Exclusive Possession – CH 048

Chapter 48.

The dazzling crystal chandelier illuminated Mu Xian and Yi Pucheng’s faces with exceptional clarity.

Yi Pucheng stood five or six meters away from the door, a thin layer of anger clearly visible on his handsome face. His eyes were narrowed, his gaze cold and mocking. He stood very straight, the muscles in his chest and back beneath his shirt slightly taut, making him look strong, lean, and powerful.

He looks a little scary like this.

I involuntarily took a step back and stood behind Mu Xian. But Yi Pucheng looked very strange—as if he really didn’t know anything about it before.

Was he still pretending?

I was suddenly jolted.

No. That wasn’t right.

He was both arrogant and cunning. If we really caught him in the act, he probably wouldn’t have the nerve to keep pretending to be stupid in front of us.

Moreover, doing so would be too risky—Mu Xian was just as shrewd as he, and if he continued to pretend, it would be like asking a tiger for its skin.

So what exactly happened?

Could it be that he created this space but was unexpectedly attacked by Mu Xian’s mental power and thus unfortunately lost his memory and fell in?

It seems very likely that this was the case.

Clearly, Mu Xian thought so too.

He slowly stepped forward, standing behind Yi Pucheng, and then asked in a slightly solemn and cold tone, “You also believe it to be a virtual space?”

He seemed just as angry and confused as Yi Pucheng.

The lights were too bright, making Mu Xian’s face appear exceptionally pale and smooth, but his eyes seemed to be immersed in ice, extremely dark, extremely cold, and extremely still.

My heart skipped a beat.

“It’s virtual space,” Yi Pucheng replied coldly, still staring at the ethereal ripples. “It seems someone has locked our consciousness into a computer…”

A deep, quick thud was followed by the cracking sound of bones breaking.

Yi Pucheng’s voice seemed to be suddenly cut off, disappearing from his throat.

Because Mu Xian’s right fist had struck Yi Pucheng’s back with tremendous force. A heavy and vicious punch! From my angle, I could even see half of Mu Xian’s fist embedded in Yi Pucheng’s body. And the spot where he punched was Yi Pucheng’s heart.

Yi Pucheng was hit so hard that he swayed on the spot, but he didn’t fall down immediately.

A look of rage and realization simultaneously appeared in his usually nonchalant eyes, and his handsome face immediately turned gloomy and fierce.

In that instant, he whirled around, and Mu Xian’s fist slipped from his body. He immediately swung his fist toward Mu Xian’s head!

Mu Xian’s face was as cold as if covered with frost. He turned his head to avoid the heavy punch and, at the same time, grabbed his arm and twisted it behind his back.

With a sharp “crack,” Yi Pucheng’s shirt tore open at his shoulder joint, revealing flesh and bone breaking inside. Mu Xian had almost twisted his arm off!

He grunted and raised his leg to kick Mu Xian in the stomach. Mu Xian couldn’t dodge this time and also grunted. My heart clenched at the sound.

But Mu Xian immediately retaliated with an even fiercer attack—he grabbed Yi Pucheng’s injured arm and pulled him down. Yi Pucheng cried out in pain, his body tilting to the side. Mu Xian grabbed his head, lifted him up, and slammed it hard against the wall!

With a loud thud, my heart clenched—the wall had been dented, and cracks appeared along the edges. Yi Pucheng remained motionless.

Mu Xian, with a cold face, lifted his head and looked at it. It was already a bloody mess, and his features were unrecognizable.

I had never seen such a bloody and terrifying fighting scene, let alone Mu Xian, like this.

Even when he killed the unicorn a few days ago, he basically killed the beast with a simple palm strike and a kick. How could he be as ruthless and decisive as he was now, tearing a person apart and breaking their bones?

I stared at his pale, aloof face and his gloomy, cold eyes and felt a little dazed—this was what he truly looked like when he was assertive. He appeared refined and calm, but was actually a terrifyingly ruthless man.

But when he was with me, he was so gentle and infatuated, he even froze up and blushed.

A strange thought suddenly popped into my head at an inopportune moment—what would he do to me if I betrayed him one day?

It was gloomy and scary just thinking about it.

I quickly composed myself and was about to continue watching them when I suddenly felt the ground shake.

Was the ground shaking?

I looked down at my feet; everything was calm and peaceful, seemingly without any abnormality.

I looked up at them again and saw that Mu Xian had grabbed Yi Pucheng by the chest and lifted him up. Yi Pucheng’s eyes were closed, as if he had already fainted.

A faint smile, like a glimmer of light, swept across Mu Xian’s lips.

“Kill him, and the space will disappear. Then we can get out.” Mu Xian’s voice was low, soft, and cold.

Hearing his words, I suddenly felt a pang of pity.

But he must be killed.

I turned my head away, refusing to watch the bloodshed that was about to unfold.

Suddenly, my feet swayed violently again.

I lost my balance and fell to the ground with a cry of “Ah!” Ahead, Mu Xian’s figure also swayed. He almost immediately turned to look at me, his expression changing, and suddenly threw away Yi Pucheng, lunging at me.

I was stunned when I saw everything that was happening around me.

The dark brown staircase, as if made of paper, folds and turns from bottom to top; the surrounding walls recede rapidly, disappearing into the gray void in an instant.

The ceiling opened up layer by layer above our heads, and the jewels and fine clothes filling the room flashed by like light and shadow, while the marble floor beneath our feet was rapidly sinking, as if we were falling into an abyss. The area beneath our feet was shrinking continuously.

This castle was disappearing at an incredible speed.

Is it because the ruler of Yi Pucheng was injured? Was the space about to collapse? Could we go out now?

“Ah!” I felt my footing give way, and my whole body plummeted downwards—the marble beneath my feet collapsed!

In my rapidly descending vision, I saw Mu Xian leap towards me, his fair face tense and somewhat ferocious. I saw our arms cross, and it looked like our hands were about to touch!

In that split second, a dark figure pounced on Mu Xian!

Yip City!

A gloomy look flashed across his handsome face, and I saw him throw a vicious punch at Mu Xian’s head. Mu Xian didn’t even turn his head; he just stared straight at me.

“Bang bang—” Two lightning-fast punches sent Mu Xian’s head flying to the side, his handsome face contorted! His eyes snapped shut, and his entire body was sent flying by Yi Pucheng’s blows!

I desperately reached out to grab him, but only grasped at empty air.

Then, I felt my body plummet like a kite with a broken string. The spot where Mu Xian and Yi Pucheng were standing also collapsed, and they fell down as well.

***

When I woke up again, I was lying alone on a grassy field, surrounded by a dark forest. The damp mist made my vision even more blurred.

A pang of sadness gripped my heart as I recalled the events after falling from the castle. I clearly remembered that after all the light and shadow vanished, a sudden gust of air, like a tidal wave, slammed into me. I was thrown far away by that air current. And in the void above, some distance away, I saw Yi Pucheng and Mu Xian’s bodies also struck by that air current, flying in two different directions before quickly disappearing from sight.

Then came the ripples, dark ripples, endless ripples, like an impenetrable wall, surrounding me from all sides. I plummeted rapidly within them, unable to see anything, until I lost consciousness.

Where was Mu Xian now?

He had already suffered two head injuries, and just now he was hit hard by Yi Pucheng again… How was he now?

My heart ached terribly. I had to find him and save him.

Forcing myself to calm down, I looked up at the sky, hoping to find my way—so I wouldn’t get lost. But I saw something strange—a thin, pale blue light had appeared between the two large trees in the otherwise dark sky.

What was that?

Could it be a rescue plane? No, impossible, we were in virtual space!

My heart suddenly started racing, and I quickly ran a few steps until I reached a sparser patch of woods. The sky there was much wider, and I was stunned by the view above me.

Several pale blue streaks of light, like flower branches, spread and intertwined across the sky, with faint white light filtering through the blue, making it look like…

crack.

Yes, it was like a crack! I was thrilled: could this be a spatial rift?

Mu Xian said that killing Yi Pucheng would make the virtual space disappear, allowing us to leave. He just severely damaged Yi Pucheng, which was why the castle collapsed, and these cracks appeared. That must be it!

“Hua Yao…” A weak voice came from behind me. I was startled and turned around in surprise.

A dark figure stood a dozen meters away from me beside a large tree. He leaned against the trunk with one hand, and his tall, handsome frame and slightly raised, barely visible face—wasn’t that Mu Xian?

“Mu Xian! Are you alright?” My eyes welled up with tears, and I ran towards him quickly. But I was running too fast and lost my footing, falling to the ground with a “thud.” Luckily, the soil was soft, so it didn’t hurt too much. I pushed myself up with my hands and looked up to see Mu Xian looking at me with concern.

I was slightly taken aback, feeling that something was amiss.

As if by some strange twist of fate, I spoke up.

“Mu Xian, is it possible for us to get out of here?”

His gaze became cold and resolute, just as it always was.

“Yes, I will take you out.” The voice was slightly hoarse.

I felt a buzzing in my head, and cold sweat started to break out on my back.

Yes, I knew what was wrong. If it were the real Mu Xian, even if he was too hurt to walk, he would have crawled over and carried me when he saw me fall. But the man in front of me just looked at me with concern and pity…

He remembered that he had the ability to simulate appearance.

His memory returned.

I forced myself to suppress the immense fear in my heart, and slowly, feigning some pain, I stood up, rubbing my arms and legs. What should I do? Pretend I didn’t notice, walk over to him, and then look for a chance to run away? No, absolutely not! If I fell into his hands, he would definitely use me to threaten Mu Xian!

Run! Run! He was seriously injured; maybe he still had a chance!

Thinking of this, I steeled my resolve, no longer daring to look at him, and turned to run!

The forest was silent except for the crunching sound of my footsteps on the earth; my vision blurred as if an earthquake were happening, and the surrounding trees grew increasingly eerie in their darkness. I ran for my life, afraid to look back, but I could clearly hear that there wasn’t a sound behind me.

This relieved me slightly—it seemed he was truly too badly injured to catch up. It also confirmed my suspicions: he was Yi Pucheng, and Mu Xian would never let me escape like this.

I didn’t know how long I ran, but I couldn’t run anymore. I stopped and leaned against a tree, panting heavily. I guess I’ve finally shaken off Yipucheng?

I looked around: it was still a dark, boundless forest, the cracks overhead still glowing faintly, and some light filtering through the woods to my right.

After resting for a while, I decided to continue walking towards the light. But as soon as I took a step, I saw a tall figure emerge from behind a tree ahead.

I was terrified, staring blankly at him, motionless. Then he took a step forward, and his vague outline emerged from the darkness—disheveled short hair, a handsome face, dark eyebrows and eyes, and that familiar, burning gaze. I felt my heart, which had been pounding in my chest, finally relax, overjoyed beyond words—it was Mu Xian! It really was him!

“Hua Yao,” he called out in a hoarse voice.

“Mu Xian!” I hugged him tightly around the waist. “Thank goodness it’s you!”

“Don’t be afraid,” he said, holding me tightly. “I’m here.”

I choked up and said, “I was so scared! I just ran into Yi Pucheng; he was dressed as…” Before I could finish, I froze.

I looked up at him, slowly, very slowly, loosened my grip on his waist, and asked with difficulty, “Mu Xian, can we get out of here?”

He was silent for a moment, then suddenly smiled.

“Should I answer no?” As he spoke, he gripped my wrist, his strength gradually tightening.