Chapter 153

Her clothes were soaked in fresh blood, presenting a glaring, bloody crimson.

Feng Yuhuai's chest had been cruelly split open with a massive hole; sheets of silk threads burst apart, revealing a heart beating nervously inside.

That heart's surface seemed to bear a strange tattoo; it looked just like a dim, dying rag doll lying prone atop it.

The rag doll feebly sucked the blood from within the heart; Feng Yuhuai's face visibly aged several years, her skin lost its luster, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened, as if time had accelerated her life's journey in a single instant.

She could feel that the injured 【Puppet Mother clone】 was greedily sucking away her vitality without limit, like a parasite greedily absorbing its host's essence, filling her with utter terror.

The silk threads at her chest, those once tightly woven fibers, now snapped apart, wriggling feebly, attempting to reconnect.

They were like snapped earthworms struggling in the mud to find their other halves, yet unable to stick back together for the moment.

"Hungry, Puppet Mother is hungry!"

A weak girl's voice spilled from Feng Yuhuai's lips, her voice light as a feather falling to the ground.

She didn't even have the strength left to pay attention to 【Zheng Hang】; driven by the instinct to survive, she turned around, burying her entire head deep into Chang Qingsen's still-warm corpse, as if the warmth and solace she craved lay there.

【Puppet Mother】 has always been picky, eating only fresh, living lives, but cruel reality proved that when hunger reaches its extreme, even cold leftovers emit an alluring fragrance.

A hair-raising sucking sound echoed in the air.

Chang Qingsen's corpse gradually withered, as if its life essence had been drawn out, while Feng Yuhuai's chest quietly grew full again, the power of life surging anew within her body.

The skin on her cheeks, dried from dehydration, was moistened once more by blood; however, though the crow's feet at the corners of her eyes gradually faded, they ultimately could not vanish completely, still leaving faint traces — marks branded by a lifespan forever missing a part.

"Truly an ugly way of eating."

【Zheng Hang】 gently pushed up the glasses on his nose bridge, then elegantly half-crouched, with a gentleman's bearing, slowly taking out a tissue from his pocket and handing it to Feng Yuhuai.

His voice was full of human warmth as he whispered: "Look at you, you've made a mess of your face eating; wipe your mouth."

Feng Yuhuai's neck stiffly twisted around; her single remaining eye revealed the dull stupor of post-meal drowsiness.

Clearly, when she offered up her flesh and half-merged with the rag doll in reconstruction, her brain seemed to have been stuffed with half a wad of cotton too, as if not quite enough anymore.

Feng Yuhuai snapped back in horror; fear's instinct drove her to react instantly — her arm arced through the air, preparing to attack.

However, just as her motion was not yet complete, a piercing chill struck her brow; a finger bone hard as iron was already lightly pressed there.

【Zheng Hang】 smiled grimly, made a "bang" sound with his mouth, and admonished: "Yu Huai, I just taught you — have you forgotten? Toward the strong who can master their own fate, you must feel heartfelt gratitude and obedience."

Feng Yuhuai felt the sinister chill from her brow; her murderous-intent-overloaded, overheated brain rapidly cooled down.

She carefully accepted the tissue 【Zheng Hang】 offered, gently wiping away the blood smeared on her face.

She took a deep breath, voice extremely suppressed: "I don't know you at all; why do you keep calling my name? Who exactly are you?"

【Zheng Hang】 pursed his lips slightly; every sentence he uttered next shook Feng Yuhuai's soul with shock and horror.

He said: "I said I'd come find you at night; how come you forgot?"

A thought struck Feng Yuhuai's mind; she cried out in shock: "That text message — it was you?!!"

【Zheng Hang】 wore a half-smile: "How can you say you don't know me? Your every move — aren't they all imitating me? Isn't that because of a deep obsession with me, loving me to the point of no return?"

Feng Yuhuai's scalp felt like it was struck by icy electric current, as if about to split open; her mouth gaped into an O-shape, voice trembling: "Y-you, you are 【Mask】?"

【Zheng Hang】 did not answer, yet his features underwent a horrifying change in an instant.

His face skin seemed torn by invisible fingers; a layer of pale bone flipped out from beneath the flesh, those bones fitting seamlessly onto his face like a strange mask, exuding a terrifying aura that made Feng Yuhuai's heart tremble with fear.

Through that grim white-bone mask, the voice by Feng Yuhuai's ear suddenly turned cold and piercing, as if stripped of all human warmth and affection, leaving only a frigid echo:

"Your every imitation is a silent confession to me, Yu Huai. Do you harbor an unspeakable love for me?"

Feng Yuhuai's heart gave a violent lurch; she seemed to understand something, yet also not quite.

So this is why you suddenly showed up, whispering sweet nothings while nearly beating me to death — what a deformed view of love.

"【Mask】 is a thoroughgoing madman, and he seems to have a misunderstanding; so is he confessing to me now, or forcing me to confess to him?"

Feng Yuhuai's mind was in chaos; her shallow romantic experience was insufficient to resolve this sudden, suffocating confession offensive.

"Or rather, I'd better not explain — just keep this beautiful misunderstanding; that's the safest?"

Feng Yuhuai looked up at 【Mask】's featureless face, forcing a fake smile through gritted resolve: "Sorry, I didn't recognize you just now; yes, you guessed right — I like you!"

【Mask】 let out a strange, deep laugh, like a night owl's cry, exceptionally eerie in the silent 【Top Floor】.

His fingertip lightly brushed past Feng Yuhuai's brow, with a gentleness that made her uneasy; then he slowly reached out, taking the mobile phone from Feng Yuhuai's pocket.

His movements were slow and elegant, yet carried an unfathomable madness.

Feng Yuhuai vigilantly stared at 【Mask】's actions, squeezing a stiff smile on her face, not daring to move.

She couldn't fathom 【Mask】's thoughts, but she basically confirmed 【Mask】 is a madman whose thinking differs from ordinary people, and an extremely dangerous one at that; most infuriatingly, this madman... ultimately was chosen by her own imitation.

"So my best course now is to play the part of admiring him well, not provoke him, just as he said — complete obedience to his twisted love." Feng Yuhuai thought.

Then Feng Yuhuai saw 【Mask】 open her phone's camera, point the lens at the two of them, voice drifting softly: "This is a moment worth remembering — smile!"

Feng Yuhuai very obediently leaned her head slightly toward 【Mask】, forcing a smile full of love onto her face.

Feng Yuhuai's tea art came online; in her heart she thought: "Since it's a done deal and I can't refuse, I might as well enjoy it — maybe even turn misfortune into fortune, use 【Mask】 to help deal with that person?!!"

【Mask】's sidelong glance at Feng Yuhuai held a hint of surprise; in his heart he sneered: "My foolish Imoto, who gave you the guts, hehe — hope when you later find yourself in a pit you can't climb out of, you can still be this open-minded!"

With a light *click*, the flash instantly lit up; a 【Mask】-and-Feng-Yuhuai face-to-face 【MMS Photo】 was perfectly frozen.

【Mask】's finger lightly swiped across the phone screen; he simply edited the photo, then converted it into an MMS and sent it to 【Zheng Hang】's phone number.

Then he stood up, returned the phone to Feng Yuhuai, waved his hand, and prepared to bid farewell: "From now on your life belongs to me; if anyone asks, remember my name — I'm called 【Zheng Hang】!"

Feng Yuhuai froze hard; she watched 【Mask】's suave departing back, hesitated, then called out: "Wait — if someone harasses bullies me with texts, can you help find him and kill him?"

【Mask】 halted, turned his head to coldly stare over; his voice low and rich with metallic magnetism, meaningful: "On the darkest day of your future life, I will definitely appear!"

A deeply moving love promise echoed in the air, yet the grim white 【Mask】 was already gone from the spot, leaving only the deep, boundless 【Night Sky】 engulfing the quiet floor...

(End of Chapter)