[Caught]
Those were terrifying eyes—too much white showing, the eyeballs completely bloodshot. It was clear this man hadn’t slept a wink since the night before last. His pupils were tightly constricted, staring at Lu Ting’an with a mix of hyper-vigilance and venom, like a sewer rat peering out at the world from the shadows.
Lu Ting’an’s appearance, which didn’t match the voice he had projected, clearly aroused the man’s suspicion. He watched the outsider’s every move, one hand pressing firmly against the door.
Behind the door, Gu Yingzhou didn’t make a move yet, and Lu Ting’an didn’t slip up either, continuing his act. “You aren’t Monkey Four. Where’s that son of a bitch? Is he hiding inside? Tell him to get his ass out here!”
Once he was certain that the gruff, coarse voice really was coming from the mouth of the excessively handsome man in front of him, Zhou Jinyao finally uttered his first words. “He’s not home. Whatever he wanted to buy from you, you can give it to me first.”
Hearing this, Lu Ting’an gave a cold sneer, adopting a thuggish swagger. “I could give it to you, but the stuff I got for him is a real treasure. Cash on delivery only.”
Zhou Jinyao’s voice was hoarse. “How much?”
Without missing a beat, Lu Ting’an replied, “Thirty thousand.” As he spoke, he reached into his trouser pocket, mimicking the motion of pulling something out.
‘Thirty thousand? What kind of “treasure” would make someone demand thirty thousand upfront?’
In Zhou Jinyao’s eyes, Monkey Four was even lower than him. The man’s parents had died young; he started working the docks before he was ten and barely knew a handful of words. Years ago, Monkey Four had made some fast cash through debt collection and gambling, using tens of thousands to buy a condemned flat in this dump.
The two had known each other for over a year. Whenever they went out to eat, Monkey Four would vanish like a ghost the moment the bill arrived. He was so stingy he’d pick up a cigarette butt off the ground just to get two more puffs out of it.
For a miser like that to spend thirty thousand on something, it had to be a rare treasure indeed.
Zhou Jinyao opened the door another centimeter, his eyes uncontrollably drifting downward to Lu Ting’an’s pocket. The treasure was hidden right there.
Lu Ting’an fumbled in his pocket for a moment. “What he asked me to get was—” His hand came out, clenched into a fist. As he slowly unfurled it in front of Zhou Jinyao, four fingers snapped back, leaving only a single, upright middle finger. “This is exactly what I have for you!” 凸^-^凸
Zhou Jinyao froze. Before he could even process that he had been played, the door was kicked open with immense force. Caught off guard, he was sent flying, crashing over a meter away.
Gu Yingzhou was the first to storm in. It took Lu Ting’an’s eyes two seconds to adjust before he could see the scene inside. It was almost identical to his dream, except the room was much darker—Zhou Jinyao had drawn every single curtain tight.
The room reeked of blood mixed with the stifling stench of a person living in a space without opening a window. Lu Ting’an instinctively held his breath and snapped on the light switch by the door.
Dim yellow light flooded the room, leaving the bloodstains on the sofa, floor, and walls with nowhere to hide. A sofa cover, almost entirely soaked through with blood, was crumpled into a ball under a chair. Next to it stood a sharp axe.
A woman in a pale blue cheongsam was kneeling with her back to the door. In front of her sat a low table with peeling paint. A round object, covered in a red cloth, was positioned directly facing her. In front of the red cloth, three sticks of incense were burning in a bronze-colored burner.
Jiang Caiting seemed terrified of whatever was on that table. Hearing people arrive behind her, she struggled desperately, let out muffled whimpers through her taped mouth.
*BANG!* A deafening roar echoed. Gu Yingzhou had fired.
Space was limited in Room 303, and Zhou Jinyao’s fall had landed him right next to Jiang Caiting. The moment he came to his senses, he lunged for her to use her as a hostage, but Gu Yingzhou’s bullet caught him in the calf. The lead tore into his flesh, and blood sprayed.
“AHH!!” Zhou Jinyao screamed in agony, his face contorting.
Whether driven by pain or the sheer terror of being caught, he tapped into a surge of adrenaline. Clutching his wound with one hand, he rolled over to Jiang Caiting, grabbed her by the hair, and yanked her violently in front of him.
“Stay back!” Zhou Jinyao reached back, snatched a dagger from the table, and pressed it hard against Jiang Caiting’s throat. “Let me go, or I’ll kill her right now!”
Lu Ting’an let out a disdainful scoff, completely ignoring the threat. “Even if you kill her, you aren’t getting out of here.”
By now, he had reverted to his own voice—clear, refined, and articulate.
Zhou Jinyao stared at him, eyes nearly bursting from their sockets. “You dared to play me! Monkey Four never bought anything from you—you just wanted to trick me into opening the door!”
Lu Ting’an let out a contemptuous laugh and took a casual step toward him. “Is playing you supposed to be difficult? You’ve got a pig’s brain on those shoulders. You grew in height but not in IQ—you deserve to be played, don’t you?”
Gu Yingzhou frowned, nearly opening his mouth to tell Lu Ting’an not to provoke a cornered man.
Sure enough, Zhou Jinyao flew into a rage, pulling Jiang Caiting’s head back to press it against the blade. He still had a shred of rationality left, though; he only nicked the skin of her neck, making the already bedraggled woman look even more fragile and pitiful. “Don’t think I won’t do it! You know I’ve already taken one life. I don’t mind taking another!”
Jiang Caiting was on the verge of fainting. Her eyes rolled back several times as she went limp like a dead fish, but each time Zhou Jinyao yanked her back up. The sharp pain in her scalp and neck forced her to stay conscious.
This had been the darkest, most terrifying twenty-four hours of her life.
Late last night, after leaving her date with Hu Zounan, she had been driven home by the Hu family’s chauffeur. Her housing estate was a group of old buildings that had been demolished and rebuilt; the interior was new, but the outer roads hadn’t been renovated yet. The driver couldn’t pull in, so he dropped her off at the roadside.
There were two streetlights on that path. She had walked it countless times without issue, but who could have known that just as she reached the corner of the estate, a man in black would step out and club her across the head.
By the time she regained consciousness, she was already inside this house of horrors.
The room was covered in blood, with several blowflies buzzing excitedly around the sofa. If seeing the initial crime scene was a level-five nightmare, what she saw next was level ten… no, a level-one-hundred terror!
She actually saw Zhou Wanxi. To be precise, she saw Zhou Wanxi’s head.
The life had long since drained out of Zhou Wanxi; cadaveric spots mottled her entire face, her hair had lost its luster, and her neck was a mess of mangled flesh where the incision had already begun to turn white.
Jiang Caiting was scared out of her wits and let out a piercing scream. Zhou Jinyao, annoyed by the noise, backhanded her twice.
Then, he tenderly cradled Zhou Wanxi’s head in his arms, whispering comforts to it and passionately kissing its lips.
Jiang Caiting had been forced to kneel before Zhou Wanxi’s head for over six hours. During that time, not a drop of water passed her lips, and her knees had grown numb and swollen. Zhou Jinyao had only left once before dawn for less than half an hour. When he returned to find her trying to saw through her ropes with a shard of porcelain from the floor, he flew into a murderous rage and beat her mercilessly.
She had truly believed she was going to die today—that this madman would surely torture her to death.
She hadn’t expected that just as she gave up hope, someone would come knocking on the door of this cursed house.
Seeing a ray of light at the bottom of a dark abyss, Jiang Caiting felt a surge of survival instinct. She leaned back desperately, trying to dodge the blade, her tear-swollen eyes pleading with Lu Ting’an.
“Mmph, mmph…” ‘Please, save me. I don’t want to die yet.’
Lu Ting’an didn’t look at Jiang Caiting. Instead, he took another half-step forward, seemingly unbothered. “I don’t get it.”
He used a slow, drawling tone to express his confusion. “The one you loved was Zhou Wanxi, and you’ve already violated her. Since that’s the case, why kidnap Jiang Caiting? Surely you don’t fall for every top showgirl at the Baihui Club?”
Zhou Jinyao’s face contorted, the veins on his hand bulging as he gripped the dagger. “Bullshit! In this life, I only love Ah Xi. Doesn’t Jiang Caiting deserve to die? She works at the Club—she could have any man she wants, so why did she have to steal Ah Xi’s man! Because of her, Ah Xi hadn’t smiled at me for a long time; she was always washing her face with tears when she was alone. My heart ached for her, so Jiang Caiting must atone. She must die!”
Lu Ting’an tilted his head in mock confusion. “Is Hu Zounan invisible in your eyes?”
Zhou Jinyao spat through gritted teeth, “What does he have to do with this?”
Lu Ting’an chuckled. “The person dating Zhou Wanxi and nearly getting engaged to her was Hu Zounan. The one who grew bored of the old and fell for the new was also him. Without his permission, what kind of waves could Jiang Caiting have made? Zhou Wanxi cried because Hu Zounan stopped loving her. Why didn’t you snatch that man up to make him atone?”
The hideous expression on Zhou Jinyao’s face froze. He opened his mouth to speak.
Lu Ting’an interrupted him matter-of-factly. “Because you didn’t dare. Hu Zounan is the second son of the Hu family; he’s followed by several bodyguards. If he went missing, the entire family would search the whole city. Besides, Hu Zounan is taller and stronger than you—you might not be able to take him down. When it comes down to it, you’re just a coward who only dares to act big in front of women weaker than yourself!”
Lu Ting’an’s words were like a hand ripping away the last shred of Zhou Jinyao’s dignity, exposing the vile motives hidden beneath his facade of “love and justice.”
Stung where it hurt most, Zhou Jinyao screamed in frustration, “Shut up! You don’t know anything!”
Lu Ting’an shrugged. “Then let me tell you what I do know. You have a severe Oedipus [1] A tragic hero in Greek mythology, Oedipus unwittingly fulfilled a prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother, thereby bringing disaster to his city and family. jQuery('#footnote_plugin_tooltip_1650480_1_1').tooltip({ tip: '#footnote_plugin_tooltip_text_1650480_1_1', tipClass: 'footnote_tooltip', effect: 'fade', predelay: 0, fadeInSpeed: 200, delay: 400, fadeOutSpeed: 200, position: 'top center', relative: true, offset: [-7, 0], }); complex, don’t you? Because Xue Meimei abandoned you when you were very young, you’ve had a twisted craving for motherly love since childhood. Zhou Wanxi looked after you while your mother was gone, taking on the role of a parent. You transferred all your emotions onto her. What you feel for her isn’t love—it’s a selfish belief that she must belong to you alone, and only be good to you!”
“I saw some photos of women at your house—your recent blind dates. I take it you didn’t like any of them?”
Sure enough, Zhou Jinyao flashed a look of disgust, as if having been set up with those “ugly” girls was an insult.
Lu Ting’an looked at the killer’s plain face and laughed coldly. “Oh, so you’re picky now? Is your pee matte-finish so you can’t see your own reflection? Do you know why your mother chose such ordinary girls for you? It’s because she knew hardly anyone would ever look at a piece of junk like you. Those girls were just plain, but you… you have nothing going for you in terms of face, body, or soul. No wonder in Zhou Wanxi’s eyes, you were just a toad. You’re a loser.”
“Shut up! Shut up!”
It was the first time Zhou Jinyao had ever been systematically dismantled and insulted, especially by a man who was handsomer and wealthier than him. His inferiority complex and pride exploded simultaneously. Seeing that Lu Ting’an was barely two steps away, he completely forgot about Jiang Caiting and lunged forward with the dagger.
“You don’t know my pain! Who are you to judge me! Die!”
Lu Ting’an saw a flash of sharp silver light. He stumbled back two steps and shouted: “Gu Yingzhou!”
*BANG!*
The bullet whistled past Lu Ting’an’s cheek, striking Zhou Jinyao’s wrist. He was in too much pain to hold the dagger, and he doubled over, clutching his wound with his left hand while shaking violently.
Despite his grip, blood continued to pour through his fingers, thickening the metallic scent in the room.
Gu Yingzhou moved like lightning. He charged forward, kicked Zhou Jinyao to the floor, and pinned him down like a mountain, brutally wrenching both of the man’s arms behind his back.
“Heh… heh…” Zhou Jinyao gasped for air, whether from the pain or the sheer bitterness of defeat.
The silver handcuffs were snapped onto his wrists in an instant. He curled up on the floor like a dying insect. Gu Yingzhou didn’t relax his guard; he kept a foot firmly planted on the man’s chest, giving him no room to move.
Taking a breath, he looked back. “Lu Ting’an, untie her.”
Only then did Lu Ting’an notice that Jiang Caiting had fainted on the floor at some point.
He took two steps forward, but as he prepared to crouch down, he saw that she was covered in blood and filth. Her wrists weren’t just raw from the hemp rope; they were covered in blisters from cigarette burns.
Looking at the rope binding her, he saw a revolting mix of mold and blood spots.
Lu Ting’an: “…”
His expression froze. He suddenly deeply regretted giving his only handkerchief to Gu Yingzhou in the hallway.
References[+]