Could you squat down a little bit

This accident could be considered over by now.

Su Qi exchanged a few more meaningless words with Li Hu, finally dissuading him from asking for an autograph.

Blending into the moonlight, he prepared to slip back into the tent.

Liu Yuan was sleeping on her side, facing the tent entrance, her back turned to Su Qi.

He gently lifted the tent flap, moving as quietly as possible.

Moonlight spilled in like delicate threads, casting a silvery sheen over the cramped space.

At that moment, Liu Yuan seemed to sense something. Her eyelashes fluttered faintly before she slowly opened her eyes.

Their gazes met.

Moonlight bathed her face.

The eye contact lasted a full five seconds.

Only then did Su Qi lower the tent flap, his tone calm. "Did I wake you? I’ll be more careful next time."

With that, he turned to return to his hammock.

But Liu Yuan sat up abruptly.

The sudden movement caused the tent to sway slightly.

Li Hu, who had just been heading back to his own tent, shook his head at the sight.

"Who would’ve thought there’d be another battle after the big fight? Is he about to get taken down by someone weaker this time?"

"Ah, youth."

"Sibling bonds sure are something."

...

"What’s up?"

Su Qi looked at Liu Yuan, puzzled.

Something felt off about this brat.

Liu Yuan bit her lip, her expression clearly conflicted.

After a brief silence, she finally spoke. "You’re hurt."

"Huh?"

His confusion wasn’t about why she’d say such a thing.

Nor did he retort with something like, "Since when do you care about me?"

"Where am I hurt?"

Su Qi dusted himself off, checking but finding no injuries.

Liu Yuan jumped down from her hammock, the force causing the tent to shake even more violently.

Normally, the tent wouldn’t be this unstable—it was just that Liu Yuan was new to this, her setup skills lacking.

She walked up to Su Qi.

He stood a full head taller than her.

Online, many would call this the "perfect height difference," but Su Qi couldn’t care less.

He just happened to prefer girls of that height.

Su Qi reached out and touched her forehead. "Are you possessed or something?"

Surprisingly, Liu Yuan didn’t swat his hand away as he’d expected.

Her voice was uncharacteristically soft. "Can you crouch down a little?"

For a moment, the gentleness in her tone—so unlike her usual icy demeanor—made Su Qi think it overlapped slightly with Little Yuan’s voice.

But not entirely.

If Little Yuan’s voice was a clear, cheerful stream, Liu Yuan’s usual tone was a frigid mountain peak.

Yet now, it was more like hazy moonlight.

Su Qi eyed her skeptically. "What for?"

But he half-crouched anyway.

Liu Yuan pulled out a small rabbit-patterned bandage from her pocket, peeling off the backing. "I’m kind of dumb… I didn’t prepare anything for the Source Realm. This is all I have."

(Note: The academy intentionally doesn’t teach what to bring into the Source Realm.

As the saying goes, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink."

Even if told, students might not grasp the importance.

But experience? That teaches in one go.

After a lesson learned the hard way, they’ll remember.)

Su Qi tracked her movements and guessed where she was aiming.

He instinctively touched his face.

His fingertips brushed against a faint, uneven groove on his cheek.

Pulling his hand back, he squinted under the dim moonlight and saw a barely visible smear of blood on his fingers.

Oh. That time?

Probably when he dodged the black-robed man’s attack and got grazed by flying debris.

Most of the dust on him was from then too.

"It’s nothing. Any later and it’d have healed on its own."

He wasn’t some celebrity who’d cry over a scratch.

Still, he didn’t pull away.

He let Liu Yuan press the bandage to his face with her cold little fingers.

Except…

Su Qi noticed her hands were… trembling?

Why?

"It’s not nothing…"

Liu Yuan’s voice wavered, on the verge of tears.

"I saw it…"

"I heard it too."

"I woke up right after you left."

"Not long after, I saw blinding lightning in the direction you went… then a pillar of fire…"

"Then Old Li found me outside the tent while setting up his cards. He told me to hide, said two incredibly strong people were fighting over there…"

"He ran toward it too…"

"He also said… if his cards suddenly vanished, I should wake everyone up and scatter."

"Because… it’d mean he was dead…"

"I…"