Ren Yuanhao truly thought so, but the more he thought, the more fearful he became.
“Yuanhao, what’s wrong with you? Hurry and go, lest he chase after you.”
“No, I can’t rest easy. I have to go back and check. You take this little girl and escape quickly. Oh, and don’t call the police. I don’t want to be involved in this incident, okay?”
Ren Yuanhao gave a couple of instructions and turned back to rush into the cave.
“After finally escaping, why…”
“I don’t know. My heart is in turmoil. I feel like something is wrong, but I can’t quite place it!”
Zhang Jing tried to comfort Ren Yuanhao, but before she could speak, lightning streaked across the sky and struck down directly. The undulating mountains instantly became eerie and bewildering!
“You take her down the mountain path. There’s a mountain god temple there. If it rains midway, hide from the rain there. If all goes well, I’ll arrive soon. Don’t dawdle, get moving.”
Anxious was written all over Ren Yuanhao’s face. Zhang Jing, knowing he had escaped from that man’s clutches, felt a little reassured. She bit her lower lip, said “Take care,” and then hurried down the mountain path towards the foot of the mountain.
After a while, Ren Yuanhao returned to the previous cave. However, before he even stepped inside, he smelled a cold,澀, and fishy odor, along with a strong smell of blood.
“All of you, be gone! Without the medicinal catalyst, I can only use you as the medicinal catalyst! Hahaha, don’t blame me, sister. After you die, your flesh and blood will merge with mine. Then, we’ll still be family!”
The man in the black robe roared hysterically, his throat emitting guttural sounds like a wild beast.
He was sucking the blood from his sister’s injured arm!
“You beast!”
Ren Yuanhao’s face turned deathly pale in shock. He raised his foot and kicked at the man in the black robe who was leaning over Yin Shili.
The kick landed squarely on the man’s side, but he didn’t release his sister’s bleeding arm. His blood-stained lips and face looked like a demon in the flickering green light.
“Get away from me!”
His first attack ineffective, Ren Yuanhao immediately grabbed the man’s neck from behind, intending to drag him off Yin Shili.
But the hysterical man, obstructed by him, instantly lost his breath. The force with which he was sucking blood lessened. In his rage, he swung his elbows, repeatedly striking Ren Yuanhao’s abdomen with great force, so powerful that Ren Yuanhao felt his bones would shatter.
“No one can stop me anymore! You’re all to blame for this! You killed my sister! I will take your head as a sacrifice for my sister!”
The man released Yin Shili’s arm, deftly caught Ren Yuanhao’s hands that were gripping his neck, and with a powerful surge from his waist and abdomen, he executed a perfect overhead throw on Ren Yuanhao.
His back slammed against the edge of the stone bed, and his spine throbbed with pain as if it had broken. The madman didn’t miss any opportunity to counterattack, immediately using his blood-stained hands to choke Ren Yuanhao’s neck with astonishing force!
Feeling the oxygen in his lungs being steadily drawn out, Ren Yuanhao’s eyelids grew heavy. The flickering green light seemed like a hazy mist, and his eyelids felt incredibly heavy.
—Is this what death feels like?
In a daze, Ren Yuanhao, relying purely on his body’s will to survive, reached out and tightly gripped the man’s neck.
But he was no longer able to muster a strong counterattack. The man in the black robe’s entire face was contorted like a ferocious demon in a Ukiyo-e print.
“Trash, you’ll be the medicinal catalyst too!”
The man in the black robe’s狞笑 was as piercing as the wind, but just then, Ren Yuanhao vaguely saw two more brilliant green lights appear behind the man. Immediately after, he felt something hot and liquid splash onto his face, and then, he plunged into an endless darkness.
…
After an unknown amount of time, an extremely strong smell of blood jolted his eyelids open. Beneath him, it felt like a very hard stone bed. Yes, someone must have moved him onto the stone bed.
He coughed several times instinctively. The dull thunder and flashes of lightning illuminated the passage at the cave entrance with a stark white light.
“You’re awake? You’re finally awake.”
Before him was a face as pale as near transparency.
“Miss Yin, I…”
“You’re safe.”
An indescribable sadness flashed across Yin Shili’s face, reminding Ren Yuanhao of the blurry image from before he fainted.
It was this woman who, at the critical moment, had plunged a knife into her brother’s nape.
—Ren Yuanhao, Ren Yuanhao, this is the woman you chose to abandon. That kind of choice must be the most painful.
Ren Yuanhao suddenly felt that he might have lost his way at a fork in the road. Perhaps he should have listened to the system’s advice. Perhaps spending two million points could have led to a happy ending for everyone, instead of putting himself in a life-or-death situation.
Fortunately, this young girl chose her benefactor over her deranged brother. Otherwise, his body would probably have been disposed of by her brother by now.
“I’m sorry, I couldn’t help at the crucial moment.”
Ren Yuanhao knew that no amount of apologies could make up for the trauma in Yin Shili’s heart.
“It’s not your fault. Brother is no longer the brother who loved and doted on me. His heart was long ago corrupted by the devil.”
Tears welled in Yin Shili’s eyes. The corpse lying on the cold ground was precisely the brother who had loved her most, the brother who had protected her since childhood, the brother who was a peerless hero.
However, prolonged loneliness, fear, and confinement had slowly corroded his heart. That person was merely a monster wearing her brother’s face.
“I can’t imagine how complex your thoughts must have been in the moment before you saved me.” Ren Yuanhao truly couldn’t imagine it, nor could he be sure if he had been in her shoes earlier, whether he would have made the same choice.
“That kind of thinking is probably no different from dying once,” Yin Shili murmured to herself, and finally added faintly, “From now on, I am truly alone. Loneliness will become an even longer curse that accompanies me.”
“It won’t be,” Ren Yuanhao slowly sat up from the bed. “I know some people in gene research. Perhaps, one day, your wish can truly come true.”
“Really?”
“I, Ren Yuanhao, swear with my life.”
Ren Yuanhao raised three fingers, pointing to the sky as he swore.
“Let’s hope so.”
Just then, Yin Shili’s phone received a text message.
“This is DiDi Matchmaking. Your submitted order has been completed. We wish you a pleasant memory.”
At the same time, the red dot symbolizing the employer in Ren Yuanhao’s mind disappeared.
…
Ren Yuanhao, after helping to dispose of the body, returned to the foot of the mountain. The rain poured down, and he felt as if he had been purified, cleansed.
Zhang Jing had already found a car. The four of them returned to the building. It was nearing two in the morning. Zhang Jing stayed by the side of the unconscious little girl in the house, while Ren Yuanhao, exhausted, had fallen into a deep sleep.