Chapter 24: Golden Pear • The Present Version

Although the beginning of the story has been rewritten several times, Jin Xueli’s first encounter with Anthony has remained unchanged:

On a warm, restless night just before the onset of summer, she crossed paths with a beautiful, venomous creature in human form.

Naturally, her gaze could not pierce through Anthony’s smooth, attractive skin or his hair to see the twisted, dark fluids deep within his brain—and when a person believes they are successfully obtaining everything they desire, they can be remarkably gentle, generous, and attentive.

Especially at the very beginning of an encounter.

“...That really scared me just now,” Jin Xueli whispered to her friend. “He suddenly lost control, and the car drove straight at me. Luckily, I’ve been training, so my reflexes were quick enough to dive to the side... otherwise, I’d be a human pancake between the bumper and the wall right now.”

Amber drew a sharp breath. “That dangerous? It’s a good thing you often go to—”

She suddenly cut herself off, glanced at Anthony standing nearby, and corrected her words: “It’s a good thing you often go to the gym.”

Amber had short hair, a small round face, and ears that poked out from her straight hair like an elf’s. Her personality matched her appearance: bright and sharp.

Jin Xueli often told her that if only she had a gateway, they could be partners in adventures within the Nest—though she knew that if Amber did have a gateway, she would be a hunter for the Morgan family, making them potential rivals.

“You escaped death, that’s for sure. Keeping up with your workouts is always the right move.”

Anthony, suspecting nothing, showered Jin Xueli with concerned inquiries, his expression of lingering fear so intense it seemed as though he were the one who had nearly lost his life.

Within a minute or two, his emotional range ran the full gamut, shifting from worry and relief to righteous indignation: “How was that person driving? Was he drunk? Standing there all shifty-eyed without even coming over to apologize! When the police arrive to take statements, we must make sure to explain the situation clearly.”

Things that felt hollow in hindsight were quite convincing at the time. Jin Xueli smiled at him and lowered her voice: “It wasn't drunk driving... I think he’s a private bodyguard. I saw his sidearm earlier.”

“A bodyguard?” Amber glanced from the corner of her eye and immediately went, “Oh. No wonder his hand kept resting under his jacket... There’s no one else in the car, though. Did the person he was protecting leave?”

“They left,” Jin Xueli replied. “He was part of a motorcade; as soon as his car crashed, the rest dispersed immediately. I don’t know what went wrong with his car, or why he crashed into the door.”

At the mention of a “gun,” Anthony’s face tightened slightly. He hesitated, then reached out to take the two women by the arm, pulling them behind the door of the bar, insisting, “It never hurts to be careful... What if he’s not a bodyguard, but some crazy pervert? Should we go inside?”

At the time, Jin Xueli thought he was quite level-headed and cautious.

“I still want to stand here for a bit,” Amber said, scanning the black-suited figure behind the SUV. “I’m just the type who likes to watch the excitement, you don’t mind, do you?”

Anthony glanced at her, then at Jin Xueli.

Jin Xueli knew perfectly well that Amber wasn’t just watching for the excitement. Compared to the daily life of a hunter’s household, a car crashing into a door was too trivial to even merit a mention.

Furthermore, Amber’s gaze was different from that of an ordinary onlooker: there was a bright spark in her eyes, darting from the car to the man, as if she had already used that spark to snatch some sort of secret from the noisy, chaotic scene.

Backed by a major hunter family, Amber was well-informed. The Matthew Effect held true here as well: the more a person knows, the better they know where to find information, and the better they understand what constitutes a real “scoop.”

Unfortunately, Jin Xueli couldn’t ask her directly what she had discovered—not with Anthony standing right there.

“Then I’ll stay with you,” she said.

Anthony didn't seem reluctant at all.

“The security in Black Moore City is getting worse and worse; even the rich probably sense the temperature changing,” he leaned against the wall, chatting with Jin Xueli. “Regular people like us can’t afford bodyguards, we just have to be careful... Especially young, beautiful women like you, who are more likely to become targets.”

Feeling his hot gaze on her face, Jin Xueli subconsciously smoothed her hair and smiled, saying, “I’m not afraid, though.”

“It’s safer to have a boyfriend,” Anthony said. “Didn't your boyfriend come with you today?”

“I’m single.”

Because she had a good impression of him, Jin Xueli didn't mind such an obvious probe; after a moment, she added, “I can handle my own safety. If nothing else, I have a small lady’s pistol and a hunting knife I bought specifically in Europe at home.”

Anthony froze.

He seemed to have words rolling on his tongue, but he kept them inside, weighing them. While he was carefully choosing his words, Amber gently pulled Jin Xueli and whispered, “His colleague is here.”

Jin Xueli’s gaze cut through the crowd, and sure enough, she saw a car pulling in. The driver, wearing an identical black suit, hurried over to the bodyguard who had crashed the car.

Regardless of what had caused the bodyguard to crash, the immediate danger had long since dissipated, replaced by curious bar patrons, a worried-looking bar manager, and the emergency medical personnel who had just arrived. The bodyguard finally relaxed, sitting in the driver’s seat with the door wide open, answering police questions while letting the medics check his pupils.

“Brother Dylan,” the new man in black called out.

“Evan?”

The bodyguard who had crashed looked up, startled, and lowered the gauze pressed against the wound on his temple. “Why are you here?”

The second bodyguard, Evan, seemed to be of lower rank and experience, his attitude quite respectful: “There was an issue over here, and the Boss was a bit uneasy while out picking up the item, so they temporarily assigned more hands. Sister Mi was worried you wouldn't be able to manage alone, so she sent me to assist.”

For some reason, he spoke in a voice a degree lower than most. Jin Xueli was certain that Amber, like her, had pricked up her ears and leaned in several steps just to barely catch the gist of it.

Dylan didn't seem particularly warm or grateful for this backup.

“Got it,” he pressed the gauze back to his wound, looking as if he didn't want to say more and wanted Evan to shut up—perhaps wary of the police nearby.

“We’re still open for business!” a bartender shouted from the back door, seemingly trying to remind the patrons to return and keep spending money. “Don't worry, everyone, nothing is affected!”

“Shall we go?” Anthony lowered his head, speaking very gently to Jin Xueli: “Let’s go back in, sit down, and have a chat. Let me buy you a drink.”

Meeting Anthony tonight was truly an accident; she hesitated between the “bodyguard crash” and the “handsome man”—until Amber smiled at her, gestured toward the bar door with her chin, and said, “You go ahead. I’ll tell you if anything interesting happens later.”

Jin Xueli had to tell her, “You come find me inside in a bit,” and after receiving Amber’s assurance, she followed Anthony into the bar.

As she sat down, her thoughts flashed back to that man, Evan. He said something about the “Boss picking up an item,” right? Picking up what? She wondered if it had anything to do with the interest Amber had shown.

But she didn't dwell on it. Because at that moment, Anthony was sitting beside her, a lock of hair falling over his eyes, the light within them shimmering in the shadow of his bangs; as if she were a precious treasure that the world had somehow inexplicably overlooked.

Later, Jin Xueli thought that no matter what the target of a hunt might be, a person capable of being a hunter must possess a certain amount of intuition—for instance, even though she didn't feel there was anything special about her appearance, Anthony had managed to pick her out from the crowd of patrons at a single glance.

She was a hunter in the Nest, but a prey in the human world.

“What would you like to drink?” he asked.

“I hate drinking,” Jin Xueli said, and she couldn't help but laugh at herself for saying that in a bar.

Starting with the topic of “not drinking,” she began her conversation and date with Anthony.

Over the course of two or three months, they went from meeting occasionally to becoming increasingly close. After Anthony visited her home for the first time, he became almost the perfect boyfriend—though this illusion did not last long.

I don't know which meeting it was, but as they were talking, they touched upon the black SUV that had crashed into the back door of the bar in early May. Only then did Jin Xueli remember she hadn't asked Amber what she had discovered that night—perhaps the event had turned out to be so trivial that Amber hadn't thought to tell her.

“By the way, I remember you mentioned that night that you have a hunting knife you bought specifically in Europe,” Anthony asked, suddenly curious. “We have hunting knives domestically too; is there something special about one from Europe? Could you show me?”

Jin Xueli immediately jumped off the sofa to retrieve the knife, explaining everything from the brand and craftsmanship to its value; the moment she was most excited was the moment Anthony was most moved.

“I’m not trying to take your things,” he said at the time, still willing to put on an act, looking quite embarrassed. “Could you lend it to me for a while? I have a friend who specializes in collecting knives, and I’d like to show it to him.”

Jin Xueli thought about it and decided she wouldn't need to enter the Nest for the next two or three months. Even if she did, she had other weapons and tools. “Sure, just bring it back when I need it.”

...She slowly opened her eyes, unable to distinguish for a moment whether it was her body or the gallery floor that felt so stiff and cold; the two seemed to have become one.

Anthony never returned the hunting knife.

Jin Xueli looked at the two timelines in her mind, feeling a mix of confusion and sudden realization.

She turned her head silently, her gaze casting out from the floor to the massive candle standing in the middle of the gallery...

And to her own back, sitting before the candle.

So that was it.

In the second version of history, which had been altered for reasons unknown, Anthony had borrowed the hunting knife and never returned it. Jin Xueli hadn't brought the knife into the Nest, so naturally, she couldn't have driven it into the Resident’s throat.

Because of that, the Resident didn't sustain the same wound to its throat...

And so, she had survived.