"!"

For the first time since stepping into the pyramid, Ning Xue's calm cracked.

A sharp, instinctive jolt, someone was here!

Under the massive dome, where ancient runes slept beneath damp moss, a figure lay collapsed on the stone floor. Half his body was swallowed by shadow, half soaked in cold, stagnant water.

A torn black robe, crimson blood patterns dulled by ash and dust, as if he'd dragged himself out of hell and lost the war halfway.

"…You?"

Her voice came out thin.

She was already moving before her mind caught up, boots splashing softly as she hurried over and knelt beside him.

Cold, so cold.

His breathing was shallow, uneven, like each breath had to be bargained for. Those eyes, normally sharp, mocking, infuriatingly alive, were dim now, unfocused. Dark veins crawled from his collarbone up his neck, swollen and angry, like something venomous had rooted itself inside him and refused to leave.

"W-What happened to you…?"

The words slipped out on their own.

Ning Xue reached for him, then froze, hands hovering midair, afraid that touching the wrong place would shatter him.

She checked his pulse.

Her fingers stiffened.

"…This is bad."

Cold skin, chaotic pulse, circulation in complete disorder.

"…You're poisoned," she whispered, disbelief seeping into her voice. "This isn't ordinary venom… Who did this to you?"

Wang Xiao exhaled slowly, lips pale, a faint smirk somehow still to the corner of his mouth.

"The big snake outside," he muttered. "That overgrown noodle."

He paused, coughed lightly.

"…Barely crawled away."

Ning Xue's brows knitted together.

"And you're smiling?"

He let out a weak chuckle, breath gasped halfway.

"…Kicked the little bastard once before I ran. Had to keep my dignity."

That laugh hurt her more than a scream would have.

Her chest tightened, something dull and heavy pressing against her heart. She lowered her gaze, lashes trembling slightly, fingers curling into her sleeves.

"Why…" she murmured. "Why did you fight that thing alone?"

Her voice wasn't angry.

Just… confused.

Sometimes he was the most selfish man she knew, calculating, slippery, always leaving others behind when things went bad.

Yet now?

He'd faced a catastrophic beast alone.

"…Can you dissolve the poison?" Wang Xiao asked quietly.

Ning Xue fell silent.

Her expression smoothed, like the surface of a still lake, but beneath it, ripples spread. She examined the veins again, traced the corrupted path with her powerful senses, then slowly shook her head.

"…This poison isn't normal," she said softly. "It's too ancient... I can barely understand its structure."

She inhaled, steadying herself.

"I'll go get Master Yuriko," she said suddenly, standing up. "She'll definitely know-"

Her words cut off, something firm closed around her wrist.

She looked back in surprise.

Wang Xiao's grip was weak, but determined.

"I have a way…" he muttered.

"…?"

Ning Xue tilted her head, confusion flickering across her face.

"What way?"

He tugged her slightly closer, voice dropping.

"Come here."

She leaned in despite herself.

Then, her face flushed, a soft, spreading red crept up her cheeks, ears burning as realization flickered. Her eyes wavered, conflict swirling openly now.

"…You can't be serious," she whispered, voice trembling.

"…I am," he replied hoarsely, breath ragged. "Your body constitution is special. Most poisons don't harm you, they're refined instead… twisted into something else."

His fingers tightened weakly around her wrist.

"An aphrodisiac-like effect," he added quietly. "It's either this… or I die here."

"…!"

Silence fell.

The words echoed in her mind, refusing to settle. She couldn't tell if he was lying, or merely stating a cruel truth.

Yet suddenly, fragments connected.

The strange heat... the loss of control.

How easily she had been led astray earlier… drugged by him.

So to her, poison was desire?

The ancient walls bore witness, unmoving and indifferent.

Cool air whistled to skin, the damp chamber sinking into a deathly hush, as if even time itself had chosen to hold its breath.

Ning Xue looked away, lips pressed tightly, then slowly, steadily, her gaze returned, clear and resolved. The kind of resolve every woman wore before stepping into a burning trial they couldn't retreat from.

"...Just this once... for saving me earlier," she said quietly, the emotions from when he carried her on his back flickering like a return to that same lonely road, steeped in silence.

"Deal," Wang Xiao murmured.

The next moment, fabric slipped free from her smooth shoulders, falling soundlessly to the stone.

Pale, milky-white skin, unmarked by sun or scar, was bared to the cold air, and within the lifeless pyramid, silent for centuries, soft, uneven breaths began to echo as yin and yang quietly intertwined, mingled warmth stirring the dormant ruins awake.

______

Half an hour later...

In the corner of the chamber, Ning Xue was hurriedly dressing, fingers trembling as she tied her clothes. Her face burned like warm spring blush, though not from exertion, but from something far worse.

She slapped her cheeks lightly.

Once!

Twice!

"…What was I thinking…"

Her heart was still beating, he avoided looking back.

"…I only did it to save his life," she muttered, half convincing herself. "That's all, nothing else..."

She exhaled, steadying her breathing.

Behind her, Wang Xiao lay quietly on the cold stone, his breathing finally steady. His eyes on her bare back, lips curling into a faint, amused smile.

He clicked his tongue softly.

That slender waist.

That straight back pressed stubbornly against the cold stone wall, pretending to be calm, while only moments ago, that same body had been boneless, pliant, trembling quietly in his arms.

Cute.

"Tsk," he said teasing. "Why are you so shy now?"

Ning Xue stiffened.

"It's not the first time," he added lightly. "Is it...?"

It was like stepping directly on a wounded cat's tail.

She spun around, eyes flashing, face still red. "I feel like you tricked me again..." Her voice wasn't loud, rather gentle and quiet, but it was filled with accusations.

Wang Xiao raised both hands innocently, expression pitiful enough to fool ghosts.

"How could I?" he said. "You confirmed it yourself, didn't you?" He paused, then added with an innocent sigh, "And I didn't even force you this time."

"…!"

That single sentence hit harder than any poison.

Ning Xue opened her mouth to retort, then hesitated.

Annoyingly…

He wasn't wrong.

Yet why did his words, "I didn't even force you this time", sound so infuriatingly teasing? As if there were layers hidden beneath that calm tone.

It felt like mockery.

Like he was saying he hadn't needed force at all.

Absurd.

He had been poisoned, she was certain of it.

She had felt it herself.

…So why did her heart refuse to settle?

Her suspicion finally faltered, gaze wavering for just a breath. Seeing this, Wang Xiao pushed himself up, stretching his shoulders, dusting off his robe like he'd just taken a nap instead of nearly dying.

She let out a quiet sigh.

Fine.

She would bury this whole thing. Deep, six feet under, never mention it again!

"…You're fine now?" she asked, tone deliberately indifferent.

"Mostly," he replied.

Seeing him stand steadily, no longer pale, she finally relaxed. Good, poison gone, crisis over.

She turned to leave.

Then, a hand slid around her waist.

"I need help walking," Wang Xiao said weakly, breathing in her pleasant fragrance. "I suddenly... feel... dizzy."

She froze, warmth rushing up her neck in a deepening flush.

"…You're lying."

"Completely," he admitted without shame.

She gritted her teeth. "Hold my shoulders."

He tried, then shook his head.

"They're not that soft," he said seriously. "Not feel the same."

"..."

She gave up.

By the time they caught up with Athlaea and Yuriko, the distance between them was… noticeably close.

Yuriko slowed her steps, eyes flicking between them, then narrowing slightly.

Athlaea tilted her head.

"…Did we miss something?"

Ning Xue's face answered that question better than words ever could.

They'd been gone far too long.

Wang Xiao had appeared out of nowhere.

And now he was leaning far too comfortably at her side.

Yuriko's gaze suddenly sharpened.

"Hmm?"

Her eyes locked onto Ning Xue's wrist.

There, wrapped around her arm, was a pale otherworldly white crystal bracelet.

Gold and black lines intertwined across its surface, forming intricate runes that pulsed faintly with divine energy... barely recognizable.

At the end, a majestic snake's head rested against her skin, fangs tucked in, eyes glowing a deep sapphire blue.

Exactly like Ning Xue's own eyes.

"…What's that?" Yuriko asked quietly.

"Oh?" Wang Xiao glanced over casually. "Nothing much. I stopped her to give her a trinket."

Ning Xue nodded lightly, still dazed.

"…Yes."

She still couldn't quite believe it herself.

This hateful man had actually brought her a present!

The thought alone made her chest feel lighter, her heart fluttering with something unfamiliar, something close to... affection.

Without her noticing, the repulsion she once felt toward him had quietly faded.

Before she realized it, she was already showing off her wrist, a faint, low-key pride slipping through despite herself.

The bracelet was cool against her skin, comforting, somehow even alive. There was a strange familiarity to it, like something she had once seen, or perhaps forgotten, but no matter how she searched her memory, she couldn't quite place it.

Yuriko didn't look convinced.

In fact, she stared at Wang Xiao like she was looking at a monster.

Her divine sense stretched outward.

Outside the pyramid, the presence was gone.

The overwhelming, tyrannical aura that once dominated the sands… vanished without a trace.

"…apophis," she murmured.

Yuriko's pupils shrank, fingers tightened imperceptibly around her sleeve.

She closed her eyes for a single breath, then opened them again, calm restored, as if nothing had happened.

"So even the eternal time could have an end…"She exhaled slowly, divine sense withdrawing like a tide pulled back by fear, only the faint chill in her gaze betrayed what had just vanished.

The ancient God.

Gone.

She inhaled slowly, then sighed with faint reminiscence, deciding not to dig deeper. Some endings weren't meant to be questioned...

They finally reached the core.

Beyond the massive stone gates, voices echoed, shaken, still trembling with the aftertaste of terror and relief.

"Be quicker… or they might come back," someone whispered urgently, the words barely escaping their lips, as if the darkness itself were still listening.

At the center of the chamber stood an elevated stone platform, its peak crowned with an eternal flame that burned without heat. Leaning weakly against it was a feminine figure Wang Xiao recognized at once.

Her wrists were bound with rope, now being hurriedly freed by a man whose presence felt strangely out of place, like a passerby who had wandered into something far beyond him.

A short distance away stood another woman. Her fiery red hair fluttered softly, and within her body flowed a clear breath of aether, someone who had stepped onto the threshold of the supernatural.

Her fingers were tightly interlocked with those of another unfamiliar man at her side, both of them tense, ready to flee at the slightest disturbance.

Aside from Aisha, Wang Xiao couldn't recognize the remaining three. Yet his gaze on the red-haired woman.

There was a faint, nagging familiarity there… as though her existence brushed against a half-buried memory he couldn't quite grasp...