Her muscles tensed instantly, like a cheetah poised to pounce. Her left hand quietly slid towards the hidden dagger at her waist, while her right hand swiftly and discreetly swept the unfolded map and secret report into a hidden compartment under the desk.
"Who?" Her voice was cold, with a hint of barely perceptible wariness.
There was a moment of silence outside the door, then a deliberately lowered female voice, heavy with fatigue and hoarseness, rang out. The voice wasn't loud, but it clearly penetrated the door panel:
“Miss Xin…it’s me, Liu Ya.”
Raven? !
The leader of Xiao Xun's secret guards!
Xin Jiuwei's heart sank! That name, like an icicle, instantly shattered the calm she had been desperately trying to maintain! How could she be here? How did she find Yuncheng? It was Xiao Xun… he finally caught up?!
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind like lightning. Xin Jiuwei forcibly suppressed her turbulent emotions, her eyes instantly freezing. She quickly adjusted her breathing, regained her composure, and said in a deep voice, "Come in."
The study door was silently pushed open a crack, and a slender yet exceptionally agile black figure, like a cat blending into the shadows, swiftly slipped inside and then silently closed the door behind her. The newcomer was Liu Ya. She was still dressed in her usual black, night-suited attire, but now she looked travel-worn, her hair disheveled, a few strands clinging to her pale cheeks with sweat, her lips cracked, and dark circles under her eyes. Most shockingly, on her left shoulder near her collarbone, a long gash in her clothing, the edges stained with dark, black blood, clearly a serious injury that she had hastily treated. She looked utterly exhausted, as if she had endured a long march and a fierce battle, swaying precariously. Only her eyes, still sharp as a hawk's, were now filled with an indescribable anxiety and… a near-desperate plea.
Before she could even regain her balance, she stumbled and fell heavily to one knee on the cold floor in front of Xin Jiuwei. The movement aggravated the wound on her shoulder, causing her to furrow her brows, but she forced herself not to make a sound.
"Miss Xin!" Liu Ya's voice was hoarse and panting from the long journey. She looked up at Xin Jiuwei urgently, her eyes filled with undisguised panic. "Please...please save His Highness!"
Save His Highness? Xiao Xun?
Xin Jiuwei's pupils suddenly contracted! She had anticipated countless possibilities for Liu Ya's appearance—pursuit, coercion, forced abduction… but she never expected it to start like this! What happened to Xiao Xun? With his power and cunning, who in the capital could harm him?
She remained expressionless, not even allowing Liu Ya to rise, but looking down at her with a voice icy cold: "What does Xiao Xun have to do with me? Chief Liu has probably mistaken me for someone else." She deliberately emphasized the name "Xiao Xun" to draw a clear line.
Liu Ya's face drained of color instantly, a flicker of pain crossing her eyes, but mostly a desperate urgency. She abruptly pulled something from her bosom, her hands trembling as she presented it to Xin Jiuwei. It was a neatly folded, plain white silk handkerchief, and in its center, a large, glaring patch of congealed, dark brown blood! The bloodstain was grotesquely shaped, as if it had been vomited from a mouth, conveying a horrifying and gruesome image!
"Please look, young lady!" Liu Ya's voice trembled with tears as she pointed to the blood on the handkerchief. "This...this is the last blood His Highness vomited before he fell unconscious! The imperial physicians...the imperial physicians are all helpless!"
Xin Jiuwei's gaze fell on that glaring dark brown, her heart feeling as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand! Symbiotic Gu... that terrifying name instantly flooded her mind! The danger and excruciating pain she felt when offering the antidote at the Yingzhou villa, that horrific experience that almost tore her soul apart... Could it be... could it be that the Gu poison really... wasn't completely eradicated?
No! Impossible! She clearly... clearly...
However, the dried blood clots on the handkerchief, with their distinctively fishy smell, were irrefutable evidence, slamming into her understanding! She remembered the color and smell of that blood! It was the kind of blood that only appeared when the poison backfired and eroded her heart meridian!
“Symbiotic Gu…” Xin Jiuwei’s voice was dry, almost squeezed out from between her teeth, “Is the residual poison still there?” She forced herself to calm down, staring into Liu Ya’s eyes, trying to find a flaw in them.
“Yes! It’s the symbiotic Gu!” Liu Ya nodded forcefully, tears finally streaming down her face, mingling with the dust and leaving a disheveled look. “After you left, Miss… the Gu poison in His Highness’s body seemed to have subsided… the imperial physicians all said there was nothing to worry about… but just… just five days ago, while His Highness was handling urgent military affairs in his study, he suddenly vomited blood and fell into a coma without warning! The imperial physicians tried everything, administering countless precious medicinal herbs, but they could only keep him alive! They said… they said it was the residual poison of the symbiotic Gu backfiring on his heart meridian! It’s… it’s the hidden danger that wasn’t completely eliminated when the Gu was removed… and now it has completely erupted!” She spoke rapidly, filled with immense fear and despair.
"They say... this poison is insidious, and the antidote has long been lost... now the only hope... the only chance of survival..." Liu Ya raised her head, her eyes brimming with tears, staring intently at Xin Jiuwei with a desperate madness, "It lies within you, young lady! Only you, who offered the antidote back then, who are connected to His Highness by blood, and who have both endured the poison's corrosive effects... perhaps... perhaps you can still sense the source of that residual poison! Perhaps... there is still a glimmer of hope to save His Highness!"
Blood ties...we share the same burdens...
These words were like a curse, instantly awakening the most terrifying memories deep within Xin Jiuwei's body! The pain of being gnawed at the bone marrow by poisonous insects, her blood boiling and burning! The suffocating feeling of her soul being forcibly torn apart and entangled with another person's consciousness! She subconsciously took a step back, her fingertips icy cold.
Seeing her wavering expression, Liu Ya grasped at the last straw and pulled out a slightly wrinkled letter soaked in sweat from his bosom. On the envelope were the four words "To Wei'er" written by Xiao Xun himself, written with great force! However, the handwriting had lost its usual sharpness and appeared weak and trembling, as if the writer had used up all his strength.
"This is... something His Highness wrote... before he collapsed..." Liu Ya's voice choked with emotion as she presented the letter with both hands. "His Highness said... if he... if he doesn't make it... he insisted that I... I absolutely must give this to you personally..."
Xin Jiuwei's fingertips trembled slightly uncontrollably. She looked at the letter stained with Xiao Xun's scent, at the glaring wound on Liu Ya's shoulder and the desperate loyalty in her eyes like a lone wolf, at the silk handkerchief soaked in dark blood... Reason, like a sturdy dam, began to crack under the onslaught of the surging torrent of emotions!
The capital city is fraught with danger? Xiao Xun's scheme? A possible trap? These thoughts raced wildly through my mind!
But... the symbiotic Gu backfired... his heart meridians shattered... his life hung by a thread... he vomited blood and fell into a coma... the imperial physicians were helpless.
These words, along with the nightmarish memories of the Yingzhou villa, cut into her nerves like the sharpest knife! She offered the antidote, but if Xiao Xun's life was hanging by a thread because she failed to completely remove the residual poison... then wouldn't she be an indirect murderer?
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