front of it, casting a cold, deathly white glow that made the tiny leaves tremble faintly.

Hours later, Tang Mi, out of breath, crawled up onto the riverbank.

Dawn was breaking, and a pale yellow crescent moon still lingered low on the western horizon, gently watching over the tranquil riverside, reluctant to set.

“Are you alright?” Arthur helped her up from the ground.

“I’m fine, much better than the last time I had to escape into the jungle to avoid you,” Tang Mi said as she stood up with his support, brushing her hair away from her face. Her words were honest, but her expression showed no resentment, only the fatigue from the intense exertion and a bit of relief from having escaped.

“Actually, you didn’t have to run last time—I never intended to kill you,” he said as he helped wring out her soaked clothes and supported her by the waist as they moved toward the dense forest ahead.

“You were really awful back then, though,” she replied, catching her breath and leaning on his shoulder, feeling weak and dizzy, her legs like jelly, almost as if she were recovering from a bad flu. “Thank you for saving me. But why did you come back? Didn’t you already get the weapons contract?”

“Hang in there. We have to get deep into the forest before sunrise to fully lose their trail,” Arthur said. “I saw the signal from the ring you’re wearing and knew you’d been captured by Emir, so I tracked you by its location.” His gaze fell on the small wound on her forehead, feeling a sharp pang of regret and fear. When he’d first seen her on the interrogation chair, her face covered in blood yet her eyes fiercely fixed on Emir with an unyielding fire, he’d felt as though his heart was hollowed out. A deep chill flooded him, but beneath it, a searing intensity surged through his veins.

The only thought in Arthur’s mind was to kill Emir.

Now, finally, she was safe by his side, leaning against his shoulder, nestled in his arm. The feeling of holding her close was fulfilling, just as he had imagined countless times before.

Arthur tightened his hold around Tang Mi’s waist, quickening his pace. He needed to find a safe spot for her to rest; she was nearly exhausted.