[GB] Boss Ruan, your husband doesn't want you anymore.

Just as the two of them were chatting, Ruan Qian'an's eyebrows twitched slightly.

She opened her hazy eyes and vaguely heard Huo Jingmo's voice. She moved her tail, which was nailed shut in the water, and the excruciating pain made Ruan Qian'an frown.

She opened her eyes to search for that figure, but the act of looking around caused pain all over her body. Her hands unconsciously scratched at the stone, leaving five bloody marks.

A pair of leather shoes stopped in front of her. Huo Jingmo squatted down, grabbed her hair, and forced her to raise her head.

Huo Jingmo's forceful grip on her hair caused Ruan Qian'an to cry out in pain. Even the slightest movement felt like it could kill her.

She winced in pain. Her half-closed eyes allowed her to vaguely make out Huo Jingmo's expressionless face.

Ruan Qian'an thought with a wronged expression, "How come it's not what I expected? I thought he would feel sorry for me."

Suddenly, Ruan Qian'an felt her hair loosen. With a quick movement, she scrambled onto a rock to avoid falling completely into the pool.

Ruan Qian'an breathed weakly. Although she had been prepared, the concentration of the pool water far exceeded her expectations. How terrified Wu Qing must be of her.

This pool of water not only amplifies a person's sense of pain, but it also firmly imprisons Ruan Qian'an.

Ruan Qian'an, who used to be like a master in the water, was now like a drowning dog, unable to exert any strength.

But I'm also glad I made it; it was really dangerous.

Ruan Qian'an pushed open the wooden door and came in, and saw 07, whose face was pale from being pressed down by the pool water.

Ruan Qian'an stepped forward and extended her middle and index fingers to check for carotid artery. 07 slightly opened her eyes and asked, her mind still hazy, "Who?!"

Ruan Qian'an grabbed 07's wrist and pulled her out of the pool. Resting her chin on her hand, she said, "Let's go quickly."

07 took a moment to catch his breath, nodded, and ran out without uttering a sound.

As soon as Ruan Qian'an touched the water, half of her strength was dissipated.

Her legs gradually turned into a fish tail, and she cried out in pain as she went through the process.

Her eyes flashed sharply for a moment before she realized that the water could amplify her pain.

Before long, she was drenched in sweat. From her legs to her fishtail, it was all a process of reshaping flesh and blood, as if her bones had been broken and rebuilt.

At this moment, the pain was amplified a thousand times or even ten thousand times. After completely transforming into a fish tail, Ruan Qian'an forced herself to stand up and picked up the water nail, inserting it inch by inch into the tail of the fish.

The extreme pain and helplessness caused her to collapse. Her entire body was then submerged in the pool water.

She looked as weak as a corpse, and Ruan Qian'an thought that this would make Huo Jingmo feel sorry for her. She forced a smile.

That's why Huo Jingmo's hair-grabbing was something she couldn't stand.

Every movement felt like my soul was being torn apart.

Ruan Qian'an, her blue eyes half-open, looked at Huo Jingmo and asked weakly but with a hint of expectation in her voice, "Are you happy? Are you happy to see me like this?"

Huo Jingmo: "Happy."

Then he continued, "But that's not enough."

Huo Jingmo whispered in Ruan Qian'an's ear, "I! Only I can kill you, only I can. You've ruined me like this, so don't even think about escaping!" (I was threatened, coerced, and monitored by Wu Qing—it's all your fault, you have to take responsibility!)

Ruan Qian'an understood Huo Jingmo's implied meaning, raised her eyebrows and asked in confusion, "You..." She weakly slumped onto the rock after uttering just the word "you".

Huo Jingmo: "Mm."

Ruan Qian'an weakly pursed her lips: "Hehe, of course it's you, it can only be you." (I'll take responsibility, I'll take responsibility, don't try to save yourself, just obediently rely on me.)

Huo Jingmo: "So you'd better not die easily." (You can't die now; you can only die by my hand!)

Ruan Qian'an's gaze was intense: "I won't die at the hands of anyone but you, I promise."

Huo Jingmo: "Okay."

He paused and said, "Ruan Qian'an, you have to pay me back." (Ruan Qian'an, you have to save me. This is what you should do, and what you must do, because it's all your fault.)

Ruan Qian'an laughed: "I would have done it even if you hadn't told me, so there's no need to worry."

Huo Jingmo: "How could I trust a liar?" (But you are a liar, so you have to make me feel at ease trusting you.)

Ruan Qian'an chuckled: "Alright." (Okay~ I'll do whatever you say~)

Ruan Qian'an: "I'm just afraid you'll find it unacceptable."

Huo Jingmo gently lifted Ruan Qian'an's chin: "Disgusted, but helpless."

Ruan Qian'an: "I know." (Even if you dislike me, I'm still willing.)

Huo Jingmo's grip on Ruan Qian'an's chin shifted from lifting it to caressing it, and then to tightly pinching it: "I'll torture you properly." (Even after you escape, you'll still die in my hands.)

Ruan Qian'an's cheeks instantly turned red, her body trembled slightly, but her eyes shone with an unprecedented brilliance.

Ruan Qian'an placed her hand on Huo Jingmo's hand to help him pinch himself: "We'll see, I'm just afraid you'll back down." (Of course, as long as you don't run away.)

Huo Jingmo sneered: "Ridiculous." (Don't tell such bullshit jokes.)

Wu Qing consciously withdrew, letting them hurt each other.

Huo Jingmo's body suddenly relaxed when Wu Qing left.

Huo Jingmo looked Ruan Qian'an up and down: "You look really disheveled."

"I'm starting to doubt whether you can handle it."

"Don't you know whether I'm capable or not?" Coupled with Ruan Qian'an's barely breathing appearance, the statement didn't seem very believable.

The closer Huo Jingmo got to Ruan Qian'an, the more his various discomforts disappeared. He even felt a certain fondness for her aura.

Huo Jingmo: "What are you going to do?"

Ruan Qian'an, resting her head on her arm, gazed at Huo Jingmo with a beaming smile. She made a shushing gesture: "Leave it to me." (Leave everything to me; she's still being monitored and can't say too much.)

Huo Jingmo: "Mm."

"Is death the inevitable fate of those 'Ruan Qian'an's'?"

Ruan Qian'an: "They can no longer be called human beings."

"No one will let them get away with this."

Huo Jingmo: "You and Wu Qing are essentially the same kind of people."

Ruan Qian'an sighed softly, as if in resignation, and said, "I understand. (I will save them.)"

"You would have done it even if I hadn't." (You would have saved him even if I hadn't.)

Huo Jingmo: "Of course, at least I'm still a human being."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Huo Jingmo sat down on a small stone nearby and quietly observed the extremely weak Ruan Qian'an.

Ruan Qian'an chuckled as she felt Huo Jingmo's gaze: "Why are you looking at me?"

She tugged at her hair with her bloodied fingers: "I don't look good like this."

Huo Jingmo: "I'm just confirming whether you are the real Ruan Qian'an."

"It really is you."

Ruan Qian'an: "How could I be lying?"

Huo Jingmo rested his chin on his hand and uttered two words softly: "Bei Ming".

Ruan Qian'an wasn't too surprised to hear Huo Jingmo call out that name; she simply asked, "When did you find out?"

Huo Jingmo: "I've seen you like this before."

Ruan Qian'an was confused and thought for a long time before she finally said, "At the hotel."

Huo Jingmo: "Just a little bit more from the front."

Ruan Qian'an: "I thought I had hidden it very well."

Huo Jingmo: "Don't treat others like fools."

"How stupid must I be in your eyes for you to treat me so carelessly?"

Ruan Qian'an shook her head slightly: "I want you to discover that Bei Ming is me, I..."

Her blue eyes, hidden by her hair, gleamed: "I look forward to you seeing through me."

Then his expression darkened: "But now that you've seen through me, can I still stay by your side?"

She answered her own question as if she were asking herself: "Definitely not, so I'll change my identity and stay by your side."

Huo Jingmo: "So you switched back to Ruan Qian'an's identity?"

Huo Jingmo cursed, "So stupid."

Ruan Qian'an: "I don't want to face your rage."

Huo Jingmo: "Ruan Qian'an, you really deserve to die."

Ruan Qian'an chuckled softly.