Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Nan Zhi immediately froze in surprise when she spoke. Her eyes widened in shock, her blood flowing the other way.
She opened her mouth again to say a word.
Her voice was still hoarse and sandy, sounding like she had become slightly old.
It was completely different from her original pleasant voice.
She forced her sore body to get up from the bed.
Qiao Yanze walked in just then, looking like how he did usually. He was dressed in full white, looking like a rich young master from a painting, his blue ear stud sparkling under the reflection from the lights.
Happiness flashed in his pretty eyes at the sight of Nan Zhi awake. “You’re finally awake after being unconscious for nearly two months.
Ever since he got the news of the missing and exploded airplane, Qiao Yanze felt heartache and panic for some reason.
He felt weird too, as he had the feeling that Nan Zhi would not die so easily.
He sent someone to find out about Mu Sihan’s actions in secret.
After he got the news of Mu Sihan bringing Bo Yan to Gu Sheng’s private island, he went there as well, following Mu Sihan. However, he was met with a storm and lost track of Mu Sihan.
He could only look around the seas.
It was a coincidence as well, that his boat was nearby where Nan Zhi and Gu Sheng fell into the sea from the cliff.
He immediately got his men to bring them up onto the boat when he saw the two of them fall.
However, after he saved them, the two of them fell into a coma.
Gu Sheng had woken up a month ago, and he merely stared at Nan Zhi’s condition after he woke up. He then left without saying a word.
Nan Zhi was still caught up in her hoarse voice. She suddenly thought about something and stretched her hand out to look at it.
Her chest moved up and down at the sight of her skin that was no longer fair, smooth and firm. A bitter taste filled her throat, and she spat out a mouthful of blood, staining the white bedsheets red.
Nan Zhi’s body trembled uncontrollably, “What’s wrong with me?”
Qiao Yanze immediately moved forward and grabbed Nan Zhi’s shaking shoulders, “Don’t be too agitated. If you are, it will endanger your life.”
Nan Zhi grabbed Qiao Yanze’s arms, not able to calm down. Her eyes were completely red, “What’s wrong with me? Mirror, give me a mirror.”
“Calm down. You have to calm down first.”
Nan Zhi shook her head. How could she calm down when her voice was like this and her hands had changed?
Nan Zhi pushed Qiao Yanze away with all of her strength, getting off the bed. She was completely weak from lying down for too long. She fell hard onto the floor the moment her feet touched the floor.
Qiao Yanze carried Nan Zhi’s terribly frail body. She struggled in his arms, spitting out a few more mouthfuls of blood from being too agitated, “Let me go, let me go!”
She struggled out of his arms. There was no bathroom in the room, and she could not find any mirrors, so she ended up running towards the window.
A faint silhouette appeared on the glass.
She widened her eyes, a strong fear spreading from within her.
She kept taking deep breaths. However, every breath felt like her heart had been stabbed ruthlessly by a knife.
How could this happen?
How did she become like this?
Was this still her?
The person in the mirror looked ugly and old.
She felt like a leaf falling from a tree, slipping towards the floor.
A long and strong arm pulled her into his arms.
“Mr. Qiao, this isn’t me, right?” Nan Zhi’s voice was hoarse and dull, like someone had slit her throat with a blade. She covered her ugly face, not even daring to let Qiao Yanze look at her, “Why? Why did I become like this after I woke up?”
There was no woman who would not care about their appearance, not to mention Nan Zhi, who had been pretty since she was young.
Qiao Yanze placed Nan Zhi back on the bed. He furrowed his eyebrows at the sight of her tears flowing from in between her fingers, “That Gu Sheng who fell into the sea with you said that you had been poisoned with something called Devil. Anyone who got poisoned with that poison would only have at most a month left to live if they were awake.”
“After you fell unconscious, the poisoned spread slowly, however, your body turned old and ugly at the same time. Once the poison enters and attacks your organs, you will die.”
Nan Zhi’s long and wet eyelashes fluttered like injured butterfly wings.
Ever since she had exposed Gu Sheng, the two of them had eaten together for every meal on the island. He would definitely not poison the food that he ate as well.
If that was the case, this Devil poison, should have been given to her through the nourishing soup Auntie Sun forced-fed her in that few days she had first been taken to the island and was unconscious.
Nan Zhi did not think that Gu Sheng would be so ruthless.
When the two of them fell down the cliff and he jumped out to hold onto her, she even thought that he was not that bad. He was still her Brother Gu Sheng, deep down.
Nan Zhi wrapped her arms around her head. Her slender fingers weaved between her hair and grabbed her scalp with all of her strength.
“You have to learn how to control your emotions right now. If not, it will speed up your blood circulation and cause you to die earlier.” Heartache appeared in Qiao Yanze’s eyes.
Nan Zhi’s lips trembled, asking with her hoarse and dull voice, “Is there no antidote for Devil?”
“From what I know, Devil is the drug the SSS group uses against their betrayers and would torture a person’s body and mind bit by bit. A lot of people committed suicide as they could not stand their bodies growing old first.”
Nan Zhi closed her eyes, pursing her lips tightly as an ashen expression appeared on her face.
She did not think that she would be faced with death so soon after she woke up.
Mother, Xiaojie, Mu Sihan…
What would the people dearest to her do if she was gone?
They were probably immersed in sorrow over the past two months!
But, how would she dare to contact them when she looked like this now?
She finally understood now why Mu Sihan kept his condition from her back then!
It was not that he did not want to be frank, but it was too hard to tell her.
They could not get over themselves and did not want to let the people they cared for the most to see their ugliest side!
“What do you plan to do now that you’re awake?” Qiao Yanze was sitting by the bed, his heart aching unknowingly at her tear-ridden face.
Even he felt weird about it. Why would he care so much about this girl’s feelings?
Her going missing, falling down the cliff, becoming old, had all affected him.
When he had seen her body coming down, he had panicked and rushed towards the two bodies plummeting into the sea. When he had reached them soon after, all he felt was a wave of relief.
He was a person who adored beauty, and it was understandable that he was a little interested in her because she looked pretty in the past. However, he did not despise her at all, even though she looked like this now, and even took care of her personally for two months.
Could it be that he had really fallen for her?
However, he did not have the most primal desires between a man and woman towards her, even when she was pretty.
Nan Zhi shook her head, her eyes filled with sorrow and pain. “I don’t know what to do. Can you help me get news about my son? I just want to know if he’s okay.”
Of course, he would definitely be fine with Mu Sihan taking care of him.
…
The base of the SSS group was on a very hidden and concealed island. It was hard for outsiders to enter the island, unless someone brought them in.
The island had a mountain, surrounded by oceans and had vast grounds. It was covered by all kinds of high-tech infra-red CCTVs and missile systems. It was hard for even a mosquito to fly in undetected.
