The maiden approached the assassin who was struggling against Si Hai's tails. Her action was mechanical as she tore the mask away.

What was underneath could make anyone shudder. The man's mouth was sealed. Or rather, his lips were sewed together in a crude manner.

"Hnggg... nghhh... ngggh!"

Huang Qiaoli only paused for a little. This kind of sealing secrets wasn't new to her so she could cup his face without feeling anything. The man's terrified eyes were more pronounced now.

"Afraid?" Her gaze was chilly. "Pathetic."

Her fingers trailed the zigzagged threads on his mouth traveling down to his neck.

"If you're out to kill someone, make sure not to let them see this expression. It makes me disappointed and I can't even gather information from you... Die."

Her hand didn't tighten around his neck. Instead, she held both sides of the assassin's head and snapped it to one side. A sickening crack was heard.

One must know that a trained assassin of Crimson Trail had a tough physique. If she didn't possess enough strength, she couldn't snap their head like that. This just showed that Huang Qiaoli had above average physical constitution to match her brain capacity.

It wasn't at the level of her metal body from the past but for now, it was enough. She knew that she could still improve her physique.

Looking at her hand, she fisted it. She thought she could interrogate the assassin but looking at his state, he was useless. So a wave of bubbling anger was starting to rise inside Huang Qiaoli.

If she only trained this body of flesh since she was young, Old Shang wouldn't be killed by some trash. It was because she wasted fourteen years idling away, thinking that there was no danger.

Si Hai whined to catch Huang Qiaoli's attention when he saw her just standing there. But he stiffened under her gaze as her golden eyes gave off the illusion that they were glowing.

Huang Qiaoli felt that it was easy to kill people. If those times, she had the power to kill... would Old Shang, Niang, and Ba Ba-

Plop, plop, plop.

Her thoughts scattered as raindrops fell one by one at first. Then, rain poured heavily the next second.

"W-wasn't it... sunny just a moment ago?"

She held her open palm under the rain. It felt cold just like the hollow in her chest. As she stood unmoving, heaven's tears washed over the earth, the blood, and the impurities.

Not too far from the two, people were searching the forest too.

"Young master, there's a commotion there from earlier." One of the Mao clan's trained guards approached their San shao ye1.

Mao Zhu was tasked to monitor the area outside the capital. It had been two days and this was the only time there had been a disturbance in the forest.

"Let's head over there!" Mao Zhu dispatched his men.

Not yet knowing of the approaching nuisance, Huang Qiaoli had a dark thought of recreating her metal body but dismissed it right away when she remembered a pale-eyed being.

How would he react if she turned herself into a robot again? Could she even do it in this feudal era? She wondered if she could torture herself like that again.

The black fox was observing the woman as she was lost in thought. They had been standing here for a quarter of a shichen2 already but she had no plans of moving.

Judging from her state, it was as if she had done this kind of thing a lot of times in the past. Killing people and calmly enjoying the rain afterward. But why and how would she kill people? She didn't even know martial arts.

Since he met her as Hong Chun, she had been clouded more and more in mystery. Even though he learned new things about her, there were still more questions that followed.

As he was pondering over this, his ears perked up. There was another group of people!

But because it was raining, his sense of smell was minimized.

"Ah, they won't stop." He heard Huang Qioli sigh.

Si Hai was alarmed and was about to wrap his tails around Huang Qiaoli to flee. But the woman stopped him.

"Use another disguise, quick!"

Si Hai was baffled but she was hurrying him. Did she think it was that easy? Creating another persona would take days!

But the situation was urgent. In the span of a few seconds, his body warped and changed into a kid no more than ten or eleven years old.

The person who ordered him to change his appearance was speechless. Why were his clothes clean even though they were both drenched? Furthermore...

"Why a child?!"

Si Hai was frustrated. "Just... shut up! You want me to hurry, right?"

Before they could argue more, men emerged from the southern direction.

These people weren't wearing masks and Huang Qiaoli immediately recognized one of them.

Mao Zhu was thunderstruck by what he saw. Bodies were strewn everywhere, most of them had decapitated body parts almost as if they were eaten by a large animal.

But what really surprised him was the two strange people in the center. A maiden with crimson hair and a child.

"Halt!" He shouted before his men could attack.

Mao Zhu then continued to approach, afraid that they would scare the two.

"Young Master, be careful! We didn't know what happened here." His subordinate reminded so he stopped only a few zhang away.

"This miss, are you alright? Can you please enlighten us on what happened?" Mao Zhu's voice contained a reassuring tone.

Huang Qiaoli gazed around with no feelings. At the corpses, at the newcomers, and at Mao Zhu.

The rain kept on pouring but it didn't hinder her sight. She saw how the young man flinched under her gaze.

Only the sound of the rain was heard.

Si Hai who turned into a child narrowed his eyes at Huang Qiaoli. Why wasn't she answering? Don't tell him this woman had feelings for this good-for-nothing man? Was that why she was starstruck?

"Milady," He called with pursed lips, looking perfectly like a frightened yet sulking child.

Huang Qiaoli gave him a look then threw a glance at Mao Zhu and started walking away.

Si Hai followed her but the young fox couldn't help but glance at the man behind.

Mao Zhu panicked.

He was thinking this person had the exact same silhouette of...

He knew it was foolish to hope or maybe he was delirious. This person had a different ethnicity from Hong Chun. But it was okay to be foolish and cling to his fantasy.

"Wait!" His voice cracked. "Please wait."

Mao Zhu jogged towards the pair, forgetting about personal distance. He closed the gap between him and the lady and examined her face.

There was no familiarity in her eyes but even her and Hong Chun's height was similar. The only differences were their features' color.

"Don't you think you're too close, gentleman?"

The exact same voice! Mao Zhu's mind already collapsed. Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Chun mei... my... Chun mei!" His arms wrapped around 'Hong Chun' as he buried his face in her neck, inhaling deeply.

Mao Zhu's subordinates were confused. This was obviously a scene of a crime. Why was their young master acting like a lovesick fool at a time like this?

And why was he calling someone who had just died?

Si Hai couldn't stomach what he was seeing. And Huang Qiaoli looked like her soul flew from her body.

With his height only reaching Huang Qiaoli's shoulders, he grabbed Mao Zhu by the collar and threw him to the ground before the guy's subordinates could react.

"Ugh!" Mao Zhu sucked a mouthful of breath, unable to comprehend what was going on.

To compensate for his annoyance, Si Hai kicked him on the stomach two times and was about to continue.

Only then did Mao Zhu's subordinates woke up from their trance.

"Young master!" They drew their swords and aimed them at the woman and the child.

"Stop! S-stop!" Mao Zhu struggled to rise.

The kid's brute force was no joke. If he let himself be beaten for a few more moments, he could have broken several bones.

"They wield no weapons!" His men finally stopped their attempts to harm the two upon realizing this.

Si Hai prepared himself for another fight but he noticed something abnormal. Huang Qiaoli's breathing was laborious and the rims of her eyes were red.

He didn't know what was happening but he immediately flew to her side. She looked murderous!

Shoot! He could kill all the subordinates but killing the Emperor's trusted man would be bad for them.

"Milady, milady!" he called her again and again. He had to stick to his role of being a servant for now.

But Huang Qiaoli was only seeing red, the anger was too intense. She couldn't control it.

She didn't know why she was so furious until she felt the lingering sensation of a stranger touching her.

Stranger?

Yes, Mao Zhu was a stranger. She only tolerated his presence before because she was named Hong Chun and she didn't want to cause trouble to the family who raised her. She was once willing to marry him because she didn't have any idea about her identity.

In simple words, she didn't have a choice.

But now was different. The idea of having him near her made her sick somehow. She even wanted to kill him!

What was this overwhelming feeling?