The audience at the swimming arena and the netizens watching the live stream noticed that something was wrong with Zhou Zhicheng.
Now that Yang Xu had backstabbed and framed his teammates, his public persona had completely collapsed. Why wasn't he going to the interview area to explain? What was he talking about with that young woman in the white dress standing by the pool?
Usually, in front of the camera, Zhou Zhicheng was low-key, steady, humble, and gentle. Coupled with his handsome and affectionate appearance, many netizens had a good impression of him.
Most netizens believed that Yang Xu's downfall this time had nothing to do with Zhou Zhicheng.
After all, Zhou Zhicheng once almost lost his own life trying to save his girlfriend who fell off a cliff!
The Big Dog Zhi mentioned on Yang Xu's alternate account could absolutely not be Zhou Zhicheng.
Zhou Zhicheng was a pure, unyielding straight man!
—What's wrong with Coach Zhou? His face suddenly looks awful.
—I noticed that too. The way Coach Zhou is looking at that woman in the white dress seems a bit terrified and full of disbelief.
—Could that woman be an ex-girlfriend Coach Zhou dated secretly?
—Why do I feel like that woman's clothes and makeup look a bit familiar? Ah, I remember now! When Coach Zhou proposed to Chu Man six years ago, wasn't Chu Man dressed exactly like this?
—Could it be that Coach Zhou misses Chu Man so much that he found a stand-in?
—Am I the only one who noticed how beautiful that woman's face is? It's like a mermaid has come ashore.
—If beauty were a crime, that woman has committed a heinous sin. She has truly captivated my heart.
The tone of the live comments suddenly changed, and the focus shifted entirely to Wen Yan's beauty.
Si Moyan was watching the live stream on his phone. Seeing countless netizens attracted by Wen Yan's appearance, his sharp eyebrows furrowed imperceptibly.
Did they need to judge whether his wife was beautiful or not?
A comment with a rainbow font directly made Si Moyan narrow his deep eyes dangerously.
—I really want to sprint over, do a 360-degree spin, add a breakdance hip twist, get down on one knee, and propose! Wifey, marry me!
Si Moyan felt grossed out by the cringe.
He directly used his hacking skills to mute this netizen's ID.
But a moment later, he saw an alternate account float by.
—Who the hell muted my main account? Do you dare show yourself so I can see what kind of toad you are?
Just as the comment floated by, the alternate account was also muted.
When that netizen tried to switch accounts again, he suddenly found that his phone screen had gone black.
Damn.
What the hell.
Back to Zhou Zhicheng.
After a wave of dizziness passed and he looked around, he found himself standing on the very cliff where he had proposed to Chu Man years ago.
The sea below the cliff was raging with rough waves, and the strong wind blew so hard he could barely open his eyes.
He looked at the woman standing not far away, a face that was incredibly delicate and gentle.
No, how could he be seeing Chu Man?
She had died a long time ago!
Even if her ghost lingered, it was impossible for her to come back for him.
"You are not Chu Man. Who exactly are you?"
The woman approached him step by step. Her eyes brimmed with mist, and as she drew near, the mist fell from the corners of her eyes, turning out to be two streaks of bloody tears.
Zhou Zhicheng's temples throbbed violently, and his hands, hanging by his sides, clenched tightly into fists.
"Don't think I'll be afraid of you. You can't get close to me!" Zhou Zhicheng suddenly reached out and pulled out the Buddhist amulet hanging around his neck.
Sure enough, the woman did not dare to approach him anymore.
"I don't understand. Since you didn't like me, why were you with me? How exactly did I wrong you that you had to hurt me like that, hurt our child, and ultimately put me to death?"
The netizens watching the live stream were a bit confused.
—Why don't I understand what they're talking about?
—That woman said Zhou Zhicheng killed their child and killed her?
—Zhou Zhicheng looks very scared. He just said you are not Chu Man. Could it be that he mistook that woman for Chu Man? Or did he see something that none of us can see?
—So creepy. I'm getting a little scared.
—Coach Zhou had a genuine heart for Chu Man. How could he put her to death? That woman must be playing tricks!
—A couple of years ago, wasn't there news online about a pregnant woman pushed off a mountain by her husband, and later a movie about the starry sky under the sea? Honestly, I would have believed him six years ago, but thinking about it now, it's truly terrifying.
—Without knowing the full picture, I won't comment. That woman clearly knows the truth of what happened back then. Let's keep watching.
Zhou Zhicheng sneered and did not respond to the woman's words.
Clearly, he was no longer afraid of her.
She was already dead; he didn't believe she could do anything to him.
The woman wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. Her lips trembling, she asked, "Is it because of your stepfather?"
Zhou Zhicheng's tall body suddenly stiffened.
Before he could say anything, he heard the woman say again, "Your stepfather used to be a contractor in Ye City. Your family lived quite well in the countryside. But your stepfather had a bad habit; he liked to visit prostitutes outside. Once, when he was tired from work, he went to a massage parlor for a massage."
"It happened to be Chu Man's mother who massaged him. Chu Man's mother was beautiful and had a good figure, so he had evil intentions. At first, he just got handsy. After being rejected by Chu Man's mother, he tried to force himself on her. Chu Man's mother only sold her skills, not her body. During the struggle, she injured his private parts."
"Later, the massage parlor owner called the police, and both Chu Man's mother and your stepfather were taken away. After a police investigation, it was determined that Chu Man's mother injured your stepfather in self-defense, so she wasn't sentenced. However, because your stepfather was injured there and could no longer perform as a man, coupled with his contracting job being taken over by someone else, he returned to your hometown and started physically abusing you and your mother."
"Because of this, you transferred your hatred to Chu Man's mother. After you came to Ye City for university, you secretly investigated Chu Man's mother and learned that her weakness was Chu Man. So, you found the restaurant where Chu Man worked, showered her with attention, and made her develop feelings for you."
"Oh, right. After your stepfather lost his manhood, he also secretly molested you when your mother wasn't home—"
Hearing this, Zhou Zhicheng's emotions could no longer hold up. His chest heaved violently as he let out heavy, panting breaths.
The look in his eyes as he stared at the woman showed he wished he could slice her into a thousand pieces. "Bitch, shut up!"
Zhou Zhicheng suddenly acted like an enraged beast. His hideous and ferocious expression terrified both the live audience and the netizens watching the stream.
—Coach Zhou's childhood experience is too pitiful. How on earth does that woman know about his past?
—Exposing someone's privacy like this is too wicked!
—Are Zhou Zhicheng's fans from a cult? Zhou Zhicheng deliberately schemed to get close to Chu Man, and you think he's justified? I highly suspect now that Chu Man's death wasn't as simple as an accidental fall off a cliff.
—Damn, the moment Zhou Zhicheng's face changed, I felt like I was looking at a psychopathic killer from a movie. I got goosebumps all over.
—If anyone dared to expose my privacy, my reaction would be even scarier than Coach Zhou's!
Trapped in an illusion, Zhou Zhicheng believed the person standing opposite him was Chu Man's ghost. Successfully provoked by her words, he couldn't hold back his vicious insults. "Your mother worked the most degrading job to begin with! A masseuse, a filthy whore who slept with countless men—why pretend to be some chaste and virtuous woman? If she hadn't crippled my stepfather, he wouldn't have lost his job, let alone suffered a drastic change in temperament and subjected my mother and me to domestic violence!"
"Even though our family lived in the countryside, we used to be very happy and well-fed. Because of your mother, our family was reduced to poverty. I almost couldn't even afford to go to school. Your mother owed us! The money you earned for me to spend was just you atoning for your mother's sins. Stop haunting me, or else—"
"Or else what? Are you going to find a mystic to scatter Chu Man's soul to the winds? Zhou Zhicheng, you are narrow-minded, a bully to the weak and a coward to the strong. You have no morals or sympathy. You are evil and filthy, building a persona of a deeply devoted lover while feeding on her tragedy. After you schemed to have Chu Man fall off a cliff to her death, you swapped her ashes with a dog's, scammed her mother out of her only house, and drove her insane. The gods are watching from above; heaven sees what you do. Aren't you afraid of karma at all?"
— No way, is Zhou Zhicheng really that deranged?
— Chu Man didn't accidentally fall off the cliff? She was murdered by Zhou Zhicheng?
— Did Chu Man's mother really go crazy?
— Zhou Zhicheng seems to be controlled by something. Doesn't he know this is a public setting? Could it be that Chu Man's resentment was so heavy that she actually came back to haunt him?
— I came here to watch a swimming live stream, not a horror movie. But this gossip is too explosive and terrifying.
"Chu Man, if you know what's good for you, stop haunting me. I could control your everything when you were alive, and I still won't take you seriously now that you're dead."
The woman sneered. "Is that so? I'd like to see how exactly you won't take me seriously."
Watching the woman approach him step by step, a ruthless gleam flashed in Zhou Zhicheng's eyes.
He glanced at the cliff behind the woman. Suddenly, he reached out and forcefully pushed her down the precipice.
With a splash, the woman fell into the ocean.
Zhou Zhicheng watched the woman thrash about in the sea. He immediately jumped in after her, grabbed her hair with his large hands, and forcefully shoved her head underwater.
"I'm not even afraid of the living, why would I be afraid of a ghost like you? So what if I tell the whole world right now that I engineered your accidental fall, that I bought a massive insurance policy to claim your life, that I conned your mother out of her only house and drove her mad? Who would believe you? Besides, you're just a wisp of a soul. Can you produce any evidence that I did all this?"
"You and your mother are both bitches! You owed our family. If your mother had just let my stepfather sleep with her back then, everything would have been fine! But she got her karma too. I told her the truth about your tragic death and how your ashes were swapped. She couldn't handle the shock and bashed her head against the wall. Who can she blame for going crazy?"
"I am a gold-medal coach now, the most devoted man in the world. Even if I stepped on your corpse to climb to the top, what can you do about it..."
Before Zhou Zhicheng could finish his sentence, the woman he was holding by the hair and shoving underwater suddenly broke free from his grip. She backhanded him viciously across the face.
A burning pain hit him, and Zhou Zhicheng's muddled consciousness cleared up a fraction.
When he finally saw his surroundings clearly, he completely froze—
