One person: Starting with the Snow Drinking Blade

The primal poison within Chen Duo's body, which had been restless and ravenous like a hungry beast constantly trying to break free of its restraints and erode everything, seemed to have encountered its natural nemesis when it came into contact with this warm and mellow "Qi"! It let out a silent "hiss," retreating in terror, curling up, and lying in wait, actively avoiding the path through which the "Qi" flowed!

Moreover, this gentle "qi" also carries a powerful vitality, like the purest nutrients, beginning to nourish Chen Duo's meridians and flesh, which have been dried up and damaged by long-term erosion by Gu poison.

Chen Duo clearly sensed all of this.

A warm current flowed in from her left hand, spreading upwards along her arm. Warmth… This was a feeling utterly unfamiliar to her, one she had long forgotten. It wasn't the scorching heat of flames, nor the blazing heat of the sun, but a gentle, comforting warmth emanating from within her body, like a warm blanket wrapped tightly in the dead of winter, like timely rain falling on a parched desert.

The skin on her left hand, pale to almost transparent, began to glow with a healthy rosy hue at a visible speed. The ominous dark lines that had been moving across her palm faded rapidly, becoming lighter and lighter until they disappeared completely beneath her skin.

A long-lost, almost forgotten sensation—the pure touch and temperature of her left hand itself—returned to her consciousness.

She could feel the calluses and warmth on Nie Lingfeng's palm, the slight pressure of his grip on her fingers, and the path of that warm current flowing through her arm...

She abruptly raised her head, and for the first time, her eyes, hidden beneath the brim of her hat, truly and intently looked at Nie Lingfeng. In those usually empty eyes, shock, bewilderment, confusion, and a faint, almost imperceptible yet real... disbelief-filled hope were now clearly reflected.

She opened her mouth, as if to say something, but her throat tightened, and in the end she only managed to utter a very soft syllable: "...You?"

"See?" Nie Lingfeng looked at the faint light in her eyes, a gentle, encouraging smile playing on his lips. "I told you, I'm not afraid of your poison. In fact, I can help you control it and soothe it."

He didn't stop channeling his Qi, his voice softening even more, as if whispering to a frightened child: "Chen Duo, would you like to come with me? Leave this place, leave the company and Biyou Village, and I'll take you to a truly quiet and safe place. There, I can slowly help you dispel the Gu poison in your body, teach you how to coexist with it, and even... control it. You won't have to worry about hurting others anymore, nor will you have to be used as a tool or weapon by anyone."

He paused, his tone becoming even more serious: "Of course, the choice is yours. You can choose to refuse. But even if you refuse, I won't give up on helping you; it just might require finding another, more complicated way. However, you should know that the company will never let this go after you killed Uncle Liao. If I help you, it means facing the company, facing a lot of trouble and danger. I understand all of this."

Chen Duo listened quietly, her gaze shifting from Nie Lingfeng's face back to her left hand, which was being held. The warmth continued to spread, and the redness on her left hand grew more pronounced, even beginning to show a faint hint of color. This pure touch, untouched by fear or disgust, felt as foreign to her as a story from another world.

She remained silent for a long time.

It was so long that the moths under the eaves bumped against the lampshade a few times, making soft "fluttering" sounds; it was so long that a few distant barks of dogs could be faintly heard, and then silence returned.

Nie Lingfeng waited patiently, without urging him, but continuously and steadily channeling warm "Qi", like a silent, flowing warm current, warming that cold hand and trying to warm that heart that had been frozen for too long.

Finally, Chen Duo spoke again, her voice still very soft, but it seemed to have an indescribable, extremely subtle fluctuation:

"Choice? What choice? Go with you, or stay here?"

"Yes." Nie Lingfeng nodded. "Come with me, or stay. Or... if you have other ideas, you can tell me."

"What difference does it make?" Chen Duo's tone remained calm, but Nie Lingfeng keenly caught a faint, almost resigned bitterness in it. "They will come looking for you. The company, Village Chief Ma, and others... like shadows, someone will always find you. It's all the same no matter where you go."

"It's different." Nie Lingfeng shook his head, gripping her hand slightly tighter, conveying a firm strength. "Come with me. At least until you learn to control the poison in your body, I have a way to hide your whereabouts and avoid their search. Moreover, if I help you control the poison, preventing it from erupting at any moment and threatening others, the company might... reconsider its treatment of you. Even if, in the end, you can't control it, or the company still won't let you go..."

He looked at her, speaking slowly and deliberately, his voice not loud, but carrying a resolute and undeniable power:

"With me here, no one can hurt you."

These words, like a pebble thrown into an ancient well, stirred up a subtle yet real ripple in Chen Duo's empty heart.

She raised her eyes and looked at Nie Lingfeng again. In the dim light, his face was sharply defined, his eyes bright and firm, devoid of pretense or calculation, only a pure, almost obstinate seriousness. She seemed to have vaguely seen this look long, long ago, in some hazy, fragmented impression of the "normal world."

She seemed to be trying to grasp the weight of those words, or perhaps recalling something. After a long while, she spoke softly, but what she said surprised Nie Lingfeng:

"Village Chief Ma got into trouble with the company because of me. He... gave me a place to stay and food, and even asked me to help watch the stove... but he said that was 'work,' and it was different from before. I can't just... ignore him like this."

Nie Lingfeng was surprised that Chen Duo would still consider Ma Xianhong's situation at a time like this. This almost instinctive concern for the "take-in" showed that she was not completely indifferent deep down, but was simply suppressed too deeply by her distorted environment.

"I understand." Nie Lingfeng nodded, his tone more relaxed. "Then how about this, as your 'repayment' for taking him in, I won't directly attack him, okay?"

A clear hint of doubt flashed in Chen Duo's eyes: "Not going to make a move?"

"Yes, I won't intervene," Nie Lingfeng said confidently, his tone carrying an air of self-assurance. "If I intervene, he can't win. So, my not intervening is the biggest help I can give him. That way, you won't feel like you owe him anything."

These words were spoken calmly, even somewhat arrogantly, but Chen Duo understood the logic behind them. She looked at Nie Lingfeng for a long time, seemingly judging the truthfulness and weight of his words. Finally, she nodded very lightly and very slowly.

"I understand," she said, then paused, her gaze lowered to their clasped hands, her voice even softer, "Then... can you let me think about it? Come back tomorrow. I... I'll give you an answer tomorrow."

"Okay." Nie Lingfeng released her hand without hesitation—it was no longer cold, and even had a temperature similar to his own. "I'll be waiting for you tomorrow."

He stood up, took two steps back, and his figure began to blur, as if merging into the night and the moisture, gradually becoming transparent, and finally disappearing completely into the shadows of the room, as if he had never existed.

Chen Duo was still sitting on that low stool.

She slowly lowered her head, raised her left hand to her eyes, and carefully examined it in the dim light seeping in from outside the door.

The skin on her palms still had a healthy rosy glow, and the blood beneath her fingernails was clearly visible. The dark lines on her palms, which she herself found repulsive and frightening, had completely disappeared. She could feel a clear sensation at her fingertips, the movement of air, and the slight pulsation of blood beneath her skin.

The warmth lingered, like an invisible film enveloping her left hand.

Very strange.

Very unfamiliar.

Since she could remember, her hands had only ever touched cold instruments and containers, or touched with tension and wariness through thick protective layers. She had even grown accustomed to the coldness of her hands and that inner, ever-restless sense of foreboding.

But at this moment...

She slowly clenched her left hand, feeling the muscles twitch and the skin against hers as her fingers closed. Then, she slowly released it.

Squeeze tighter, then loosen your grip.

Over and over again.

An extremely faint, almost indescribable emotion, like the first tender sprout emerging from the frozen soil in early spring, timidly peeked out from the barren and lifeless field of her heart.

I don't dislike it.

This feeling... seems... not unpleasant.

She raised her head, her gaze beneath the brim of her hat passing over the low doorway to the deep night sky. The night was as black as ink, the stars sparse, and the silhouettes of distant mountains silent in the darkness.

The chirping of insects outside the window seemed clearer than before.

She remained in that upward-looking posture for a very, very long time.