Chapter 82: Fleeing
“Xiao Yu! Xiao Yu!”
“Don’t scare me, okay? Come out quickly. Let’s go home.”
“Are you lying to me? But didn’t you say you wouldn’t lie to me again?”
…
Her seaweed-like, dark and smooth hair had broken free from the hair tie and was scattered. A few wet strands of hair were on her lips. Her high heels had long since disappeared. She didn’t care and was frantically searching for something, barefoot, as if she were possessed.
Her tears had ruined the heavy makeup on her face, and the dark circles under her eyelids were still dazzling. No amount of bright red lipstick could erase the gray and desperate look in her eyes.
These past few days, she had lost more than just a little weight. The anorexia and memory loss caused by her illness were almost driving her mad. Fortunately, at her most painful moments, she could turn her head and see the boy by her side, like a gift from the gods, easily smoothing away the pain that was ravaging her body, and bathing her dirty soul in a transcendent liberation.
But he had suddenly disappeared, without leaving a single word. Gu Zhi had almost lost count of how many times the other party had run away. From the initial arrogant anger to the later “as long as you’re by my side,” she had always naively thought that even if it was just a little, just a little bit, she wanted to hear him say that he loved her…
At least… at least he wouldn’t lie to her again and again, and leave without a word, and crush the trust she had worked so hard to build.
They had indeed gradually gotten better later. The other party would not be angry and resentful for no reason, and would even care about her body. Just as she was about to get better, she had learned that she was about to die. But she often thought that there was nothing in this world that did not require a price. If this was the price, then she was willing to pay it.
She thought she was about to die. Who else would come to make things difficult for her?
But God just wouldn’t grant her wish. Did she deserve it? She deserved it…
A knife from nowhere had pierced her heart, and it had stabbed into her beating heart, and it had cut her muscles, and it had drawn out her bone marrow, and it had drained her blood. She was in so much pain, a thousand times more painful than when she was sick. She was in so much pain that she wanted to die immediately.
When she was in so much pain, she would subconsciously look back, eagerly wanting to hold on to something, but she could only see a hole in the high wall, which was made of red bricks.
The desolate and cold wind blew through the hole and straight to the flaw in her heart. It was dark and empty, and she couldn’t find a single bit of happiness or joy. It was as if it had been dug clean, and her flesh and blood were a mess, and it was so ferocious that it didn’t look like a human heart.
Why did he always lie to her? The words of love, that he didn’t hate her anymore, that he even loved her and wanted to go to a new city with her, were all fake. He had gone back on his word again and again. It was just a prop to coax her, and he had treated her like a hopeless fool.
Her acting in front of him was getting better and better, and it was so natural when she left. She was just a joke that had privately moved her heart from beginning to end. She had clearly wanted to give him this battered heart, but in the end, all she got in return was the same unannounced departure as before. She had thought that things between them had gotten better… but from beginning to end, it was just her beautiful fantasy.
The phone in her palm suddenly rang. Gu Zhi eagerly held the phone and answered it, listening to the message from the other end.
“Miss, we’ve searched for a long time, and we’ve also investigated the vehicles nearby. We haven’t found any trace of anyone leaving the mansion.”
“No? How could that be…”
Gu Zhi murmured in a hoarse voice, and she suddenly realized the fact in the message.
“Find him. Don’t stop. Find him!”
“I know, miss.”
Gu Zhi hugged her cold and transparent body and walked numbly through the withered and yellow leaves. A faint red sunset shone through the gaps between the branches and leaves and fell on her hunched and thin back. Her face was pale, and her frail spirit could not withstand the attack of the disease. Her head was in so much pain that it was about to explode. The shadow seemed to be growing by feeding on her pain. Otherwise, why would it be so painful at this time?
She paced back and forth in a panic. Everything in her field of vision had turned gray and white, as if the color blocks had fallen off her retina. The heart that had been stabbed was dripping with blood, and blood-red raindrops were falling from the sky.
Drip, drip, drip, drip…
The red raindrops fell on her body and wet her clothes. There was a fishy and pungent smell of blood.
Why are you doing this to me? I’m about to die.
I feel like I’m going crazy…
She suddenly knelt on the ground with red eyes, held her head, and let out a hysterical and piercing scream. She grabbed the collar of her coat and put it in her mouth, biting the thin fabric with her teeth. Her dark brown pupils were soaked in the blood-red whites of her eyes, and her eyeballs were rolling wildly, searching for something.
She suddenly raised her head. She was stunned to see that the door of the warehouse in the corner was open a small crack in the cold wind, and it was creaking and swaying. She then turned her head and looked at the large hole in the wall behind her.
Gu Zhi bit her lip, and the blood that had oozed out had dyed her lips a more and more bloody and dazzling color. She stood up unsteadily, and her arms were hanging limply by her sides. Her bare feet were on the sand and stones under her feet, and her delicate and fair skin was rubbed until it was a bloody mess. But she quickened her pace and walked towards that old and dilapidated warehouse.
The sun was setting in the west, and it had completely broken through the blockade of the thick clouds. A raging fire was raging in the sky. The sky behind her was dyed a blood-red color, and her slender back was stretched longer and longer.
…
His breathing was chaotic and rushed in the darkness. He had inhaled a few mouthfuls of choking dust, but he still held his mouth and nose, not daring to make a single sound.
He was recalling the promise of that day, all the guarantees the other party had given him, which had led to today’s escape.
His dark pupils were hidden in the shadows, and they were filled with a silence that was caused by a deep fear.
He was hiding in the darkness, and his Adam’s apple was rolling violently. He swallowed a mouthful of thick saliva, and his wet and sticky bangs were drooping on his forehead, as if they would pierce his eyes. He was about to part his hair when the rusty iron door of the warehouse made a more and more harsh and turning sound. It was definitely not the result of the wind blowing. It was as if someone had walked in.
His knees, which had been squatting for too long, suddenly went weak. He fell back a few steps and frantically grabbed the shelf to support himself. Fortunately, the rustling sound of his shoes rubbing against the sand and stones was covered by the sound of the door being pushed open, and he did not expose anything. He looked back with a lingering fear. Behind him was a row of empty shelves, and only a few old and dilapidated cardboard boxes were casually piled up in an inconspicuous corner.
“Xiao Yu, are you here…”
The woman’s voice hit the wall and then suddenly bounced back, echoing in the cold and dark air.
“Are you playing hide-and-seek with me? Hmm? Come out quickly, okay… I won’t blame you.”
The voice was getting closer and closer in his ear. His thin shirt was soaked with cold sweat, and it was wet and sticky on his bent back, which was particularly heavy.
“Come out quickly. My patience is limited.”
He held his mouth tightly and supported himself with the shelf, slowly retreating. He was frantically praying for the other party to leave, but he suddenly heard a few crisp and loud bangs, and a cloud of dust was raised, which almost blurred his vision.
He saw a row of iron shelves that had already fallen to the ground and were twisted and bent through the gap between the shelves. A pair of slender and alluring calves were stepping on the ground and were slowly approaching him. The black stockings that were wrapped around her fair and tender skin were broken in a few places, and a little bit of spring scenery was revealed.
“Come out, come out!”
The gentle call suddenly became harsh. The woman was as if she had been dominated by the monster in her body and had become crazy and irritable. She was roaring and searching everywhere. A row of iron shelves was suddenly pulled down. He was panting and retreating, but the space that was enough for him to survive was still shrinking visibly.
“You said you wouldn’t lie to me again. I believed you. But what about you? Once… twice… what do you take me for? You can’t escape. I know you’re here. I’ll find you eventually.”
The woman sneered and quickened her pace. It was as if she would appear in front of him in the next second, and she would bite his beating neck and suck his blood and eat his marrow.
The fear of the past rushed to his heart. He was still afraid. He looked at the darkness behind him, which had not much space left. His retreating steps suddenly stopped. He stood up with a trembling hand. But just as he had straightened up, a big hand from behind choked his neck, and another hand blocked his subconscious cry.
His jaw was so painful from the rough arm that he struggled for a while. He smelled a strange and dark fragrance, and his consciousness was blurry for a moment. It was as if the strength of his body was about to be taken away. The amplitude of his struggle was getting smaller and smaller, and his vision was blurry and he slowly fell into the darkness.
The loud bang of the iron shelf hitting the ground, the muffled sound of his heart pounding, and the struggle of his feet rubbing against the ground… they were all fading away in his ear, and they were becoming blurry along with his consciousness.
Only the woman’s hysterical scream was lingering in his mind. The scream was filled with a heart-wrenching cry, and it went straight into his eardrum. He couldn’t escape this sharp and piercing pain. He was suddenly a little sad, and the joy of his escape was scattered.
A chaotic sound of footsteps rushed into the warehouse, and the sound soon became noisy again. The woman’s scream was like a dying person, and it gradually withered and dimmed. He heard Auntie Jing’s old voice again, and the frightened cry of a child…
…
“Get away from me! Let me go! I don’t want to have any surgery! I want Xiao Yu! He’s here! I have to find him!”
“Did you guys hide my Xiao Yu? He promised me he wouldn’t lie to me again. Then you must have taken him away. Give him back to me… give him back to me…”
“What Gu family? I don’t want it. I’ll give it all to you, okay? Just give me back my Xiao Yu, please…”
…
So messy, so messy.
He couldn’t hear anything clearly in the end. He just felt that he was being dragged into a corner of the darkness. His whole body was cold and trembling. He felt as if he were about to die. He didn’t know if this was a release.
He could vaguely see a large paper box coming down from the sky, and then he was completely in a pitch-black darkness.
