It seemed like God was playing a joke on him.

Xie Ci was running directly against the wind. The cold, fierce wind carried large raindrops that smashed down on him like whips, causing a painful stinging sensation.

Xie Ci gritted his teeth and ran frantically, cold air pouring in from every direction, his soaked clothes clinging to his skin. His vision was chaotic, rainwater washing over everything before him until it all became twisted and distorted. Xie Ci had to keep wiping the rainwater from his face just to barely make out directions.

At this moment, his heart held only one thought: he had to find Dong Ye Li and teach her a harsh lesson. He had to make her understand her mistake.

He had still underestimated the determination of someone who truly wanted to die. He understood too little about Miss Ye Li. Looking back over the past month, it had almost entirely been Miss Ye Li actively entering his world, while he had just taken it for granted.

Perhaps the saying ‘people only learn to cherish things after losing them’ wasn’t as baseless as he thought.

But I can't actually tie Miss Ye Li up and drag her back, can I?

With most of his blood having rushed to his limbs, Xie Ci had to rack his brains thinking of countermeasures. What kind of words could he use to pull that figure in red back to this world?

The countdown still had six minutes left.

Running frantically through the pouring rain was truly miserable. When you had no choice but to open your mouth to gasp for air, dense raindrops would pour in continuously. The rainwater kept flooding in, very salty, very bitter.

Very exhausting.

Behind the market was a beach park. Fortunately, the route wasn't complicated and there weren't many buildings blocking the way, so Xie Ci was lucky not to get lost.

His phone had long since been waterlogged, and he couldn't even use map apps.

Finally reaching what looked like a park, there wasn't a single person in sight due to the sudden downpour. Umbrellas broken by the wind had their ribs turned inside out, grotesquely stuck on park benches. Scattered cups lay helplessly on the ground, rolling back and forth in the wind. Even previously exquisite stuffed animals had been soaked through by the rain, lying pathetically in puddles.

How desolate it all looks in the face of sudden heavy rain.

Xie Ci gasped for breath, surveying his surroundings.

He wanted to shout her name loudly, but a deafening thunderclap made him abandon that idea.

Calm down, calm down.

The countdown had three minutes left. If the location was the beach park, then Miss Ye Li probably intended to...

Where in the park would it be possible to carry out such a plan?

Xie Ci kicked off his shoes, heavy from being waterlogged, and headed toward the shore where waves rose and fell.

The park wasn't large, and the coastline was short. The sound of waves mixed with the pattering rain and thunder, creating a confused blur.

A few lights still shone along the beach. The waning moon blocked by clouds in the sky and the lighthouse standing in the distance dispelled part of the darkness of this ink-black seaside.

The outline of the beach was already very clear. Xie Ci ran to the beach entrance and wiped the rainwater from his face.

The sky looked as if ink had been spilled across it, with thick darkness pressing down heavily, making it hard to breathe. The ink-black seawater churned, with vicious wave crests lunging toward the shore.

In this churning, apocalyptic scene, at that shoreline repeatedly beaten by waves.

A dot of red.

So abrupt, so striking, so undeniably present in his field of vision.

That dot of red was no longer just a color to him—it was the only clear existence in this storm.

Xie Ci quickly approached. Not far from the beach, a pair of black high heels was neatly placed.

Dong Ye Li didn't seem to notice someone approaching from behind, or perhaps she noticed but didn't turn around. She just silently gazed toward the horizon, toward that sea level line about to disappear.

Step by step, slowly moving forward.

Her fair thighs had already sunk into the surging seawater.

Following her small footprints washed by the seawater, after just a few steps, the waves spread over.

Cold! Bone-piercingly cold!

Miss Ye Li was still walking forward unaware of the danger, as if this were the most ordinary walk on the most ordinary day.

Until a voice all too familiar rang out from behind her.

This voice had composed every day of her past month.

"Miss Ye Li!"

Xie Ci's desperate shout seemed so pale and powerless in this noisy environment.

Just as he took a deep breath, preparing to shout again.

She turned around. What met his eyes was his labored breathing, disheveled hair, and utterly bedraggled appearance.

She still curved her lips into a slight smile, tenderness showing in the depths of her amber eyes.

"Little Ci."

"You'll catch cold like this."

Xie Ci gasped heavily, so anxious that he lunged forward and grasped her wrist.

Xie Ci showed a confused expression.

"Ye Li, you still love getting rained on so much."

"Aren't you cold in the seawater?"

"What do you think? Is it cold or not?" Xie Ci replied irritably.

"Is this place close to that market?"

"No, I've become a drowned rat running over here, and I'm exhausted like a dog."

Xie Ci tried to squeeze out a smile while using a humorous tone to lighten the atmosphere.

He failed.

His other hand rested on Ye Li's shoulder. So cold.

"It's cold here, let's go back.

"Teacher, aren't you a physics teacher? What's that thing you said last time? Right, water has a large specific heat capacity.

"I do listen carefully in class, you know."

Though this doesn't seem to be covered in freshman physics.

But the girl in red before him seemed to have no intention of walking back. She just smiled without speaking.

"Little Ci, didn't I tell you where my house is? The door isn't locked. Go back and wait for me first. I'll stay here and look around for a bit, then come back soon."

"What about your car? It's still parked at the market entrance, right?" Xie Ci stared intently at Miss Ye Li, his grip on her wrist unconsciously tightening.

"The seawater is already up to your thighs. What's there to see?"

Xie Ci moved behind her, turned her shoulders so she faced him directly, completely blocking her path toward the sea.

"Ye Li, didn't you say you wanted to eat my cooking? You were going to help me record streams too."

Dong Ye Li could no longer maintain her smile. She looked up at him, those eyes still stunningly beautiful even under the wash of rainwater.

She pressed her lips tight.

"I just like getting rained on, wanted to come walk by the sea..."

"You're lying." Xie Ci interrupted her words.

At this point, many things don't need to be said explicitly.

The sea wind howled in their ears.

The two remained in a standoff for a while.

Ye Li suddenly sighed.

"Little Ci."

"Hmm?"

Her voice, always elegant and confident, finally showed some fluctuation.

"Wouldn't it be good to have a proper beginning and end? I've already told you where I live, and the lock has already been programmed with your fingerprint."

"I said before, everything is yours."

"Why do you have to go this far?"

Like a question, yet like an accusation.

Miss Ye Li had already lost this opportunity.

From the moment Xie Ci firmly grasped her wrist.

Many different words flashed through Xie Ci's mind. In these ten minutes he had thought of many, many different reasons, but at this crucial moment, he couldn't find a single one, couldn't speak any of them.

Xie Ci hesitated for a moment.

"If I had to give a reason, it would probably be... I like you."

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