Chapter 5 Vicious Dog “…Kiss me!”

Chapter 5: The Vicious Dogs

"...Give me a kiss!"

The bloody scene from the inn flashed through Zhong Yao's mind again. She broke out in a cold sweat as she turned, wanting to beg the man beside her to just snap her neck and be done with it. But Xie Chi didn't even glance at her. He snatched up the blade and swung it at the fang-baring vicious dog.

The clash of blade against claws let out a grating screech, accompanied by Xie Chi's voice: "Get back!"

Zhong Yao was already terrified, tears streaming down her face as she frantically dragged her limp body backward. Her mind was filled with the certainty that she was still going to die—that she would ultimately be torn apart by the vicious dogs... If she had known this, why had she struggled so hard?

It would have been better to swallow that packet of arsenic the moment she heard the first bark at the inn.

The dog lunged, was beaten back, and then crouched before them, baring its teeth and emitting a low, menacing growl from its fangs.

The sound scattered Zhong Yao's thoughts. Her mind was in chaos; she didn't dare look up or listen. She wanted to cover her ears, but as she moved, a flash of white light inadvertently caught her eye.

She instinctively turned her head and discovered that one of the blood-soaked "corpses" nearby had somehow clambered to its feet and was now glaring fiercely at the man who was focused entirely on guarding against the dogs.

Clutched in its hand was a blade.

When the *whoosh* of air rushed from behind, Xie Chi knew it was the bandit's blade. Yet, what he perceived first wasn't pain but a warm, soft body.

A girl.

There was only one girl here.

By the time he realized what was happening, the piercing sound of a blade tearing through flesh had already reached his ears. The body on his back trembled violently but made no sound.

Without a second thought, Xie Chi slashed at one dog's abdomen, then swung the blade around, delivering a heavy blow to the other dog's eye.

As the agonized howls of the dogs rang out, his expression darkened. Without looking back, he thrust the blade backward, the tip piercing straight through the staggering bandit's abdomen with a sickening *shunk*.

Xie Chi wrenched the long blade free.

The bandit fell once more.

Of the four men and three dogs in the cave, Xie Chi was now, surprisingly, in the best shape.

A body trembled incessantly on his back. He kept his gaze fixed ahead, where two dogs remained—one convulsing on the ground, breathing heavily and rapidly, the other bleeding from the eye, crouched low and snarling at him with bared teeth.

The standoff lasted a moment longer until a long, drawn-out sound suddenly echoed—the same intermittent sound from before, like wind, or perhaps a whistle.

This time, however, it was very close, right nearby.

Xie Chi heard it clearly. His eyes sharpened instantly, and he sent the blade in his hand flying forward like a gust of wind. With a whistling sound, it struck the dog with the bleeding eye squarely.

The dog let out a piercing howl and scrambled away, stirring up a rustling commotion.

With the threat gone, Xie Chi finally turned his head slightly and asked the person on his back, "What are you doing?"

The person on his back was trembling violently, as if struggling desperately to hold themselves together.

Xie Chi paused, then said, "You can let it out now."

"Wahhh..." A mournful wail instantly broke through as Zhong Yao burst into tears once more.

Xie Chi frowned, letting her cry for a while before asking again, "What are you doing?"

"I—I was saving you!" Zhong Yao had never been wounded like this before. The pain made her whole body tremble, tears flowing freely, and her words came out broken. "I'm going to die anyway..."

Since she was going to die anyway, she might as well see this good deed through to the end and save his life one last time.

Even if he was utterly detestable.

Listening to that voice as irritating as willow catkins, Xie Chi glanced sideways at the person weakly slumped over his back, sobbing in pain, and recalled Zhong Yao's actions earlier.

The Third-in-command's trick of using his outer garment to block Xie Chi's vision had indeed worked—but only for that initial split-second.

A garment was fundamentally different from a person. One could distinguish them by speed, posture, and so on, but for Xie Chi, the simpler and more effective method was to close his eyes and listen.

The reason he had slashed at the garment was merely to lower the Third-in-command's guard.

His strength hadn't fully returned; he couldn't hold out for long. He needed to end this quickly, and to do that, he had to let his opponent seize an opening and strike boldly.

But Xie Chi hadn't expected that girl, who only knew how to cry and whimper, to dare attack the Third-in-command.

She had ruined his plan, but at heart, she meant well...

Leaving that aside for now, there was also the matter of her taking a blade for him.

Coming from a military family, Xie Chi was acutely sensitive to danger. The bandit's blade had come at the same time as the ferocious dogs. In that split second, he had weighed the pros and cons and chosen to take the bandit's blade on his back in exchange for the chance to seriously wound both dogs.

The outcome matched his expectations, but the one injured was someone else.

Xie Chi still didn't like this weak, tearful girl, but he disliked owing favors even more.

After a moment of silence, he asked, "How do you want me to repay you?"

"K-kill me..." Zhong Yao's voice trembled with pain as she struggled to voice her only request.

Xie Chi said, "Ask for something else."

With his refusal, the weeping on his back took on a new level of misery. But Xie Chi remained unmoved, stating coldly, "You make a request, I repay you, and then we're even. No further ties."

The person on his back kept trembling—perhaps from pain, or maybe from anger. Xie Chi didn't care about that; he only cared about her request.

It took a long while before he finally heard the girl speak. What she said was: "Then k-kiss me!"

"..."

Xie Chi's face instantly turned ashen.

Zhong Yao struggled to open her eyes and see this reaction. She let out a weak, hiccupping laugh, but the movement jostled her wound, and she immediately cried out in pain, tears flowing even more freely.

"J-just kidding," Zhong Yao said through gritted teeth, her words halting. "You are very good-looking, but I don't like you at all..."

She wanted to say she wasn't that kind of frivolous person—she was just getting back at Xie Chi for being so harsh and cold to her, and for tricking her by saying he was willing to marry her.

Who uses something like that to deceive a girl?

And she wasn't that bad either, so why did he have to look down on her so much...

Zhong Yao also wanted to say that not just anyone could be her husband, and she hadn't taken that blade for him because she liked him—she wanted Xie Chi to absolutely not misunderstand. But the wound hurt too much; she couldn't bear it any longer.

Zhong Yao's hand trembled as she weakly rested it on Xie Chi's arm. With barely any strength left, she said, "If you really want to repay me, then do one last thing for me..."

Her hand slid down Xie Chi's arm, her center of gravity shifted, and her body tilted along with it, finally slipping off completely.

Suppressing his emotions, and out of consideration for her having taken a blade for him, Xie Chi used his remaining strength to shift slightly, letting her fall onto his lap.

He looked down at the person whose head was pillowed on his knee, allowing her to drag his hand to her neck. He heard her plead in a faint yet resolute voice, "Kill me!"

Xie Chi remained silent, his gaze fixed on Zhong Yao's face. In the dim light, he saw her close her eyes, seemingly waiting peacefully for death.

Though he couldn't see clearly, he could feel the slender, smooth neck beneath his palm, where a pulsating carotid artery lay—fragile and vulnerable. With just a twist of his hand, he could instantly end her physical suffering.

A request from one's savior ought to be honored.

Xie Chi narrowed his eyes, his fingers suddenly tightening, veins bulging on the back of his hand. Yet, in the next moment, he swiftly released his grip.

"I won't kill," he said. "For anything else, as long as it doesn't violate morality or force others, I will agree."

Zhong Yao opened her eyes in a daze, realizing he had no intention of granting her a swift end. She began to weep bitterly again, but after only a few sobs, the long, drawn-out whistle blended in from outside the cave.

More bandits had found them.

Zhong Yao's face paled, her tear-filled eyes fixed on Xie Chi as she uttered in despair, "I'll remember you. When I'm... tortured to death by those villains, when I become a vengeful ghost, I will come back to make you pay... to get my..."

Before she could finish, Xie Chi struck her with a swift chop to the neck. Zhong Yao's body went limp, and she lost consciousness.