Chapter 34: Dim
“I have a gift for you, as a birthday present for Xiao Chan…”
Su Yu was curled up in a corner of the sofa. His hair, which had not been cut since winter, was long. It was half-wet and half-dry, and it was drooping on his forehead. His dark hair contrasted with his pale and bleak face. He was a little thirsty. He licked his lips, but he could only taste the blood that was left between his lips and teeth. The bright red blood spread out, and a sense of fragmentation and fragility was born. He swallowed his dry throat, and there was a feeling of a foreign object wrapped around his neck. The cold and hard chain buckle was pressed against his Adam’s apple, and the soft collar was wrapped around his long and slender neck. When the woman put it on him, he opened his hazy and blurry vision and saw the name on the nameplate.
Xiao Chan… the name of the orange cat that the woman had claimed was dead. It turned out that the pitiful and innocent little life was just a substitute that the woman had found.
From the very beginning, their meeting was a mistake. He had thought it was a coincidence, but it was actually a long-planned scheme by the woman. Her purpose was dirty and impure. All her gentleness was just because she needed a little bait to lure him into the cage willingly.
It was all a disgusting lie…
“Look here. I’ve carefully prepared a gift. Don’t miss it, Xiao Chan.”
Gu Zhi was propping up half of her cheek, her eyes squinted. She was leaning on the sofa with a lazy expression. A silver chain was wrapped around her slender and beautiful wrist. She gently pulled it, and the narrow and exquisite chain rattled. The complex and beautiful carvings on the chain shone with a dazzling light.
The weak neck had no room to resist in front of the hard chain. Su Yu was forced to raise his head and look at the white screen that was hanging high on the wall.
The golden hanging lamp above his head was suddenly extinguished, and the room was plunged into darkness. The projector made a sound and then started to work. A faint light in the darkness shone on the screen, and the gift that Gu Zhi had prepared for him was slowly unfolded.
Su Yu could vaguely guess where he was being held. He had been here before, in this screening room. He was even very familiar with the sofa under him. They had also leaned on this sofa and watched a few movies like this. At that time, what connected them was the kinship he had thought he had, not this cold and hard chain.
A luxurious and silent funeral…
The master of ceremonies, who was dressed in a sharp suit and had a good temperament, was standing on the stage with a solemn expression, presiding over the funeral. Su Yu’s eyes suddenly widened, and the red lines on the whites of his eyes became a little more vibrant. His closed lips slowly parted, and he could hardly believe what he was seeing. His black and white photo was placed in the center of the hall, and familiar faces were presented on the screen, and they were also reflected in his eyes.
This was… his funeral.
He gripped the soft fabric of the sofa, and sweat soaked his palm. He stumbled back and fell. The chain was choking his neck, but he was as if he had no sensation and stared at his father, who was holding a eulogy and standing on the stage, painfully recounting the tragedy.
The face, which had been unknowingly covered with wrinkles, was dim. Watery light gushed from the wrinkled corners of his eyes. This was the first time he had seen the man cry, and his crying was inexplicably a little pathetic.
The people who had come to the funeral all went up to mourn a person who was clearly not yet dead. The false lies had elicited real tears.
The bone-chilling grief and despair did not bring the expected loss of control. He just sat there numbly, his expression wooden. The faint rose fragrance that was left in his hair after he had showered was mixed with the rich neroli fragrance on the woman’s body. All of this really made him want to vomit, but his empty stomach could only spit out some sour and burning acid, which only brought a burning pain.
“Are you not happy? It’s Xiao Chan’s birthday today. Oh… it’s also Su Yu’s…” Gu Zhi seemed to have suddenly remembered something. Her fingertips, which were wiping the wetness at the corners of his eyes, paused for a moment. She pretended to be enlightened and emphasized the last few words.
“Death anniversary.”
It was as if the fuse of a bomb had been lit. The woman’s frivolous and vicious laughter in his ear ignited the violence that was rampaging in his heart. Su Yu raised his blood-red eyes and looked at Gu Zhi. His body, which was lying on the soft fabric, struggled to get out of the quagmire. A docile little dog that was lying at his feet became a furious hungry wolf.
The effect of the drug that was left in his body was precise. His limbs had been able to accumulate strength again when he had entered the screening room.
He pounced on her with all his might. Even though he had still held back a little when he had been trying to fight for his life in the darkness not long ago, at this moment, he was almost roaring as he rushed up. His palm was aimed at the woman’s slender and fair neck, and his movements were fierce but without any order.
The other party’s reaction was much faster than his. His movements were full of flaws because of his anger. Her small and exquisite ankle accurately hit his chest. The muscles on her calf were tensed into the arc of a full-drawn bow. Her foot suddenly exerted force, and she kicked him hard.
The chain was dragged on the felt carpet, leaving a clear scratch. Su Yu was in so much pain from his abdomen being stepped on that he was dry-heaving on the floor. He turned his head and glared at Gu Zhi, his eyes a scarlet red. He almost gritted his teeth and squeezed out a few words from between his teeth. He cursed the other party viciously, “You’re a madwoman, a pervert… you’re a psycho. You’ll go to hell when you die.”
“Haha… Xiao Chan is so smart. The diagnosis from the mental hospital is still in my study.”
Gu Zhi’s dark eyes did not show a single bit of anger. Besides a few faint glooms in her expression, she was smiling brightly and movingly. She even crossed her legs elegantly and leaned on the sofa, tilting her head and looking down at him. Her snow-white ankles were naked and were swaying slightly in the air.
She saw the howling void in the boy’s dim and clear pupils through his eyes. Almost half of his body was buried in the darkness, and there were not many thin threads left to pull him up.
He could barely cry. A hurricane had started in his heart, uprooting all his attachments and beliefs. He was imprisoned in the eye of the storm, which had no wind. He watched as the forest of his life was mercilessly torn apart and destroyed, but he could only stand in the shadows in despair.
“You’re not completely unrelated to them. At least… there are some things you can decide.”
Gu Zhi’s voice sounded in his ear, and a few photos were casually thrown in front of Su Yu. He opened the photos with trembling fingertips. The camera was very close, as if it had penetrated into the lives of the people in the photos, and was always lurking within a meter of them.
He saw Xia Qiange, and he also saw his parents, a few roommates from college… even Su Xi was not spared.
The last bit of flame in his heart struggled for a moment and was extinguished in the darkness of despair, even though the sunlight was only a few meters away from his head.
Gu Zhi threw away the chain in her hand, and a silver glint silently fell on the carpet. She stretched lazily and lay back on the sofa, the long corners of her eyes slightly upturned, her red lips parted. “Oh, my thing fell…”
She deliberately swallowed the second half of her sentence, a vicious curve on her lips. She looked at her little dog. It only took a moment, and the little dog quickly crawled over and picked up the chain and handed it to her.
Gu Zhi took the chain and then, in front of Su Yu, slowly let go. The chain fell to the carpet again. Her slightly squinted eyes were filled with mockery, and her bright red, full lips were pursed into a thin line, with a cold and aloof smile.
“A dog doesn’t use its hands.”
This time, the pause was a little longer. Soon, she picked up her own chain again and held it in her palm, with a little bit of wet and warm liquid.
“Don’t do that to them, please… I’m begging you. Whatever you say, I can do it. Don’t involve innocent people anymore.”
His voice trembled with desperation, nearly breaking into sobs. The towering fury from earlier had completely dissipated. His handsome and delicate face was filled with a docile and well-behaved expression. He held Gu Zhi’s slender and fair wrist and pleaded with his master, one by one.
“What are you talking about, Xiao Chan? How could I do such a thing? After all, Xiao Chan… is so good.”
Gu Zhi felt the gentle and tickling touch on her wrist. Her heart was as if it were being gently caressed by a feather. It was a craving and madness that was like scratching an itch through a boot. She breathed out a thick and hot breath, and a long and thin silver thread was pulled from between her lips and teeth. A blush spread up her porcelain-white and slender neck, covering her entire face, which was filled with unfulfilled desire. “You’ll always be good, right?”
“Yeah…”, a weak and almost inaudible reply disappeared into the air. Su Yu lowered his eyelashes. His body, which had been freed from the effect of the drug, was still unprecedentedly weak. He fell back again, without a single bit of desire to struggle.
Gu Zhi held Su Yu’s cheeks with her palms and forced him to look at her. She looked at his clear and bottomless pupils. She finally tore the gentle skin that was on her skeleton to pieces and grinned, her smile crazy and wanton.
It’s not enough. Far from it.
Desire was still not soothed, and it was spreading in her heart like wild grass that had lost control on a barren field.
The faint light that was left in his eyes, along with those thin and fine threads, she wanted to pull them all out and extinguish them. She wanted his pupils to be completely dim, so dim that they could only reflect her alone. He could only look at her, listen to her words, like her… love her.
They were each other’s friends, relatives, and even eternal lovers. They should be the support that supported each other to continue to live in this world.
She loved her little dog.
She loved his gentle and brilliant, sunny smile, and she also loved the way he would cry and beg her at her feet.
Gu Zhi slowly leaned down and whispered in Su Yu’s ear. The warm breath rushed into his ear canal. She carved her words into the other party’s mind, and her face was filled with an extremely gray and desperate expression.
“Then Xiao Chan will obediently stay by my side. You saved them. Xiao Chan is such a good child. One day, you will willingly stay by my side. One day.”
