The tall guy was a good person. Xia Miao said it was too boring and asked him to find some tapes to watch.
The tall guy asked blankly, "What kind of movie do you want to watch?"
"Documentaries, the ones with children as the main subjects," Xia Miao said with an innocent, guileless expression. "I like watching documentaries."
Though the tall guy was slow, he wasn’t completely stupid. He shrank back a little. "Uh... how about we watch 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre' instead?"
"You know what? Fang Keai and I are actually good friends," Xia Miao said with a kind smile. "I want to watch a documentary. You’ll find a way to get one for me, won’t you?"
Cold sweat broke out on the tall guy’s back.
"So, who among you will make the choice?"
The monster, who bore the appearance of a young man, wore a smile brimming with undisguised malice. Playing with human nature, watching those who prided themselves on their righteousness shed their dignified facades in the face of death and reveal their ugly true selves—it was an amusing pastime.
Leng Yeting’s lips moved slightly, but before he could speak, Ruan Zhizhi’s voice cut in.
"I don’t want to die!"
Lu Yan grinned. "In other words, you’re saying the insect crawling on the ground should die instead?"
Ruan Zhizhi bit her lip. She considered herself a good person—she couldn’t bring herself to say something like "let him die." But the monster’s knife was still pressed against her eyeball. Under the threat of death, losing her rationality was only natural.
So, driven by instinct, Ruan Zhizhi answered, "Yes, let him die!"
Leng Yeting raised his eyes in disbelief. "Zhizhi?"
Ruan Zhizhi couldn’t bear to look at him, but she quickly reassured herself—if she didn’t make this choice, Leng Yeting would likely push her into danger later, just as he had done to others before.
So, her decision was the right one!
The knife against Ruan Zhizhi’s eye withdrew, and the hand gripping her throat loosened. She collapsed to the ground, coughing violently as she clutched her neck.
Lu Yan’s eyes curved into crescents. "Since this lady made her choice first, then there’s nothing to be done."
He turned and walked step by step toward the disheveled figure on the ground.
Leng Yeting didn’t want to die. He had fought tooth and nail to survive until now. He was so close to success—he could finally break free from the Long family’s curse and live out his natural lifespan. How could he die like this?
"You can’t kill me..." Leng Yeting crawled backward through the pool of blood, leaving a long, gruesome trail. "I wasn’t even born when those things happened. None of it has anything to do with me. You can’t... you can’t kill an innocent person!"
Lu Yan twirled the knife in his hand, his unhurried footsteps echoing like the tolling of a death knell. He smiled. "Are you misunderstanding something? I’m the bad guy here—no, I’m not even human, just a wicked monster. Trying to reason with a monster? How stupid can you be?"
"Even if those outsiders altered your genes to make you more 'perfect,' to make others admire you, so what?"
"Humans always die in the end."
He raised his foot and stomped on Leng Yeting’s face.
That face, which countless people had swooned over as "so handsome," was now pressed into the ground, reduced to nothing but ugliness and distortion.
Leng Yeting refused to believe his charisma was the result of artificial tampering. He opened his mouth to argue, but the foot on his head pressed down harder. With a sickening squish, his consciousness faded into nothingness.
Ruan Zhizhi clamped a hand over her mouth, unable to believe a living person’s skull had just been crushed underfoot.
That handsome, domineering young master had died in such a wretched way.
No—this murderer was too terrifying. There was no way she could escape!
Watching the killer’s back, Ruan Zhizhi felt the object hidden in her pocket. Gritting her teeth, she scrambled to her feet and charged at his seemingly defenseless figure.
Another thud echoed through the room.
Lu Yan turned around and saw an unexpected sight.
Ruan Zhizhi lay sprawled on the ground, a heavy footprint stamped on her clothes. She clutched a green glass vial in her hand, but the kick had been too brutal—she couldn’t get up.
Xia Miao lowered her leg, smoothing out her skirt to avoid flashing anyone, then glared furiously at her boyfriend. "What’s wrong with you? Your awareness is terrible!"
Lu Yan flailed in panic. "M-Miao?"
"I have standards! If my boyfriend gets touched by an unrelated woman, I’ll be very unhappy!"
Lu Yan recoiled in horror, scrambling several steps back to put distance between himself and Ruan Zhizhi. Remembering something, he hid the hand that had choked her behind his back, frantically wiping it on his clothes. Too guilty and flustered to even look at Xia Miao.
Xia Miao then jabbed a finger at Ruan Zhizhi. "He’s mine. You’re not allowed to touch him!"
Ruan Zhizhi coughed violently, staring at Xia Miao as if she were insane. "He’s a monster! Have you lost your mind?!"
She couldn’t understand—wasn’t Xia Miao only with the monster to survive? If she injected the inhibitor into him, he would die, and Xia Miao wouldn’t have to sell her body anymore. Wasn’t that a good thing?
Xia Miao stepped forward, shielding Lu Yan. "My boyfriend has a name. If you keep calling him 'monster,' I won’t go easy on you!"
Ruan Zhizhi shrieked, "You actually fell for a butcher?!"
"Why not?" Xia Miao said matter-of-factly. "Butchering is just his job. He’s passionate about his work, ambitious, and definitely takes family responsibilities seriously!"
She was praising him.
She was praising him in front of others!
The boy grabbed the drawstrings of his hood, tugging them nervously.
Xia Miao continued, "Being with him makes me happy. We have fun every day. I love his soul—and his body even more!"
Wait, was that the right order?
But the boy was an idiot. He didn’t notice anything odd, his mind completely overwhelmed by the word "love." He yanked the drawstrings tight, sealing the hood over his head, which felt like it was about to combust.
Xia Miao wasn’t done. "My boyfriend is the best person in the world. What we have is—pure love!"
She actually said "pure love" out loud in public!
Even with the hood sealed shut, wisps of black smoke seeped out from the gaps as the bandages inside charred. The boy turned to face the wall, crouching into a trembling ball.
Only then did Ruan Zhizhi realize how terribly wrong she had been.
From the very beginning, Xia Miao hadn’t been selling her body to survive—she just had bizarre tastes and had seriously fallen in love with a monster!
