"Enough. You want blood, right? I'll give it to you."
Danielle stepped back helplessly. Since she couldn't win the fight, she had no choice but to give in.
At the same time, Zachary blocked Long Xi's hand from grabbing at her.
A dagger suddenly appeared in Danielle's hand. She made a small cut, and blood started to flow.
The two small glass bottles were filled quickly, but the humiliation made Zachary feel awful inside.
"Wife…"
Long Xi, satisfied, put away the bottles of blood. He looked at Zachary, whose forehead was sweating from the pressure, and gave a mocking laugh.
"Useless man."
"Miss Duo, if you want a man, you should pick someone stronger. How else can he protect you?"
Danielle snorted coldly. "Even so, he's still better than a freak like you."
Long Xi was truly ugly—with long, narrow snake-like eyes and an extra-long face.
Hearing that, his face turned green with anger.
Fury boiled over, and in the next moment, he punched Zachary away. Then he grabbed at Danielle's clothes, trying to rip them.
"Today, I'll show you what it feels like to be touched by this ugly man."
Danielle tried to step back, but Long Xi held her tightly.
She shouted, "I'm the Duo family's young lady! You're just a dog of the Eight Great Families. If you dare touch me, I'll make sure you're dead when I get back."
Long Xi froze for a second. Then, with a swoosh, blood sprayed through the air.
Zachary suddenly appeared again, his face full of cold rage. His wrist flicked, and he vanished again. The next second, he reappeared above Long Xi.
Long Xi felt the threat of death for the first time in years. Ignoring the bleeding wound on his neck, he used a whirlwind to lift himself up into the air.
From above, he looked down at Zachary in shock.
"You're either walking through walls or using teleportation."
Zachary didn't explain. He vanished again.
Long Xi spun wildly in the air with his whirlwind. At that moment, he finally understood why teleportation ability was ranked the third most dangerous.
But…
He grinned wickedly. "Teleportation? Perfect. Hahaha!"
Laughing like a madman, he disappeared into the air. Danielle's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Zachary reappeared by her side, full of guilt, and held her tightly.
"Wife… I'm sorry."
Danielle weakly raised her hand to touch his face. "It's not your fault."
Still, Long Xi's appearance made Danielle feel even more worried inside.
As long as she stayed in Paradise Sanctuary, the Eight Great Families would always have power over them.
Now that Zachary's special ability was exposed, their child, little Rain…
Even worse, Danielle had no idea what they wanted to do with her blood.
Especially when she saw little Rain rushing out of the house with a kitchen knife and tears on his face.
"Mom, is there a bad guy? Rain will protect you."
At that moment, Danielle's heart broke.
She hated herself—for not being stronger.
Why couldn't she be like the other people who crossed over, those who had powerful skills that could change everything?
She looked up at Zachary, whose eyes were full of pain and guilt.
The three of them held each other tightly.
Danielle started crying. "I'm sorry. I thought things weren't urgent."
She thought they still had time.
She thought…
But she never realized—some people would never give her time to grow strong.
Zachary held her tightly. "It's not your fault. Don't blame yourself."
His eyes turned sharp. "We're leaving now."
Danielle looked up at him in surprise. Determination flashed in Zachary's eyes.
"We'll go to the Wasteland Zone. Once we're strong enough, we'll come back and deal with them."
Zachary would never forget this humiliation.
Danielle still hesitated. "But the Wasteland Zone is too dangerous, isn't it?"
Lately, the internet had been filled with reports of wild beast outbreaks.
Zachary wrapped his arms around both Danielle and Rain, holding them close.
"This is the only way."
He couldn't even imagine what kind of danger they'd face if all three of their abilities were exposed.
Danielle understood too. Rain looked from Zachary to Danielle and quietly leaned into her arms without saying a word.
Feeling the trust in the little body she held, Danielle finally made her decision.
"Okay, let's go."
Once the decision was made, Zachary and Danielle moved quickly to prepare.
They didn't know when the blood tests would come back.
And the enemy probably already suspected they were hiding their powers.
Danielle had a storage space, and she started buying supplies online in bulk.
Following Zachary's request, she even bought a lot of building materials.
By the end, her storage space was packed full, except for the plot of farmland she had saved.
After gathering everything, while Zachary was leaving a message for the team, Danielle quickly wrote a detailed recipe list for Jinshan.
By the time everything was ready, it was already past midnight.
Danielle took a deep breath. "Finally done. Now we can rest."
Zachary pulled her into his arms. "Yeah. Rest well. We'll teleport out first thing in the morning."
Danielle nodded. She held Rain close. Zachary held her. The three of them slowly drifted off to sleep.
A sudden pressure in the air made both Zachary and Danielle snap their eyes open.
In the next second, the three of them vanished from the bed. Bang! The door was kicked open.
Long Xi, who had left during the day, had returned.
He stormed into the now-empty room, raging with fury. Even from inside the storage space, Danielle could feel the violent energy he was releasing.
To keep the space hidden, Danielle used all her energy to hold it together. It was so draining that blood appeared at the corner of her mouth.
Zachary's heart ached. He was about to step out and lure Long Xi away.
Danielle grabbed his hand tightly and shook her head.
She mouthed silently: Rain can't lose his father.
Seeing the blood on her lips, Zachary's tears, which he had been holding back, finally fell.
It was all because he was too weak.
Long Xi scanned the room with a sinister glare. "Spatial-type power, huh? Let's see if you're really hiding in here."
A violent gust of wind howled through the air.
Danielle felt like she couldn't hold the space much longer. Just as it was about to collapse and reveal itself, no one noticed a little flower blooming on a cucumber vine in the field.
Suddenly, a powerful energy surged into Danielle's body. In an instant, the crumbling space became firm again.
Danielle looked at Zachary in surprise, then turned her eyes toward the land.
As more flowers bloomed on the cucumber vine, her lost energy was quickly restored.
She even felt her body being transformed by the energy—to help her carry even more of it.
Outside, Long Xi looked at the house, now reduced to rubble, and finally stopped his rampage.
"They really escaped? Guess they're lucky. Send word—at every teleportation array leading to the Wasteland Zone, if you see these three, report immediately and detain them."