Khanyi felt the warm hand that had been holding her suddenly let go, and an ominous premonition rose in her heart. She slowly turned around and saw Dr. Harrison collapse on the ground, bright red blood soaking into the grass, a bullet had pierced through his skull from behind them.
“Oh my God—!” She covered her mouth and screamed. At first, Harrison’s brown eyes were still blinking, but his pupils dilated, and the light of life quickly faded. She didn’t have time to grieve the doctor’s death because she saw a ghostly, slender black figure standing at the brightly lit entrance of the hall. It was him, that blond-haired, blue-eyed devil, holding a long gun in his hand. From such a distance, he had still accurately hit him. She didn’t know if she could escape under his gun, but her instinct for survival drove her to flee toward the bushes.
Soldiers, drawn by the gunfire, had already gathered around Dr. Harrison’s fallen body. They stood at attention and saluted the elegantly dressed General Ryan, who had hurried over.
“General, what happened?”
“An enemy spy; I shot him.” His handsome face bore no expression.
A soldier rummaged through Dr. Harrison’s jacket pocket and read aloud, “Harrison, Red Cross, American journalist.” The soldier raised an eyebrow and tossed the notebook beside the corpse. “It seems there was a woman with him; she ran into the bushes.”
“She won’t get away.” Ryan squinted his icy blue eyes and threw the MP 44 assault rifle to the soldier, drawing the sword from his waist. The long dagger glinted coldly in the moonlight, clearly more than just an ornament on his splendid attire.
She struggled forward through the bushes, her purple mink shawl long gone, branches tearing at her silk dress. She felt like she had been running for centuries; the thorns in the bushes were dense and dark. When she suddenly turned back, she realized she could no longer escape.
His ghostly black figure had appeared before her, the dagger in his hand parting the thorns as he approached her. Finally, he reached her side. She looked up along the black boots to meet his icy blue eyes, which released a chill that instantly froze her. All she could do was tremble, shedding helpless tears under the glinting blade.
“My princess, has midnight arrived, and the magic lost its effect that you must flee in a panic?” His tone was surprisingly gentle, but his actions and gaze were equally brutal.
He suddenly grabbed her hair and dragged her out of the bushes. She was pulled along, rolling and crawling, gradually unable to support herself. Her feet bore not only the wounds from the broken glass of yesterday but also scratches from the thorns in the bushes. Her ankle twisted painfully from his rough dragging.
“Ah—my ankle!” The pain contorted her face, and she collapsed to the ground.
He showed no sign of compassion, hoisting her arm and dragging her with her injured ankle across the lawn. She saw two soldiers carrying Dr. Harrison’s corpse and suddenly broke down, “Harrison—! No—!”
“What was he to you?” He stopped and coldly stared at her.
“No, Harrison!” It was as if she hadn’t heard his question; she let her long-suppressed sorrow pour out at that moment, lunging toward Harrison’s body.
“You killed him, you devil! You killed Dr. Harrison; you might as well kill me too! I don’t want to live anymore.” shouted, instinctively knowing that it was better to understand life immediately than to fall into his hands.
“Kill you?” He looked down, his tone icy as he asked. A flash of ferocity crossed his icy blue eyes as he used the tip of his dagger to tease her disheveled black hair. Her fragile neck trembled under the sharp blade. Indeed, he only needed to apply a little force to sever her head from her body.
Her dark eyes sparkled with glistening tears as she knelt on the ground, waiting in despair for the arrival of the god of death.
“You must be ready to face death at any time, but not now. You need to pay the price for your foolish escape.”
