“……”
The uncontrollable Chu Sheng moved in front of Jing Shun, a hint of surprise in his expression.
“Ah Jing! You… you’re willing to talk to me again?”
The smell of alcohol drifted over. Jing Shun frowned in distaste.
“Don’t call me that. Young Master Chu, we’re not close.”
“Not close?”
Chu Sheng looked at him in disbelief.
“What do you mean not close? We’ve known each other for almost ten years! Ah Jing, what exactly did I ever do wrong to you for you to suddenly treat me like this?”
Before the accident, Jing Shun had always listened to him.
Even though they didn’t meet often due to work and studies, they never had any open conflict—let alone such cold hostility.
After that banquet, Chu Sheng had been suffocating in frustration. Refusing to contact Jing Shun, he intended to wait for the other party to come apologize first.
But he never expected Jing Shun to be so decisive—
He not only moved out at lightning speed, but also deleted and blocked all of Chu Sheng’s contact methods. It was like a complete personality change.
Why?
From childhood until now, it had always been others trying to cling to him. He had never been discarded so ruthlessly by anyone.
Unwilling to accept it, Chu Sheng forced a pitiful expression.
“Ah Jing, if there’s any misunderstanding between us, we can talk it out properly, okay?”
Jing Shun laughed instead of getting angry.
“Talk? Fine. Then let me ask you—”
“You say we’re friends. Over all these years, did you ever really understand me?”
“You say you only realized you liked me after my accident. But what do you like about me? Simple question—do you even know what I like to drink?”
Chu Sheng choked.
He couldn’t answer.
Outwardly he appeared refined and gentle, but in truth he rarely placed anyone in his heart. Others were the ones who understood him and catered to him—he had never truly tried to understand Jing Shun’s preferences or needs.
“Chu Sheng, you don’t know. And you don’t like me either.”
Jing Shun met his eyes and stated the truth he had long seen through.
“You only value my identity as an ‘actor’ and this face that suits your taste. Calling me a friend in public just makes you look better.”
Chu Sheng’s gaze flickered. He had no response.
Jing Shun controlled his wheelchair forward, looking up at him.
“Actually, I’ve been thinking—my leg treatment will take a long time. If I accepted your confession and stayed with you, would you really have the patience to accompany me through it?”
“I would! Of course I would!”
Chu Sheng quickly stepped closer, thinking Jing Shun was softening.
“I’ll book the best medical team for you! I’ll even find Professor Song Chunhui for you—believe me!”
“In my eyes, nothing is more important than your legs right now! I’ve even arranged foreign medical teams for you!”
“If you agree, I’ll take you abroad tomorrow! I’ll stay with you—always!”
……
These words were almost identical to what he had said in his past life.
But what surfaced in Jing Shun’s mind were countless nights of loneliness and that freezing night he refused to remember.
His eyes turned red—not from emotion, but from rising disgust and suspicion.
“Foreign medical teams?”
“Yes!”
“You want them to cure my legs?” Jing Shun pressed word by word.
“Or do you want them to delay my treatment, worsen my condition, and make sure I never stand again in this lifetime?!”
Boom.
The accusation struck Chu Sheng’s mind like thunder.
He froze in place.
Impossible.
How could Jing Shun know his true intention? That was impossible.
Alcohol slowed his reaction. The shock on his face and his inability to hide it became the clearest answer.
Jing Shun let out a trembling, bitter laugh.
“So… that’s really what you were thinking.”
So his past life really could have been healed?
Chu Sheng had used his trust, using the identity of a “lover,” to construct a massive lie.
Those years of care were fake. The tenderness was fake. The “deep affection” persona was real—but only to prevent Jing Shun from noticing the truth.
And the repeated excuses of “busy work” were simply because they had confirmed his legs were beyond saving, so the act could gradually fade away.
Jing Shun’s hands tightened on the wheelchair handles. Even though he had long suspected Chu Sheng’s nature, the realization still crushed him with suffocating pain.
He suddenly felt the scarf around his neck tightening, air being forced out of his chest, as if he were being suffocated.
Chu Sheng leaned in again.
“Ah Jing, it’s not like that, don’t overthink—”
“Get lost!”
Jing Shun shoved him with all his strength.
“Don’t touch me!”
He retreated with the wheelchair.
“Chu Sheng, I’ve never met anyone more disgusting and vile than you.”
Chu Sheng lost his balance and fell hard onto the stone floor, scraping his palm.
The pain and alcohol stripped away his remaining restraint.
“Jing Shun! Over and over again—you think I haven’t been patient enough with you?! Disgusting and vile? Then what are you?!”
……
After the banquet earlier, Jing Shun and Chuigui had appeared together, completely ruining the Chu family’s celebration. To Chu Sheng, it felt like betrayal.
Jealousy and resentment surged.
“I see it now—you’ve already climbed into Chuigui’s bed behind my back! You knew I don’t get along with him, so you chose him to dump me!”
He stood up, fully exposed.
“Do you think my uncle is really that into you? A pervert who likes disabled people?!”
Jing Shun’s eyes filled with undisguised disgust.
He glanced at the surveillance camera in the distance and turned his wheelchair slightly inward.
“Chu Sheng, you don’t need to perform here. In my eyes now, you don’t even compare to Chuigui.”
“……”
Not even comparable?
Chu Sheng’s face twisted under the dim corridor light.
He grabbed Jing Shun’s arm.
“Who do you think you are to judge me?!”
“Let go!”
“I won’t!”
He yanked Jing Shun up from the wheelchair and kicked it over.
“You think being with Chuigui solves everything?”
Crash.
The wheelchair hit the ground.
Without support, Jing Shun fell. Chu Sheng kicked open a side room door and shoved him inside.
Pain exploded in his back and spine.
For a moment, Jing Shun felt like he was back in that freezing night.
The door locked.
Chu Sheng approached step by step.
“Jing Shun… I only like women, but I can make an exception for you today.”
He tore off Jing Shun’s black scarf and pinned him down.
“You think Chuigui loves you? You think he can tolerate you and me having anything?”
“Chu Sheng! Are you insane?! Get off!”
“I’m showing you how insane I can be.”
His fingers brushed Jing Shun’s neck.
Jing Shun suppressed nausea, quickly reaching into his pocket.
In the chaos, he pressed something forward.
ZZZT!
A violent electric current surged through Chu Sheng’s body. He convulsed and collapsed.
Jing Shun escaped his grip, then pressed the device again with full force.
“Ah—!”
Chu Sheng screamed, twitching on the ground.
Top of Form
Bottom of Form
Jing Shun opened the other end of the electric baton, revealing a small blade. A cold glint swept across the corner of his crimson eye, reflecting an almost crazed, sinister killing intent.
“Chi Sheng, you brought this on yourself!”
The blade pierced through the suit fabric, and warm liquid splattered onto his hand.
Chi Sheng felt a searing pain in his thigh. His previously numbed brain from the electric shock snapped back to clarity. He gasped in disbelief, trying to escape from Jing Shun.
“You… you…”
In the darkness, Jing Shun’s expression seemed to have changed into that of a completely different person.
“Did I allow you to move?”
With a swift motion, the blade came down again, and Chi Sheng’s right leg was pierced by another bloody wound.
Under the double agony, Chi Sheng’s face turned deathly pale in an instant. But the blade was still embedded in his leg, and he was too terrified to move again.
Jing Shun tightened his grip on the electric stun knife. The back of his hand, smeared with blood, showed faint blue veins. He stared at Chi Sheng’s face full of fear, while scenes of the other man harming him flashed through his mind—
“Jing Shun is just a useless cripple who’ll spend his whole life in a wheelchair. He’s even a man—how could I possibly like him?”
“Just looking at those weak, limp legs of his makes me feel sick. I never even touched him properly—what interest could I possibly have?”
“Honestly, I’ll tell you the truth. These past few years, I liked hiding behind surveillance cameras, watching him accidentally fall and then drag himself across the floor in misery. It was quite entertaining.”
“……”
Jing Shun stared at Chi Sheng, whose face was twisted in pain and fear, feeling a hollow emptiness in his heart.
There was a time when he truly trusted this man, even treating his fake “care” as a faint hope for survival.
Even if it wasn’t romantic love, it was trust and reliance built over years of friendship.
And in the end, what did he get?
His chances of ever standing again were deliberately delayed and stolen. He was treated like a toy for amusement, humiliated, deliberately pushed to the cold ground—and ultimately abandoned without mercy by Chi Sheng.
If not for the chance to start over, he would already be a cold corpse by now.
Perhaps sensing Jing Shun’s distraction, Chi Sheng, having regained a bit of strength, reached out to push him away.
Jing Shun reacted instantly and slashed the blade downward violently.
“Aah!”
Chi Sheng screamed in pain. “Jing Shun, I’m going to kill you!”
But when he looked up again, the bloodied blade was already pressed against his eyes.
Drip.
Blood gathered at the tip of the blade and fell.
Jing Shun’s entire body trembled as he held the weapon. His eyes were filled with both agony and madness.
“…I’ve already died once. I’m not afraid of anything anymore. Do you want to try me?”
He could no longer distinguish what was real and what was a dream. Reality and illusion intertwined, bringing unbearable pain.
All he knew was that he could no longer suppress the years of accumulated darkness. The erupting shadows inside him were slowly devouring his soul.
Even if he died, he would drag the man in front of him down to hell with him.
—BOOM!
The next second, the bolted wooden door was kicked open from the outside with a thunderous crash.