UCS Chapter 123

Gao Shi carried Zhou You in his arms, his movements swift yet soundless, like a leopard running through a forest.

The phantom visions before his eyes continued their irregular, leaping performance of what Gao Gusheng’s original fate had been.

…

After the friendship that had grown on set, Gao Gusheng and Xiao Yusheng had grown closer and closer.

Compared to the two-faced Wen Liang and the domineering Li Mochen, Xiao Yusheng, who was both teacher and friend and who had recognised his talent like a great judge of horses, had become almost like a safe harbour.

Gao Gusheng soaked up everything Xiao Yusheng taught him like a dry sponge absorbing water.

Xiao Yusheng was generous in his praise of Gao Gusheng’s talent for music and performance, heaping on admiration with a directness and warmth that Gao Gusheng rarely received. It made him blush, and yet he could not suppress the joy it brought him.

In his heart, Xiao Yusheng was his teacher and also his star.

He followed in Xiao Yusheng’s footsteps, trying to draw a little closer.

So this was what it felt like to admire someone.

Xiao Yusheng’s existence gave Gao Gusheng back his will to break free of his chains. Even when Li Mochen and Wen Liang had worn him down until he was nearly broken in two, he could still pick himself up and run toward the next time he would see Xiao Yusheng.

Before each meeting, he would painstakingly cover the bruises on his exposed skin with foundation, however humiliating the process. He did not want Xiao Yusheng to think of him as someone who sold his body.

He did not want Xiao Yusheng to know what he was going through.

Like someone afraid to expose a wound to sunlight, he carefully concealed every mark whenever he was in front of Xiao Yusheng.

Until Xiao Yusheng invited him to meet in a classroom.

Gao Gusheng was both delighted and surprised when he received the message. Disregarding the state of his battered body, he rushed to the classroom as fast as he could.

And then, on the multimedia screen in the classroom, he saw himself. Unclothed.

With Li Mochen.

With Qin Shi.

With many others.

Xiao Yusheng looked at him, his gaze carrying amusement, and something close to anger.

“Student Gao, I thought you were different from those people.”

No, it is not like that, please let me explain…

Beneath Gao Gusheng’s pleading eyes, Xiao Yusheng smiled with cold cruelty, and in the same gentle voice Gao Gusheng knew so well, said: “Since you are no longer clean, there is no need for me to worry about taking things slowly with you.”

“If you don’t want the whole school to find out that model student Gao Gusheng is someone like this, then come here. Come and satisfy me.”

The three-dimensional sounds of his cries and moans from the footage echoed through the entire classroom, intertwining with Xiao Yusheng’s voice. His whole body went rigid and he nearly lost consciousness, wondering if this was a dream.

What a terrible nightmare.

Why was he not waking up.

…

Gao Shi’s expression grew harder and colder. He settled Zhou You in the car. The emergency call had already gone out. The nearest ambulance would arrive within two minutes. The criminal investigation team would be in position within five.

He restrained the force building throughout his entire body, the only thing keeping him from picking up his axe and running back to that villa.

Gao Shi unwrapped a wasabi-flavoured lollipop, one of the prank sweets Gao Gusheng had bought for fun. At this moment it was like a lifeline, its sharp sting keeping his nerves alert and his head clear.

The footage in the vision had most likely been recorded by Li Mochen. Whatever his purpose, this kind of material would not be deliberately spread around. Xiao Yusheng must have hacked into Li Mochen’s system, or obtained a backup of Li Mochen’s recordings through some other means.

Xiao Yusheng and Li Mochen had no love for each other.

Perhaps Xiao Yusheng had originally intended to steal Li Mochen’s company secrets, and had stumbled upon this material unexpectedly.

However that may be, every electronic device around Xiao Yusheng needed to be thoroughly examined. A person who liked to record everything through a lens might very well have more criminal evidence hidden in his computer.

The two large dogs followed behind Gao Shi. Sensing the depth of his fury, they took their positions to his left and right, like two guards ready to charge forward on his behalf at any moment.

The ambulance came at speed. The trained medical staff lifted Zhou You onto the vehicle, and were startled by the blood covering Gao Shi.

“I’m fine,” Gao Shi waved them off. The blood on him was not his.

Most of it came from the two large dogs.

He glanced down at the two dogs again. The golden light that had flowed from the axe into their bodies had, before his very eyes, caused broken limbs to regenerate and fur to reform. The dogs that had been on the verge of death moments ago had gone from dying to merely lightly injured in the blink of an eye.

This confirmed for Gao Shi that these two dogs had some connection to him from a past life, just as the axe did.

He reached out to pat one of the dogs on the head, but the vision before his eyes shifted again.

Xiao Yusheng was guiding a rigid and unresponsive Gao Gusheng somewhere, his tone gentle, saying that everything he had said before was a lie to test him, that he would help Gao Gusheng deal with Li Mochen, that he was taking Gao Gusheng somewhere to show him a surprise he had prepared.

His tone was so sincere it bore no resemblance to acting. And yet Gao Gusheng, whose hope had cautiously begun to rise again, was waiting for an ending of captivity and degradation.

Hope shattered again and again. Despair returned again and again.

And all along, someone had been recording every detail of it with meticulous care, holding him close, voice tipping toward mania.

“Look how beautiful you are.”

…

Gao Shi pressed his fingers to his temple, bit through the lollipop, and turned his gaze toward the villa with the look of a predator.

Ran Qiu was so startled he nearly jumped. “Chief!” he said hurriedly. “Xiao Yusheng is an entirely ordinary civilian. This has to be handled by the criminal investigation team!”

Gao Shi said quietly, “I know.”

But he would make sure Xiao Yusheng got a taste of it. The feeling of hope rising and then being crushed.

***

In the kitchen.

Xiao Yusheng was heating the milk. A faint flush was just visible on his cheeks, the unmistakeable colour of excitement that could not be concealed.

What could be more thrilling than discovering that the flower he had set his sights on was blooming for him?

The answer was: when the moment, the place, and the circumstances all aligned perfectly, and the rose walked straight into his arms of its own accord.

The villa district was extremely secluded and quiet, with an enormous distance between each property. Beyond the villa district lay vast stretches of undeveloped green land.

All he needed to do was disguise himself as Gao Gusheng when leaving, then slip away unseen along the back paths, avoiding the cameras and the security guards, and he would leave no trail to connect him.

And the heaven-sent rain meant he would not even need to trouble himself with erasing the marks on the road.

The more excited he was, the calmer his movements became. He even brought his heartbeat under deliberate control, letting it slow, forcing his mood to settle.

He caught his own reflection in the glossy cabinet surface and curved his lips into a smile indistinguishable from the one he wore every day.

The fragrance of warm milk drifted through the air. He poured it into two cups, not a drop more or less, exactly two.

He turned the sugar jar lightly, exposing the pale pink powder in the lower compartment. Gao Shi, had he been there, would have recognised it at a glance as a commonly known sedative drug. It was almost unbelievable that he kept something carrying a minimum three-year sentence so openly in his kitchen.

Xiao Yusheng moved with complete ease, scooping out a spoonful with a porcelain-white teaspoon and stirring it into the milk. The powder dissolved in an instant.

The substance had a faint unusual odour, which the milk was just sufficient to mask.

Xiao Yusheng looked at the two cups of milk standing side by side and gave a soft laugh.

Behind him, Ying Bujie watched with the gaze of someone looking at a dead man.

Xiao Yusheng picked up the tray with one hand and used the other to open the door.

In the instant his eyes looked away, the milk in the two cups exchanged positions. Not the cups themselves, but the milk inside them, transferred without spilling a single drop.

Xiao Yusheng noticed nothing. He carried the milk to Gao Gusheng’s side, extended the tray forward slightly, the gesture casual, apparently leaving the choice to Gao Gusheng. In reality, a person who is not entirely at ease will instinctively reach for whatever is closest to them.

As expected, Gao Gusheng followed the script Xiao Yusheng had planned and picked up the cup he had so carefully prepared.

Xiao Yusheng’s thumb passed imperceptibly over the outer surface of the cup, feeling the barely detectable irregularities in the glaze. He confirmed he had not taken the wrong cup, and lifted his own first. “I added a little sugar to the milk. I hope that suits you.”

When a person learns that someone else shares their sweet tooth, that person always feels a little more endearing.

Even though Xiao Yusheng himself had no taste for anything cloying.

He took a sip of milk, his gaze sliding over Gao Gusheng’s neck, as smooth and pale as fresh cream. He wondered whether his skin was as silken as it appeared.

His prey, watching his movements, seemed to relax a little further, and lifted his own cup to take a small sip.

An indescribable elation burst through his chest.

Only a small sip, but it was enough.

He had put ten times the usual dose into the milk. An ordinary person who took even the smallest sip would fall unconscious.

He stared fixedly at Gao Gusheng’s lips, white with milk, his thoughts drifting toward vivid, dangerous territory.

He had truly never imagined himself to be a person of such strong desires.

To crush this rose.

He wanted to watch the crimson flower-juice run between his fingers, the petals kneaded to a ruined pulp.

A brilliant idea came to him.

Why not film all of it, to record each and every moment this flower bloomed for him.

Xiao Yusheng was certain of victory, and had no energy left to conceal his feelings. He stared fixedly into Gao Gusheng’s eyes.

Go to sleep. Go to sleep.

Why aren’t you going to sleep yet?!

Xiao Yusheng finally noticed something was wrong with himself. He should not be losing composure like this.

Alongside the loss of composure, accompanying the surge of overpowering desire, was a terrifying wave of drowsiness.

The drowsiness was like a great net, closing in to catch him.

His hands and feet had gone weak and boneless, all strength gone.

Something was wrong. Had he put the drug in the wrong cup?

But that was impossible. He had clearly…

In the last moments of his consciousness, he saw Gao Gusheng looking down at him from above, his gaze clear and calm, his lips parting and closing silently, mouthing a single word:

“Idiot.”

***