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The car came to a steady stop in front of the White Building.
“Get out.”
The man sat in the driver’s seat, the side of his face hidden in the shadows. He spoke two cold, emotionless words without even sparing her a glance.
Xia Zhiyao was like an abandoned kitten. She pushed open the car door and stumbled out.
Behind her, the engine roared like a giant beast releasing its fury.
Vroom!
The car sped away.
Xia Zhiyao returned to her room in a daze.
The bedroom she had once considered a cage had now become the only place where she could feel even the slightest trace of false security.
She no longer dared to step into the study.
For the next five days, the White Building became a silent, isolated island.
Shen Yu never returned.
Everything in the White Building continued as usual. Aunt Mei still delivered exquisite meals on time, and the maids still cleaned everything carefully and quietly.
But Xia Zhiyao knew that something had changed.
It felt as if an invisible blade was hanging above her head.
Waiting was a kind of torture.
She did not know when that blade would fall, nor how it would strike. This unknown fear was far more agonizing than any direct punishment.
She barely touched the meals Aunt Mei brought.
Her already pale face became even more drained of color, leaving only a pair of eyes that looked especially large because she had grown thinner.
Every day, she simply sat by the bay window in a daze, watching the guards patrol outside and the sunrise and sunset over the base.
She looked like a prisoner waiting for her final verdict.
Every day, countless possible endings replayed in her mind.
Would she be thrown into the back mountain and fed to the wolves?
Would she be executed immediately, just like those guards?
Or...
Would she be sent back to Master Ba, where she would once again be humiliated and treated like an object to be passed around?
She felt that she had truly overestimated herself.
It was ridiculous.
She had actually believed that, with her insignificant little schemes, she could escape from the prison controlled by this violent emperor.
In front of him, she was nothing more than a helpless ant.
Until the evening of the sixth day.
The setting sun was as red as blood, stretching the shadow of the White Building across the ground.
Knock. Knock.
Two rhythmic knocks sounded from the door.
Xia Zhiyao hugged her knees as she sat on the bay window, lost in a daze. The moment she heard the sound, she instantly sprang up from the soft cushion like a startled bird.
“Miss Xia, I’m A-Ken.”
A restrained and polite male voice came from outside the door.
He had arrived.
At that moment, Xia Zhiyao unexpectedly felt a ridiculous sense of relief surge through her heart.
The moment of judgment had finally arrived.
She steadied her breathing. Her voice came out dry and hoarse.
“Mr. A-Ken… the door isn’t locked.”
The doorknob turned, and A-Ken walked inside.
“Miss Xia, Mr. Shen has asked you to come over.”
It was only a short sentence, yet it felt like the verdict had already been delivered.
Xia Zhiyao held onto the wall, barely managing to keep herself standing.
“Mr. Shen… he’s back?”
“Yes.” A-Ken lowered his head slightly and respectfully gestured toward the door. “Mr. Shen is waiting for you. Please follow me.”
There was no room for refusal.
Xia Zhiyao steadied herself. She had not even remembered to put on her shoes. With a heavy heart, she followed A-Ken and walked out.
The corridor was very long, and the thick carpet swallowed the sound of their footsteps.
“Mr. A-Ken, Mr. Shen… is he happy, or is he angry?” Xia Zhiyao gathered her courage and asked.
“Miss Xia, Mr. Shen’s feelings are not something we are qualified to speculate about.” A-Ken answered gently.
He led her through the first-floor hall and toward the corridor that connected to the backyard. Finally, they stopped in front of a staircase leading underground.
A-Ken stopped walking, turned slightly to the side, and made an inviting gesture.
“Miss Xia, Mr. Shen is waiting for you inside.”
Xia Zhiyao’s heart pounded violently.
Her instincts told her to step back, but she knew that doing so would be completely useless.
She gritted her teeth and walked down step by step onto the carpet-covered stairs.
At the end of the staircase stood a thick black stainless-steel blast-proof door. It was left half open, revealing only a narrow gap beyond it.
Xia Zhiyao’s trembling hand reached out and pushed the door open.
She stood at the entrance and cautiously looked inside.
She did not dare take another step forward, so she turned around and looked at A-Ken.
A-Ken followed her downstairs, but he only stopped at the bottom of the stairs. He did not move any farther. Instead, he simply tilted his chin slightly, signaling for her to enter.
Xia Zhiyao’s palms were covered in cold sweat.
She could feel it.
The atmosphere inside was even more dangerous than before.
She hardened her heart and walked in.
Behind her, A-Ken immediately closed the blast-proof door.
Bang!
The heavy steel door shut, completely cutting off the outside world.