Chapter 8: The Moonlight Is Beautiful Tonight

Shen Zhaoxi lifted her gaze.

A glint of cold light reflected in her clear, frosty eyes.

At the instant the military knife slashed toward her—

Chen Yu, who was closest, surged forward. Without hesitation, the young man extended his arm, shielding Shen Zhaoxi behind him.

The blade was sharp; as he protected her, it left a bloody gash on his arm, wounding his right hand.

Shen Zhaoxi’s brows and eyes turned cold.

She reached out, swiftly seizing the girl’s wrist, then twisted hard!

A piercing scream shattered the night, alarming those nearby, and the rest of the team hurried over.

Their anxious eyes seemed to ask, what just happened?

They watched as Shen Zhaoxi snapped the girl’s wrist, bone cracking audibly, the military knife clattering to the ground.

Qin Hu paused, staring at the knife on the ground, his brows knotting—it was his.

The girl had stolen his weapon without him noticing, and the realization sent a chill down his spine.

“What are you doing?” the girl gasped, drenched in cold sweat from the pain.

“I should be asking you—what are you trying to do?” Shen Zhaoxi’s pitch-black eyes gleamed as her dark hair slid over her shoulder. She arched her brow at the girl writhing in agony, almost teasingly.

“Did you really think that just because I’ve fallen from grace, I could be bullied by a mangy cur like you?”

Half her face was shrouded in the night, the pale moon behind casting an eerie light, highlighting her bloodless, weakened features—yet making her all the more chilling.

“Help me…”

Watching the girl’s eyes fill with tears, her face drained of color and contorted in pain, Shen Zhaoxi smiled faintly.

The girl tried to appeal to those around, but before she could finish, another scream tore from her lips—Shen Zhaoxi’s grip on her bones tightened, making her shriek as cold sweat drenched her.

The agony was unbearable—her wrist was broken, and still trapped in that relentless hand. A slight increase in force would plunge her into a torment worse than death.

There was a mocking coldness in Shen Zhaoxi’s eyes as she glanced at the blood on the young man’s arm.

Her lips curled into a taunting smirk as she looked at the girl. “Since that’s the case, you might as well not need this hand anymore, right?”

She leaned in close, her laughter low and chilling enough to make the girl shudder all over.

“What’s going on?” A deep, magnetic voice suddenly rang out, its oppressive authority impossible to ignore.

Shen Zhaoxi looked up to see everyone’s gaze shifting toward the dark riverbank, where a tall, upright figure emerged from the night.

Lu Yunzhou had taken a team to scout the route ahead for safety. Upon his return, he found chaos at their resting spot, everyone clustered around.

Shen Zhaoxi gripped the girl’s wrist, her expression cold and remote, as if she were carved from frost and snow.

In the darkness, the man’s silhouette was sharp and imposing. Midnight mist blew in from the river, flames flickered, illuminating his face—a face now lit with unreadable emotion in those deep black eyes, fixed on the girl before him.

Shen Zhaoxi’s expression didn’t change.

Lu Yunzhou’s face was icy, making it impossible to read his eyes. He glanced at Chen Yu’s wounded arm, then at the knife on the ground, his lips parting: “Whose is it?”

“Captain, I…” Qin Hu’s expression shifted, about to explain.

But realizing excuses were futile, he could only hang his head. “I failed to guard it properly. I’ll accept any punishment.”

Lu Yunzhou’s voice was glacial. “We’ll deal with you later.”

With that, he lifted his gaze, calm and indifferent as he looked at Shen Zhaoxi, a trace of coldness in his eyes.

“Let her go first.”

Qin Hu was anxious.

The girl had gone pale from pain; they stood on the damp riverbank, Shen Zhaoxi still gripping her wrist. Qin Hu expected Lu Yunzhou to lash out at Shen Zhaoxi.

But before the man could speak, Lu Yunzhou strode over, his face cold, eyes full of inscrutable emotion meeting Shen Zhaoxi’s.

She curled her lips into a faint smile, her gaze serious: “Captain Lu, do you always cover for your people?”

“What?” Lu Yunzhou frowned.

“Your boy was injured, and you’re not going to do anything?”

The spark from the fire flared, reflecting uncertainly in her eyes as she collided with Lu Yunzhou’s deep, dark gaze.

Blood still flowed from the wound on Chen Yu’s arm; he looked slightly surprised when Shen Zhaoxi spoke.

If she had any reputation, it was for being fiercely protective.

Even in danger, the boy had shielded her, worry and urgency shining in those black eyes, as if truly afraid something might have happened.

Shen Zhaoxi shifted her gaze, her eyes cold but tinged with mockery as they landed on the girl.

“She used quite some force,” Shen Zhaoxi said with a smile, the sight of blood on the boy’s arm stinging the eyes.

“I…” The girl’s pupils contracted, her long lashes hiding her panic, afraid of being blamed by the others.

“It was an accident!”

“It was a mistake,” Lu Yunzhou frowned.

“I never meant to hurt him…” The girl shook her head, on the verge of collapse. “It’s her I hate!”

Failing in her attempt to kill, and now under so many watching eyes, she played the fool, seeking sympathy to muddle through.

But at this moment, Shen Zhaoxi’s gaze toward her had changed.

It was as if she silently said: Go on, let’s see how you perform.

Tears in her eyes, the girl cried out, “I hate her—she’s the reason so many people died.”

“She’s the reason I can’t go home, why I was captured and locked in that dark place, humiliated and tortured. Why shouldn’t I kill her?”

Shen Zhaoxi was the heiress of the W Group—the very leader of their enemies.

Blaming her for everything sounded plausible enough.

After all, revenge was only natural.

“Is that so?” Shen Zhaoxi narrowed her eyes.

Her gentle eyes curved in a smile, shimmering like peach blossoms, their brightness reflected in the girl’s gaze.

“Then tell me—half an hour ago, what were you doing sneaking off to the riverbank alone?”

So furtively.

“I…” The girl’s pupils quivered.

How did she know?

“I wasn’t…” She tried to find an excuse.

“Are you going to say you only wanted a walk by the water, or to admire tonight’s beautiful moon?”

The girl stared at her in shock, about to speak before Shen Zhaoxi cut her off.

“Too bad.”

“Tonight’s moon is beautiful,” Shen Zhaoxi said, her gaze suddenly turning cold.

Standing behind the girl, Shen Zhaoxi’s slender fingers slowly slid to the back of her neck.

“Perfect for cleaning house.”

Then her fingers tightened, and she twisted the girl’s head sharply to the side.

There was no hesitation in the motion.

“You!” Qin Hu’s eyes widened in terror, staring at Shen Zhaoxi.

Lu Yunzhou’s gaze grew dark.

The rest of the team was stunned by the scene—not because they’d never witnessed violence, but because such a young girl could kill so ruthlessly was truly horrifying.

No one knew what Shen Zhaoxi whispered into the girl’s ear at the end.

It had all happened so quickly, with no warning.

A wounded girl, yet she had the strength to snap another’s neck with her bare hands.

And so, under the tense gaze of those around, Shen Zhaoxi smiled faintly, let go, and the girl collapsed lifeless at their feet, her eyes wide open.

“You!” Fury flashed in Qin Hu’s eyes, his anger toward Shen Zhaoxi reaching its peak.

“You’re vicious!”

By the Black River, with water murmuring and frost blanketing the ground, nothing could quench the flames burning in Qin Hu’s heart. The girl they’d risked so much to rescue had been killed by Shen Zhaoxi.

Clenching his fists, he cursed through gritted teeth, “Heartless snake!”

His glare landed on Shen Zhaoxi’s bloodless face, but as he looked, she returned his gaze with a mocking, half-smiling lift of her eyes.

“If you have time to curse me, you’d better think carefully about what you’ll do when W Group’s pursuers from Sand City catch up to us.”

“What do you mean?” Qin Hu scowled, his face darkening.

Shen Zhaoxi laughed softly, saying nothing more.

Her gaze dropped, calm and cold, settling on the girl’s corpse.

Chen Yu looked at her nervously.

“You mean—she was passing information to W Group?” a team member caught on, asking uncertainly.

“But isn’t she from Y Country? She was a victim at the experimental base too—why would she help… them?”

Qin Hu snorted at her explanation.

“So you say. She’s dead now! You can slander her however you like!”

Shen Zhaoxi made no reply.

True enough.

She said nothing, her lashes lowered, her eyes devoid of emotion. Instead, she bent down, pressing her fingers to the girl’s neck, peeling away a patch of skin-colored film, and extracting a black chip from underneath.

“What’s that?”

At first, no one saw clearly. But when Shen Zhaoxi straightened, holding a black chip between her pale fingers, everyone’s pupils shrank in shock.

“A tracker?!”

They had suspected the girl, who’d appeared out of nowhere at the Sand City experimental base, might have ulterior motives. The captain had warned them to be cautious around her.

But none of them expected that she had been carrying a tracker all along.

This kind of device was subtle, pressed close to the skin, virtually invisible—it was no wonder they’d missed it.

Now a grave problem presented itself.

“Captain!”

“If this tracker was on her the whole time, doesn’t that mean our movements and current location have all been exposed?”