Zhen Jiu’er never expected that the man in black wouldn’t dodge her attack at all.

With a crack, her palm landed squarely on his chest.

But she had forgotten—in this world, she no longer had any internal energy left.

That strike, at most, would only hurt him a little; there was no way it could actually injure him.

A punch would have done far more damage.

Sure enough, the man in black didn’t even so much as frown, treating it as nothing at all.

Jiu’er, coming back to her senses, immediately raised her fist to strike at him again.

But then, she seemed to notice something…

“You…”

“This chain—where did it come from?” The man in black seemed genuinely shocked; in his shock, he even forgot to disguise his voice.

That voice—why did it feel so familiar? And yet she couldn’t quite place where she’d heard it before.

Like some distant memory…

“Let go.” She clenched her fist, ready to strike at any moment.

But this man in black seemed to bear her no hostility at all.

Why was he staring at her bracelet with such a shocked, disbelieving expression?

“Do you recognize this bracelet?” Jiu’er narrowed her eyes, her feelings a tangled mess.

The man in black’s feelings were even more tangled than hers. “Where exactly did it come from?”

“You tell me first—why were you so shocked to see it?”

The man in black’s gaze finally settled on Zhen Jiu’er’s face.

His lips parted, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing at all.

His gaze traveled along her face, then out toward the distance behind her, and his eyes slowly narrowed.

Someone was coming!

This speed…

“Ha, interesting.”

The man in black released Jiu’er’s wrist, showing no intention of continuing to fight her.

“It seems you truly are different, as far as he’s concerned.”

He took two steps back.

Jiu’er instinctively turned to follow his gaze.

It had been the faintest stir of movement, yet he was so sharp that he had already made out who was coming.

By the time Jiu’er turned back to look, the man in black was already gone.

The whole empty stretch of ground held only Jiu’er now, alone.

This time, Lu Beicheng had come running on foot, without even bothering with his wheelchair.

Reaching Jiu’er’s side, he pulled her sharply behind him, his sharp gaze fixed on one direction.

That was the direction in which the man in black had left.

Now, only the whistling wind remained.

“Are you hurt?” His voice was low, carrying a trace of displeasure.

“No.” He seemed to be angry—was it anger at her for running off on her own, or anger that she had been standing so close to the man in black just now?

“Did he attack you?”

“No, but he led me here on purpose, as if he wanted to ask me something. Though…”

She lowered her head, looking at the chain around her wrist.

After seeing her bracelet, the man in black seemed to have forgotten entirely why he’d lured her out here in the first place.

That look of shock had been impossible for him to hide.

This was clearly the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s chain—so why would the man in black recognize it? Or did this chain carry some other meaning to him?

“Actually, I don’t think he came for me. He was most likely…”

She looked up, staring at Lu Beicheng’s face. “After you?”

He had simply been trying to find out the nature of her relationship with Lu Beicheng.

But why would he recognize the Ninth Imperial Uncle’s chain?

Her gaze drifted away from Lu Beicheng’s face, finally settling on his long legs.

“Ninth Master, you… have decided not to keep up the act anymore?”

Having walked this whole way, he certainly wasn’t going to need the wheelchair anymore, was he?