Ice skates forward, regardless of east or west.

1

The cold blade brushed against Gu Xidong's ear, followed by a crisp "clang".

The dagger that should have pierced Ling Wuwen's chest was now stuck diagonally in the floor at Gu Xidong's feet, its blade still trembling slightly.

Gu Xidong froze on the spot, his mind blank.

What happened?

Wasn't Ling Wuwen going to harm himself? Wasn't he going to "bleed" in front of that "collector"?

Why... did the knife end up flying towards him?

He stiffly turned his head to look at Ling Wuwen.

Ling Wuwen looked at him too. The madness and misery in his peach blossom eyes were gone, replaced by a cold, scrutinizing gaze, as if he were looking at a piece of merchandise.

The man known as the "collector" was now slumped on the ground, staring at his empty hands, his face drained of color, filled only with endless fear and bewilderment.

He didn't even feel any pain.

Because in that brief moment, he didn't even see what happened clearly.

He only felt a blur before his eyes, and then a chill on his wrist.

Then, the golden key he treasured disappeared from his hand.

Also missing was the "life-or-death" dagger belonging to his subordinate, Suman.

The only one who could still maintain a semblance of composure was Ling Wuwen.

He stood there, in the same position as after throwing the weapon, the wound on his chest that he had cut himself with the dagger still bleeding, but he seemed to feel no pain.

His gaze passed over the stiff Gu Xidong and landed on the "collector" who was slumped on the ground. A cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

“I’ve said it before,” he looked at the “collector,” his voice hoarse yet carrying an undeniable air of authority, “I am not a businessman.”

"I am... a robber."

"You!" The "collector" stared at him, his lips trembling, unable to even finish a sentence, "You...you dare..."

"What wouldn't I dare to do?" Ling Wuwen sneered. He didn't pick up the dagger on the ground, nor the golden key. He simply stood there quietly, looking at the "collector," "the collector of 'Below the Ice'? The boss of 'Black Swan'?"

With each word he uttered, the collector's body trembled.

"You think I'm really afraid of you?" Ling Wuwen took a step forward. "You think I really care about my blood?"

He took another step.

The "collector" was so frightened that he backed away until his back hit the cold wall, leaving him nowhere to retreat.

"You...who exactly are you?" He stared at Ling Wuwen, his eyes filled with utter terror. "'Zero'...who exactly are you?"

Ling Wuwen did not answer him.

He simply turned his head and looked at Gu Xidong.

"What are you still standing there for?" He looked at Gu Xidong, his tone carrying an undeniable command. "Didn't you want your skates back?"

Gu Xidong suddenly realized what was happening.

He suddenly looked down at the golden key at his feet.

The key gleamed alluringly under the light.

He bent down and picked up the keys.

His hands were trembling.

He didn't know whether it was excitement or fear.

He took the key and walked step by step toward the glass display case containing the ice skates.

With each step he took, he could feel Ling Wuwen's gaze, like a searchlight, shining on his back.

He walked to the display case, trembling, and inserted the key into the lock.

"Click".

A soft sound.

The display case door opened with a click.

The pair of black, silver-studded ice skates he had longed for lay there quietly, as if waiting for his return.

2

Gu Xidong reached out, his hand trembling, and gently stroked the surface of the ice skates.

The cool touch coming from his fingertips finally brought a sense of peace to his wildly beating heart.

He really... got it back.

He really... got his ice skates.

A tremendous, overwhelming joy of regaining what was lost instantly swept over him.

He suddenly turned around and looked at Ling Wuwen, wanting to say something to him.

Is it gratitude? Is it a question? Or...?

However, before he could utter his words, they were abruptly stuck in his throat.

Because he saw Ling Wuwen.

Ling Wuwen was looking at him, a cold, eerie smile still lingering on his lips.

And in his hand, he was holding something at that moment.

Something that felt both incredibly familiar and incredibly strange to Gu Xidong.

That was a... lighter.

A uniquely shaped, silver lighter with a black swan with outstretched wings engraved on it.

Gu Xidong's pupils suddenly contracted.

This lighter...

He had seen it.

Many years ago, on that most glorious and darkest night of his life, at the scene of the "transaction" that would determine his fate, he had seen this lighter.

That night, the man who pulled him off the ice rink, the one known as the "guide," was holding this lighter.

This lighter is a token of the highest level of the "Black Swan" organization.

It is something that only core members of the "Black Swan" team are entitled to.

Ling Wuwen...

How could he...?

Gu Xidong felt as if his brain had been struck by lightning, and went completely blank for a moment.

He glanced at the lighter in Ling Wuwen's hand, then at Ling Wuwen's ambiguous smile, and then at the pair of ice skates he had just retrieved.

A terrible, absurd, and unacceptable thought, like a seed, took root and sprouted wildly in his mind.

"You..." He pointed at Ling Wuwen, his lips trembling, unable to even finish his sentence, "You...are also a member of 'Black Swan'?"

Ling Wuwen smiled.

He did not deny it.

He simply flicked the lighter lightly with his finger.

"Smack."

A crisp sound.

A cluster of orange flames danced at his fingertips.

The firelight illuminated his handsome yet dangerous face, and also revealed a tenderness in his eyes that Gu Xidong had never seen before—a tenderness that was cold, cruel, and unseen.

"Gu Xidong," he looked at Gu Xidong and said softly, almost in a murmur, "Do you feel that I'm using you?"

Gu Xidong remained silent.

He just stared intently at Ling Wuwen, his eyes filled with shock, fear, confusion, and a trace of... the pain of betrayal.

"Use?" Ling Wuwen shook his head with a laugh, as if he had heard something amusing. "No, Gu Xidong, how could I use you?"

He took a step forward, the flame in his hand casting a flickering light on the wound on his chest.

Everything I did was to...save you.

"Save me?" Gu Xidong finally found his voice, which was terribly hoarse. "You pointed a bloodstained knife at my throat and then told me you were saving me?"

"Otherwise what?" Ling Wuwen looked at him, his eyes surprisingly carrying a hint of...pity.

"Do you really think you can get your skates back from the hands of the 'Black Swan'? Do you really think you can escape this hell unscathed?"

He pointed to the "collector" slumped on the ground, and then to the bodyguards trembling with fear at the door.

"If it weren't for me, you would be a corpse by now, Gu Xidong."

"You!" Gu Xidong laughed in anger.

He looked at Ling Wuwen, at the man he thought he knew, but found that he knew nothing about him at all.

"So, who exactly are you?" He looked at Ling Wuwen and asked, enunciating each word clearly, "Ling Wuwen? Ling Wufeng? Or... 'Number Zero'?"

Ling Wuwen's body suddenly stiffened.

For the first time, a real crack appeared in the smile on his face.

"Number Zero..."

He repeated the code name in a low voice, a hint of pain and... struggle flashing in his eyes.

He hadn't heard that name in a long time.

So long that he almost forgot he ever had such a name.

A name that represents both "beginning" and "end".

"Who I am is not important." He looked at Gu Xidong, his voice hoarse. "What's important is who you are."

He pointed to the ice skates in Gu Xidong's hand.

3

"You are Gu Xidong, the Ice Prince, the man who once stood at the top of the world and drove everyone crazy."

"But now, you're just a... crippled, washed-up champion."

"You want revenge, you want to take back everything that belongs to you. But you have no power, no resources, no leverage."

You are nothing.

"You're just a... crippled, useless dog."

Every word was like a resounding slap across Gu Xidong's face.

Gu Xidong's face turned deathly pale instantly.

He gripped the ice skates tightly in his hands, his fingernails digging deep into his palms, blood slowly trickling down between his fingers.

But he couldn't feel any pain.

Because the pain in my heart is ten thousand times more intense than the pain in my hands.

He knew that Ling Wuwen was telling the truth.

But he didn't want to admit it.

He cannot admit it.

"So, you just used me?" He looked at Ling Wuwen, his eyes bloodshot. "You used me as a knife, a bloodstained knife that could cut through any obstacle for you?"

"No." Ling Wuwen shook his head. He looked at Gu Xidong, his eyes filled with a hint of... crazy tenderness. "I'm not using you as a weapon."

He took a step forward, walked up to Gu Xidong, and reached out his hand, gently and tremblingly, to stroke the surface of Gu Xidong's ice skates.

"I am... reforging you into... a sword."

"A peerless sword that can pierce through this dark world and carve a bloody path for us."

His voice was deep and hoarse, with a captivating power.

"Gu Xidong, look at me."

He raised his eyes, and in those peach blossom eyes burned a flame that was almost destructive.

"I know you hate me. You hate my deception, my manipulation, my... cruelty."

"But you have no choice."

"Because from the moment you decided to come with me into this black market, you had no way out."

"Or, let's both die here."

"Or, you can pick up that 'sword' in your hand and come with me to stir up this stagnant pool and turn it upside down!"

Which one do you choose?

4

Gu Xidong looked at him, at the same mad flame in his eyes that was just like his own.

His heart was trembling violently.

Do you hate it?

Of course he hates it.

He hated Ling Wuwen for deceiving him, for manipulating him, for treating him like an ignorant pawn, to be manipulated at will.

but……

What else did he have besides hatred?

He also has a pair of ice skates that he just brought back, and they're still cold.

He also had a burning heart that had never truly given up on revenge.

He looked at Ling Wuwen, at this man who, like him, carried a heavy past and was twisted by hatred.

He suddenly laughed.

His laughter was both pitiful and tragic.

"Ling Wuwen," he said, looking at Ling Wuwen, enunciating each word clearly, "what if I told you I chose... the third answer?"

"The third answer?"

Ling Wuwen frowned slightly.

He didn't understand.

Gu Xidong offered no explanation.

He simply lowered his head and looked at the pair of ice skates in his hands.

Then, to Ling Wuwen's astonishment, he made a move that surprised everyone.

He raised his hand and held the pair of ice skates he had longed for, lost and regained, which represented his glory and dreams, high above his head.

Then, with all his might, he slammed hard... onto the ground!

"No!!!"

Ling Wuwen and the "collector" exclaimed in almost unison.

However, it was too late.

"Bang!"

A loud bang.

Those priceless, flawless ice skates shattered on the hard ground.

Silver laces, black skates, sharp blades... fragments flying everywhere.

One of the blades, a sharp shard with a blood groove, sliced ​​through the air with a sharp whistling sound, and flew straight toward Ling Wuwen's face!

Lightning fast!

Ling Wuwen's pupils contracted sharply, and he fell backward abruptly. The shard of ice blade grazed his nose, narrowly missing him, and embedded itself deeply into the wall behind him, leaving only a slightly trembling, cold hilt.

He scrambled to his feet, still shaken, and looked at Gu Xidong.

Gu Xidong was also looking at him.

He was still clutching half of a broken ice skate heel in his hand.

His face was no longer filled with pain and confusion; only a cold, resolute, and seemingly completely transformed madness remained.

He looked at Ling Wuwen, and a cold, cruel smile, exactly like Ling Wuwen's, slowly curled up at the corner of his mouth.

"You're right, Ling Wuwen."

He looked at Ling Wuwen and said, word by word.

"I have no way out."

He bent down and picked up the longest and sharpest piece of ice skate from the shards scattered on the ground.

He gripped the ice blade, stood up, and walked step by step toward Ling Wuwen.

His eyes were like those of a lone wolf cornered and ready to perish with its hunter.

"But I don't want to be your sword either."

He walked up to Ling Wuwen and stopped.

The ice blade in his hand was pressed against Ling Wuwen's throat.

The cold blade pressed against Ling Wuwen's skin; just a fraction more and it would sever his throat.

Ling Wuwen did not move.

He simply looked at Gu Xidong, at the flame in his eyes that was even more insane than his own.

He showed no anger, no surprise.

Instead, a slow, appreciative, even slightly gratified smile appeared on his lips.

"So, you choose..."

He looked at Gu Xidong, his voice hoarse, with a hint of... expectation.

Gu Xidong looked at him with icy eyes.

Then, he made a move that instantly froze the smile on Ling Wuwen's face.

He did not use the ice blade to slit Ling Wuwen's throat.

Instead, he turned around and walked toward the "black swan" boss—the "collector"—who was slumped on the ground.

He walked up to the "collector," looking down at him, the ice blade in his hand gleaming coldly.

The collector was terrified and begged for mercy, "Don't...don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want! Money! Women! Power! I can give you anything!"

Gu Xidong ignored him.

He simply crouched down and gently patted the "collector's" cheek with his own blood-stained hand.

"Tell me," he looked at the "collector," a strange, chilling smile playing on his lips, "where is your 'Swan Lake'?"

"Swan Lake?!" The Collector's pupils contracted sharply.

He glanced at Gu Xidong, then at Ling Wuwen not far away, his eyes filled with extreme fear and... disbelief.

He suddenly understood.

He looked at Gu Xidong as if he were meeting him for the first time.

This man, whom he regarded as a useless dog, this pawn whom he manipulated at will, now displayed a madness ten thousand times more terrifying than that lunatic known as "Zero"...

He wasn't seeking revenge.

He wasn't trying to escape.

What he wanted was... to overturn the entire chessboard.

What he wants is... to drag everyone into hell!

"You...you..." The "collector" stared at Gu Xidong, his lips trembling, unable to even finish a sentence, "You're crazy...you're a madman..."

Gu Xidong smiled.

His smile was gentle, yet cruel.

With the ice blade in his hand, he gently made a shallow cut on the "Collector's" cheek.

Fresh blood gushed out instantly.

5

Whether I'm crazy or not is irrelevant.

He looked at the "collector," his eyes devoid of any warmth.

"The important thing is, if you don't tell me where 'Swan Lake' is..."

He leaned close to the "collector's" ear and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"I'll let you watch with your own eyes how I pluck out every feather of your 'black swan,' and then turn it into... 'swan meat.'"

The collector's body suddenly stiffened.

He looked at Gu Xidong, his eyes filled with extreme fear.

He knew that this man was a man of his word.

He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something.

However, at that moment...

A cold, mechanical voice, seemingly coming from all directions at the same time, suddenly resounded throughout the room.

"Are you looking for me?"

The sound made Gu Xidong freeze instantly.

He suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction from which the sound came.

At the far end of the room, the wall that was originally solid suddenly began to slowly split open to both sides.

A huge, glass-enclosed culture chamber filled with pale blue liquid slowly rose from behind the wall.

Inside the incubation chamber, floating... a person.

A naked man with an androgynous, naked face and closed eyes...

His body was connected to every corner of the incubation chamber by countless thick, metallic tubes.

His long hair, floating slowly in the pale blue liquid, resembled dancing jellyfish.

His face was as peaceful as if he were asleep.

And his body contours, his eyebrows, his lips...

Gu Xidong's pupils suddenly contracted!

The ice skate in his hand clattered to the ground.

He looked at the man in the incubation chamber, his face filled with extreme shock and... disbelief.

Because of that man.

The man floating in the incubation chamber.

He knows him.

No, I should say he...is familiar with me.

Very familiar with it.

Because that man's face and body shape were...70% similar to Ling Wuwen beside him!

Do not!

To be precise.

That man was like... the perfect version of Ling Wuwen!

One, meticulously crafted, perfectly nurtured, without the slightest flaw... the perfect version!

Gu Xidong suddenly turned his head and looked at Ling Wuwen beside him.

Ling Wuwen also looked at the incubation chamber and at the man who looked exactly like him.

His face turned deathly pale at that moment.

His body was stiff and motionless, as if he had turned into a stone statue.

His eyes were filled with pain, struggle, fear, and a trace of... an undisguised, deep... longing.

"You..." Gu Xidong looked at him, his lips trembling, unable to even finish his sentence, "Who...is he?"

Ling Wuwen did not answer him.

He just stared intently at the incubation chamber, at the man who looked exactly like him, his body trembling uncontrollably.

And then that mechanical voice rang out again.

This time, it is no longer cold, no longer mechanical.

Instead, it carried a hint of... eerie, gentle tenderness, as if caressing one's most beloved work.

"My... 'Swan'."

Welcome home.