The ranking battle in the Grey Zone raged on, but for Rin, the previous fight had drained too much of his mental and physical energy. The immense weakness after using "Shadow Strike, Second Form: Consecutive Shadow Rupture" washed over him like a tide, forcing him to temporarily withdraw from the battlefield and find a secluded spot to recover. Guided by vague memories and his instinct as the "Blade of Demise," he found a small puddle surrounded by abandoned buildings. The water reflected the gloomy sky, still and unruffled, mirroring his own cold heart.
Rin knelt by the water, washing the wound on his waist with cold water. Although his current body was no longer at its peak like in his past life, the numbness to pain and the habit of living on the edge of death were deeply etched into his soul. He recalled the bloody memory that surfaced in the mist earlier—the image of Ye Xue trembling, tearfully plunging the ice blade into his chest. That pain and shock still lingered in his heart.
"Was she forced?" This question swirled like an invisible knife in his mind. His previous understanding had been completely overturned. If Ye Xue wasn't simply a betrayer, then what role did she play in this grand chess game?
Just as Rin was lost in thought, struggling internally, a cold voice suddenly spoke from behind him, chilling him to the bone like ice and snow, yet carrying a subtle, almost undetectable tension:
"Who are you?"
Rin spun around sharply, his pupils contracting.
Ye Xue.
She stood behind him, only a few steps away, having appeared silently. Her figure was somewhat blurred in the dim light, but her clear, yet unfathomably deep eyes, now fixed on him with an unprecedented gaze of scrutiny and questioning. In her hand, the dagger with the snowflake motif shimmered with a cold, eerie light in the dimness, as if ready to strike at any moment.
Rin's heart pounded, not from the alarm of being discovered, but from the sudden direct confrontation. He knew she had seen "Shadow Strike, Second Form," and perhaps, she had already sensed something from him.
He didn't answer, merely looked at her coldly, his eyes deep and complex, as if waiting for her next move, or as if searching for fragments of the past through her eyes.
Seeing his silence, Ye Xue took a step forward, her cold killing intent instantly escalating, making the air feel as if it had solidified. Her voice sounded again, carrying an undeniable pressure:
"Answer me! Who exactly are you? Why do you possess… the aura of the 'Blade of Demise'?"
Her words exploded in Rin's mind like a thunderclap. She actually knew "Blade of Demise"! This completely confirmed his past identity. At the same time, the urgency and confusion in Ye Xue's eyes further convinced Rin that she was not a simple enemy.
He stared back at Ye Xue, and time seemed to stop at that moment. The air was thick with tension and killing intent, but beneath this intent flowed an unspeakable bond, a connection of fate.
In that brief standoff, Ye Xue's body suddenly trembled. Her gaze became unfocused, and a blurry yet vivid image flashed through her mind—
It was a cold, rainy night. She knelt in the mud, clumsily bandaging the wounded arm of a man dressed in black stealthy attire. The man's aura was weak yet familiar. Blood gushed from the wound on his arm, mixing with the rain, staining her fingertips. She could feel her heart twisting in excruciating pain, as if something important was slipping away from her hands…
Before the image could fully clear, it shattered instantly like a broken mirror.
"Ah!" Ye Xue clutched her head, letting out a pained groan. Intense, piercing pain erupted from deep within her mind, as if something was being forcibly torn apart, making every nerve in her body tremble. Her body swayed precariously, and the dagger almost slipped from her hand.
Rin's expression changed. He could feel the intense pain and chaotic emotions emanating from Ye Xue. That wasn't a pretense; it was a genuine memory backlash.
He instinctively wanted to step forward but forced himself to stop. He didn't know what this sudden anomaly meant, nor how he should react.
Ye Xue's body trembled more and more violently. She gritted her teeth, trying to suppress the excruciating pain, but it was clearly futile. She groaned in agony, falling to one knee, her hands pressed tightly against her temples, as if trying to push the intense pain back in.
Rin watched her, his expression complex. He saw the struggle in her eyes, the lines of pain twisting her face. In that moment, she was no longer the cold "Cold Moon Assassin," but a fragile soul tormented by memory backlash.
That blurry image, that familiar act of "bandaging," and Ye Xue's current pain, all raised deeper questions in Rin's mind. Had she bandaged his wounds before? When was that? And under what circumstances?
The sounds of slaughter in the Grey Zone still echoed in the distance, but by this small puddle, the standoff between the two fell into an eerie silence due to the sudden memory backlash. Fragments of truth, intertwined with blood and pain, were beginning to emerge, piece by piece. And this was just the beginning.