Chapter 139: Fleeting Beauty, Lingering Pain

Fang Kai tossed and turned on the cold, unfamiliar bed, unable to sleep. He threw off the quilt, put on his slippers, and walked toward the bathroom. He then took off his glasses, turned on the faucet, and cupped cold water in his hands to splash on his face. Looking into the mirror, the face staring back was deathly pale, his eyes bloodshot, as if he had aged significantly overnight.

He put his glasses back on.

The world went from blurry to clear. Fang Kai turned off the faucet and wiped his hands with a paper towel, but then he noticed drill marks on both sides of the mirror. He froze, then reached out belatedly, pressing his fingernail against the glass... This was a mirror that had been tampered with; it was a one-way glass.

Fang Kai recoiled his finger sharply, his eyes hidden behind the cold lenses filled with terror. His body couldn't stop trembling. His extreme mental tension caused him to hallucinate; the mirror rippled like water, and at this moment, a pair of gloomy eyes were watching him from behind the glass.

Once the mirror surface calmed, the youthful face of Ling Wu from childhood emerged on it—the eyebrows, the corners of the eyes, the bridge of the nose... all covered in blood, grinning a pale smile at him.

"Ah!"

Fang Kai grabbed his briefcase and rushed out of the hotel room. The quiet, long corridor was like the gaping abyss of a monster's mouth, and he was struggling to escape in his insignificance and helplessness.

Not until the elevator descended and he walked into the crowd did he feel that sticky, damp chill vanish.

He gasped for air.

Once Fang Kai calmed down, he realized something was wrong. The other party was waging psychological warfare against him, attempting to dismantle his mental defenses and turn him into a complete lunatic.

No!

He would not let Ling Wu succeed!

Fang Kai walked into a crowded street food stall. He sat down in the lively area, ordered a few skewers and a can of beer from the owner, and borrowed a phone from someone nearby to make a call.

The stall was busy, and it took a long time for the owner to bring over the freshly grilled skewers. Fang Kai was not used to eating at such roadside stalls, but the crowd made him feel a bit more at ease. After all, he truly had nowhere else to go, and he couldn't guarantee that the next hotel or inn wouldn't be under Ling Wu's surveillance.

He picked up a skewer and took a bite; his mouth was filled with the taste of MSG and chili, and it didn't feel very hygienic.

Jin Liangjin had not replied to any of the messages Fang Kai sent. He knew clearly that he had been abandoned, but that was only natural; no one would expect someone as cold-blooded and ruthless as Jin Liangjin to lend a helping hand.

He chewed on the skewer, finding it tasteless.

"Is it good?"

Beside him was the voice of a young person. A pair of porcelain-white hands picked up a skewer stick, and then the person sat directly across from Fang Kai.

Ling Wu was still dressed in that youthful hoodie and jeans, wearing the same fuzzy slippers he had worn out of the Fang Residence. He bit into a skewer, his tone familiar, as if he were an old friend of Fang Kai's: "Roadside stalls—not used to it, right?"

Neither of them made a scene, and the atmosphere was strangely harmonious.

Fang Kai pulled the tab on his beer: "Where did you find me?"

"Huh?" Ling Wu rested his elbows on the table and pointed the bamboo skewer toward the direction of the hotel: "I followed you out... Director Fang, your vigilance is quite high. The optical coating on that one-way mirror was tampered with by my people. It must have been painful tossing and turning on that bed, right?"

Fang Kai scanned the surrounding environment and sure enough, he spotted a few people acting suspiciously and strangely, constantly glancing toward the stall. They were likely Ling Wu's subordinates.

"You're like a lingering ghost." Fang Kai drank to bolster his courage and, disregarding the etiquette of a scholar, cursed: "Just like a ghost."

Ling Wu waved his hand: "I am a staunch materialist; I don't buy into that."

"Besides, even if there really were ghosts, you've already locked them deep in your own heart, Director. Where would they find the spare time to run out?"

Fang Kai fell silent. He did indeed have ghosts in his heart; otherwise, given his experience, he wouldn't have been so mentally strained and on the verge of collapse after just a few days of intimidation.

He asked: "How are Shuhua and Yangyang?"

Ling Wu said ambiguously: "The kidnappers haven't gotten what they wanted yet, so why would they kill the hostages? I don't do losing business."

Fang Kai's palms were slick with sweat: "How many people have you killed?"

"Someone before you was finished off by me." Ling Wu's expression was indifferent: "You are the second."

Ling Wu and Fang Kai held their conversation in public as if no one else were around. People sitting nearby at the stall heard them, their movements gradually slowing down, staring at the two in horror and suspicion... They saw one of them with a briefcase, looking refined and scholarly, and the other very young, wearing a hoodie with the hood up, making it hard to see his face.

They didn't look like murderers at all.

Besides, what kind of murderer would chat about these things in broad daylight?

Hmm... probably two people with performative personalities.

"Brothers, are you filming a movie? How come I don't see any cameras?"

Fang Kai: "..."

Are they brainless?

Ling Wu pulled at his hood and signaled to Davis with his eyes.

Unexpectedly, the man said again: "Micro-cameras, right? I knew you two had an extraordinary aura. Carry on, carry on... I won't disturb you."

【Does this NPC have a problem with his brain?】

【No, wait! I feel like I've seen this scene somewhere before. When Yin Huaiyu went to Ganan earlier, he was held hostage by those two background characters, and those NPCs said something similar, even asking if there was a film crew.】

【To the one above, now that you mention it, I remember. Is it possible that Ling Wu was one of those two background characters who held Young Master Yin hostage?】

【No way? How could you tell?】

【Netizens these days are too suspicious.】

【It definitely isn't. The supporting character doesn't have the standing to run to Ganan and fight Yin Huaiyu for weapons!】

【It definitely is! When the supporting character killed the Transmigrator Ming Tan at the Abandoned Factory, the knife he used was exactly the same as the one in Ganan. I just went back and checked the details!】

【The face is different. Did he use a Human Skin Mask?】

【Exactly. That knife wasn't just the same; it was also a flexible blade. Even if it were a coincidence, it couldn't be that coincidental, right?】

【I bet my life that the person who fought Yin Huaiyu in Ganan was definitely the supporting character.】

【Don't forget, the supporting character is a "white on the outside, black on the inside" type—a black sesame rice ball. How could it not be that person in Ganan? In a world like this, it should be very easy to disguise oneself and change one's voice.】

【Let's just watch. I feel like the truth will come out soon. Waiting to see what happens when the supporting character kills Fang Kai. Suddenly changing the protagonist makes the perspective very blurry; it makes me feel like I'm no longer a reader with a god's-eye view. It's like playing a murder mystery game.】

【The supporting character said Fang Kai is the second enemy he's killed, which means there was one before him. Based on this method, I suspect Yin Cilan was also killed by the supporting character...】

【That's terrifying to think about!】

Fang Kai lowered his voice: "Being so open and aboveboard, Ling Wu, aren't you afraid?"

"Did you see that social news from two days ago, Director? A rich second-generation kid beat an old man to death in the street while drunk, and two days later he was back in entertainment venues, living it up." Ling Wu interlaced his fingers: "I'm only making verbal threats. Even if the police come, what can they do to me?"

His expression was cold: "Maybe in the end, they'll even have to apologize to Jin Liangjin."

Fang Kai naturally understood that in the Empire, only nobles enjoyed complete and equal human rights; ordinary commoners didn't even have basic personhood. He had known this back when he was conducting human experiments at the Research Institute.

With low status and no ability to resist, those people were just playthings in the hands of the nobles, mere lab rats.

The weak are prey to the strong.

The strong oppress and plunder the weak.

As a high-quality human, Fang Kai was accustomed to the days of being pursued and praised by ordinary people, but now that he had fallen on hard times, he actually had the unrealistic fantasy that if the Empire's laws were fair and just and treated everyone equally, the sins of the research institute would not have been bred, and the current consequences of blood for blood would not have been caused.

He slumped in an instant.

If Ling Wu had previously walked alone and endured in silence, then after carrying out an equivalent exchange with Jin Liangjin and having his identity restored by media reports, he was like a dormant volcano that had thoroughly erupted, acting without restraint and showing his sharp edge, making everyone pay the price in blood.

And Fang Kai had run right into the line of fire.

In fact, from the time Ling Wu took back control of his body from the Transmigrator, to the Art Association, to killing Yin Cilan at the Listening Evening Festival, and then going to Ganan to find Huo Xi and celebrate his 22nd birthday, only four months had passed.

A very short time, yet as long as a century.

Beauty is fleeting, while pain is long-lasting.

Ling Wu gave him a warning: "There are two chances left."