Chapter 107

Chapter 107

In the video.

My father actually dropped to his knees before Du Ruhai.

Watching this, I felt a mixture of hatred, irritation, and fury, yet also a profound sense of sorrow.

“Don’t do this to me. It wasn’t easy for my family to find peace again. We’ve lived a stable life for all these years.”

My father’s eyes were rimmed with red, and he was on the verge of kowtowing to Du Ruhai. “You have everything you want now. If you want someone dead, there are plenty of people who will do it for you. Why must you come to me? If it wasn’t to save my son back then, I never would have wanted to hurt anyone. I never wanted any of this!”

“But you did hurt someone, and I told you before-you can’t erase what’s already been done.” Du Ruhai sighed. “Now your son is trying to investigate me. He’s hell-bent on fighting me and opposes me at every turn. I have no choice but to drag his father back into this.”

“Brother Wen, as long as you help me kill this person, I’ll give you a sum of money so your family can fly far away and start over. We’ll never see each other again. No one will ever know what happened fifteen years ago until the day I die.”

“But if you refuse, I’ll have no choice but to lay my cards on the table with your son. If he tries to take me down, he’s taking you down too. If he finds out what his own father did back then…”

“Enough! Stop talking!” My father took off his glasses, his eyes blurred with tears. “I’ll do it. I’ll do it! Just don’t tell Chen Mo!”

“Haha, good!” In the video, a photograph was suddenly tossed over.

We couldn’t see who was in the photo, but there was no need to guess. We already knew.

“This is a girl. Why do you want to kill her?” My father’s eyes widened.

“That’s none of your concern. Just do as you’re told.”

My father held the photo, his entire body trembling.

At that moment, he had no idea that the girl he was about to help kill was Fang Man-my lover and Song Xiaotian’s sister!

“Brother Wen, I know you’re timid and don’t have the stomach for murder. I won’t force you.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a small leather suitcase slid into the frame, stopping right in front of my father.

“There’s two hundred thousand in here. Go find a man named Xiao Ming. He has cancer and doesn’t have much longer to live. You can use this two hundred thousand to have him take care of the person in that photo for you.”

Upon hearing that he wouldn’t have to do the deed himself, my father visibly relaxed.

He was a coward; he didn’t dare to kill someone with his own hands.

And the Xiao Ming Du Ruhai spoke of was the driver who had struck and killed Fang Man.

My father took Du Ruhai’s money and went to hire Xiao Ming.

This was the depth of Du Ruhai’s depravity. He had orchestrated Fang Man’s death, yet he had forced my father to be a part of it. He made my father hire Xiao Ming, just as my father had hired him fifteen years ago.

The difference was that fifteen years ago, my father had hired him to save me. Fifteen years later, my father had hired Xiao Ming to kill my girlfriend.

“After I finish this, will you really stop looking for me?” My father stood up, clutching the suitcase.

Du Ruhai replied, “Don’t worry. Without you, Brother Wen, I wouldn’t be where I am today. If it weren’t for your son constantly working against me, I wouldn’t have come looking for you. As long as you handle this well, this will likely be the last time we ever meet.”

Without another word, my father turned and left with the suitcase.

But the video didn’t end there.

Du Ruhai’s laughter echoed through the recording.

It was a twisted, perverted laugh.

“A father, hiring a killer to murder his own son’s girlfriend… Hahaha, how very interesting.”
“The lives of the poor… they’re only good for a bit of entertainment value.”

Thud!

The video ended there. Song Xiaotian slammed his fist against the wall, his eyes a terrifying shade of crimson.

Meng Yifan also clenched his fists, gritting his teeth in hatred.

Fang Man’s death was a source of pain for all of us, but in Du Ruhai’s eyes, it was merely a masterpiece he had orchestrated. He wanted to see my father kill the person I loved most; he wanted to witness my agony.

He was like a spectator at a play, using the lives of others for his own amusement.

He was even arrogant enough not to mute his own voice in the video. He knew that a recording where his face wasn’t visible-even with his voice present-wasn’t enough for the police to arrest him, let alone for the law to convict him.

He acted like a high-and-mighty god, toyed with all of our fates.

“I’m sorry.”

I dropped to my knees directly in front of Song Xiaotian, apologizing through choked sobs. “Brother Tian, it was my father who killed Fang Man. I won’t make excuses for him. I’m sorry to you, and I’m sorry to Fang Man’s parents.”

“Hit me, kill me-do whatever you want. I deserve it.”

I didn’t know how to face any of this.

My father had committed so many sins. To date, he had taken at least nine lives, and one of them was my girlfriend’s.

But he had done all of it for me, for our family. The only reason I was even alive was because of what he had done. I hated what he did, yet I was the only person in this world who had no right to hate him.

But if I didn’t hate him, I was a monster too.

After all, if it weren’t for me, my father wouldn’t have committed these atrocities. All these people wouldn’t have died because of me.

If Song Xiaotian killed me in a fit of rage, it would be… a release.

“Did you have a hand in Xiaoman’s death?” Song Xiaotian asked, his face cold.

I shook my head.

“Then get the hell up!”

Song Xiaotian grabbed my collar and hauled me to my feet. “Your father is your father, and you are you. Did you forget what I told you both last night? More painful things are coming. If you really want to take responsibility, then face them bravely.”

My tears fell like rain as I broke down. “I don’t know how to face it. I really don’t. He killed so many people… so many.”

Song Xiaotian looked at me with bloodshot eyes. “If it were anyone else who killed my sister, I would find a way to end them. But that person is your father, so I’m holding back.”

“As for you, you don’t have the heart to turn in your own kin, but you don’t want to betray your conscience either. There is only one choice left for you: as his son, you must convince your father to surrender. Make him implicate Du Ruhai and confess everything. If you choose any other path, you’ll be failing your conscience, you’ll be failing Xiaoman, and you’ll be failing me.”

I nodded. “I know what to do. I’ll convince him to turn himself in.”

Nine lives… letting him surrender was already a form of mercy.

He would certainly be executed by firing squad.

And after he was gone, I should die too.

He did those things for me, so naturally, I deserved to die.

So many people died because of me; I must die.

So be it.

If I stayed alive, I would spend the rest of my life drowning in guilt, never able to hold my head up again.

I would be failing too many people.