Phoenix's crescent love

X University, England

Thud...thud...thud.

The sound of high heels touching the surface of a cold marble floor echoed within the walls of the prestigious university. 

Following the footsteps, a creaking door sound could be heard in the hallway before being shut right after.

"Sigh."

Hui Lan stared at the large red folder in her arms through the lens of her winged glasses, "This seriously needs to be done by tonight..." Although she was weary from all her classes, she still opened the red folder with a Chinese character written in gold and walked over to her desk.

Her cat-like eyes looked through the contents of the folder like a hawk. From time to time, she would brush away the loose strands of hair from her bun.

Hui Lan had just returned from a one-week family trip in Shang Hai, which was why all of these folders were left for her to finish and sign. Though the trip was not long, she had just been promoted to head of the Faculty of History at her university, hence why the overload of work.

Despite not wanting to use her vacation days, she could not say no to her family. Two important occasions happened in the same week, Qing Jie1's son's birthday and Chang Ge2's Engagement day.

If she did not show up, more complaints would surely befall on her. Moving to work in England had already caused a big commotion in her family, simply because she did not receive her mother's and uncle Xiao Bai's3 approval.

Nevertheless, she was already here, following her solitary heart. 

While being immersed in her work, something out of the ordinary caught her attention.

And that something was heading straight towards her.

Hui Lan silently got up from her chair and swiftly moved beside her office door. She stood still like a predator waiting for its prey. 

Soon enough, the door to her office was forcefully opened.

Seven men in black barged through the broken door, ready to engage.

However, the office room was empty. Not a single soul was in sight.

Dumbfounded by the situation, the men in black searched left and right for their target but found no trace of the young professor. She was supposed to be in the room! They had watched her walk into the room with their own eyes.

When one of the men in black walked dangerously close to where Hui Lan was hiding, she revealed a devious smirk.

...This is too easy.

Hui Lan slashed her long leg upward and precisely stabbed her black stiletto heels behind the neck of the poor guy. Even before her first victim fell onto the ground, another soundless strike landed on her next victim.

Her movements were so fast that none of her opponents saw her shadow. One after the other, the seven men were knocked unconscious until none of them were left standing.

When she was done, Hui Lan nonchalantly dusted her hands and blew her loose hair away from her face. Although she wore a black pencil skirt with a side slit, she was able to pull her moves effortlessly. She merely tidied her skirt and her long sleeves like nothing had happened.

Just as Hui Lan bent down to inspect one of the men's black combat suits, suddenly more footsteps could be heard coming from the hallway.

She rolled her eyes in irritation, "You have got to be kidding me." 

...Whoever it was, they were giving their all, just to kill her? or capture her?

...Sigh, her same trick was not going to work twice.

Hui Lan dashed towards her desk and picked up her bag before opening the window. A cool breeze gently brushed past her face and hair. She looked at her office room one last time before jumping through the window.

Clang!

Her heels landed on the university's polished rooftop with a sharp noise. She bit her lips and worryingly looked back at the doorway. When she saw nothing unusual, she heaved a sigh of relief.

However, their growing shadows and footsteps indicated that her pursuers were arriving any minute from now.

The only thing left was to close the window. Hui Lan carefully pushed her creaky window whilst checking her doorway. Just when she thought she was not going to make it, the window finally settled into its slot.

Seeing the shadows at the door, Hui Lan quickly squatted down and hid herself in the knick of time. She could hear them cussing and rudely knocking over her stuff, but she chose to swallow her boiling anger and walk away.

As she walked, her heels made clinking sounds on the rooftop, making her purse her lips in annoyance. This would probably be the only time she loathed her favourite pair of high heels. 

...It wouldn't be long before those men realized how she had escaped, but she was not going to walk on the dirty rooftop with her bare feet.

Her walking pace was fast, and she had almost reached the end of the rooftop when she heard the sounds of guns behind her.

Hui Lan instantly halted in place.

...Sigh, this was definitely because of her heels.

"Stop right there, young lady!" A voice shouted from behind.

!!!

Hui Lan gripped her bag tightly. Her eyes grew furious.

...Young lady? Ha!

"If you don't want to get shot in the head, turn around!" The same voice spoke again.

Hui Lan rolled her eyes. Nonetheless, she slowly turned around as she was told.

The voice cautiously spoke from behind her, "That's it," "That's a good girl."

Hui Lan could not help but roll her eyes again. Was this person an old man or something? She was not that young. Twenty-nine was not that young to be called a girl or young lady.

Once Hui Lan had fully turned around to face them, she was given more instructions, "Now, throw your bag away."

Unlike how she had been ordered, she dropped her bag in front of her. Hui Lan slowly revealed a sly smile.

"You!? You—" But before they could utter anything else, they suddenly had the urge to scratch their throats. Sensing something wrong with their bodies, they glared at Hui Lan menacingly. 

...Poison!?

Soon enough, their urge grew worse. Some could not breathe properly, while some felt itchy all over their bodies.

Their hands grew weak, and soon, they lost control of themselves. Consequently, multiple guns that were aimed at Hui Lan fell onto the rooftop, followed by the large bodies of their owner. The men began shaking in pain until they were unable to take it and fainted.

On the other hand, Hui Lan slowly covered her mouth due to the unexpected results.

...Whoops, had she thrown the wrong needles at them? Aya, sorry, sorry.

Although she felt slightly apologetic towards them, she swiftly grabbed her bag and ran to the edge of the rooftop. This time, without any interruption, she finally jumped off the rooftop.

More men in black arrived on the rooftop just in time to see her jump off. They quickly ran to where their target had jumped, expecting to see a bloody scene.

However, Hui Lan pulled two hand springers from her bag, and her body bounced into the air when it touched the ground. She pulled a cartwheel in the air before landing gracefully.

"Dammit, go get her!" One of the men, who looked like the leader, ordered angrily. With that, the men in black all rushed down the building. He swept his cold gaze at those who were lying unconscious beneath him and heaved a long sigh, "Clean them up." The leader spoke through his transceiver before leaving the scene.

After the leader was gone, another group appeared at the scene and dragged everyone out of the building, leaving no traces behind.

The prestigious university returned to normal in no time, as if nothing had happened.

On the other hand, Hui Lan was checking her beloved skirt and found a large slit. She instantly shot her laser eyes toward the empty rooftop and yelled spitefully, "Darn you!"

Despite the anger brewing inside, she stormed her way to her black Ferrari 250 GTO. Hui Lan hopped in her car and checked the rear-view mirror with her cat-like eyes before starting the engine.

The black Ferrari roared thunderously in the middle of the night.

Faster than lightning, Hui Lan swerved her 250 GTO onto the empty English road.

Not long after, three black SUV vehicles drove out of the university and began chasing her car.

Hui Lan looked at her rear mirror and rolled her eyes.

...Tut. They were getting on her nerves.

...But let's see if they can catch up with her baby.

She smiled before stepping on the accelerator. Her 250 GTO instantly took off at a dangerous speed.

The distance between her and the SUVs speedily grew wider and wider.

As she had time alone, she pondered who these people were. What did they want from her? She was only a professor...unless they wanted something from her other identity? Something related to her family's business, the Xuan group?

...Sigh, she knew she shouldn't have listened to Qing Jie4!

Originally, she lived a normal life, working as a professor and looking after her students. That was until her lovely older sister asked her to temporarily take over their family business, the Xuan group for three months.

Three months was their deal.

However, this lovely sister of hers not only did not take back the Xuan group but even went travelling the world with her brother-in-law and her nephew! Her mother never complained about that and even asked her to continue looking after the Xuan Group.

When she thought that things could not get any worse, her wonderful older brother made up tons of excuses just to avoid taking this responsibility. In the end, she was utterly helpless.

...Why was being the youngest this hard?

Since then, her peaceful and normal life had taken a turn for the worse. It was not that her mother and father did not prepare her and her siblings for this day, but it was just that, she wanted a quiet life. Was it too much to ask for!?

As she was thinking away (mostly complaining), a deer emerged on the road in front of her. Hui Lan immediately stepped onto her breaks and with that, her body lunged forward with the force but was pulled back by her seatbelt.

Hui Lan took a deep breath before slowly looking up to check on the deer. Hui Lan could feel the pressure drain away when she saw the deer was still alive.

...Sigh, good thing nothing bad happened to the poor deer.

She watched as the deer turned away from the car as if nothing had happened and slowly walked across the road.

"Tut tut, how do humans these days drive?" A woman-like voice fuzzed in Hui Lan's mind.

On full alert, Hui Lan quickly turned around but saw no one behind her. She looked around the car and saw no one, not even a single soul.

Suddenly, a small baby deer trotted out from the bush to reunite with the first deer, "Mother, what's with that woman? Why does she look so freaked out?" It took a glance at the lady in the car.

"Who's there?" Hui Lan threw a question into that part of her mind.

The baby reindeer froze in its spot. His fur stood all over his small body, "Mu..mmy?"

Meanwhile, the mother reindeer sensed her baby's fear and looked back, only to see her calf shaking on the spot, "What is it, honey?" She asked soothingly whilst walking towards her baby.

The small deer looked sideways from his pupils. It did not even dare to turn its face towards the woman in the car, "Mummy, I think...she just spoke to me."

"That is impossible dear, no humans can talk to us. It has been like that for centuries." The mother deer licked her calf and slightly nudged its back, "Come on now, we don't have all the time."

Its mother's words did not seem to calm the deer, "So...so you mean they could talk to us before?"

The mother deer paused and thought about it again, "Well, I doubt that but…"

"Who are you?" Hui Lan's voice blurted in the middle of the mother deer's words.

With that, not only was the baby deer frozen on his spot, but his mother was also alike.

"Run!" cried the mother deer and the two deers quickly leapt away from Hui Lan's sight.

The voices were gone and Hui Lan seemed to have found some peace of mind again.

...What on earth was that?

However, there was no one she could ask this question to, thus she changed her gear and pressed on the accelerator but had to quickly change her foot to step on the break again.

This time, there was no deer or any kind of animal.

But a woman in a flowy white dress...with features as white as snow.

"Greetings Hui Lan, long time no see."