After a while.
The rain became heavier.
The raindrops were like cold beads, crackling on the ground and splashing white water.
The body that had been lying in a pool of blood suddenly sat up.
He reached out and wiped the rain off his face, and the rain mixed with blood slid down his cheeks.
He bared his teeth and whispered to himself, "It really hurts..."
He stood up, took out a jade mask from his arms and put it on, then turned around and quietly left in the opposite direction to Jing Ni under the cover of night.
Time passes.
A few months later.
Spring passes and summer solstice ends, summer ends and autumn comes.
Jing Ni's belly is already very big, and it won't be long before she gives birth.
Her figure became a little more clumsy, with her arms crossed slightly when she walked, her cheeks were rounder than before, and the coldness between her eyebrows had also faded a bit.
She returned to the medicine hall again.
The door was pushed open, and the door shaft made a low "squeak".
The "white-haired old woman" behind the counter raised her head and saw Jing Ni, her eyes instantly lit up.
She quickly put down her work, walked out from behind the counter, and quickly stepped forward to hold Jing Ni's arm.
"Girl." There was a hint of distress and concern in her voice.
She led Jing Ni to the wooden bench and sat down, gently holding her shoulders to help her sit firmly.
"Didn't I tell you? You have such a big belly, you can't just walk around."
"And it's been so long, why haven't you seen your husband's family yet?"
"This..."
Jing Ni smiled bitterly and did not answer.
When the "white-haired old woman" saw this, she didn't ask any questions.
She just sighed softly, then put Jing Ni's hand on the pulse pillow, her fingertips on her wrist, and closed her eyes to check her pulse.
After a while, she opened her eyes and said with a smile, "Fortunately, my pulse is very stable."
She retracted her hand, turned around, poured a cup of warm tea, pushed it in front of Jing Ni, and continued:
"Girl, you really can't keep walking anymore."
"Look at your belly, it's been like this for months."
"If you bump into it, the baby in your belly will be gone."
"Otherwise, you can live here with me from now on, and you can be my companion."
Jing Ni did not answer the question. She picked up the cup of warm tea and held it in her hands, letting the warmth pass through the cup wall to her palms.
She raised her head, looked at the "white-haired old woman", and said in a gentle tone:
"Grandma, am I about to give birth?"
"Counting the days, it won't be long." The "white-haired old woman" nodded seriously, "As long as nothing happens, it will only be a few months."
"You must be more calm during this period. If you get a flat tire, it will be terrible."
Jing Ni heard this, and his heart trembled secretly.
Her fingers tightened slightly on the tea cup, and then she forced a smile and said:
"Grandma, can you prescribe some more anti-fetal medicine for me?"
"Okay, I'll go and prescribe some for you." The "white-haired old woman" immediately turned around and walked towards the medicine cabinet, opened the drawer, skillfully grabbed the medicinal materials, weighed them, and packaged them.
About two-quarters of an hour later, Jing Ni once again left a gold coin on the table.
She stood up, smoothed her clothes, and her eyes fell on the "white-haired old woman" with a faint smile on her lips.
"Grandma, I may not come here again."
"Thanks to you for this period of time..."
One day later.
There was heavy rain and thunder and lightning.
The sky is like a torn wound, and the heavy rain pours down from the wound, connecting the sky and the earth into a vast white curtain of water.
Lightning tore through the sky, illuminating the figures hidden in the dark in the dense forest.
In the dense forest, Jing Ni was besieged in an open space by dozens of Net's killers.
She turned her body slightly, and her eyes quickly scanned the killers. Every time she scanned a person's face, her pupils shrank slightly.
The long sword in her hand was not unsheathed, but her left hand was subconsciously protecting her bulging abdomen, her knuckles clenched and turning pale.
"Why?" Her voice was as cold as ice, without any unnecessary emotion.
The rain slid down her cheeks, but she didn't even blink.
The leading assassin said in a cold voice, "As an assassin, you know why."
"But I have completed the task!" Jing Ni's voice rose a little higher.
"So -" the killer's voice was still calm, so calm that it could send chills down one's spine, "It's time to start completing the next mission."
"Next mission?" Jing Ni's eyes swept across the man's face, "I have no choice, right?"
"You are born for the mission. You have been like this since you were born, and it will not end until you die!"
"Are you willing to fight to the death for your goal?" A gentle voice sounded like thunder, shocking everyone present and drawing swords to look at each other.
"It's him again?"
Jing Ni recognized the owner of this voice, and the vigilance in her eyes relaxed a little. The fingers that originally clenched the scabbard slowly loosened their grip, and suppressed the murderous intention that originally wanted to kill them all.
"Who?!"
Those Net killers looked in all directions warily, their eyes scanning back and forth in the rain curtain, but they could not find the source of the sound.
There was no figure, no footprints, no breath, but the voice was there, neither far nor near, as if speaking to each of their ears.
"Get her first!"
The leader made a quick decision, waved his hand violently, and the killers behind him were about to attack.
But before the killers could make any move, an invisible sword energy quietly passed through everyone's neck.
The sword energy was silent, like a breeze blowing across the water, ruthlessly harvesting lives one after another.
But in an instant, the Net killers who were originally ambushing in all directions turned into corpses one after another.
Their bodies fell down one after another like wheat being cut down.
The rain washed away the blood, dyeing the ground of this dense forest a faint dark red.
The red color slowly spreads in the rain, seeps into the soil, and mixes with the mud, making it impossible to distinguish one from the other.
Zhao Linchuan held an umbrella and walked slowly out of the rain curtain.
He walked up to Jing Ni and tilted the umbrella towards her a little.
He raised his right hand, gently touched Jing Ni's cheek, and then said in a gentle voice:
"Do you want to come with me? For your own sake and for the sake of the child in your belly."
He lowered his head, his eyes falling on her bulging belly, and his eyes became softer.
"I guess you don't want your child to repeat your fate, right?"
Jing Ni raised his head slightly and looked at Zhao Linchuan.
The rain slid down from the edge of the umbrella, forming a thin curtain of water, isolating her from him in the same warm space.
She was silent for a moment, then asked in a hoarse and trembling voice:
"You... have always been by my side?"
"I have always been there." Zhao Linchuan said without any lies, "The old woman in the medicine hall is me, the owner of the tea stall on the roadside is me, and the waiter in the tavern is me."
Jing Ni heard this and closed his eyes.
"Alas--"
She let out a long sigh and said in a hoarse and sour voice:
"Our child is about to be born, please take her away."
"You won't leave?"
"For the sake of the child... I can't leave."
"Are you worried about Net?"
"No one can escape the pursuit of Net."
"What if... I want to take you to another world?"
"Another, another world...?"