Luo Chenxuan hid in his room, wrapping himself tightly in his blanket. The curtains were shut, and the room was completely dark.
What should he be doing now?
What had just happened?
He couldn’t remember anything clearly. After witnessing that scene with Lou Yuxi, he could barely stand.
Lou Yuxi had thrown away the brick in her hand and reached out with her bloodstained hand, walking toward him. “Hey… let’s go home, okay? Everything’s fine now… nothing’s wrong anymore.”
Terrified, Luo Chenxuan stepped back, unsure of what to say. As she kept approaching, he ran. He locked the main door and then his own bedroom door.
He kept wondering—what had happened to her?
She was nothing like the girl he knew.
It was as if she had become a completely different person.
He didn’t want to face her. He was really scared. He knew he should ask what was going on, but he didn’t dare.
Her appearance, her smile—it was like she had fallen into an abyss, and her hands looked like they would drag him in too.
He lay in bed, unable to close his eyes. The shock was too much.
Suddenly, the landline rang, startling him.
Wrapped in his blanket, he braced himself mentally, opened the door, and saw the faint light from the phone in the dark.
He walked over and picked up the call. His mother said she wouldn’t be coming home tonight. He was already used to it. She told him and Yuxi to behave and that there was food in the fridge.
He wanted to tell her about what had happened after school, but the words stuck in his throat. He locked the door again.
He didn’t sleep a wink that night.
He didn’t want to go to school, but he knew he had to.
With dark circles under his eyes, he walked carefully all the way, but nothing happened.
At the classroom door, he hesitated and peeked inside.
That seat was empty.
He walked in and sat down at his desk, incredibly nervous. The bell rang, but she still hadn’t arrived.
Was she on leave?
He didn’t know why, but he felt a bit relieved, even though he knew he shouldn’t feel that way.
A week passed just like that.
She never showed up.
At first, the other classmates were still gossiping about it—after all, she had become quite popular—but over time, they got used to her absence and even forgot about her.
Was she in danger?
He had thought about that possibility, but he didn’t want to face it.
Another week passed. His mother was still busy with work. Lou Yuxi still hadn’t appeared. He was starting to feel anxious.
He decided to go check out her place today.
He just wanted to look from a distance.
After school, with a nervous heart, he arrived at that narrow alley and peeked inside. But the alley was too narrow—he couldn’t tell if anyone was inside the house.
After a moment’s thought, he decided to leave for now.
Just as he was about to turn around, someone called out to him. He looked back and saw a middle-aged man wearing a baseball cap.
“Classmate, why are you here? This place is dangerous.”
“Uh… I was just passing by.”
“Is that so?”
Luo Chenxuan sensed something was off and turned to leave.
“Wait…”
The man stopped him.
“What is it?”
“I just picked up something. Is this yours?” The man slowly pulled his hand out from his pocket.
Luo Chenxuan stepped back two paces, watching him cautiously.
But once the arm came out, Luo Chenxuan was frozen in fear—because that arm had no hand at all.
Reacting quickly, Luo Chenxuan turned and ran. But how could a child’s speed compete with that of a middle-aged man?
The man locked Luo Chenxuan’s neck with his arm that had no hand and covered his mouth with the other. Luo Chenxuan struggled with all his strength, but it was useless.
The man dragged him into the alley and threw him into a room, smashing through the dilapidated wooden door.
“You’re the boy who ran off with my daughter, aren’t you?”
“Your daughter?”
“Lou Yuxi.”
Luo Chenxuan stared at the man. “No… I’m not…”
“Don’t lie to me! That filthy woman knocked me out and dumped me at the gambling den. That’s how I ended up like this!”
As the man spoke, he ripped off his cap. Bandages were wrapped around his head, and blood was still seeping through.
“My hand! That bitch did this to me!”
He grew more and more frenzied, as if he would breathe fire at any moment.
“It’s all your fault! She resisted me because of you! All because of you!”
The man pulled a fruit knife from his pocket with his remaining hand.
“You’re not getting away either!”
He walked toward Luo Chenxuan, raising the knife, ready to stab. Luo Chenxuan tried to find a chance to escape, but the man grabbed him.
“If you want to blame someone, blame that bitch!”
The knife was getting closer and closer. Just as it was about to stab into Luo Chenxuan’s body, the man grunted and fell to the side.
Luo Chenxuan saw clearly—it was Lou Yuxi, whom he hadn’t seen in two weeks.
“Y-Yuxi?”
“Yeah… I-I’m fine.”
The man saw who it was and slowly stood up. “You really dared to come back!”
Without another word, he charged at her.
Lou Yuxi ducked and rammed into him with her small body. The man stumbled and crashed into the wall.
“You! You’ve really grown bold! Just like your mother! When I lured her home back then, she resisted me too. No matter how much I beat her, she always tried to escape—until she got pregnant with you! Do you know? You ruined her! In the end, it was you! You killed her!”
Everything became painfully clear.
Luo Chenxuan finally understood it all.
Lou Yuxi’s mother had been abducted from Shangdong City. She had constantly tried to escape. Every time she was caught, she was beaten, but she never gave up hope. Until she got pregnant with Lou Yuxi.
Because of the baby, she knew she couldn’t endure another beating, or she might lose the child. So she became obedient.
After Lou Yuxi was born, her mother treated her well. That’s the only reason Lou Yuxi survived this long.
But her father never changed. He still drank and gambled every day, demanding money from her mother and threatening to hurt Lou Yuxi if she didn’t give him any.
That life continued. Her mother was beaten daily, working desperately to earn money to protect her child. Her spirit slowly broke. She developed severe anxiety and became terrified of being hit. Eventually, she developed schizophrenia.
One of her personalities believed Lou Yuxi was to blame for the beatings, so she began abusing her. She went completely insane—beating Lou Yuxi every day, screaming at her to die, day after day.
Until one day, she saw Luo Chenxuan holding Lou Yuxi’s hand and running away. In the setting sun, the silhouettes of the two children looked so tall and radiant.
The mother in her finally returned.
She saw her daughter being saved, and it reminded her of the version of herself who had always tried to escape.
But she wasn’t as lucky. No one had saved her.
Looking at her daughter’s small figure, she broke down. Tears burst from her eyes.
When the man discovered their escape and tried to chase them, she didn’t hesitate. She threw herself at him and clung to his leg.
She shouted, “Run! My child! This is the last thing I can do for you!”
The man kicked and beat her, but she kept saying she was sorry.
In that moment, like before, a sliver of hope lit up in her heart—not for herself, but for her child.
“I’m sorry, my child. I couldn’t escape from here. Please carry my hope and live well. I did terrible things to you… things I can never make up for. Let me protect you this one last time. Mom is cunning, right? I waited until the very end to tell you—Mom always loved you.”
That was the final message left by Lou Yuxi’s mother, scrawled on a tattered piece of paper.
After being beaten, she dragged her broken body back into the house, wrote down her final words, and grabbed a fruit knife from the kitchen, ready to die with the man.
When he returned, she threw herself at him without hesitation.
But in her weakened state, how could she possibly win?
In the end, as her consciousness slipped away, she felt as if she were sinking into the sea.
Vanishing.
In that moment, she felt completely at peace. She saw her child again, held her tightly, and stroked her hair—just like she had when Lou Yuxi was first born, full of hope for life.
This time, like before, she softly sang a lullaby and coaxed her child to sleep.
“Goodnight, my darling.”