Winner Takes All

His smile was so tender yet pitiful.

His every word was firm and resounding.

Zenith was stunned as he faced Jack. The feeling of distress was overwhelming.

He asked, somewhat bewildered, "You are willing to give your life away just for a woman? Just so that you can return to her sooner?"

"My...wife..."

Jack's body was trembling even more vigorously as blood kept pouring out from his mouth. The smile on his face was even more tender, with the perseverance in his eyes, "Is... more... important than... my life"

"Pfff!"

As Jack spat a mouthful of blood directly from his mouth.

A loud thud was heard as Jack closed his eyes and fell to the ground.

Zenith was shocked. He immediately went up and checked on him.

After acknowledging that he only fainted, he let out a relieved sigh.

Immediately, Zenith's face was visibly angry.

'Slap,' he gently slapped Jack's back and chided him, "Is it really worth it for a woman?"

Inside the quiet training room.

Zenith's question echoed throughout the room.

It was left unanswered because Jack had fainted.

But everything just then was the best answer for it.

Zenith sat down on the floor beside Jack. His gaze was dazed and lost in his thoughts.

After a long while.

Zenith only then let out a sigh and laughed lightly, "You junior is indeed doing much better than we senior. I thought that for the past fifteen days, you can only achieve what I'd achieved in my younger days, which was mastering the ninth move. I never have thought that you... have already mastered the tenth move and even learned the eleventh move just for the sake of a woman that put your own life at risk." "Looks like me master was right, you're... you're capable of being the best of the best!"

The biggest reason for his previous temper just then lay in this.

Back then, even when Zenith learnt these series of moves from Brown Hughes, he was only able to master the ninth move under the trials of Brown and half a month of intense practice. But Jack... he had surpassed the younger days of Zenith!

The difference between just one move and its meaning was enough to bring shock to Zenith and have a hard time calming down.

Because of this understanding, Zenith knew better than anyone else how much difference it was between one move.

That night.

Zenith did not leave. He sat beside Jack and kept checking his condition.

Forcing himself to switch to the eleventh move had taken a toll on his body. If he wasn't careful enough, he would've kicked the bucket.

Even Zenith did not dare to be negligent, so he could only stand by him and observe silently.

...

On the other hand.

In the Longines villa.

"Ahhh!"

Amber jolted awake from her sleep.

In the pitch blackness, she curled herself up in bed. She was shivering and breathing heavily.

Click!

The room's light came on, but it was Mengpo who walked in.

"Miss.Knight, what's wrong?"

Mengpo frowned as she looked at Amber.

At that moment, Amber was huddled on the bed. Her face was pale and visibly frightened. She was panting heavily, and her forehead and long hair were drenched with sweat. She looked despondent and wretched, making anyone who looked at her feeling pitiful.

"Blood, blood..."

Amber did not look up at Mengpo, instead, she held her hands tightly around her knees. Her eyes were filled with fear, "There's blood everywhere, red, bloody-red..." "Are you having nightmares, Miss. Knight?"

Seeing that Amber was pitiful, Mengpo walked over to the bed and sat beside her, raising her hand to gently stroke the back of her head, "It's alright, it was just a nightmare." "No, it was not only a nightmare."

Amber looked up suddenly, looking at Mengpo in panic and fear, "My husband, my Jack, he's lying in a pool of blood. He was smiling, he was looking at me... boohoo..."

At the end of her sentence, Amber finally couldn't contain her feelings, and broke down emotionally and cried out.

Mengpo was utterly stunned.

For a while then, Amber had seemed to be a lot more stable in her mood and mental state.

She was eating well, sleeping well. Everything was as usual.

This proved that her persuasion of Amber before had an effect.

She had never expected that just because of a dream, Amber would collapse and lose control to such an extent.

The mournful wailing echoed through the room.

Amber wailed as her body was trembling from fear.

The fear that was brought upon her wasn't because Jack was smiling at her in the dream.

What made Amber so frightened was because... Jack was lying in a pool of blood.

The sound of her crying was distressing that even Mengpo can't stand it.

In that situation, her heart was filled with compassion as she slowly leaned forward and took Amber into her arms with her hands.

It was as if a mother was consoling her child.

Mengpo's right hand gently rubbed the back of Amber and softly soothed her, "It's alright, it was a dream, only a dream. Dreams are always different from reality. Your husband must be safe, don't worry about him."

"Good child, don't cry. It was only a dream. Maybe... your husband wouldn't want to see you cry like this, would he?"

The last few words suddenly touched a sensitive chord in Amber's heart.

With a shudder, she slowly withdrew herself from Mengpo's arms.

She wiped her tears from the corner of her eyes and murmured, "Yes, he told me to smile and he doesn't want me to cry. I..."

But when she thought about the scene from her dream.

Tears that she just wiped off from the corners of her eyes, more tears would reappear and filled the corner of her eyes once more.

Her tears were like a waterfall, it was too hard for her to hold them back.

Amber wanted to cry. She instead clenched her lips and forced herself to hold back her sobs.

She slowly turned her head towards the window, as her teary eyes gazed at the moon and stars outside of her window frame. And slowly, she became more and more determined. "Please be back, come back home safe and sound. I, I'm here waiting for you..."

These were the thoughts of Amber.

Inside the training room.

Jack jolted awake.

The excruciating pain had long since disappeared, but his body was still drenched in sweat.

He lied down on the floor in a daze as he stared blankly at the roof of the training room, motionless.

A cool breeze blew into the room, his sweat instantly formed ice crystals, and the chilling feeling was intense.

But Jack still didn't notice.RêAd lat𝙚St chapters at Novel(D)ra/ma.Org Only

"Did you just have a nightmare?"

As the voice of Zenith rang in his ears.

Jack's eyes gradually regained focus, and he moved his eyes to look at Zenith, "How long was I out?"

"Three days!"

Zenith's face was a little gloomy as he said with a frown, "During the three days of you being unconscious, you kept calling a lady's name. You're muddled and sweating profusely every time you call that lady's name. As if you and that lady have been in the same nightmare."

"Hmm?" Jack gave a slight suspicion.

Zenith rubbed his chin and said with a wry smile, "Rena Yales."

Jack was dumbfounded.

Immediately, Zenith was laughing, "Just joking around, it's easy for me to get a hold of your information, you know? You weren't calling Rena Yales, you were calling ye wife's name, Amber." Jack's expression eased.

He then stopped focusing on Zenith and returned staring at the roof of the training room.

For quite some time.

It was then Jack spoke up in doubt and asked, "Senior, do you believe in telepathy?"☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐☐