In a damp, half-collapsed abandoned warehouse, a buck-toothed man was tugging at his clothes with a nasty, greasy grin, his face flushed an unhealthy red. Beside him lay an unconscious girl, still as death.

"Heh... my bro really came through for me this time. Brought me something this fresh."

His filthy, disgusting hand had just brushed the buttons on the girl’s blouse when a gunshot cracked through the warehouse with a violent bang.

The buck-toothed man’s eyes bulged wide. His body tilted, then dropped hard to the ground.

Dead on the spot.

The girl who had been lying motionless on the floor suddenly shuddered all over and shot upright.

Her eyes were blank, unfocused, staring straight ahead. Her face was full of grief as she cried out, "Mother!"

"Squeak, squeak—"

Two rats had been scurrying along the base of the wall. Startled by the sudden gunshot, they shrieked and bolted in panic.

That tiny sound hitting her ears was enough to snap the girl into full alert, like she’d been jolted by electricity. Her hands clenched into fists. In that instant, her gaze turned razor-sharp and ice-cold, like two blades stabbing straight toward the source of the noise.

When she saw the two rats disappear into a hole in the wall, her sharp eyes swept over the area at once, wary of everything around her.

Rotten burlap sacks were scattered everywhere. Broken wooden racks leaned crookedly, about to collapse. Piles of decaying trash covered the floor, and the whole place reeked of mold and rot so badly it made the air feel heavy.

And there was more.

Several men lay around her, faces unnaturally flushed, their clothes all messed up, sprawled across the ground in different positions like a total train wreck.

The one closest to her had bulging eyes and clearly wasn’t breathing anymore. His upper body was bare, and there was a hole ripped through his chest, bright red blood still pouring out.

The second Rowena Ashford took in the scene, her heart clenched tight. She immediately lowered her head to check her own clothes.

Two buttons on her blouse had come undone, but the rest of her clothes were still properly on.

Only then did the knot in her chest loosen a little.

But the moment she saw the black heavenly bead resting in her palm, her expression changed all over again.

"No... where is this place?"

"Mother..."

Rowena Ashford had just started to get up, thinking to find someone for help, when something seemed to slam viciously into her mind. The pain hit so hard she almost screamed.

The little color left in her face vanished in an instant, turning her deathly pale.

Then her whole body went limp, and she collapsed straight back onto the ground.

That awful feeling dragged on for several minutes before it finally started to fade.

Rowena Ashford collapsed on the ground like all her bones had been pulled out of her. Tears kept spilling down her face no matter how hard she tried to stop them. In her hand, she gripped a tiny black bead so tightly her fingers had gone white. Her whole body was shaking. "Mom... I'm still alive. I didn't die. Don't worry. I'll live well. I will."

"Comrade, it's that broken warehouse over there! Hurry up and check it!" A woman's voice suddenly rang out from outside, sharp and urgent, like she was on the verge of losing it.

The second she heard that, Rowena snapped back to herself. She quickly forced her emotions down, pushed herself up from the floor, and the softness in her eyes vanished, replaced by pure alertness.

She wiped her face with her sleeve in a rough, messy motion, then lowered her gaze and glanced at the bloody hole in the chest of the man lying by her feet.

"Someone saved me."

She knew exactly what that beast had been trying to do to her just now. He hadn't gotten the chance. Someone had dropped him with a single shot.

Right then, she caught the faint sound of breathing from the corner. Her head whipped around at once, eyes locking onto the pile of broken wooden racks in the shadows.

The footsteps outside were getting closer, louder, one after another, pressing in on her nerves. Rowena didn't have time to think. She grabbed a wooden stick from the ground, rushed behind the heap of rotting timber, and yanked up a filthy piece of burlap.

A man was curled up in the corner, blood seeping from his abdomen. He had the close-cropped haircut common among men here, and his features were hard and steady, the kind that looked unshakable. There were scars all over his exposed arms and the backs of his hands. He had clearly lost too much blood; his lips were pale as paper. But the slight rise and fall of his chest showed he was still breathing.

His clothes looked ordinary, nothing eye-catching about them, but Rowena noticed the thick calluses on his hands and the pistol lying beside him. She guessed at once that he was probably a soldier.

She had only just come to this place. Honestly, she had zero interest in getting mixed up in this mess. But with things already at this point, there was no way she could stay out of it.

The owner of this body had been trapped and set up on purpose. Those four men had been sent by the people behind it. And the group rushing in from outside? Nine times out of ten, they had been called over by the same side too.

The other party clearly wanted to ruin her, trash her reputation, and stomp her into the ground for good.

Most likely, this badly wounded soldier had fired that shot before passing out and killed that disgusting creep. That was the only reason this body hadn't been violated.

But he was hurt this badly, covered in blood. If the people outside barged in now and pinned the murder of a soldier on her, then she would be totally done for. Even if she grew ten mouths, she still wouldn't be able to explain herself.

The footsteps outside were nearly at the door now. Rowena couldn't spare another second. She hurried over, dragged the corpse and the other three men who were still unconscious from the drug, muttered something under her breath, and in the next instant, all four bodies vanished on the spot.

Then she moved fast, lightning fast. She grabbed a torn sack from the floor and covered the bloodstains. After that, she ran back, smeared some blood from the soldier's wound onto her hand,

then wiped it across her own face, neck, and the back of her head, making herself look as miserable as possible before sending him into the space as well.

Finally, she picked up two lengths of hemp rope from the ground and quickly tied her own hands and feet behind her back, making herself look exactly like a kidnapping victim.

Every move she made was crisp and smooth, no wasted motion.

The second the warehouse door got kicked open, she dropped neatly onto the exact spot where the soldier had been lying before, shut her eyes, and played unconscious.

"Huh? Where are they? Where’d those people messing around in here go?"

It was that same woman again, voice shrill and rushed, sounding more frantic than anyone else. "No, that’s not right. I saw them with my own eyes, right here. How come everybody’s gone?"

"Officer, I think there’s someone over there." Another woman was the first to spot Rowena Ashford’s feet.

Several officers rushed straight to the corner. When they saw the blood smeared across her face and neck, her hands and feet still tied up, they quickly carried her out and started untying the ropes.

"Comrade, miss, wake up. Come on, wake up."

With their help, Rowena slowly opened her eyes, cooperating just enough, her gaze drifting blankly around as if she still hadn’t fully come back to herself.

She realized quite a few people had come. Most of them looked at her with obvious concern. Only one woman wore a strange expression, her eyes darting everywhere like she was desperately looking for something.

That one glance was enough. Rowena understood immediately.

She put on the look of someone finally snapping back to reality, and the second she saw the officers, she cried out anxiously, "Officer, save me, please, save me!"

"Don’t be scared. You’re safe now. We’ll get you to the hospital right away."

Her wrists and ankles had already been freed. She grabbed one officer’s arm hard, fear written all over her face, both hands shaking nonstop, her voice unsteady and panicked. "Officer, somebody knocked me out and tied me up and brought me here. I heard them say they were going to sell me off to some mountain village. They said they’d ship me out by boat tonight."

"Do you know the people who kidnapped you?" the officer asked at once.

"I don’t know them. I went out this morning to buy groceries, and someone hit me from behind on the road and knocked me out."

"I got hit on the head. The whole way here I was half-conscious, kind of dazed. When I woke up, I heard them saying a few things."

The original owner of this body really had been knocked unconscious. A blow to the back of her head with a stick had dropped her on the spot.

That was the exact moment Rowena’s soul had entered this body. Somehow, the two souls had fused together, and now both sets of memories existed in her mind.