White Li’s smile froze on her face.
“Can… can I not give it?”
She asked tentatively, blinking her eyes, trying to make a last-ditch struggle.
This staff was under Madam’s strict orders. If she couldn’t bring it back, she would definitely be killed.
No, not killed—something worse than being killed.
Madam’s half-smiling face floated into her mind. White Li shuddered.
Even if she were locked up in a containment facility, with Madam’s influence, a single word would be enough to have someone beat her to death.
She could stay away herself, but the staff absolutely could not fall into this guy’s hands.
“Hand over the staff first.”
“N-No!”
White Li hugged the staff tighter, curling into a ball like a small animal protecting its food.
Her fluffy tail even curled up, covering the staff completely, leaving only the emerald-green tip swaying outside.
Lin Du looked at her like that and frowned slightly.
He didn’t waste any more words; he simply reached out to grab it.
White Li desperately dodged backward, but her collar was still being held, so she couldn’t escape.
She could only widen her eyes, hugging the staff and swaying left and right like a kitten being held by the scruff and still struggling.
“Don’t grab it, it’s mine!”
“It’s stolen goods.”
“I got it with my own skills, how can you call it stolen goods!” White Li retorted with righteous indignation.
“What kind of skill is that?”
“I infiltrated without being discovered! I cracked the electronic lock! Knocked out the guards!” White Li got more excited as she spoke, her tail perking up. “Isn’t that skill?”
Lin Du paused his movement. “…You’re proud of that?”
“Of course!”
White Li was unabashed, but immediately realized she had said the wrong thing and shrank her neck.
“Uh… no… I mean…”
She couldn’t finish because Lin Du’s hand had already grabbed the other end of the staff.
That hand, covered in silver-gray armor, firmly gripped the emerald-green shaft, only a fist’s distance away from her.
“Let go.”
“No!”
“Let go.”
The two began to tug.
White Li hung onto the staff like a koala hugging a branch. She even used her teeth, biting down on the staff tip and refusing to let go.
Lin Du tried to pull it toward himself, while White Li pulled in the opposite direction.
The staff swayed between them like the rope of a tug-of-war match.
“Let—go—!”
White Li gritted her teeth, her face flushed red, her tail stiff as a board.
Lin Du frowned, thinking, ‘This little one is quite strong.’
He was about to increase his effort when suddenly White Li stiffened as if struck by something.
A voice sounded in her mind—distant yet incredibly clear.
It seemed to come from deep underground, or maybe it seeped out from the depths of her soul.
“White Li.”
It was Madam’s voice.
White Li’s pupils contracted as if she were frozen.
“Recite.”
Madam said only one word.
But White Li knew what that meant.
“As you command.”
Those ancient syllables suddenly surged into her throat, waiting for a command to flow out on their own.
She opened her mouth, and the sound spilled from her throat. It wasn’t her speaking—something else was speaking through her.
Archaic and obscure, a language not of this world.
Each syllable was like a pebble thrown into a lake, rippling invisible circles in the air.
Lin Du watched the scene, momentarily stunned.
Under White Li’s chant, the staff began to glow.
First, the gem at the tip lit up from within with an emerald light.
Then the glow spread along the shaft, circle by circle, wrapping around the entire staff.
Brighter and brighter, more and more dazzling.
White Li’s voice grew louder. The syllables became clearer and more powerful in her mouth.
At some point, her eyes had closed. Her silver-white hair floated in the night breeze, like an elf from a western fantasy story.
Lin Du sensed something wrong, but it was too late.
The gem at the tip suddenly exploded with a burst of light, and then wind erupted from the gem, blasting out in all directions centered on White Li.
The air was compressed to its limit, letting out a sharp scream.
Lin Du was hit head-on by that force, his whole body lifted into the air and flung backward.
The wind screamed in his ears, his vision a chaotic blur of emerald and silver-white.
BOOM—!
He crashed through the wall behind him. Rubble and dust rushed toward him, then scattered under the wind pressure.
He continued flying backward, crashing through two more walls.
Finally, he slammed into an empty room, his armor scraping a trail of sparks along the ground before he stopped.
Enduring a violent ringing in his ears, Lin Du shook his head and pushed himself up from the ground.
Three connected holes in the wall, as if punched by a giant’s fist. Through those holes, he could see the rooftop outside in the moonlight.
And the figure falling from the edge of that rooftop.
White Li.
She was hugging the staff, completely unconscious, plummeting straight down.
Her silver-white hair spread in the night wind, her tail hanging limp.
“Hey—!”
Lin Du shouted, his legs pushing off as he charged in that direction.
He passed through the crumbling wall, reaching out.
But he couldn’t reach—still a little short, just a little.
His fingertips sliced through the air, grabbing nothing.
White Li’s figure slipped past below his fingertips, farther and farther, smaller and smaller.
Moonlight shone on her, her hair flying in the air like a flower withering.
“No…”
Lin Du lay at the edge of the rooftop, watching helplessly as that small figure fell.
White Li curled up, the staff in her arms still emitting a faint emerald glow.
Just as she was about to touch the ground, the ground moved—her shadow came to life.
A shadow as thick as ink surged up from the ground, silently spreading open, catching her steadily.
White Li fell into the black shadow as if into a ball of cotton.
No sound, no impact, nothing.
Then the shadow began to contract. It wrapped around White Li’s body, swallowing her bit by bit like quicksand.
White Li’s face was the last part to disappear. Her eyes were still closed, her expression as calm as if asleep.
Finally, she sank completely into the darkness. The ground returned to normal, as if the whole scene had never happened.
Lin Du leaped down from the rooftop. He landed on one knee, pressing his palm to the ground.
Nothing.
No change in temperature, no trace at all.
It was as if the black shadow had never existed.
He stood up and looked around.
An empty street, dim yellow streetlights, occasional sirens in the distance.
No White Li, no staff.
Nothing.
He looked up at the full moon in the night sky and let out a sigh.
“A weirdo who controls shadows…” he muttered to himself, “must be the same one who infiltrated the detention center.”
……
Meanwhile, in the darkness.
White Li felt herself sinking, as if being pulled downward by something wrapped around her.
There was nothing around, not even breathing was possible.
She didn’t know how long had passed.
A minute? An hour? Or a whole day?
Then the darkness began to recede, like a tide gradually ebbing from her.
Light pierced her eyes. White Li frowned and instinctively raised her hand to block it.
But something blocked it for her. She opened her eyes with difficulty.
“Mmph…”
What came into view was a face—dark purple skin, expressionless features.
It was Martha.
She stood right in front of White Li, looking down at her.
White Li’s mind went blank with a buzzing sound. She sat up abruptly.
Bam!
Ow—!
Her forehead throbbed in sharp pain. She covered her head and shrank back, only then realizing she was lying on a narrow iron bed.
Around her were gray cement walls. Above hung a dim yellow bulb, emitting a faint, flickering light.
And Martha stood by the bed, arms crossed, watching her.
White Li’s drowsiness vanished instantly.
She shrank to the corner of the bed, her back pressed against the wall, her tail tucked tightly.
“Wh-What’s wrong?” Her voice trembled slightly.
Martha just stood there, quietly staring at White Li, like two bottomless wells.
White Li’s heartbeat quickened.
‘The staff?’
‘The mission?’
‘Madam?’
‘Did she… mess something up just now?’
She tried to recall, but her mind was nothing but chaotic fragments.
An emerald glow, a violent wind, and… and who was calling her?
“White Li.”
Martha finally spoke, her voice still flat.
“Madam wants to see you.”