Everything around was a desolate gray-white, while that figure was dressed in heavy black from head to toe, as if it was a tone that couldn't let light through.

Tang Li was stunned for a moment, and without thinking, she ran over there. The skeletal ruins under her feet made a rustling sound and collapsed a small area. She slid down the hill and came to the person's side.

Several scavenger birds stopped nearby, trying to peck at the fresh flesh. Tang Li hurriedly waved her hands to drive them away. Before she could see clearly what this person looked like, she first smelled a strong bloody scent. There were many wounds on this body, covered in blood, staining the white bone pile underneath, and even those hands were mangled, all covered in dried blood stains.

It was in these badly injured hands that a long saber was still tightly gripped. The blade was narrow and straight, the long handle black, also soaked in blood.

Because it looked too horrible, Tang Li subconsciously held her breath, reached out, and carefully turned the person over. He was originally lying face down, his black hair scattered, covering his face. Tang Li turned him over, wanting to check if he still had breath.

As the black hair slid away, it revealed the handsome face of a young man, with long eyebrows, a straight nose, and especially long eyelashes. His closed eyes and pale, tightly pursed lips gave him a sharp yet fragile sense of contradiction. His hair was very black, and his facial skin was white, the distinct black and white contrast making him look extremely clear and transparent.

Almost in an instant, Tang Li was certain that this was Xun Nu, the male god she had fallen for in her teenage years. Now she had grown up and matured, while this male god who had appeared alive in front of her still had the same appearance as when she first saw him in the book.

Tang Li carefully checked his breathing and listened to his heartbeat. She found that although he was severely injured, he was still alive. After temporarily putting her mind at ease, she wiped cold sweat for him.

She was not a doctor and didn't know how to treat illnesses. Although in the original story, the female lead didn't seem to do much either, only feeding him some water and hugging him at night to warm his body, and Xun Nu managed to pull through on his own, but would that really be enough?

In the end, Tang Li decided to believe in the little male god's tenacious vitality - yes, he used to be a male god, now he was a little male god, after all, he looked a few years younger than her actual age.

Xun Nu remained unconscious. Seeing that the night was getting dark and it was starting to get cold, Tang Li busily collected some flammable rags, broken wood pieces and such from the surroundings, and set up a bonfire.

Taking out a fire striker from her waist, she managed to light the bonfire with difficulty, but the wind was too strong, making the flames dance non-stop. She glanced at the still unconscious and unresponsive Xun Nu, got up and started searching again.

Tang Li was very lucky to find a large piece of cloth that had not yet rotted, looking like a thick tent cloth. She pulled it out from the bone pile, used the small dagger from her sleeve to cut the cloth more neatly, rolled it up and bundled it. In addition, she also collected some other useful things, half-dragging and half-carrying them back to the bonfire, chose a good position, and made a simple small shed that could block the wind. Although there were still some drafts, it was much better than before.

The bonfire gradually burned more vigorously. Tang Li touched Xun Nu's hand and found that it was ice cold, so she moved the bonfire closer and carefully lifted his head and upper body, moving him into her arms, finally covering them both with her outer garment.

It felt strange to hug a stranger, but thinking that this was the person she had loved and cherished in her teenage years, that uneasiness turned into an indescribable excitement and a dreamy subtlety.

After doing all this, Tang Li slowly exhaled and only then felt the soreness in her waist and back.

Because she had to take care of someone, she didn't even have time to be afraid of this field of bones at first. She had the caring attribute of a loving old hen, and liked to take care of others, so from a young age, many friends relied on her.

When she was in college, she became the dorm leader. After the first semester, except for her, everyone else had gained more than ten jin in weight under her care. Everyone called her a little expert in pig raising, or directly joked and called her mom.

In order to better take care of a group of lazy bums, she was used to carrying many small things on her, and could be called a walking treasure bag. This habit had continued to the present, so now not only did she have fire strikers and daggers on her, she even had more than a dozen packs of seasonings taken from the kitchen in her purse, a few pieces of candy, and handkerchiefs, hair ties, combs, as well as loose silver and other small items in her sleeve pockets.

She was always very well prepared at all times.

When dawn arrived, Tang Li woke up. She had only dozed off a little when it was almost dawn, still half-dreaming. In the dream, her mother was probably urging her to get married. Maybe in the future, she would no longer hear her mother's angry scolding.

Her mind wandered for a while. Tang Li looked down at Xun Nu. He hadn't woken up and still had his eyes closed, but his body was warmer than yesterday.

The bonfire had already gone out. After roasting by the fire all night, her throat was parched. Seeing Xun Nu's lips dry and chapped, Tang Li took out a handkerchief as she had anticipated, picked up the inverted lid of a pastry box, dipped it in the dew on top and moistened his lips.

Unfortunately, no water source could be seen around.

Just as she put the handkerchief away, Tang Li suddenly met a pair of jet-black eyes. Xun Nu had opened his eyes at some point and was quietly looking at her.

His eyes were as black as his hair. Because they were so pure, they looked incredibly clean. The gaze with which he looked at her was also calm, with no suspicion or murderous intent, not quite in line with his identity as the number one assassin.

But Tang Li knew that in the original story, Xun Nu was a pure person. When he was a child, he was abandoned by his family due to poverty and famine. His master picked him up, taught him to kill, and gave him food to eat.

Even after he had become the number one assassin in the world, even after his master died, he still stayed in the organization. His life had only one thing - killing people, until he met the female lead and realized that the weapon in his hand could not only kill people, but also protect people.

Just in that brief moment of distraction, Tang Li found that Xun Nu's eyes had closed again, and he had fallen unconscious again without a word.

Tang Li looked at Xun Nu, who was unconscious in her arms, patted her chest, and finally understood why a few friends who were fans would sometimes call their idols "son", sometimes "brother", and occasionally "daddy", even though it was the same person.

When Xun Nu's eyes were closed, Tang Li felt that he was a pitiful little cutie, making her want to take care of him like a child. But the moment he woke up and their eyes met, Tang Li found herself wanting to call him daddy. Even without speaking, his aura was so strong!

As soon as the assassin daddy closed his eyes, he turned back into a little cutie. Tang Li moved his head from her lap, letting him lie down more comfortably, then got up holding the snack box to look for a water source. However, after searching around, she didn't find any water source. Instead, dark clouds were gathering in the sky, looking like it was about to rain.

Tang Li hurried back, dismantled the simple windbreak she had hastily made yesterday, and remade one that could block the rain. She also found a few helmet-shaped objects and lined them up to collect rainwater. Originally, if she hadn't found these, she was prepared to use skulls to collect water. If she really used skulls to collect water, she felt she might not be able to drink it.

In addition, Tang Li collected a lot of flammable rags, withered wood, and broken flagpoles. For the entire day, Tang Li, whose collecting addiction was triggered, was busy going back and forth like a diligent little bee. She didn't even notice that during this time, Xun Nu woke up several times, lying there watching her.

Amidst the thunder and lightning, rain suddenly poured down. Tang Li, holding the two newly found helmets in her arms, ran back to the shelter to avoid the rain. She squatted down, washed her hands clean, patted the dust off her body, and sat down again in the same spot as yesterday. She lifted Xun Nu's head and rested it on her lap.

Raindrops trickled down the edge of the shelter and also fell into those helmets. Tang Li waited for a while until some water had collected in the lid of the snack box, then picked it up and took a couple of sips, finally relieving her thirst.

She also wanted to feed Xun Nu some water, but it was inconvenient since he wasn't awake. Just as she was trying to figure out what to do, Xun Nu woke up.

"You're awake. Do you want to drink some water?" Tang Li showed a smile.

Xun Nu didn't refuse. He drank the water from her hand and then turned to look at her.

Tang Li felt very touched seeing that he could drink water. Noticing him looking at her, she introduced herself, "My name is Tang Li. I accidentally entered this place. What about you?"

Xun Nu opened his mouth and said two words, "Xun Nu."

His voice was unique, with a hoarse timbre. Tang Li remembered that the book seemed to mention that his throat was injured in childhood. Although it was treated later, it was not completely healed, so his voice was deeper and hoarser than ordinary people. He also didn't like to talk much in the original story.

Suddenly hearing this voice, Tang Li felt as if someone had stroked her from the back of her neck all the way to her tailbone, giving her a tingling sensation from head to toe.

How could the voice of her first love, the little male god, be so unique and pleasant to hear? Tang Li wanted to hear him say a few more words, so she eagerly looked for a topic and asked, "Which two characters are they?"

Xun Nu still answered her in that hoarse voice, "Xun from the Xun trigram in the Eight Trigrams, and Nu meaning woman or slave."

Tang Li was almost intoxicated from listening, her eyes shining brightly. "So, Xun Nu, are you hungry? Do you want to eat something? I still have a few pieces of snacks here."

Xun Nu was in poor spirits and soon closed his eyes again to rest. He was very quiet when he slept, his breathing steady. Tang Li propped her head up and watched him. Before long, she couldn't resist drowsiness amidst the sound of the rain and also fell asleep.

Xun Nu woke up in her arms while she was still sleeping, her hair hanging down beside his temples. Xun Nu didn't know what identity this woman had, but he didn't sense any malice from her, so he didn't react much to her closeness.

His body was severely injured. He struggled to lift his right hand and saw that the blood on it had been wiped clean by someone and was nicely bandaged with a handkerchief. His long sword was placed right next to his hand; he could touch it with a slight movement of his fingers.

He first moved his fingers and touched the blade, then hesitated for a moment before slowly raising his hand to touch the cheek of the woman holding him. He lightly touched it and then put his hand down.

Feeling the warmth at his fingertips, he couldn't help thinking that this was a real person.

About a few days ago, Xun Nu thought he would die here and eventually become nameless bones like the many corpses here. He never thought anyone would save him because he had no relatives or friends, so no one would come to his rescue.

There was nothing wrong with that. He had killed many people. From the moment his master taught him to kill the first person, he knew that one day, he would also be killed by someone like this.

His master had said that people like them would not have a good end and might not even have a grave.

He could feel his body gradually turning cold and smell the scent of death. But suddenly, that smell was replaced by another scent, a clean and soft fragrance from a person. It was very close to him, enveloping him, and his body slowly became warm.

When he woke up again, he saw the morning sunlight and a woman with a blurry face in that sunlight. It was like a dream, disappearing into the darkness with a blink of an eye.

Xun Nu wanted to see what this person looked like. He woke up several times and saw a figure busy around him. Although he still couldn't see her appearance clearly, every time he opened his eyes, this person was there.

When she asked for his name, her smile was very gentle. That expression reminded Xun Nu of soft and sweet flowers, a completely different existence from him.

He suddenly remembered that two years ago, he was ordered to kill someone. There was a beautiful white pear tree in bloom in that person's courtyard. They fought for several rounds in the courtyard.

In the end, he beheaded that person with one slash of his sword, right under that white pear tree. Blood splattered on the tree, staining a branch of pear blossoms red. At that time, looking at that branch of pear blossoms, a sense of guilt suddenly arose in his heart.

He had never felt guilty for the people who died by his hand, but at that moment, he felt that he shouldn't have splattered blood on such clean and pure white flowers.

Author's Note:

In this short story, the female lead is a healing-type gentle girl~