As Su Ruiyi pulled Ou Yunchen to his feet, they suddenly felt someone standing behind them, pointing a gun at them.
The two of them simultaneously raised their hands above their heads.
Su Ruiyi and Ou Yunchen exchanged a tense glance. It seemed there were more enemies here than they had anticipated.
Ka Wei walked over slowly, clapping his hands, as his subordinates surrounded the pair in a circle, all armed.
Ka Wei: "I truly didn't expect you to escape from the laboratory. You know, no experiment subject of mine has ever made it out alive."
Ka Wei walked up to Su Ruiyi and stared at her intently.
Ka Wei: "Do you not remember anything that happened?"
Su Ruiyi: "Ka Wei, for Sasha's sake, please let us go."
Ka Wei pouted, shook his head, and said with great helplessness, "I'm just an ordinary operative. If I let you go arbitrarily, I'll be the one punished."
Su Ruiyi: "If Sasha knew you killed her best friend..."
Ka Wei: "Shush!"
Ka Wei: "Sasha already tried her best to save you. You came back on your own. I didn't want to kill you, but... you brought this upon yourself, and there's nothing I can do."
Ka Wei raised his hand, and his subordinates quickly covered them with sacks.
Su Ruiyi: "What are you doing?!"
Ka Wei: "I can't kill you here, so I'll take you to a good place."
Ka Wei's subordinates were efficient. Soon, they had Ou Yunchen and Su Ruiyi loaded into a car and driven away from the Xishan mining area.
In the middle of a barren desert, Ka Wei's subordinates unloaded them.
Ka Wei: "In Kobutia, deserts are sacred places, for they can devour all secrets."
Ou Yunchen and Su Ruiyi's hands were tied tightly.
When they were forced to kneel on the sand before Ka Wei, they finally saw the endless desert stretching out in all directions. The boundless despair was enough to extinguish life.
Ka Wei: "For the sake of Sasha, the woman I love most, I will send you off with Kobutia's most sacred funeral rite."
Ou Yunchen suddenly shouted something in the Y language at Ka Wei.
Ka Wei was momentarily stunned, but he understood. His mother was from country Y, so he could comprehend it.
(Y language) Ka Wei: "What do you want to say?"
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "Did Mo Qingyun tell you to kill us?"
(Y language) Ka Wei: "She told me to handle it cleanly."
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "Can I ask you for a favor? Something I'd like to say before I die."
(Y language) Ka Wei: "Of course. I can grant you a small wish. For instance, would you prefer to be strangled, or shot..."
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "Let Su Ruiyi go. I won't run."
(Y language) Ka Wei: "Sorry, both of you must die."
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "Mo Qingyun only wants my life. If you kill me and let Su Ruiyi go, she won't pursue it."
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "Conversely, if you kill Su Ruiyi as well, you know she's the daughter of the Su family of R Country. Someone will come seeking revenge for her."
(Y language) Ka Wei: "Are you threatening me?"
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "No. I've already decided to die here. I just don't want to drag Su Ruiyi down with me."
Ka Wei looked at Su Ruiyi, then at the calm Ou Yunchen. He actually didn't want to kill Su Ruiyi. Sasha would hate him...
(Y language) Ka Wei: "I won't kill her, nor will I save her."
(Y language) Ou Yunchen: "Thank you. Please cover her face."
Ka Wei did as he was told, and Su Ruiyi cried out in fright.
Ou Yunchen: "Yiyi, Ka Wei isn't going to kill us anymore."
Only then did Su Ruiyi quiet down. She shuffled on her knees towards Ou Yunchen, wanting to lean on each other, but she already felt danger approaching.
Ou Yunchen: "Yiyi, there's no more danger... Don't be afraid."
Su Ruiyi: "Why did they cover my head?"
Ou Yunchen: "Mine is covered too..."
Su Ruiyi: "Ka Wei! What are you doing?!"
Ou Yunchen watched the outline of Su Ruiyi with red-rimmed eyes. She was trembling all over, perhaps from anger, or perhaps from fear...
Ou Yunchen: "Yiyi, listen to me. In a moment, I'll count three, two, one. After you hear 'one,' we'll run forward with all our might, okay?"
Su Ruiyi: "Did they really let us go?"
Ou Yunchen: "Yes. The condition is that no matter what we hear, we can't look back..."
Su Ruiyi: "Together? Right?"
Ou Yunchen: "Yes. I'll be behind you, protecting you..."
Su Ruiyi: "Keep running?"
Ou Yunchen: "Keep running..."
Ou Yunchen smiled as he looked at Su Ruiyi. She was ready to escape. How he wished he could look at her one more time...
Ou Yunchen: "Three..."
Ou Yunchen: "Two..."
Ou Yunchen: "One..."
Su Ruiyi quickly stood up and dashed forward, shouting as she ran, as if expending all the strength in her life, but...
"Bang!"
The gunshot truly came from behind her head...
Ka Wei's bullet pierced Ou Yunchen's body.
Su Ruiyi stopped, calling out softly...
Su Ruiyi: "Ou Yunchen?"
The desert wind swallowed her voice. The sand blown by the wind struck her face, but each grain was a speck of despair.
Su Ruiyi: "Ou Yunchen..."
"Keep running..."
"I'll be behind you, protecting you..."
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One..."
Su Ruiyi ultimately didn't dare to look back. She kept her promise to Ou Yunchen and ran on, and on...
She didn't know how many times she fell in the desert, how many times her tears dried in the wind, or if her hoarse cries would be carried by the wind to Ou Yunchen...
Su Ruiyi never looked back, but she always believed that the man she loved most was behind her, protecting her...