The underground world of the "City of Broken Bonds" was like a massive labyrinth. Rin fought valiantly amidst the gang members' encirclement, unable to reveal his true "Blade of Demise" power, and even less able to let the battle affect the unconscious Ye Xue. Relying on his familiarity with the underground passages and his keen intuition, he successfully shook off the pursuit, returning to the abandoned warehouse covered in wounds.
However, as he pushed open the dilapidated iron door of the warehouse, the sight before him made Rin's heart stop cold—Ye Xue, she was sitting quietly in the corner, her once tightly closed eyes now slowly opening!
Rin's breath caught. He had waited so long; Ye Xue was finally awake! Yet, when her gaze fell upon Rin, that anticipation instantly turned to ice.
Those eyes, once clear, then filled with pain and confusion, were now like bottomless, frigid pools, without a ripple, without an ounce of warmth. In her gaze, there was no emotion, only ultimate indifference.
"Ye Xue?" Rin's voice trembled as he took a step towards her, extending his hand, wanting to touch her cheek.
However, Ye Xue's body recoiled sharply, avoiding his touch. In her eyes, there was a subtle hint of distaste, as if Rin were something defiling.
"Who are you?" Ye Xue spoke. Her voice was as clear as ice beads, yet carried an undeniable coldness, each word precise and monotonic, as if mechanically produced. "I… don't know you."
Rin's body stiffened abruptly. Don't know? She didn't know him?
The words of the old "Blade of Demise Recorder" exploded in his mind like thunder—"She herself… in exchange, as a price… was completely 'purged' by the organization, her memories erased, her mind re-molded…"
Was this the consequence of "re-molding"? Had she truly completely forgotten him? Forgotten all their bonds and sacrifices?
"Ye Xue, I'm Rin! Have you forgotten me?" Rin asked urgently, his voice tinged with despair.
Ye Xue's gaze remained utterly still. She simply stared coldly at Rin, as if looking at a stranger.
"My database contains no information on you," she spoke again, her tone chillingly cold. "I do not have a 'memory' module."
Rin's heart felt as if it were being brutally cut by a dull knife. He had thought that once she awoke, once she felt his love, all her memories would return. But now, it seemed the organization's "re-molding" was far more thorough than he had imagined! She wasn't simply "amnesiac"; she had fundamentally lost the very concept of "memory," and even emotion.
However, amidst this despair, Rin noticed something unusual.
When a faint anomaly sounded from outside the warehouse, Ye Xue's body suddenly tensed. Her gaze, like a scanner, quickly and precisely pinpointed the source of the sound. Her movements were swifter and more fluid than ever before, without a single wasted motion.
Her physical injuries were still severe, but there was no trace of pain in her eyes. Her combat instincts seemed to have been heightened to the extreme, completely disregarding physical pain. This was starkly different from her previous conscious state, where even when injured, she would react to pain.
This was a pure, "weaponized state" existing solely for combat!
"Could this be… the complete form of 'Terminator · Ye Xue'?" A sense of unease welled up in Rin's heart.
Late into the night, Rin, dragging his exhausted body, guarded Ye Xue. He tried to communicate with her, tried to awaken the deep-seated memories within her, but each attempt was like a stone sinking into a deep sea, causing not a single ripple. Ye Xue simply sat there, like a precise machine, utterly unresponsive.
Until a burst of rapid gunfire from a distance shattered the tranquility of the "City of Broken Bonds."
Rin immediately stood up, warily looking out the window. It was the civilian residential area on another side of the city; gunshots and screams were clearly audible. Clearly, some gang members or organizational remnants were committing atrocities.
He hesitated for a moment. Ye Xue's condition prevented him from leaving immediately. But he couldn't just stand by.
However, just as he struggled with his decision, he suddenly realized that Ye Xue, who had been beside him, was gone!
Rin's heart abruptly constricted! He burst out of the warehouse, sprinting towards the direction of the gunfire.
When he arrived at the scene, the sight before him made his pupils contract violently, almost suffocating him—
It was a stronghold used by gang members to kidnap civilians. The air was thick with the scent of blood and fear.
And Ye Xue stood alone in the center of the stronghold, surrounded by corpses.
Her body was stained with fresh blood. Her movements were precise, ruthless. Each strike was like Death's scythe, executed without a single extra second of hesitation. The dagger in her hand, like a gleaming, venomous snake, took an enemy's life with every swing.
Her methods were identical to those of "Terminator · Ye Xue" from Rin's memories of his past life!
It was pure slaughter, efficient and brutal, devoid of any emotional fluctuation or pity for life.
She left no one alive; the gang members who had kidnapped the civilians, without exception, fell beneath her dagger.
Rin stood at a distance, watching the small figure stained with blood, watching her expressionlessly wipe the blood from her dagger, as if the massacre she had just committed was merely routine.
His heart sank completely.
She was awake, but she had also become the person he least wanted to see—a completely "re-molded" "weapon," capable only of executing orders. A cold-blooded, merciless "Terminator."
"Ye Xue…" Rin's voice was filled with boundless sorrow.
Ye Xue sensed his presence. She spun around, her frigid, abyssal eyes once again falling upon Rin. There was no surprise, no curiosity, only a cold scrutiny.
She neither attacked him nor fled, simply standing there, like a statue awaiting a command.
Rin knew that what he faced was no longer the Ye Xue he knew. She had lost her memories, her emotions, her self, leaving only the organization's imprint and that "Terminator" instinct twisted to its extreme.
He felt an unprecedented pain and helplessness. Could he redeem her? Could he still pull her out of this abyss?
"Eye of Demise"… The name resurfaced in Rin's mind. He knew it was his only hope. He had to find it quickly, no matter the cost.
Because he couldn't let Ye Xue live forever in such a "hell."