He Yi was both shocked and overjoyed to see me. She tried wiping her tears, but they just wouldn’t stop flowing out of her tear ducts. Her eyes looked very misty as a result.

“Is that really you?”

I was still kneeling on the floor when He Yi staggered toward me. Suddenly, she shivered, closed her eyes and broke into tears. “I thought you were gone forever, I thought…”

“Boss, I… you…”

Suddenly, I noticed that her shoulder was hurt. Something had cut through the fabric of her black uniform, and a dangerous amount of blood was gushing out of the wound. Moreover, her right arm was hanging in a way that suggested that it was broken. In fact, now that I got a good look at it, the white sleeve covering her arm was completely drenched in blood.

“Uuuu…”

He Yi looked up and closed her eyes. Tears kept pouring down her cheeks and dripping on my shoulder when suddenly, she suddenly turned limp and collapsed into my arms. Did she… faint?

“Boss?”

Holding He Yi, I glanced at the spot she had climbed out of earlier and saw something frightening. Apparently, she had been held down by a concrete slab with rebars sticking out of the surface before I came. Some parts of the slab were smeared with blood. I couldn’t even imagine the courage it took to pull herself free and climb back to her feet.

The fire was spreading insanely quick, and I could barely find my bearing as I held He Yi in my arms. I shouted, “Sister Mingyue!”

But no one replied, so I gritted my teeth and ran out through the fire!

The fire continued to spread, and soon half the district was covered in smoke. Outside the main hall, a lot of firemen were organizing the evacuation effort.

When Beiming Xue saw me, she immediately ran out of the crowd, passed the blockade line and stopped in front of me, “Boss! Boss, are you okay?”

I nodded and smiled tiredly at her. “I’m fine…”

Then she saw He Yi, and her mouth fell open. “Boss… Who is she? She’s so beautiful…”

“She’s He Yi,” I said simply before shouting at the crowd. “Ambulance! We need an ambulance! Quickly…”

A couple of paramedics rushed toward me. I put He Yi on the stretcher and tried to pull away, but I quickly discovered that one of her hands was gripping my wrist very, very tightly. It was impossible to break free.

One of the nurses clenched his teeth and made a snap decision. “Can you come with us?”

“Sure!”

As I climbed onto the ambulance, Beiming Xue shouted from behind me, “Boss! What about me?”

I gave her a nod and said, “Come see me at the hospital.”

“Okay…”

…...

The ambulance turned on the siren and zoomed toward the municipal hospital.

I looked down. He Yi’s exquisite face looked a little pale, and a bit of soot was covering her forehead. It wasn’t enough to hide her beauty, however. She looked like she was trapped in a long nightmare, and her eyelashes were trembling slightly. Also, her grip around my wrist was growing tighter and tighter.

A doctor who was busy disinfecting the wounded glanced at me and asked, “Are you her boyfriend?”

I shook my head in a daze.

“I’m going to disinfect her wounds now.”

“Okay.” I gave him a nod before asking, “Doctor, is she doing well?”

“Her blood pressure is normal, and her heart rate is stable. She’s a bit agitated, but her wounds are all superficial…”

“I see.”

I relaxed. Suddenly, I recalled Murong Mingyue. She had probably attended the inspection with He Yi. Did she escape safely?

I took out my phone and called Murong Mingyue. To my surprise, the call went through. She was crying on the other side on the phone.

“Lu Chen, where are you? There was an accident in the factory just now, and Eve is caught up in it… Uuuu, I couldn’t find Eve, I couldn’t find her anywhere…”

Touched by her compassion, I smiled and gave her the good news. “Boss is fine, sister. She’s with me right now. We’re on the way to the municipal hospital. She only has some minor injuries.”

“Oh! Ah…” Murong Mingyue was so surprised and overjoyed that she could barely form a coherent sentence. “Okay, I’m coming over right now!”

…...

It didn’t take long before we reached the hospital, and some inspecting, disinfecting and bandaging later, He Yi’s treatment was more or less done. However, she still hadn’t woken up yet.

I stayed by He Yi’s side and watched over her after she was transported into a sick ward. I couldn’t not watch her anyway since she was still gripping my wrist tightly.

Bam!

Someone threw open the door loudly. It was Murong Mingyue. She was dressed in a coffee-colored uniform, and her face was etched with worry. The moment she saw He Yi on the bed, she asked me in an urgent tone, “How is Eve, Lu Chen?”

“She’s stable. I’m just waiting for her to wake up.”

“Oh, that’s great!”

Murong Mingyue took a seat next to the bed before looking at me and He Yi. A while later, she started, “So, how did you find Eve? Tell me everything.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “Is this really the time to make fun of me?”

“Hehehe…” A small smile appeared on Murong Mingyue’s face. “Our Lu Chen has finally found to courage to come home!”

I nodded. Now that I had appeared in front of He Yi, it was only a matter of time before Bloody Mercenaries returned to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls.

He Yi let out a silent groan, probably because her wounds were still hurting a little. But more importantly, it meant that she was awake.

Murong Mingyue and I turned around at the same time. We immediately saw Eve staring at the both of us with wide eyes.

“Boss…”

“Eve…”

Murong Mingyue and I murmured at the same time.

He Yi abruptly sat up and hugged me like her life depended on it. She didn’t say a word, but the tears drenching my shirt told me everything I needed to know.

Murong Mingyue was stunned by her reaction. She gave He Yi a couple minutes of silence before letting out a cough.

Finally waking up from her stupor, He Yi’s cheeks immediately turned red with embarrassment. It only took her a short while to regain her cool. She was the GGS’s Asia Region Vice President. She could summon the necessary self-control if she wanted to.

He Yi stared into my eyes and said angrily, “Where have you been these past few weeks?”

Unsure how to answer her question, I looked down on my feet instead.

Murong Mingyue laughed and helped me out. “He’s been busy leveling up, of course. He’s now Top 3 of Floating Ice City’s Heavenly Ranking, and he’s founded a guild called ‘Bloody Mercenaries’. Are you satisfied with this answer, Eve?”

He Yi pressed her lips together and stared at me even harder than before. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand back then?”

I shivered. She still remembers that? Women truly are petty creatures. More importantly, how the hell am I going to answer this?

I looked at Murong Mingyue with SOS flashing behind my eyes. The latter hurriedly bent down and grabbed He Yi’s shoulder, smiling. “Eve, you’re acting like you’re interrogating a suspect! He might run away again if you keep this up!”

He Yi opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something. She looked at me again and asked, “Lu Chen, you ran into the fire to save me. Weren’t you worried that you might die?”

I looked away and said, “Aiya, tonight’s moon is so nice…”

“...”

He Yi finally pursed her lips and gave up. She looked at Murong Mingyue and said, “Can you call the head doctor over?”

“Okay!”

Murong Mingyue went away, and soon an old doctor with white hair walked in and asked, “Is there anything I can help you with?”

He Yi nodded and asked, “How soon can I check out of the hospital?”

The doctor replied, “We need to observe you for a day before we discharge you, so that will be tomorrow.”

He Yi said, “I would like to check out today!”

“But…” The doctor wanted to say something, but after seeing the determination in He Yi’s eyes he gave up and nodded. “Alright, today it is. Have you… paid your medical bill yet?”

Murong Mingyue spoke up. “I’ll do it.”

…...

A while later, Murong Mingyue dealt with everything and came back.

He Yi struggled to her feet and touched the gauze covering her shoulder for a bit. She gave me a reassuring smile and said, “It only hurts a little. Mingyue, can you grab a set of clothes from the car for me?”

“Mn!”

A few minutes later, Murong Mingyue with a brand new set of underwear, blouse and uniform. Apparently, He Yi kept some spare clothes just in case they came in handy.

Accepting the clothes, He Yi smiled at me and asked, “What are you waiting for? Or are you planning to watch?”

Feeling a bit embarrassed, I let out an awkward laugh and walked to the window. Soon, I heard a bunch of rustling sounds behind me. About ten minutes later, He Yi said, “Alright, I’m done. Lu Chen, come over and support me!”

I turned around and noticed that He Yi had tossed her blood-drenched clothes into the trash bin. She looked like a whole new person. Murong Mingyue stared at the trash bin in puzzlement. “Why did you bleed so much when your wounds were superficial at worst?”

He Yi explained, “I guess I was too healthy...”

“...”

…...

I walked up to her and allowed her to grab my elbow. She smiled at me and said, “Should we go?”

“Where to?” Murong Mingyue asked.

He Yi said, “I want to visit Lu Chen’s workshop right now!”

“But…”

Murong Mingyue held up her phone. “The president just gave me a call. He wants you to return to the US tomorrow. He even booked a ticket for you already…”

“But I’m hurt right now.”

“He wants you to receive treatment in California…”

“I’m tired and I want to take a break. Tell him I’m applying for a week of leave.”

“He said he’ll give you the entire year off if you promise to work off this month…”

“Tell him I’m retiring then…”

“...”

Given no other choice, Murong Mingyue tossed her phone into the trash bin. “Okay then, I guess the president can go fuck himself…”

He Yi: “...”

…...

He Yi kept clinging to my elbow affectionately as we went downstairs. To me, this was one of the happiest moments of my life. Every time I saw the smile on He Yi’s face, my worries and troubles seemed to disappear of their own accord.

Inside the lift, a bunch of male nurses was staring at He Yi with a loving look in their eyes, a gaze that would be filled with murderous intent the moment it shifted to me. It was nothing though. I had already made up my mind to suffer gazes like these since the day I went on a date with Lin Yixin. Since He Yi was as beautiful as her, it was only natural that people would look at me with jealousy.

Doo doo…

My phone rang all of a sudden. It was Beiming Xue.

“Boss, which hospital you’re in right now? We’ll call a cab and rush over right away!”

“It’s fine, I’m coming home right now!”

“Oh? Okay…”

I hung up the call. We were on the ground floor, and we spotted He Yi’s black Lamborghini almost immediately. It was just way too cool and eye-catching of a car to not notice.

Murong Mingyue drove while He Yi and I sat at the back. It was a brand car, and its engine was as powerful as was advertised. The trip to my apartment didn’t take a long time.

Outside, Beiming Xue, Gui Guzi, Mamate, and Du Thirteen were standing by the street and waiting for us to show up. However, they completely dismissed the black Lamborghini we arrived in.