*N/A POV*
A motorcycle tore through the streets at incredible speed, ripping through the air with thunderous roars and leaving nothing but silver streaks in its wake. It moved so fast that pedestrians could only catch the briefest glimpse of the golden-haired woman riding it.
Bai Ning's gloved hands twisted the throttle impatiently, pushing the bike even faster as the engine roared louder and louder. Yet even at nearly 800 kilometers per hour, she effortlessly weaved around cars and motorcycles, almost as if she could predict the path of every vehicle on the road.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" she asked through the communicator attached to her ear. "I'm faster than this on foot. Doctor, I expected this thing to reach at least Mach 1."
She wasn't lying. She could get there faster by running, but that would waste precious energy. If Ryuu had truly escaped, she would need every last ounce of strength to find him.
Silence lingered on the other end of the line as the doctor carefully chose his words.
"The experimental model can reach Mach 1.3, but we're still dealing with engine overheating and stabilizer fai—"
"How do I make it go faster?"
Bai Ning cut him off, leaving no room for hesitation.
"There's a blue button beside the throttle. Pressing it will force the engine into maximum output."
The moment Bai Ning found it, she pressed the button. Instantly, a deafening boom erupted from the engine, as though a slumbering beast had just been awakened.
"That simple... Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
No one answered on the other end.
"Fine. But I'm cutting ten percent of your funding."
Having said what she wanted, Bai Ning ended the call.
Within seconds, the motorcycle's speed had doubled, yet Bai Ning continued gliding smoothly through traffic as though 800 and 1,600 kilometers per hour were no different in her eyes.
A black Rolls-Royce approached from the opposite lane, but she sped past it without sparing it a second glance, never noticing the golden-haired boy sitting in the back seat.
The boy didn't notice her either. Both of them were far too lost in their own thoughts to pay attention to the world around them.
"Finally."
She murmured to herself and squeezed the brake.
The smell of burning rubber filled the air, but there was no sign that the motorcycle was slowing down.
Bai Ning assessed the situation in an instant. Left with no other choice, she slammed her right foot into the pavement, ruining her high heel and carving a long trench through the asphalt before finally forcing the motorcycle to a stop.
The screech of the braking echoed throughout the avenue.
The long gouge carved into the road made drivers instinctively slam on their brakes, while pedestrians stood frozen, their eyes shifting between the woman and the trench her foot had left behind.
Some doubted what they had just seen. Others opened their mouths to say something.
In the end, no one dared utter a single word.
But Bai Ning's attention wasn't on those small fry. Her high heel—the one that had cost a fortune to design—had been destroyed just like that.
"Looks like I'll have to invest in sturdier heels... and better brakes."
She then glanced sideways at the motorcycle. When she'd stopped, her thigh had brushed against the engine, and she felt intense heat burning against her skin. Almost immediately, her eyes settled on the engine, which glowed a blazing crimson.
"It's about to explode."
Bai Ning concluded after a brief inspection.
"Worthless."
She cleared her throat softly, removed the glove from her monstrous hand, then crouched down and placed it against the engine. A powerful suction force emerged from her body, drawing the heat into herself.
The engine began cooling at a visible pace. The crimson glow vanished within seconds, replaced by a metallic silver.
"There."
Bai Ning discarded the heel on her left foot, slipped her glove back on, and left the motorcycle parked where it was.
With a single step, she reached the reception desk, bringing with her a gust of wind that scattered the receptionist's papers across the room. The receptionist paid them no mind. The instant she looked into Bai Ning's eyes, an uncontrollable tremor ran through her legs as she stared into those pitch-black eyes.
"I want every security camera recording recovered, and have the guards lock down the entire building. Now."
Bai Ning's icy voice made it abundantly clear that this wasn't a request.
Before the receptionist could even open her mouth to stammer out a reply, Bai Ning had already vanished. Even though she was gone, the receptionist didn't dare waste a second and immediately called the head of security.
Bai Ning strongly suspected that Ryuu had never escaped the building. None of her soldiers had reported anything, and the entire building had been surrounded.
That meant Ryuu was still inside.
After thoroughly searching the first floor and finding nothing, she took the stairs to the second and searched that as well.
She meticulously combed through every floor until she reached the ninth.
The entire process took less than four minutes, and during that brief time, Bai Ning's expression shifted repeatedly between hope and disappointment.
BANG!
When she kicked open the door to the ninth floor, all traces of hope had vanished from her face.
Almost instantly, she appeared before the door to Ryuu's room. She gently grasped the doorknob and slowly pushed it open.
Deep down, perhaps she still hoped Ryuu would be inside—that everything had been nothing more than a misunderstanding.
A mess.
That was the perfect description of the room.
A meal tray lay overturned on the floor. The IV stand had been knocked over near the wall.
The bed had been dragged close to the window, and the sheets and pillowcases had been tied together into an improvised rope that swayed in the wind.
"He escaped..."
Bai Ning slowly stepped into the room and sat down in the armchair—the same chair where she would sit and watch Ryuu sleep.
"Li Hoyou," she said, touching the communicator at her ear. "Seal off everything within a ten-kilometer radius of the hospital and begin the search. Also, hack into every surveillance system in the city. If Ryuu's face appears on any of them, I want to know immediately."
"At once, ma'am."
Silence returned to the room.
Bai Ning sank into the armchair, her hands resting lifelessly in her lap while her eyes—still two bottomless abysses of darkness—remained fixed on the empty bed before her.
The makeshift rope continued swaying in the breeze.
For a long time, she didn't move.
She didn't speak.
She simply stared at the rope, hypnotized by its rhythmic motion, as though expecting Ryuu to appear at the window at any moment and come back to her.
He never did.
"Why...?"
Her voice emerged as a fragile whisper, nothing like the woman who had been kicking down doors only moments earlier. She blinked slowly, and the black tears she had held back for so long began gathering once more at the corners of her eyes.
"Why did you run away from me, Ryuu?"
Her fingers dug into the armrest, making the leather creak beneath the pressure. Her question echoed through the empty room, unanswered.
Only the sound of the wind.
Only the emptiness of silence.
"I gave you everything..." Her voice rose, trembling more with every word. "Everything. My love, my protection, my body. I stayed by your side day and night. I fed you with my own hands. I wiped every drop of sweat from your skin. And you..."
A sob escaped her lips.
"You abandoned me."
She covered her face with both hands as the black claws slowly retracted, her fingers trembling uncontrollably. Ink-black tears slipped between them, staining the blue dress she wore—the very same dress Ryuu had said was too tight. She had changed clothes just to please him. She had planned the nurse outfit. She had imagined his shy smile when he saw her.
And now...
"You hate me, don't you?"
The question hung in the air like a knife driven into her own chest.
"You hate me. You always hated me. All those smiles, those kind words, that fake concern over my dress... it was all a lie. You were just waiting for the right moment to run away from me."
She lowered her hands, revealing a face stained black. Her expression was pure anguish—an anguish so profound that it transcended anger and became something far more dangerous.
Desperation.
"But why...?" she sobbed. "Why do you hate me? I only wanted to protect you. I only wanted to keep you safe. The world out there is so cruel, so filthy, so dangerous... You don't understand. You're fragile. You're precious. If anything happens to you..."
Her voice broke completely.
An image surfaced in her mind—one that had haunted her for years.
A little golden-haired boy lying motionless in the rain.
Cold.
Alone.
Abandoned.
She squeezed her eyes shut, desperately trying to push the memory away.
It remained, burned into her soul.
"Not again," she whispered, her voice sounding like a prayer. "Not again. I won't let it happen again."
She slowly opened her eyes.
The tears were still falling, but her expression had changed.
Her anguish had given way to grim determination.
"If I have to... I'll break your legs."
She said it with terrifying naturalness, as though commenting on the weather.
"I can do it. A clean fracture through the femur. You wouldn't feel any pain—I would use anesthesia, of course. I would never hurt you on purpose. But if that's the only way to keep you safe... if that's the only way to keep you with me..."
She paused, considering it.
"You'd hate me even more, wouldn't you? If I did that."
It wasn't a rhetorical question.
She was genuinely weighing the pros and cons.
His hatred against his safety.
His freedom against her protection.
"But maybe... maybe that's for the best. Better for you to hate me and be safe than to love me and end up dead."
She absentmindedly caressed her own thigh, still lost in thought.
"I'm the only one who can protect you. The only one who knows what's best for you. Even if you don't understand it now... one day you will. One day you'll thank me."
Her smile returned—that same warm, maternal smile she always showed everyone else.
But now, with black tears streaking her face and grim determination burning in her eyes, it looked more like a mask on the verge of cracking.
"Yes... one day you'll thank me."
KNOCK! KNOCK!
Two knocks sounded at the door.
Bai Ning slowly raised her gaze. Her hands moved to her face, wiping away the tears with her fingertips.
Her posture changed completely.
Her shoulders straightened, and the smile settled perfectly into place.
"Come in."
The door opened, revealing the receptionist.
The young woman was pale as wax, her eyes wide with fear. In her trembling hands, she carried a tablet.
"M-Miss Bai... I brought the recordings you requested..."
Bai Ning extended her hand.
The girl approached hesitantly, placed the tablet into her palm, then immediately stepped back as though afraid she'd be burned.
"It's all here, ma'am. Every camera. Every angle."
"Good girl. You may go."
The receptionist didn't need to be told twice.
She disappeared through the doorway, shutting it behind her with a hurried click.
Alone once more, Bai Ning activated the tablet and began reviewing the recordings.
The hospital had cameras in every hallway, every room, every imaginable angle.
Her finger slid across the screen while her eyes raced through the footage at an unimaginable speed.
Scene after scene.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Nothing.
Until she froze.
The recording showed Ryuu—her Ryuu—standing on the window ledge.
The wind tousled his golden hair.
His frail body swayed dangerously above the abyss.
"No..." she whispered, her fingers tightening around the tablet. "What are you doing...?"
In the recording, Ryuu lifted his face toward the camera.
Then he smiled.
It wasn't a smile of fear.
It wasn't a smile of despair.
It was a weak, tired, yet genuine smile.
"Don't be sad."
His voice came through the tablet's speakers, and Bai Ning felt her heart stop.
"I'm not abandoning you... I just need a little fresh air. Once I've fully recovered, I'll come back. I promise."
He was talking to her.
He was talking to HER.
"I'm leaving now. See you later."
The recording ended.
Ryuu disappeared through the window.
Bai Ning remained perfectly still, the tablet still resting in her hands.
Her eyes stayed fixed on the screen, where Ryuu's smiling face still lingered.
Then, slowly, the tears returned.
But this time, they weren't black.
They were crystal-clear, pure tears that streamed down her cheeks like liquid diamonds.
The darkness in her eyes began to recede, giving way to the heavenly blue she treasured so dearly.
The dark roots of her hair brightened once more, returning to their radiant golden color.
Her claws disappeared.
Her hands were human again.
"You... you don't hate me..."
She pressed a hand over her mouth, muffling a sob.
"You don't hate me. You just needed some fresh air. You were coming back. You were coming back to me."
Joy.
Pure, radiant, overwhelming joy flooded her heart.
She laughed—a shaky laugh mixed with tears that echoed throughout the empty room.
"It wasn't my fault. It wasn't my fault. You didn't run away because of me. You just... you just needed some time."
She pressed the tablet tightly against her chest, embracing it as though it were Ryuu himself.
"Oh, my dear... My sweet, precious, foolish darling. You didn't have to run away. You could've just asked me. I would've taken you out for a walk. I would've held your hand. I would've made sure nothing could ever hurt you."
She gently rocked the tablet in her arms as though cradling a child.
"But everything's alright now. Everything's alright. Mommy understands. Mommy isn't angry anymore."
Her eyes slowly opened again, and a new light shone within them—a light of determination.
"But you still ran away. You still put yourself in danger. And Mommy can't let that happen again."
She paused, thinking.
"I was going to break your legs. I really was. I thought you hated me. I thought you never wanted to see me again. But now..."
She smiled—a sweet, motherly smile that was utterly disturbing in its tenderness.
"Now I know you don't hate me. So I won't break your legs. I won't hurt you... but you still deserve a little punishment for scaring Mommy like that."