CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
---
Kain—codename Viper—was nineteen, already Division's rising star. Lean, fast, cruel when required, charming when it served him.
Charismatic. Psychopathic. Brutal. Beautiful in the way dangerous men are.
Eyes like polished obsidian. A maniac smile that promised violence wrapped in silk.
He watched Fang several times.
When she dismantled three senior operatives in a single sparring circle without drawing a weapon.
Even during a live simulation—
three opponents, confined chamber, limited oxygen.
She dismantled all three.
When she removed her mask, calm as snowfall—
He smiled.
Admiration.
Interest.
Afterward he cornered her in the armory.
Curiosity too high to control.
Viper to Fang.
Psychopath to Blade.
Viper: They say you feel venomous.
Fang continued cleaning her blade. Didn't look up.
Viper: I think they're wrong.
She finally met his gaze. His breath hitched on her nose.
Fang: And what do you think I feel—
Viper pulled closer in an instant—too close.
Viper: Hunger.
His psychopathic cackle was low before it ceased in a second.
Viper: (Sucks teeth) The same hunger I feel, baby.
His breath was against the side of her neck this time. Fang hissed quietly.
Fang: Oh? (Slid a hand into her own pocket).
His hand trailed slightly on her bare abdomen.
Xynra: Unauthorized physical contact detected. Initiating defensive countermeasures in 3… 2…
Fang: [Stand down, Xynra. Override authorization.]
Fang caught his wrist mid-motion. Twisted just enough to make bone creak and bring him to his knees in pain.
The vertex of her blade she circled in his chest, coolly.
Fang: Touch me again without permission and I might just have to take your ribs for dinner.
Viper laughed—low, delighted.
Viper: Keep threatening me like that and I might fall in love.
She released him.
Fang: Then you'll die faster.
That was the beginning.
He didn't stop watching her.
And slowly—dangerously—he began to love the venomous teen named Fang.
He fell first.
Hard.
She never did.
But she never killed him when she had the chance either.
That was her flaw.
---
The Other Identity
Outside Ghost, Li Xuefang still existed.
Quiet. Controlled. Engaged by arrangement to Jiang Ren.
Ren was still soft.
Jiang Ren was five now. Still small. Still bright-eyed. Still trailing after her like a lost satellite whenever their families forced another alliance meeting.
He still called her Xuefang.
Still drew clumsy portraits of her in secret.
She corrected his stance.
His grip.
His fear.
And every time he asked when they would really be together, she answered the same.
Li Xuefang: When you stop being weak.
He never cried in front of her.
But she knew he cried later.
Curious. Determined to impress her.
He once tried sparring with her.
She disarmed him in three seconds.
Ren: You don't even look like you're trying.
Li: I'm not.
He still smiled.
Still followed.
Still loved her first.
She did not love him.
But she did not reject him either.
That was another flaw.
---
Fang With a Heart
Ghost noticed something.
Fang's kill count was flawless.
But collateral damage?
Minimal.
She avoided civilians.
Re-routed operations.
Once even delayed a detonation long enough for a janitor to leave a corridor.
Viper confronted her and she snapped back like a couple having issues.
He laughed it off with a laughter that screamed 'maniac'.
Things returned back to normal.
But he began watching her more closely.
---
17 Years Old — The Kidnapping
It happened during winter.
Snow over Beijing like ash.
Marshal Li's convoy was ambushed in a mountain pass.
Explosions tore through armored vehicles.
Drones descended like mechanical vultures.
Ghost insignia.
A message.
Fang was summoned to observe.
Not intervene.
On the live feed—
She saw him.
Her grandfather.
Still standing despite blood soaking his coat.
Firing back.
Three Ghost elites surrounded him.
Viper among them.
Her breath did not change.
Her pulse did not spike.
But her eyes—
Sharpened.
Viper looked up at the surveillance drone.
As if he knew she was watching.
He saluted with a mocking smirk.
Then struck her grandfather unconscious.
Extraction complete.
Transmission cut.
---
Silence in a Ghost Division unit control room.
Her handler studied her face.
No tears.
No reaction.
Just ice.
Handler: You will not pursue. Orders will follow.
Fang removed her earpiece.
For the first time in Ghost Division—
She did not obey immediately.
Her fingers tightened.
And something inside her—
Shifted.
---