Wrong

"Yu Zechuan..."

Lu Yan's soft murmur of the name echoed through the basement. He hadn't expected the man to appear now, and Jiang Boyun—lying on the floor, his fate unknown—and the thickening reek of blood in the air were clear reminders that Lu Yan's own fate would likely be no better.

He slowly rose to his feet, his mind racing. At just the right moment, his face lit with the relief and delight of someone who had narrowly escaped disaster. "What are you doing here?"

"After you told me to leave last time, I resigned from Yinchuan Group. I never thought Jiang Boyun would still refuse to let me go. He had me abducted and brought here."

"Thank goodness you came."

Only Lu Yan knew how utterly insincere those last words were. He rambled on and on, the only person speaking in the cavernous basement. The scene was bizarre beyond words. At last, his mouth dry and his throat parched, he finally fell silent.

Yu Zechuan stood in the doorway with remarkable patience. Only when Lu Yan had gone quiet did he ask, his voice devoid of emotion, "Finished?"

Lu Yan didn't know whether to nod or shake his head. Yu Zechuan was walking toward him one measured step at a time, and the dagger in his hand had silently shifted direction into a better position for thrusting.

It was obvious that the man wanted to kill him. Apparently, he had listened so patiently only to let Lu Yan finish his last words.

Lu Yan had begun retreating without even realizing it the moment Yu Zechuan approached. He couldn't understand where he had gone wrong. The last time Yu Zechuan had driven him away, Lu Yan had distinctly sensed no murderous intent from him.

When people sensed danger, instinct told them to flee toward a safe zone.

Lu Yan backed away slowly.

One step, two...

Until his back struck the cold wall without warning.

Lu Yan jolted. Only then did he realize he had nowhere left to go. With death upon him, he became calm instead, though he still couldn't understand where things had gone wrong. The hand hanging at his side quietly curled into a fist as he looked at Yu Zechuan and asked,

"When did you change your mind and decide to kill me?"

"You didn't honestly think you'd fooled me, did you?"

Yu Zechuan countered coldly. The folding knife spun lightly between his long, sharply defined fingers, its movements almost too quick to follow, while his voice was glacial enough to pierce bone.

"I never intended to let you live."

The stench of blood clung heavily to Yu Zechuan. It wasn't only Jiang Boyun's, but his own as well. Taking on the two bodyguards outside at once had clearly been difficult. Yu Zechuan had knocked them unconscious, but he had also been badly injured.

Lu Yan silently gauged his remaining strength and considered his odds if he lunged for the knife, but no matter how he calculated, he couldn't arrive at an exact figure.

Lu Yan didn't know how he could still laugh, but a laugh did, in fact, escape him. Bright moonlight spilled in through the window, making his eyes look even clearer and more guileless. "If that's what you're saying, then I suppose I have to die today."

With that, he spread his arms in a posture of complete surrender, then suddenly asked in earnest, "For the sake of my feelings for you, can I have one last hug?"

Yu Zechuan stared at him without moving.

When he received no answer, Lu Yan took a chance and stepped forward. He approached Yu Zechuan with excruciating slowness. He moved so carefully that even his breathing grew shallow, as though he feared disturbing something. At last, he touched the cold, bloodstained hem of Yu Zechuan's clothes.

Lu Yan's fair, elegant fingers crept slowly upward like a fluttering butterfly, then slipped around Yu Zechuan's back.

Carefully, he closed his arms around him.

Their bodies pressed together without the slightest gap.

Yu Zechuan remained unresponsive throughout.

Lu Yan accidentally touched something sticky on his back. He lowered his eyes, then paused when he saw the crimson coating his palm. "You're hurt?"

The brim of Yu Zechuan's cap cast his face in shadow, swallowing the contours of his eyes and brows. He pressed the tip of his knife to Lu Yan's abdomen and drew it gently across, the motion chilling to the bone. "What does that have to do with you?"

Lu Yan smiled. "Of course it has something to do with me. If you're hurt, my heart will ache."

This was the second time he had said those words.

The first had been in the rented apartment, after Xue Jin had accidentally stabbed Yu Zechuan while he was saving Lu Yan.

Lu Yan sounded so sincere, his voice low and tender and his eyes so full of affection, that it was nearly impossible to find even a trace of falsehood in him. The knife in Yu Zechuan's hand unconsciously began to lower. He seemed momentarily distracted.

"Thud!"

At that moment, a muffled impact suddenly rang out.

Without the slightest warning, Lu Yan struck. Quick as lightning, he snatched Yu Zechuan's knife away. At the same time, he raised his left arm and drove his elbow into the man's shoulder, slamming him hard against the wall.

The cold dagger pressed against a throat once more, only their roles had now been reversed.

Shock and fury twisted Yu Zechuan's features. His bloodshot eyes made him look like a demon that had crawled straight out of hell. "Lu Yan, you lied to me again!"

Though he had seized the advantage, Lu Yan felt no particular joy. The hand gripping the knife pressed it firmly to Yu Zechuan's neck, and he didn't dare relax for even an instant. His voice was hoarse. "I just want to live."

There was a ventilation window in the basement, but not a breath of wind could be felt. The air was sweltering and damp. Cold sweat covered his back, the clammy sensation even more unbearable than summer's worst heat.

"It wasn't easy for you to get out of prison. Isn't it better to stay alive?"

"Alive?"

Yu Zechuan froze at the word. Then, for some reason, a low laugh spilled from his throat. He laughed so hard his entire body trembled, a feverish, neurotic sensitivity seeming to overtake him.

His eyes were rimmed in red, his skin deathly pale.

A ghostly chill shrouded him, making him seem both living and dead.

Yu Zechuan laughed and laughed until he could no longer breathe. Drained of strength, he slumped against the wall and gasped for air. The cap on his head slipped off, revealing a face as flawless as white jade, save for the scar that brutally divided his right cheek.

Yu Zechuan slowly lifted his eyes to Lu Yan. Scarlet tears and towering hatred brimmed within them as he gritted out each word.

"For the past five years, I've spent every night in so much pain that I wanted to die. What right do any of you have to be alive?!"

For more than eighteen hundred days and nights, he had come close to drowning in the tide of his hatred.

"After you destroyed my life, what right do you have to go on living as though nothing happened?!"

Faced with Yu Zechuan's hysterical questions, Lu Yan fell silent. As a former cancer patient who had once struggled on the brink of death, he instinctively believed there was nothing in the world better than being alive.

He had thought that once something was over, it was simply over, leaving no trace behind. He hadn't known that even after someone crawled out of hell, they might go on suffering its flames every single day.

Yu Zechuan was so agitated as he spoke that his neck accidentally grazed the blade, leaving thin red marks. Lu Yan instinctively drew the dagger back. He never noticed that Jiang Boyun, lying in the corner, had regained consciousness at some point.

Jiang Boyun opened his unfocused eyes to a world awash in bloodred. Every inch of his body hurt. He raised a hand to his forehead with difficulty, only to come away with a palm full of blood so thick and sticky it was nearly dry.

The basement's exhaust fan spun without pause, the shadows of its blades sweeping over his head one after another until his vision swam.

Jiang Boyun dragged in a ragged breath. The pain in his skull slowed his thoughts, but the final scene in his memory was of himself sitting on the couch, talking on the phone, when a man had suddenly pressed a blade against him from behind.

"Jiang Boyun. It's been a long time."

The low, icy voice sounded beside his ear, at once familiar and strange.

The man wore dark clothes that almost let him melt into the night. Beneath the brim of his cap was a cool, sharp-featured face, his gaze proud and defiant. Apart from the unfamiliar scar on his right cheek, he looked exactly like the figure who haunted Jiang Boyun's darkest midnight dreams.

"Yu... Yu Zechuan..."

At the sight of him, Jiang Boyun went deathly pale, nearly scared out of his wits. Someone had already warned him that Yu Zechuan seemed to have been released from prison recently, and Jiang Boyun had deliberately looked into it. But the private investigator reported that Yu Zechuan had assumed a new identity and gone to live in a remote town, with apparently no intention of returning to City A.

Never in his wildest dreams had Jiang Boyun expected the man to suddenly appear in his private villa. Feeling the blade at his lower back, he waved his hands in panic. "Zechuan... calm down... Whatever this is, we can talk it through... Don't use the knife... I can give you back the money and the company..."

There were still two security guards at the villa. Jiang Boyun tried to stall until they arrived, but Yu Zechuan saw through him at once. "What? Waiting for those two half-dead bodyguards of yours?"

Jiang Boyun stiffened. "What do you mean?"

Before he had even finished speaking, he heard fabric tear at his abdomen. The other man's strike was so quick and vicious that Jiang Boyun stood frozen for several seconds before the pain registered.

He looked down in disbelief. A dagger had somehow appeared in his abdomen. Blood gushed out, staining his pristine white shirt red and dripping steadily to the floor.

"Nothing. I only knocked them both out."

Expressionless, Yu Zechuan tightened his grip and drove the blade in deep, wrenching it inside the wound. The pain bent Jiang Boyun double with dry heaves. His screams rang through the room, but there was no one to hear them.

"Aaaaaah!"

That was one advantage of a villa in the suburbs: it was quiet. And rich people's houses had their own advantage. They were thoroughly soundproofed.

When he had kidnapped Lu Yan, Yu Zechuan had learned one thing: never listen to these people's nonsense.

Yu Zechuan tipped his head back and drew a deep breath. The smell of blood filling his nostrils brought him a surge of pleasure. His voice was low and slow, yet exceptionally clear. "The money—you can give that back. The company—you can give that back too. But the five years I spent in prison, and my grandfather's life..."

He yanked out the blade and plunged it ruthlessly back into the same wound. "Jiang Boyun, what can you possibly give me to repay those?"

Yu Zechuan abruptly shook his head. "Actually, don't bother. Just give me your life..."

Jiang Boyun struggled with all his strength, but there was no way he could defeat a madman. The wound in his abdomen was stabbed through again and again until the pain nearly gave way to numbness. Somehow, he found one last burst of strength and shoved Yu Zechuan away. Blind with panic, he fled, leaving a winding trail of blood behind him.

Jiang Boyun staggered on until his body finally gave out and he collapsed to the floor.

Knife in hand, Yu Zechuan followed at an unhurried pace. When he caught up, the first thing he asked was,

"Where is Lu Yan?"

The agony on Jiang Boyun's face instantly turned to shock. "Lu Yan?!"

Only then did he realize something. He stared at Yu Zechuan's clothes in disbelief. The longer he looked, the more familiar they seemed. These were clearly the clothes worn by the man he had seen shopping with Lu Yan that day.

Jiang Boyun's mind buzzed, dissolving into chaos. He shook his head in disbelief. "You... Lu Yan... No... impossible... When did the two of you start fooling around behind my back?!"

Yu Zechuan offered no explanation. A flick of his gaze caught the concealed door to the basement. He hauled Jiang Boyun up from the floor and dragged him toward it. Whatever he was thinking, he said spitefully, "You're allowed to fool around with him. Why shouldn't I be?"

This seemed to be the final straw that shattered Jiang Boyun. Clutching his excruciatingly painful abdomen, he shook with rage. Knowing his death was imminent, he suddenly burst into crazed laughter. "Yu Zechuan! You don't actually fucking think Lu Yan likes you, do you?! He's a gold-digging whore who doesn't have a single honest word in his mouth..."

"I've been sick of your shit since we were in school!"

"So what if your family has a little filthy money? Strutting around like some spoiled young master every day—when one of your episodes hits, don't you still cower in a corner like a dog? Who would ever like a lunatic? Hahahaha..."

"Someone like you... someone like you will never have anyone's true heart... If it weren't for the money, do you think I would ever have wanted a thing like you?"

Jiang Boyun laughed more and more wildly until his mind was clearly gone. Only when the blood surging from his wounds entered his airway did his laughter finally die into a coughing fit.

Yu Zechuan acted as if he hadn't heard a word. Without speaking, he opened the basement door and shoved Jiang Boyun straight inside.

He hit the floor with a thunderous crash, sending dust billowing into the air.

...

Jiang Boyun staggered to his feet, his reason already lost. There was only one thought left in his mind now: even if he died, he would take someone with him.

Lu Yan, Yu Zechuan—it didn't matter. Both of them deserved to die!

Jiang Boyun snatched up a stool from the floor, his face contorted savagely, and swung it with all his strength at the back of Lu Yan's head. It moved so fast the air whistled—

"Bang!"

At the last possible instant, Yu Zechuan shoved Lu Yan aside and twisted away from the chair Jiang Boyun swung at him. A cold glint flashed in his hand. He kicked Jiang Boyun in the abdomen, then, as the man fell, raised the knife and plunged it viciously down—straight into his throat.

"Squelch!"

Blood erupted several yards into the air from Jiang Boyun's throat. Yu Zechuan turned his head in time to avoid the worst of it, but it still splattered all over him. The heavy, metallic smell filled his nostrils, and his vision was stained scarlet.

Lu Yan had fallen hard enough to see stars. By the time he finally recovered his senses, Jiang Boyun was convulsing, his face twisted in agony as he died. Yu Zechuan pulled out the blade with one clean motion. Mottled blood spattered his pale profile, lending him a strange, terrifying beauty as he advanced toward Lu Yan one step at a time.

So he had been hiding another knife in his sleeve.

But Lu Yan could not fool him a second time.

The overwhelming reek of blood enveloped his entire body, sticky and wet.

Without warning, Yu Zechuan seized Lu Yan by the throat and slammed him against the wall once more. The blade pressed to his skin, already biting in. Panic surged through Lu Yan. He knew there was no escaping, but he still couldn't let it go. He stubbornly demanded an answer. "When did you start suspecting me?"

Yu Zechuan lowered his gaze to Lu Yan's throat, his tone entirely without emotion. "I never believed you."

Lu Yan stared at him. "Why?"

The curve of Yu Zechuan's lips froze, then slowly faded. He did not look happy. His Adam's apple bobbed, and at last he spat two cold words beside Lu Yan's ear. "You idiot..."

"Xue Jin is the one who likes matcha cake, not me..."

Xue Jin was the one who liked matcha cake.

Xue Jin was also the one who liked shredded pork with green peppers. That day, the peppers had been bitter, which was why they had all been left uneaten.

Yu Zechuan had spent five years in prison. He wasn't a picky eater.

He liked black clothes. It was only because the Yu family patriarch liked seeing him in bright colors that he had always worn pale blue and white at the office.

"You told me yourself that you liked me, but you didn't get a single question right. And now, even as you're about to die, you're still trying to deceive me one last time."

Yu Zechuan watched the shock spread across Lu Yan's face and slowly tightened his fingers, suffocating him until he teetered on the edge of death. He tugged at the corner of his mouth. He was clearly smiling, yet the expression was uglier than tears. "Lu Yan, I told you. There is nothing I hate more than being lied to."

He slowly shook his head, veins rising at his temples. In the end, a single scalding tear spilled from his bloodshot eyes. "Not once in my life has anyone ever given me their true heart."

"Not even once."

"You were a lie too..."

Lu Yan struggled and, with his last breath, forced out a question. "What do you like? Can you tell me?"

It seemed desperately important. Even on the verge of death, he stubbornly insisted on an answer. "Yu Zechuan... tell me... What do you really like?"

Yu Zechuan's hand paused. "Does it matter?"

Lu Yan's lashes trembled. "It matters a lot. What if we meet again in our next life?"

And one more thing.

"Can you give me a quick death? I'm afraid of pain."

The way he had died when they first met in the first round would be good.

At some point, a pale gleam had appeared along the pitch-black horizon outside. Dust drifted slowly through the air. Dawn was clearly approaching, yet not a trace of sunlight reached the basement.

Yu Zechuan slowly raised the knife, aimed it at Lu Yan's back, and plunged it in cleanly. With every inch the blade sank deeper, the blood flowed faster. Yet they were locked in an intimate embrace, like lovers.

Yu Zechuan closed his eyes and leaned close to Lu Yan's ear, murmuring, "Five years is too long. Even I've almost forgotten."

But long ago, there had still been things he liked. "I like dark chocolate. I like watching movies on rainy days..."

"I like black clothes and warm places..."

"But I'm afraid of the cold, and I'm afraid of thunder..."

"I want to go to an amusement park too, but I've never been..."

His mother had promised to take him before she died, but that promise could no longer be kept.

Yu Zechuan went on and on, listing so many things. He had never spoken so much in his life.

"Lu Yan, I don't actually mind being lied to."

Yu Zechuan didn't even know what he was still hoping for. For the first time in his life, he was this gentle. Lowering his gaze, he slowly wiped the blood from Lu Yan's cheek with the pad of his thumb. This man was far more beautiful than he was. Blood didn't belong on him.

"Remember what I just told you. If there really is a next life, be a little smarter..."

"If you're going to lie to me, make it last a lifetime. Don't let me find out..."

Yu Zechuan murmured, "If Xue Jin hadn't discovered your involvement in the old accounting records on Jiang Boyun's computer a few days ago, I might truly have let you go."

Lu Yan listened with rapt attention, so focused that he had forgotten the pain in his body. He looked at the dried blood on Yu Zechuan's face and slowly managed a weak smile. "All right. I'll remember..."

He had never been more sincere. "Yu Zechuan, I'll remember..."

But how was your story supposed to end?

Lu Yan choked on blood and used his last shred of strength to ask, "Yu Zechuan... after you kill me... what will you do?"

Yu Zechuan lowered his eyes and gazed at Lu Yan. Only now did his tormented, burning soul finally find a rare moment of peace. He slowly shook his head. "Lu Yan, no one can escape the law's punishment. Neither can I."

After he finished, he suddenly smiled and pulled the blade straight out of Lu Yan's body. In a low voice, he said something impossible to understand.

"But I won't go back to prison..."

The next second came the sound of a sharp blade tearing through fabric and sinking into flesh.

Blood gushed out in an instant, but their tightly pressed bodies blocked it from view. There was nothing but heat, searing heat. Lu Yan no longer had the strength to open his eyes. At last, his body gave out and slowly slid downward, collapsing completely into Yu Zechuan's cold embrace. Yu Zechuan caught him securely.

The two of them knelt half-collapsed on the floor, like sinners seeking atonement, or people mired in mud, waiting to be saved.

At the moment the sun rose, a faint ray of light broke through the window and fell squarely upon Yu Zechuan.

The System's icy notification rang out, heralding the beginning of a new round.

[Ding! Host Death Detected. Rebirth Chance Automatically Activated!]

[Game Start...]