CHAPTER 964: 961. "LIPSTICK.

Su Lixian’s escape was not going smoothly.

The vehicle was forced into the mountains and forests. The Holy Alliance Army was relentlessly pursuing.

"The Holy Alliance Army urgently mobilizes, please proceed immediately to the dense forest of Zone 12, to annihilate the sinner carrying the virus..." The vehicle’s radio broadcasted the voice of the Holy Alliance Army, smearing Su Lixian. They were calling the special medicine a "virus."

Su Lixian looked down, took out the glass vial stored in the inner pocket on her left chest, and gazed at this special medicine, brilliant like a blue star.

...She must protect it well. This flame cannot be extinguished at the forty-seventh person.

The scenery outside the window whizzed by, branches scraping against the car glass.

"Ms. Su, Ms. Lin, jump out of the car!" The driver suddenly said.

"Master Liu, do we need to jump out of the car?" Lin Yuzi said in surprise.

"The forest is too dense, there is only this narrow path. But it is a one-way road, the Holy Alliance Army will undoubtedly block it at the end." The driver said: "Only if you jump out of the car now, using the dense woods on both sides to escape, can you survive."

Lin Yuzi was still hesitating, but Su Lixian made a decisive decision: "Yuzi, we jump!"

She could vaguely see the pursuers behind the vehicle; if they were to be pinched from both sides, they certainly couldn’t escape.

Lin Yuzi’s forehead faintly sweated: "Master Liu, no need to jump out of the car, you can stop the car, that’s safer."

The driver smiled: "Do you think I want you to jump out for nothing? It’s precisely because I don’t want to stop. If this car stops, the Holy Alliance Army would know your active range, only by keeping the car going they wouldn’t know where you got off!"

Lin Yuzi then realized the determination Master Liu had. If the car kept going, and the Holy Alliance Army found out Su Lixian wasn’t in it, Master Liu couldn’t survive.

She didn’t even remember Master Liu’s full name, only knowing his surname was Liu, an external driver hired by the research institute. Usually, he loved to take small advantages, even wanted a few extra eggs from the cafeteria. He was just an ordinary person with no special traits, who liked to bicker over trivial matters.

He seemed to have a four-year-old daughter who would come to find him after work. He would give her the eggs he secretly took, complaining about his monthly salary.

Lin Yuzi never thought he would do such a thing.

"Yuzi, let’s go." Su Lixian expressed gratitude, then pushed open the car door, the roaring wind gushing in.

Lin Yuzi took one last look at the middle-aged driver. He stared straight ahead, Lin Yuzi couldn’t see his face; his hands on the steering wheel trembled, evidently afraid too. In the rearview mirror, his eyes glistened with tears.

The bright red Peace Knot swayed beneath the rearview mirror, the last thing Lin Yuzi saw was this red knot resembling a goldfish tail.

The wind roared as Su Lixian hugged Lin Yuzi and jumped out of the car, the fierce wind scraping over their backs. Leaves swirled, and the car quickly sped away, never to be seen again.

"Swish! Swish!"

It wasn’t until lying on the leaves that Lin Yuzi hazily realized — in the end, she didn’t even remember what Master Liu looked like.

Her vision was too broad, failing to remember a silent, ordinary person.

...Ordinary person.

"Goodbye, Master Liu..." Lin Yuzi murmured.

Su Lixian pulled Lin Yuzi’s hand and dashed into the forest.

They fled for a long time, distant gunfire, shouts, cannon fire, and helicopter rotor sounds reached their ears. Whenever they were about to dash out of the forest, they found Holy Alliance troops guarding nearby, unable to break through. Day and night turned upside down in the air, they lost track of days, their stomachs left with only water.

Their clothes were in tatters, days of escape left them hungry and cold. A light snowfall occurred, pale white frost snow floated down.

The Holy Alliance Army’s siege grew tighter, forcing the two to hide in a cave. The cave was under a high slope, hard to be discovered.

Su Lixian held her knees, quietly sitting in a dim light. It was the cave’s only light source, projected through a slender crack. She was extremely weak.

"Over thirty hours without food, Lixian, wait here, I’ll find some fruit..." Lin Yuzi spoke, discovering her voice so hoarse.

"Hmm."

The reply was equally hoarse.

When Lin Yuzi returned with some fruit, Su Lixian was already lying on the ground, eyes closed, her fingers tightly clutching the glass vial.

The single dim light from the cave crevice fell precisely on Su Lixian’s face. It illuminated her pallid face due to long-duration fleeing, lips cracked like dead tree bark, cheeks sunken and hollow.

In that moment seeing this scene, as if something tightly squeezed Lin Yuzi’s heart. She rushed over almost frantically, to feel Su Lixian’s breath. Only feeling the warmth did she confirm Su Lixian was alive.

However, the panic in her heart wouldn’t fade. She feared Su Lixian’s death.

"Lixian." Lin Yuzi’s voice was unbelievably dry.

She could barely hear her own voice:

"We...let’s surrender to the Holy Alliance Army. That way, you can survive."

Su Lixian was already thin like a skeleton, her body sunk from extreme malnutrition. It was hard to hold on.

The Human Self-Rescue Alliance hadn’t found them yet, and the Holy Alliance Army was closing in here. Their active range was becoming smaller.

Only contacting the Holy Alliance Army could keep them alive. Su Lixian was the most renowned mysticist, the Holy Alliance Army wouldn’t let her starve. But continuing to hide here was definitely...a fate of starving.

However, Su Lixian shook her head lying in her arms.

Her hand, slowly raised, as if manipulating a limb not belonging to her. Her finger slowly pointed at her left chest, the location of her heart.

The glass vial lay against her chest, also like another heart of hers.

"Ding-dong."

It seemed like the sound of a heart and a glass vial crisply striking.

At that moment, it felt like something also collided in Lin Yuzi’s heart, she suddenly burst into tears.

Su Lixian held her hand, writing in her palm.

[It, Is, My, Heart.]

...

——It is my heart.

——It cannot be handed over.

No wind in the cave, only faint white snow sprinkled through the crevice, melting around them, like white stars filling the sky.

Lin Yuzi tightly hugged Su Lixian, the scalding liquid falling on Su Lixian’s back. She mashed the fruit in her hand, gently feeding it to Su Lixian.

A human’s heart is made of flesh and blood; it cannot be a glass vial.

But when a glass vial contains all the flames, in an idealist’s eyes, it becomes their heart to protect with all their might.

Once the heart breaks, survival is no longer possible.

Even if they died here, the glass vial wouldn’t fall into the Holy Alliance Army’s hands to be destroyed. When the Human Self-Rescue Alliance arrives, maybe it could still be found.

Even if, at that time, people only saw two desiccated skeletons devoid of flesh and blood. And a glass vial still emitting a bright blue light.

Su Lixian struggled to swallow the mashed fruit, her swallowing function already difficult, regurgitating like a cow. Lin Yuzi had to help her swallow repeatedly, feeding her snow water.

Her breathing sounded like an old bellows, one after another, piercingly loud, with oxygen becoming a luxury.

"Yuzi, besides the Holy Alliance Army...everyone is desperately helping us, we...cannot give up." Su Lixian’s face was as white as paper.

"...Alright."

"Do not submit... do not abandon our history. The best way to erase a race is to obliterate their history and culture, we...cannot submit, await rescue."

"...Hmm."

"I’m... a bit tired."

"It’s okay, sleep."

As Su Lixian fell asleep, Lin Yuzi’s pupils began to lose focus. She turned her back to Su Lixian, repeatedly muttering the same phrase like a mad person.

"Survive, survive, survive..."

"Survive, survive, survive...

The days in the cave went on for a long time, and the Holy Alliance Army gradually surrounded the outside. Lin Yuzi didn’t even dare to go out to find wild fruits. As soon as she stepped half a foot outside the cave, she could easily be discovered.

Su Lixian had already been weak; the emotions and memories of forty-six people constantly tormented her. Without food, her body deteriorated much more quickly than Lin Yuzi’s.

Today was the seventh day in the cave, and Lin Yuzi quietly turned off the flashlight’s battery alarm. Now they even had no light source.

They both became increasingly silent. The prolonged wait, despair, and hunger, awaiting death step by step in this sunless cave, were more torturous than any punishment.

Su Lixian was having trouble walking; even standing up was difficult. She was incoherent for twenty hours a day, mumbling things like "Mom, I want to eat braised pork ribs," "Don’t take my painting...," and "Old class leader, are you proud of yourself," words that Lin Yuzi couldn’t understand.

She simply kept kissing the glass bottle, looking at it as if it was glowing like the Morning Star, imagining all good things inside. Tears rolled down her cheeks, in a mechanical and morbid manner.

On this day, Lin Yuzi was gazing at the falling snow through the gaps above. Suddenly, she heard Su Lixian’s voice.

"Yuzi."

Calm, clear. Not hoarse at all.

Lin Yuzi turned around and saw Su Lixian, who hadn’t stood up for a long time, stand up unusually. Su Lixian was in good spirits today, even her complexion was somewhat rosy, which was surprising.

"Why are you getting up?" Lin Yuzi wanted her to continue resting.

"To draw." Su Lixian smiled.

She picked up a stone from the ground, moved step by step toward the cave wall, and began to carve, her movements trembling like an elderly person at the end of their life.

She carved intently, her eyes vibrant.

Lin Yuzi leaned closer to see that Su Lixian was drawing with the stone.

Simple sketches of a blossom tree, a blooming rose, and green vines climbing the steps. Then, stick figures representing her colleagues at the Research Institute, Su Lixian of the City Guardian Department, Tang of the Human Self-Rescue Alliance, driver Master Liu, cafeteria Aunt Wang, security Master Chen, Master Wu...

It was as if Su Lixian was using her last moments in life, with the simplest paper and pen, to write her life story on the stone wall.

"Is this a rose?" Lin Yuzi softly asked.

"Mm. Wensheng has loved roses since childhood."

"Is this a green vine?"

"Mm. It’s what Chongping likes."

"It looks very nice."

"For the roses, for the green vines, you have to survive, okay? Yuzi. You will tell everyone that winter is not eternal. This is not a solitary heroism; it’s a future and hope built by all Fire Transmitters together."

"You too."

"..."

Su Lixian gave Lin Yuzi a look that Lin Yuzi couldn’t understand.

In the end, Su Lixian used her trembling hands, holding the stone, to carve the last three people. These three, she was particularly meticulous in drawing; they weren’t just simple stick figures.

A man in a police cap, standing upright with a gentle smile.

A woman in a white coat, holding a stringed instrument, fingers shaping the strings, her gaze fixed on the young man in the center.

A teenager in a school uniform, cradling a chubby orange cat. A bright, unclouded smile on his face.

They existed on the stone wall, in this lightless cave. A family of three, with a cat, all smiling. As if, in some distant future, good things really could happen, maybe they could all be happy.

"Click."

The stone made a fragile sound.

Su Lixian coughed up blood, slowly collapsing forward, her blood staining the stone wall, her drawing tinged with blood red.

Lin Yuzi immediately embraced her, like holding a piece of ice about to melt.

Su Lixian’s burst of energy had passed.

She became weak again, even weaker than before.

"Yuzi, promise me... one thing." Su Lixian gasped.

Lin Yuzi held her, only shaking her head.

She wanted to promise Su Lixian, but a voice inside kept warning her—not to agree to Su Lixian, you know what she’s about to ask.

It’s not possible.

"In the cave... there are a few wild fruits left, they... will be used up, the quantity is not much." Su Lixian said intermittently: "Before... we have been rationing them. But, for two people... it’s not enough; it’s best if one of us survives to bring out the Special Medicine, you... understand what I mean?"

Lin Yuzi said nothing.

She understood. Of course, she understood what Su Lixian meant.

But...

"..."

Su Lixian lowered her head, smoothing Lin Yuzi’s messy hair, dusting off Lin Yuzi’s clothes, and taking out a lipstick from her pocket—that she kept with her daily, for use at certain occasions.

She applied the lipstick on Lin Yuzi’s cracked, pale lips, like blood on snow.

"Don’t move."

Her voice was low.

"... Yuzi, I want to see you, looking beautiful."

Don’t refuse my request, you must live well.

I want to remember the image of you looking beautiful, one last time, in my mind.

I want to seize this last opportunity of my return to light, to do all the things I wanted to do.

Draw, hum a tune, give you a beautiful makeover.

Let me not forget even after I’m gone.

In the dark cave, only a sliver of dawn light shone through the crack near them. Lipstick painted her lips with a vivid color.

Their eyes revealed a kind of peace that was incomprehensible, as if they weren’t the ones about to face death.

No one spoke, as if their souls had temporarily escaped this confined cave and ventured into a dawn yet to come.

Until Su Lixian spoke.