Chapter 493: Die Once Again?!!

Feng Mu's question was like a poisoned scalpel, stabbing straight into Feng Ju's heart.

On the road that night, the wheels rolled over countless mottled tree shadows, just like the thoughts surging in his mind.

Those linked clues, those overlooked details, those terrifying possibilities—he thought he had thought things through thoroughly enough.

Only this question.

Only this question that most deserved thought, he had deliberately and cowardly avoided.

"Yeah, I want to catch Yu Huai, I want to ask her if she's still my daughter, I want to take out her heart and see what color it is..."

"But then what..."

"Do I have to kill her?"

Hearing the question Feng Mu raised, Feng Ju's heart was twisted like a knife, feeling the pain of being killed once again.

"Why Yu Huai? If the one who killed me was this rebellious son, if this rebellious son had become a monster, then I wouldn't be this painful, this hesitant!!"

"If... if back then I had given the storage card to this rebellious son"

This assumption gnawed at his sanity like a poisonous snake,

"Yu Huai would still be that good daughter who would throw herself into my arms and act spoiled."

Feng Ju's five fingers clutched his chest tightly, as if he wanted to dig out his own heart.

"So even becoming a monster still hurts—"

He suddenly wanted to recall his daughter's slender arms around his shoulders, warm tears dripping onto his back, burning his heart like scalding wax.

The warmth of that moment was so real, as if it still flowed in his blood vessels.

"My Yu Huai..."

This call was squeezed out from a shattered chest cavity, carrying the fishy smell of blood foam.

"When she was little she would cry even stepping on an ant; she was always the most obedient child. After becoming a monster, she must have been terribly afraid."

His voice suddenly became unusually gentle, yet it made one's hair stand on end,

"You say, how afraid, how desperate, must she have been to stick her fingers into her own father's chest?"

Feng Mu's pupils contracted slightly.

He could feel—not hear, but truly feel—coming from the father's heart, that heart-rending distortion and pain.

Feng Ju seemed to understand the answer; he wanted to wail in grief, but was shocked to find not a single tear could be squeezed from his eyes, only an icy countdown ticking.

【334:45:27】

【334:45:26】

【334:45:25】

【29】【……】

【……】

Feng Ju's eyeballs turned stiffly, finally locking tightly onto the rebellious son's face, then pulling at his mouth corner, revealing the "kind father" smile he often showed his sister:

"My Yu Huai, your sister, now must be even more painful, even more helpless. We must go help her, help her walk out of this pain as soon as possible—"

On the road here, Feng Mu had thought of many things, but even he—Heaven's Greatest Filial Son—had not expected his father to give such a perfect answer.

If Feng Mu's reading comprehension was correct, the father's central idea was to kill his sister, and in the name of love.

Feng Mu secretly admired it; the magatama behind the lens faintly itched.

Feng Mu frowned tightly, a struggling expression appearing on his face: "Dad, do you want to kill Yu Huai?"

Feng Ju took a deep breath, stared into his son's eyes, and corrected word by word:

"Your sister has already become a monster; we are helping her find release."

Feng Ju's Adam's apple rolled up and down, and after a long while he spoke with difficulty:

"I can't do it."

He raised his head, a pained light flashing in his eyes:

"Even if I dislike Yu Huai however much, she is still my sister."

Streetlights outside the window shone through the window, casting mottled light and shadow on Feng Mu's face.

His clenched fist trembled slightly, looking exactly like a good older brother heartbroken for his sister.

"Moreover,"

Feng Mu's voice suddenly softened a bit,

"Yu Huai is our whole family's pride and hope. If she..."

He paused: "Who else could take us to Upper City?"

Feng Ju's expression froze instantly.

He stared fixedly at his son's face, suspecting the rebellious son was being sarcastic toward him.

But Feng Mu's eyes were clean to the point of being dazzling, making him realize the rebellious son was sincere.

He wanted to curse the rebellious son for being blinded by pig oil, but found he couldn't open his mouth at all, because this was the one faith he had repeatedly instilled in the whole family all along.

"Even if Yu Huai became a monster"

Feng Mu pushed his glasses, the lenses tinting his cold gaze with a warm light,

"she is still my sister. A family should always stay together in harmony; no one can be missing from the dinner table."

Feng Ju's lips trembled violently.

He wanted to scold his son for being utterly foolish, but found those curses about to burst from his mouth were actually the "family precepts" he had instilled day and night for over ten years.

Now this "family precept" turned into a sharp boomerang, piercing his own throat, blocking the words in his throat back down.

Feng Ju's complexion turned from green to black, the veins bulging on his forehead like twisted earthworms.

"So the rebellious son and the filial daughter were both well educated by me; they are both practicing the education I gave them."

Feng Ju suddenly woke up, with an epiphany like being enlightened.

His brain seemed to have crashed, unsure whether to feel relieved or regretful.

The relief was that he had raised a pair of children very successfully;

The regret was that he had raised them too damn successfully!

Feng Ju's voice was hoarse beyond recognition, as if countless glass shards were grinding in his throat.

For a good long while, only then did he speak in a rasping voice:

"But, your sister she killed your father."

Feng Mu nodded lightly, the eyes behind his lenses incomparably warm.

He leaned forward slightly, using a tone of coaxing a child as he patiently said:

"Dad, I know you feel wronged, but Yu Huai is our family's pride and hope, just bear with it, make a sacrifice, consider it all for our family's future."

In the original body's memory, Feng Ju hadn't even coaxed him like this before.

Imagine, if Feng Ju could have coaxed the original body like this, the original body might not have committed suicide.

Feng Mu was different, he was very filial, he was willing to coax his old father.

Feng Ju, however, seemed unappreciative, only gnashing his teeth, his lungs about to explode with rage:

"Your sister is a monster now, she will drag our whole family down into the abyss together."

Feng Mu grinned, the corners of his mouth hooking a gentle arc:

"Dad, you're the same too!"

Feng Ju stiffened in the chair as if struck by lightning, face ashen, lips quivering, yet unable to make a sound.

Feng Mu slowly stood up, he circled behind his father, the shop's lights pulling his shadow long, silently merging into one with his father's shadow.

When that ice-cold hand settled on his shoulder, Feng Ju shuddered violently.

That touch didn't feel like a human palm, but rather some kind of metal product, chill penetrating through the fabric straight to the skin, even more eerie than his body temperature after death.

"Dad, there's no overnight feud between family..."

Feng Mu leaned close to his father's ear and whispered, icy breath and warm voice forming a bizarre contrast,

"You might have some misunderstanding about your sister, how about I call your sister over, we eat a late-night snack together, whatever misunderstandings, we'll hash them out face to face, what do you think?"

Feng Ju's pupils abruptly contracted, his throat letting out a broken gasp.

He caught sight of the mobile phone screen in Feng Mu's hand lighting up with a dim blue glow, beneath that familiar number, the four words "Calling" were jumping beat by beat.

The countdown in the center of the retina was still mechanically jumping:

【334:39:19】

【334:39:18】

【334:39:17】

【.....】

Yet at this moment those jumping numbers actually seemed a bit ridiculous.

Feng Ju, however, had a flash of inspiration, a strong dread rising in him:

"I might not need to worry about the countdown hitting zero at all, because, I'm afraid I won't make it to that time, I'll die... once again?!!"

(End of Chapter)