32: Chapter 32 The Heartbeat You Understand

When Liu Ruyan left the Chiefs Tent, the sky had already begun to darken.

The setting sun dyed the wild sky a golden red, the silver-blue light dome flowed through the twilight like a galaxy, and the shattered golden ripples on the surface of the Lingxi River were slowly fading away.

She walked alone toward the upper reaches of the Lingxi River, the place she liked to stay the most, far from the noise of the camp, with only the sound of the river and the wind.

"Sister Ruyan."

Zhao Linger's voice came from behind. Liu Ruyan paused, but did not turn back.

She could hear an unusual seriousness in Zhao Linger's tone, a seriousness that meant this Spirit Sound Master was not here for small talk.

"Did you go to the Myriad Races Market today?" Zhao Linger walked to her side, the usual playfulness gone from her baby face, her large eyes filled with a rare seriousness.

"Mm."

"Did you discover anything?"

Liu Ruyan glanced at her. Zhao Linger had always had strong observational skills; as a Spirit Sound Master, her sensitivity to tone and inflection was far beyond that of an ordinary person.

She must have sensed something from her subtle state when she returned to the camp today.

"The Shadow Clan has a stronghold at the Myriad Races Market." Liu Ruyan did not hide it; Zhao Linger was the director of intelligence and communications, and she would need to know this information sooner or later.

"They are collecting intelligence on Transmigrators."

Zhao Linger's large eyes narrowed slightly. "Ying Wuyue?"

"You know him?"

"Sister Xun'er told me yesterday." Zhao Linger crouched on a rock by the river, hugging her knees, her baby face like a gold-rimmed painting in the setting sun.

"Sister Ruyan, did you… get scared today?"

Liu Ruyan did not speak.

Zhao Linger tilted her head to look at her, a flash of realization in her large eyes. "It wasn't being scared by the Shadow Clan. It was worrying that Wang Sheng would be scared."

Liu Ruyan's phoenix eyes trembled slightly.

The smoky, misty luster in her eyes was like a shattered mirror in the sunset; within the fractured light, it reflected an answer she herself was unwilling to admit.

Yes, she was scared.

Not by the Shadow Clan's underground stronghold, not by the feeling of being watched in the Spirit Rune formation, not by the name Ying Wuyue, but by a deeper fear:

She was afraid that Wang Sheng would meet with an accident.

This fear had existed since the day of the Iron-Armored Bear attack, but she wasn't present that day; she had been marking the outskirts of the Savage Beast Forest, and when she returned, everything was over.

She had only seen the frost-covered ruins in the camp and the figure of Wang Sheng with bandages wrapped around his left ribs.

At that moment, it felt as if someone had clutched her heart, and cold sweat instantly soaked her back.

She didn't lose control like Frost Mage Lin Shiyun, nor did she stand in front of him like Murong Xue.

She just watched him silently from the shadows, confirming that he was still standing, still breathing, still alive, and then turned to continue executing the mission she was supposed to carry out.

Because she was the Eye of Shadows.

The Eye of Shadows did not belong to the light, nor did it belong to the battlefield; she belonged to the shadows.

Observing, analyzing, and protecting from places where no one could see; this was her duty, and it was her way of existing.

But today, when she stood among the treetops of the Savage Beast Forest, facing that indescribable anxiety alone, she suddenly realized one thing.

She cared about him.

Not as a tribesman caring for the Chieftain, not as an intelligence officer caring for a strategic core, but as a woman, caring for a man.

This realization made Liu Ruyan feel strange, and also uneasy. She was used to being a "transparent person," used to not being seen, used to silently protecting from the shadows.

She had never thought that one day, the object of her protection would become the softest string in her heart.

"Sister Ruyan." Zhao Linger's voice pulled her back from her thoughts. A rare, earnest gentleness appeared on the Spirit Sound Master's baby face.

"Did you know, Spirit Sound Masters have a technique called 'Heart Listening.' It doesn't require the other person to speak; as long as you listen to their breathing and heartbeat, you can judge their emotions."

Liu Ruyan looked at her.

"When you grabbed Wang Sheng's sleeve today, your heartbeat quickened."

Zhao Linger's large eyes looked straight at her, without any teasing or mockery, only a sincerity from the bottom of her heart.

"Probably about… thirty percent faster? It might be about the same as your heartbeat change when you track Shadow Clan spies."

The tips of Liu Ruyan's ears turned slightly red.

This was a rare display of emotion for her. Someone who had walked in the shadows for too long had long been accustomed to suppressing all emotions in the deepest part of her heart, to the point where she had even forgotten their existence.

But Zhao Linger's Spirit Sound Technique would not lie. Her heartbeat had indeed accelerated at the moment she grabbed Wang Sheng's sleeve, and the degree of acceleration was comparable to when she performed dangerous missions.

This meant that in front of him, the tension and care she felt were no less than when facing the threat of the Shadow Clan.

"Linger." Liu Ruyan's voice was very soft, the smoky, misty luster of her phoenix eyes like two stained mirrors in the sunset. "This matter…"

"I won't tell anyone else." Zhao Linger stood up, patted the grass leaves on her skirt, and her baby face was once again hung with that usual mischievous smile.

"But Sister Ruyan, I don't think you need to be so nervous. Wang Sheng isn't an idiot; he can tell."

Liu Ruyan was silent for a moment.

"Whether he can tell or not is not important." Her voice returned to its usual lightness, and her phoenix eyes once again became hazy like smoke and mist.

"What's important is that I must protect him well from the shadows."

Zhao Linger watched her back. Liu Ruyan turned and walked towards the upper reaches of the Lingxi River, her grey-brown short outfit outlining a silhouette as slender as a willow in the sunset silhouette.

Her waist was slender enough to be held in one hand, her hip line was unexpectedly full, and her long legs were like two crescent moons about to disappear in the twilight.

Her pace was neither fast nor slow, her posture was as dignified as a painting, and no fluctuation of emotion could be seen.

But Zhao Linger heard it.

A Spirit Sound Master's ears were more honest than her eyes; Liu Ruyan's heartbeat quickened just a little more when she said "protect him well."

Night fell.

Liu Ruyan stood alone on the cliff wall in the upper reaches of the Lingxi River.

The silver-blue light dome flowed like a galaxy in the night, the silver-blue light of the Sanctuary Domain enveloping the camp, warm and peaceful.

The Savage Beast Forest in the distance was like a sleeping giant beast, and in the direction of the Myriad Races Market further away, no light could be seen anymore.

But Liu Ruyan knew that beneath the market, the Shadow Clan's Spirit Rune formation was still operating, and the purple light was still flickering in the darkness like the breathing of some living thing.

She looked down at her right hand, the hand that had grabbed Wang Sheng's sleeve today.

The rough touch of the Savage Beast skin robe still remained on her fingertips, as well as the faint warmth of his arm transmitted through the fabric.

That bit of warmth had long dissipated, but her fingertips seemed to still remember that temperature, like a lamp in the dark night; although it had been extinguished, light spots still remained on her retina.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself in a low voice, her voice scattered by the night wind.

No one answered.

The sound of the Lingxi River was murmuring like a song, and the moonlight spilled onto the river surface, shimmering like broken silver.

Liu Ruyan tucked her hand back into her sleeve, her phoenix eyes looking up at the sky full of stars; the starlight was like crushed diamonds covering the entire firmament.

It was as beautiful as a star map she had only seen in picture books on Earth.

She suddenly remembered something.

Her freshman year, New Year's Eve party. Everyone in the class prepared a performance, but she didn't; she was a "transparent person," and no one would notice that she didn't have a performance.

When the party was halfway through, she sat alone in the corridor outside the classroom, hugging her knees and listening to the music and laughter inside.

Then Wang Sheng came out of the classroom.

He was holding two cups of juice, sat down next to her, and handed one to her.

"Why are you sitting outside alone?" he asked.

"It's too noisy inside," she said.

"That's perfect, it's quiet outside." He took a sip of juice and looked up at the starry sky outside the corridor window. "Look, the stars are very bright today."

She didn't speak. But that night, for the first time, she felt that someone had seen her—not seeing a "transparent person," but seeing Liu Ruyan.

That cup of juice was orange juice. She still remembered the taste to this day.

Liu Ruyan closed her eyes, pressing the memory back into the depths of her heart.

The night wind blew across the cliff wall, causing the hem of her grey-brown short outfit to rustle; her willow-slender figure in the moonlight silhouette was like an unsheathed dark blade, cold, sharp, and lonely.

But her right hand was still covering her left wrist, her fingertips gently pressing on the location where her pulse beat, as if confirming that her heart was still beating.

Still beating for him.

She had to go to the Myriad Races Market tomorrow. Tomorrow she would still have to face the Shadow Clan's underground stronghold, the Blood Wolf Tribe's conspiracy, and the shadow of Ying Wuyue.

But before that, tonight, she allowed herself to stand in the moonlight for a little longer.

Just a little longer.

Her smoky, misty phoenix eyes curved slightly in the moonlight; it was a smile that no one could see, as light as a wisp of wind, as faint as a wisp of smoke, fleeting like a meteor in the dark night.

Just like her care for Wang Sheng—never spoken aloud, but always present.