Chapter 15: Her Lover, the Deceiver

Zhen Yan just happened to run into Jia Hua, who was riding the elevator alone.

“What a coincidence,” Jia Hua smiled lightly at Zhen Yan from inside the elevator.

“Mm,” Zhen Yan responded simply, walking in with Li Ning. Li Ning consciously moved to the side, making space for the young couple.

Zhen Yan wanted to talk to Jia Hua, but catching Li Ning’s presence from the corner of her eye, the words rolled in her throat before being swallowed back down. The three stood silently in the elevator. When the doors opened on the second floor, Jia Hua’s stomach suddenly let out a small gurgle.

Realizing it, Jia Hua gave a light cough and, face completely unruffled, walked out first. Zhen Yan followed closely behind, but her eyes held more worry.

She hadn’t expected Jia Hua’s stomach to already be sounding the alarm. At this rate…

Li Ning, trailing far behind the two, forced a smile. She should have known. She shouldn’t have played third wheel between them.

The three had arrived relatively early. The three tables designated for Senior 3 Class 1 were still empty. Li Ning didn’t sit with them but chose a spot farther away, lowering her head to play on her phone.

Soon, however, students flooded the second floor for the meal. The restaurant instantly became lively. The school’s music and dance students were urged onto the stage for impromptu performances. The shouts and applause from below rose and fell; the atmosphere was extremely heated.

Ten people per table, sixteen dishes. The thirty students of Senior 3 Class 1 were perfectly divided among three tables. The teachers ate in a private room, not with the students.

Zhang Juan had initially sat next to Zhen Yan but was directed by a look from Zhen Yan to move next to Jia Hua instead.

As she got up to move, Zhang Juan clicked her tongue several times.

So reluctant to let your girlfriend feel awkward… and you said before that you didn’t like her. As expected, that was a lie.

Once the Homeroom Teacher, Lin Ling, finished her headcount, she went to the teachers’ private room to eat. Only the students, laughing and chatting, remained in the main hall.

The meal had been going on for a while when everyone’s attention was drawn to two students performing a passionate dance on stage. Under the cover of the booming music, Zhen Yan leaned toward Jia Hua, who had already eaten three bowls of rice, and whispered, “Are you full?”

By now, the communal iron rice pot on their table was scraped completely clean.

Jia Hua raised her empty bowl and leaned close to Zhen Yan’s ear, helpless. “The bowls are too small. And there’s way too little rice in this pot. Three bowls here don’t even compare to one bowl at your house.”

Eating three bowls and still not full—was that her fault? The bowls were clearly too small! They don’t fill you up! Annoying!

Zhen Yan glanced left and right. Finally, she stood up, leaned over to grab the empty rice pot from the table, intending to head to the kitchen for a refill.

“Sister Yan, you’re still not full? Need more rice?” A male Beta at the same table noticed and casually asked.

Everyone was mostly done eating. And perhaps to maintain their image in front of others, not a single table in the entire hall had gone for a refill. So Zhen Yan’s action drew quite a bit of attention, even Jia Hua next to her was surprised.

Zhen Yan didn’t explain much, just said flatly, “Not full yet.”

She left with the empty pot, followed the signs to the kitchen, got more rice, and brought the pot back, placing it on the table. Silently, she served herself another bowl.

“Are you not full either?” Seeing Zhen Yan take food and eat, Jia Hua’s eyes instantly brightened. She leaned closer and asked.

Warm breath tickled Zhen Yan’s ear. Her chopsticks paused momentarily. She responded simply, “Mm.”

As she lowered her head to eat, her ears rapidly reddened.

Jia Hua’s eyes held a smile. She followed suit, serving herself more rice after Zhen Yan. And so, under the veiled gazes of those around them, the two polished off the entire pot of rice.

When Jia Hua was scooping the last of the rice, she had even enthusiastically asked Zhen Yan, “There’s about one more person’s portion left. You want it?”

Zhen Yan had a mouthful of rice and couldn’t swallow for a while. She shook her head at the question, looking down at the half bowl left in her own hands. She bit her lower lip tightly.

She swore, she would never again force herself to eat so much. Her stomach simply couldn’t handle it.

—

Aside from an 11 PM headcount at the hotel, the rest of the time was all free for the students. However, they couldn’t leave the Top Scholar Resort grounds.

Before dismissing the students, Director Zhang took the microphone onto the small stage and listed off a series of precautions. The last point was about personal safety: don’t go swimming, don’t climb mountains alone, don’t wander off to remote areas. Male and female Omegas especially shouldn’t move around alone; it’s best to go with good friends. The school encouraged group activities centered around each class.

In the end, everyone just followed their own preferences—some went off to have fun, others returned to their rooms.

“Where are you going later?” As the crowd around them dispersed in twos and threes, Zhen Yan grabbed Jia Hua’s arm as she was about to turn and leave.

Jia Hua shrugged, pointing out the window. “I’m quite curious about that nursing home. Want to go check it out with me?”

Before Zhen Yan could nod, Zhang Juan, overhearing them, yelled out, “Take me with you! I wanna hang out with you guys!”

Zhen Yan slowly turned her head and stared silently at Zhang Juan without speaking. Zhang Juan instantly understood the meaning conveyed by that gaze. Spotting Li Ning walking over from the corner of her eye, Zhang Juan reached up to scratch her head. “Oh man, I almost forgot! I made plans ages ago with Li Ning to play games. We’re off now. Bye!”

Li Ning, who was walking by, hoping to go outside and see the scenery, was thus forcefully dragged into the elevator heading upstairs by Zhang Juan.

Li Ning: …Who the hell made plans with you! I don’t want to stay cooped up in the room playing games! I want to go out!

With the third wheel gone, Zhen Yan secretly let out a breath of relief.

Zhen Yan: “Let’s go.”

Jia Hua: “Alright.”

The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder along the resort’s paths. A girl heading the same way noticed their backs and shook her companion’s arm in surprise. “Look closely! Is Jia Hua even taller than Zhen Yan?”

Her companion was one who liked Zhen Yan and disliked Jia Hua. She gave a cold snort. “Hmph. An Omega that tall, what Alpha would want her.”

Hearing this, the girl murmured softly, “Zhen Yan does… And they seem pretty in love to me…”

The companion couldn’t hear clearly and frowned. “What did you say?”

The girl quickly shook her head. “Nothing! Weren’t we going to see the man-made waterfall? Let’s hurry!”

Jia Hua and Zhen Yan strolled slowly through the nursing home. The facility had a certain age to it. The brown-toned walls gave the whole place a tranquil, leisurely atmosphere.

Passing by the staff wall, Jia Hua paused and scanned it several times. Finally, she shook her head and muttered quietly, “One caregiver is responsible for this many elderly? Can they even manage?”

Forget it. When I’m old and can’t take care of myself, I’ll just withdraw from the world and reincarnate. Better than looking too pitiful.

“What did you say?” Jia Hua’s voice was so low that Zhen Yan didn’t catch it.

“Nothing. Let’s go look around somewhere else,” Jia Hua tilted her head and smiled.

The two leisurely walked through the activity building of the nursing home, side-by-side, the distance between them neither too far nor too close. Looking at Jia Hua’s hand swinging near her own, Zhen Yan felt an impulse to hold it. She kept one hand in her pocket and let the other swing as if casually. Each time she almost touched it, she fearfully pulled back, afterward annoyed at her own indecisiveness.

Just as she drew her hand back once more, a cool touch met her palm.

Jia Hua had actively grabbed her hand. Did this mean…

“I need to go to the restroom. Are you coming too?” Jia Hua had caught Zhen Yan’s hand to stop her, turning to ask.

Disappointment flickered in Zhen Yan’s eyes. She stared at the hand that Jia Hua had touched and released immediately. She shook her head. “I’ll wait for you here.”

“Alright, I’ll be quick.”

Jia Hua followed the signs. They were on the second floor. The restroom was all the way at the end, around the corner.

After finishing in the restroom, Jia Hua was walking down the corridor when a man in a cleaner’s uniform, wearing a mask and pushing a cart, stepped out of the elevator. He came face-to-face with Jia Hua.

Jia Hua stepped aside to let the man pass. An autumn breeze blew. When she lifted her eyes, she inadvertently caught a short scar on the man’s forehead.

Jia Hua leaned against the wall, hands in her pockets. As the man passed by, the tip of her nose twitched. She lowered her eyelids, the corner of her mouth curving up slightly.

That face—she hadn’t seen it on the staff board. And the smell on this person…

“You done?”

Jia Hua looked up and saw Zhen Yan approaching. She pushed off the wall with one foot. “Yeah, done. Let’s go.”

As she turned to leave, Jia Hua tilted her head and found the cleaner was already gone without a trace behind her.

“What are you looking at?” Zhen Yan also turned to follow Jia Hua’s gaze. The corridor was empty.

Jia Hua suddenly grabbed Zhen Yan’s arm and turned to look her directly in the eye, one eyebrow raised. “Let’s go to the first floor.”

“?” Zhen Yan was puzzled. Hadn’t they just come from the first floor?

Jia Hua led Zhen Yan down the stairs to the first floor, walking swiftly. She finally stopped before the surveillance room tucked away in the farthest corner.

“Take a careful sniff,” Jia Hua said, tilting her chin up slightly.

An undifferentiated person’s sense of smell was far less acute than someone who had differentiated, and after differentiation, the higher the rank, the keener the sense of smell.

Jia Hua didn’t know this. Her own superhuman sense of smell had picked it up, and she naturally expected Zhen Yan to smell it too. But when Zhen Yan concentrated and sniffed, she indeed detected something abnormal.

“There’s a smell of blood!” Zhen Yan looked at Jia Hua in shock. Very faint, very faint, but she smelled it!

Jia Hua nodded. “If I’m not mistaken, there’s a dead person inside.”

Zhen Yan found it unbelievable. Someone died, just like that? She twisted the doorknob forcefully—it was locked.

She immediately said, “I’ll go find security to unlock it!”

Jia Hua reached out to stop her. “No time. Whether it’s real or not, we’ll know once we see. Stand back.”

Jia Hua was about to kick the door in when Zhen Yan pulled her behind her. Zhen Yan took a deep breath, then followed it with a powerful kick that burst the sturdy iron door of the surveillance room open. As soon as they walked in, they saw, in the brightly lit room, a woman sitting in a chair with her back to them. All the surveillance screens in the room were black.

Jia Hua wanted to step forward to check, but Zhen Yan blocked her. Zhen Yan cautiously approached. Just as she reached the woman’s side, she saw scissors plunged into the woman’s chest, the blades completely buried in her heart.

The woman was long dead.

Zhen Yan wanted to examine further but was stopped by Jia Hua. “Call the police immediately! I’ll go after the killer!” And with a flicker, Jia Hua vanished right in front of Zhen Yan.

Zhen Yan hurriedly chased out, but Jia Hua was nowhere to be seen. She ran while dialing 110. “I want to report a crime! There’s a dead person in the surveillance room of the nursing home at Top Scholar Resort—”

BOOM— A thunderous roar sounded. The nursing home was on fire.

“Hurry! The nursing home’s on fire!” Zhen Yan hung up urgently, frantic as an ant on a hot pan. She didn’t know where Jia Hua had run off to!

She said she went to chase the killer, which means she could be in danger!

The Jia Hua she was so worried about was, at this very moment, smiling at the murderer before her, who was brandishing a knife at her.

“Welcome to the Atonement Team,” Jia Hua raised an eyebrow at the man, her smile widening.

She’d heard the explosion. The elderly and frail… many would likely become statistics now.

And this murderer who deliberately caused this accident—he was probably qualified enough to join the Atonement Team. From now on, his days were going to be quite the experience.