On the hillside, the cold wind swept unchecked like blades of ice, stirring the tangled wild grass.
Chen Qiaoqian slowly regained consciousness amid a bone-piercing chill and aches throughout her body.
Her eyelids felt as though a thousand-pound boulder pressed down on them. Only by mustering the strength of nine oxen and two tigers did she manage to open them a crack.
The instant she saw what lay before her, the horrifying sight made her suck in a breath of cold air.
She was completely naked, her skin covered in patches of blood, yet there were no wounds on her body.
Instinctively, she tried to move, only to pull at her aching muscles. A stab of heart-piercing pain struck her, drawing an involuntary whimper from her lips.
Then her gaze swept to her side, where Senior Brother Lu lay rigid and equally naked, utterly lifeless.
Senior Brother Lu's body was riddled with holes. Eight bloody openings pierced his torso, their edges uniformly neat. His blood had long since drained away, gathering beneath him in a dark pool that stained the surrounding earth a horrifying crimson.
His eyes were wide open, empty and vacant, as though he had carried endless terror and resentment into death.
At the sight, Chen Qiaoqian's mind went blank. Then memories surged over her like a raging tide.
She remembered every detail of her time with Senior Brother Lu, those frenzied moments of intimacy, their wild embraces and kisses. It was during those moments that his blood had smeared her body.
As those memories returned, her stomach churned like an overturned sea. Violent nausea rushed up her throat, and before she could react, she bent forward and began vomiting in great heaves.
Sour fluid kept surging from her stomach, burning her throat, but she could not stop.