The sudden sound was like a bucket of ice water, instantly extinguishing the frantic flames in Zhi Ai’s eyes and causing her movements to freeze mid-air.
Su Yuqing, on the other hand, reacted like a drowning person grasping at the final piece of driftwood.
She used the fastest reflexes of her life to shout a response.
“Yes! I’m here! Is something wrong?!”
This was not just an answer; it was the final distress signal she could send to the outside world with everything she had.
The voice outside seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at Su Yuqing’s timely response, and the tone softened slightly.
“Oh, it’s like this. I’m a sanitation worker for the property management. While cleaning the community grounds this morning, I found a white cat in the roadside greenery. I called the number on its collar along with the room number, but you never picked up.”
The worker paused, continuing with a hint of concern, “So, I decided to bring the cat here specifically to find you. Is it… convenient for you to open the door now?”
“It’s convenient! Extremely convenient!”
Su Yuqing practically scrambled to answer, her voice sounding sharp due to her urgency.
“I’m coming right now! I’ll open the door this instant!”
As soon as she finished speaking, she immediately turned her gaze toward Zhi Ai.
Su Yuqing deliberately lowered her voice, speaking at a rapid pace.
Each word felt like a finely polished blade, carrying a trace of subtle irony and a threat.
“Hurry up and untie this pathetic rope, ‘Master’~ Otherwise, everything you’ve meticulously planned is going to be completely exposed, isn’t it?”
She even mimicked Zhi Ai’s sweet, lingering tone, making the word “Master” sound full of mockery.
Zhi Ai’s expression turned so dark it looked as if it could drip ink.
She stared intently at Su Yuqing, her gaze appearing as if she wanted to skin her alive.
“Tch!”
She squeezed a disdainful cold snort through her teeth, her tone filled with the annoyance of being offended and a murderous intent that had yet to dissipate.
“…Even if I untie you, I can still kill you whenever I want later. You had better remember that well.”
However, the urgency of the reality before them allowed no room for further venting.
Under Su Yuqing’s watch, Zhi Ai finally leaned down with extreme impatience.
Accompanied by the light sound of snapping fibers, the nylon rope tightly binding Su Yuqing’s hands and feet finally gave way.
“Yes, yes, yes, I believe you. Of course, I believe you.”
Su Yuqing rubbed the startling deep-purple bruises circling her wrists and ankles while nodding repeatedly in agreement.
Then, she rushed toward the entrance door — the symbol of hope and liberation — limping on her bare feet.
“Thank you for your hard work, Ma’am! I’m so grateful! If it weren’t for your attentiveness, I would have thought my Mantou was just sleeping under some obscure furniture or in a small corner again!”
Su Yuqing pulled the door open abruptly, forcing a smile that looked as natural as possible, conveying gratitude and apology.
However, the moment the door opened, the sanitation worker standing outside was visibly startled by Su Yuqing’s current appearance.
Her messy, disheveled clothes, the clearly swollen and broken skin on her wrists and ankles, the visible, blood-streaked bite marks on her neck along with that deep-red collar, and the lingering terror on her face that she was desperately trying to hide… and of course —
Most importantly, the worker’s gaze drifted over Su Yuqing’s shoulder.
At a single glance, she saw the blonde girl sitting upright on the living room sofa, dressed in a magnificent Gothic dress, staring coldly at the door without any expression.
The combination of all these elements caused the traditional and conservative sanitation worker to be profoundly shocked.
Countless unspeakable theories instantly played out in her mind.
‘Do young people nowadays… play this… wild behind closed doors…?’
A flash of embarrassment and confusion crossed the woman’s dark-skinned face, but her professional etiquette allowed her to quickly compose herself.
“It’s no trouble at all. This is just part of our job. It’s good that he’s found, it’s good that he’s found.”
The worker put on a kind and simple smile, acting as if she hadn’t noticed a thing.
Then, she carefully handed Su Yuqing a plastic bag that felt somewhat heavy, its bottom stained with a dark red substance.
Su Yuqing’s fingers trembled involuntarily when they touched the plastic bag.
Through the thin plastic, she could clearly feel the fluffy little body that had lost all its life and warmth.
She accepted it in silence, her throat feeling as if something were blocking it, preventing her from making any sound.
Su Yuqing couldn’t accurately describe the state of mind she was in as she carried the plastic bag containing Mantou, moving step by step toward the old willow tree with drooping branches in the community park.
The afternoon sun filtered through the gaps in the willow leaves, casting broken patches of light on the ground, mirroring her current shattered state of mind.
Su Yuqing found an old shovel that someone had left in a corner and began to dig mechanically.
The dull sound of the soil being overturned felt exceptionally piercing in the quiet afternoon.
As the first shovelful of moist earth, smelling of grass, fell to cover the small plastic bag, a cold and sharp question coiled around her heart like a venomous snake, nearly suffocating her.
“Is he — “
Su Yuqing stopped her movements and turned her gaze toward Zhi Ai, who had been standing behind her the entire time, watching everything with cold indifference.
She asked, “Is he still alive?”
She knew she had just asked an incredibly stupid question, but Su Yuqing couldn’t help herself.
She was seeking one last, faint miracle, or perhaps… a final judgment.
Zhi Ai’s expression didn’t fluctuate at all.
She looked at the plastic bag gradually being covered by soil, her tone as flat as if she were narrating a mundane daily chore that had nothing to do with her.
“He’s dead through and through. Ruptured internal organs, excessive blood loss.”
She tilted her head slightly, her glass-colored eyes devoid of any emotion.
The girl seemed to be merely stating a fact.
“He’s lucky. At least… he wasn’t buried alive in the dirt while conscious, like I was back then.”
Zhi Ai’s tone was so nonchalant that it almost gave the illusion that she had little to do with the tragedy unfolding before them.
But —
Su Yuqing knew she was the murderer.
It was she who, on that rainy night, had thrown Mantou off the balcony without a second thought.
Su Yuqing had known this all along.
From the moment she woke up bound and saw Zhi Ai, she had been well aware of it.
The strange thing was, no matter how much she searched her heart or tried to summon hatred, she simply could not feel the resentment she should have for the cruel “murderer” in front of her.
Why was that?
At first, Su Yuqing couldn’t understand it no matter how she thought about it.
Anger, fear, grievance, confusion.
All sorts of emotions intertwined, yet the one that should have been there most was missing.
But when she finally finished digging the small pit, and when she gently placed the stained plastic bag inside — and as if to make up for something, she solemnly placed various snacks that Mantou had loved most during his life around the humble “grave” —
An incredibly intense sense of guilt, enough to tear her apart, erupted from the depths of her heart like a long-dormant volcano.
It instantly swept through her entire consciousness!
This force was so fierce and clear that it instantly demolished all her confusion and pretenses, forcing her to face the ugly truth she had been deliberately ignoring… the truth buried deep in her heart.
As it turned out, for these past three years…
She had always… viewed Mantou as a “temporary replacement.”
She had adopted him and cared for him, appearing dutiful and responsible, but in the depths of her heart, she had never truly equated him with that warm “toast” from her memory that would rustle and crawl out of a cardboard box.
She was just clumsily trying to use him to fill the massive void left by the departure of another life.
What she had given Mantou was more of a vessel for her memories of the past, rather than a love that belonged entirely to him.
— I’m sorry.
Mantou…
Su Yuqing screamed silently in her heart.
Her tears finally broke through at this moment, mixing with the scent of the earth as they dripped onto the freshly turned grave.
This apology was for the innocently deceased Mantou, for the past version of “Xiaozhi” whom she had “betrayed,” and perhaps… for the version of herself that stood behind her, transformed into a vengeful ghost because of that betrayal… her once most, most beloved little cat.