Drip. Drip.
Blood trickled down pale skin and splattered onto the ground.
The man stood frozen in place.
He had carried out assassinations for years—there was little he hadn't seen. But this… this was something else entirely.
A long, fair hand had blocked the knife. The blade had pierced clean through the palm, staining it a vivid red. When the man looked up, he met a pair of calm, indifferent eyes.
There was no fear. No pain. As if the agony of a blade through flesh meant nothing at all.
The first to react was Lin Jingqiu. Her pupils contracted sharply, and she instinctively took half a step back. That gleaming blade had come within a hair's breadth of her heart. She could still feel the chill radiating from its tip.
Then, she saw the hand that had stopped it—and froze.
She blinked. Her face shifted rapidly—shock, fear, disbelief all played across her expression.
"Aahhh!"
Suddenly, a terrified scream shattered the silence. A nearby girl had witnessed everything and completely lost it.
The piercing shriek tore through the air, drawing every gaze toward them. Chaos erupted on the field. Even the distant PE teacher noticed something was wrong and began sprinting over.
The would-be assassin snapped back to his senses. His expression twisted with malice, and he tightened his grip on the knife, trying to yank it free.
Although the plan had gone sideways, it wasn't yet beyond saving. They had sacrificed several valuable insiders for this opportunity—failure was not an option.
His muscles tensed. He pulled once, twice… nothing. The blade was stuck. Firmly lodged in that hand.
Despair surged in his chest.
Why, of all places, did such a monster have to appear in a high school?
He found himself missing the black pistol he used back in his earlier missions. If not for Qing City's strict laws, who the hell used a dagger for assassinations in this day and age?
—
Half an hour later, Qing City Second People's Hospital.
Chen An had returned.
He lay half-reclined on a white hospital bed, his injured hand wrapped in gauze. The terrifying wound was no longer visible.
The teachers and classmates who had come to visit had already left, except for one slender figure still sitting beside the bed on a small stool.
The girl's expression was complicated. Even with all her experience, the incident still left her shaken. That flash of cold steel, the life-or-death moment, and the bloodied hand replayed vividly in her mind.
Her chest still ached faintly, almost in empathy. She didn't even want to imagine what might've happened if that knife had struck her instead.
She looked at the boy on the bed. He seemed familiar—probably the one who had passed by their classroom earlier. He leaned against the headboard with a relaxed posture, gazing out the window.
To Lin Jingqiu, it was a striking profile. A high nose bridge, thin lips, and calm brows gave him a gentle and composed air. She never thought of herself as someone who judged by looks, but she had to admit—handsome people were easier to like.
Especially someone who had just saved her life.
She couldn't understand how a boy so young could step between her and a knife with just his bare hand. What had driven him? How much courage had that taken?
If their roles had been reversed, she knew she couldn't have done the same. Maybe for family—but they were strangers. They hadn't even shared a proper glance before today.
Confused or not, she still felt a deep, sincere gratitude. After a brief pause, she spoke, "Chen An, thank you. If it weren't for you, I'd probably be the one lying here right now…"
Chen An turned to look at her. His expression was calm as always, impossible to read. His body was already immortal. Even if reduced to a pile of meat, he could recover eventually. A wound through the palm? That was nothing—barely a mosquito bite to him.
If not for his desire to maintain a low profile, he wouldn't have come to the hospital at all.
"No need to thank me," he said, then gave her a curious look. "I heard your family's wealthy. How much do you think you're worth?"
What kind of strange question was that?
Lin Jingqiu blinked, a single stray hair twitching slightly. Even so, this was the boy who had just saved her life. No matter how odd the question, she gave it some serious thought.
Even without the secrets most didn't know, her identity as the Lin family's heiress alone was enough to make powerful young men throw money at her.
She hesitated and said, "I… don't really know. But definitely a lot. Enough to buy this hospital, for sure."
Chen An raised his brows. "That much isn't necessary. Just give me a little. I want to renovate the welfare home."
"It's been standing for years. The walls are crumbling, and there's no air conditioning. Every summer, the ceiling fan groans like it's going to fall off. My little sister always jokes she's scared it'll drop on her one day and she'll get isekai'd into another world."
Lin Jingqiu chuckled, unable to help herself. His light tone was infectious.
She teased, "And what's so bad about an isekai? Maybe she'd get to be a hero and fight dragons."
Chen An shook his head. "Isekai worlds aren't as great as you think."
Lin Jingqiu pursed her lips slightly, not quite satisfied with that. "You talk like you've actually been to one."
"Maybe," he said.
She was about to follow up when the hospital room door suddenly opened.
Dr. Qin entered, wiping sweat from his forehead—he had clearly run up the stairs. He hurried to the bed and checked Chen An thoroughly. Only when he confirmed everything was stable did he finally relax.
"This is how you repay me?" he scolded, frowning. "Just because your checkup came out fine doesn't mean you can be careless. With conditions like yours, anything could change in an instant. We can't let our guard down until we're sure you're fully cured."
Though his tone was strict, Chen An understood it came from concern. "Sorry, Dr. Qin. I'll be more careful from now on."
Beside him, Lin Jingqiu furrowed her brows. "Condition? What condition?"
Only then did Dr. Qin notice someone else in the room. He frowned, glanced at Chen An, and waited for permission. After seeing Chen An nod, he spoke slowly.
"Chen An has a very serious congenital heart condition."
Lin Jingqiu's body trembled slightly. She looked at Chen An. He met her gaze calmly. After a moment, she quietly looked away.