She had not even had time to cry for help when Li Shuchen had already arrived gracefully, held her, and leapt into the air, flying away in the opposite direction.
In the air, Qi Huan's feet kicked at each other for a long time before finally kicking off the troublesome ski boots, leaving only thick cotton socks on her feet.
The fallen ski boots happened to hit the head of the black-clad pursuer below, knocking him off his horse with a loud thud and causing him to fall into the snow, his head bleeding.
Qi Huan hastily summoned the system to retrieve the "weapon."
"Everyone, be careful! They're throwing weapons from above!" The black-clad man, enduring the pain, warned his teammates loudly.
The others simply stepped on the stirrups and leapt up, using their lightness skills to continue the relentless pursuit.
Taking advantage of Li Shuchen's landing, they caught up to him.
Surrounded, Li Shuchen, with one arm holding Qi Huan and the other wielding a sword, tightened his grip on the person in his arms and reminded her, "Close your eyes."
Amid the flashing of blades, flying flesh and blood, Qi Huan was inherently repulsed by such a bloody scene, yet she was also afraid of Li Shuchen getting hurt. After all, he still had to protect this burden of hers.
Qi Huan raised her right hand, gently turning the mechanism on her ring, and a poison dart shot out, hitting one of the black-clad men.
"...Using hidden weapons and playing tricks, I hate it!"
The black-clad man died with his eyes wide open, the poison dart sealing his throat effectively. Qi Huan excitedly aimed at the next black-clad man fighting with Li Shuchen.
Catching sight of her movement, the black-clad man dodged left and right in fear, the scene quite comical.
However, this time when she turned the ring, no poison dart was fired.
Qi Huan stared blankly as she turned the ring a few more times, finally realizing a cruel reality - this hidden weapon ring only had one poison dart.
"System, give me my toy gun!"
"Got it! Host, keep it up, you're amazing, I'll give you 200 points for protecting Li Shuchen."
With the toy gun in hand, she kept loading and firing, though its killing power was far inferior to the poison dart, it was still quite annoying.
The black-clad men hit on the cheek gradually became irritated, feeling that her "hidden weapons" were like flies, unable to be killed but disturbing their minds.
Their attacks became more and more chaotic, and Li Shuchen's long sword cut through them effortlessly. With a flash of cold light, he had dealt with most of them.
A quarter of an hour later, standing on the chest of the last assassin, Li Shuchen severed his hands, his voice as cold as a killing god: "Tell me, who sent you?"
"Hehe, I won't tell you." The black-clad man's gaze was defiant, and he bit his tongue to commit suicide.
The white snow was stained with a steady stream of blood, the stark contrast of red and white piercing the eyes. At the same time, the pungent scent of blood scattered by the wind also entered the nose, causing nausea.
Qi Huan suppressed her nausea, took out shoes and socks from the space and put them on, then took out a bicycle and rode it.
With her left foot on the pedal and her right foot on the ground, she turned sideways and smiled at Li Shuchen: "Shuchen, quickly sit on the back, I'll take you home!"
Although the assassins just now didn't seem to have high combat power, Shuchen cut them down like chopping cabbage. But he had been flying with her for so long and killed so many people, he must have exhausted a lot of energy.
She was very concerned for him.
So, Qi Huan decided to ride a bike and take him home, letting him rest.
This place is secluded, and there are few people on the way home, so there's no need to worry about passersby being surprised by the bicycle.
Li Shuchen frowned and looked at this strange vehicle, but finally obediently sat on it, wrapping his arms around her slender waist.
After he was seated, Qi Huan carefully pedaled, riding the bicycle. Occasionally when she was about to slip, Li Shuchen would extend his long leg to the ground, firmly stabilizing the vehicle.
The cold wind blew, carrying the scent of blood on their clothes, which was very pungent.
Suppressing the nausea constantly welling up in her stomach, Qi Huan decided to chat with Li Shuchen to divert her attention, and also to restrain the terrible memories in her mind.
"Shuchen, did you secretly read the military tactics book I gave to Yan Qinghe? Running away is the best strategy, but you clearly could have beaten them, yet your first reaction was to flee?"
"I was just afraid you would get hurt."
"Oh." Qi Huan smiled sweetly, then asked curiously, "Were those people after you? Do you know who wants to harm you?... I've saved up a bit now, we can bribe an assassin organization and have them retaliate!"
In her previous life, she strictly obeyed the law and would never have such thoughts.
But in this other world, where life and death are at stake, she gradually adapted to the rules of this world.
Thinking that someone wanted to harm Li Shuchen, her hackles immediately rose, and she wished she could stab the other party to death.
Sensing her thought process, the system quickly issued an alarm: "Beep! Beep! Host, you must be kind!"
"Kindness also needs to have a sharp edge. They're trying to kill us, and you still want me to be kind? ... System, aren't you Li Shuchen's loyal fan? Why are you so opposed to avenging him? You're a fake fan."
The system was at a loss for words, and after a while, it weakly said, "...Your hidden mission is complete, the 200-point reward for protecting Li Shuchen will be credited to you later."
"Okay, little sweetie."
Ending her conversation with the system, she heard Li Shuchen reply, "They weren't after me. The assassins after me aren't that stupid."
In the small forest by the road, the assassin who had been injured by the ski boot was hiding his presence, lying in the snow waiting for his comrades to come to his rescue. Suddenly, he heard the passing Li Shuchen say those words, and he immediately ground his teeth in anger.
"Who?"
Hearing the grinding of teeth, Li Shuchen became alert and found him, following up with a fatal blow.
*
Back home, Qi Huan quickly boiled hot water and took a bath, changing into fresh clothes.
After she and Li Shuchen had both cleaned up, she cooked a bowl of ginger soup.
"Shuchen, quickly drink this, it can prevent wind chill."
She accidentally added a bit too much ginger, making it spicy and unpalatable to Li Shuchen, his brows furrowing.
After downing it in one gulp, Li Shuchen asked her, "Why aren't you drinking it?"
"I'm healthy, I don't need it." Qi Huan disliked the taste of ginger and didn't want to drink it.
Li Shuchen was puzzled, was his body not good?
As a punishment, he pulled her into his embrace and kissed her soft, sweet lips, the spicy sensation gradually fading, replaced by a mouthful of sweetness.
The two kissed passionately, and for a moment, Qi Huan forgot to block the system.
The system asked in confusion, "Host, what are you doing? What's that sound?"
"The sound of kissing." Qi Huan replied amidst her busy actions.
"Blushing face, is this something I can hear without paying? Host, quickly block me!"
"You're already a mature system, next time you should learn to cover your own ears and not disturb me."
"Oh... Self-blocking program activated, set to be released in 10 minutes."
After about a cup of tea, the kiss ended.
Li Shuchen looked at her reddened lips, his Adam's apple moving as he chuckled, "Great progress."
"Of course! ... I've learned how to breathe." Qi Huan smiled cunningly like a little cat.
However, at night she couldn't smile anymore.
She arranged the six Night Bright Pearls Li Shuchen had given her in a row at the foot of the bed, like electric lamps, providing light without being too harsh on the eyes.
Although the room was always brightly lit, the bloody scenes from the day kept appearing uncontrollably in her mind.
Qi Huan buried her head under the blanket, breaking out in cold sweat.
"Calling System! Come out and chat."
"Okay, host, chatting for an hour is 100 points."
"No problem, I'll spend a few more points and have you play some songs too."
"Okay, what song does the host want to listen to?"
"Repeat 'Little Apple' on single loop."
As the system's electronic music began to play, Qi Huan slowly emerged from the quilt, and the air suddenly felt much fresher.
The words "you are my little apple, however much I love you is never too much..." kept repeating in her ear.
She unconsciously started humming along, and before long, she had hummed herself into a dream.
In the dream, those terrifying scenes slowly resurfaced from the depths of her mind, with an endless sea of red nearly engulfing her.
Constantly drifting in and out of the nightmare, Qi Huan's forehead gradually beaded with fine droplets of sweat. In her extreme fear, she instinctively cried out "Li Shuchen," jolting awake.
Pounding her chest, she took deep, ragged breaths.
A dark figure quickly pushed open the door and flashed to her bedside.
