Category: A New Life, Yet Still Bound by Her Love

Chapter 5: Childhood Sweetheart

He Mu Qing, Su Yu’s childhood friend. Because they lived close by, their families were neighbors, and their children were only a year apart. With this connection, the two families became quite close.

Su Yu was a year older than He Mu Qing; he was the older brother. From babbling their first words to starting elementary school, they spent almost their entire childhood together.

Until high school graduation, they attended the same schools. It was only after puberty, when they were no longer as naive and had their own circles of friends, that their relationship cooled down a bit.

In the original timeline, He Mu Qing’s future wasn’t bright. Her academic performance was average, even in the regular classes. But she was a girl, and her parents were open-minded, not having high expectations for her. Attending an average university and marrying a good family would be enough.

But even this ordinary wish was shattered. Misfortune always came unexpectedly. He Mu Qing’s father fell ill during Su Yu’s first year of college, which was He Mu Qing’s college entrance exam year. Late-stage stomach cancer, he was bedridden.

Uncle He was the family’s breadwinner. His illness cut off their financial source almost completely. Su Yu didn’t know the specifics, only that the treatment cost a lot of money, almost draining their savings.

He Mu Qing’s college entrance exam was affected that year. Her scores were only enough for a private university with expensive tuition. If it were before, it wouldn’t have been a problem for her family, but at that time, it was a difficult dilemma.

The night she filled out her university application, He Mu Qing called Su Yu and talked a lot, more than they had spoken in a long time. Over the phone, Su Yu listened to He Mu Qing’s hoarse cries, saying she didn’t know what to do. Su Yu was powerless, he could only offer useless comfort, both to console He Mu Qing and himself.

Later, He Mu Qing dropped out of school to work. The girl who always loved to twirl in front of him in frilly dresses put them all away, wearing rough, ugly work clothes year-round.

A year after graduation, Su Yu was relatively well-off, but He Mu Qing never called him to borrow money. She had changed a lot, the only thing that hadn’t changed was her stubbornness, just like when she was a child.

Their paths crossed less and less. The bond they had as children was almost squeezed out by the trivialities of daily life. Before Su Yu’s rebirth, the last time they saw each other was at He Mu Qing’s mother’s funeral. He Mu Qing had endured her father’s passing, but her mother hadn’t.

That day, He Mu Qing stood in the funeral hall receiving guests, wearing a pure white gauze dress. Su Yu stood beside her. He Mu Qing said her mother loved to see her in dresses, so she wore one today, to see her mother one last time.

Su Yu didn’t remember many details. He only remembered that the girl didn’t smile or cry that day. She stood there, like an adult.

……

“Eat more, Su Yu. Your dad’s not home these days, I’m afraid you haven’t had any decent meals, have you?”

“Mm-hmm, thank you, Auntie.”

Su Yu thanked her. His bowl was piled high with food, and Auntie He was still adding more. He had practically grown up under her care, and she had always been good to him.

Su Yu’s father was always out socializing, rarely coming home. After the divorce from his mother, he came back even less. Su Yu stayed home alone, so Auntie He often asked He Mu Qing to call him over for dinner. It could be said that Su Yu practically grew up on the He family’s food.

For some reason, He Mu Qing deliberately sat a seat away from Su Yu. She kept her head down, eating her rice, not speaking, but her eyes would occasionally glance at Su Yu. When their eyes met, she would raise her head and glare back.

“Su Yu, how are your studies going lately?” Auntie He asked carefully, concerned about Su Yu’s upcoming college entrance exams.

“Not bad, I should be able to get into a key university if I push myself for the exams.”

“That’s good, keep it up, but don’t be too hard on yourself. Mentality is important.”

“I know, Auntie. You know me, I have a good mentality.”

“Yes, very good, increasingly perverted.” He Mu Qing muttered softly from the side.

“Mu Qing, what are you mumbling about again? Why don’t you learn from Su Yu? His grades are twice as good as yours.” Auntie He turned her attention to He Mu Qing, but fortunately, she hadn’t heard what He Mu Qing had just said.

“Oh, I know, I’ve been studying, but what can I do if I just don’t get it?”

“Auntie, don’t pressure Qing Qing, she knows what she’s doing.” Su Yu spoke up for He Mu Qing, he often smoothed things over with Uncle He in the past.

“Mm-hmm, Su Yu is right. Stop arguing, let’s eat.” Uncle He agreed.

“By the way, Uncle, have you had a physical exam recently?” Su Yu changed the subject.

“Physical exam? No, why do you ask?”

“My dad had a physical a few days ago and they found he has high blood pressure. I thought since you’re the same age as my dad, you should also pay attention to your health.”

“Your dad’s always fooling around outside…” Uncle He stopped mid-sentence, glared at by Auntie He, and quickly changed his tune, “I’m not like your dad. I eat and drink what your Auntie makes, very healthy, can’t get sick.”

“I think Su Yu is right. I’ve been having chest pains lately. Honey, maybe we should both go to the hospital for a checkup?”

“I don’t have time, I don’t want to go.”

“You have time to drink with your buddies, but no time for the hospital? You have this weekend off, we’re going together.” Auntie He’s tone was firm; she had the final say in the family.

……

After dinner, He Mu Qing’s parents went to the kitchen, Uncle He to wash the dishes, and Auntie He to boil water for their baths.

“How are things going with that… Xia Qian Ge? I heard from your classmates that you have a crush on her? And that you’re going to confess.”

He Mu Qing suddenly kicked Su Yu’s leg and asked abruptly.

“Huh?” Su Yu looked away from the TV. “Chen Kai told you? That guy is so unreliable.”

“That’s not important…” He Mu Qing persisted, seemingly with the characteristic female obsession with gossip. “So, what happened?”

“What happened? What do you mean?” Su Yu smiled and shook his head. “Send a few silly messages and wait to be ruthlessly rejected?”

“You didn’t confess?” He Mu Qing stared at Su Yu with wide eyes, the light from the chandelier reflecting brightly in them. “You had a crush on her for so long… and didn’t confess?”

“Crush? What crush?” Su Yu shrugged, his face full of surprise. “She’s a proud swan, looking up at the sky. How could she notice a toad like me on the ground? Me having a crush on her?”

“Heh, at least you have some self-awareness.” He Mu Qing turned her head, only showing a small part of her delicate profile to Su Yu. “Stop thinking about such nonsense. The college entrance exams are coming up. If you don’t do well, Uncle Su will kill you.”

“Don’t worry about me, what about you? You’re in your second year, almost a senior. Are you going to keep going like this?”

“Who… who’s worried about you!” He Mu Qing raised her voice, glaring at Su Yu. “Don’t flatter yourself. And it’s none of your business how I am…”

“We practically grew up together, remember?”

“Get out…”

“Huh?” Su Yu was stunned. “What did you say?”

“I said get out!” He Mu Qing turned around, her pretty face flushed, the words practically squeezed through her teeth. “If you mention our childhood again, I’ll kill you.”

“Why are you…”

“Get out, pervert!”

A furious yell echoed from the living room all the way to the kitchen.

Chapter 4: Rebirth

A piercing, bone-deep pain…

The agony spread along his nerves to his brain, every muscle spasming.

Su Yu clutched his heart, his left hand instinctively clenching into a fist. The intense throbbing pain in his chest assaulted his nerves, his face contorted in agony.

“Gasp… gasp…”

The pain suddenly receded like a tide. Su Yu breathed heavily, pulling open his collar. There was nothing there, no wound, no blood, only the lingering image in his mind of the girl’s madness-filled face.

“Xia Qian Ge.”

Su Yu slowly uttered the familiar name. He looked around. Everything was familiar. On the contrary, he knew every detail of this room, every insignificant arrangement. From birth until his high school graduation at eighteen, he had lived in this room.

He held his old, outdated phone in his hand, scrolling down the notification bar. The date displayed was during his senior year of high school, the time he had created a miracle.

He was reborn, reborn in his senior year. It all felt like a dream, but the reality was, he hadn’t died… he was alive again, starting from his senior year.

Wait… today is the 5th?

Su Yu’s heart skipped a beat. He closed the notification bar. The screen showed a chat interface. The contact’s name was just two words: Qian Ge.

There was a long message in the chat, sent by him, just a moment ago. While he was gripping his phone in pain, he had accidentally sent the message he had typed in the chatbox.

“Qian Ge, I’ve been thinking for a long time, and I have something important to tell you today. Actually, I’ve liked you for a long time, since the first time I saw you. This is not just a whim. My love for you is like…”

A cheesy love letter? He wrote that?

Su Yu finished reading the message, his bare toes digging into the floor, unable to alleviate the urge to smash his phone. Was he really this cringey before?

There was still a chance to fix this. Su Yu frantically long-pressed the message, but the pop-up menu didn’t have the option he needed… retract. Too much time had passed.

Yes, he was reborn, awkwardly reborn the moment before he confessed to Xia Qian Ge.

He was in his senior year now. According to the timeline, he had had a crush on Xia Qian Ge for two years and had confessed to her today. This was his first confession, he was no longer content to be just a pawn but had launched his attack.

Su Yu knew the outcome. Xia Qian Ge had rejected him. He had failed, miserably.

So, the result probably wouldn’t change this time either. Xia Qian Ge would reject him, then he, unwilling to give up, would get into the same university as her and pursue her for another year, finally getting together with her during his freshman year.

But this confession wasn’t entirely pointless. After they got together, Xia Qian Ge had told Su Yu that his high school confession was the key to her later agreeing to be with him.

So, if he followed the timeline, even if he failed now, Su Yu could still win Xia Qian Ge’s favor in college. They would be together, become boyfriend and girlfriend.

And then… repeat the same mistakes.

Su Yu and Xia Qian Ge’s personalities were too different. Xia Qian Ge had been outstanding since high school. She never stopped, always moving forward, so far ahead that even with all his efforts, Su Yu could only see her back.

Su Yu, on the other hand, was someone who went with the flow. He could fight for someone he liked, but he couldn’t chase Xia Qian Ge’s footsteps for a lifetime. It was too tiring, he… couldn’t do it.

“Sorry, I was just playing truth or dare with my classmates. I lost and had to confess to a girl in my contacts. I accidentally chose you.”

Su Yu’s finger hovered over the send button. He hesitated for a long time, then finally pressed it.

He slammed his phone on the table, afraid… afraid he would regret it. This time, he would personally let her go.

“Ding-dong.”

Su Yu turned his head. The doorbell rang.

He rushed to the door, opened it, and froze, staring at the girl outside.

“Hey… what are you looking at? My parents are calling you over for dinner.”

The girl was a little uncomfortable under Su Yu’s gaze. She crossed her arms, looking at him warily.

“He Mu Qing…”

“Huh? Why are you suddenly calling me by my full name? And that look, are you on drugs today?” He Mu Qing furrowed her pretty brows, reaching out to touch Su Yu’s forehead, her small, white hand soft to the touch. “Did you catch a cold from the AC in this summer heat? You have college entrance exams coming up.”

“I’m fine…” Su Yu subconsciously grasped He Mu Qing’s outstretched arm. “It’s… good to see you.”

“Su Yu, what are you doing?!” He Mu Qing was startled, she pulled away, her eyes almost spitting fire.

“I know you’re stressed about the exams, but you can’t… you can’t…” He Mu Qing blushed, her voice getting quieter, almost a murmur. “You can’t be a pervert.”

“No, I just…” Su Yu realized his actions were inappropriate. He opened his mouth to explain.

“Okay, okay, I won’t tell my mom. Hurry up and come eat, the food’s getting cold.”

He Mu Qing turned and went back inside. Her family lived upstairs from Su Yu.

Su Yu was speechless. He was indeed a bit agitated. He was reborn, and He Mu Qing was the first familiar person he had encountered. They were childhood friends. He was one year old when He Mu Qing was born, a year younger than him.

Su Yu came from a single-parent family. His parents were divorced, and he lived with his dad, an old geezer he rarely saw. But fortunately… his living expenses were still deposited into his account every month. The old man always complained about being busy with work, but Su Yu knew that while work was indeed busy, it wouldn’t leave no time for family. However, Su Yu didn’t care where the old man went for his fun. According to the timeline, in less than a year, the old man would probably bring him a stepmother.

Su Yu looked up, watching He Mu Qing’s retreating figure, the slender calves beneath her snow-white dress forming attractive curves, and… the faintly visible little bear pattern.

“Su Yu, where are you looking?”

The girl’s annoyed shout interrupted Su Yu’s appreciation of beauty. He quickly turned around, explaining, “I didn’t see anything. Anyway, it’s always the same patterns since we were kids, either strawberries or little bears. No originality at all.”

“Haha.” He Mu Qing was momentarily amused by his anger. She smoothed her dress, eliminating any possible peeking angles. “Su Yu, I didn’t expect you to be this kind of person. You’re becoming more and more of a pervert, a real pervert! You disgusting rogue! Go to hell!”

Su Yu looked at the blush on He Mu Qing’s earlobes beneath her hair and couldn’t help but smile, a genuinely happy smile. The girl’s insults gave him a sense of reality. He, Su Yu… was truly reborn.

Chapter 3: Love and Desire

The dim light cast hazy halos, blurring the boundaries of the dreamlike scene before him. It all felt like a dream… and now he seemed to be waking up.

“Xiao Yu… I like it so much… more…”

Rapid gasps suddenly jolted Su Yu awake. He stared blankly at the familiar ceiling. It wasn’t a dream, it was all real. He was still trapped in the abyss, the torrent of desire washing over his reason. His dry throat couldn’t utter a single cry for help, only enduring silently in the shadows, waiting for the inevitable collapse.

Another violent tremor, accompanied by a moan of unfulfilled desire, the morning dew covering the deep forest of night, hanging precariously on the branches.

“Unfulfilled desire only brings pain, and satisfaction leaves only emptiness.”

Su Yu looked coldly at the woman straddling him, his tone indifferent. This woman… was his girlfriend of several years, Xia Qian Ge.

When innocence is shattered, and the girl you once adored reveals her hidden side, how much of your love remains, or… do you still love her?

Compared to the physical pain, Su Yu couldn’t accept the mental blow. Why… why had she become like this? He remembered every part of her that he had cherished, but now, no matter how carefully he searched, everything had changed beyond recognition, nowhere to be found.

She was Xia Qian Ge, but not the Xia Qian Ge that Su Yu loved. Before him was only a stranger wearing the same skin.

The woman seemed not to hear Su Yu’s sarcasm. Her uncontrollable moans rose and fell. Her face was flushed, her body trembling, as if her senses were still in the clouds, seemingly unable to hear the words below.

“Then I’d rather stay like this forever, never satisfied.” The woman leaned down and gently bit Su Yu’s earlobe. “Don’t you love me? Now you’re the only cure for my illness. Could you bear to watch me suffer?”

“The Xia Qian Ge I loved is not you!”

Su Yu glared at the woman, but his head spun. The drug she had given him was taking effect. He couldn’t exert too much force, and even his thoughts were chaotic.

He could only watch helplessly as the woman dominated his body these past days, using him as a bed for her lust. Every time he saw her flushed face from the surging climaxes, Su Yu only felt disgust. The face he once found breathtakingly beautiful now only repulsed him.

“Heh… Xia Qian Ge is already dead, from the moment you broke up with me. You killed her!”

The woman lowered her long, delicate eyelashes, shadows falling, obscuring the light in her eyes. “After we broke up, I bought this apartment. We lived here for two years. This was our home. But why could you leave without hesitation?”

“I…” Su Yu’s words stopped. For a moment, he saw a trace of the former Xia Qian Ge in the woman, but his tone was still full of malice. “I don’t love you anymore, it’s that simple.”

“But you said you were getting married. That was a lie, right?”

“It has nothing to do with you.”

“Nothing to do with me?” The woman’s eyes grew colder, sharp ice shards cutting through the air. “Isn’t this all your fault? If you had never appeared in my world, how could I have become like this!”

“I hate you…” The woman’s teeth clenched tightly, making a creaking sound that tightened Su Yu’s heart. “But I also love you. I really don’t blame you, as long as you’re obedient…”

The woman’s pale hand cupped Su Yu’s cheek, gazing at him with love. The eyes that were clear and pure in Su Yu’s memory were now dim, as if a few drops of thick ink had been added to a clear pool, turning it into a swamp of desire.

“Give up. You can’t hide this forever. One day, someone will discover my disappearance, and the police will break down the door, your actions will be exposed, you’ll be despised, condemned… you’ll be locked up in a mental hospital.”

“When? Today… or tomorrow?” The woman scoffed disdainfully, licking Su Yu’s earlobe, the recently extinguished desire rekindling. “We won’t need that long. Before they find out, everything will be over. I said, we’ll be together forever.”

“Delusional, you’re truly insane…”

“It doesn’t matter if you don’t love me, as long as I love you. Love doesn’t need to be reciprocal.” The woman took Su Yu’s limp arms and wrapped them around her slender waist, making it look as if he was actively embracing her. “Actually, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, but I was afraid of scaring you. But now I don’t have to worry so much. Maybe it’s a good thing.”

“When did it start? Why did it become like this? Things shouldn’t have ended up like this between us.”

Su Yu couldn’t help but let out a hoarse growl. He still held a sliver of hope. His cold words and disdain couldn’t stir any ripples.

He mentioned breaking up only because he loved Xia Qian Ge. He didn’t want to trap her because of himself. But now, he was imprisoned by her. Since that snowy day they parted, everything had changed.

“From the moment I fell in love with you… there was no saving me.”

The woman just smiled, a tragically beautiful smile. Her crimson lips trembled slightly. Her heart was equally turbulent. She walked to the window and suddenly pulled open the curtains.

The night sky was dotted with stars, the white moonlight cascading down like white jade. The deep night sky drew in his gaze, inviting him to fall into its depths.

It had been a long time since Su Yu had seen the sky. His yearning for fresh air was like a broken-winged falcon longing for the sky, a fish out of water craving the river. But Xia Qian Ge had imprisoned him, and herself, neither of them ever to be free.

The woman’s hand suddenly took Su Yu’s, their fingers intertwined, palms touching. At this moment, Su Yu suddenly realized how cold her palms were. Her desperate attempts to possess him seemed to be just to merge their body temperatures, to keep her from being so cold.

“Xiao Yu, Happy New Year.”

As the woman’s voice fell, the scattered lights in the night sky dimmed, replaced by more dazzling sparks. Fireworks burst open in the night sky.

Colorful fireworks unfurled, blooming to their fullest, one after another, as if they would never wither.

Su Yu turned his gaze, looking at the woman beside him, her expression focused on the fireworks, the light flickering in her eyes.

The fireworks eventually faded, scattering into ashes, drifting down with the night wind. The woman’s eyes dimmed as well, becoming as dark as the night sky.

“It’s our turn, Xiao Yu.”

The woman suddenly turned her head, her dark, fallen gaze fixed on Su Yu.

But Su Yu didn’t speak. He instinctively wanted to retreat, but his ankles were already chained, no escape route. He stared at the gleaming knife in the woman’s hand, his voice trembling, “What… what are you doing?”

“I told you, we’ll be together forever.”

The woman pressed close, smiling radiantly, eclipsing even the fireworks that had just bloomed in the sky. She was truly beautiful, so many had admired her. It was a pity… the person she loved was right in front of her, but he no longer loved her.

“What a wonderful smell… We’ll be happy.” The woman took a deep breath, her expression intoxicated, as if in the throes of ecstasy.

Su Yu also sniffed the air. He smelled gas… His pupils constricted sharply, staring at the woman.

He was wrong. The woman’s momentary tenderness had almost made him think that the old Xia Qian Ge had returned. But the person before him was still the madwoman, the one terminally ill.

“You want to die with me, to make people think I loved you?” Su Yu endured the stinging cold of the blade. “You’re truly beyond saving.”

“Yes, but that’s not enough. I will redeem your life first, Xiao Yu, and then follow you. That way… everyone will see how strong my love for you was. Everyone will envy us… and bless us.”

The woman murmured softly, as if in a trance. The dagger in her hand suddenly lunged forward, aimed at Su Yu’s heart, without hesitation.

The blade pierced through muscle and reached his heart. Perhaps it was the numbness from inhaling the gas, but the pain wasn’t as intense as Su Yu had imagined. He felt his strength ebbing away with the warm, thick blood gushing from his mouth. His body temperature dropped rapidly, his thoughts sluggish, his vision blurring, barely able to make out the woman’s face.

He slowly fell backward, the cold inching through his body, death truly close at hand.

The woman slowly pulled out the knife. She leaned down, pressing against Su Yu’s chest. Now it was her turn to give him warmth. Their bodies and minds intertwined, this was the love and desire she craved.

“Xiao Yu…”

Her consciousness was already hazy. She had inhaled a large amount of gas, hallucinogenic substances flooding her system. She was fantasizing… about the happy ending she and Su Yu should have had, the kind of happiness that made her lips curve into a smile just by thinking about it.

“I love you.”

Chapter 2: Morbidity

“Xiao Yu… Xiao Yu?”

The gentle call became Su Yu’s only guide as he struggled in the darkness. He listened to the familiar voice, attempting to break free from the darkness’s restraints.

Am I still not awake?

Su Yu wondered, he could even feel the dry thirst in his mouth. Every cell in his body seemed to be clamoring, craving, needing water…

“Water, I need water…”

Su Yu could actually hear his own dry, raspy voice. But before he could think further, a soft touch pressed against his lips. He was about to struggle when a trickle of water flowed through the cracks of his lips and into his throat, moistening his dry, cracked lips.

He stopped struggling and began to yield to the soft touch, even actively seeking it out. This was a primal instinct. He craved water and couldn’t care less about anything else. Otherwise… he would die.

After a while, the flow of water gradually stopped, and the soft touch on his lips disappeared.

“Hehe…”

A familiar yet strange laughter echoed in Su Yu’s ears. He recognized the timbre of the voice but was unfamiliar with the chilling madness within the laughter.

The class reunion… it was her. Su Yu suddenly remembered something, his mind throbbing with the sudden influx of memories.

“Figured it out?” Hot breath brushed against his earlobe, her breathing close at hand. “So smart, but being too smart isn’t always a good thing.”

Su Yu began to frantically move his limbs, trying to break free from the restraints, but it was useless. His body had already been immobilized, and his vision was blocked by something. He was like someone trapped in a hard, cold coffin, all struggles futile, death close at hand.

He struggled, and the water he had just ingested began to be rapidly consumed. Su Yu felt thirsty again. He subconsciously pursed his lips, trying to moisten them again.

“I’ll help you…”

The voice just sounded in his ear, and the next moment, the familiar, gentle touch returned. It was Xia Qian Ge… Are we kissing?

Su Yu awkwardly shook his head. He couldn’t… His reason told him he shouldn’t crave intimacy on the verge of death. This wasn’t Xia Qian Ge, not the Xia Qian Ge in his memory, absolutely not!

But soon, Su Yu’s jaw was firmly gripped by a powerful force. It was a pair of slender hands, yet they completely restrained him. Now he couldn’t even shake his head.

“Heh, that’s a good boy.”

The woman chuckled with satisfaction. She liked this feeling. What belonged to her, no one else could touch.

She kissed him fiercely, almost biting. During the time she waited for Su Yu to wake up, she had barely been able to restrain herself.

Su Yu’s painful groans were muffled. He only felt his body begin to lose control, a forceful softness invading his mouth as if his body no longer belonged to him. Vaguely, he could even hear the delicate sound of saliva being squeezed between their tongues.

After a long time, almost out of breath, Su Yu’s breathing became more rapid. The aggressive assault only subsided slightly after a pill hidden under the woman’s teeth was pushed into his throat.

Before Su Yu’s oxygen-deprived brain could react, he had already swallowed the pill. He coughed violently, but to no avail.

“What did you give me?” Su Yu asked coldly. “You’re not Xia Qian Ge. Who are you?”

“Not her? See for yourself.”

The shackles on his wrists suddenly opened. Su Yu twisted his arms, as if reborn. He immediately removed the blindfold, and what met his eyes were those bright, spring-water-like eyes, so familiar. The person in front of him… was indeed Xia Qian Ge.

“Am I beautiful?”

Xia Qian Ge’s lips curved into a fatal arc, like a rose blooming in the midnight, its fragrance captivating, incredibly alluring. She lowered her body, burying her head in the crook of Su Yu’s neck, breathing deeply, inhaling the scent that intoxicated her.

Su Yu lowered his head slightly and could even see the pale blue veins protruding from Xia Qian Ge’s snow-white neck due to excitement. They appeared terrifyingly on the fair jade, disrupting the harmonious beauty, adding a morbid and chilling touch.

“Qian Ge… no, Xia Qian Ge.” Even with the same face, Su Yu still refused to believe that the woman in front of him was the Xia Qian Ge he had pursued for years and lived with for so long. “Qian Ge wouldn’t be like this. You’re sick. Either turn yourself in to the police or go to the hospital!”

“Haha… I’m sick?”

The blunt, vicious curse made the woman laugh. Her normally pleasant voice now sounded like a demonic sound from hell to Su Yu. Reason had been devoured, leaving only insatiable desire.

“Yes, I’m sick, terminally ill, beyond cure. And all of this…” The woman’s pearly white teeth bit into Su Yu’s shoulder, sinking deep. Her muffled words squeezed out of her throat. “…is thanks to you!”

“You’re crazy! Get off…”

The pain in his shoulder made Su Yu’s nerves tremble. He gritted his teeth and endured, but he still couldn’t help but cry out.

“As punishment…” The woman released her bite, licking the fresh blood from her teeth as if savoring vintage wine, a drunken look appearing in the corners of her slightly reddened eyes. She looked at the deep bite mark on Su Yu’s shoulder and smiled with satisfaction. “I want to leave my mark on you.”

“Why…” Su Yu turned his gaze away, no longer looking at the woman. “Why are you doing this? You’ve changed. You weren’t like this before.”

“What… Don’t you like it? Didn’t you say you would love me forever, no matter how old… no matter how beautiful or ugly… you would always love me.”

The woman forcibly turned Su Yu’s head back. She wanted his eyes to see only her, wanted his beautiful eyes to reflect only her image forever!

“I loved the old Xia Qian Ge… the one who was pure like spring water, not you. You’re just a crazy woman who has lost her mind.”

Su Yu seemed to have resigned himself to his fate. He no longer avoided her gaze. His eyes were like a mirror, reflecting the woman’s current obsessive state. His tone was calm, but his eyes held deep disgust.

And this… seemed to work. The simple words truly hit the woman’s weak spot. She abruptly stopped smiling, her nails digging deep into her flesh, the skin turning white from blood loss.

Neither of them spoke. The sudden silence plunged the room into a terrifying stillness.

After an unknown amount of time, the woman seemed to recover. She smiled again, but this time, the smile was superficial, her tone so cold that it made Su Yu’s nerves tense.

“Maybe I was too good to you before… so good that you thought I really didn’t care about anything.” The woman lifted Su Yu’s chin, a sinister aura emanating from her delicate face. “I gave you freedom, dignity, everything you wanted… but you didn’t cherish it. Now I’ll take it all back. Even if you crawl at my feet like a dog, begging me for mercy, I won’t show any pity.”

The woman suddenly sat up and began to undress in front of Su Yu, one piece… two pieces… until she was as naked as him.

She lay on top of Su Yu, their skin touching extensively, their body temperatures rising as if reaching a flashpoint.

“Actually… I’ve wanted to do this for a long time, to play with you like a toy. You’re my thing. I gave you to you, you didn’t cherish it, so I’ll take it back. Now… you have no right to choose.”

The woman turned off the bedside lamp, plunging the room into a terrifying darkness.

Su Yu’s breathing became rapid in the unknown fear. He didn’t know what he would face next.

“Xiao Yu, it’s been a year… I really can’t hold back anymore, it’s so uncomfortable… Give it to me… I want it so badly…”

The sound of the woman grinding her teeth reached his ears. She caressed Su Yu’s body, from his chest and abdomen down to his thighs…

“Su Yu, I really love you. You are my cure.”

The woman’s body, lying on Su Yu’s stomach, began to writhe, her intimate whispers stirring the most primal desires within him.

“So, give it to me, please… Save me.”

Chapter 1: Collapse

“Let’s… break up.”

The first snow of winter finally fell. Though a bit late, it seemed fitting.

The girl in front of him shivered. It was a pity she was wrapped in a thick plaid scarf, otherwise, he would have seen her slender, snow-white neck.

Her eyes were downcast, her expression unreadable. She didn’t answer Su Yu’s words, but instead extended her hand, catching a few thin snowflakes as they drifted down with the wind. In her palm, they instantly melted into water.

“Mm… I understand.”

Su Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but the words caught in his throat, unable to escape. In the end, only a vague sentence remained, “Let’s both cool down.”

The girl raised her head, her watery eyes rippling like smoke, tinged with a slight redness. She blinked, looking as adorable as ever. “Mm… I understand.”

That sentence again… Su Yu’s fist, hidden in his sleeve, clenched unconsciously. They had been dating for a long time. The girl was obedient, often responding like this to his requests.

Su Yu used to enjoy her docility, but later, this phrase gradually became a curse, tightly binding him, preventing him from struggling free.

They broke up just like that, when the first snow of winter arrived.

What was the reason? Su Yu couldn’t say for sure. Maybe it was the pressure of life, maybe they were drifting apart, or maybe… he had changed.

She was an excellent girl, so excellent that it took Su Yu four years to win her over. This unrequited love started in high school and ended at the end of his freshman year of college.

There was never a shortage of admirers around her. Her face, so beautiful that Su Yu found it stunning no matter how many times he looked at it, attracted too many suitors. Su Yu was just one insignificant one among them.

A “simp,” in today’s terms, that’s what Su Yu was back then. Fortunately, the term hadn’t been invented yet when he was pursuing her, so he could still comfort himself by calling it “deep affection.”

On a battlefield of endless yellow sand, Su Yu charged forward among thousands of troops. He stepped on countless corpses and fought desperately. Fortunately… he was the last one alive to storm the city walls and capture the high flag.

They dated for five years, from his sophomore year of college until the second year after they started working. The girl was too outstanding. She always stood in the light, and he stood behind her, watching her, from initial pride to later self-deprecation.

To get closer to her, Su Yu pursued her relentlessly. He had never accomplished anything remarkable in his life, but getting into the same university as her became the eighth wonder among his high school classmates.

Some people, even with all their efforts, their destination is fixed. Su Yu thought that by attending the same university, he had closed the distance between them. But he was wrong. The girl kept moving forward, while he… had been stagnant for a long time.

He relied on his decent university education and found an ordinary job after graduation, earning an ordinary salary, and providing her with an ordinary life.

She often worked late, so he usually cooked dinner. She would come home and eat takeout with him, along with the barely edible meals he made, never complaining.

But Su Yu would rather she complain…

They weren’t parallel lines, but after intersecting, they only grew further apart.

The free meals at the company cafeteria were more upscale than the restaurants Su Yu took her to. The gifts clients gave her out of courtesy were more luxurious than the holiday gifts Su Yu painstakingly chose. She experienced a life that Su Yu couldn’t understand, and they had less and less to talk about…

These things accumulated bit by bit in the corners of their lives, more and more… until Su Yu could no longer ignore them, because if he did, they would soon be over his ankles.

“You’re not good enough for her!”

This was what the girl’s former best friend had said to Su Yu. Back then, Su Yu hated that friend. In his youthful arrogance, he never felt that he wasn’t good enough for her. He could create the eighth wonder of the world for her, so what couldn’t he do?

Until later, Su Yu also hated the girl’s best friend, hating her for not waking him up sooner. That way, he wouldn’t have pursued her. He could have been a good-for-nothing in a dark corner, at least the girl wouldn’t have seen his pathetic side.

If you love a girl, give her the best.

Su Yu liked this saying very much. He felt that it should be this way. The woman who can walk with you through life, accompanying you from youthful years to gray hair, why shouldn’t you give her the best?

But unfortunately, they stopped here, unable to finish this life together.

Su Yu was an ordinary person. He couldn’t escape the sadness of parting. The girl left their small rented apartment, where they had lived for two years, with her suitcase, leaving Su Yu alone in the same place. It wasn’t that Su Yu didn’t want to leave, but there was still half a month left on the rent. Leaving now would cost him a lot of money.

He looked at everything familiar in the apartment, memories flooding into his mind. The more he recalled, the more useless Su Yu felt. She could have lived in a high-end apartment complex long ago, but she insisted on staying with him in this broken house where sunlight couldn’t even penetrate during the day. He had trapped her, trapped her for two whole years!

His heart felt like it had been cut open with a small knife, a burning pain with every breath. The wound grew bigger and bigger, so painful that Su Yu wanted to grit his teeth to pieces.

Finally, he couldn’t bear it anymore. He grabbed his luggage and fled the apartment like a stray dog, finding a smaller place to live. Everything became unfamiliar. He seemed… saved.

Su Yu later discovered that time couldn’t erase the things that truly bothered him, but the ever-growing pile of beer cans on the balcony could.

His life became very calm, the kind of calm where even a boulder wouldn’t cause a ripple. Su Yu thought he could live like this for the rest of his life, which wasn’t bad, at least the wound in his heart wouldn’t grow any bigger.

But fate seemed unwilling to let him go. A sudden invitation to a class reunion arrived on his phone. The location was in the city where he lived, and the time was on the weekend. Su Yu had no reason to refuse.

Perhaps he could have, but Su Yu hadn’t seen the girl for a long time. People are cheap. He suddenly wanted to know how she was doing, whether she had moved into a high-end apartment, eaten at outrageously expensive restaurants, and found someone worthy of her…

Su Yu went to the class reunion.

The reunion was in the evening. Su Yu arrived relatively early, but the girl arrived late. Classmates teased them and arranged for them to sit together.

Actually, none of the classmates who attended the reunion knew about their past relationship. They only knew that they had attended the same university, and… that Su Yu had a crush on the girl throughout high school.

Perhaps because they hadn’t seen each other for so long, Su Yu felt that the girl was dressed very beautifully today, more beautiful than he remembered.

Class reunions usually followed the same pattern. Reconnecting seemed to be just a pretense. The organizers were often the most active at the dinner table, as they had accomplishments to boast about and the capital to speak loudly.

When it was Su Yu’s turn, he just smiled and said, “Nothing much to say,” then took a big gulp of his drink, the rim of the glass hiding the bitterness on his lips. The result was self-evident.

The girl didn’t say anything either. She had always been low-key. Su Yu and the girl were like outsiders at the table. The girl was looking at her phone, and he kept drinking…

Amidst the toasting and drinking, someone dimmed the lights in the private room, and the atmosphere became vaguely ambiguous. Reconnecting… those feelings that were never expressed or accidentally missed.

Whether talkative or not, everyone seemed to have something on their mind, and with the help of alcohol, their words became less guarded.

“Hey, Su Yu, do you have a girlfriend now?”

At some point, the conversation turned to relationships, and finally, the question reached Su Yu.

“I…”

He was silent for a moment, then turned his gaze to the girl beside him. Their eyes met, then quickly parted.

“Yes, I have one.” Su Yu smiled gently, looking like he was deeply in love with the girlfriend he spoke of. “We’re getting married soon…”

“Crash!”

The wine glass in the girl’s hand fell to the floor and shattered, scattering glass shards everywhere. The sharp edges of the glass glinted in the dim light.

Su Yu instinctively reached down to pick up the shards, but his hand touched the girl’s. His body tensed because her hand was ice-cold.

“I’ll do it…” he said with a smile, picking up the glass pieces one by one.

This was just a small interlude. They started asking the girl questions again. Su Yu slowed down his movements, listening intently. He wanted to hear her answer.

But the girl just shook her head, saying nothing.

Some sighed in regret, others were secretly delighted. So the high school goddess still didn’t have a boyfriend.

After that, the girl was urged to drink more frequently. Class reunions, after all, were just a gathering of hidden agendas.

After the reunion ended, Su Yu paid his share of the bill and left first. He walked in the howling winter wind, his head slightly raised, his eyes dry from the wind.

She seemed to be doing well, it was just a pity she hadn’t found a boyfriend yet.

Su Yu didn’t know why he had lied at the table. Maybe he had drunk too much, or maybe it was pride. He didn’t want to leave himself any way back. Rekindling… it was impossible between him and her.

If he could live his life over again, he would rather have never met her.

There weren’t many people on the streets late at night. Scattered pedestrians wandered about, all alone, their backs lonely.

Someone walked towards Su Yu, a black hoodie obscuring their face, only a few strands of long hair escaping from under the hood, fluttering in the cold wind.

A very familiar feeling…

Su Yu passed by the person, but the familiarity grew stronger. It was too much like her.

He wanted to turn around and look, but before he could speak, a sharp pain stabbed his chest, a familiar pain, the pain of the small wound in his heart being torn open.

The paralyzing pain shot through his nerves to his brain, his muscles spasming, losing control in an instant.

Su Yu’s strength gave way. He fell backward, hitting the ground hard. He looked up and saw the face under the hood, that stunningly beautiful face, the face he would never forget in his life.

“Why? Didn’t you say you just needed to cool down? But why are you getting married now, Xiao Yu?”

The wind lifted the girl’s hood, revealing a paranoid and morbid expression in the shadows. The girl’s emotions were agitated, her face filled with madness. A few crystal-clear tears landed on his face, attempting to leave behind the almost completely lost warmth.

“Xiao Yu confessed first, right? So why did Xiao Yu leave first? You promised me, you would marry me… We were supposed to be together forever…” The girl’s grip tightened, the high-powered stun gun jabbing into Su Yu’s chest. The faint sound of electricity coursing through his muscle fibers seemed to be right next to his ear. “Liar!”

“Cough…”

Su Yu opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but his paralyzed vocal cords couldn’t even produce simple syllables.

He looked at the girl’s beautiful face, forcing an ugly smile. He saw the intense hatred and resentment in her clear, black and white eyes.

He reached out, trembling, wanting to touch her cheek, but his strength was fading fast. Just inches away from her, his strength was gone, his consciousness blurring, giving him the illusion of being on the verge of death.

“I’m… sorry… Qian Ge.”

He was unwilling to accept this! This wasn’t how it was supposed to end! But his arm still fell to the ground.

“It’s okay. We’re not over yet.” The girl’s lips gently touched Su Yu’s earlobe, her soft voice carrying an icy finality. “We’ll be together forever, always…”