The torchlight flickered softly along the stone corridors as Luo He walked beside Vera. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then Luo He broke the silence.
"Your father…" he said calmly, his voice steady and controlled, "was not entirely to blame." Vera stopped. Slowly.
Her back still turned to him. "He regretted your mother's loss," Luo He continued. "More than you think. Perhaps even more than you do."
For a brief second, something shifted in her stance. Not weakness. Not doubt.
But conflict. "You don't know anything," she said quietly. Luo He didn't argue.
He didn't push. "That may be true," he replied. "But you should hear it from him. Not from your anger." Silence lingered.
Heavy. Unresolved.
Vera said nothing more. She simply resumed walking. Soon, they reached a set of stone chambers carved into the inner wall of the fortress.
"These are your rooms," she said flatly. "Do not wander. Not everyone here is as patient as I am." Her eyes met his one last time. Cold again. Guarded.
Then she turned and left. Luo He stood still for a moment. Then a faint smile appeared. "She's already wavering," he murmured. Inside the chamber, his men settled in, exhausted from the journey.
But Luo He had no intention of resting.
"Stay here," he instructed quietly. "No one moves unless I return." Without waiting for a response, he stepped into the shadows and vanished.
The fortress of the ShaMo King was vast, layered like a maze beneath the desert.
But to Luo He walls were meaningless.
He moved like a ghost. Silent. Precise.
Fast.
Guards stood at every turn broad shouldered warriors clad in desert armor, blades curved and ready. But none of them saw him. None of them could.
In a matter of minutes, Luo He had already passed through multiple guarded corridors, slipping through blind spots, scaling narrow ledges, and moving through spaces too small for ordinary men.
"Security is strong," he thought. "But predictable." Eventually he found what he was looking for. A lower chamber.
Heavily guarded.
Two men stood outside, their expressions sharp, hands resting on their weapons.
Behind them a reinforced door. Luo He didn't slow down. A flicker. A shadow. Before either guard could react they collapsed. Unconscious.
Luo He caught one before he hit the ground, lowering him silently. Then he entered. The room was dim. Cold.
Chains. And in the center a man.
Xu Mun.
Leader of the Xu family. Or what remained of it. He looked broken. Not physically. But mentally.
His once-proud posture was gone. His clothes were worn. His eyes hollow. But the moment he saw Luo He they sharpened.
Xu Mun was a over weight man in his late 30s or early 40s he had a wife and three children. But not any more his wife died at child birth and he hasn't married ever since. His most priced positions was his daughters.
"You…" Xu Mun whispered. Luo He stepped forward calmly. "Yes," he said. "It's me." Xu Mun let out a dry laugh.
"So even here I cannot escape you."
"You were never meant to," Luo He replied. Xu Mun's expression darkened.
"If you've come to kill me, do it," he said. "But leave my fucking daughter alone." "Her?" Luo He asked with a smirk.
"My daughter," Xu Mun said immediately.
His voice changed. Not fear. Not pride.
Something else. Desperation.
"She has nothing to do with this," he continued. "Everything that happened was my decision." Luo He studied him silently. "I know a twelve year old girl will not plan such a thing even if she wants to. I know all about her." Luo He replied.
"Twelve," Xu Mun replied with his jaw tightened. Luo He's eyes narrowed slightly. "I know about ShaMo King intentions as well he has great plans of using her. I think you know girls are eligible to marry at 13 in this kingdom and soon she will. As long as you live ShaMo king has the tools to manipulate her. But if you die she will suicide. Am I wrong?" Xu Mun closed his eyes.
For a moment. He said nothing.
Then "He's waiting." The words came out like poison. " "For now." A long silence followed. "When she turns thirteen next month..." Xu Mun's voice cracked slightly. "He will take her." The room felt colder. "I can't stop it," Xu Mun whispered. "I can't protect her."
Luo He's expression didn't change.
But his mind was already moving.
"I see," he said quietly. Xu Mun looked up at him. "Why are you here?" he asked. "You already destroyed everything I had."
Luo He stepped closer. "Because this isn't over yet." He turned slightly, his gaze shifting toward the door. Why not I am a prisoner my daughter she is a prisoner as well. "You understand strategy but I understand people so it will never end until every last member of your family is touchered and killed. The ShaMo King…" Luo He murmured. "He's strong." Xu Mun gave a bitter laugh. "Strong?" he said. "He's a beast." Luo He's eyes glimmered faintly. "Even beasts bleed."
Xu Mun froze. "What are you planning?" he asked. Luo He didn't answer directly.
Instead he stepped forward. "I need to meet him," Luo He said. Xu Mun frowned. "You'll die." "Not today," Luo He replied.
And then he vanished again.
Later that night within the inner palace.
The ShaMo King sat surrounded by food, drink, and luxury of women. His massive frame leaned back as servants moved around him. Luo He entered. Unseen.
His movements were flawless. He approached.
He acted. A single needle sting. Precise. Controlled. Not to kill. But to touch.
To mark. The ShaMo King flinched slightly. His hand moved instinctively to his neck. But there was nothing. Nothing visible. Nothing he could feel. Luo He was already gone back in the shadows.
Inside his body something had changed.
A disease. Not ordinary. Yet deadly.
Dormantly waiting. Syphilis.
He watched for a moment longer. Then disappeared back into the darkness of the desert fortress. The game had begun. One king blinded by power.
One daughter blinded by revenge.
One prisoner broken by loss. And one man pulling every thread.
Luo He walked back toward his chambers as if nothing had happened.
His steps were steady. Unhurried. His expression calm. But his mind already ten steps ahead. "Now," he whispered softly to himself, "let the desert move."
Far above, the wind howled across the endless dunes, shifting the sands like waves of a restless ocean. Unaware that its king had already been marked for death.
The next morning, the ShaMo King awoke with discomfort crawling across his skin. At first, it was subtle. A faint irritation. Then It grew. A rash spread across his body. Red. Angry. Itching relentlessly.
The king sat upright, his massive frame tense, his expression darkening. "What is this?" he growled, scratching at his arm. Servants rushed in, alarmed.
Physicians were summoned immediately. Within hours, the chamber was filled with tension. The royal physicians examined him carefully, their brows furrowed, their whispers uneasy.
"This" one of them muttered. "It resembles a disease of contact" The king's eyes sharpened dangerously.
"A disease?" he said slowly. A silence followed. No one dared to answer directly. He understood. A disease passed through intimacy. Impossible.
"I was careful," he said under his breath, his voice low and dangerous. "Always careful..." But reality did not care for pride.
The itching worsened. The irritation spread. And for the first time in a long while the ShaMo King felt something unfamiliar. Unease. The physicians tried everything they knew. Herbal pastes.
Burning treatments. Traditional remedies passed down through generations.
Nothing worked because in their world
microbial diseases were still a mystery.
And most of them considered incurable.
That was when Luo He stepped forward.
Calm. Composed. "I can cure it," he said simply. The room fell silent. The king's eyes locked onto him. "You?" he asked, disbelief mixed with suspicion.
"Yes," Luo He replied. "Easily."
A pause.
"And what do you want?" the king asked.
Luo He didn't hesitate. "Tell your daughter the truth about her mother."
The temperature in the room seemed to drop. The king's expression hardened instantly. "No," he said. His voice carried absolute authority. "And I should kill you for even suggesting it." Guards shifted.
Hands moved toward weapons. But Luo He did not react. He simply looked at the king. Calm. Unmoved.
"I am the only one who can cure you," he said evenly. "So what do you expect will happen to you after I am gone?" Silence.
Heavy. Uncomfortable. The king said nothing. Luo He turned and walked out.