Chapter 47: 47 Chapter 14 Part 1

◎”If I told you to die, would you be willing to?”◎

At certain times, smell is also the key that unlocks memory.

For example, when Xia Xun, in her half-asleep, half-awake state, mistook Huo Zhu for Xu Jinyao and almost made a grave mistake.

She suddenly caught a foreign scent that didn’t belong to Xu Jinyao. Jerking herself out of the dream, she forcefully pushed Huo Zhu away.

Just a little bit more.

Just a tiny bit more and she would have kissed her.

Huo Zhu was intensely frustrated and immediately bore down on her again.

Normally, Xia Xun would have flipped her off the bed long ago. But today, for some reason, she couldn’t muster the strength. She could only turn her head away and put a hand up to block her. “Get off me.”

Huo Zhu had finally found an opportunity. How could she give it up so easily? She knew Xia Xun’s threats were often louder than her actions. Resolving herself, she pushed Xia Xun’s hand away, pinning it against the pillow. “A kiss won’t cost you a piece of flesh.”

She leaned in with a smile, not noticing that Xia Xun’s breathing had become ragged—the precursor to barely contained fury.

Slap!

A crisp sound rang out, knocking Huo Zhu’s head to the side.

Huo Zhu felt a numbness on half her face, then a tingling, and only then did the pain set in.

She couldn’t believe it. “You hit me?”

The wound on her palm began to ache dully again. For a split second, Xia Xun felt her hand probably hurt more than Huo Zhu’s face.

No sooner had the words left Huo Zhu’s mouth than Xia Xun rolled off the bed and dragged the astonished girl down with her.

“What are you doing?!” Huo Zhu struggled.

Xia Xun’s hand was like an iron clamp, grabbing her clothes and forcing her to stumble all the way to the second-floor doorway.

Ignoring Huo Zhu’s flushed face, Xia Xun pushed her into the stairwell. “Are you leaving on your own, or do I have to help you?”

Huo Zhu threw herself forward, hugging her leg, an expression of pure grievance on her face. “Why are you so frantic? You clearly agreed to it yourself! Besides, we didn’t even kiss, and I still got hit by you… My mom has never even hit me!”

“Agreed to what?” Xia Xun bent down and forcefully pried her fingers away, her voice barely masking her fury. “I was sick and completely out of it. What did I agree to?!”

She pointed downstairs, her fingertip trembling slightly. “Get out.”

Huo Zhu’s brow was tightly furrowed as she got up from the floor. She wanted to say something else, but seeing Xia Xun so angry ignited her own anger. Staring into Xia Xun’s eyes, she raised her voice: “Fine! I’ll go! Don’t you regret it!”

Watching her furiously stomp away, Xia Xun shouted after her: “Don’t let me see you again!”

Huo Zhu didn’t make a sound and disappeared at the bottom of the staircase.

The moment she left, Xia Xun’s strength seemed to leave her, and she slumped against the door frame. She stood there for a while, composing herself, before leaning on the wall to return to the bedroom.

To be safe, she locked the bedroom door and pushed the nightstand against it, only then collapsing back onto the bed, utterly spent.

She never imagined that the scene before this one would have been witnessed by Xu Jinyao.

What she imagined even less was that Xu Jinyao would actually believe she was kissing Huo Zhu.

Xia Xun was dumbfounded.

She blinked a few times and asked for confirmation: “The person you’re talking about just now… you couldn’t possibly mean me?”

Who else?

Xu Jinyao didn’t speak, her expression providing all the answers.

Xia Xun laughed in exasperation. “Xu Jinyao, sometimes I really want to crack open your little brain and see what’s inside.”

Hearing Xia Xun suddenly address her by her full name so seriously, Xu Jinyao’s tightly knit brows unconsciously loosened. “What? Are you getting mad because you’re embarrassed?”

Xia Xun repeated her words with amusement: “Getting mad because I’m embarrassed?”

Her smile lasted only two seconds. In the next instant, her face suddenly turned cold. “Is this really the kind of person you think I am?”

Who else.

Xu Jinyao lifted her chin slightly, answering her with her eyes.

Xia Xun nodded. “Fine. You’re really something.”

For a moment, it felt like they were back twelve years ago. Xu Jinyao was jealous and had picked a fight, and Xia Xun had said the same thing. She hadn’t explained, simply turned and walked away, knowing Xu Jinyao would always come back to apologize and admit she was wrong.

All she needed to do was give her a few days to cool off.

But this time was different.

Xia Xun knew clearly that if she acted like she used to, she would lose her forever.

The current Xu Jinyao would never come back to admit fault, let alone apologize. So she had to explain the situation from earlier today. She had to make Xu Jinyao understand she hadn’t done it, that she was incapable of doing it.

“I didn’t.” She said it with absolute seriousness.

Xu Jinyao’s just-loosened brow furrowed again. “I saw it myself.”

“I really didn’t.” She remained serious.

Xu Jinyao just laughed.

The laugh was very soft, snorted out from her nose.

She clearly didn’t believe her.

But Xia Xun still didn’t know how to explain and could only keep emphasizing: “I’m telling you, I didn’t.”

Xu Jinyao looked ready to roll her eyes. She averted her gaze, not even wanting to look at her anymore. “Fine, you didn’t. You can leave now.”

After saying this, she came forward, twisted the door lock open, and pushed the door wide, gesturing with her hand. “After you.”

“How can I make you believe me?”

“What’s the point of whether I believe you or not?”

“…You really misunderstood me.”

“Just take it as my misunderstanding then. If you don’t leave now, I’m calling security.”

Xia Xun took a deep breath, turned around, and walked out. Just as she took one step past the threshold, she suddenly collapsed, all strength leaving her body.

Xu Jinyao instinctively reached out but wasn’t quick enough to catch her. She shoved the door fully open, rushed to Xia Xun’s side, and crouched down, poking the back of her hand. “Xia Xun?”

Xia Xun didn’t move. It looked like she was genuinely unconscious.

Xu Jinyao immediately checked her pulse and heartbeat. Confirming she was still alive, she felt a slight relief.

She carried her into the living room, laying her on the sofa, then grabbed her phone to call an ambulance. Before she could dial out, she saw from the corner of her eye the person on the sofa sit up and flash her a wide grin.

“Officer Xu, so you do have a soft heart after all.”

Xu Jinyao gritted her teeth and lunged forward, ready to drag her off the sofa.

Seizing the opportunity, Xia Xun flipped their positions, pinning her down. “Whether I kissed someone or not, you’ll know once you test it for yourself.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, Xu Jinyao’s fist came swinging towards her. Xia Xun didn’t dodge, just quickly closed her eyes and blurted out: “Hit me, go ahead. Knock me out and you’ll have to take care of me for another whole night.”

A whole night?

Xu Jinyao’s fist stopped in mid-air.

“Wondering how I know?” Xia Xun grinned. “Same as last time. The nurse told me.”

Last time, she needed a blood transfusion. This time, Xu Jinyao had stayed by her side all night. It happened to be the same nurse who saw both times.

Xu Jinyao lowered her fist and instead poked her fingers into Xia Xun’s side. Ticklish, Xia Xun immediately loosened her grip and twisted away. “Hey, stop, stop.”

In the blink of an eye, their positions were reversed, with Xu Jinyao now pinning her down.

Xia Xun didn’t struggle, docilely accepting a punitive kiss.

A stinging pain came from the corner of her mouth as the scabbed wound split open, a tiny bead of blood welling up. She opened her eyes, looked at Xu Jinyao, whose own lips were now similarly stained with blood, and said: “See? If you’re kissing, the wound breaks. If you still don’t believe me, I can call Huo Zhu to confirm it with you.”

Xu Jinyao stared at her silently, as if mulling over what to say.

After a long moment, Xia Xun raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of Xu Jinyao’s mouth, but Xu Jinyao turned her head away to dodge her touch. “This time, I’ll believe you. If there’s a next time…”

“You can break my legs.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Then shoot me.”

“Do I look insane?”

Xia Xun suddenly reached out and pulled her into an embrace, her lips close to Xu Jinyao’s ear, whispering: “As long as you don’t break up with me, you can do anything to me.”

“If I told you to die, would you be willing to?” Xu Jinyao’s voice was icy cold, completely at odds with Xia Xun, who had her eyes closed and was lost in the moment.

The smile froze on Xia Xun’s lips. She slowly opened her eyes, and silence rapidly spread between them.

Just as Xu Jinyao thought she wouldn’t answer, she suddenly heard a voice by her ear again: “I’m willing. But would you be able to bear it?”

Xu Jinyao paused, feeling a warmth moving close to her neck. A tingling, numbing sensation flooded her mind.

She pushed against Xia Xun, trying to get up, but was held even tighter.

The numbing sensation traveled downwards, quickly reaching her collarbone. An intentional, pronounced wet sound entered her ears, and she opened her mouth, sighing a breath.

Xia Xun loosened her hold slightly and asked again: “Would you be able to bear it? Answer me.”

Coming back from her daze, Xu Jinyao placed her palm over Xia Xun’s lips, pressing her back onto the sofa. She then answered coldly: “If there’s a next time, of course I could. Try me if you don’t believe it.”

Xia Xun blinked, pulling the hand away from her lips. “I promise you, there absolutely will not be a next time.”

Xu Jinyao slowly got up. “Promises you can’t keep are best not made so casually.”

She wasn’t looking at Xia Xun when she said this, but Xia Xun still sensed the complex emotions layered within that statement.

Promises you can’t keep… Did she mean the promise made back then that she would return, but never did?

Before Xia Xun could delve deeper into that thought, she heard Xu Jinyao’s phone begin to vibrate.

The call was from Ding Wenxin.

“I’ve found out where the killer got the white phosphorus.”

–

At 8 p.m., following the address Ding Wenxin provided, Xu Jinyao arrived at an abandoned school.

The school was situated in a remote location, without even a single streetlight. Since the main gate was locked, they couldn’t drive in, so she parked the car outside and got out, carrying a flashlight.

“I’m telling you, Officer, you haven’t been tricked, have you? How could a place like this possibly have white phosphorus?” Xia Xun said.

“Shut up and follow me.” Xu Jinyao clenched the flashlight between her teeth and started climbing the metal gate, using the decorative cutouts as footholds.

Xia Xun followed suit but tried once, found her hands couldn’t muster the strength, and gave up, opting to pick the lock instead.

The chain clattered to the ground. Xu Jinyao looked back, her light shining over to illuminate the ring on Xia Xun’s hand. “Who told you to pick the lock?”

Xia Xun pointed at herself. “Me?”

Xu Jinyao was speechless and turned to keep walking.

The school grounds were large, with teaching buildings on both the left and right. Perhaps due to years of neglect, many classroom doors and windows were broken. A quick glance revealed not a single intact one.

The areas beyond the reach of the flashlight were pitch black, nothing visible.

Following beside Xu Jinyao, Xia Xun suddenly spoke up: “Officer Xu, do you feel like there’s a pair of eyes watching us?”

Xu Jinyao stopped in her tracks and turned, shining the flashlight directly in Xia Xun’s face. “Don’t start with the spooky nonsense. If you’re scared, go back to the car.”

Xia Xun raised a hand to block the light. “No way. What about you if I leave?”

Xu Jinyao was speechless and took the flashlight back. “I’m not scared.”

“You’re not?” Xia Xun said. “Alright then. I was actually afraid you’d be scared and was planning to come along with you. Since you’re not scared, I’ll just go wait in the car.”

Xu Jinyao laughed coldly and had barely taken a few steps before she stopped again and looked back.

The space behind her was empty. Xia Xun, who had been following just moments ago, was nowhere to be seen.

It had only been a few seconds!

How could that cripple move so fast?

“Xia Xun?” She called out. No response.

She had a bad feeling. Could there actually be a ghost? It snatched someone away that fast?

“Xia Xun!” Still no answer.

Xu Jinyao swept the flashlight around. Confirming that Xia Xun really had vanished, she quickly took out her phone and dialed. The other end indicated the phone was switched off.

What’s going on?