As the night fell, the temperature in the water dungeon started to drop dramatically.

Another round of torture began. Gu Qiang thought she was already used to it during the daytime, but it almost drove her crazy now.

Gusu Liang pulled out a sharp knife from her sleeve, which only had a finger-length. She clamped it with her two fingers and started to cut the rope around her wrists slowly.

After all the years on the Xiaoyao Mountain, those children had finally grown up.

Year after year, they had been doing the seemingly useless training. They didn’t know why the master asked them to do so, nor did they know when they could use those skills they learned.

But right now, every time Gusu Liang had a narrow escape, running away from places that seemed impossible to get out of, her respect for her master’s foresight grew.

The rope was firm, and Gusu Liang didn’t have too much strength left. It took her a while to cut it off.

The place was quiet. Women passed by the door from time to time and glanced at the small water dungeon to make sure Gu Qiang and Gusu Liang were still there.

Gusu Liang moved her hands and felt them as flexible as usual, although she was tied almost a full day.

After the patrolling woman left, she released her legs from the ropes and came to Gu Qiang’s side.

After Gu Qiang was forced to drink the amnesia poison by the man in black last time, her sickness had become long-term. She could always feel a cold chill in her body, making her lose most of her strength.

“My lady, are you alright?” Gusu Liang quickly cut the ropes around Gu Qiang’s body and patted her back.

Gu Qiang had been in a daze. After being patted by Gusu Liang, Gu Qiang felt like wakening up from a dream.

She tried to feel her hands and feet but found she couldn’t move her legs at all.

Even if they escaped from the water dungeons, how could she keep going while her legs literally couldn’t move?

“Liang, just leave me here. I don’t think I can walk anymore. If you manage to escape, find other people first and come back to rescue me.” Gu Qiang was sitting on the ground, soaked in muddy water with branches floating around, but she didn’t bother to mind.

Gusu Liang reached to pull her up.

Her voice was low, but it sounded like she was smiling, “My lady, didn’t you say you want to learn martial arts? If we can get out of here this time, I will be your teacher. But right now, the first thing I want to teach you is – never give up on yourself. Do you understand?” While speaking, Gusu Liang took a delicate jade bottle out from her pocket and poured the thing inside onto Gu Qiang’s legs.

Suddenly, Gu Qiang felt like her legs were burning.

The pain made all her muscles tighten up. She started to sweat immediately, but she bit her lip hard to hold the scream in her throat. If she made any sound right now, people would be attracted here.

Watching her reaction, Gusu Liang said with a faint smile, “My lady, you can always amaze me.”

Gu Qiang’s lips curled up, almost into a grin.

The burning pain from her legs made her sober. She felt like she had to walk now, or the pain would get even worse.

She walked a couple of steps with Gusu Liang’s help and then asked her to let go soon. As Gu Qiang expected, she could ignore the pain once she started to walk.

Gusu Liang pulled another knife out of her pocket and passed it to Gu Qiang. “Try every means to protect yourself,” she said.

Gu Qiang understood her intention immediately and nodded at her. The two of them slowly moved forward, holding each other.

The girls guarding the water dungeon all looked sleepy, struggling to keep their eyes open. The moment they heard the noise from their back, their bodies already fell to the ground.

Gu Qiang steadied herself with a cane. She stared at the girl’s dead body in front of her, whose eyes were still open, and took a deep breath in shock. Then she asked Gusu Liang in a low voice, “Isn’t it necessary to kill them all?”

Gusu Liang searched the two girls’ bodies and found two jade badges. Then she took off their clothes, threw one set to Gu Qiang, and quickly put on the other one. “If we don’t kill them now, we will have two more enemies later.”

Gu Qiang was never a kind person. She put on the clothes like Gusu Liang and kept the knife at an easily accessible place.

When they got out of the dungeon, it was dark already, and all the lights were lit up around. Gu Qiang lowered her head to look at the clothes she was wearing that belonged to Su Shuangning’s subordinate. The texture even felt better than the one of the clothes she had as an infanta.

People were coming and going in the yard, and no one seemed to notice Gu Qiang and Gusu Liang in the darkness. Everyone was holding plates in their hands as if they were preparing for some event.

A maid met up with another group of maids and said to them, “You have to make sure the preparation goes well. If the lady finds out that her wedding tiara is gone, she will be so furious.”

“But we don’t have enough time. Who would’ve known that the lady confirmed her wedding date so soon? I heard the Ninth Duke is not very happy about it.” The girls were so into talking gossips about their master that they didn’t notice Gu Qiang at all, who was standing next to them with a sullen face.

For them, everything in their life was about Su Shuangning. Even though they met in private, all they talked about was their master.

“So what? I’ve never seen the lady change something that she has already decided.” After a bit of more talk, the maids all left.

Gusu Liang turned around to look at Gu Qiang in embarrassment. She thought the only woman Shen Qianshan loved and would marry was Gu Qiang, but surprisingly, Su Shuangning became his bride in the end.

Only a day had passed, but Gusu Liang thought it felt like many years.

Everything had changed. She cast a glance at Gu Qiang to signal her to leave hurriedly. However, Gu Qiang stopped and said, “I can’t leave right now. Do you know where is Sun Linhua?”

Now it was the chance for her to sneak out, and Gu Qiang was aware of it. But she remembered the words written in the diary. Her future self begged her to kill Sun Linhua, which meant this woman played an essential role in the future. If so, she had to fulfill the wish.

“My lady, we’d better leave this place first. If Su Shuangning finds out that we escaped, we can’t afford the consequence,” said Gusu Liang.

But Gu Qiang insisted on staying.

Gusu Liang wondered why Gu Qiang suddenly held such a strong hatred toward Sun Linhua. Even though her life was in danger, she still wanted to find her first. Gusu Liang didn’t feel Gu Qiang was someone who sought revenge for the smallest grievance before.

The maids around them scattered, and no one cared about them two. In the spacious yard, they were so insignificant, like two ants.

Gu Qiang turned around and said, “Take me to her first. If I don’t grab this chance now, I don’t know what will happen later.” Suddenly, she saw Su Shuangning leading a group of people, walking toward their location. Gu Qiang then quickly hid behind a rock next to her.

The lights of the candles around were jumping. Su Shuangning seemed to be in a good mood, talking to a girl next to her. Gu Qiang couldn’t see the girl’s face clearly in the dark, but she should be a good-looking lady.

Gusu Liang held Gu Qiang’s hand, made her duck behind the rock, and started to move toward the door.

Meanwhile, Su Shuangning’s soft and clean voice came from the other side, “You should really go meet that woman. She’s different than normal bitches.”

Gu Qiang raised her brow as a smile showed on her face. She didn’t know what she had done earned herself the title of bitch. She just felt she should’ve learned one thing long ago – not every human deserved to be a human.

While Su Shuangning and her group walked to the water dungeon, Gusu Liang pulled Gu Qiang up, and they started to stride toward the door.

No one suspected them or even noticed the apparent bloodstains on their clothes.

After they walked out of the door, they rushed toward the mountain.

The moon rose without them even noticing. Everything was quiet at night. Gusu Liang looked around and whispered, “This is the backside of the Xiaoyao Mountain, which belonged to Master. That woman is locked in the water dungeon down below. My lady, if you want to go see her, I will take you there.”

Then she lifted Gu Qiang’s dress to check her legs. Gu Qiang’s legs were swollen, and the skin looked pale and wet for being soaked by water for a long time. The part touched by Gusu Liang’s powder showed a sick color of light pink, like bad, frozen meat in the winter.

Seeing her legs under the moonlight, Gu Qiang exhaled heavily in shock. Yet, she still answered Gusu Liang in a low voice, “Let’s go now. But can you make sure you can kill her with one strike?”

“What?” Her words somehow startled Gusu Liang. Did Gu Qiang mean she wanted her to kill Sun Linhua?

Gusu Liang’s eyes met Gu Qiang’s in the air, and she realized she was not joking. But she couldn’t do it as Gu Qiang wanted. For her, Sun Linhua was an acquaintance she had known and hung out with since she was a kid. She couldn’t possibly kill Sun Linhua with her own hands.

Even though she was trained as a cold-hearted killer, she would never kill her own comrades.

“She has to die. Don’t ask me for a reason. Even if I tell you, you won’t understand.” Gu Qiang tied her dress up in case they needed to run or climb walls later.

The mountain top suddenly lighted up in the darkness before Gusu Liang didn’t even have time to reject her. Waves of noises came from there like tides. Then countless women who wore maid uniforms rushed out from the house and scattered in different directions.

“She finally found out that we escaped?” Gu Qiang stood up and walked toward the water dungeon mentioned by Gusu Liang.

Gusu Liang froze on her spot for a while, and suddenly, she shot a signal flare to the sky. Then she quickly caught up with Gu Qiang. Meanwhile, all the maids from the yard noticed the signal and started to rush toward their current location.

Gu Qiang frowned at Gusu Liang, who apparently exposed their location to the enemies. Yet, she didn’t say anything about it, only heading toward the darkness.