"Ugh—"
The killer's pupils still held deep astonishment and confusion, but his breath had already frozen in that moment forever; even his pupils reflected the figure standing before him.
—Until death, he never knew why.
Clearly their employer had sent them, so why had someone helped those others against them?
Sadly, this killer would never learn the answer.
Yin Qi looked down from above at the man on the ground and slowly discarded the extra bullets on his body.
There was no viciousness or killing intent on his face after the slaughter; from beginning to end he wore a very calm expression, as if killing one person or a group of people was nothing more than an everyday chore that did not affect his mood at all.
When he looked up again, however, a subtle change crossed his features.
He turned his head toward the figure hurrying in from outside the courtyard. The previously calm face finally showed a few smiles, and even his eyes caught a little starlight: "Sis! You're back!"
Yin Lan walked in from outside, her face carrying some worries, but when she saw the smile on her brother's face she forced one of her own: "Mm!"
Then Yin Lan suddenly wrinkled her nose, taking a light sniff of the air, her expression growing serious: "The smell of blood is strong. Did something happen here just now?"
Yin Qi blinked innocently: "Wasn't it those guys again? I don't even know who exposed your location. The assassins came wave after wave. If we don't leave this place soon, it will probably bring more trouble."
Hearing Yin Qi, Yin Lan also felt anxious.
Maybe it was because she had stayed within the same province for years without much change, but those people always managed to find her precisely. Since the assassin organization appeared, assassins had been coming to them in endless waves.
If it continued like this, not only would they be unable to endure it, but people nearby would start noticing something wrong.
This era was not like before; you couldn't just hide in another place and be safe. Once official agencies learned of their existence, what awaited them would likely be an even more complicated crisis.
So they couldn't stay here anymore...
"Sis, you haven't asked about me yet—"
Yin Qi tugged on Yin Lan's hand and acted coquettish with a smile.
Yin Lan helplessly ruffled Yin Qi's hair and chided: "You're standing right here. Do you think I still need to worry about you? I should be worrying about the old tree in our backyard. So many people have come recently—who knows if it can handle it."
Just bury it as fertilizer down there; that's not right.
Yin Qi laughed: "If the old tree absorbs nutrients, it will revive and flourish again. Isn't that the same as us?"
If the tree has fertilizer, it can thrive.
And they have...
At that thought, Yin Lan's expression dulled a little.
She of course understood her brother's happiness and excitement, and she knew how joyful it was to reclaim youth—but she could not feel happy.
To her, this kind of immortality was a curse, a prison for the soul that made a person suffer under the ravages of time.
Clearly, after so many years, the curse had reached its end and she could finally end her life, but unexpectedly...
For the sake of others, to avoid being captured and turned into test subjects for research, Yin Lan had to choose to prolong that damned curse.
Yet inside she felt extreme torment and pain.
She was exhausted and desperately wanted release.
Why, why did it have to happen now...
"Sis? Sis?"
Yin Qi's concerned voice pulled Yin Lan back from her thoughts.
"Sis, since you came back from the hospital you've seemed unsettled. Did something happen?"
Yin Qi tilted his head and asked in puzzlement.
"It's a friend of mine." Yin Lan's gaze dropped to the big tree in the center of the courtyard. "Her lifespan was nearly at its end, so I went to ask if she'd be willing to become like us."
Yin Qi understood: "No wonder you hurried off with that extra shard earlier. It was to save her. So where is she?"
Yin Lan gave a self-mocking smile: "She refused."
It was ironic. She knew this was a curse, yet she had tried to drag someone else down with her...
Thinking back now, she probably was mad.
Yin Lan despised that version of herself.
Yin Qi pursed his lips and softened his voice: "It's okay, sis. Their lives are just that short. I'll be here with you. In the days ahead, we can meet more new friends—"
If they had enough new friends, then surely she would forget those unpleasant things and the trouble brought by that old friend, right?
"Always a child who craves attention..."
Yin Lan sighed helplessly inwardly, thinking that.
The siblings' minds wandered differently, and the space suddenly fell quiet—
"Cut!"
---------------------
Yan Shaohan watched the scene and finally smiled: "Passed! That's the effect I wanted!"
At Yan Shaohan's words, everyone present secretly relaxed.
It finally passed!
Xiao He rubbed the slightly numb muscles on his face and thanked Guo Xinya, his scene partner: "Sister Xinya, thank you for your hard work. Sorry to trouble you to go through that with me."
"It's fine."
Guo Xinya waved her hand with a smile. "Your acting has improved a lot. You grasped Director Yan's intention so quickly."
"Not me—mostly thanks to Ms. Gao's guidance." Xiao He explained with a smile. "Without her instruction, I would probably have gone down a blind alley."
"I see. Ms Gao really is amazing. I audited a few of her classes before—"
Guo Xinya said with feeling, then suddenly remembered something and asked Xiao He, "By the way, what happened to that friend of yours?"
Xiao He froze, a little thrown: "What friend?"
Guo Xinya: "The one you mentioned before, the friend trying to lose weight."
"Oh, him... Ever since the Kemingen incident came out, he gave up that idea and decided to lose weight healthily." Xiao He hadn't expected his offhand lie at the time to be remembered by Guo Xinya now, and he felt a bit embarrassed.
"That's good. Losing weight naturally is better. It's best not to get involved in complicated things—after all, medicines are poison to some degree—"
Guo Xinya sighed.
"What's wrong? Was Sister Xinya's friend also implicated in the Kemingen matter?" Xiao He asked tentatively.
Recently the Kemingen affair had been all the rage, but the heat had lately cooled down. Fortunately the authorities had intervened and Kemingen was under investigation; even the behind-the-scenes boss Chen Cong had been taken in for questioning.
Given that, uncovering more secrets under this pretext now was probably only a matter of time...