Su Xiaoman's gaze softened with a sense of relief. Looking at Xu Zhiheng, she said softly,
“Alright, I'll get it for you right away.”
She put the mid-grade healing potion back into her bag, her fingers reaching deeper inside.
Believing she had finally submitted, Xu Zhiheng's expression relaxed slightly.
Kolo suddenly frowned. She smelled something off.
Just as she was about to step forward, Rena shifted half a step to the side.
Not a step more, not a step less—she stood directly in front of her.
Kolo looked at her in confusion, but Rena merely said flatly,
“This is their own business.”
Kolo tightened her grip on her axe handle. When she looked back, Su Xiaoman had already retrieved the potion.
A dark liquid sloshed gently inside the bottle, resembling a glob of sealed, stagnant blood.
Xu Zhiheng finally realized something was wrong. “What is that?”
Su Xiaoman didn't answer. She raised her hand and splashed the entire bottle of black liquid onto Xu Zhiheng's wounded shoulder.
The moment the liquid made contact with his flesh, a harsh, sizzling sound erupted.
Xu Zhiheng's face contorted violently.
“Aaaagh—!”
His skin rapidly reddened and blistered, rotting as if struck by a virulent infection.
The poison seeped deep into the wound on his shoulder, peeling away layers of flesh to expose the stark white bone beneath.
Xu Zhiheng staggered backward, staring at her in sheer disbelief.
“Su Xiaoman! What are you doing?!”
Su Xiaoman tossed the empty bottle onto the ground.
The glass bottle rolled twice before striking the edge of a stone crack, shattering and spilling the remaining black liquid, which hissed and gave off wisps of dark smoke.
Her gaze was chillingly detached, yet filled with a strange, lingering attachment.
“Zhiheng. Since you love me, let's not leave this place, alright?”
Xu Zhiheng convulsed in agony, heavy, ragged gasps escaping his throat.
Su Xiaoman walked toward him step by step, her voice trembling on the verge of tears.
“I'm tired, and you're tired too.”
“You said I was the most important person to you.”
“So you won't leave me behind, right?”
Milo stood to the side, completely dumbfounded.
“What... what is happening...”
Ryan also took a step back in shock, muttering a low curse,
“They're mad. They've all gone mad.”
The flesh on Xu Zhiheng's face began to rot.
One of his eyes, bloodshot and bulging from the toxic fumes, wept a mixture of blood and fluid down his cheek.
He reached out, trying to grab Su Xiaoman, but the excruciating pain brought him to his knees, and he retched up a mouthful of dark, clotted blood.
He glared at Su Xiaoman, his eyes burning with pure hatred.
“You... bitch...”
Su Xiaoman suddenly laughed.
Tears streamed down her cheeks, but her laughter only grew more hysterical.
Her shoulders shook with her giggles.
She laughed as if she were finally purging some deep, suffocating weight from her chest.
“Yes, I am a bitch...”
Drawing a short dagger from the side of her boot, she took a few steps forward. With a tip that seemed to carry a twisted sense of “love,” she slowly drove the blade into Xu Zhiheng's abdomen.
Xu Zhiheng's pupils dilated violently, and he spat a mouthful of foul blood onto her delicate face.
Su Xiaoman leaned close to his ear, her voice laced with self-deprecation and a desolate clarity:
“I should have realized it a long time ago. Because this... is who I truly am...”
Xu Zhiheng's lips parted as if to curse her again, but only black blood welled up from his throat.
The poison spread too fast; his cheek had already eroded to reveal a patch of white bone, making his expression look horrific and pathetic all at once.
Finally, his body convulsed twice.
His fingertips slipped from Su Xiaoman's sleeve, and he drew his last breath.
Su Xiaoman knelt on the ground, cradling him, covered in blood.
She stared down at Xu Zhiheng's corpse, her face frozen in a hollow, drained numbness.
After a moment, she slowly raised her head and looked at Milo, who was standing not far away.
“You saw everything, didn't you?”
Milo's breath caught. He understood her meaning instantly.
The Witness.
She wanted him to witness all of this.
Milo looked down at the wooden tablet in his hand. It was burning hot, as if urging him to record the events.
His throat felt parched, and his legs were still stiff as he walked over to the road marker.
The heavy scent of blood, swirling within the mist, nearly suffocated him.
Milo gripped the wooden tablet. Though his voice trembled, he forced out every single word.
“I witness.”
“Before reaching the seventh road marker, Guard Captain Damon was ensnared by roots and requested that Acting Caravan Master Xu Zhiheng abandon a portion of the cargo chests.”
“Xu Zhiheng refused and ordered Damon to continue protecting the cargo.”
“Subsequently, Damon lost his right arm and shield, attacked Acting Caravan Master Xu Zhiheng, and was ultimately dragged off the stone path by roots.”
“Guard Captain Damon is deceased.”
Milo's throat tightened. He paused for a moment before continuing.
“I witness.”
“At the seventh road marker, Caravan Physician Su Xiaoman retrieved a black poison and splashed it onto Acting Caravan Master Xu Zhiheng.”
“She then drove a short dagger into Xu Zhiheng's abdomen.”
“Acting Caravan Master Xu Zhiheng is deceased.”
At this point, he suddenly looked up and glanced at Rena.
Rena stood in the mist, her expression entirely calm.
It was as if this bloody chaos was exactly what she had expected all along.
The fear in Milo's heart crept up another notch.
He gritted his teeth and continued.
“Additionally, before reaching the seventh road marker, I saw a glowing object between Guide Rena's fingers.”
“She quickly put it away.”
Isolde hadn't expected him to notice that. After a brief flash of surprise, her expression quickly returned to normal.
As soon as Milo finished speaking, the copper bell hanging before the road marker chimed softly.
The crisp chime echoed through the mist, and his wooden tablet glowed faintly in response.
The ancient runes on the surface of the road marker began to illuminate inch by inch.
【Witness established】
Immediately afterward, the wooden tablets of the remaining members grew hot and bright simultaneously, and dark red words slowly materialized on the surface of the road marker.
【Caravan strife】
【Caravan Physician dereliction of duty】
【Porter duty anomaly】
Su Xiaoman looked down at the wooden tablet at her waist.
Fine, hairline cracks had already spiderwebbed across its surface.
Showing no fear, she calmly took her bag off her shoulders and set it on the ground.
Inside were the healing potions she hadn't had time to use, along with several tightly sealed poison vials.
She pushed them all toward the others, her voice incredibly calm.
“Take these. I won't be needing them anymore.”
As soon as Su Xiaoman finished speaking, several thin black roots snaked out from the cracks in her wooden tablet, piercing her abdomen like needles.
She let out a muffled groan, her body swaying as blood quickly seeped through her clothes.
The others stood a short distance away, watching as Su Xiaoman slowly dragged herself over to Xu Zhiheng's corpse, knelt down, and pulled him into her arms.
Xu Zhiheng's body had already been corroded beyond recognition by the poison.
His flesh was blackened, and foul blood stained her sleeves.
Yet she held him tightly, as if clinging to the very last thing that belonged to her.
Su Xiaoman stared down at him, her expression dazed.
She had been led by the leash for so long that she had come to believe even the pain he inflicted was her own fault.
The roots continued to grow inside her abdomen. Su Xiaoman turned deathly pale, cold sweat beading on her forehead.
Yet she managed a smile, for she had finally bitten through that leash and taken the reins of her own life.
Su Xiaoman bowed her head, pressing her cheek against Xu Zhiheng's ruined shoulder.
Her voice was as soft as a whisper in a dream.
“Didn't you say I was the most important person to you?”
“Then stay with me.”
The roots suddenly constricted. Su Xiaoman shuddered, blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.
She didn't struggle. She simply held Xu Zhiheng and slowly closed her eyes.
Mist surged from behind the road marker like a shroud of greyish-white cloth, slowly draping over the two of them.
Soon, a faint rustling sound echoed from within the mist.
A black root crept out from the cracks in the stone slabs, binding their bodies tightly together.
With a violent tug, Su Xiaoman and Xu Zhiheng were dragged together into the depths of the dense fog behind the road marker.
The surrounding area fell so quiet that only the sound of heavy, ragged breathing remained.
Reece, sitting in the distance, stopped wiping his blade.
He stared at the dark blood pooling on the ground and the bag left behind, silently committing Su Xiaoman's name to memory.
Kolo gripped her axe handle. After a long silence, she whispered,
“Why did she do that?”
Isolde gazed into the depths of the dense fog, her eyes distant.
After a brief pause, she spoke.
“Because she woke up too late.”
Kolo frowned. “What do you mean? She woke up only to die with him?”
Isolde lowered her eyes, looking at the trail of blood dragged across the stone slabs and the discarded wooden tablet.
“Some people are leashed for so long that when they finally break free, they have no idea where to go.”
“It wasn't that she didn't want to live. She simply could no longer tell if she could ever find her true self again without him.”
Kolo fell silent for a moment, then looked up at her.
“Do you think she's pitiful?”
Isolde watched the mist slowly churn behind the road marker. Only after a long while did she reply,
“She is.”
“But she brought it on herself.”
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