Three Seconds

Yue Zhengyu flicked the tail of the car and backed precisely into the villa's garage.

Tang Wulin felt as though he had been forcibly torn out of a high-speed nightmare. His legs went weak, and he could barely stand by holding onto the car door.

"We're back. We're safe." Yue Zhengyu turned off the engine and let out a long breath. He casually pulled two bottles of chilled mineral water from beneath the passenger seat, tossed one to Tang Wulin, and said, "Drink up. Calm yourself down. You'd better not have an experience like this a second time in your life. Just thinking about the look in Gu Yue's eyes still gives me chills."

Tang Wulin twisted open the cap and gulped down the icy water, which slightly eased his pounding heart. Leaning against the garage's concrete wall, he nodded. "Yeah... We almost lost our lives."

"When dealing with women, especially high-IQ, high-powered women like Gu Yue, going head-to-head is suicide. You have to use your brain. See? Sincerely admitting fault, going broke, emotional comfort—none of those three steps can be skipped."

The two pushed open the villa's front door. Warm lighting and the comforting scent of the sofa washed over them, a stark heaven-and-hell contrast to the road they had just fled, filled with the burnt-rubber stench and engine roars.

Tang Wulin dropped into the soft sofa, feeling as though every bone in his body had gone limp.

"Home is still the best," he sighed. "And your villa is even better. It feels safe. No matter how fierce Gu Yue is, she can't chase us all the way home, right? This is my... uh, our temporary shelter."

"Not necessarily." Yue Zhengyu poured himself a glass of water and spoke casually. "Gu Yue holds grudges like nobody else. But don't worry. My house has top-tier security. Forget one person—even ten Soul Emperors might not be able to break in."

Before he had even finished speaking, a sudden change erupted.

An incomparably biting chill swept in from the direction of the front door without warning. It was not the cold breeze from an air conditioner, but a tangible Soul Power fluctuation carrying sharp shards of ice. It instantly pierced through the heavy metal door, dropping the temperature throughout the living room by more than ten degrees.

The water in the glass on the coffee table visibly began to freeze over.

"Fuck!" Yue Zhengyu's lollipop fell to the floor with a snap. He sprang from his chair like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, rushed clumsily to the coffee table, grabbed his latest-model tablet, and tremblingly opened the security camera app.

The screen lit up, displaying a high-definition image.

Outside the villa gate stood a figure who had appeared at some unknown time. A fitted silver-gray shirt fluttered slightly in the night wind, outlining a slender yet upright form. It was Gu Yue. She neither knocked nor rang the bell. She simply stood there, her cool eyes precisely locking onto Yue Zhengyu behind the screen through the camera lens.

Their eyes met.

Yue Zhengyu felt his blood turn to ice. There was not the slightest trace left of the leniency she had shown in the car. Her gaze held nothing but pure, undisguised coldness and fury, as though she were looking at two prey animals waiting to be slaughtered.

The next second, a blinding blue light burst from the screen!

The surveillance image twisted violently, followed by a deafening bang as the tablet in Yue Zhengyu's hand exploded! Countless ice-blue fragments scattered in every direction. At the center of the screen was a huge black hole with crystallized edges, as though it had been instantly pierced through and shattered by some force of absolute zero.

"Aah—!"

Yue Zhengyu let out a miserable scream, not because he mourned the tablet that had cost several thousand, but because that terrifying Soul Power fluctuation had traveled through the wireless network and nearly frozen him solid where he stood. He staggered back two steps and nearly threw away the half-glass of water still in his hand.

"G-Gu Yue is here! What do we do?!" he cried, his voice trembling and on the verge of tears. "How... how did she find this place?! My cameras! My security system! They're all useless!"

Tang Wulin was also scared out of his wits by the sudden turn of events. He shot to his feet from the sofa, cold sweat pouring down his body. Gu Yue had actually come after them! And she had destroyed the surveillance system as soon as she arrived, clearly intending to leave them no chance to negotiate or escape.

"How about we beg for mercy?" Tang Wulin's mind went blank, and the words slipped out instinctively.

"Beg for mercy? Would that even work?" Yue Zhengyu stared despairingly at the tablet wreckage still giving off a frosty mist on the floor. "That look in her eyes just now clearly said she wants to grind our bones to dust! I think there's only one way left!"

He suddenly grabbed Tang Wulin's arm, dragged him to the window, and pointed toward the pitch-black backyard. "Break out! We climb over the wall through the backyard!

"There's a construction site outside that wall. The terrain is complicated, and her car can't get in. It'll be two against one—we'll go all out! When enemies meet on a narrow road, the brave win! As long as we get out, we win!"

"Are you insane?!" Tang Wulin shook off his hand, his face white. "Do you even know how strong Gu Yue is? She can hang both of us up and beat us by herself! Those flashy little moves of yours would just be feeding her free kills! If we go out there, we're finished! Forget our phones—we might have to pay with our lives!"

"Then what do you suggest?! Wait here to die?!" Yue Zhengyu grew frantic as well.

"Let's... let's try making peace first!" Tang Wulin forced himself to calm down, his mind racing. Gu Yue was angry, but she had not directly killed them. That meant she was still within control. Maybe... maybe there was still a sliver of hope?

He took a deep breath and shouted toward the empty entrance hall, "Gu Yue! Gu Yue, listen to me! We weren't trying to hide from you! We were... we were going back to prepare the compensation! Really! Look, I even gave you my bank card!"

There was no response from outside. Only that suffocating pressure of Soul Power grew heavier, and the wall lamps flickered twice as though they might go out at any moment.

Tang Wulin refused to give up and continued shouting, "We know we were wrong! We really know we were wrong! Please be magnanimous and let us off this time! I promise I'll never dare provoke you again! Hit us or scold us however you want, but please don't make a move! We'll open the door right now!"

Creeeak—

The villa's heavy front door slowly opened inward without anyone touching it. As the door opened, Gu Yue's figure appeared fully beneath the living room lights.

She walked in step by step without making a sound, as though she were walking on empty air. With every step, the room's temperature dropped another degree. She stopped at the center of the living room, her gaze sweeping over the trembling Yue Zhengyu and the terrified Tang Wulin before finally settling on Tang Wulin.

"Tang Wulin." Her voice was not loud, yet it clearly reached everyone's ears. An invisible vibration of Soul Power accompanied it, making the speakers emit a buzzing static. "If you don't come out, Yue Zhengyu can forget about keeping this house too."

Those words were like a final verdict, and Yue Zhengyu's face instantly fell. This villa was his only comfort. If Gu Yue destroyed it, he truly would not know how to explain himself.

"I'll give you three seconds." Gu Yue's voice contained not a trace of emotion. "Three..."

Tang Wulin felt as though his heart were about to leap out of his throat. He knew this was no joke. Gu Yue's Soul Power Level far surpassed theirs. Those "three seconds" were more like a lofty act of charity, giving them one final chance to choose.

"Two..."

Tang Wulin closed his eyes in despair. He knew that any resistance would be futile. The only way out was to obediently accept judgment.

Beside him, Yue Zhengyu was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. He wanted to say something, yet did not dare open his mouth. He knew that any unnecessary movement now could become the spark that ignited Gu Yue's wrath.

"One..."

The final syllable fell like the tolling of a funeral bell. Tang Wulin's body began trembling uncontrollably, not from the cold, but from utter terror. He knew that what awaited him would be unimaginable "family discipline."

Yet the thunderous strike he had expected never came.

Gu Yue merely looked at him quietly. Beyond the anger in her cool eyes, there seemed to be an exceedingly complicated emotion hidden there—one even she herself had not noticed. Disappointment? Helplessness? Or... something else?

"..."