The long-sought answer was about to reveal itself. Tang Yu's lips moved, but no sound came out.
Du Yuqing embraced Tang Yu in fascination, her hands caressing Tang Yu's slender waist. Although she could feel the person in her embrace tremble, she simply chuckled satisfactorily, muttering to herself, "You're such a wonderful person; how could I bear to let you die?"
Tang Yu could feel her skirt being lifted. She could also feel a cold hand caressing her legs, sizing them like a snake's tongue.
Just as Tang Yu was preparing to strike and wrap the chain, which connected the shackles binding her hands, around Du Yuqing's neck, a knock suddenly came from the door behind them. While it wasn't a loud knock, it sounded clearly in the quiet room.
Du Yuqing withdrew her hands and straightened her clothes as if nothing had happened. Calmly, she picked up the lamp on the desk, glanced at Tang Yu, who was crouched in the corner, and gently said, "Wait for me. I'll be back soon."
As these words fell, the door opened and closed, and darkness returned to the room.
Tang Yu buried her head in her arms, her heart in despair.
My ring is gone… An-An won't be able to find me now… Sure enough, are we fated never to be together? Also, wasn't Du Yuqing supposed to like An-An? Why did she do such things to me?
Suddenly, the room lit up with a light that was neither glaring nor bright. It was just enough to let Tang Yu see the things in the room clearly.
Tang Yu raised her eyes in confusion and saw the hidden lights on the ceiling flickering faintly.
It turned out that the light switch was not in the room at all; it was somewhere else. Perhaps there were hidden cameras here, monitoring her every move.
Tang Yu got up from the floor and looked around the room, quickly noticing that the walls were densely covered by something. She approached to take a closer look, and what she saw shocked her to the point where she forgot to breathe.
The walls were covered with sketches of people. From childhood to adolescence and adulthood, they were all there, and they all depicted the same person...the person standing in this room now.
Tang Yu felt a chilling sensation penetrating her heart and freezing her limbs as realization dawned upon her.
Is this how Du Yuqing feels about me?
Each sketch on the wall was labeled with a date. The earliest one was from her elementary school days, the time when Tang Yu first felt Du Yuqing's hostility. Back then, she thought Du Yuqing was hostile to her because she had gotten too close to Yin Zhao-an. She never expected to have misunderstood Du Yuqing's thoughts.
Tang Yu walked around the room and saw another extremely familiar sketch. Her attire in the sketch… It was the cornflower dress she wore while waiting for Yin Zhao-an outside the examination hall!
The sketch was drawn from an elevated angle, revealing hints of her cleavage and collarbones. If someone were to take a photo from this angle...
Tang Yu's eyebrows furrowed tighter and tighter, and the anxiety and fear in her heart grew. It turned out that, without her realization, Du Yuqing's informants had infiltrated her surroundings, exposing all her states to Du Yuqing while she remained clueless.
Shockingly, Wu Na was also one of Du Yuqing's informants.
…
Du Yuqing came out of the room holding the moon-shaped lamp. When she saw the person standing at the door, bowing to her submissively, her gaze sharpened, sending chills down the other party's back.
Previously, she didn't bother to ask who had knocked on the door because she knew that only one person could freely roam around her villa. Aside from the current person standing before her, no one else would dare disturb her when she was occupied, no matter how brave they were.
Du Yuqing curved her lips, but there was no trace of a smile on her face. Her slender fingers lifted the other party's face, gently placing a finger against their lips, teasingly and suggestively stroking.
The person habitually opened their lips and extended a tender tongue to wrap around the finger, obediently licking it.
Feeling her finger gradually warming up, Du Yuqing sneered and withdrew her finger, letting the glistening liquid slide on her fingertip drip to the ground. Then, she walked toward the other end of the spacious corridor and said in an imposing voice, "You've interrupted my enjoyment, so I'll repay you with ten times the punishment."
The person's gaze flickered, and their moistened lips parted slightly. In a neutral tone, the person replied, "Yes, Master."
…
The sound of the wind whistled in Yin Zhao-an's ears as she stood on a patch of overgrown weeds in the city's outskirts. Icy raindrops mercilessly pounded on her, drenching her clothes completely.
Suddenly, wailing police cars roared to the scene, stopping next to the patch of weeds she stood on. Then, men in police uniforms got out of the vehicles, opening umbrellas or donning tightly wrapped raincoats before walking in a certain direction.
Yin Zhao-an felt like her head was about to explode, the pain nearly causing her to lose consciousness. But she still forced herself to stay upright and subconsciously followed the policemen, all the while questions appearing in her head one after another.
How did she end up here? Wasn't she supposed to be sleeping at home? Where was Tang Yu? Why were there so many police officers here?
Yin Zhao-an vigorously slapped her own head, trying to remember what had happened, but to no avail. Her mind had become a muddy mess, and she couldn't think clearly.
Unable to figure out anything, she stumbled her way forward. The rain grew heavier. Water poured down from above, obscuring her vision.
The police had set up a cordon, and some people were crouching to look at something. The policemen blocked her view, and she couldn't see anything.
A voice in her head was telling her not to go near the cordon.
But why shouldn't she go near it? Did a murder occur there? She wanted to stop, but she couldn't control her own feet.
As she moved closer and closer...
Screech—
A dark green SUV abruptly screeched to a halt on the side of the road. The wheels rubbed against the mud and debris in the desolate outskirts, splashing a large spray of dirty water mixed with yellowish soil all over the car.
Yin Zhao-an involuntarily paused when she saw the two individuals who had stepped out of the SUV. They were her parents! But why were her parents here?
Yin Zhao-an's anxious heart eased a little. She tried to force a smile and look toward them, hoping they would see her.
But for some reason, her father walked past her with furrowed brows, his aged eyes bloodshot. Her father held onto her mother, whose temples had turned white, and walked toward the police cordon in a solemn mood.
"Dad! Mom!" Yin Zhao-an panicked when her parents ignored her. She desperately tried to get their attention, blocking them with her heavy body.
However, her father didn't even glance at her and simply continued walking forward with uninterrupted steps.
When they were about to collide, Yin Zhao-an hurriedly raised her arm to cover her eyes. A tear slid down from the corner of her eye, mixing with the pouring rain and disappearing.
However, the expected collision never happened. Yin Zhao-an lowered her hand and turned to stare at the two people behind her; they continued walking without pausing, moving further and further away from her.
Her parents left muddy footprints on the ground as they walked, but when Yin Zhao-an looked down at her own feet, her mind instantly went blank as she failed to see any footprints trailing behind her feet.
Am I... dead?
Yin Zhao-an clenched her fists in disbelief as if trying to confirm something. She approached the crowd, and at the edge stood an onlooker. She hesitantly reached out her hand, watching her fingertips penetrate the onlooker's body, but there was no reaction from the person.
Finally, she broke down and cried.
It turned out...she had died.
Unfortunately, even though she was crying, nobody spared her a glance. Nobody knew that someone was crying amidst the crowd, and nobody knew why she appeared there. Even she didn't know how she got here in the first place.
If I'm dead, what will Tang Yu do? Will she see my corpse? Will she be scared? Will she be sad? If I'm dead, who will look for her if she goes missing?
Yin Zhao-an walked through the crowd in a daze, her pupils dilated.
Suddenly, something tripped her up, causing her to stumble. The unexpected development bewildered Yin Zhao-an. After all, wasn't she able to pass through things? How could she still be tripped up?
Her heart suddenly constricted, causing her immense pain. The voice in her mind grew louder, telling her not to look, telling her to leave. However, her body was no longer under control, and she ultimately shifted her gaze downward.
What tripped her was a pale foot devoid of blood, with dark blue veins prominently visible. The ankle was delicate but covered in scars.
Yin Zhao-an immediately felt a sense of familiarity when she saw the ankle. Clenching her chest over her clothes, she felt like she was about to faint from suffocation.
Gradually, Yin Zhao-an moved her gaze upward, the feeling of familiarity growing when she saw from the slender and flawless calf and heavily scarred thigh. She suddenly felt weak, almost unable to stand, as tears surged from her bloodshot eyes.
No... How could her Tang-Tang be in a place like this? No, it couldn't be... But that familiar face couldn't be faked. This was Tang Yu!
"Ah!!" Yin Zhao-an cried out in despair, feeling a throbbing pain in her head as if a sharp object was gouging it. She trembled, clutching her head, hoping that by doing so, she wouldn't have to face this reality.
This must be a dream! Wake up! I need to wake up!!
Why...
No matter how Yin Zhao-an struggled, she still stood on this muddy wasteland, and beside her was Tang Yu, lifeless. Her face was pale, with dark purple bruises. Her eyes tightly shut, never to open again. She would never look at her with affectionate eyes or respond to her with that clear and melodious voice ever again. Neither would she snuggle up to her like a little rabbit and act spoiled in her arms.
Yin Zhao-an didn't mind dying herself, but why would anyone treat her lover like this? Why...
The incessant rain finally stopped. Yin Zhao-an lifted her swollen, teary eyes and stared blankly, wondering why the dream hadn't ended even though the rain had stopped.
A panicked figure dashed into the crowd, pushing aside the onlookers. The person's eyes were bloodshot, like a cornered and desperate beast.
Yin Zhao-an's dilated pupils finally focused, and she looked incredulously at the person in front of her, who looked exactly like her.
For some reason, she suddenly felt a little scared and backed away several steps, staring in astonishment as the other 'Yin Zhao-an' knelt in front of Tang Yu.
"Tang-Tang… I was wrong. Please wake up, okay? You must be playing a joke on me, right?
"Tang-Tang... I was wrong. Please wake up, okay? You must be playing a prank on me, right? I kept the cake in the fridge. Once you wake up, I'll celebrate your birthday with you, okay?"
What is she saying? What cake? What birthday?
Then Yin Zhao-an saw her father, who had been exhausted from talking to the police, striding over and slapping "Yin Zhao-an" in the face before angrily berating her.
While listening to her father berate her other self, Yin Zhao-an caught onto the phrase "Uncle Tang down below," and the first thought that came to her mind was that Tang Yu's father had also…
No, there's no way Uncle Tang could be dead! This must be a dream!
