Chapter 55

Chapter 55

A sharp, whistling sound pierced through the wind and glass, hurtling toward me. I instinctively ducked, but I still felt a powerful surge of air slam into me.

Ugh!

I collapsed onto the back seat, my entire chest erupting in searing pain. A metallic tang flooded my throat, and a thin trail of blood leaked from the corner of my lips.

The agony was violent and sudden, quickly concentrating around my shoulder blades. I gritted my teeth, a low groan escaping my throat.

The driver noticed something was wrong and pulled over to check on me. By then, I was in too much pain to speak. He immediately turned the car around and rushed me to the County Hospital.

After a battery of tests, the doctor spent a long time staring at my CT scans. Eventually, he started calling for backup. Before long, three more doctors had gathered, huddling together to examine my films.

The way they were acting, you’d think I had some kind of terminal illness.

I waited tensely for the final verdict, only for the doctor to tell me, “Little girl, your body is mostly fine. It just seems like you’re missing two ribs.”

Me: “?!”

“Saying they’re missing isn’t exactly accurate.” The doctor frowned, struggling to find the right words. “The bottom two ribs in your body seem to have been shattered by some immense force a long time ago. The bone is nearly liquefied and translucent, yet there are these branch-like structures-like meridians-coiling inside that are keeping the ribs stable.”

The doctor scratched his head, looking troubled. “In short, it’s a very complex case. Our medical facilities here at the County Hospital are limited, so we can’t give you a definitive diagnosis. I suggest you go to the Provincial People’s Hospital. There’s a young doctor there named Bai Jingmo who specializes in rare and difficult cases. He might be able to help you.”

Bai Jingmo?

Forget it.

Falling into his hands would be like walking straight into a tiger’s den.

Besides, I had a pretty good idea of what was going on now. This wasn’t a normal medical condition; it was the ‘physical defect’ Master Hui Quan had mentioned.

Moreover, this defect was likely something I was born with. Restoring it wasn’t something ordinary medical science could achieve.

Still, I nodded and accepted the situation. I had the doctor prescribe some Painkillers and then left the hospital.

The driver had been waiting for me the whole time, asking anxiously about my health. I asked him to take me back to the Pawnshop, thanking him repeatedly and scanning a thousand yuan over to him.

I had really put him through a lot today.

The Painkillers temporarily dulled the ache, but I felt completely drained. I could only crawl into bed and lie there, my mind filled with images of that girl.

She used a Longbow just like mine, and her bow had no arrows either.

The difference was that while my bow could produce a whistling sound but lacked power before, it could now shoot flames. Clearly, those weren’t ordinary flames-they could burn Souls.

But that girl used internal energy to fire her bow.

That dense, powerful energy had traveled through the bowstring to strike me with pinpoint accuracy, rattling my ribs with pain.

She had clearly been waiting at that intersection specifically to teach me a lesson.

She was declaring war!

Was it because of Liu Junyan?

Was she warning me because I was an interloper who had stolen her place?

What was I supposed to do? Should I be sensible and step aside?

But it didn’t seem like the choice was mine to make. After all, I had been made a Dead Pawn to Liu Junyan when I was only six years old.

Maybe I should sit down and have a proper talk with Liu Junyan about this. Could I get him to return the Pawn Ticket and call it even?

I considered it seriously. If the real Little Fire Fox was back, Liu Junyan would probably be more than happy to let me go. Let her take over the mess that was the Wufu Town Pawnshop, and I could go back to school and continue my studies.
Being able to continue my studies was, of course, a good thing.

I even did a rough tally of how much money I had on hand. Although I couldn’t afford to buy a house, I could rent one, and the school had dormitories.

I had enough money for my education.

It seemed that even if I left this place, I could still live a decent life.

But why did my heart feel so heavy?

Weighed down by my thoughts and weakened by my physical condition, I drifted into a daze and fell asleep.

I didn’t know how long I slept before I began to dream.

In the dream, I seemed to be lying in a pit. Beneath me were nothing but corpses. The stench of blood filled my nostrils, making it difficult to breathe.

I struggled to lift my head to look up, but at that moment, a sudden clap of thunder roared, striking me directly in the back.

It felt as if my ribs had been shattered; the pain was agonizing.

Under the flash of the lightning, I saw that the walls of the pit were covered in runes drawn in blood.

It was a Blood Rune that had summoned the heavenly thunder!

A man and a woman stood at the edge of the pit.

The man wore a black cloak, his wide hood concealing his face. The woman looked down at me with a cruel, mocking grin. In her hand, she held a golden mask that was dripping with blood.

She knelt down and looked over me.

As I watched, she placed the bloody golden mask over her own face. “Ah Li, look. Don’t I look like her?”

“Very much so, right?”

“Don’t look at me with such hatred. You’ve occupied a place that wasn’t yours for far too long. This is your retribution!”

She suddenly ripped the mask off and slammed it hard against my face.

Along with the mask, something heavy crashed down, pinning me firmly by my back.

Bolt after bolt of heavenly thunder struck, and the entire pit erupted in flames. Amidst the fire, I saw the corpses beneath me-they were all just children.

Yet the man and woman were locked in a passionate kiss at the edge of the pit.

The woman stood slightly on her tiptoes, and the man held the back of her head with one hand as they kissed as if they could never be parted.

On the man’s wrist, exposed by his sleeve, was a tattoo of a black feather.

I struggled violently to throw off the weight on my back, but the pain in my ribs was too much. The object on my back felt as heavy as a mountain, and the air around me was filled with the ghostly wails of children.

Pain!

It hurt so much!

The images in the dream began to twist and fade, everything becoming surreal until only the unbearable pain at my shoulder blade remained.

“Xiao Jiu, wake up. You’re having a Nightmare.”

Liu Junyan’s voice suddenly pierced through the darkness. His large hand pressed against my back, and a steady stream of True Qi flowed into my body.

It took a long moment before I jolted awake from the Nightmare. I opened my eyes and looked directly into Liu Junyan’s amber, slitted pupils.

He looked at me with eyes full of concern, calling my name.

I stared at his face, my mind involuntarily comparing him to the cloaked man from the Nightmare.

Could it be him?

Was that just a dream?

Or was it something that had actually happened in the past?

The girl in the dream was clearly the same one who had shot at me with the Longbow today!

If she was the real Little Fire Fox, then the man with her-the one she was kissing-should be Liu Junyan, right?

Perhaps my expression was too terrifying, as Liu Junyan shook me gently and asked, “Xiao Jiu, what’s wrong?”

I forced myself upright, enduring the pain as I grabbed Liu Junyan’s left hand. I pushed up the sleeve of his long robe, searching it over and over.

Nothing.

There was no black feather mark…