They did not run.
They did not rest.
They repositioned.
1. The Space After Collapse
The fractured world settled into something worse than chaos.
It became unevenly stable.
Some sections of space hardened, refusing to react at all. Others pulsed unpredictably, warping with every breath Qin Mian took. The contrast made movement dangerous—too much pressure in one place, none in another.
Qin Mian sat with her back against a broken slab, hands pressed to her chest.
Her heartbeat hurt.
Not fast.
Heavy.
Each beat felt like it dragged something loose inside her.
Yin Lie lay beside her, eyes half-closed, ice no longer spreading, no longer correcting.
Just… holding.
Barely.
"…How long?" she whispered.
Yin Lie didn't answer immediately.
"…Minutes," he said finally.
"Not hours."
That told her everything.
2. When the Hunter Learns Patience
The scavengers did not return at once.
That absence screamed danger.
Qin Mian felt them still—circling far out in the fractures, moving slowly, deliberately, no longer reacting to noise or fear.
"They're waiting for you to die," she said quietly.
Yin Lie's lips twitched faintly.
"Efficient," he replied.
"And boring."
She almost laughed.
Almost.
3. A Shift in Roles
Qin Mian stood.
Her legs trembled violently, but she forced herself upright.
The Anchor screamed in protest.
Every calculation inside it warned her away from movement, away from exposure.
She ignored all of it.
Yin Lie's eyes snapped open.
"…What are you doing?" he demanded.
She didn't look at him.
"Changing where the pain goes."
4. Qin Mian Steps Forward Alone
She took three steps away from Yin Lie.
The world reacted instantly.
Pressure surged toward her like a tide.
The scavengers moved.
Not rushing.
Aligning.
Yin Lie tried to rise.
Ice failed.
He slammed back down, choking on blood.
"Qin Mian—stop!"
She turned.
Her face was pale, jaw set, eyes burning.
"If you stand there," she said, voice shaking,
"you die."
He froze.
"And if I stand here," she continued,
"I hurt."
She took another step.
"That's the trade."
5. The Anchor Enters the Red Zone
The Anchor flared violently.
Not stabilizing.
Not aligning.
Overclocking.
Qin Mian screamed as pain ripped through her chest, her vision fracturing into overlapping layers.
Her knees buckled.
But she didn't fall.
She stayed upright through sheer will.
The scavengers reacted sharply.
Three shifted toward her immediately.
Yin Lie felt it.
"…They locked onto you," he rasped.
She nodded, teeth clenched.
"Good."
6. The World Prefers Her as the Target
Pressure wrapped around Qin Mian completely now.
Not crushing.
Holding.
Like hands closing slowly.
The ground beneath her feet stabilized unnaturally, making it easier to stand—but harder to leave.
A containment zone.
The world itself was assisting.
Yin Lie stared in horror.
"It's choosing you," he said.
Qin Mian screamed through the pain.
"Then I choose back!"
7. First Sign of Collective Error
The scavengers advanced.
But not in perfect sync.
One lagged half a beat.
Another surged too fast.
The containment field rippled unevenly.
Qin Mian felt it like static tearing at her skull.
"…They're fighting the world," she gasped.
"Not me."
Yin Lie's eyes widened.
"They're being forced into a pattern they don't agree with."
8. Yin Lie Becomes the Trigger, Not the Shield
Yin Lie didn't move.
He didn't attack.
He did something worse.
He waited.
The scavengers adjusted again, recalculating priorities, redistributing pressure.
That delay—
that indecision—
was everything.
Now.
Ice surged from beneath Qin Mian's feet—not outward, not violently.
Upward.
A single, sharp spike of definition punched through the containment zone at an imperfect angle.
The space screamed.
One scavenger clipped the spike mid-shift.
Its form twisted violently, folding into itself.
Not dead.
But damaged beyond coordination.
The others recoiled.
9. Qin Mian Takes the Full Backlash
The recoil slammed into Qin Mian all at once.
She screamed as the Anchor overloaded catastrophically.
Blood burst from her nose and mouth.
Her body convulsed.
She collapsed to her knees—but stayed conscious.
Yin Lie screamed her name.
Ice shattered uselessly around him.
"…Stop—! You'll destroy yourself!"
She lifted her head, shaking violently.
"That's the point," she whispered.
10. The Scavengers Hesitate — Together
For the first time, all scavengers paused at once.
Not because they were afraid.
Because they could not agree.
The system beneath them tried to force consensus.
Failed.
Latency spiked.
Errors multiplied.
Qin Mian laughed weakly through blood.
"They don't know who's supposed to break first."
11. The World Cracks
A deep, grinding sound rolled through the fractured space.
Not from combat.
From structural strain.
One of the distant fractures widened uncontrollably, splitting into branching cracks that did not close.
Permanent damage.
Yin Lie stared.
"…That wasn't us," he whispered.
Qin Mian looked up, terrified.
"…The world broke itself."
12. Scavengers Begin Independent Behavior
Two scavengers retreated fully.
Another advanced alone.
Not following formation.
Not waiting for alignment.
Yin Lie felt cold dread.
"…They're decoupling," he said.
"That means the hunt just got unpredictable."
Qin Mian wiped blood from her chin.
"Better than efficient."
13. Yin Lie Re-enters the Fight — Strategically
Using the chaos, Yin Lie forced himself upright.
Every movement tore something inside him.
He ignored it.
"This is all I have left," he said quietly.
He pressed his palm into the ground—not to attack, but to anchor instability.
The world resisted violently.
Ice burned instead of froze.
He screamed.
But the effect held.
A zone of chaotic response formed around Qin Mian.
The scavengers hesitated again.
14. Qin Mian and Yin Lie Lock Eyes
They looked at each other across the pain.
No words.
Just understanding.
This was not sustainable.
But it was working.
15. The Hunt Backs Off — Not Retreats
Slowly, reluctantly, the scavengers pulled back into the fractures.
Not defeated.
Not fleeing.
Re-evaluating.
The pressure eased.
The containment field dissolved.
Qin Mian collapsed fully this time.
Yin Lie caught her just before she hit the ground.
16. Aftermath
They lay there, tangled, shaking, bleeding.
Alive.
For now.
Qin Mian's voice was barely a whisper.
"…Did we win?"
Yin Lie closed his eyes.
"No," he said.
"But they paid more than they planned."
End of the Chapter
The world around them remained scarred.
Fractures that should have healed did not.
The hunt had changed shape—not because of power, but because cost had exceeded expectation.
Qin Mian lay unconscious in Yin Lie's arms, Anchor unstable, body pushed beyond safe thresholds.
Yin Lie stared into the broken sky, breath ragged.
"We can't keep transferring damage," he murmured.
But somewhere deep in the fractured system, something recorded the encounter and reached a new conclusion:
These two no longer broke under pressure.
They broke the environment instead.
And once a hunt begins damaging its own terrain,
it is only a matter of time
before it collapses entirely.