Ice skates forward, regardless of east or west.

1

When the ice rink doors were pushed open, a biting gust of cold wind blew in, along with a strong smell of cheap tobacco.

"Xiao Gu! Open the door! We need to check the water meter!"

A middle-aged man wearing greasy overalls and with a beer belly, carrying a tin bucket, kicked open the rickety iron door.

He is the caretaker of this abandoned factory area and Gu Xidong's only "supplier," Old Zhao.

Old Zhao originally thought that he would see the usual scene when he opened the door:

A man, dead drunk, lay on the ice, which reeked of sourness, surrounded by empty bottles, like a spineless dead dog.

This is also his favorite moment.

Seeing the once-high and mighty world champion now groveling at his feet like a dog, the huge contrast always made him drink a couple more bottles of liquor on the way back, feeling smug.

He had even planned out how to humiliate him today.

"Hey, Gu Da Guanjun, why didn't you smash any bottles today? Did you run out of money to buy more alcohol...?"

His words caught in his throat halfway through.

The scene on the ice rink was completely different from what he had expected.

There were no bottles on the ice, nor was there that drunken figure.

There was only one woman.

A woman so beautiful she seemed to belong to this filthy ruin.

She stood in the center of the ice rink, her back to him, her posture upright.

She wore a well-tailored black cashmere coat, her long hair was styled into a simple bun, revealing her slender, fair neck.

Against the backdrop of dusty and rusty reinforced concrete, she resembled a white lotus blooming in the mud, dazzlingly clean and unrealistically exquisite.

Old Zhao was stunned, and the tin bucket in his hand fell to the ground with a "clatter".

The sound echoed across the empty ice rink, startling a flock of sparrows dozing on the roof beams.

Ling Wuwen slowly turned around.

Her eyes were cold, like a bottomless pool of ice, unmoved by his intrusion.

2

"Who are you?"

Old Zhao, relying on his tall and strong physique, roared fiercely, trying to regain his composure.

"This is private property. All unauthorized personnel, get out of here!"

Ling Wuwen did not answer him.

She simply glanced at him, her gaze as if she were looking at a tiny speck of dust.

Then, she did something that sent chills down Old Zhao's spine.

She crouched down and opened a black leather suitcase.

There was no money or weapons in the suitcase.

There was only a set of gleaming silver acupuncture needles and a bottle of clear, pungent medicinal wine.

She took out the longest needle and flicked it lightly with her fingertip. In the dim light, the needle tip gleamed with a cold, icy light.

Old Zhao, a former hoodlum, was most afraid of people like this who "play with needles." He felt a strange chill and subconsciously took a step back.

"I'm looking for Gu Xidong!"

He shouted, his voice trembling with fear, "Where is he? Is he inside?"

He bypassed Ling Wuwen and rushed towards the "room" in the corner of the ice rink, partitioned off with broken wooden planks.

The door was ajar.

Old Zhao kicked it away.

"Gu Xidong! You fucking hiding in there..."

His words caught in his throat once again.

There was no alcohol, no empty bottles, and not even a strange smell in the room.

Gu Xidong sat on a dilapidated wooden bed, with his back against the wall.

He was naked, revealing a muscular physique riddled with scars.

His left leg was stretched out on the bed, with several silver needles inserted into his knee and a hot towel applied next to it.

He was no longer the drunkard with murky eyes and a stubble-covered face that Old Zhao remembered.

His eyes were very bright, frighteningly bright.

It was the look in the eyes of a wolf that had been starving for three days, when it saw its prey.

He was looking down, slowly shaving the stubble on his chin with a small knife.

3

"Old Zhao?"

Gu Xidong didn't even look up; his voice was hoarse, yet it carried a long-lost, calm strength.

"Why are you being so kind today, personally delivering the wine?"

Old Zhao looked at the gleaming knife in his hand, then at the strange silver needles on his knee, and his confidence instantly waned.

"The wine...the wine is here."

He subconsciously pointed to the door, "I...I'll leave it at the door for you."

"Let it in," Gu Xidong commanded, his tone carrying an unquestionable authority.

Old Zhao hesitated for a moment, then picked up the tin bucket and cautiously went inside.

He placed the tin bucket at the door and was about to turn and slip away when Gu Xidong's voice rang out behind him.

"Old Zhao, you've made quite a bit of money from me these past three years, haven't you?"

Old Zhao's back stiffened.

"No...no, they're all neighbors..." he chuckled dryly, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

"You're selling me a bottle of wine that costs three thousand yuan for ten thousand."

Gu Xidong shaved slowly and deliberately, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about a trivial matter.

"You're selling me cheap vodka that costs ten yuan a bottle in the supermarket for a thousand. Old Zhao, your business is faster than a money printing machine!"

Old Zhao's face turned deathly pale instantly.

He whirled around, his face plastered with a fawning yet terrified smile:

"Little Gu...no, Brother Gu! I was wrong, Brother Gu! I only did it because I saw you back then...because you needed it back then..."

"Did I look like a dead dog back then?"

Gu Xidong raised his head, looked at him, and a cruel smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"Like...no, not like it! Brother Gu, you were...you were..."

Old Zhao was rambling incoherently, his back soaked with cold sweat.

"Back then, I was rotting in the mud, at your mercy, at your mercy." Gu Xidong stood up and walked barefoot to Old Zhao.

He was a head taller than Lao Zhao. Although he was thin, the oppressive feeling of someone who had crawled out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood made Lao Zhao almost unable to breathe.

"Do you know what I wanted to do most back then?"

Gu Xidong leaned closer to him, his voice low and deep, as if it came from hell.

Old Zhao was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost knelt on the ground.

"What I want most is..." Gu Xidong paused, his fingers lightly tracing Old Zhao's greasy face.

"Gouge out your eyes and feed them to the stray dogs in this factory."

Old Zhao was so frightened that he shuddered, felt a heat in his crotch, and actually peed his pants.

A foul odor filled the small room.

Gu Xidong frowned in disgust and took a step back.

"Get lost." He waved his hand as if shooing away a fly. "From now on, don't bother delivering alcohol."

Old Zhao felt like he had been granted a pardon and ran out as fast as he could.

As he ran to the door, Gu Xidong's voice came again.

"etc."

Old Zhao was so frightened that he froze on the spot, not daring to turn around.

"Take away the wine that woman outside brought."

Gu Xidong's tone carried a hint of concern that he himself was unaware of, "From now on, you don't need to worry about my wine."

Old Zhao then noticed a huge cardboard box at the door.

He opened it out of curiosity and immediately gasped in shock.

The box didn't contain the cheap, counterfeit liquor he brought.

Instead, they were bottles of top-quality imported liquor that he had only ever seen on TV, each bottle costing enough for him to live on in this run-down factory for several years.

He froze, and subconsciously looked up at the woman standing in the center of the ice rink.

4

Ling Wuwen was looking at him with icy eyes.

She held a wine glass in her hand, filled with a deep red liquid.

She gently swirled the wine in her glass, then slowly poured the expensive wine onto the dirty ice.

That action was like watering the ruins with nutrients.

Old Zhao was so frightened that he quickly lowered his head, grabbed the case of top-grade foreign liquor, and ran away in a panic.

He felt that something had happened in this abandoned factory that he couldn't understand and couldn't afford to offend.

He had to leave immediately.

Ling Wuwen watched Old Zhao's disheveled figure, a cold smile curling at the corner of his lips.

She turned around and looked at Gu Xidong, who was walking out of the room.

He shaved his beard, revealing a handsome face with sharp features, yet also a hint of wickedness.

Although his body was still thin, the decadent and lifeless aura had disappeared, replaced by a kind of... fierceness like a wild beast returning.

"It seems your former 'friends' didn't have very good taste." Ling Wuwen swirled the empty wine glass in his hand.

Gu Xidong walked up to her, took the empty wine glass from her hand, and casually tossed it aside.

"My taste has never been very good either." He looked at her, his eyes deep.

"For example, the woman standing in front of me now looks glamorous, but who knows if she's just as rotten inside as these ruins."

Ling Wuwen smiled.

She met his gaze without flinching, reaching out to gently stroke his freshly shaved, bluish stubble-covered chin.

"You can try and see if you can..."

She leaned close to him and whispered in his ear, in a voice only the two of them could hear.

"I'll become like you, a rat in the ruins."

Gu Xidong's breath hitched.

He grabbed her wrist, his grip surprisingly strong.

"You are not a mouse."

He looked into her eyes and said, word by word,

"You are a venomous snake. A venomous snake that prefers to hunt its prey in ruins."

Ling Wuwen seemed quite satisfied with his assessment.

She didn't refute, but simply gently withdrew her hand.

"Whether it's a poisonous snake or a rat,"

She turned and walked to the center of the ice rink, leaving behind a meaningful remark.

"In this sunless ruin, only the most ruthless creatures can survive to the end."

5

Gu Xidong stood there, watching her aloof figure, his eyes flickering.

He looked down at his hands.

Just now, when he held her wrist, he could clearly feel that her pulse was beating very fast.

Not because of fear, but because of... excitement.

What is she expecting?

Gu Xidong's gaze involuntarily drifted to the black ice blade box in the corner.

How many secrets does that box hold?

And that old Zhao...

A cold smile slowly curved Gu Xidong's lips.

He walked to the edge of the ice rink, picked up the bottle of top-quality foreign liquor that Ling Wuwen had just used to pour wine, and took a big gulp.

The spicy liquid slid down my throat, bringing a burning sensation.

He hadn't felt this way in a long time.

He watched Ling Wuwen's retreating figure and suddenly spoke:

"How many of Old Zhao's people know I'm here?"

Ling Wuwen paused slightly as he was adjusting his ice blades.

She didn't turn around, but simply replied, "Want to know?"

"Um."

"I'll tell you when you can skate a complete waltz on the ice."

Gu Xidong smiled.

He walked to the center of the ice rink and looked at her eyes, which were sparkling under the lights.

It's a deal.

6

He bent down, picked up the ice skates from the ground, and began to put them on.

Ling Wuwen watched his clumsy yet determined movements, a fleeting, almost imperceptible glint of anticipation flashing in his eyes.

She walked to the edge of the ice rink and picked up the black leather suitcase.

She opened her suitcase and took out a satellite phone from the bottom shelf... a phone with no signal that could only dial specific numbers.

She glanced at the phone screen; there was an unread text message.

The message contained only one photo.

The photo shows the back of a man standing in the center of a huge, brightly lit ice rink, holding a microphone, seemingly giving a speech.

The man's profile was none other than Old Zhao, who had just been so terrified he wet himself.

Ling Wuwen looked at the photo, a cold, mocking smile curving his lips.

She pressed the delete key.

The text message and the photo vanished in an instant.

She closed her suitcase, turned around, and looked at Gu Xidong, who was testing his skating skills on the ice.

The man was gliding precariously across the ice, each step like dancing on a knife's edge.

He thought he was proving his strength to her.

He thought he was on his way to revenge.

But he didn't know.

Every step he took was exactly what she wanted.

Ling Wuwen took a deep breath and stuffed the satellite phone back into the bottom of the suitcase.

She picked up her skates and skated toward the center of the ice rink.

"Gu Xidong," she whispered in his ear in a cool voice, "are you ready?"

Gu Xidong stopped what he was doing and looked at her.

"Ready."

"Then let's..." Ling Wuwen's lips curled into a bewitching smile, "...begin the second phase of 'treatment'."

No sooner had she finished speaking than she suddenly and without warning kicked Gu Xidong’s left knee!

"what!"

Gu Xidong let out a scream, lost his balance, and fell heavily onto the ice.

He stared at her in disbelief, his eyes filled with anger and shock.

"Are you crazy?!"

Ling Wuwen looked down at him, without a trace of guilt in his eyes.

She simply uttered two words coldly:

"warm up."

Gu Xidong lay on the ground, looking at her cold and beautiful face, and felt a chill run from the soles of his feet to the top of his head.

He finally understood.

What she said in the room just now was not a joke.

She really did treat him like... medicine.

A drug that could give her pleasure in pain.

And now, the effects of the medicine are only just beginning.