As far as the eye could see, every tree and blade of grass had withered into a lifeless brown. Debris and shattered stone littered the ground nearby. Only this single peach tree towered into the clouds, blocking the sky and blooming in wild, bewitching splendor.
A breeze swept through, rustling the branches. Pink and red petals floated down in the air, carrying a soft, sweet fragrance.
The battered cyborg leaned against the trunk, staring blankly at the sea of peach blossoms filling his field of vision until soft petals fell onto his hair, his nose, and his lips. His eyelids fluttered, eyes brimming with tears. A boyish smile broke across his face.
“I love you too,” he whispered softly. Exhaustion weighed his eyelids down once more, forcing him to slide down against her trunk and sit on the ground.
He pressed a hand to his chest, looking down as his lashes trembled.
His heart…
Once he confirmed that Tao Ying had calmed down and posed no further threat, Qiu Fa withdrew his atavist power and strode over to Liu Yin. He was stunned. Without a heart, Liu Yin had somehow managed to crawl out from the ruins of the Hot Spring Inn to reach Tao Ying’s side.
Then, touching Liu Yin’s chest, Qiu Fa realized what had happened.
Liu Yin’s chest was not empty. A heart beat inside, though…
“This… isn’t my heart,” Liu Yin said slowly.
It was a mechanical heart. The advantage of being part of the Cyborg Clan was that his body accepted machinery without rejection. Still, keeping him alive with this artificial heart was like powering a giant machine with a tiny mismatched battery—it barely kept him going, leaving him unable to move much.
It was not a matter of battery power. No artificial heart could support the life of a cyborg atavist; only his original heart would do.
Even so, the presence of that heart caught Qiu Fa off guard. The heavy weight in his chest seemed to lift slightly.
At least she hadn’t…
No. He cut off the absurd thought at once.
With a stern face, he contacted the Tribunal Division and the hospital. There was plenty of work waiting for him.
Jin Ji ran at full speed, carrying a medical cooler to a designated spot to meet someone, just as his boss had instructed.
The item they wanted sat inside the heart, but Jing Pei intended to return the heart to Liu Yin. Not just anyone could handle it—it required an exceptionally skilled atavist surgeon.
“Wait, do we even have a doctor on our team?” Chu Xusheng had asked in confusion back in the room when he heard the plan.
Jing Pei smiled. “Who says we don’t?”
Jin Ji waited at the meeting point for a long time before catching sight of the contact who was supposed to be a doctor.
However, the man looked nothing like a physician.
He was tall and strong, with a neat mustache, a tattoo running down his thick forearm, and eyes that were both intense and warm. He had a striking charm that felt full of contrasts.
“Hope I’m not late,” Tang Woxue grinned, showing off a flash of bright white teeth.
After confirming that Jin Ji had handed the heart to Tang Woxue, Jing Pei met up with Isaac.
“You can head back to the Kingdom of Pymeshire now,” said Jing Pei, back in her eighteen-year-old form. “No need to return anytime soon. Go enjoy your time with your sweetheart.”
The green-eyed foreigner asked no questions. “Got it. I’ll leave right away.”
Jing Pei noticed the large backpack slung over his sharp three-piece suit. It looked heavy and out of place. “What are you carrying?”
“Cookbooks,” Isaac explained patiently. “Hualan has so much great food. My sweetheart loved it, and now she can’t stand the food back home. I thought about bringing a chef back with me, but I didn’t want to cause extra trouble, so I decided to learn myself.” His cool, restrained green eyes softened at the mention of his lover, showing his devotion to anyone watching.
Jing Pei said goodbye to Isaac, then sat by the roadside to rest, letting out a sigh.
She had obtained what she came for, yet she felt none of the usual satisfaction from past successes. Her mind kept wandering back to the hurt in Qiu Fa’s eyes.
Those amber eyes were beautiful—clear, translucent, turning a striking gold under the right light. They were usually cold and wild, like an elegant, lethal big cat. Seeing such a vulnerable look on him, even for a split second, hit harder than expected.
Although she had anticipated it and everything went according to plan, facing the reality felt quite different.
Jing Pei pulled out her spatial pouch. She had lent it to Jin Ji earlier, but she took it back in the secret room because she needed it to carry Qiu Fa’s gift.
Unwrapping the paper and opening the box, she looked inside at Qiu Fa’s present.
She froze.
Inside rested a set of adorable ceramic tiger figurines—white tigers with black stripes, each smaller than her thumb, nestled in velvet. With the character for ‘king’ on their foreheads, some lay flat, some rolled on their backs, some played with their tails, and others strutted proudly with heads held high. Round, chubby, lazy, and filled with personality, every detail was crafted with care. They were ridiculously cute.
Jing Pei picked one up in surprise. She had wondered what Qiu Fa might give her, but despite creating his character herself, she had never been able to guess what he would give the person he liked.
“Does she have any hobbies or preferences?”
“Preferences?”
“If you want someone’s help, you need to bring a gift. It should be something they like.”
“Ah! So you want to give Jing Pei a gift!”
“It’s just courtesy.”
“Right, right… well, why don’t you gift yourself to her? She likes big cats and handsome guys, and you happen to be both!”
The words she had used to tease Qiu Fa came flooding back into her mind. So, because she liked big cats, but Qiu Fa couldn’t send her a real one—nor could he hand himself over—he had custom-made a batch of tiger figurines instead?
“Still, I said I liked big cats, but I never said I only liked tigers—let alone white tigers.”
Jing Pei turned the chubby white tiger over in her fingers. The figurine had a proud, stubborn expression, turning its head away while sneaking a backward glance, looking like it was throwing a tantrum and waiting to be coaxed.
The more she looked at it, the cuter it seemed. She stroked its round head and small curved ears with a finger, her lips curling into a sweet smile.
Jing Pei carefully packed the gift away, checked the time, and stood up.
The ambulance carried off the unconscious Liu Yin and Tao Ying. The members of the atavist families headed home, leaving their rivalries for tomorrow. Exhausted in mind and body, Qiu Fa returned to his small apartment.
He had quarters at the Tribunal Division that were several times larger, but this apartment was a quiet retreat he visited only occasionally.
He used to come here maybe two or three times a year. Lately, however, he visited often, staying over not to lick his wounds, but out of a quiet, hopeful anticipation.
He had only recently understood what those feelings meant, yet tonight, those sweet dreams shattered like bubbles.
He sat silently on the couch for a long time until something tapped against his window, making a sharp noise.
Qiu Fa turned and saw a pebble fly up from below, striking the glass once more.
He walked over to look. Twenty floors down, Jing Pei—back in her Long Jin form—stood smiling and waving at him before hastily hiding her hands behind her back like a child caught doing something wrong.
Qiu Fa gritted his teeth. He watched her pull out her phone.
A moment later, his phone rang. It was the information broker.
“You’ve got nerve,” Qiu Fa answered, staring down at her with clenched teeth. “How should I address you? Jing Pei, or Long Jin?”
“Either works. They’re both me.”
Qiu Fa took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and asked, “Where is Liu Yin’s heart?”
“I’ll return it to him tomorrow. That mechanical heart should buy him three days. It cost me a fortune to have it made.”
“What are you actually trying to do?”
“I can’t tell you yet.”
Qiu Fa sneered. “Then why contact me now? Scared I’ll expose your identity?”
“Expose it if you want. I made a huge mistake and deserve punishment. I’m sorry.” Jing Pei lowered her head, her long lashes casting shadows over her eyes, looking truly crestfallen. “In any case, there me one thing I need to clear up. Most of what I told you was true.”
“Do you really think I’d believe you again?”
“You don’t have to believe me, but I still need to explain. I really love the gift you gave me. Thank you—white tigers are my favorite.”
“Shut up! Stop saying things like that to me!” Remembering that Long Jin had just turned eighteen today, anger flared inside him. “Tomorrow, you’d better return Liu Yin’s heart. Otherwise, no matter what you’re planning, the President will know who you are.”
Qiu Fa hung up the call.
Jing Pei looked at her phone, then glanced up at his window just as the curtains snapped shut so fast they practically sparked from friction.
Sigh. He really was furious. He wasn’t going to be easy to soothe.
Half of the ancestral Long Estate lay in ruins from the night’s chaos. Those without a bed went to hotels. Jing Pei’s courtyard was slightly damaged, but still livable, so she headed back rather than staying at a hotel.
When she returned, she found Chu Xusheng cleaning outside the courtyard, craning his neck in anticipation. Seeing her, he hurried over with his broom and whispered nervously, “Young Master…”
He glanced toward her bedroom.
Jing Pei stepped inside. A man with long silver hair sat by her bed, radiating a soft, sacred light. His divine, flawless face was framed by long white lashes as he made her bed.
The moment he saw her, the ice on his face melted away. He reached her in an instant, wrapping his arms around her as a pair of wings unfurled, enveloping her completely.
Jing Pei tumbled backward from the impact. If he hadn’t held her tight, she would have fallen to the ground. He was like an over-enthusiastic dog, instantly scattering her gloomy mood.
“Lou Ting, you snuck out again,” Jing Pei said, feeling as though she were wrapped in a thick down blanket. It felt wonderfully warm in the cold winter air, and his wings carried a fresh, snow-like scent despite their warmth.
“Happy birthday to my god,” Lou Ting said, holding her tighter.
“Thanks.” Jing Pei felt he had held her long enough and began to push him away. “Alright, let go of me now. I’m dirty.”
“I’m not dirty,” Lou Ting protested, perfectly clean.
“…I am.”
“I don’t mind.”
So clingy.
Jing Pei said, “Be good.”
Lou Ting reluctantly let go, then eagerly trotted to the side of her bed. “I brought you a birthday gift.”
“What is it?”
Lou Ting lifted a corner of the blanket laid on the bed. “A comforter! It’s filled with my feathers. It’s incredibly warm and repels all evil. I saved them up for a long time!”
When he ran short, he had even asked Zhang Simiao to pluck a few more from him.
“Wow.” Jing Pei looked closer and saw that the blanket and pillows on her bed glowed with a faint, elegant radiance, looking far too luxurious for an ordinary person.
A six-winged angel feather comforter. What a practical gift—even though the house stayed heated all winter long, and sleeping under a Seraph’s feather blanket would be roasting hot.
Still, who could refuse such earnest, straightforward love?
“Thank you, I love it.”
Lou Ting then pulled out another gift. “For you.”
It was a fully matured Judgment Feather. Lou Ting had nurtured it for a long time, waiting eagerly for it to ripen so he could pluck it and let a new feather grow.
Jing Pei didn’t stand on ceremony and accepted it.
“Your courtyard is in ruins. It’ll take months to repair,” the six-winged angel suggested, trying to spirit his god away. “Why not come stay at my place for a while?”
His god refused without hesitation. “Your place is too far. It’s not convenient.”
The smile faded from Lou Ting’s face. “I want to come out. I am your six-winged angel. I should be at your side.”
Jing Pei paused, looking at him. This wasn’t the first time he had brought it up. She said seriously, “You can’t come out.”
“They have no right to imprison me.” When the smile left Lou Ting’s silver eyes, a divine arrogance emerged, as if everything around him were mere ants from another dimension.
“You gave me the power to judge all living beings. They should be reverent, kind, and follow the rules, instead of locking me away and committing evil unchecked. I stayed in the sky before only because I felt you were guiding me to do so. Now that you have descended here, shouldn’t things change?”
Simply put, he couldn’t stand being away from her any longer and wanted to see her every day!
Jing Pei felt a headache coming on. It wasn’t time for Lou Ting to make his grand entrance yet. In the original novel, Lou Ting barely had a few scenes. Leaving the sky on his own and having the secret of his power exposed would trigger predictable dangers, but the exact details and final outcome were completely unpredictable.
Besides, what kind of fate awaited someone viewed as a threat by the entire world?
She had no choice but to soothe him. “It’s not time yet. Wait a little longer. I have plans.”
“When will it be?” Lou Ting leaned in clingily again.
“Soon.”
After coaxing the restless angel back, Jing Pei was thoroughly exhausted. She took a quick shower and flopped onto her bed, expecting to fall asleep instantly. Instead, she grew more wide awake. Dogs were easy to soothe, but men—especially cat-like men—were another story.
However, she still had plenty of tricks left up her sleeve!
