Although the beginning of the story was changed several times, the first meeting between Jin Xueli and Anthony always remained the same:
On a warm, restless night on the cusp of summer, she encountered a beautiful, venomous insect.
Of course, her eyes couldn't pierce Anthony's flawless skin and perfect hair to see the twisted, dark sludge deep in his brain—and when a man feels he's getting everything he wants, one by one, he can be remarkably gentle, generous, and attentive.
Especially when they had just met.
"...That just scared the life out of me," Jin Xueli said quietly to her friend. "He suddenly lost control, and the car came straight at me. Thank God I work out. My reflexes are fast, so I dove out of the way in time... Otherwise, I'd be a human pancake between the front of that car and the wall right now."
Amber sucked in a breath. "That dangerous? It's a good thing you always go to—"
She suddenly stopped, glanced at Anthony standing beside them, and changed her tune. "It's a good thing you always go to the gym."
Amber had short hair and a small, round face. Her ears, like an elf's, poked out from under her straight hair. Her personality matched her appearance: clever and quick-witted.
Jin Xueli often told her it would be great if she also had a Path, so the two of them could venture into the Nest together—though she also knew that if Amber had a Path, she would be a Hunter for the Morgan Family, and the two of them would become potential rivals.
"You really cheated death. It's never a bad thing to exercise."
Anthony, suspecting nothing, fussed over Jin Xueli with great concern. The lingering fear on his face was so thick, it was as if he were the one who had almost lost his life.
In just a minute or two, his emotional reaction ran the full gamut, from worry and relief to righteous indignation. "What kind of driver is that? Was he drunk? Just standing over there all furtively, not even coming over to apologize! When the police come to take your statement, make sure you tell them everything in detail."
What seemed false in hindsight was quite comforting at the time. Jin Xueli smiled at him and lowered her voice. "He wasn't drunk... I think he's a private bodyguard. I saw his sidearm just now."
"Bodyguard?" Amber's eyes flicked to the side, and she let out an "Oh." "No wonder he keeps his hand under his jacket... There's no one else in the car. Did the person he was protecting leave?"
"They left," Jin Xueli replied. "There was a whole motorcade ahead of him. The moment they saw his car crash, they all scattered. I don't know what was wrong with his car, or why it hit the door."
The moment he heard the word "gun," Anthony's face tightened slightly. He hesitated for a moment, then pulled the two women behind the bar's door, saying, "It doesn't hurt to be careful... What if he's not a bodyguard but some psycho? Why don't we go inside?"
At the time, Jin Xueli had thought him quite steady and cautious.
"I'd rather stand here a little longer," Amber said, her gaze sweeping over the figure in the black suit behind the SUV. "I just love to rubberneck. You guys don't mind, do you?"
Anthony glanced at her, then looked at Jin Xueli.
Amber wasn't here to rubberneck; Jin Xueli knew that perfectly well.
Compared to the daily life of a Hunter Family Faction, a car crashing into a door was so boring it wasn't even worth mentioning.
Besides, Amber's gaze was different from that of a typical bystander. A bright light was focused in her eyes, moving from the car to the man, as if that pinpoint of light had already grasped something from the chaotic scene.
Backed by a major Hunter Family Faction, Amber was very well-informed. The Matthew effect was also at play here: the more information a person has, the better they know where to find more information, and the better they know what "information" truly is.
Unfortunately, Jin Xueli couldn't just ask her what she had discovered—not with Anthony right there.
"I'll wait with you then," she said.
Anthony, for his part, didn't seem unwilling.
"The security in Blackmoor City is really getting worse and worse. I guess even the rich are starting to feel the heat," he said, leaning against the wall and chatting with Jin Xueli. "We ordinary people can't afford bodyguards, so we just have to be careful... especially a young, pretty girl like you. You're an easier target."
With his warm gaze fixed on her face, Jin Xueli subconsciously smoothed her hair and said with a smile, "I'm not too worried."
"It's safer to have a boyfriend," Anthony said. "Did your boyfriend not come with you today?"
"I'm single."
Since she had a good impression of him, Jin Xueli didn't mind such an obvious probe. After a moment's thought, she added, "I can take care of my own safety. For one thing, I have a small ladies' handgun at home, and a Hunting Knife I specially bought from Europe."
Anthony froze.
It seemed like he had something to say, but he held the words in his mouth, rolling them over with his tongue. As he was filtering and choosing his words, Amber gently pulled on Jin Xueli's arm and whispered, "His colleague is here."
Jin Xueli's gaze passed through the crowd, and sure enough, she saw a car that had just pulled in. The driver who got out, dressed in an identical black suit, hurried over to the bodyguard from the crash.
Whatever factor had caused the bodyguard's crash, the danger had long since dissipated, replaced by rubbernecking bar patrons, the bar manager with a worried look on his face, and the emergency medical personnel who had just arrived... At this point, the bodyguard had finally relaxed. He was sitting in the driver's seat with the door wide open, being questioned by two police officers while a paramedic checked his pupils.
"Dylan," the newly arrived man in the black suit called out.
"Ivan?"
The bodyguard from the crash looked up at the sound of his name, saw who it was, and paused, lowering the cotton pad he was pressing to a wound on his temple. "What are you doing here?"
The second bodyguard, named Ivan, seemed to be of a lower rank and have less experience, and his attitude was quite respectful. "There was a problem over here, so the boss got a little worried while he was going to pick something up. He temporarily brought in a lot more manpower. Sister Mi was worried it would be inconvenient for you to be alone, so she sent me to help out."
For some reason, his voice was a notch lower than the average person's. Jin Xueli was certain that Amber, just like her, had perked up her ears and crept forward several steps just to barely catch the gist of it.
Dylan didn't seem particularly enthusiastic or grateful for this backup.
"Got it," he said, pressing the wound again with a look that said he didn't want to talk and wanted Ivan to shut up—perhaps because the police were right there.
"We're still open for business," a bartender shouted from the back door, as if trying to remind the patrons to hurry back inside and keep spending money. "Don't worry, everyone, nothing's affected!"
"Shall we go?" Anthony lowered his head and said to Jin Xueli very gently, "Let's go back, sit down, and have a proper chat. Let me buy you a drink."
Meeting Anthony tonight was a complete surprise. She instantly found herself torn between the "bodyguard crash" and the "handsome man"—but then Amber smiled at her, gestured toward the bar door with her chin, and said, "You go on ahead. If anything interesting happens, I'll tell you about it later."
Jin Xueli could only tell her, "Find me inside in a bit, then," and after getting Amber's assurance, she followed Anthony into the bar.
As they sat down, her thoughts flickered to Ivan. 'He said "the boss is picking something up," right? Picking what up? I wonder if that has anything to do with why Amber is so interested in this?'
But she didn't dwell on it. Because now Anthony was sitting beside her, a lock of his hair falling forward, the light in his eyes shimmering from the depths of its shadow, as if she were a precious treasure that the world had somehow overlooked.
Later, Jin Xueli would think that no matter the prey, anyone who could be a Hunter had to have a bit of intuition—for example, even though she didn't think there was anything special about her clothes or appearance, Anthony had still picked her out of the crowd of patrons at a single glance.
In the Nest, she was a Hunter; back in the human world, she was the prey.
"What would you like to drink?" he asked.
"I hate drinking," Jin Xueli said in the middle of the bar, and couldn't help but laugh at herself.
Using "not drinking" as a conversation starter, she began her chats and dates with Anthony.
Over two or three months, they went from meeting occasionally to growing closer and closer. After Anthony visited her home for the first time, he became the world's most perfect boyfriend—though that illusion didn't last long.
During one of their meetings, the conversation turned to the black SUV that had crashed into the back of the bar in early May. Only then did Jin Xueli remember that she still hadn't asked Amber what she had discovered that night—perhaps the incident wasn't worth mentioning in the end, which was why Amber never remembered to tell her.
"Oh, right. I remember you said that night that you have a Hunting Knife you specially bought from Europe." Anthony was suddenly interested. "You can get hunting knives here, too. Is there something special about one from Europe? Can I see it?"
Jin Xueli immediately jumped up from the sofa, fetched the Hunting Knife, and explained everything from its brand and craftsmanship to its value. As she spoke with delight, Anthony's own desire was stirred.
"I'm not trying to take your things," he said, still willing to put on an act back then, sounding quite embarrassed. "Can I borrow it for a while? I have a friend who's a knife collector, and I'd like to show it to him."
'I probably won't need to enter the Nest for the next two or three months,' Jin Xueli thought. 'And even if I do, I have other weapons and tools.' "Sure," she said. "Just get it back to me when I need it."
...She slowly opened her eyes, for a moment unable to tell what was stiff and cold: her own body, or the exhibition hall's floor tiles. The two had almost merged into one.
Anthony never returned the Hunting Knife.
Jin Xueli looked at the two memory threads in her mind, feeling both lost and confused, and a sense of dawning realization.
She turned her head silently, her gaze traveling from the floor far across the room, to the giant candle that lay horizontally in the exhibition hall...
And to the back of her own figure, sitting in front of the candle.
'So that's how it is.'
In the second version of history, which had been altered for some reason, Anthony had borrowed the Hunting Knife but never returned it. Jin Xueli didn't bring the knife into the Nest, so naturally, she couldn't plunge the Hunting Knife into the Resident's throat.
Therefore, the Resident didn't inflict the same wound upon its own throat...
And that was why she survived.