The fingers on her wrist were icy cold, even colder than the biting wind. The chill made Li Ruoshui shiver, goosebumps rising on her skin.

Only then did she remember: Lu Zhiyao was always dressed so lightly.

In March, he wore just an inner garment with tied sleeves and a single outer robe. The wind tugged at his clothes, and she could still see the smile on his face—at first glance gentle and warm, but in truth, it was a smile that bordered on self-torment.

She had always thought he wasn’t cold. But his hand told a different story.

She also recalled the wild, unrestrained look he’d just had. All of it left Li Ruoshui feeling confused.

Beneath that springlike, gentle mask of his was something closer to a bloodthirsty demon ready to kill.

Her early misjudgment of him was entirely thanks to the original novel. It had never bothered to sketch out Lu Zhiyao’s background in detail, leaving her with nothing but a one-dimensional impression of him as gentle and deeply devoted.

That book really misled me, she thought.

Her thoughts drifted. She let out a faint sigh.

“What was that just now?”

Lu Zhiyao, having gotten no reply, sat up. They were separated by barely a finger’s width, but in the darkness and cold, the boundary between them seemed to blur. It wasn’t until she heard his voice that she realized how close they were.

“Why did you bite me?”

His cool breath was right in front of her. Li Ruoshui quickly scooted back to put some space between them.

“Who bit you?”

Lu Zhiyao reached out and grabbed the long sword at his side. With a metallic rasp, he drew it halfway from its scabbard.

The sound of the blade sent cold sweat down Li Ruoshui’s back. She hurriedly pressed down on his hand.

“Wait! I didn’t mean to kiss you!”

Lu Zhiyao paused for a moment, then nodded as realization dawned on him. The tense atmosphere eased immediately.

“So that’s what a kiss is.”

Li Ruoshui hadn’t felt anything in particular at first, but his strangely earnest and innocent tone made her feel an inexplicable wave of embarrassment. She reflexively reached up to touch her lips.

Just then, Jiang Nian’s voice came shouting hoarsely from above the cave.

“Did you get down?”

She drew a breath into her dantian and shouted back up.

“We’re at the bottom!”

A moment later, another call came from above.

“Okay, we’re coming!”

Li Ruoshui quickly felt her way to the edge of the net and carefully climbed off it, afraid of stepping wrong and falling. By contrast, Lu Zhiyao simply twisted his body and landed lightly on the ground.

As soon as they got off the net, the pulley mechanism began to haul it slowly back up, locking into place with a clack at the spot where it had caught them before.

In the pitch darkness, Lu Zhiyao moved as if he were walking on level ground. His manner was no different from usual. He paused to listen intently for a moment, then turned to head somewhere—only for Li Ruoshui to grab the hem of his robe and yank him back.

“Where are you going?”

“Out. If you’re underground, you just follow the water and the wind and you’ll get out. I’ve done it before.”

Li Ruoshui pulled him back by his robe, sounding for all the world like an exasperated mother lecturing her child.

“We have to wait for the other two. It’s too dark here—we can’t see anything. It’s better to have more people. If something happens, at least we can help each other.”

Lu Zhiyao let her pull him closer and stood quietly by her side before nodding slightly.

“True.”

He knew people were selfish in life-and-death situations. He was curious to see how Li Ruoshui would react if the other two abandoned her—whether she’d end up crying and begging him to save her like before.

The cave was pitch-dark, you couldn’t see your own hand in front of your face. The ground was uneven, muddy, and pooled with water. The nearby river was loud, its echo magnified in the cavern, creating an eerie atmosphere.

Li Ruoshui was completely blind in this darkness, but Lu Zhiyao moved as if it were nothing. He even helpfully led her over to the side of the cave to wait.

As if he disliked the silence, Lu Zhiyao spoke up.

“That jump just now—was it fun?”

His tone had lost the harsh edge it sometimes carried. The wildness from before seemed to have been tucked away again, replaced by that usual mild, warm softness, like someone from a gentle Jiangnan water town.

But Li Ruoshui was gradually growing immune to that softness.

“It wasn’t fun.”

She didn’t want to comment on his sudden fit of madness earlier. At least now she understood why he’d been handed the “good person” rejection. Someone like Lu Feiyue would never fall for a hidden lunatic.

“I answered you earlier—so why did you still jump?”

Lu Zhiyao just smiled at her question, his reply just as soft and calm.

“I don’t remember saying I’d stop just because you answered.”

Li Ruoshui was momentarily at a loss for words. He really hadn’t said anything like that.

Lu Zhiyao seemed to savor the memory of what had happened, his expression faintly delighted.

“I wanted to see your reaction, but I ended up discovering something else instead—”

“…” She really didn’t want to hear it.

From above, Jiang Nian’s voice rang out—they must have made it down. But Lu Zhiyao didn’t even seem to notice. He just kept talking about whatever entertained him.

“Turns out someone’s heartbeat can race that much.”

His fingers tapped against his sword, the rhythm quickening. Eventually, he even let out a low laugh.

“It actually made my own heart speed up a little. It was a really strange feeling.”

It had been a pure reflex from being terrified, but he sounded like he was describing genuine excitement. She had to admit—his idea of what was “fun” was truly bizarre.

Li Ruoshui quietly took a step away from him.

“You even heated up then. All of a sudden, you were like a ball of fire.”

Lu Zhiyao stopped laughing, but the lift in his voice at the end gave him away. He sounded just like a child who’d found a new favorite toy—there was unmistakable curiosity and amusement in his words.

“That’s just a normal human reaction to a life-threatening situation. And the reason I felt like a ‘ball of fire’ is because your body temperature is so low.”

Who didn’t get an adrenaline surge when they were scared? But he clearly treated even dying as a game—no wonder he’d never experienced anything like that.

In the dark, his voice lost the disguise of his handsome face and polite manner. The underlying deranged quality stood out starkly.

No one would think he was infinitely gentle after hearing that tone.

Really, people need their looks to cover things up a bit.

Above them, the shouting was growing closer. The other two were almost here.

Nearby, the pulley squeaked and rattled again as the net lowered. They could hear Jiang Nian’s anxious voice as they landed.

“Feiyue, are you okay? Did I hurt you?”

Then came Lu Feiyue’s embarrassed and annoyed voice: “Get off!”

The two of them scrambled off the net, and then a faint green glow lit up, illuminating their faces in a hazy, ghostly way.

Lu Feiyue carried the glowing fluorite over and handed the brightest one to Li Ruoshui.

“Bringing fluorite for cases is just habit, but it’s so dark in here the light’s not really enough. We’ll have to make do.”

Jiang Nian also held up his fluorite, glancing up at the cave ceiling with a note of pride in his voice.

“This cave is deep, sure, but if I have a few throwing knives to use as footholds, I can climb back up.”

Li Ruoshui nodded as she accepted the largest fluorite. Remembering the original book’s description of him as an insufferable show-off, she teased him out of habit.

“Right. Honestly, you don’t even need the knives. Just put your left foot on your right foot and climb that way.”

Lu Feiyue, who had been perfectly serious before, suddenly burst out laughing, unable to hold it in.

She quickly turned away, trying to recover her aloof demeanor, but the laughter kept slipping through. It made her seem less stern and more like a lively young woman.

Jiang Nian’s mouth fell open in surprise. He stared at Lu Feiyue for a moment before sidling over to Li Ruoshui.

“Teach me how to tell jokes like that?”

“…We can talk about it after we get out.”

Lu Feiyue cleared her throat and started walking along the river, holding up the glowing stone. Jiang Nian immediately turned to follow her.

A damp, chilly wind blew in from behind. Li Ruoshui turned back and grabbed Lu Zhiyao’s sleeve, raising her fluorite to light the way as they followed the other two.

“Your cane’s still back in the dungeon. I’ll just guide you for now.”

Lu Zhiyao paused for a moment before that familiar gentle smile returned.

“Thank you.”

Holding up their fluorite stones, the group could only make out the rough outline of the underground river’s path. The water beside them wasn’t deep, but it was fast-moving, sometimes splashing high enough to wet their hems.

Even though they were underground, the air flowed freely. It wasn’t stuffy at all—just uncomfortably cold.

Li Ruoshui, who had broken into a cold sweat earlier, felt even colder now that the wind hit her. She shivered uncontrollably and sneezed.

“Achoo—!”

She rubbed her nose, only to hear Lu Zhiyao give a soft laugh that she couldn’t quite decipher.

They kept walking forward. The river channel gradually widened, but the current was squeezed into narrow, fast-moving streams, though the water was noticeably shallower than before.

At the end of the channel, three unevenly sized cave openings appeared. The rushing water split into three separate branches, disappearing into the pitch-black tunnels.

A few large stones were set in the river, leaving barely half an inch between them and the cave mouths—almost like they were inviting people to step on them and enter the tunnels.

Jiang Nian was the first to climb onto the stones. Holding up his fluorite, he carefully shone it into all three tunnels, but the dim light didn’t reach very far.

He turned back to the others.

“There are three tunnels here, but we definitely shouldn’t split up. It’s too dangerous.”

Lu Feiyue nodded in agreement and also stepped onto the stones.

“We can check each tunnel partway in. If anyone has used them, there’ll be some trace left behind.”

Seeing them start to examine the entrances, Li Ruoshui nudged Lu Zhiyao back a little and gave his shoulder a reassuring pat.

“You wait here for a moment. I’ll go take a look with them.”

In the original novel, the protagonists hadn’t taken this path when they caught the traffickers. Dropping into the underground area like this had completely taken her by surprise.

If they found nothing today and Lu Zhiyao lost interest halfway through, she didn’t doubt for a second that she’d end up dead on the spot.

Just as she took her first step away, Lu Zhiyao grabbed her collar and hauled her back onto the bank.

“This way,” he said, pointing to the third tunnel.

Lu Feiyue went to inspect the third tunnel too and turned back to ask, “Why that one?”

“Because of the sound of the water.”

Neither Lu Feiyue nor Jiang Nian doubted his hearing for even a moment. After all, he’d already proven he could locate mechanisms just by sound.

They exchanged a glance, then nodded at Li Ruoshui.

“All right, let’s check that one first.”

Li Ruoshui pried herself free of his grip and was the first to take a big step onto one of the stones. The icy water washed over her feet, soaking her shoes and socks with biting cold.

“Ah—it’s freezing.”

She shivered, then deliberately kicked at the water to make a splash, trying to show him exactly where to step, worried he wouldn’t see it and would miss his footing.

“Step here—can you tell where it is?”

In the greenish glow of the fluorite, his features were blurred, but she could still make out the hint of a smile.

“I think so.” He stepped forward without hesitation until he was at the edge of the water.

“One more step and you’ll be in the river,” Li Ruoshui warned urgently, lifting the fluorite for a better look. “Hold out your hand. I’ll pull you.”

She completely forgot, in that moment, that this was a wuxia world where none of them actually needed her to worry about stepping on the rocks.

Lu Zhiyao slung his sword at his side and reached his hand forward. A moment later, he felt a warm grip wrap around his fingertips.

“Jump just a bit in this direction,” Li Ruoshui said. “So you don’t slip and fall in.”

So this is what it feels like to be held by someone.

Lu Zhiyao raised an eyebrow slightly, listened for the sound of the water, and then leapt, landing right in front of Li Ruoshui.

They bumped into each other face-to-face. Li Ruoshui quickly wrapped an arm around his waist to steady him, then kept her hold as she guided him toward the tunnel.

“Come on, hurry up! We’ll lose them if we don’t. It’s pitch dark and freezing here—we can’t let it end up being just the two of us.”

He could feel her arm around his waist, every detail of that contact painfully clear. Lu Zhiyao’s smile froze, and even his steps turned oddly stiff.

They were too close. No one had ever been this close to him before.

People either hated him or feared him—no one had ever come near him like this, with protective intent.

So—

Should he break her wrist right now? Or slice open her throat?

He wondered if, when she realized she was about to die, her body would heat up and her heart race, bringing a new rhythm to this cold, dark cavern.

That thought actually pleased him.

Lu Zhiyao let out a low, quiet laugh. His right hand moved to the hilt of his sword, fingers trembling slightly as he drew a slow breath to steady himself—

“Careful!”

Li Ruoshui yanked him suddenly. They both fell against the stone wall, and he ended up buried in her soft, warm embrace.

=^_^=