The voice was steeped in deep, bone-chilling cold, hating Cen Wan to the extreme.
“Look what you did to us.”
“I’m going to make your ugly face famous across the whole Federation, make you live the rest of your life like a rat in the gutter.”
As Riley finished speaking, the others chimed in one after another, their expressions identical in their hatred.
“Loosen the rope and tie it around his hands,” Riley ordered.
“Mmph” Cen Wan grunted as the man yanked painfully at his hands.
“Hey, be gentle with our little beauty. What if the footage doesn’t look good?” Riley teased with a smirk.
The man bound Cen Wan’s wrists behind his back, though the knotting technique was far from standard.
Soon, Cen Wan understood why those men had needed to bring two or three extra people along.
It was because they were badly injured themselves every movement caused them pain.
A faint smile secretly tugged at Cen Wan’s lips.
“Strip his clothes off!”
“The camera! Is the camera on?!”
“Adjust the angle first! Focus on this little bitch’s face!”
“Damn it, he’s still kicking!”
“Someone get me another rope to tie his feet!”
“AHHHHH ”
“He’s, he’s killing people!”
“Stay back!”
“How did he get out of the ropes?! Who tied him up?”
“Where did he get that shard of porcelain?”
“Help!! Help!”
“Who told the bodyguards to leave, mmph… hel”
“Thud”
Several bodies lay on the floor of the dim room some with heads cracked open by bottles, some with deep gashes across their throats, some with holes punched through their stomachs.
In short, everyone capable of fighting back had been dealt with by Cen Wan and his shattered bottle.
Swallowing the blood frothing up his throat, Cen Wan closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, slipping the small bloodstained porcelain shard from his palm into his pocket.
His eyes were as cold as if they belonged to someone else.
He stared at the men huddled in the corner with the gaze of someone looking at dead men.
Riley’s dazzling red hair seemed drained of color now, plastered damply against his forehead. The sound of his nervous swallowing was especially distinct in the room.
“If, if you really dare kill us, you won’t get away with it!”
Cen Wan advanced step by step.
The men were still screaming and shouting, failing to notice the increasingly violent heaving of his chest, his trembling hands, and his paper-white face.
“Bang” The door was kicked open.
“Hahahahahahaha you’re finished, you’re finished!!”
“Just you wait, watch how I torture you hahahahaha”
Even though the voice was right beside his ear, laughing wildly and loudly, Cen Wan could only make it out hazily.
The taste of blood surging up his throat grew heavier. His palms and the places where he’d been beaten burned fiercely. His lungs felt like they were being scraped repeatedly with sandpaper, every breath bringing sharp, stabbing pain.
Straining with all his might to understand the words of the person in front of him,
he finally made it out someone had come to rescue them.
More persistent than debt collectors.
So annoying.
Cen Wan squeezed his eyes shut once more, then turned to look at the newcomer,
And as if meeting for the first time, his heartbeat skipped a beat again.
The flickering neon light inside the private room was cut off by a dark silhouette. He stood not far from the doorway, letting the pinkish-white light fall on him, casting a hazy halo. Only his cold, sharp jawline carved a keen outline at the boundary of light and shadow.
His hands, usually clad in black gloves, were half-tucked in his pockets. The darkness behind him intertwined with the riot of colors in the room, as if dividing two separate worlds. The man said:
“Cen Wan.”
“How did you end up in such a sorry state?”
This time the wind didn’t cut off the sound, and Cen Wan heard it clearly.
He was laughing.
The moment he met those eyes, the deafening shouts from the people in the corners around him all hit pause in Cen Wan’s world.
The strength drained from Cen Wan’s hand, and the bottle shattered against the floor with a crack.
Then he walked slowly toward Shen Xianyu, each step heavier than the last.
His eyes were so dry that even blinking stung. At last he dared to close them, and pitched forward.
Shen Xianyu caught him firmly.
“Cen ” The single syllable had just rolled out of Loren’s throat when the sound was abruptly severed, as if cut by an invisible thread.
When he saw the stupid note Cen Wan had left, Loren felt, for the first time, like he’d been played for a fool by an idiot. He’d tracked down the location and rushed over, and after all the trouble of finding Cen Wan, he’d arrived at the exact moment the man fell into someone else’s arms.
So the fool was him.
The words Loren hadn’t spoken were swallowed back down into his chest. He stood rooted in place, looked at them one long moment from a distance, then turned away with a cold face.
What was he even doing?
Making a special trip just to watch them be lovey-dovey?
Disgusting.
Cen Wan’s head throbbed as he struggled to force his eyelids open, to wake up. Dazedly, he caught fragments like “fever” and “examination” before he couldn’t help closing his eyes again, sinking back into a murky, agonizing dream.
“No hugging, no hugging!”
“Kids are all clingy little creatures. Hug them too much and they’ll never let go of you.”
“Wanwan is so good. Want some candy?”
“Wanwan is adorable. Won’t you let big sister hold you?”
“Cry again and no dinner for you. I told you, he’s not coming!”
…
“Little Wanwan, your parents are dead you jinxed them to death, you know that? Uncle took you in out of the kindness of his heart…”
“Come here, Wanwan, come to Uncle.”
“Damn little brat, runs fast, doesn’t he? Cost me a whole meal for nothing. If I ever catch you again, I’ll show you what happens.”
…
“The test results are in. There’s no organic damage to bodily functions. The illness was caused by prolonged existence in an environment lacking emotional interaction. Based on what you’ve described symptoms erupting in phases, accompanied by brief loss of consciousness the most likely cause is that even in adulthood, you’ve continued to suppress your needs for a long time. I recommend you find a stable partner as soon as possible to assist with desensitization therapy. Otherwise the condition may continue to worsen.”
“I’m sorry, Wanwan, I didn’t mean it! I was just out of my mind. I have money, I’ll give you lots of money, Wanwan. We’re still friends, right, Wanwan?”
“Cen Wan, why do you always wear a mask? You’re so good-looking, aren’t you?”
“I love you, Wanwan, save me. I’d die for you… Let’s die together, okay? I love you so much, I love you so much, I love you I love you I love you I love you!”
…
“Let me give you some friendly advice: don’t waste your energy. It doesn’t matter how many lawyers you find your relatives are far cleverer than you. Do you know how much they paid me to turn down your case?”
“I can’t take it. Like I said, from the very beginning they pinned all the debt on you.”
“Damn it, the little bastard dared to hit me. I’ll break his legs for this.”
“How is he so good with a knife? Run, run!”
…
“A hug again, you little clingy thing? Fine, fine, come to Mama.”
“Whatever Wanwan likes, that’s what we’ll learn! Papa bought you a training uniform today, too!”
“You like Papa and Mama? Papa and Mama love Wanwan too.”
“Wanwan !”
“BANG….!”
Blood and darkness intertwined amid the deafening crash. The screech of tires grinding against asphalt tore at his eardrums as the world suddenly began to spin. Spiderweb cracks crawled across the windshield, and the halo of the streetlights warped into shattered stars.
An embrace carrying the scent of blood squeezed Cen Wan tight. His tears fell drop by drop, soaking large patches of his mother’s clothing, and a small gash opened on his cheek,
Except from now on, there would be no one left to bandage his wounds.
“President Shen, these are their files.”
“This is Young Master Cen’s physical examination report and investigation materials.”
“Mm. Have you found out who’s been helping them?”
“That… the trail currently dead-ends at a man named Wang Cun. There’s nothing further to dig up past that.”
Shen Xianyu gave a sound of acknowledgment and opened the second file.
“Go attend to your work.”
The special assistant nodded and slipped silently out of the room.
Meanwhile,
The boy, freshly washed clean, lay pale-faced on the bed with his eyes shut, obedient and still, like an exquisite doll.
Slowly, beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, and he murmured:
“Save… sav…”
His brows knitted tighter and tighter with each sleep-talked word.
“No!” Cen Wan jolted upright awake from the dream, eyes wet, gasping for breath, heart still pounding.
That dream again.
The car accident.
For long stretches of his life, nightmares had tormented Cen Wan, leaving him unable to sleep and stricken with nervous exhaustion.
Only upon opening his eyes did he realize he’d long since escaped that life, yet every time he still needed a long while to shake himself out of the daze.
[Wanwan, you’re awake!]
Cen Wan’s thoughts were abruptly tugged out by 0813, and he slowly regained his bearings: [Mm-hm!]
The warm yellow wall lamp fell on the dark gray bedding, only making the black-and-gray-toned room feel colder and harder by contrast. Silver-white moonlight streamed in through the window it was clearly deep into the night.
An unfamiliar place.
Faint voices drifted in from outside the door.
Cen Wan pushed back the covers and got out of bed, but when he opened the door, the sight before him stunned him,
It was an even larger study.
Shen Xianyu’s slender, gloved fingers rested against the edge of a silver-gray laptop. The cold white light fell across his sharply defined profile, long lashes casting faint shadows beneath his eyes. The dark circles under them were somewhat heavy, and faint bloodshot threads lingered in his gaze.
“Regarding the direction of the investigation, pref” His low, magnetic voice paused for a moment. After a brief explanation to the person on the other end, he removed his earphones and looked at Cen Wan.
“How long have you been awake?”
Cen Wan’s fingers, resting on the cold doorknob, flinched back.
“Just now.”
As the words fell, a suit jacket dropped to the floor. Shen Xianyu stood before him, wearing nothing but a white dress shirt.
“Step onto it first. I’ll go get you shoes and socks.”
Cen Wan froze for a moment.
“N-no, that’s not necessary.”
“Your health is too poor. If you catch a chill, you’ll get sick.”
Shen Xianyu glanced at Cen Wan’s crossed legs, his tone weary:
“Either step on it, or I carry you back to bed right now.”
Cen Wan’s face flushed crimson in an instant. He held it in for a long while before squeezing out a single tight-voiced word:
“Okay.”
Stiff as a block of wood, he stepped his bare feet onto the soft fabric of the suit.
“Good boy.”
Shen Xianyu closed his eyes briefly, then turned and walked into the adjoining room.
[Isn’t F4 acting a little strange??] While waiting for Shen Xianyu, Cen Wan secretly whispered back and forth with 0813.
0813’s electronic voice was taut too: [Mm! Why is he being so nice to Wanwan? Something’s fishy!]
Cen Wan had only met him twice, and both times he’d been less than presentable. F4 clearly shouldn’t have thought him worth his attention.
[“And F4 is so frivolous! No wonder he gets so little screen time. Wanwan, we shouldn’t hang out with him either.”]
0813 was furious. This was only their second meeting, and this guy had already said such things to Wanwan.
Cen Wan also agreed, giving a couple of “mm-hm”s in response. After thinking for a moment, she added, [But he did save me. If F4 hadn’t helped clean up the mess, I might have still ended up in those people’s hands. Either way, I need to find a way to repay him.] Even if the big shot probably wouldn’t care for it.
0813 also went “mm-hm.” [Right, right! We’re not the kind of people who repay kindness with ingratitude.]
But putting it that way, she had racked up two huge debts of gratitude in just two days.
Cen Wan suddenly felt the suffocating weight of debts piling up like collapsing mountains.
Before Cen Wan and 0813 could work out any solutions, Shen Xianyu had already returned with new socks and slippers.
Cen Wan felt the shame of being caught badmouthing someone to their face. Even though he couldn’t hear her, she still guiltily averted her gaze, not daring to look Shen Xianyu in the eye. Stiffly, she blurted out words that felt oddly familiar:
“Th-thank you! If there’s ever anything you need help with, I’ll do everything I can!”
Shen Xianyu’s gaze was lowered, the darkness under his eyes overlaid with the shadows cast by his lashes, making his exhaustion look even more pronounced.
“Anything at all?” he asked.
Cen Wan nodded vigorously.
She resolved that no matter how outrageous any upcoming request might be, she would handle it flawlessly.
“Then can I touch you?”
Cen Wan froze, thinking she must have misheard him.
“May I touch you?” the person across from her repeated,
in a tone so casual it was as if he were merely offering a greeting.