Chapter 10: Jealousy (9)

When Liu Liu learned of Zhang Dali’s failure, he flew into a rage and smashed his glass water cup, shattering it into pieces.

The glass shards reflected his sinister eyes and twisted face, his eyelid twitching uncontrollably. "A useless piece of trash who can’t do anything right!"

He decided to take matters into his own hands.

He could not touch Jiang Shengsheng at school; he did not want to ruin the rest of his life for it. Instead, the accidental death of Song Wu surfaced in his mind.

Since they were so eager to be star-crossed lovers, he would grant them their wish!

Already envisioning the horrific scene of Jiang Shengsheng being struck by an out-of-control car and tossed violently onto the ground, the corners of Liu Liu’s mouth stretched wider and wider.

Jiang Shengsheng, unaware that Liu Liu had already scheduled her demise, was walking down the street alongside Xi Jinyuan.

Song Qingxiu had sent her a message: there had been a major breakthrough, and the truth would soon come to light.

She desperately wanted to tell Song Wu, but for the past week, Song Wu had not appeared again. Jiang Shengsheng had no way to contact the solitary ghost.

***

Zhang Dali did not expect Song Qingxiu to bring people to corner him.

He forced himself to stay calm, putting on a servile, honest-looking smile. "Is there something Senior Song needs from me? A text message would have sufficed; there was no need for you to trouble yourself to come in person."

Zhang Dali dared not gamble on whether they knew something, and inwardly, he cursed the meddling Song Qingxiu.

Everything was in the past—why did he have to keep digging into their secrets?

What a son-of-a-bitch bastard!

Song Qingxiu did not waste words. He shoved the appraisal report right into Zhang Dali’s face and said, enunciating every word, "I advise you to confess truthfully, or I have plenty of ways to make you speak the truth."

After all, they were adults who had weathered great storms; dealing with an NPC still living in an ivory tower within the game was more than manageable.

Zhang Dali’s face turned ghastly, his lips drained of color, and cold sweat beaded on his temples.

He tried to play dumb, but as he met Song Qingxiu’s icy gaze, his heart felt a heavy blow, and his taut composure snapped.

Ever since he decided to split the spoils with A-Liao, Zhang Dali had lived in a state of constant anxiety, terrified that the truth would be exposed and he would end up in prison.

Yet, a day passed! A week passed! A month passed!

Everyone had accepted the "fact" of Song Wu’s accidental death, and Zhang Dali’s heart had finally settled back into his chest.

He had almost come to accept it! He had almost forgotten the fear and guilt deep inside!

Why did Song Qingxiu have to insist on uncovering the truth?!

It was just a dead person!

Resentment blinded Zhang Dali. With bloodshot eyes, he stared wildly and shouted, "What do you know! You don’t understand me at all!"

Zhang Dali tried to turn and run, but was kicked to the ground by Zhu Dan, a short-haired woman behind him. She pinned his hands, and no matter how he struggled, he could not break free.

***

Zhang Dali cursed them out, insulting their ancestors back eighteen generations.

***

"Was A-Liao the first person to come into contact with him?" Song Qingxiu asked, looking up while taking notes.

Zhang Dali, his face bruised and swollen from Zhu Dan’s beating, struggled to lift his red, puffy eyelids. His voice was hoarse. "Yes. One day, for no apparent reason, A-Liao snuck a package back to the dormitory."

On the day of the incident, A-Liao had returned to the dorm with a tightly wrapped package. Only Zhang Dali was there.

"I thought he’d bought protein powder," Zhang Dali said, having seen A-Liao pull a transparent sealed bag from the box. He hadn’t thought much of it. "But when I went downstairs to buy food that night, I saw..."

A-Liao was squatting in a dark corner, muttering incoherently: "...Eat it... eat it and die, you bunch of animals!"

Zhang Dali had been startled by his dark, hunched figure, but when he realized it was A-Liao, he patted his chest and snapped, "Are you crazy? What are you doing squatting here..."

His voice trailed off as he stood behind A-Liao and saw what he was doing; his pupils dilated in shock.

"Are you saying," Zhu Dan said, leaning lazily against the wall with her arms crossed, "that A-Liao poisoned the kitten first, and you stumbled upon it?"

Zhang Dali swallowed hard, his throat aching. He nodded. "Yes, I caught A-Liao in the act of poisoning it. To keep me from talking, he decided to split the money with me."

"Ha," Zhu Dan sneered coldly, "Don't call it splitting money. It’s splitting stolen goods."

Zhang Dali’s face twisted into a grimace for a moment.

"And then what?" Song Qingxiu asked coldly.

***

Xi Jinyuan’s gaze was fixed intently on the woman walking beside him, his eyes tracing the bridge of her delicate nose before sliding down to her full, crimson lips.

The air seemed to boil, matching the state of his heart.

"Sister," he said, his Adam’s apple bobbing as he reached out to lightly grip her wrist. "How have you been lately?"

She was wearing a long-sleeved chiffon top. Through the thin fabric, Xi Jinyuan could not ignore her warmth, which made his breathing involuntarily soften.

When Jiang Shengsheng’s gaze shifted from the green belt in the distance and landed on him, Xi Jinyuan’s breathing grew heavy.

*Just like this, keep looking at me like this!*

Xi Jinyuan had known since his third year of middle school that he was a deviant. He craved being watched by Jiang Shengsheng; he craved his sister’s concern and her touch.

Just thinking about it made his entire body ache with intensity.

He wanted to be her little dog. As long as her eyes were on him, he would wag his tail frantically and pounce on her.

The man with the innocent puppy-dog eyes thought darkly to himself, his face full of concern: "Since Song Qingxiu wants to investigate, let him do it himself. Why drag you into it?"

The thought of Jiang Shengsheng almost getting into trouble made Xi Jinyuan want to deal with Zhang Dali and the others himself.

According to the information he had gathered in secret, he suspected that Song Qingxiu, Song Wu’s cousin in name, was not necessarily clean himself.

Once he sent them all off to face their punishment, he would have plenty of strength and means to make them suffer.

"No," Jiang Shengsheng shook her head truthfully. "Don't say that. Helping Senior Song is also partly for my own selfish reasons."

*Selfish reasons?*

*What selfish reasons?!*

*For a dead person?*

Xi Jinyuan suppressed the storm gathering in his eyes, his smile appearing somewhat forced. "Is that so?"

Why would she exhaust herself for a dead person? *Sister, you should look at me more; I am always by your side.*

Noticing the subtle shift, Jiang Shengsheng looked up, observing her childhood friend who seemed so concerned for her, and shook her head inwardly.

She must have been overthinking it to suspect Xi Jinyuan of being snide.

As the two were talking, a runaway truck suddenly swerved from the distant intersection, rushing toward the sidewalk at a terrifying speed.

"Beep—!"

A piercing horn shattered the air. Jiang Shengsheng widened her eyes, turning to look at the heavy truck barreling toward them.

"Ah—!"

"Oh my god! Can anyone survive that?!"

"Is the driver drunk? Driving like that in broad daylight, he’s going to get someone killed!"

With no feeling below her waist, Jiang Shengsheng struggled to open her heavy eyelids. Sticky blood flowed from a gash on her forehead into her eyes, turning her vision into a blur of red.

On the brink of death, her breath stifled, Jiang Shengsheng heard someone calling her in a daze.

"...Sister?"

"Baby!"

Her dilated pupils began to lose focus. The pale woman lay dying.

The crowd, thrown into chaos, surged forward, the sounds of people calling for ambulances mixing with screams.

Outside the crowd, a man in black lifted his chin. His sinister eyes stared intently at the woman who had lost all signs of life, and the smile on his face stretched wider and wider.

*It’s good that she’s dead. Once she’s dead, no one will ever know the truth!*