“Let’s go back,” Song Qingxian said again.
Lu Nanzhan’s dark eyes were filled with scrutiny as he stared at her heavily.
Why was she acting differently from usual? She must be planning something again.
Under his gaze, Song Qingxian felt increasingly guilty and uneasy.
The information he had received clearly stated that Song Qingxian had planted bombs inside the warehouse, intending to threaten him into surrendering the company shares and his assets, wanting to drag him down from his throne as the untouchable king of Nanchuan City.
He knew very well how scheming and manipulative she could be, yet he had still come without hesitation.
Because he wanted to see her.
How could he bear to let her wait alone in such a filthy, ruined place?
But before she had even threatened him, she suddenly wanted to leave? Lu Nanzhan frowned. Just what trick was she trying to play now?
Oh no.
Song Qingxian noticed the number above Lu Nanzhan’s head suddenly rise to 92.
What the hell? She had not even said anything. How had the number gone up just from him looking at her for a while? Could it be because she currently looked dirty and disheveled? She remembered that Lu Nanzhan had severe cleanliness issues.
Song Qingxian lowered her head and tidied her clothes before softly asking, “Azhan, I know I was wrong. Can we go home?”
Lu Nanzhan curled his lips slightly, his voice low and deep. “Xianxian, only admitting your mistake after being caught, isn’t that a little too late?”
Looking at his expression, Song Qingxian’s heart sank.
He was way too difficult to deal with.
Quietly taking a breath, she reached out and lightly tugged on Lu Nanzhan’s sleeve as she yielded weakly. “Azhan, I don’t feel very well. I want to go home.”
The moment he heard her call him Azhan, a flicker of surprise flashed through Lu Nanzhan’s eyes.
At the same time, the number above his head became 88.
A trace of anxiety appeared in Lu Nanzhan’s gaze. He bent down and carried Song Qingxian in his arms as he walked outside.
“Xianxian, where do you feel uncomfortable?”
Song Qingxian lightly wrapped her arms around his neck and said weakly, “My head feels a little dizzy.”
Lu Nanzhan gently placed her in the back seat of the car before instructing the driver, “Go home.”
Song Qingxian finally let out a sigh of relief.
Lu Nanzhan carefully straightened her wrinkled clothes. When his cool fingertips brushed across her skin, Song Qingxian could not stop herself from trembling.
This body had already developed a conditioned fear toward Lu Nanzhan.
“Don’t be afraid.” Lu Nanzhan leaned close to her ear and comforted her softly.
His warm breath brushed against her skin, yet it only made Song Qingxian feel another wave of coldness.
Terrifying!
That was the only word she could think of to describe Lu Nanzhan.
Like Satan himself crawling out from hell, he carried an aura of deathly stillness around him.
Suddenly, Lu Nanzhan noticed a corner of paper sticking out from her clothes. Reaching over, he pulled it free.
“What is this?”
Damn it.
The abortion report.
Inside, Song Qingxian cried that she was finished.
She immediately reached out to snatch the paper back, but Lu Nanzhan pressed down on her hand. His tone was gentle yet impossible to defy.
“Be good. Don’t move.”
His words seemed to carry some strange magic. Perhaps because of the deep fear rooted inside her, Song Qingxian truly did not dare move again.
Lu Nanzhan’s slender fingers slowly unfolded the abortion report, while Song Qingxian’s heart gradually sank into despair alongside it.
At first, disbelief appeared on his face.
Then his expression turned dark and terrifying. Ruthlessness seeped into his brows as a blood red hue slowly spread through his eyes, crimson gradually filling them completely, making him look like a bloodthirsty beast.
Seeing him like this, Song Qingxian was so frightened she stopped breathing altogether.
She felt that he might kill her the very next second.
Lu Nanzhan’s voice trembled faintly. “Xianxian, is this real?”
Song Qingxian lowered her eyes, not knowing how to answer.
In the original novel, Song Qingxian truly had aborted their child. Even if she lied now and claimed the report was fake, he would definitely discover the truth sooner or later.
Looking at her expression, Lu Nanzhan already understood the answer.
A suppressed, agonized laugh escaped from his throat. Then his laughter grew louder and louder, sounding increasingly oppressive and sinister inside the confined car.
His tall body slowly pressed closer toward Song Qingxian. The eerie sound of his laughter beside her ears sent chills running from the top of her head all the way to her feet, covering her skin in goosebumps.
Then she suddenly felt warmth on the back of her hand.
Lu Nanzhan’s tears fell onto it.
His tears seemed to smash directly into her heart as well, and she felt a burning pain spread through her chest.
The number above his head became 98.
Song Qingxian was terrified, yet also slightly relieved.
At least they were not in the warehouse.
Surely it would not explode now, right?
“You lied to me, Xianxian.” Lu Nanzhan’s low voice was filled with heartbreak, his eyes bloodshot. “You lied to me. The baby would miss Daddy, but you killed her.”
Seeing him like this, Song Qingxian felt as though a giant hand were tightly squeezing her heart, making even breathing unbearably painful.
“I… I’m sorry.”
Lu Nanzhan raised a hand and gently caressed Song Qingxian’s face. His gaze was complicated, filled with attachment and reluctance, yet also mixed with hatred.
“Xianxian, do you know? That child was the last bit of humanity I had left, but you destroyed it with your own hands.”
Song Qingxian was so nervous that even her heartbeat seemed to skip. She licked her dry lips nervously.
“Lu Nanzhan, there’s still another chance. Please don’t act impulsively.”
A resolute, bloodthirsty smile appeared on Lu Nanzhan’s lips.
“Another chance? But I’m tired.”
“What are you trying to do?” Song Qingxian’s voice trembled. He was not seriously planning to kill her, was he?
“Stop the car,” Lu Nanzhan ordered coldly.
The car came to a halt. Lu Nanzhan stepped out, walked to the driver’s seat, and commanded the driver, “Get out.”
Then he climbed into the driver’s seat himself and slammed the accelerator all the way down.
Song Qingxian screamed in terror. “Lu Nanzhan, what are you doing? Stop the car!”
“Xianxian, if we die, you won’t be able to run away anymore, right?”
A freezing chill crawled up Song Qingxian’s spine as she truly felt death approaching.
She saw the number above Lu Nanzhan’s head become 99.
No way!
Did the number reaching 100 really mean he intended to die together with her?
He was completely insane.
Song Qingxian shouted desperately, “No! Lu Nanzhan, I’m begging you, don’t!”
Lu Nanzhan’s tone remained calm as stagnant water. “Xianxian, don’t be afraid. I’ll stay with you. After death, we can be together forever. No one will ever disturb us again.”
At the brink of death, Song Qingxian broke down crying in fear.
“No, Lu Nanzhan! We can still have children. Stop the car!”
“But our child is already dead. We should go down and accompany her. Then our family of three can finally be reunited.”
Song Qingxian completely despaired.
Only two words remained in her mind.
It’s over.
It’s over.
Looks like she was about to unlock a second way to die.
The next second, the car sped onto the cross river bridge. Lu Nanzhan sharply turned the steering wheel, and the car smashed through the guardrail before plunging directly into the river below.
She saw the number above his head turn into 100.
At the instant the car violently crashed through the barrier, blood covered Lu Nanzhan’s face. Using the last of his strength, he whispered softly:
“Xianxian, I love you. In the next life, could you love me a little too?”
Song Qingxian should have hated him.
After all, she had died by his hands once again.
Yet at that moment, all she felt was heartache.
Heartache for his twisted devotion, his desperate humility, his reckless willingness to destroy everything.
This death was even longer and more agonizing than the previous one.
She was not killed by the crash itself, but slowly drowned and suffocated to death.
The pain was unbearable.
Helplessness! Endlessly waiting for death to arrive.
The icy river water slowly flooded in, her nose and airway burning with pain as every trace of oxygen disappeared bit by bit. Despair and terror wrapped tightly around her.
At that moment, Song Qingxian suddenly understood the meaning behind the words:
【The path to salvation lies within it.】
Did it mean that as long as she saved Lu Nanzhan from the brink of madness, she would be able to return to her original life?
To save him was also to save herself.
Would she be reborn again?
She did not want to die in such agony anymore.
In the end, not a single trace of oxygen remained. River water invaded every corner of her body as Song Qingxian’s heart suddenly stopped.
She died once again.