Chapter 4: Surviving in the Desert (4)

Yun Zui remained silent. In the modern world, she would never have needed rescuing, but now she could clearly feel her own weakness. She could not afford to push herself, or she would simply be crushed to death inside. The light outside grew brighter and brighter, and the air became incredibly fresh—they had reached the outside! Yet, as Chi Nie led her in a leap downward, why were there whirlwinds everywhere? What kind of place was this? Yun Zui wondered to herself, but before she could find an answer, the two of them plunged into unconsciousness.

It was all too strange.

When Yun Zui and Chi Nie finally awoke, they found themselves in the midst of a vast desert. Yun Zui stared up at the sky in speechless exasperation—why had she ended up in such a place? She had awakened inside a coffin, emerged to encounter whirlwinds, and now found herself in a desert—Yun Zui suspected that Chi Nie must be a tomb raider…

Moreover, she had overheard Chi Nie’s cousin once mention a corpse coming back to life. That alone was enough to prove that she herself had been a dead body!

Yun Zui could not determine whether the man before her was friend or foe.

Chi Nie’s gaze followed Yun Zui relentlessly, making her decidedly uneasy.

“Stop staring at me. You already know I’ve borrowed this body to return to life; you should realize I’m no native of the tomb.”

This ancient world was still a mystery to her, and now they were stranded in a desert. She could not guarantee they would make it out alive, so for Yun Zui, Chi Nie was a useful person to keep around.

Chi Nie understood well enough—this was a desert, but there were no deserts on the continent he knew. He had no idea where they were. When they’d jumped down, they should have landed safely on a massive three-tiered warship, but beneath him there had been no warship at all—not even the sea remained…

Strange things had happened ever since he met Yun Zui.

Chi Nie withdrew his gaze, yet continued to sit on the sand. His face looked a bit pale, but he said nothing of pain.

“Are you hurt?” Yun Zui asked, eyeing him with suspicion.

They were in trouble together now, and Yun Zui needed to use Chi Nie to escape the desert.

“Mm.” Chi Nie replied indifferently.

Whenever he looked at Yun Zui, he would be struck by the illusion that she was Su Rantong. But he knew full well that Yun Zui was not Su Rantong. At this very moment, Su Rantong was still unconscious in his manor, while Yun Zui was the emperor’s buried consort.

And by tradition, Yun Zui would count as his elder.

Chi Nie and Chi Yuan shared the same grandfather, but Chi Nie’s father was only a prince, while Chi Yuan’s father had been the late emperor. As for the current emperor, he was merely Chi Yuan’s half-brother.

In that case, Yun Zui would be Chi Yuan’s stepmother.

Had Yun Zui been empress rather than consort, she would have been Chi Yuan’s royal mother. The irony was sharp, for Yun Zui was only fifteen years old, and her previous identity had been the most neglected illegitimate daughter of the prime minister’s household.

“You won’t die, will you?” Yun Zui’s manner of speaking was much like Chi Nie’s—neither of them spoke kindly.

Chi Nie curled his thin lips into a mocking smile. “Are you worried about me?”

Yun Zui shot him a glare. She wasn’t worried, but she certainly didn’t want him dead just yet.

She still hadn’t figured out who she was now.

“Who am I?” Yun Zui stepped forward a few paces. She felt she ought to know her own identity.

“Yun Zui, fifth young lady of the prime minister’s household, born of a concubine,” Chi Nie answered without reserve. At this moment, Yun Zui carried one of Su Rantong’s souls.

Yet Chi Nie kept his own counsel and did not reveal that Yun Zui was also the late emperor’s buried imperial consort.

A person whose identity was anything but ordinary.