"You'd better remember what you just said."
The words were the last thing Xiao Ke had in him. The adrenaline and sheer force of will that had fueled his fight against Duan Canglong vanished in an instant. In its place, a tidal wave of pain and exhaustion crashed over him, and he collapsed onto the damp earth beside his defeated opponent. He didn't have the strength to lift a finger.
They were both a wreck. Laid out like corpses on the shore of the dark pool, they could only stare up at the sliver of sky far above the cliff's edge.
Duan Canglong's voice was barely a whisper. "Captain... that's got to be, what, a hundred meters up?"
"Closer to one-fifty," Xiao Ke managed to reply. His voice was weak, but for the first time, it held a core of solid confidence. Beating Duan Canglong hadn't just earned him a subordinate's loyalty; it had given him back a piece of himself.
"So we're screwed," Duan Canglong said, the despair evident in his tone. "There's no way we're climbing out of here like this. We'll have to wait for Officer Qin Bing to come rescue us."
Xiao Ke let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Forget it. That woman is rushing her troops to Ginkgo Town. You really think she's going to waste time looking for two guys she probably wrote off for dead the second we went over the edge? Don't hold your breath."
The words had barely left his mouth when a voice as sharp and cold as ice cut through the silence.
"Not holding your breath for me to save you? So, you're planning on dying down here?"
A jolt of fear shot through both men before they recognized the voice. It was Chiliarch Qin Bing. A strange mix of relief and terror washed over them as they scrambled to locate the sound. There, about sixty feet away, a figure in an Imperial Chiliarch's uniform was descending the sheer cliff face. She moved with the impossible, predatory grace of a falcon, leaping from foothold to foothold as if gravity were merely a suggestion.
In seconds, she was standing over them.
"Officer! You came for us!" Duan Canglong blurted out, pure joy in his voice.
Qin Bing's beautiful face was a mask of ice, her narrow, almond-shaped eyes glinting with a dangerous light. "I came down to see if you were dead," she said flatly. "But now, I'm thinking I'll just kill you both myself."
A chill crawled up Xiao Ke's spine. Her eyes were locked on him, and the cold fury in them was unmistakable. She'd been silent on her way down. She'd heard everything.
Think fast.
"Come on, Officer, you're kidding, right?" Xiao Ke said, forcing a laugh. "A person as honorable as you... You saw us fall and came down here immediately. A kind-hearted leader like yourself wouldn't just kill her own men. That's a joke, right? Heh heh."
She didn't kill them. Instead, she pulled out a military-issue lighter, flicked it on, and waved the flame in a pattern against the dark rock. A signal. Moments later, a thick, tough-looking vine snaked down from the top of the cliff.
After a quick check of Duan Canglong's injuries, she expertly secured the vine around his torso. The soldiers above began to haul him up. The ascent was anything but smooth. Halfway up, a sickening tearing sound echoed in the gorge as the vine partially snapped. Duan Canglong yelled in terror, dangling precariously. Another inch, and he'd be right back where he started, but dead this time. Luck was on his side, however, and the soldiers managed to drag him the rest of the way up before the vine gave out completely.
But it was useless now.
Qin Bing didn't have the patience to wait for her men to find a replacement. She turned to Xiao Ke. "What's your status?"
"Every bone in my body feels like it's been ground into dust," he said, eyeing her warily. He knew he was on thin ice. A woman with her reputation for holding a grudge wasn't going to just let his comments slide.
"Let me see."
To his surprise, she knelt and began a quick, professional assessment of his injuries.
"You're banged up all over, but most of it is treatable," she concluded. "The only real problem is your left hand. It's broken."
Xiao Ke blinked. Broken? It hurts like hell, but it's not broken.
He opened his mouth to argue, but before he could get a word out, she grabbed his left hand. With a motion too fast to see, she twisted.
A sickening CRACK echoed through the canyon.
His own scream was deafening, a raw, animal sound of pure agony.
High above, the soldiers looked at each other in confusion. Only Duan Canglong, his face pale, shrank back. Did she really just... did she kill the Captain for badmouthing her?
Pain exploded behind Xiao Ke's eyes. White spots danced in his vision. "You... you crazy devil!" he gasped, cold sweat pouring down his face. "You broke my arm!"
Qin Bing was already working, her movements swift and efficient. She splinted his arm with two small pieces of wood and a strip of cloth, then produced a military medical injector and pressed it against his neck. A blessed wave of anesthetic numbness began to spread, dulling the fire in his arm.
"It was already fractured," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "An incomplete break. If it healed like that, you'd have chronic pain and limited mobility for the rest of your life. You'd never lift anything heavy again. By breaking it cleanly, I've ensured it will reset and heal properly. No after-effects."
Xiao Ke stared at her, stunned. His first thought was that she was lying, just to be cruel. But then he considered it. For all her ruthlessness, she wasn't known for being dishonest. She was probably telling the truth.
Even so, a hot seed of hatred bloomed in his chest. Okay, add this to the list. First the honey, now my hand. I'll get her back for all of it. With interest.
"Don't move," she commanded, turning her back to him and crouching down. "I'm carrying you up."
Before he could protest, she had hoisted him onto her back and was moving. She shot up the cliff face like a rocket, her feet finding impossible holds in the rock. It was less like climbing and more like flying, each leap clean and powerful. She moved as if the vertical cliff were flat ground.
Xiao Ke's eyes went wide with realization. He knew that ever since the apocalypse began, a rare few humans had started to awaken their "Martial Veins," granting them superhuman abilities. These Awakeners were legends in the military, powerful figures who held the highest ranks.
So that's what she is. Qin Bing is an Awakened.
A jolt of pure envy shot through him. He was lying on her back, his arms looped around her neck for stability. He could feel the power in her movements, see the determined set of her jaw in her beautiful profile. If I could just awaken my own Martial Veins one day... if I could have that kind of power...
He was lost in a daydream of power and potential, staring intently at the side of her face.
Qin Bing, however, felt something else entirely. She was hyper-aware of the man on her back, of his arms around her neck. And she suddenly felt his hot, intense gaze fixed on her cheek.
Confident in her looks, she immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion. The close contact, the intense stare... this little punk was getting ideas. A faint, angry blush crept up her neck.
So, a broken hand wasn't enough of a lesson, she thought, her internal voice turning murderous. Maybe I should have broken his leg, too. His third leg.
If Xiao Ke had any idea what was going through her mind, the sheer injustice of it would have made him pass out.