The air seemed to freeze.
I moved before the first of them could even blink.
With Level 4 agility, the world around me seemed to slow down, colors blurring as I lunged at the man with the knife.
He tried a sideways slash, a slow, predictable move that almost made me feel bored.
I caught his wrist with the force of a hydraulic press and twisted.
The crack of bone breaking was drowned out by his scream, but the knife was already in my hand before he hit the ground.
The leader, seeing his man neutralized in a second, roared and charged. He was bigger, heavier, but in the face of my newly acquired strength, he was nothing more than a rag doll.
I didn't wait.
I planted my foot and drove a front kick straight into his solar plexus.
The impact was sharp; the sound of air being violently forced from his lungs echoed through the alley, and he was thrown backward, heels scraping across the asphalt until he slammed into a dumpster.
This is so fun! My heart is racing and my body feels hot…
But why do I feel like I'm getting dizzy…?
"You're next."
The third thug, the one chewing gum, widened his eyes when he saw me approaching.
He wasn't as stupid as he looked.
Realizing he didn't stand a chance in a direct fight, he spun on his heels and rushed toward Bai Xue, who was still trembling with her eyes closed.
"Don't move, damn it! Or I'll slit her throat!" he shouted, grabbing her from behind and reaching into his pocket to pull out a switchblade.
After ruining my moment, they dared to touch her?
Rage burned through my veins like fire, and bile rose in my throat.
I didn't stop to think. I didn't need to.
The knife I had taken from the first man fit perfectly in my hand, and with a fluid motion, I threw it.
The metal glinted under the dim streetlights before striking its target with surgical precision.
"AHHHHRG!!!"
His scream tore through the night as the blade pierced straight through his palm, forcing him to release Bai Xue out of pure shock and pain.
I sprinted forward and in two steps, I was on him.
My fist clenched, and I drove a punch straight into the center of his face.
I felt the bone of his nose give beneath my knuckles, blood splattering across my fist as he was knocked out instantly, dropping like a sack of potatoes.
"Agh—!"
A sharp, cold pain pierced my back, just below the scapula.
"You… you little bastard…" the leader's hoarse voice rasped behind me.
He wasn't unconscious. That was my mistake.
He had a switchblade, a short, sharp blade that he now buried in my back, taking advantage of the single second I let my guard down to finish the third man.
"What should I do with you?" I asked as I turned toward him, ignoring the pain and the shortness of breath that was beginning to set in.
The leader's face shifted from triumph to terror when he saw my eyes. I could see his hope dying in real time, and that was very entertaining.
I grabbed him by the throat, lifting his hundred kilos off the ground with one hand.
"This time, I'll make sure you're permanently incapacitated."
What followed was a brutal symphony of sounds so horrible I hadn't even known humans could make them.
I wasn't just fighting anymore; I was dismantling them.
The first one who tried to stand had his knee kicked sideways, the joint snapping and breaking with a sickening crack.
The leader was hurled against the wall and subjected to a barrage of blows that broke his ribs like dry twigs.
I broke arms, dislocated shoulders, and crushed fingers.
I wanted them to feel every ounce of fear, pain, and suffering they had ever caused.
I only stopped when silence finally returned to the alley, broken only by my ragged breathing.
The three of them were piled on the ground, a shapeless mass of broken flesh and bone—alive, but completely unconscious.
It wasn't enough for rapists, but if I kept hitting them, they would die.
So I left it at that.
I wiped the blood from my face with the back of my hand, feeling the world begin to spin.
The adrenaline was fading, and with it, the full awareness of the severity of my injury came crashing down.
My lung had been punctured.
Every breath was a hell of pain, and it felt ineffective, as if no matter how much I inhaled, I still couldn't get enough air.
I walked step by step toward Bai Xue, though I honestly just wanted to collapse right there.
"Bai Xue…" My voice came out weak, almost a whisper.
She slowly opened her eyes, blinking against the darkness. When she saw the carnage around us, she gasped, but her attention quickly shifted to me—to the knife still lodged in my back and the trail of blood I was leaving behind.
"It's… it's okay now," I said, forcing a smile that probably looked more like a grimace of pain. "I told you I'd take care of it."
I tried to take another step, but my legs simply gave out.
The asphalt seemed to rise up to meet me, but before I hit the ground, I felt delicate, desperate arms catching me.
Maybe it's good to sleep… When I wake up tomorrow, everything should be better…
"B-brother!"
The scent of her perfume was the last thing I registered before my vision went completely dark and I collapsed.
…
*POV Bai Xue*
Ryuu's weight in my arms was almost nothing—a terrifying contradiction to what my eyes had just witnessed.
How could that small body, so delicately sculpted—almost like a porcelain doll—unleash such violence?
My fingers, once icy with fear, now burned where they touched his blood. That warm, red liquid soaking his suit… it was because of me.
"Ryuu? Ryuu, wake up! Please, don't joke with me!"
My voice came out high and desperate, echoing through the silent alley where only the low groans of the monsters he defeated could be heard.
He didn't respond.
His face, which seconds ago radiated the aura of a god of war, was now pale, his eyelids tightly shut as if he were still enduring pain for my sake.
The knife embedded in his back glinted under the moonlight, a cruel reminder that while I had my eyes closed, he was being torn apart for my safety.
A wave of heat—a mixture of agony and a gratitude so violent it bordered on worship—flooded my chest.
No one had ever done this for me.
Gu Sheng never bled for me.
My parents never fought for me.
Only him.
A brother I barely even know. And still, he protected me. He became a demon for me.
I can't let anything happen to him!
My heart pounded so hard it felt like it would explode as I ran through the streets toward Sheng-Li Private Hospital.
It was the best hospital in the city. It belonged to the Gu family—so much so that it bore the heir's name.
It was also the same place where Gu Sheng stayed. Where I lived my lie for three years.
When I arrived, real panic blended seamlessly with my performance.
I knew exactly what to do.
I assumed Bai Yue's posture. I straightened my back, softened my gaze, and let tears of desperation flow freely, like the suffering of an angel.
"HELP!" I screamed, my voice sounding like Bai Yue at her most saintly. "Please, save my brother! He was attacked trying to protect me!"
Nurses and doctors rushed in. When they saw my face, there was a brief moment of hesitation followed by immediate recognition.
"Miss Bai Yue?" one of the senior doctors exclaimed as he approached.
Of course they would recognize Bai Yue. After all, she was the one who stayed here for three years taking care of a vegetable.
"Yes, it's me!" I said, my voice trembling as a perfect tear slid down my cheek. "Please, doctor, he… he gave his life for me. Do everything, use the best resources! Don't let Ryuu die!"
They didn't doubt me.
Why would they? Who would suspect Bai Yue? The savior. The perfect woman.
And there I was—her identical copy—using her face to ensure my Ryuu received the best treatment money and influence could buy.
Watching the doctors run at my command, believing they were answering to "Saint Bai," gave me a glimpse of power I had never imagined I would feel.
…
Hours later.
The hospital was submerged in that post-surgery silence I knew so well.
Ryuu was in a VIP room, on the same floor where Gu Sheng once rested.
The surgery was a success; the lung was drained, the bleeding stopped. They said he was strong, that his recovery would be fast.
Now I sat in an armchair beside his bed, watching the slow rhythm of his breathing.
My hand hesitated, hovering over his, until I finally found the courage to touch it.
Ryuu's skin is so soft. His fingers are slender, his nails well-kept… hands that look made for playing the piano, not breaking bones.
A shiver runs through me as I remember the sound of his fists striking those men's faces.
Those small hands carried the weight of a protective fury no one had ever shown me.
Only Ryuu.
He bled for me. He is mine. The only one in the world who believes in my truth.
I lean over him, my hair falling like a veil around our faces. The hospital smell can't mask his natural scent, something sweet and faintly woody.
He was a monster to protect me. A demon so I could keep being an angel.
"My demon…"
My eyes drift down to his slightly parted lips. Heat rushes back to my face—the same sensation as minutes earlier, when we almost kissed. My heart races. I want to taste him. I want to thank him in the only way I can right now.
"Ryuu…" I whisper, leaning closer, feeling the warmth radiating from his skin.
Our lips are so close…
Just a little more…
"What are you doing, Xue?" a voice in my mind screamed. "He's your brother! The only blood you have left to support you! This is sick!"
I pulled back abruptly, releasing his hand as if I had been burned. My heart pounded frantically against my ribs.
I stared at the ceiling, trying to push away the images of him fighting, his hot breath against my neck, the feeling of being protected with such ferocity.
"It's the trauma…" I murmured to myself, hugging my own shoulders. "It's just the shock from the fight. You're just confused, Xue."
But as I looked at him, a dark and selfish part of me—the same part that agreed to switch places with my sister three years ago—knew it wasn't just shock.
I wanted him to wake up. And I wanted that when he opened his eyes, he would look at me the same way he did before—as if I were the only thing in the world that mattered.
Brother or not, he was my hero. And I have always had trouble letting go of my favorite things.
*End of POV*