The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel's Disguise

["We need to get out of here before someone notices your absence," she heard a faintly familiar voice and found herself nodding. "Follow me." She silently trailed behind that person whose voice gave her reassurance. She could feel a sense of dependence and trust in her heart.

As she came out from the dark pathways, there was a fresh and earthy scent in the air. Everything around her seemed hazy to her and yet she could sense everything more clearly. The scent in the air gave away the fact that it had been raining for a while now. With heavy steps, she followed that person with a broad back into the depth of the forest.

Suddenly, the scene changed and she found herself standing at the mountain top. Her feet were bare yet again but she was standing on a small patch of wild grass. "Four! They are about to catch up with us. If they got here, their aim would be to kill you. Yours should be the same. Don’t just fight... You have to kill if you want to survive." Hearing that suggestion her mind wandered off to a distant memory.

’Young master Ru, you’re allowed to fight but don’t try to take someone’s life. Death is not yours to play with.’ The voice of her grandfather rang in her mind but she had to shake it away.

Whoever had spoken before was right. She had to kill if she wanted to live. Someone has to die for her to live. Thinking this, she picked up a wooden stick from the ground and stopped running. She aimed her each blow straight to kill without mercy. She could feel a sense of hatred and buried anger within her body.

While her nimble body was moving at lightning speed, her eyes fell on a sleek gun pointed towards the man who had that sturdy back she seemed to have faith in. Without thinking, she jumped before him and pulled him away but in the process, the bullet grazed her arm.

"Stop thinking about me... Save your own life!" She heard him whisper yell at her as he pushed her aside urging her to run. But she couldn’t move her feet from the hard-baked ground.

In her dilemma, the nightmare of her life began as something slammed against the back of her head... With a dizzy mind, she strived to stay tall.

"Ge Ge, you’re right! If we’ll give her way to escape, Madam won’t be upset with us for killing her." Hearing these words, she lifted her eyes to look at the man whose face was still shrouded in a haze.

’He planned all this? But I trusted him...’ She thought to herself and staring back at him, she asked in a hoarse voice, "Why?"

"You’re a monster." She heard his reply in that familiar and yet so unfamiliar voice. This time she was sure there was a tinge of ache behind that loathness and hostility.

Before she got a chance to perceive anything else, her head was slammed against a boulder and a shrieking voice pierced her ears. The girl with that shrieking voice pulled her hair and made her stand up as she whispered close to her ear, "Didn’t I tell you that you’re nothing to him? In the end, he’s the one who brought you to this state. All because the things I can offer are nothing before you!" Before she could even scoff at that voice, a ’bang’ sound resounded and she felt a bullet piercing through her chest.

She stared at that man in a haze with disbelief as her knees buckled. But with her blurry sight, she had seen his hand trembling as he dropped the gun in his hand. ’I might have to take desperate measures to take you out of here.’ His voice rang in her mind again and she let her body fall lifelessly.

"Four, I know you’re strong. Just hold on for a while. I’ll come back for you!" In her half-dead state, she could only perceive the anxiousness of these words and nothing else.]

"Master?" Seeing beads of perspiration trickling down her face, Adia tried to call out to Ru.

Ru opened her eyes with a start and looked around only to find herself in the backseat of a Bentley. A water bottle appeared before her green eyes and she tilted her head to give Adia a questioning gaze. Adia didn’t say anything and lowered her head. Ru took the bottle of water and leaned her head against the window pane.

As she gazed out absentmindedly, her mind wandered off. The nightmare was the same but this time around, each emotion struck her like lightning. She even managed to notice small details like the hand tremble. Was it really there? Or her mind was distorting her memories? And those parting words... Did she really hear those words? The bullet was aimed straight on the left side of my chest but if that person really knew me then he might have known that I have Dextrocardia[1].

The question that popped up in her mind was: ’Was he really aiming to kill?’

"Master, we are here." From the passenger seat, Wu Dishi announced and broke Ru’s train of thoughts. With her somber look, she nodded and climbed off the car.

Stretching her limbs, she suddenly stopped and turned around to look at her surroundings. She shifted her gaze to Wu Dishi and asked, "We are in Jingshen?"

"Yes, master!" Wu Dishi answered with a smile.

Ru nodded and made her way towards the courtyard of the house which Wu Dishi had arranged for their stay. Watching her walk away, Wu Dishi turned to Adia and asked, "Do you have any idea why master suddenly took the initiative to come here himself?"

"Why? Master can’t come?" Adia retorted masking the impassive manner of her employer.

"No, no... That’s not what I meant." Wu Dishi flailed his hands in negation. "I meant to say that usually master only likes to work from behind the scenes. This time, to inspect the location for the new developing project, master actually decided to make a personal visit. I find it very odd."

"Mr. Wu, have you ever seen my master explaining his reasons?" Adia asked him with a straight face. Wu Dishi shook his head. "Exactly my point here. Master is the most unpredictable person. If you could fathom his thoughts, then you could have been the Lord of European economy market."

Leaving him baffled, Adia went to follow Ru inside the courtyard. "Did she just insult me?" Wu Dishi asked himself and saw Lilith nodding her head making him feel victimized.

Ru sat under the shade of a huge tree in the middle of the open courtyard and looked up towards a temple that could be seen from here. She wasn’t going to tell her subordinates her real reason for being here.

Jingshen was one of the remote areas in C Province but its natural beauty was unrivaled. There was a lack of resources but it was still a famous tourist spot because of that temple. And for Ru, that temple was the reason she chose to make this trip herself.

Before she could completely immerse in her memories of Jingshen Monastery, a voice interrupted her. "It’s a call from the headquarters." Saying that Adia passed the cellphone to Ru and backed away.

"What?" Ru answered the call.

"We have done the preparations. Whenever you’ll order, we’ll hold the press conference." Hearing Andrew’s voice Ru wasn’t perturbed at all.

"Let’s wait for the right time to catch our culprit," Ru answered him plainly.

"Right time? Sir Knight, are you sure?" Andrew was frowning since it was this lord who told him to arrange everything without wasting time. Now that they were ready, this lord was telling him to wait.

"Andrew, you can only mold iron according to your desires when that iron is heated at a right temperature. We can never mold iron perfectly if it’s too cold or too hot. Just like that wait for the right opportunity. It’s still early to strike back." With that, she threw the phone back to Adia who swiftly caught it in mid-air.

Seeing the way Adia was still standing beside her, Ru tilted her face to question, "Anything else?"

Adia bit her lip and pieced out her words cautiously, "Actually, Secretary Liu is also here for the site visit and he wants to have dinner with Chairman Xie Rong."

"Give me one reason to actually have this dinner," Ru looked straight at Adia’s face.

"Umm... He can help us in the bidding process." Adia voiced out.

Ru gave her a look that seemed to say, ’Do I need his help to win over this project?’

Adia pressed her lips together and added, "I heard that he has invited Abbot Wang Xiu Ying to join as well."

Hearing that name, Ru gave a small smile and said, "I’ll go." Adia was a bit taken aback. But she hastily nodded and left her alone.

Looking at the temple again, Ru whispered, "I know you won’t come. But what’s the harm in hoping." She sighed heavily and added, "Grandmaster Xiu Ying, it’ll be interesting to see whether you recognize me or not."

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