Chapter 25: Murder Case (I) Part 1

◎Moth to the Flame◎

Jiang Yanyu leaned down. “What did Senior Sister say? I didn’t hear.”

Yun Jinxue opened her dazed eyes, her throat moved, wanting to speak, but the severe pain made her body tense, curling and trembling, unable to form the words.

Jiang Yanyu pushed aside a corner of the blanket so her view was unobstructed.

The woman’s breath flowed over the pillow. Her fingers clutched tightly at the girl’s collar. On the side of her neck, prominent blood vessels were visible, the surrounding skin a flushed red.

Her gaze moved upward, fixing on those full red lips, wet with teeth marks. The woman’s mouth was slightly parted, a glimpse of teeth and tongue visible.

Jiang Yanyu said softly, “What Senior Sister just said, say it again, okay?”

Unaccustomed to the warm breath on her ear, Yun Jinxue closed her eyes, her face burying deeper into the pillow, but afraid the other would pull away, she struggled to murmur, “…Hold me.”

Hold me, save me.

Jiang Yanyu let out a sigh. “Senior Sister told me to hold you. Is it because your shoulder hurts very much?”

Her fingers reached into the collar, deftly untying the robe. The unfastened garment loosened, and with a slight lift, the sweet interior was revealed like unwrapping a candy’s coating.

The shoulder was rounded, the collarbone even more prominent and exquisite from lost weight. On the surface, it seemed there was nothing.

Jiang Yanyu’s fingertips glided over that patch of skin, slowly igniting two dots of bright red in her eyes.

Before long, several patches of pink gradually surfaced on the skin, intermittently then connecting into a sheet, like a fresh wound with the outer skin just scraped off.

Jiang Yanyu’s eyes were blood red. She said with a light laugh, “That fellow Plague was so heavy-handed, causing Senior Sister so much pain. Truly deserving of a scolding, don’t you think?”

Her fingers coiled the woman’s hair, observing the smooth jet black between her fingers. “But, Senior Sister, how is it that you only think of me at times like this?”

Yun Jinxue couldn’t respond to her. Her hand trembled, still wanting to grab the girl’s clothes, but Jiang Yanyu freed one hand to grip her wrist and press it onto the blanket.

Jiang Yanyu drew close to her and said slowly, “Even if you gave that demon core to her, I have nothing to say. Things are different now; I stopped coveting such things long ago. But why did you…”

A puzzled expression appeared on the girl’s face. “Why did you hide it? Did you think I couldn’t get it and would throw a tantrum with you?”

Black hair still wrapped around her fingers, Jiang Yanyu’s hand slid up the collarbone to rest on the woman’s neck, fingertips kneading gently.

Feeling the rhythm of the woman’s heartbeat beneath, the red in those eyes suddenly deepened, glaring fiercely.

As if grinding her teeth, she squeezed out a sentence: “Senior Sister, in the way you treated me in my past life, when have I ever thrown a tantrum with you? I was so obedient. Wasn’t that enough?”

So close, she could hear the woman’s soft call: “Wind…”

Jiang Yanyu let out a cold laugh and withdrew her hand from the woman’s neck, pulling the trembling figure into her arms and wiping the cold sweat from her forehead.

“I’m here, Senior Sister. I will help you. After all, for now, you are still so good to me.”

As their bodies touched, Yun Jinxue shuddered. The piercing pain that had split her brain began to ease slightly, like parched earth encountering rain.

Jiang Yanyu watched the woman’s brows relax and said, somewhat regretfully, “Senior Sister, tomorrow, will you still remember how you begged me tonight?”

All this time since they’d met, she had tormented her plenty, but always while she was unconscious.

The next morning when she woke, she would see the woman, completely oblivious to what had happened.

Jiang Yanyu held her, her fingers gently pinching the woman’s earlobe. She suddenly felt curious.

If she could have such an exchange while the woman was awake, witnessing her gentle facade gradually peel and discolor, making her deeply understand that every part of her pain was the work of the obedient little junior sister lurking by her side…

What kind of expression would she wear?

Would she panic? Would she feel disillusioned and heartbroken?

Would she, like fearing the Plague, have reddened eyes, shedding tears, wanting to flee from her?

Just imagining that scene seemed to make that long-silent heart in her chest beat uncontrollably faster.

Her tongue swept across her teeth. Jiang Yanyu curled her lips.

The best form of revenge was never straightforward slaughter.

But a honey-coated blunt knife, slowly slicing unfading wounds without notice, until one ordinary day, the truth was suddenly discovered.

Then, caught off guard, remembering everything from the past, felled by the hidden poison in the memories, never able to feel peace again for the rest of their life.

Just like her own previous life.

Taking it a step further, if she could make her good Senior Sister rely on her, admire her, and be unable to leave her…

And finally, even knowing it was a cage she had set, still willingly flying like a moth into the flame and burning to ash.

Wouldn’t that be far more interesting?

The girl held the woman even closer, patting her gently as comfort.

In the room darkening with the deepening night, only the girl’s half-lidded eyes on the bed sparkled with bright red.

People always unconsciously drew near to warmth.

Yun Jinxue smelled a faint, lingering scent of wine, realizing that the source of her pain relief was right in front of her, and instinctively leaned closer.

She couldn’t think about where the scent came from, only knowing that the person holding her was warm as a stove, driving away the icy, stabbing pain that had lasted for so long inside her.

In her chaotic consciousness, it was as if she had returned to that foggy little town. The characters “Spring Crossing” on the stone gate dripped black-red blood where the strokes were bold and powerful.

Is this a dream?

Yun Jinxue stood blankly, looking up at the sky. Iron-black clouds pressed down, then a bone-scraping gale whipped up.

Her robes fluttered. She saw dust and sand all over the ground swirling up, gravel gathering then dispersing, gradually piecing together the face of the harelip girl.

The girl poked her head out from a well-like whirlwind, laughing as she beckoned her over.

“I have a secret to tell you…”

Yun Jinxue jolted awake.

It seemed a few sparrows had landed on the window sill, chirping noisily and occasionally pecking at the window, making a tok tok sound.

She could feel a crisp breeze on her skin, and the bamboo branch patterns on the bed canopy swayed gently.

Compared to the chaos in her dream, this kind of morning was too quiet.

Yun Jinxue propped herself up on the bed and realized she wasn’t covered by the blanket. The little villain had half her body sprawled over her, holding on very tightly.

The stabbing pain in her shoulder had mostly faded. Her guess was correct.

She leaned weakly against the headboard. The three months of unrelenting agony had numbed her entire being, slowed her thoughts, and made her live in a daze.

Now that she had recovered and recalled the past, it felt like a long, drawn-out dream.

She had been in this world, it seemed… for almost three years now.

So fast. She hadn’t realized time passed so quickly before.

Never before had she been away from her parents for this long at a stretch.

Yun Jinxue closed her eyes, as if back in her own little bedroom.

On a morning like this under normal circumstances, it wouldn’t possibly be this quiet.

As soon as the sun showed its face, Mom would start yelling at the top of her voice for everyone to get up and go out for a walk.

She would burrow under the covers, exasperated: “I’m not getting up! Young people don’t rise early!”

Mom would always say, “It’s precisely because you’re young that you should get up! You’re only young for this one short stretch in your life. How can you waste it in bed!”

She had heard these words so many times that even in memory, they were deafening.

Yun Jinxue opened her eyes and, through the window crack, looked at the bright sliver of sunny sky, laughing softly.

But the end of the laughter trembled slightly.

She missed home so much.

Previously she had confirmed with the System that no matter how long she spent in this world, the outside would be completely frozen.

So when she completed her mission and returned, she would still be in that cave, at that exact time, with not the slightest change.

The only difference would probably be herself, who had experienced a vast dream in the blink of an eye.

Mi Ba popped up: “Aiya, getting decades of life for free—isn’t that good?”

“When you get home, you’ll have at least twenty or thirty years more life experience than your peers. How great is that! Where else could you get this kind of opportunity to experience life!”

Yun Jinxue ground her teeth. She vowed that if a chance to beat up the System ever came in the future, she definitely wouldn’t hold back.

Looking down, the little villain was still asleep.

Because she had sat up, Jiang Yanyu, who had been leaning on the side of her neck, now shifted with the new posture to rest on her lap, nestled against her lower abdomen. Black hair spilled down, the lines of her profile clear, her lashes long.

Yun Jinxue stroked her long hair and noticed she felt somewhat unwell. She’d probably sweated heavily last night and urgently needed a bath.

She wanted to gently move the little villain away, but then Jiang Yanyu suddenly spoke. “Is Senior Sister awake?”

Yun Jinxue’s movement paused. “Mm. Is Windy awake too?”

Jiang Yanyu gave a little yawn. “No, Windy is talking in her sleep.”

Yun Jinxue laughed softly and rubbed her ear. “Did you sleep well?”

Jiang Yanyu shifted slightly, sounding somewhat puzzled. “Not too well. Felt a bit crowded suddenly.”

Crowded?

Yun Jinxue’s consciousness had been muddled last night, and she didn’t remember what happened afterwards.