The black-clothed men had just disappeared at the end of the street when Mo Zi rubbed her face, stiff from forced smiling, turned around, and ran.

She ran incredibly fast—faster than ever before. This body could adapt to the speed and strength she wanted, mostly because she’d exercised after transmigrating. After becoming Qiu Sanniang’s maid, however, she couldn’t freely train her arms and legs. At Qiu Mansion, she slept in the servants’ common quarters and worked in close personal service, with truly few opportunities to hide away and build her strength.

Wind whistled past her ears. After running two streets, her breathing finally began to become ragged. Feeling unable to catch her breath, she bent over, hands on her knees, gasping in large gulps of air. On such a hot day, she couldn’t wear short sleeves—the long robe and trousers made her sweat profusely.

This area was all residential, and dusk was approaching. It was very quiet, yet made her feel uneasy.

How much farther to the small gate of Yuan Cheng’s family home?

Had she known this would happen, after returning to the city today she shouldn’t have returned the horse to the courier station so early.

“Young sir, why are you running so fast? Could it be you have a guilty conscience?” The voice seemed to fall right beside Mo Zi’s ear.

Mo Zi was greatly alarmed. Looking back, she saw a person at the other end of the road.

Black clothes, black face covering, black hat—laughing eerily, with only two eyes showing. The whites far exceeded the blacks, with two dark points for pupils. The gleaming blade emerged section by section, reflecting the red clouds at the horizon until it glowed crimson.

Despite the covered face, forehead, head, and voice, Mo Zi immediately recognized this person as the man with the mole between his brows from earlier. When she looked back, he was still a hundred meters away, but by the time he finished speaking, he’d closed the distance to thirty meters. This man was also running swiftly, but his swift running was like a shadow floating along—effortless yet shockingly fast.

Mo Zi shouted for him to stop.

The man with the mole actually stopped. Perhaps he believed that with his martial skills, taking the other’s life was truly as easy as turning his palm.

“If I must die, at least let me die understanding why.” Though this trick had been used to death by ancient people, she really wanted to understand, and she had no other moves. “It’s very hot—you don’t need to cover yourself so thoroughly, wrapping your head and face in silk. I know you’re the same person who gave me one hundred taels of silver earlier. They say there’s no free lunch in this world. I was just thinking how this windfall made my heart uneasy, and sure enough, it’s summoned the King of Hell to claim my life. If you regret parting with that one hundred taels, why didn’t you say so earlier? If I return it to you now, would it still save my little life?” A delaying tactic.

The man with the mole laughed coldly. “Why pretend to be stupid with me, Miss Song? You’re so clever, you should realize I’m covering my head and face not to hide from you, but to prevent others from seeing. That is to say, today, no matter how many people are on this street, I must have your life!”

Miss Song?! Mo Zi had been repeatedly confronted with her past today. But she forced herself not to be affected in the slightest, concentrating her mental energy on thinking of an escape plan.

“I already said you’ve mistaken me for someone else—it turns out it’s this absurd. I’m a dignified man, yet you humiliate me so. Let’s go see the magistrate and verify my identity on the spot.” These words were nonsense to the man with the mole. But Mo Zi had already spotted the low wall several meters to the south. She needed to climb over it, take a shortcut, and seek help.

The man with the mole naturally didn’t heed these words, his killing intent thick. “Miss Song, I suppose you’re so noble you’ve forgotten things—you don’t remember me, this lowly guard captain from before. Now, thanks to my prince’s favor, I’ve become a palace junior general. Since the decree has already granted you death, and you’ve happened to let me see you, you’d better obediently accept death and help me earn promotion and wealth.” He truly hadn’t expected she was still alive. Heaven was giving him a chance to perform great merit—how could he waste it?

“A decree granting me death?” Mo Zi saw some household’s door open and close—they clearly didn’t want to get involved in such matters. Her heart sank. The closest place where she could seek help was only one location. “Whose decree? Are you from Yuling, or from Daqiu?”

“Song Mo Zi, do you plan to play stupid with me to the end? Too bad you ultimately can’t keep it up. If you weren’t her, how could you ask such a question? Earlier when you pretended not to recognize me and so readily handed over the comb, I almost let you fool me. But your face kept flashing before my eyes, and I felt there couldn’t be two people so alike in this world, so I wanted to confirm once more. You run quite fast—if you hadn’t stopped to catch your breath, I might have lost you.” The man with the mole continued walking toward her, though without using lightness skill. “Yuling has already been destroyed by our Daqiu. How about that? Can you die in peace now?”

Mo Zi slowly retreated. At such a life-threatening moment, she still thought at least the name Mo Zi wasn’t wrong.

“Who says I’ll definitely die? Since I escaped once, escaping a second time isn’t very—” The moment the word “difficult” left her mouth, she stepped onto the wall and flipped over it. Fortunately, below the wall was a garden landscape with rocks that could temporarily obscure the man with the mole’s line of sight.

The man with the mole inwardly cursed. He hadn’t expected that though Mo Zi didn’t know martial arts, her movements were so agile she’d actually climbed the wall right before his eyes. Gathering his energy, he hastily gave chase, leaping atop the wall. Seeing it was a wealthy family’s garden, he immediately pursued toward the artificial mountain where one could easily hide.

Shortly after the man with the mole passed, just a few meters from where he’d landed, a cluster of low thorny bushes stirred and a person stood up straight.

It was precisely Mo Zi.

She hadn’t fled elsewhere at all, and there was no so-called shortcut—it was just a ruse. Climbing over the wall again, she pulled up her legs and continued running, though this time she didn’t dare rest again. One street, two streets—her speed slowed, but at least she was still moving.

Only one street separated her from her destination.

Suddenly, her chest erupted in severe pain and her entire body fell to the ground. Looking down, she saw bright drops of blood dripping from a gleaming metal point.

This wasn’t watermelon juice.

“Worthy of being Song Mo Zi. Though everyone says your wisdom is unparalleled in the world, I’d never personally experienced it. Seeing it today, I finally understand why. Fortunately I’m not stupid, and you’re ultimately just a woman without martial skills. However, making me abandon my blade for throwing darts—that’s quite embarrassing.” The voice was somewhat distant.

Mo Zi’s teeth clenched from pain. Even at this moment, her mind was still turning, wondering why the man with the mole had abandoned his blade. If he wanted to kill her, he could have completely caught up and attacked with his blade. Using darts meant he couldn’t come over. If he couldn’t come over, he’d encountered some kind of obstacle. She needed to exploit this obstacle.

Every breath tore at her heart and lungs, but at this moment, she still laboriously turned over, craning her head to look for the man with the mole.

He was twenty or thirty meters away, coldly watching her from someone’s rooftop.

She pressed one hand to her chest while the other trembled as she pointed at him, glaring furiously. Then her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground, head lolling, motionless.

Didn’t he say he was commanded to grant her death? Then she’d pretend to be dead!

The throwing dart hadn’t struck her heart directly. As long as it missed by a bit, she wouldn’t die immediately—she’d have hope of survival. She couldn’t die, didn’t want to die. Even if she had to die, she’d drag down whoever harmed her!

Heaven protect her—don’t let the man with the mole come deliver a finishing blow.

Wait, wait, wait—

She forcibly held onto that breath.

Not knowing how much time passed, she heard the sounds of horse hooves and carriage wheels.

Mo Zi struggled to open her eyes. Before her, everything alternated between dusky yellow and pitch black, but she could make out it was an official carriage with a figure on it.

She tried to call for help. Opening her mouth, blood poured out.

The carriage moved slowly—to her it seemed to be crawling toward eternity. When the carriage finally stopped and someone walked before her, she already felt she couldn’t hold that breath any longer.

“Miss Mo Zi.” Clear, distant, and bright.

She used her last bit of strength to grasp the black robe trailing on the ground. “Mister Yuan, please save Mo Ge’s life.”

She hadn’t remembered wrong, had she? It was still within the one-month deadline, wasn’t it? Before losing consciousness, she was still wondering if the time had expired.

Damn it all—if he dared not keep his word, she’d become a vengeful ghost and never let him have peace!