Bai Song was startled and instinctively recoiled backward.
She forgot that the fountain was right behind her, and her center of gravity tilted completely backward.
Her shoulder was steadied by Tong Yao, leaving Bai Song shaken, her heart pounding wildly.
By the time she caught her breath, Tong Yao had already withdrawn her hand and walked away.
Bai Song: “?”
Watching Tong Yao’s retreating figure, Bai Song stood up, feeling utterly baffled.
Bai Song: “System, what do you think she was trying to do? Did she come back this early just to sit with me all afternoon?”
The sunset blazed like fire, half the sky resembling a meticulously painted scroll, stunningly beautiful.
But Tong Yao’s shadow stretched alone across the ground, desolate and forlorn.
For a moment, Bai Song felt a pang of pity for Tong Yao.
But that ridiculous thought vanished as quickly as it came.
After all, compared to her, Bai Song locked up and tormented was the real victim.
The evening air in the courtyard was still chilly. Bai Song rubbed her arms and stomped her feet before asking again, “System?”
After a long pause, the system replied, “No idea. But I detected that Tong Yao was in an unusually calm state of mind this afternoon.”
“Then why sit around all afternoon?” Bai Song glanced at the sun sinking below the horizon and muttered, “Could she have just been sunbathing? Whatever, never mind. I’m starving, let’s go eat.”
The tomato juice on her hands had long been licked clean, but the dried saliva felt uncomfortable. Grumbling, Bai Song shuffled back to her room to wash up and have dinner.
After that day, Tong Yao didn’t return for a long time. Bai Song enjoyed several peaceful days, so comfortable that she began to feel uneasy.
One morning, she woke up after another good night’s sleep.
Feeling the morning sun warm her face, Bai Song raised a hand to shield her eyes, overwhelmed by a surreal sense of detachment.
She didn’t get up immediately. Instead, she lay still for a while before hesitantly asking, “System, be honest with me is Tong Yao plotting something big? This doesn’t feel right.”
The system sighed in exasperation. “Look at you, so timid. You’re supposed to be a scumbag, not a coward!”
Bai Song pouted. “If you’re so brave, why don’t you try it?”
The system: “Tong Yao’s been busy lately. She’s the head of the Tong Group now, after all internal and external troubles all need her attention.”
Bai Song brightened. “So she’s been at the company?”
The system narrowed its eyes. “What are you planning?”
Bai Song threw off the covers and sprang up, full of energy. “Opportunities like this don’t come twice. Of course, I’m going to run!”
The system hesitated. “But even if you escape, we still can’t leave this world. Maybe we should reconsider.”
“Oh, come on,” Bai Song waved dismissively. “If we wait any longer, you might as well start planning my funeral.”
“Time heals all wounds.” Bai Song had already scouted the villa before. Her ID and wallet were missing, no surprise Tong Yao wouldn’t leave them lying around so she didn’t bother searching. Instead, she took a few stray bills she’d managed to collect, totaling about three or four hundred.
As usual, Bai Song finished her meal and took a stroll in the courtyard to aid digestion.
She had already scoped out the place, today was just a final confirmation with the system about the blind spots in the surveillance cameras.
Glancing at the high wall, Bai Song swallowed hard. “System, don’t forget to buff me up later.”
The System: “All my buffs come with side effects. You might collapse from illness before you even escape. Are you sure?”
“I’m sure!” Bai Song nodded firmly. “Better a short pain than a long one. Compared to Tong Yao, your buffs are like a kindergarten kid getting their hand slapped by the teacher, gentle and kind.”
The system was thoroughly disgusted and chose not to respond.
As night fell, a shadowy figure quietly slipped into the garden of the courtyard, clumsily attempting to scale the wall.
“Thud!” The air seemed to tremble for a moment. Just as the surveillance camera turned toward the movement, the figure that had fallen to the ground seemed to melt into the darkness, vanishing from sight.
Bai Song rubbed her buttocks, which felt like they had been split into eight pieces, and grimaced. “System, thanks.”
The system replied irritably, “Clumsy as ever. This invisibility buff only lasts half an hour. Hurry up.”
“Got it, got it.” Bai Song scrambled to her feet, dusted off her hands, and gritted her teeth as she prepared to climb again.
The system didn’t want to discourage her, but it had to warn her. “This is a high-level buff. The side effects afterward are especially severe. You might develop a serious illness, what kind depends on your physical condition. Preliminary estimates suggest stomach cancer is the most likely.”
Her hands had just braced against the wall when her wrists gave out, nearly sending her tumbling back down.
Bai Song refused to give up. Summoning all her strength, she heaved herself up and finally sat safely atop the wall, only to freeze in shock. “Stomach cancer? Isn’t that terminal? Didn’t you say I can’t leave this world until I eliminate her darkening value?”
Wasn’t this a loophole? Next time, she could just use a buff to get a terminal illness and leave the world indirectly.
Before Bai Song could celebrate, the system’s grave voice cut in: “So you’ll have to eliminate Tong Yao’s darkening value before the stomach cancer manifests. Otherwise, if you’re judged to be forcibly leaving the world through malicious means, your soul will suffer severe damage.”
“!” With a loud thud, Bai Song fell straight off the wall. She didn’t even have time to get up before she started panicking. “I don’t want the buff anymore! I won’t run away! System, bro, don’t mess with me like this. This isn’t fair you just upgraded the mission to ‘harder than reaching the heavens’ mode!”
The system: “I—”
Bai Song knew there was no taking it back.
Might as well make a run for it while the buff was still active.
If she didn’t use this buff, her heart would ache too much.
The more useful the buff, the faster and fiercer the side effects would strike. Bai Song stumbled and rolled down the hill. Before she could even flag down a taxi, her stomach twisted in agony, and beads of sweat poured down her forehead.
She pressed hard against her stomach, her vision swimming with black spots. She opened her mouth to beg the system to help her hold on a little longer, but before she could utter a word, she collapsed heavily to the ground with a thud.
“Family of Bai Song? Is the family of Bai Song here?”
A short-haired girl in a loose yellow hoodie and tight blue-white jeans rushed forward. “Here! I’m here! Doctor, what’s wrong with her?”
The doctor removed his mask, revealing a troubled expression, yet he maintained his professional ethics as he delivered the diagnosis: “The patient has multiple bruises on her body, slight tearing in the □□, suspected to be the result of forced assault. She also suffers from long-term malnutrition and unstable mental health, requiring further hospitalization for observation.”
“Assassault?” The short-haired girl’s lips parted slightly, as if one shock had barely settled before another hit. The doctor continued regretfully, “But these are only secondary issues. After examination, we’ve determined the patient is already in the mid-stage of gastric cancer. If it had been detected earlier and treated promptly, the prognosis could have been optimistic. But now, given her extremely weakened condition, we doubt she can even withstand the treatment.”
“G-gastric cancer? No, that can’t be!” The short-haired girl stared at the doctor in disbelief, shaking her head violently, tears flicking from the corners of her eyes.
How could someone who was always smiling and carefree possibly be sick? And with such a deadly disease like gastric cancer?
And long-term assault? Wasn’t she with Tong Yao? How could this have happened?
Suddenly recalling Tong Yao’s recent high-profile return to the Tong Group, the short-haired girl gasped sharply, “Hah” and quickly covered her mouth as realization dawned.
The doctor, accustomed to life-and-death partings, studied the young woman before him, then considered the mottled marks on the patient in the ward. Choosing his words carefully, he asked, “The patient needs to remain hospitalized for observation. And should we report this to the police?”
The short-haired girl’s lips had lost all color. She shook her head numbly, her voice hoarse and choked with tears: “N-no, that won’t be necessary. She went abroad for a trip recently, and after she returned, we never saw each other again. Today was the first time I’ve seen her since then. I don’t know what happened to her. Let’s wait until she wakes up.”
Just thinking about the doctor’s words sent a chill creeping up from the soles of her feet, seeping into her very core. Standing in the hospital corridor, the short-haired girl trembled uncontrollably from the cold.
No, it couldn’t be. Tong Yao wouldn’t do that to her.
They had been so deeply in love.