Zheng Xie began to move.
He weaved between the jagged boulders like a shadow slipping between the cracks, never lingering in one place for more than a heartbeat.
The point was simple—never give the enemy a fixed target. Keep them guessing. Keep them chasing shadows.
His eyes scanned constantly, searching for the slightest ripple in this still, lifeless place—disturbed dust, shifted pebbles, the faintest imprint of a sole. Every flicker of movement, every irregularity in the sand's surface was examined and discarded in a heartbeat.
And then—
There.
A faint series of impressions half-hidden behind a scattering of dried sticks. Zheng Xie crouched for an instant, running his fingertips lightly over them. His lips curled upward into a thin, humorless smile.
They weren't running away from him. No—these were deliberate placements. The positioning, the intervals, even the depth told the story. Whoever had made them wasn't fleeing for their life… they were maneuvering for the kill.
"They aren't prey," he murmured, his tone amused. "They're hunters. And quite the courageous ones, at that."
Without another thought, he burst into motion again. WHOOSH! An arrow screamed past his shoulder, the hiss of displaced air brushing against his ear. He didn't flinch—merely shifted direction, sliding between two leaning slabs of rock.
Another projectile—a pebble this time—slammed into the stone beside his head with a sharp crack. Then another came from the opposite side entirely.
His eyes narrowed.
"Ah… so there's more than one of you."
That explained the confidence. Alone, none of them would dare. But together? Numbers had a way of breeding arrogance.
And arrogance was a flaw.
From the edge of his vision, something shifted—a flicker of motion behind a tall boulder twenty paces away. The angle of the shadow, the slight hesitation…
Zheng Xie didn't hesitate. His body became a blur, cutting through the space between them in the time it would take most to draw breath.
He rounded the boulder.
There she was.
A young woman—startled, wide-eyed, her body pressed tight against the rock as if it might swallow her whole. Her fingers clutched a jagged stone like it was the last anchor in a storm, her knuckles white.
Her eyes met his, and the blood drained from her face. Her lips trembled—she opened her mouth to say something—
But Zheng Xie moved first.
His hand shot forward, seizing her right arm in an iron grip. Before she could even gasp, his other hand braced against her shoulder and—
CRACK!
The sound tore through the silent boulder field like a whip-crack, echoing against the stone walls.
The girl's scream followed an instant later—high, raw, and piercing. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
She crumpled, falling to her knees, clutching at her shattered limb with trembling fingers. Tears welled up instantly, spilling down her cheeks in frantic rivulets as she writhed and spasmed from the pain.
Her sobs echoed in the space between them, pitiful and small against the vast emptiness of the island.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
Footsteps. Many of them, scattered from different directions, ringing faintly against the sand and stone. The rhythm was quick, urgent—her allies.
Zheng Xie's eyes shifted toward the sound.
But just as suddenly, it stopped. The silence that followed was heavy—unnatural.
A slow, knowing gleam lit his eyes.
"So… they're not coming to save you after all." His voice was quiet, almost conversational. "Either they don't value you enough… or they think I'll let you go."
The malice that laced his words made the girl's skin crawl.
She stared at the ground, trembling so violently her teeth chattered. She didn't dare meet his gaze. Her lips pressed together, as if trying to contain the sound of her sobs. But her breath hitched, her shoulders shook, and small, broken whimpers slipped through despite her efforts.
Zheng Xie exhaled slowly, almost as if he pitied her.
"It's not my fault," he said with a faint sigh, "that your friends don't like you enough to save you."
Her head snapped up in confusion and fear. "W-What…?"
The word barely left her lips before he struck again—lightning-fast, merciless. His hand seized her other arm this time, the grip as unyielding as a vice.
Her eyes went wide. "NO!!! PLEASE!!! NOOOOOOOOO!!!"
Her scream rose into a raw, desperate wail. "SOMEBODY HELP MEEE!!!"
No one came.
CRACK!
The second break was louder than the first, the sharp, brittle sound mingling with her agonized scream until it was impossible to tell them apart.
The girl collapsed fully now, her body curling into itself as she clutched uselessly at both arms, her face wet with tears and snot, her voice breaking into hoarse, ragged cries.
The sound of bone breaking, pain, and helpless despair swirled together, echoing through the empty, merciless expanse of the boulder field.
And Zheng Xie… just stood over her, calm, composed, waiting for her allies to come and rescue her.
Even after breaking both of her arms, the stillness remained.
Not a single ally emerged from hiding.
Zheng Xie's brows furrowed not from pity, but from genuine perplexity.
He crouched before the girl, his shadow swallowing her crumpled form. His fingers closed around her jaw, forcing her face upward until her tear-swollen eyes met his calm, searching gaze.
"You're not bad looking," he murmured, voice almost contemplative. "Good symmetry, a fine shape… by most standards, you're a beauty. So why…" his eyes narrowed slightly, "…aren't your allies trying to save you?"
He tilted his head, studying her like a puzzle.
"Perhaps you're in an all-girls group," he continued, half to himself, "but no… I saw a man's footprint earlier. So, what could the reason be? Is he perhaps a weakling?"
The girl's only answer was a soft, broken sob. Pain distorted her features, her face scrunched up tightly as streams of snot and tears rolled down to her chin.
Thud!
Without warning, Zheng Xie released her and let her fall face first onto the sand. She landed awkwardly, curling into herself, her broken arms pressed instinctively against her torso.
His brow creased.
'I had presumed her allies would charge in the moment I broke her arms… mad with rage, ready to fight me head-on. I could have overwhelmed them in that chaos.'
But reality was proving otherwise. They were far more disciplined than he had expected. Whoever led them was not letting emotions cloud their judgment.
Cheap tricks… would not work here.
His mind shifted gears. If subtlety would not flush them out, then he would raise the stakes. Force them to move. Create a spectacle so intense, so brutal, that no leader could keep their people from reacting.
'The instant I shattered her arms, their movements changed. They wanted to come… but someone stopped them. Someone calm and rational. All I need to do… is push hard enough to break that control.'
With a sigh and a faint shake of his head, Zheng Xie stepped toward her again.
This time, he didn't stop at her side—he moved to her legs. The moment she saw his positioning, panic flared in her eyes.
"Please!!" she choked out, her voice trembling, "DON'T DO THAT!! I'LL DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! I—I'LL TELL YOU WHO THE OTHERS ARE! I'M FROM THE CHU FAMILY, PLEASE, JUST LEAVE ME! I CAN GET YOU ALL THE TREASURES YOU WANT… PLEASE, JUST—"
Her desperation spiked. "I'LL BE YOUR CONCUBI—"
CRACK!
Her voice dissolved into a piercing shriek.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Her body twisted violently on the sand, both hands instinctively moving toward her shattered ankle but finding only the screaming agony of her broken arms.
Zheng Xie's expression did not change.
Her titles, her body, her family name, her offers of wealth—none of it interested him. None of it mattered.
Without pause, he shifted slightly higher up her leg.
CRACK!
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH… AHHHHHHHHHHHH… AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
The girl's screams bounced from boulder to boulder, carrying far into the distance. Her voice grew ragged, breaking between the high notes of agony.
And Zheng Xie kept going.
Bit by bit, he moved further, his actions deliberate, methodical. Each motion pulled another howl from her throat, another desperate plea into the empty air.
Until—
Her voice was gone.
Her mouth still opened, her body still convulsed from the waves of pain, but no sound emerged. The tears had dried on her face, leaving streaks of drops on skin now caked with sand.
Her nose still ran, but the mucus had mixed with the dust and grit, plastering across her lips and chin. The once-beautiful face was now unrecognizable—ugly, swollen, twisted by suffering.
Her eyes… had gone blank, utterly lifeless.
She was still breathing, but it was the breathing of a body with no fight left in it.
And still… no one came.
Zheng Xie, crouched above her, tilted his head faintly.
Then—there it was.
A shift in the wind. The faint crunch of displaced pebbles. Someone had moved.
But again, just like before, the motion halted. The leader—whoever they were—was still holding the leash tight.
Zheng Xie clicked his tongue softly, his interest sharpening rather than fading.
Then, without warning, his body blurred. In the blink of an eye, he was gone from her side.
The girl lay there—motionless save for the shallow rise and fall of her chest—her body mingled with the sand, her broken limbs splayed awkwardly. The pool of tears, snot, and misery she had made clung to her skin like a second layer.
Zheng Xie vanished into the boulder field, leaving her behind…