"Her breathing is normal. She just fell asleep from exhaustion," Xu Yue informed as she checked Zhenzhen's pulse. Liu Ye's heart momentarily squeezed in his chest seeing how weak she looked.
She was staying behind his back this whole time so he didn't notice her condition. He could already imagine her forcefully trying to heal him while ignoring her body's calls to stop.
When he caressed her cheek, Zhenzhen's eyes shivered as if she was still trying to wake up and help him.
"Big Bro…" Zhenzhen muttered weakly, forcefully opening her eyes but Liu Ye was there to close them with a swipe of his palm.
"Shhh, it's okay. Please get some rest," Liu Ye whispered softly. "You did such a good job and saved your brother. Now leave the rest to us."
She struggled one more time but under Liu Ye's soothing words, she finally fell asleep.
"Take her to safety," Liu Ye ordered as he stood up, leaving Zhenzhen in Xu Yue's arms.
"Where are you going?" Xu Yue questioned right away as she caught his arm. "This is not your battle. Leave it to that woman."
"I need to know more. If I leave everything to Avi then we won't learn the truth about Master Yang. I want to know why am I targeted by them for no reason," Liu Ye replied as he rubbed Xu Yue's hand to assure her. "I will be careful, don't worry. I'm also feeling much better now."
He let go of Xu Yue and extended his arms towards the ground. All the leftover ice began to melt rapidly and the water floated to his arms with no effort. The big fragment of Water Stone nourished his mind, helped him recover from any exhaustion, and even continued to supply his mind with endless energy while being digested in his stomach.
Earlier he could feel his mind hurt each time he used Waterbending but now a simple task of manipulating the water wasn't that hard to perform.
"What about your injuries?" Xu Yue argued as she pointed at his back. "Zhenzhen closed your wounds but they will open again if you move too much. Come with us to safety."
"If I can't help her, I will withdraw. I just want to ask him a few questions before she kills him," Liu Ye replied just before they heard an explosion from the back of the villa.
"Go," Liu Ye hurried her as he picked Zhenzhen up from the ground. "Give her something to drink and eat once she wakes up. Calm down your family too. They must be freaking out right now."
He was about to run away when he stopped himself and leaned over to kiss Xu Yue deeply. "Thank you for saving me earlier."
He didn't wait for her response and rushed towards the back with two whips hanging from his arms. He was embarrassed he even put himself in a position where he was helpless and weak but that wouldn't happen again.
Liu Ye couldn't afford to repeat his mistakes.
The private garden at the back totally wrecked, to say the least, and the pool that they swam in just yesterday didn't even have water anymore. Ice spears and pillars were everywhere while the ground was completely frozen like a lake.
Another explosion resounded a few meters away from him and a body in a ripped black suit suddenly pierced through a nearby ice wall. Ice Fragments flew everywhere but for some reason, they seemed so slow that Liu Ye knew exactly where they were going. He only tilted his body and dodged them all.
'Did my reaction time improve?' Liu Ye thought, noticing that everything looked more crisp and clear. It was only a fleeting thought as he immediately focused on Tian who was trying to get up after being tossed like a bag of potatoes.
He ran closer and lashed from above before Tian even noticed his presence.
Direct hit!
The whip slammed on Tian's back with a thud just in time for Avi's arrival. She came from the air with fire bursting out from her feet and shot out multiple fireballs without even looking at Liu Ye. Her murderous gaze showed clearly that she was going for the kill.
"Argh!!" Tian cried out in pain as fire exploded on his back and turtled himself under two ice walls. It was amazing to see how quickly those two reacted.
Avi didn't even drop down from the sky when she punched down and shot a continuous fire stream. The flames didn't recognize between friends and enemies so Liu Ye was also affected. He jumped back and hid behind a small ice wall but even while hidden, he could feel the burning on his skin.
Too powerful.
Even though Liu Ye knew the theory from the game, performing the same in real life was a completely different story. Even a simple water manipulation required full focus, not to mention performing other abilities with large quantities of water.
He tried to split water into tens of smaller balls and shape them into small ice spikes but before he was done, the battle seemed to be already over.
"Liu Ye, come here," Avi called out casually and he finally peeked with his small arsenal. Tian was frozen into an ice block with only his head sticking out.
"That was a nice assist. Good job," Avi praised as she grabbed one of his spikes like a dagger. "Want to kill him yourself or shall I do it?"
Tian immediately burst out laughing at her question and announced happily, "It's such a shame to tell you this but now that he is here, you can no longer kill me. Uuf, what a relief. And here I thought I won't be able to meet my Queen again."
Avi frowned and didn't hesitate, swinging at Tian's head with the sharp end of the ice spike. Too bad, Liu Ye reacted just as Tian expected him to.
"Wait," Liu Ye stopped her by grabbing her arm. "Why can't she kill you with me around? If you don't tell me in five seconds I will kill you myself."
He could only be stalling for time to figure out how to escape and Liu Ye didn't plan to give him that opportunity.
"You don't need to threaten me, I value my life," Tian replied calmly. "She can't kill me because I have valuable information that will change your life. If I told her the same, she would kill me on the spot but now you won't let her kill me."
"Get to the point," Liu Ye hurried coldly. He had no respect for someone who just tried to kill him.
"You probably wonder how we know about you and why we target you," Tian began with a smile only to shock him right after. "The answer is simple. We have someone close to you that told us about you. They are your paren— Hey, hey, calm down!"
Before Tian could even finish speaking, an ice spike in Liu Ye's hand pierced into Tian's neck. "Nice try, but my parents are dead. They died in a car accident. Now you can go to hell."
"Wait! I swear they are alive!" Tian shouted while tilting his head away from the spike. "How can you say they are dead when you never saw their dead bodies?! It was all a scheme to cover up their disappearance! They are both alive and kicking!"
Tian closed his eyes as if preparing for the blow but then slowly opened them, realizing it didn't come.
"Liu Ye, don't listen to him. He is lying so that he can keep his pathetic life," Avi pointed out while creating her own ice spear in her free hand. "We need to kill him now and return to your sister."
"I'm not lying! I saw them on my own. He has a strong resemblance to his father and—"
"My parents would never work for you and let you kill us," Liu Ye cut him off. "They wouldn't leave us alone for years if they were still alive either."
Liu Ye gripped his ice spike, wanting to kill him to stop the lies from messing with his mind only to halt once again.
"Who said they are working for us now?" Tian countered urgently. "They were indeed part of our researchers in the past but after trying to cut ties and escape with valuable information, they became our prisoners instead. They are currently locked up in a secret location. If you kill me, you will never save your parents. Why not exchange my life for the life of your parents instead?"
"And you think we should just believe you when even we have no information about it?" Avi questioned as her face darkened. "Don't trust this bastard. He is hoping that he will be saved once we keep him alive. This is all lies and deceit."
Liu Ye remained silent, looking Tian in the eyes. He wanted to believe him so much as his heart longed to meet his parents again but he knew the reality in such situations. Once you are at a dead-end, your only way to survive is to convince the enemy to spare you.
He thought of Zhenzhen who missed them even more than him and succumbed, trying to see through Tian's lies.
"Why wouldn't you kill them on the spot then? Why keep them locked up for years if they were just researchers?"
