ShuFang ran for god-knows-how-long before he had stopped to catch for breath. Letting out the foul breath flow out of his mouth, ShuFang immediately sucked in a fresh one, but ended up coughing it out instead because he choked on the unfamiliarity of the cold air.

He knelt on the ground with one hand clutching his chest as he gasped for air. Due to his harsh, constant coughs, his throat became slightly damaged, resulting in a thin, crimson liquid seeping out the corners of his mouth.

"Master!!!" A round ball came rolling towards ShuFang. It stopped right before him and tried to use its stubby hands to help ShuFang up.

"Tao..Bi..." ShuFang's voice cracked. More blood seeped out, scaring the little plump TaoBi even more. "D-don't be scared...master is a-alright. This is j-just paint." ShuFang tried to calm the frantic TaoBi down.

"TaoBi isn't stupid! TaoBi knows that master is injured!" TaoBi cried. Suddenly, his wails stopped and his dim eyes brightened, indicating that he's thought of an idea. "TaoBi will get the old madam to get some medicine for Master! Wait here, Master!" With that, TaoBi immediately rolled away without letting ShuFang speak first.

ShuFang shook his head helplessly. He honestly didn't want his mother to be worried about him. His mother, being a devout believer in Buddhism, would often take trips to the shrine a couple of miles east of their courtyard, so ShuFang would often be left to his own crevices; however, don't think that ShuFang's mother is irresponsible for leaving her son alone many times. It was ShuFang who persuaded his mother to pray more. When he was just a child, he had hired a passing monk to give his mother some 'predictions' of his fate. The monk told his mother that ShuFang was born with worse luck than others, and to make up for it, she had to pray often. Of course, she didn't believe it at all--until she witnessed ShuFang's 'accidental' bumps and falls. Taking into the account that ShuFang was born without eyes, she finally believed the monk's words and became a devout prayer.

ShuFang does feel bad about tricking his mother, but there was no other choice. In his past life, ShuFang's mother loved YiWang just as much as he did. In fact, his whole family seemed to revere YiWang's 'majestic' aura--and in return? YiWang had used those affections to the brim, always ordering ShuFang's mother to do various chores and ShuFang's father to be his soldier. His father ended up getting shot in the legs with a poisonous arrow for YiWang, but instead of finding a doctor to treat it immediately, YiWang had decided to chop the legs off to save money.

Back then, YiWang had fed the love-struck ShuFang lies about how they were deep in the mountains at the time, had no doctors, and could only chop the legs off to save the father's life. And of course, ShuFang had foolishly believed it.

In this life, although ShuFang's father still had to become a soldier for 3 years to serve the country, ShuFang had sent his private aids (ShadowCorps elites) to stealthily protect his father from all danger. Naturally, his mother would also be protected by his subordinates whenever she went to pray.

ShuFang pushed himself off the ground and started to walk towards Jun WeiXiang's room. It had been 2 hours since that incident. Although he knew that one of the maids had already helped Jun WeiXiang and that Jun WeiXiang was already resting well inside the bed, he still couldn't help but worry about Jun WeiXiang's injuries.

He stood outside the door and swept his perception past the room before stepping in. He sensed Jun WeiXiang's heavy breathing and immediately, guilt started to take over him. He asked one of the maids to bring over a pan of warm water and a dry towel. The maid efficiently fetched everything within seconds and handed it over to ShuFang.

Closing the door, ShuFang held the bucket and towel and placed it on top of the table near the bed. He grasped the towel and dunked it into the warm water until it was fully wet. Wringing the towel of excess water, he brought it to Jun WeiXiang's forehead and started to wipe it. All of a sudden, Jun WeiXiang's hand shot up and clutched ShuFang's wrist. Shocked, ShuFang tried to fling Jun WeiXiang's hand off, but it was to no avail.

"Don't leave...won't...hurt...you..." Jun WeiXiang mumbled, his warm breath brushed against ShuFang's wrist. ShuFang stopped struggling and twitched his ears, waiting for any movement of JunWeiXiang's as an indication that he was awake. Silence filled the room. ShuFang sighed in relief as he confirmed that JunWeiXiang was fast asleep. He recalled Jun WeiXiang's previous words.

"Won't hurt me?" ShuFang whispered sadly. "I don't believe you." He harshly tugged Jun WeiXiang's hand off his wrist and turned to leave when Jun WeiXiang's voice sounded once again.

"Won't...hurt..." This time, Jun WeiXiang's mumble seemed more determined and firm than before.

ShuFang chuckled for a few seconds before his voice cracked in sorrow and doubt. He didn't say anything to the sleeping Jun WeiXiang and turned to leave.

Once the door was closed, the 'sleeping' Jun WeiXiang opened his eyes, his gaze as deep as the abyss. "ShuFang...who hurt you?" Jun WeiXiang clenched his fists in frustration and anger, his fingernails digging deep into the flesh. "Whoever you are...I'll make sure you'll live a life jealous of the dead..."

.....

...

.

I felt like dropping author notes in the middle of the story would disrupt the flow of the events, so I decided to finish the chapter before telling you guys smt. The "live a life jealous of the dead" was taken from FOD, arc 15 Orz I just love that quote so much.