Fang Ming slowly opened his eyes to the sound of a blaring alarm.
His head was pounding, his mind fuzzy and sluggish. The deafening noise drilling into his ears finally forced his half-conscious brain to clear.
Why was it so loud?
It sounded like… dozens of alarms going off at once?
He guessed right.
It was alarms.
Ten of them.
Tao Ran, ever the meticulous planner, had worried that the sleeping pills Dr. Ross gave him might work too well—that Fang Ming might oversleep and ruin the timing of her grand finale. So she’d spent ten dollars at a secondhand market to buy ten alarm clocks, all set to go off simultaneously.
Before leaving, she had thoughtfully arranged them around his head in a perfect circle.
Three hundred and sixty degrees of synchronized noise—comparable to a power drill in the ear.
Unless he’d gone deaf, there was no way he wouldn’t wake up fast.
Fang Ming shivered. The floor beneath him felt cold and hard.
His nose was stuffed, like he’d caught a cold.
He reached out and touched his skin—
Wait. Where were his clothes?
His hand brushed against icy tiles. He was lying on the floor?
Sleeping on the floor?
He must be dreaming.
He squinted his eyes open, ready to drift back into sleep, but when his brain registered the sight before him, his eyes snapped wide open.
He really was lying naked on the floor.
But that wasn’t the worst part—what truly chilled him was what he saw around him.
Had they been robbed?
The apartment looked stripped bare.
Empty.
It felt like half the place was missing.
Was his headache from being attacked?
Cold sweat broke out all over his body. He jumped up in shock.
The room was a mess, drawers pulled out, cupboards overturned.
His clothes from yesterday were crumpled on the floor.
But—
Where was his bag?
His phone?
His suitcase?
His laptop?
His desktop computer in the living room?
His wine collection—gone!
The cabinet was empty except for an old TV.
Even his computer desk and chair were gone!
No way.
No way.
Had someone seriously stolen everything? Even the furniture?
The cash in his bag was definitely gone. Cards and IDs could be replaced, but his phone—that was brand new and expensive!
Wait!
His suitcase had several electronics he’d bought for classmates on the East Coast—worth over three thousand dollars. His brand-new laptop—high-end and costly. His desktop setup had been customized two years ago—worth at least a thousand. And those bottles of wine? Not a single cheap one among them!
All of that—how much was it worth altogether?
Fang Ming rushed to his bedroom to check further.
Oh right—
“Tang Ran!” he suddenly remembered.
If he’d been knocked out, Tang Ran must have been too, right?
Was she hurt badly? If so…
Too bad he hadn’t bought her insurance. If he had, maybe he could’ve filed a report and squeezed some compensation out of this mess.
That thought barely formed before freezing in his mind.
Tang Ran was nowhere to be seen.
The room was empty.
“Tang Ran!”
A sinking feeling gripped his gut.
He finally noticed that all the things they’d bought together—furniture, decorations, everything—were gone. Even the blanket and bedsheet were missing.
He opened the wardrobe—completely empty.
Not a single piece of clothing left.
His clothes, Tang Ran’s clothes—all gone.
There’s no way a burglar would take every stitch of clothing and the bedding, right?
If it wasn’t theft… wasn’t that even worse?
He dashed into the bathroom.
Only two old towels hung there—nothing else.
What had happened was obvious, wasn’t it?
He didn’t want to believe it, but the truth was staring him in the face:
Tang Ran had run away.
Run off—with everything.
How did she manage to take so much in one go? She must have planned it in advance…
Fang Ming suddenly realized—so that’s why last night’s dinner had been so elaborate? That dream he had about getting rich… it was all a setup to keep him there.
He hadn’t been attacked—he’d been drugged.
That woman had cleaned him out!
“Damn it!”
Was she out of her mind?
“Tang Ran! Get your ass back here!” he shouted furiously.
But he couldn’t wrap his head around it.
That woman loved him so much—they’d never even fought. Why would she do this? For money? Over this much? What reason could she possibly have to strip the place bare, not even leaving a tablecloth behind?
Fang Ming couldn’t understand.
He tore through the apartment, growing colder by the second.
Every cabinet was empty.
The trash can, however, was full.
In the bathroom bin lay a pile of shredded paper.
He picked up a handful—and almost fainted.
They were pieces of his research notes, seminar abstracts, reports, drafts—everything he’d worked on for his academic exchange. His nearly completed thesis—shredded beyond repair.
All his hard work—gone.
That meant he’d have to redo everything from scratch and explain the situation to the university.
She’d completely sabotaged him!
“Tang Ran! You lunatic!” he roared.
What kind of grudge was this? Just because he’d made her abort the baby? Was that reason enough?
Fang Ming almost broke down in tears.
Everything he owned—gone.
Then a thought struck him.
His office desk!
He rushed to his study.
His heart nearly stopped.
The study was also empty.
Even the desk—gone!
He screamed.
Because inside that desk were the most important things of all—
His passport, visa, and certificates!
His degree from his home university!
Gone. All of it.
Panic clawed up his throat.
He had to find Tang Ran.
If he couldn’t, he’d have to report her.
Of course he’d report her!
Otherwise, how could he get his money back?
She’d taken everything—his cash, his electronics, his documents.
And there was still the money Xiao Ai and Liu Jie had paid for her medical bills. With Tang Ran gone, who was supposed to repay the bills?
That crazy woman—after all the money spent on her treatment!
No, he had to call the police!
She’d changed so suddenly… could it be she had a lover now? Maybe this “lover” had helped her pull it off?
Fang Ming went berserk searching for his phone—
But of course, it was gone.
And he didn’t have a cent on him.
Not even a coin.
He’d have to borrow a phone!
Just as he was about to rush out the door, he caught sight of himself—naked—and scrambled back to dress.
His pants were filthy, dumped in the trash can among food scraps, but he didn’t care. He pulled them on anyway.
In his panic, he didn’t stop to think—if Tang Ran had taken everything, why had she deliberately left behind this one dirty outfit?
Wouldn’t taking it too have made him suffer even more?