DTTM 18

Chapter 18: The Beautiful Yet Tragic Blood Flower

I thought that Zong Yanlei felt nothing but hatred towards me. He kept me by his side partly out of necessity, having no better choice, and to conveniently retaliate against and humiliate me.

I never expected he held my professional skills in such high regard.

“Mr. Zong… is flattering me.”

The bathroom door opened at that moment, and Tan Yunmei stepped out. She waved her hands, interrupting my conversation with Yi You.

“Continue…” Before she could even finish speaking, a sudden change occurred. The high-speed train, which had been traveling smoothly, braked abruptly, and the inertia instantly overturned the chessboard on the table to the ground.

Tan Yunmei instinctively grabbed the door frame to steady herself, but failed. Just as she was about to be thrown out, Yi You slid down and caught her from below, holding her tightly in his arms.

Screams and gasps came from all over the train. I had my back to the front of the train. During the braking, I felt a huge force push me against the back of my seat. After the train came to a stop, my body was thrown forward and I crashed into the edge of the table.

I felt a dull pain in my ribs, but fortunately they weren’t broken.

“Are you all alright?” After confirming that the train had come to a complete stop, I quickly got up to check on Yi You and Tan Yunmei.

“Ah, I’m fine.”

“I’m fine.”

The two of them rolled to the corner of the wall, and now they were helping each other up from the ground. They didn’t seem to have suffered any serious injuries.

“What happened?” Yi You rubbed his sore back with a questioning face.

As if in response to his question, the next second, a train announcement came from above.

“Apologies, passengers. An unauthorized intrusion on the tracks ahead has forced the train to apply emergency brakes, and we may have to stop here for a while. Please remain patient!”

The broadcast was repeated several times, but it did not explain what kind of intrusion it was.

Tan Yunmei was wearing a skirt, and her knee was slightly scraped. Yi You told her to sit in the private compartment and not wander around. Then he and I opened the door to the private compartment and went outside.

A number of people came out of the corridor one after another to investigate the situation, including Xu Chengye and Zong Yanlei.

Upon hearing that Tan Yunmei had injured her knee, Xu Chengye immediately instructed the team doctor to fetch some bandages. He told everyone to remain calm and return to their compartment while he and Consultant Yan went to the front to find out what had happened, and then they would update everyone on the terminal.

“I’ll go too.”

“I’ll go with you.”

My voice almost overlapped with Zong Yanlei’s. The moment our eyes met, he looked away first and walked towards the front of the train without pausing.

Our VIP compartment was very close to the front of the train; you could reach it by simply passing through a dining car.

I was the last one to enter the dining car, and what greeted my eyes was chaos, broken tableware scattered everywhere, and even a silver fork stuck in the wall near the door. Fortunately, this dining car was only open to VIP passengers, and since it wasn’t mealtime, there were no casualties.

The train staff were cleaning up the mess. When they saw us come in, their first reaction was to stop us, but they probably recognized Zong Yanlei and stopped themselves halfway through.

“May I assist you in any way?”

“What happened up ahead?” Zong Yanlei asked.

“Oh, well. There was a protest with a large crowd ahead, and we’re trying to disperse them. We believe the trains will resume service soon, so please don’t worry too much.”

“Protest? Protest what?” Xu Chengye raised his palm to his eyebrows and walked to the car window to look out with a curious expression.

The staff member glanced at me, his expression turned awkward.

“It’s… the Wo people, who gathered to protest… that young master of the Prime Minister’s family abused… abused and killed Wo people.”

“Oh, Wuxi Chen,” Zong Yanlei flatly said the name of the protagonist of the incident.

“The Prime Minister’s youngest son murdered Wo people? When did this happen? I’ve never heard of it.” Consultant Yan walked to the other car window and looked out like Xu Chengye.

“It’s about Wuxi Chen. Old Yan, of course you don’t know, because it hasn’t been reported. All the media in Penglai have fallen silent, no one dares to mention it, it’s so disappointing!” Xu Chengye said indignantly. “That Wuxi Chen is worse than a beast! To organize such a brutal ‘human hunt’, and reportedly, the victims were all children under fourteen. Doesn’t he fear retribution?”

More than three months ago, after the two bishops of the Jing Shi religion were embroidered in shocking scandals, it seemed as if a chain reaction had occurred, and the information barriers of the Penglai power structure were no longer solid, with one corrupt official after another being implicated. Among them, the most alarming was the “human hunt” incident involving Wuxi Chen, the youngest son of Penglai Prime Minister Wuxi Qikun.

That idiot Wuxi Chen tortured and killed animals when he was a child, and now he’d started torturing and killing humans. According to various sources, starting five years ago, he would periodically have his men find suitable commoners to release into his hunting grounds for him and other noble children to hunt.

Over five years, hundreds of Wo people were brutally murdered in his hunting grounds, most of them underage children aged eight to fourteen. They didn’t even have time to grow up before being cruelly tortured and killed by Wuxi Chen, just like that pony with black spots.

However, just as they initially turned a blind eye to the bishops’ scandal, both the media and the police in Penglai once again bowed to power, choosing to cover up the sordid truth, and so far showed no intention of investigating or dealing with Wuxi Chen.

This matter spread and caused a stir among the people of Wo, but it never received much support from the people of Penglai.

“He’s a terrible person! They’re just kids, how could he do that! Wait a minute, Wuxi… isn’t that surname…” Consultant Yan suddenly realized what he meant, and hesitated before speaking.

“It’s okay, you can scold him.” Zong Yanlei walked to his side, put his hands in his pockets, and looked out the window.

“Pervert!” Consultant Yan shouted. “But… protesting by the tracks is too dangerous. What if someone gets hit?”

“They must have been prepared to die in the collision.” I picked up a handful of silver spoons from the ground and handed them to the staff.

He accepted it with both hands and thanked me profusely.

“Attention passengers, the incident has been resolved and the train will soon depart again. Please watch your step and take care of any elderly or children traveling with you. Thank you for your patience, and we wish you a safe and pleasant journey.”

As the announcement resumed, the train slowly started moving forward. After traveling about a hundred meters, the desolate sand and gravel scenery outside the windows suddenly changed. Two large lines of people suddenly appeared on both sides of the tracks, where no unauthorized personnel were allowed to enter.

Brown-haired, red-eyed Wo people were being roughly pinned to the ground. Penglai people wielded steel forks and foot restraints to secure their bodies, their faces betraying irritation and impatience at the extra workload these individuals had added to their tasks.

As the train passed by the crowd, it maintained an extremely low speed, which allowed me to clearly see the faces of every person outside the window.

Everything seemed to slow down. The banners in their hands were thrown aside, their faces bore the marks of beatings, tears welled in their eyes, blood filled their mouths, and they looked up at me through the window in despair.

Their children may have already suffered at Wuxi Chen’s hands, or they may soon suffer the same fate. They yearn for justice, but Penglai offers them only indifference and suppression.

I came to my senses and found myself beside Zong Yanlei with my five fingers pressed against the glass.

There was no more sound in the car. I don’t know what the people from Penglai were thinking at that moment, but as a fellow countryman, I strangely didn’t feel resentful.

This was only natural, there were no surprises, no suspense, and naturally no disappointments.

Thinking this, I glanced at Zong Yanlei beside me, and then my gaze was fixed on him. His blue-green eyes were quietly gazing at the Wo people outside the window, his face seemingly cold and expressionless, but if you looked closely, it was not hard to catch the subtle emotion swirling in his eyes—not something that could be summed up by shallow sympathy, but rather a heavier, deeper sorrow and hatred.

This emotion, like an indestructible needle, suddenly pierced through his carefully constructed defenses of indifference, briefly revealing the true nature I knew. This man, who always compared the world to a lump of mud, actually hated the filth he was trapped in more than anyone else.

He closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbed twice, his fingers trembled slightly, then he clenched them. He turned to leave, and our eyes met.

In the blink of an eye, the ice and snow walls were built high again, and all his emotions were hidden deep in his eyes.

We brushed past each other as he walked toward the VIP compartment at the back, and I followed him.

Instead of going back to the other private compartment, I followed Zong Yanlei and, taking advantage of the moment when he entered the room before the door was closed, darted in and quickly blocked the door with my backhand.

Zong Yanlei withdrew his hand, which had been hovering in mid-air, and frowned slightly, looking like he was about to get angry. I quickly explained my purpose.

“Young Master, let’s make a bet. If you don’t make it into the top three this time, you can use me again for the next round. If you do make it… I’ll tell you a secret.” Unable to say that I would leave the team if Zong Yanlei won, I could only come up with a seemingly plausible bet on the spot. In case he really made it into the top three, it would be easier to adapt to the situation.

“A bet is only a bet if the stakes are attractive to both parties. Where do you get the confidence that I’d want to know your secrets?” He wore a mocking smile as he grabbed my collar with one hand and reached for the door with the other, as if he were about to throw me out of the private room.

I grabbed his hand and blurted out whatever came to mind: “Don’t you want to know why I betrayed you back then?”

Upon hearing this, Zong Yanlei stopped moving. His muscles were tense, and he briefly looked stunned. However, he quickly regained his calm.

As if he was shocked by my shamelessness, he released his grip, took a step back, and laughed.

“From what you’re saying, do you have some hidden reason? Didn’t you say it was because you’d had enough of me?”

“You were fed up with being my blood bag; fed up with me treating you like an object and controlling you at will; fed up with serving me and fulfilling my various disgusting demands… As soon as you found out I was going to recover my health and wouldn’t die, you couldn’t wait to run away with that woman.”

“These are all things you admitted to back then, and now you want to overturn them? What, are you that short of money?”

Every word he spoke conjured up a corresponding image in my mind. Having such a good memory could sometimes be a burden. Whether it was a painful memory or a happy one, from ten years ago or just yesterday, everything was vividly clear, as sharp as the highest definition movie footage.

Even the smell of disinfectant that filled the room seemed to linger in my nostrils.

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“I’ll ask you one more time, are you leaving or staying?”

Six years ago, my “escape attempt” failed, and I was escorted back to Baiyujing by bodyguards. In Zong Yanlei’s room, a slightly distorted transparent curtain separated the two of us. He leaned against the headboard and asked me in an extremely weak yet cold voice whether I would choose to stay by his side or leave the Zong family.

“Leave.” I knelt at the foot of the bed and decided without hesitation.

“For that woman?”

“It has nothing to do with anyone.”

The next second, the medical equipment beside the bed was swept to the ground by the enraged Zong Yanlei. Something was thrown at me, but was blocked by the curtain. Various instruments in the ward were beeping incessantly, and medical staff rushed in like madmen.

“The patient is vomiting blood, quickly take off the oxygen mask…”

“Lie on your side! Make him lie on his side right now…”

Thick liquid flowed across the white ground, turning a deep red that was almost black.

“Bring me the whip…bring me…” Zong Yanlei waved away the medical staff surrounding him, his voice hoarse and his tone frantic, “Beat him until he changes his mind…” After saying that, he spat out another mouthful of blood.

“The patient is too agitated, bring a sedative!”

“Don’t let him go… Don’t let him go…”

The blood on the ground was trampled underfoot by messy footprints, gradually turning into a huge, scarlet flower. I was dragged out of the room by bodyguards, and I never saw Zong Yanlei again for the next six years.

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“Then we’ll find another.” The image of that beautiful yet tragic blood flower still lingered on my retina. I blinked twice to clear my mind of all that was affecting me. “If you make it into the top three, I will personally hand you a whip so you can vent the anger that has been building up since I betrayed you.”

“So, shall we bet?” I asked in a voice devoid of laughter.