An autumn rain had blown down countless red leaves across Shanming City, leaving every street and alley seemingly carpeted in desolate crimson.
The rainwater had yet to dry, mixing with the fallen leaves beneath pedestrians' feet, soft and yielding, almost unreal.
The weather was growing colder by the day, and the temperature by the moat was even lower. The three men and one woman standing on the bank exhaled white mist with every breath.
They were dressed differently, but all wore somber expressions. It was eight-thirty in the morning of October 27th, the start of a new day.
Yet the four of them had just endured several hours of a life-and-death ordeal. Though exhausted, they still stood by the riverbank, gazing into the distance.
"Ji Li, based on what I know about him, probably isn't dead."
As a gust of wind swept over, Yu Guo's Hair Strands danced in the air. He drew his arms in, clutching his clothes tight as he exhaled a cloud of white mist.
Beside him, a middle-aged man with a cigarette between his lips turned up the collar of his trench coat against the cold wind, his eyes lowered.
"Ji Li has a major secret. I really want to know whether he can still survive under those circumstances."
That was precisely why they had waited here for so long. No one truly cared whether Ji Li lived or died.
What mattered most was seeing how he could possibly survive.
Smoke and vapor mingled together, carried by the wind toward the man and woman standing apart from them.
Chang Nian wrinkled her nose in disgust and glared at the person beside her. Like Fang Shenyan, Tong Guan had a cigarette pinched between his fingers.
The longer she watched, the more agitated she became. She grabbed Tong