I listened to my sister's words today.

Jiang Ling knelt on the cold ground, his hands clenched tightly, as if he wanted to grab something, but the light had already dissipated in the wind and disappeared without a trace.

Tears kept dripping onto the ground, mixing with the messy dust on the construction site, blurring everything.

The night wind grew increasingly biting, and the lights in the distance flickered on and off, as fleeting and illusory as Yun Yiruo's last smile.

Jiang Ling stood up trembling, and the tenderness in her eyes was replaced by pain and determination.

"If..."

A burst of messy footsteps came from the direction of the ventilation vent, breaking the brief silence.

Jiang Ling immediately regained her alertness. She wiped the tears from her face and held onto the wall of the vent to steady herself.

The pursuers behind him had obviously not given up yet. Their conversation could be faintly heard in the air: "The exit of the ventilation duct is in front, they must be there!"

The enemy had just stuck his head out of the ventilation duct and had not yet stood firm when he heard deafening gunfire.

Blazing tongues of fire swept towards him like raindrops, the firelight making the inner wall of the passage flicker, and blood instantly dyed the cold steel plates red.

Before they could even let out a scream, their bodies were beaten into sieves, and they fell heavily backwards, sliding back into the dark pipe.

An armored vehicle roared into the scene, suddenly stopped, and stopped steadily in front of Jiang Ling.

Jiang Ling staggered, his legs feeling as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

He forced himself to use his last bit of strength to climb up the armored vehicle by holding onto the door. His clothes had already been soaked in blood and stuck to his thin body.

The car door closed dully behind her, isolating her from the noise outside.

The moment her body softened and collapsed into the seat, her consciousness was torn apart like a kite with a broken string, and she fell into endless darkness.

"Homeowner!"

The bodyguard sitting in the driver's seat suddenly turned around, his eyes full of anxiety and worry.

He quickly drove the car into the safety passage, then turned over the seat, helped the owner up, and checked her condition.

Jiang Ling's eyes were closed, his face was pale, his breath was weak, and his forehead was covered with cold sweat.

The bodyguard's hand touched her neck and after confirming that she still had a pulse, his expression relaxed slightly.

At this moment, Jiang Ling's consciousness seemed to be drawn into another world.

After a dizzying moment, I opened my eyes and found myself standing in a pure white space.

There was no sky here, the floor was white, and there was not even a boundary. Only the dazzling white light surrounded her.

I looked around blankly, feeling suddenly isolated and helpless.

"here?"

Jiang Ling murmured softly, and as soon as the words fell, the sound spread out like water waves, and echoes were heard in the endless space.

Move forward step by step.

Suddenly, some vague shadows seemed to emerge in the white light. Those shadows were twisting and jumping, as if waving to her, but also as if moving away.

Jiang Ling held her breath and ran towards the shadows with all her might.

As he ran, the fog in front suddenly dissipated, and a cylindrical platform that almost blended in with the surrounding colors stood abruptly in front.

It seemed to grow out of the ground and suddenly blocked Jiang Ling's way.

The surface of the platform was as smooth as a mirror, and its cold texture penetrated into the bone marrow through the air.

A glass ball was placed quietly on it, emitting a faint glow, as if carrying some invisible power.

Jiang Ling suddenly stopped and stared at the ball, feeling a little uneasy.

A vague black figure emerged from the shadows beside the platform, like a wisp of drifting smoke, but with a strong sense of oppression.

He just stood by the platform, leaning slightly, as if he had been waiting for a long time.

Then, he slowly reached out, picked up the glass ball, and handed it to Jiang Ling.

The movements were gentle and smooth, without a trace of unnecessary hesitation, as if this action had been repeated countless times.

"who are you?"

Jiang Ling's voice was filled with caution. She subconsciously took a step back and her hand unconsciously reached for her waist.

The shadow didn't answer, but said to himself in a low, hoarse voice: "The person you want may be in this glass ball."

When Jiang Ling heard this, his body shook violently, as if he was hit by something, and his mind went blank.

He stared blankly at the glass ball in the black shadow's hand, his breathing gradually becoming rapid.

"In...here?"

The voice was trembling, unbelievable.

The black shadow nodded slightly and passed the glass ball forward a little further. The ethereal voice seemed to come from all directions.

“Yes, but not quite.

"She is just a soul now."

Jiang Ling hesitated and didn't dare to reach out.

But in the end, she still took the cracked glass ball with trembling hands. When her fingers touched the cold surface, her heart seemed to be clenched and she could hardly breathe.

Looking down carefully, he found that inside the sphere was a small tree that was withered and almost dead, with only a shaky leaf left on the cracked trunk.

The leaves trembled slightly, as if they might fall off the branches at any time.

After Jiang Ling took the glass ball, the black shadow slowly withdrew his hand and whispered, "Treat her well."

Remember, when the last leaf falls, that is the true end of her life."

"who are you?"

"Why do you know this?"

Jiang Ling raised his head suddenly, his voice filled with suppressed anger, his eyes fixed on the black shadow.

However, the shadow ignored her question and just tilted his head slightly, as if looking somewhere in the distance.

Then, he turned around, as if preparing to completely disappear into the fog.

"Wait!" Jiang Ling couldn't help but shout, with a hint of pleading in her voice.

"Just say one word! About her! Can you? Please!"

The shadow's footsteps paused, and although he didn't turn around, the dark figure began to slowly dissipate, like ink blown away by the wind.

After a moment of silence, he finally spoke: "Once upon a time, there was a man who woke up from a pile of corpses."

"She pushed the body away in disgust, only to find that she had lost all her memories except that she had to find someone."

"She has lived through a long time, perhaps a thousand years, or perhaps even ten thousand years..."

"Until one day, she finally remembered the person she was looking for, only to discover..."

The shadow's voice gradually became vague and disappeared in the last sentence.

Jiang Ling held her breath, waiting for her to finish.

"...It was the body she pushed away."

"But at that time, she still had her last breath."

The shadowy figure completely dissipated, leaving only cold air and a hand full of cracked glass balls.

Jiang Ling stood there in a daze, holding the glass ball in both hands, tears streaming down her face uncontrollably, dripping onto the surface of the ball, creating a faint glow.

The leaves of the small tree in the ball trembled slightly, as if responding to something.