Ling Yu's lips curled in a humorless smile.
'As if I needed you to tell me that.'
She kept her posture steady, her expression calm, blending into the mass of survivors. Fluffy stirred on her shoulder, its tail twitching nervously.
Ling Yu didn't move. Her jaw clenched, eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
No. She couldn't reveal herself. Not yet.
If she stepped forward now, the balance she had so carefully constructed would collapse. The envy and hatred of the scavengers would boil over. The survivors who looked at her with suspicion would brand her an enemy. And worse—Ji Xiulan himself…
She didn't know what he would do.
Would he recruit her? Test her? Mark her as a rival?
Her chest tightened. She didn't want his acknowledgment, not like this. Not when she wasn't ready. Not when she still walked in the shadow of her past life's disgrace.
So she stayed silent.
