"Heh... hehehe..."
Lin Ao laughed stiffly.
"Little one, can you tell me why you're here all alone?"
This time, Lin Ao didn't dare bring up her parents. He tried to fish for answers indirectly, wanting to find out what had happened that made her walk all the way from Lotus Mountain to the amusement park by herself.
The little girl opened her mouth and gestured, but no sound came out.
Lin Ao was startled. Was she mute?
"Wait here a moment. I'll step out."
Lin Ao went out and called in the hospital's best pediatrician, asking her to examine the little girl again.
It was heartbreaking to think that such a cute child had become mute.
Throughout the examination, the girl's gaze never left Lin Ao.
"Uncle Lin Ao, the person she's tried to assassinate at least twenty times... Whenever he realized I was still a child, he let her go."
She recalled what had happened before, piecing it together from her restored memories.
Her name was Liu Nian, and she was the niece of the Liu Family's head. As a child, she had witnessed her parents being brutally murdered by their enemy. She had suffered from a speech disorder ever since.
Today should have been her birthday. Every year, her parents had taken her to the amusement park to celebrate. Today, she had gone out with her aunt, but they'd been pursued by their enemy and separated. Panicked, she had run up Lotus Mountain, then somehow made her way to the amusement park.
She remembered that the person she met today shouldn't have been Lin Ao.
It should have been that damned Ye Chen. He was the one who'd trained her to become an assassin.
How many times had this happened?
The same events had unfolded again and again in her memories. She'd gotten lost at five, been taken in by Ye Chen, and trained for ten years until she became the famous assassin Night Heron. She was renowned for her bizarre methods of killing; anyone Night Heron set her sights on never lived to see the next day. Her assassination success rate was 100%.
The stronger her abilities, the more they proved just how cruel her training had been.
Ten years later, Ye Chen told her she was the niece of the Liu Family's head and sent her back to the Liu Family. In reality, he was using her to get close to her aunt and using the Liu Family to deal with Lin Ao.
By then, Ye Chen had already brainwashed her. She'd kept many things from her aunt, serving as a pawn Ye Chen had placed in the Liu Family.
On the surface, Ye Chen had taken her in and raised her for ten years, helping the Liu Family find their missing child. In truth, she'd discovered that it had all been a show Ye Chen had staged himself.
When he took her in, he'd already known she was the child the Liu Family had lost. Yet he'd heartlessly thrown her into that hell, "Yama Hall," under the pretense of giving her the power to take revenge.
"If you want the strength to take revenge, then train with your life on the line. Work hard, child!"
Pah!
She had no idea what had come over her back then. Somehow, she'd just listened to him, even worked for him and betrayed the Liu Family. The Liu Family had joined the decisive battle against the Lin Family and suffered a crushing defeat, never recovering afterward.
The despicable Ye Chen had even coveted her aunt.
And as for their hatred of Uncle Lin Ao, from the perspective of who she was now, their behavior had been petty, vile, and shameless!
When she thought of Lin Ao, she remembered the one stain on her career—and the only warmth she'd felt as an assassin.
The first time: "You're a kid? You're this young, so why aren't you studying instead of playing assassin? Uncle Zhang, let her go. I can't bring myself to hurt a child."
The second time: "You again? Which one of the Xiao, Lin, Ye, or Chu families sent you?" "If you can't beat me, then eat your food and get lost as soon as you're done!"
The third time: "It's you again. Uncle Zhang, tie her up. I'm going to have a chat with the little one!"
"In this world, I have no one I can confide in. It's rare to have the freedom to speak my mind, so just listen to me vent."
"I... just want to live."
The last time, the man had smiled as if he were finally free. "Congratulations, little one. You've finally completed your mission."
Every time, this man seemed cold, but his actions had been so warm.
Back then, she couldn't express what she felt or control her own actions. Yet when Lin Ao died at her hands, for one fleeting moment, she broke free of those shackles.
After that, every time Lin Ao died, she would come to her senses. Each time, she would immediately go fight Xiao, Lin, Ye, and Chu with everything she had!
Every time, it ended in her death.
This time, she'd broken free of those shackles at the age of five, and the first person she'd met had been Lin Ao.
Uncle Lin Ao wanted to live. Then in this life, she would protect him with her life.
As she thought about it, tears began to stream down her face again.
"What's wrong? Doctor, did you hurt her?"
When Lin Ao saw Liu Nian crying during the examination, he immediately questioned the doctor. His icy words made her jump. Lin Ao didn't mean anything by it; he just always spoke that way.
"N-no, Young Master Lin."
The doctor was flustered. She'd only done a routine examination, and she had no idea why the little girl was crying.
"Uncle Zhang, did you buy the things I asked for? Hurry up and bring them in—they're a lifesaver!"
Lin Ao rubbed his brow and called Uncle Zhang. He'd asked him to go buy some things girls liked.
Uncle Zhang came bustling in, carrying a pile of things.
Lin Ao immediately took them and dumped them all onto Liu Nian's bed.
"They're all for you! Don't cry!"
Lin Ao put on a stiff, awkward smile, trying to look as kind as possible.
The doctor was startled by his smile. Was Young Master Lin about to kill someone? Why was he wearing such a terrifying grin?
"Young Master Lin, I've examined her. She must have suffered a tremendous shock, which caused her speech disorder. She'll need time and care to recover. Once she feels better and emerges from the shadows, she should be able to speak again!"
[Character's current state/thoughts: Panic. Help! How am I supposed to comfort a girl? Isn't my smile handsome enough? Don't little girls all like handsome guys?]
The doctor fled the room after speaking. She thought the Young Master Lin before her was extremely dangerous.
"Pfft!"
Seeing the scene and the information on the panel, Liu Nian burst out laughing again.
Lin Ao breathed a sigh of relief.
"Good, you're laughing. That's good. What's your name? Can you write it down?"
Scribble, scribble, scribble~
"Liu Nian? That's a pretty name. Do you remember where your home is?"
Scribble, scribble, scribble~
"You don't remember? Have you lost your memory?"
Scribble, scribble, scribble~
"So you just don't remember? Now you're acting all cocky?"
Lin Ao rubbed his brow again. Were all female creatures this hard to deal with?
Liu Nian covered her mouth and giggled. This wasn't the right time to return to the Liu Family. Ye Chen would be in Jianghai City for the next few days, then he'd return to Yama Hall. To make sure Ye Chen couldn't take her away again, she decided to stay by Uncle Lin Ao's side for now.
She could also get to know Lin Ao better—the man who had made her feel warm in her previous life.
"Forget it. I'm heading back. Rest here, and I'll come see you tomorrow."
Lin Ao hadn't even eaten yet. He'd been dealing with one thing after another until now. He wanted to go home, take a shower, and get a good night's rest. Tomorrow, he'd come back and figure out what to do with this little thing. Since he'd run into her, he might as well see it through. Just as he was about to leave, Liu Nian grabbed his hand.
Scribble, scribble, scribble~
"You don't want me to leave? No! I'm going home. I need to eat, shower, and sleep, and I still have to figure out how to stay away from those people. I don't have time to hang around here. We'll talk about it tomorrow."
Lin Ao tried to pull away, but Liu Nian started bawling again.
The veins on Lin Ao's forehead slowly began to bulge.
Were women made of water?
Before you continue