Chapter 33: The Videotape

On the deck of a luxury cruise ship.

Chu Yehan was beaten until he was covered in bruises and cuts, his high-end custom suit clinging to him in a disheveled mess. He lay on the ground, blood hanging from the corner of his mouth, his fingers being ruthlessly crushed under Shi Heng's foot.

"My sister was only 9 years old at the time! She used half her own life to save you and your sister! And you—what did you do to her?!" Shi Heng's eyes were wide with rage as he roared in a low voice.

Chu Yehan lifted his head, his pair of green eyes glowing with a sinister light in the dark night, a mocking smile still hanging at the corner of his mouth.

"Shi, are you fucking kidding me? Making up this kind of ghost story to fool me! Your sister is the murderer who killed my sister. Heh, how could she possibly be my savior?"

Chu Yehan had long ago investigated the girl who saved him back then, but no matter how he looked, he couldn't find a single shred of information.

He didn't believe such a fucked-up thing could exist in this world; how could that girl possibly be Shi Yi!

Shi Heng let out a cold snort, applying force to his foot and grinding it ruthlessly over Chu Yehan's fingers, crushing them until they were dripping with blood. Then, he pulled a black object from his jacket pocket and threw it in front of Chu Yehan with a "clink."

"Chu Yehan, I know you won't believe it, so go back and take a good look at what this is!"

As he spoke, he lifted his foot and coldly ordered the bodyguards on either side, "Let's go."

The figures of Shi Heng and his bodyguards soon disappeared from the deck.

Chu Yehan gritted his teeth, struggled to stand up, and picked up the object on the ground to look—it was a black USB drive.

The USB drive was quickly plugged into a computer, and a video appeared on the screen.

The footage showed the backyard of a private villa, with the time written in the top left corner; it looked like surveillance footage. Chu Yehan's pupils constricted. He recognized this garden as the place where he and his sister had attended a banquet back then, and the time was the very day he fell into the water.

The next second, two children's figures were seen running in—it was indeed 8-year-old Chu Yehan and his 10-year-old sister, Chu Mengrou.

At that time, Chu Yehan was at a mischievous age. He was seen darting up the rockery in a few quick steps, like a nimble monkey, and then jumping down to the lakeside, with Chu Mengrou unable to catch up behind him.

However, the next moment, the little boy in the footage slipped, suddenly falling into the lake behind him before he could react.

The surveillance footage had no sound, but Chu Yehan could see that small body struggling helplessly on the water's surface, shouting, but soon sinking below.

Chu Yehan's heart tightened; memories sealed for years reignited in an instant. He clearly remembered the bone-chilling temperature of the lake water and the deep, powerless feeling of suffocation as his body sank beneath the surface...

Chu Yehan's figure could no longer be seen in the footage, and Chu Mengrou's expression suddenly turned anxious. She shouted and ran to the lakeside, pacing helplessly, looking left and right as if searching for an adult to help, but there was no one around.

Time ticked by, second by second. Chu Mengrou was seen taking off her shoes, sitting by the lake, and bending over to reach her hand into the water, as if testing the depth... The next second, her body tilted, and she fell into the water too!

Chu Yehan felt his head "buzz"!

Although these were things that had already happened, seeing his beloved sister fall into the lake still made his heart clench into a ball.

Just then, a small figure ran hurriedly across the top right corner of the screen. She ran quickly to the shore, looked at the water, and the next moment, leaped into the lake.

Chu Yehan pressed the pause button with a "snap," returned to the previous second, and then zoomed in, and zoomed in again, on the face of the girl in the footage...

The girl in the footage was eight or nine years old, with a slender build, a neat ponytail, and delicate features—especially those eyes, which were very beautiful, with light amber irises.

Chu Yehan's heart went cold. He remembered those amber eyes—they were exactly the same as Shi Yi's! And they were the same pair of faint, melancholy eyes that often appeared in his dreams.

Chu Yehan took a deep breath, clenched his fingers tightly, and pressed the play button again.

The video continued to play. The girl in the footage swam very fast, like a nimble fish, and in the blink of an eye, she had dragged Chu Mengrou out of the water.

Chu Mengrou lay on the ground, gasping for air. The next second, the girl was seen returning to the shore, and without hesitation, she leaped into the lake once more.

This time, the water surface calmed down, and the girl disappeared after jumping in. Chu Yehan knew she had dived into the water to save him.

Tick, tick...

The time in the top left corner ran rapidly. After about three and a half, nearly four minutes, ripples finally appeared on the water. The next second, a small head emerged—a boy's head.

Chu Yehan recognized that it was himself!

The boy was already unconscious, his head hanging limply to one side. The little girl was supporting his shoulder with one hand and paddling desperately with the other, swimming toward the shore with great difficulty...

This time, the girl's stamina was clearly not what it had been. Several times, her thin, small body was pressed beneath the water by the boy, and her head was submerged, but she struggled for a long time before surfacing again.

Yet, the boy's head never sank again...

Chu Yehan's heart felt as if it were being slowly squeezed by a giant hand, and it began to ache faintly—though he was unwilling to believe it, he had to admit a fact in his heart: that girl was Shi Yi!

In the footage, Shi Yi finally dragged Chu Yehan out of the water. Chu Yehan's limbs were dangling like soft noodles. By then, Chu Mengrou had gone to call for help. Shi Yi laid Chu Yehan on the ground alone, then leaned over the boy's body, pressing down on his chest, one push after another.

Shi Yi's thin, small body pressed against Chu Yehan's chest, which was almost devoid of movement. Every few compressions, she would lower her head close to the boy's mouth, as if giving him artificial respiration.

The footage was silent and not very clear, but Chu Yehan seemed to hear her heavy, ragged breathing, one breath after another...

Nearly five minutes passed like this. Shi Yi's small face was as pale as paper, and even her lips were turning white... Chu Yehan saw his own fingers finally twitch, and his eyes slowly open. At the same time, a group of anxious-looking adults ran into the top left corner of the screen.

Shi Yi seemed to hear something and turned around abruptly. The next second, she was seen shrinking back like a wounded little cat, jumping away from his body and quickly disappearing from the frame.

The video ended there.

Chu Yehan felt his breathing constrict, and his heart began to ache with a dull pain—he finally understood why that pair of amber eyes often appeared in his dreams.

And why, the first time he saw Shi Yi, he had a feeling of déjà vu. And why he was attracted by the temperament she carried.

On the deck, the salty, fishy sea breeze blew over.

Chu Yehan reached out his fingers and slowly closed the laptop.

After a while, he suddenly pulled out the USB drive and, with a fierce wave of his hand, threw it into the bottomless sea.

Chu Yehan's voice was tinged with deep hatred; he didn't even know if that hatred was directed at Shi Yi or at himself.

"Heh, Shi Yi, even if you saved me once, so what? The culprit who killed my sister is still you!" ===== CHAPTER 34 =====