NB Chapter70

I woke up in pain all over. The moment I moved slightly, I heard a faint, rustling noise like plastic sheeting shaking. I was lying on the ground with my back pressed directly against the cold concrete. My hands were bound behind me with thick rope that only tightened the more I struggled. Somewhere not far away, a man was humming a tune, broken and uneven. I propped myself up slightly, trying to make out his face. The only light in the space hung above his head, illuminating his brows and eyes.

I squinted for a long time before I recognized exactly who it was.

It was Xu Yanzhou. He was dressed like a surgeon entering an operating room, fully geared up. While humming, he neatly arranged various blades on a tabletop. He was experienced. He had the tools, the space, and even something already laid out beneath me.

He was going to kill me.

I felt my head buzzing, though I couldn’t tell if it was from extreme nervous tension or a lingering effect of being hit by the car. I quietly scanned my surroundings: it was an unfinished secret room without a window and not very large. Likely a basement of some sort.

I wasn’t a stranger to this kind of situation—injured, cut off from the outside world, facing a dangerous and terrifying man. It was just that the previous perpetrator was more inclined to playhouse with me, whereas this one was dead set on sending me to the underworld. Either way, I had suffered enough.

I leaned against the wall to sit up while silently observing Xu Yanzhou. He was a doctor from a wealthy family, good-looking with a respectable job—compared to the notoriously scandalous young Zhang Mingsheng, the only negative comment he’d ever received was perhaps a stray bit of gossip from Li Yi. If a man like this walked down the street, who would believe he was capable of repeatedly brutalizing his former partner, let alone committing cold-blooded murder?

He had even bandaged my wounds. Looking at the splint and bandages on my leg, a cold sweat broke out across my back. He heals me only to plan on tearing me apart. I couldn’t help but reflect on what flaw existed in the way I conducted my life that caused perverts to gravitate toward me so frequently. I didn’t want to blame myself. If I could escape this alive, I would still play God for a moment by parting the clouds to look back over these decades of my life. I needed to see if I was simply cursed with bad luck or if paranoid men simply shared a similar target for their hunts.

“Did you sleep well?” Xu Yanzhou spoke with a light, airy voice, appearing calm. But if one listened closely, the tremor in his tone was unmistakable. I could even sense the madness of a mind on the verge of losing control.

I kept my eyes on him and didn’t answer.

Given his current state, any chance of escape I might have would be fraught with danger.

“I’ve never seen you sleep before, because you never let me get close enough.” Xu Yanzhou gave me a thin smile. He picked up a dagger at random, walked around the table, and moved slowly toward me. “But I was your first boyfriend. You told me so yourself.”

He drew closer until he was squatting directly in front of me. The tip of the blade traced patterns over my abdomen, sliding upward along my clothes. He lifted his eyelids; there was no warmth in his eyes at all, only a lack of restraint. He said, “Why don’t you lean on me? Ah Chao, why did you break up with me? Do you look down on me?”

I watched the tip of the knife cruise over my body like the silver head of a snake. I reflexively tightened my stomach muscles and straightened my back, trying to distance myself from it.

But Xu Yanzhou grabbed me, refusing to let me pull away. He suddenly erupted, roaring at me, “Or were you just lying to me from the very start!”

He leaned in with a neurotic intensity as if trying to catch my scent, and whispered, “How many men have you slept with? Are you already everyone’s plaything?”

I didn’t dare make a sound, fearing a single word might push him over the edge. I forced myself to remain calm while keeping my eyes fixed on him.

“You’ve been getting very close to that man surname Zhang. I know he’s rich. But you’re a cop; why would you get close to a rich man?” Xu Yanzhou suddenly lowered his voice again, adopting a facade of earnest concern. “Rich people are all wicked. They have wives and mistresses everywhere; they could never be loyal to you. You know how messy our circle is.”

Seeing that I still hadn’t spoken, he grabbed my jaw, forcing my head straight. “I’m talking to you, Ah Chao. Do you hear me?”

I looked into his pupils, holding his gaze for a few seconds before finally nodding slowly.

“Liar!” He delivered a powerful slap that left my vision swimming. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as I collapsed onto the floor.

I blinked repeatedly, trying to keep my head clear.

Xu Yanzhou stood up, looking down at me with cold indifference. “You’re a liar too. You betrayed me. You’d rather be a rich man’s toy than be cherished by me. You really have no self-respect.”

That blow had jarred my other injuries. Gritting my teeth, I struggled back into a sitting position. His ravings sounded like lines from a low-budget novel, overflowing with a forced intensity as if the entire world had conspired against him. Hearing them didn’t feel terrifying; it felt pathetic, almost laughable.

I let out a sigh and said helplessly, “I have nothing to do with him…”

“No connection,” he interrupted, walking slowly back to the table. “Even if you betray me, I am still willing to be good to you. That’s just who I am. I even wish I could have been your father so I could have protected you your entire life from the time you were small. No one in this world is better to you than I am. Why can’t you be satisfied?”

“Protected?” Perhaps it was because I truly felt the end was near, but I wasn’t that afraid anymore. I laughed, even as the blood from my head continued to flow, some of it seeping into my eyes as it ran down.

“No loyalty, no shame, no pure pursuit of emotion,” Xu Yanzhou said as he pulled on a pair of gloves. “I will end this lowly life for you.”

As I watched my execution time draw closer, I stopped speaking, leaving him to his low whispering.

“I won’t let it hurt, Ah Chao. You are the one I’ve liked most all these years, the one I’m most reluctant to let go of.” He picked up a hammer, looked at it for a long while, and shook his head. “I won’t let it hurt. I won’t let you hurt like my father and mother did.”

Then, he picked up an axe, observing it just as he had the last tool. He muttered, “This one isn’t good either. You aren’t like that slut. He had it too good; better than me, and certainly better than you as well. He deserved to be a bloody mess.”

He had already killed someone; I wasn’t the first.

I cursed him in my head, but after a few words, I couldn’t think of more. Judging by what he said, his parents were likely already dead by his hammer; there was no use cursing them further. They were all pitiful people. I quickly reined in my thoughts.

“Look at how much I like you.” He turned back to look at me. “When it comes to you, I can never bring myself to do it. My heart softens over and over again.”

He continued to glorify himself, his narcissism reaching a peak.

Naturally, with every kill comes an increase in caution; as the lives on one’s hands accumulate, one cannot afford to let a new victim leave a trail.

Yet here he was, claiming his hesitation was born of an overwhelming love for me.

I rolled my eyes internally, steadied my nerves, and spoke in a weak, trembling voice, “Ah Yan, listen to me… actually, I’ve always cared about you.”

Lie number one.

“Really?” His expression instantly brightened with a childlike exuberance.

“Really.” I nodded with forced sincerity. “I felt I wasn’t good enough for you, which is why I kept avoiding you.”

Xu Yanzhou’s eyes reddened instantly, looking profoundly moved. He smiled with relief, even pressing a hand to his chest as if standing on a stage receiving an award. He wiped a stray tear and said, “Ah Chao, I knew it. I knew I hadn’t misjudged you.”

Just as I was trying to gauge how much of that he actually bought, he lowered his head back to the table, his movements fueled by renewed, more vigorous energy.

He said, “I promise I will bury you in a place where I can see you every single day.”

A wave of pure despair washed over me.

Given the police department’s efficiency in investigations, Xu Yanzhou likely wouldn’t be caught for many years. By then, I’d have long since been reincarnated, probably getting ready for the third grade. Li Yi might still be painstakingly searching, but what he would eventually find wouldn’t even be a mangled version of me; just a skeleton. Then, he’d pass me on the street as I walked to school with my backpack, never knowing who I was.

I gritted my teeth hard.

I was the one who forbade Zhang Mingsheng from following me. I was the one who demanded that we draw a line in the sand. He likely had no idea where I had even gone.

Dammit. Dammit.

Zhang Mingsheng, you’d better prepare to be taken in for questioning. You were the last person I saw before I died.

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