Fire—
An immense fire had ignited at some unknown time.
Sound asleep, the billowing smoke had nearly stolen all of her breaths...
"Cough, cough..." Mu Yin jerked awake, covering her mouth as she struggled to push open the basement door, "Brother, there's a fire..."
No sooner had she spoken when a wave of flames swept over, engulfing her hair.
"Ah..." She screamed, frantically trying to extinguish the flames, then fell to the ground with a thud, her hand touching something warm.
Blood?
All blood...
Mu Yin's eyes widened in horror as she looked at her blood-red hand, then at the person lying on the ground...
His eyes were tightly closed, his handsome face almost identical to hers was now ashen, a dark hole pierced through his chest, bleeding incessantly.
She trembled, crawled over frantically, and holding his head, she screamed heartbreakingly, "Brother, what's happened to you? Brother..."
But there was no response from him, and as despair engulfed her, suddenly a weak voice called from behind her, "Yinyin..."
Mu Yin stiffened, turning her head sharply, and through the crackling flames, she saw two figures lying in a pool of blood inside the room, "Dad, Mom..."
She rushed in like a madwoman, kneeling before Mu Wei, horrified at the countless bullet holes in his body, "Dad, what happened? Hold on, I'll call an ambulance, sob sob..."
She turned to the woman lying beside him, but she was already breathless.
The girl was stricken with grief, "Mom, please wake up, Mom..."
They were all fine just moments ago; she had just gone to the basement to avoid her brother and had accidentally fallen asleep...
"Yinyin, don't cry. Take this and leave here to find your Uncle Chi, quickly..." Mu Wei, with a bloodied palm, grabbed her, shoved a necklace into her hand, "Remember, don't let anyone know your identity. Give this to... Bo, Bo..."
Mu Wei couldn't finish his words; he died right in front of her, obviously having struggled to wait for her emergence, to give his final instructions.
"Dad, no, ah ah..." Mu Yin cried out in despair, her heart-wrenching voice echoing to the heavens.
...
"Young Master, Young Master, wake up..." The girl in the driver's seat shook her hand anxiously, rousing her from sleep.
"Dad!" Mu Yin startled awake, opened her moist eyes—there was no engulfing fire, no blood-spattered ground, just her dear sister-like companion who had been with her for years.
"Have I slept long?" How had she fallen asleep? Mu Yin gathered her thoughts; the beautiful, harmless face of a young man, with its short, slightly curled ear-length hair glowing with a chestnut sheen, made her delicate features seem as though they had stepped out of a painting.
On her long, curled lashes hung two crystal-clear teardrops, her just-awakened pupils dispersed, exhibiting an undisguised fragility that inspired pity.
Dressed as a man, she was enough to mesmerize all; let alone, to return to being a woman...
Because it was her brother who was killed at that time, in order to hide from their pursuers and avoid detection, she had to disguise herself as a man; moreover, the right to inherit Yunmu Medical Group could only be passed to a male, though it had fallen into the hands of others now.
However, it didn't matter, she would take it all back.
"Just a moment, did you dream about your uncle, aunt, and Brother Ke again?" Chi Ying knew what was going on without asking, and tenderly wiped her tears with a tissue.
The massacre that obliterated her family two years ago remained vivid in memory.
Chi Ying vividly remembered how that night she had banged on her door, disheveled, covered in blood, with her hair and clothes nearly all burnt away, only her eyes remained, red as dripping blood...
Despite Chi Ying's companionship over the past two years, Mu Yin was still troubled by nightmares every night; as soon as she closed her eyes, that horrific scene would appear.
"Mm." Mu Yin nodded gently and quickly returned to her senses. Her striking eyes instantly regained their usual composure and calmness. She rose from her seat and looked through the car window at the tightly-guarded entrance to the secret archive, "What time is it?"