Chapter 98

Chapter 98

Hearing my grandfather’s scolding made me more excited than if I had won the lottery.

My tension instantly dissipated, and I let out a long sigh of relief.

“It’s nothing, Grandpa. I was just asking. Dad didn’t complain about anything.”

“Alright, take care of yourself. I’ve got to get back to work.”

After hanging up, I relaxed so suddenly that I almost lost my footing.

Just moments ago, I had genuinely suspected my father. If he were that person, it would mean he was the one who caused Fang Man’s death.

Even though he had been exonerated, the lingering fear remained.

“I told you your dad wasn’t that kind of person. You scared the hell out of me too,”
Meng Yifan said, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead.

As we left the factory, I told Meng Yifan that I had tested the security guard.

That man was one hundred percent certain of who had stolen the motorcycle.

“Do you really think he’ll tell you the truth for five thousand yuan?”

Meng Yifan was skeptical. “Anyone who could steal the keys from Wang Hua must be at least part of the management. Can a guard afford to offend someone like that?”

I shook my head, unsure if the guard would actually spill the truth.

If he chose to stay silent, there was no way we could force his mouth open.

But if he did speak, we would hit the jackpot.

After leaving the factory, the pain from our heavy injuries became unbearable. We were hurting so much we could barely stand, so we hurried back to the hospital, where we were promptly lectured by both the attending physician and the nurse.

If Song Xiaotian had been with us, we never would have been beaten so badly.

Fortunately, his father had said he could definitely get him out within the next couple of days.

Back at the hospital, I kept waiting for a call from the security guard. I already had the five thousand yuan ready for him.

But as evening turned into night and no call came, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

If he didn’t call tonight, there was a high probability he wouldn’t tell me the truth at all.

When the lights went out in the ward that night, Meng Yifan was still lying in bed playing on his phone.

He suddenly handed the phone to me. “Look at this. It’s about where we were last night.”

I took the phone and saw a news headline: Last night, near a small river in the suburbs, five people committed a group suicide by jumping into the water. Their vehicle was found at the scene, and the bodies were recovered this morning.

I finished reading the news, feeling no emotion whatsoever.

Those five people were the ones who had beaten Meng Yifan and me last night.

If Du Yuwei hadn’t come to save us, we would have been the ones floating in that river.

Because Du Yuwei had come, they were the ones who died.

Those five had actually been lured into the river by a Ghost. I had heard the sound of them hitting the water at the time.

Five lives lost was naturally a somber thought, but I felt they deserved it.

People like that were truly, fucking better off dead.

“Was this Du Yuwei’s doing?” Meng Yifan asked me.

I said yes.

“Holy shit, she killed five people at once. Five lives,” Meng Yifan said, looking shocked.

I glanced at him. “Are you trying to be a saint? Look at what kind of trash they were. People like that are a menace to society; they got what they deserved. Why, do you feel sorry for them?”

Meng Yifan replied, “No, I’m just saying Du Yuwei is too terrifying. Killing five people just like that… I think she’s dangerous. What if one day she decides to…”

I interrupted him. “She’s not as bad as you think. If she wanted us dead, we’d be gone already.”

“She was twisted by Du Ruhai’s abuse. Who knows what she’s capable of?”

I glared at Meng Yifan. “She just saved your life last night, and here you are talking behind her back.”
Meng Yifan looked at me as if I were a freak. “Whoa, hold on. You’re the one who said she was a psycho, and now you’re calling her ‘Miss’ this and ‘Miss’ that? What, you two have a thing going on?”

“You scumbag!”

I snapped back, “You’re delusional! Get lost!”

I shoved the phone back at him and collapsed onto the bed to sleep.

I used to rarely dream, but lately, they had become a constant occurrence.

Once I drifted off, the dreams started again. I dreamed of my mother.

I had dreamed of her before, but those dreams were always scenes of her being kind to me when I was a child.

This time, however, I dreamed that my mother was terrified of me.

In the dream, she kept looking at me with eyes full of fear, as if I were a monster. She wouldn’t even come near me.

I wanted her to hold me, but her face twisted into an expression of utter revulsion, as if touching me would bring her some terrible misfortune.

I felt a deep sense of sorrow. I couldn’t understand why a mother would loathe her own son so much.

I tried desperately to get close enough for a hug, but she pushed me away with brutal force and turned to leave.

In the dream, I looked to be about ten years old. When my mother shoved me to the ground, I naturally burst into loud sobs. Seeing her walk away without a single backward glance, I scrambled up to chase after her.

But the harder I chased, the faster she ran. She was dead set on never seeing me again.

I had never seen a mother so repulsed by her own child. I cried until my heart felt like it was tearing apart.

As I wept, I realized I wasn’t the only one crying. There was the sound of a middle-aged man sobbing as well. I couldn’t see where he was, but I could feel that he was very close to me.

The more I listened, the more unsettled I felt, and I soon jolted awake from the dream.

Even after waking, I could still hear the middle-aged man’s sobbing.

I opened my eyes and immediately saw a figure standing at the door of the hospital ward.

It was a middle-aged man. Looking closer, I realized it was the security guard from my father’s factory.

I didn’t know what was wrong with him, but he was soaking wet from head to toe, standing in the doorway and weeping continuously.

The sight left me paralyzed with fear. I turned to look at Meng Yifan in the other bed, but he was dead to the world, completely undisturbed by the sound of the crying.

Terrified, I hurriedly whispered Meng Yifan’s name, trying to wake him up.

But his sleep quality was even better than mine; I called out several times, but he didn’t budge.

Just then, the security guard suddenly turned and left the ward.

I hesitated for two seconds before quickly getting up, throwing on my shoes, and chasing after him.

By the time I made it out of the room, he had already reached the stairwell.

I followed him all the way-from the upper floor down to the lobby, then out of the inpatient building. Finally, the guard stopped beside a decorative pond.

I was less than five meters away from him now, and I could see him even more clearly. He was drenched, looking as if he had just crawled out of the water.

“Sir, what’s wrong?”

“How did you find your way to the hospital?”

I summoned my courage to ask him these two questions.

He didn’t speak. Instead, he silently pointed toward the pond.

I stepped forward, coming to his side, and glanced into the water.

What I saw made my skin crawl and my scalp tingle with terror.

A corpse was submerged in the pond. A lotus leaf was floating on the surface, perfectly positioned to hide the body’s face.

As I stood there, paralyzed and unsure of what to do, the lotus leaf seemed to move with a mind of its own. It suddenly drifted to the side, revealing the face of the corpse.

That face belonged to the security guard standing right next to me.

He was dead.