chapter 17

Qiu Rongrong felt like she was cursed with bad luck.

She’d always been unlucky.

Misfortune hemmed her in from all sides.

She dodged and hid, hating the way fate seemed to have everything arranged against her.

She still didn’t know that this wasn’t fate at all, but karma coming full circle.

The back of her head was swollen; even the slightest movement sent pain stabbing through her.

Her knees and wrists were bruised too.

Qiu Rongrong sensed someone checking her breathing.

A trembling finger touched the tip of her nose.

She deliberately held her breath.

The blond tested for a while and found that Qiu Rongrong wasn’t exhaling.

So scared he tripped over the metal rack beside him, he fell on his ass.

He scrambled on hands and knees and wailed at Xu Zhao, his voice shrill with panic. “Brother Zhao, we’re screwed! That hit just now was too heavy-she… she looks like she’s not breathing!”

Hearing the blond’s scream, Qiu Rongrong felt a bit of satisfaction.

No guts, and you still want to play at kidnapping like you’re some kind of adult.

Go home and do your homework!

“How is that possible? When we carried her back, her body was still warm.” Xu Zhao’s heart jolted.

His eyes were swollen and red; even now, his vision was still blurry.

That dog-repellent pepper spray had burned like hell. He’d rinsed his eyes with warm water several times, but they still stung. If he didn’t get revenge, where was he supposed to put his face?

He crooked a finger, telling the lackey beside him to light his cigarette.

But the moment the lackey heard, “Qiu Rongrong isn’t breathing,” he panicked and jerked the lighter upward, almost singeing Xu Zhao’s eyelashes.

“Useless mutt. You can’t even light a cigarette?” Xu Zhao kicked him behind the knee. With a loud thud, the boy dropped to his knees, begging for mercy.

They were all students.

Full of malice, but totally amateur.

“How could she be dead? My grandpa used to beat me with a rolling pin and I didn’t die.” Xu Zhao muttered under his breath. With the ice pack in his hand, he got up from his seat and walked toward Qiu Rongrong.

He felt like nothing had gone right all day.

And all of it was because of Qiu Rongrong.

Hearing Xu Zhao’s footsteps, Qiu Rongrong couldn’t keep up the act anymore. She opened her eyes.

The boy who’d been wailing that she was dead shrieked again, “She’s back from the dead!” and crawled away.

Qiu Rongrong flicked him a look.

A two-faced little nobody who’d never seen the world.

Xu Zhao held the ice pack to his eyes as he stopped in front of her. He patted her face. “Good. As long as you’re not dead. If you die too fast, I won’t even enjoy it.”

He bared a grin of white teeth, his expression twisted-at that age, he already looked like a vicious demon.

Xu Zhao could hit people, but no one was allowed to hit back. No one was allowed to call for help. He was tyrannical to the core.

Qiu Rongrong kept her voice calm and gentle. “Xu Zhao, reporting you to the counselor before was my fault. But you were way too brutal to Tan Song. His arm is cracked, and he needed stitches on his head. If you keep this up, you’re going to kill someone.”

“Shh-” Xu Zhao pressed his index finger to her lips. “Don’t admit you’re wrong so quickly. It makes this feel like there’s no challenge.”

“I’m sorry. If you want to vent, just tell me what you want. I’ll cooperate. You don’t have to…” Qiu Rongrong sped up, lowering herself, trying to trade her pride for fewer injuries.

“Cooperate my ass!” Xu Zhao slammed the ice pack into her head. It burst with a wet slap, cutting her off.

Furious, he snapped, “I told you not to admit you’re wrong! You had the guts to spray me with pepper spray-where’s that attitude now? Maybe then I’d actually respect you a little!”

Xu Zhao wanted Qiu Rongrong to have backbone.

But Qiu Rongrong wasn’t a match for him, and she didn’t want to suffer for nothing.

“I don’t need your respect. I’m just begging you not to hit me. Let this morning be me having a moment of conscience-next time, I’ll watch you die and not lift a finger…” Ice scattered across Qiu Rongrong’s hair, and icy water streamed down, seeping into her scalp.
Qiu Rongrong tugged at the corner of her mouth, her scalp going numb from the cold.

Her body had long since been battered and broken.

These past three years, she’d taken care of herself.

Bit by bit, she’d nursed every wound-body and soul-back to health.

She’d suffered plenty before.

The killer had paid with his life. One life, in exchange for the six people in her family.

And now she was alone.

No one was going to make it up to her. So she’d made it up to herself.

“At the abandoned factory, I gave you a chance. If you’d stabbed Tan Song once, I wouldn’t be coming after you today.” He flicked ash right onto Qiu Rongrong’s face.

Qiu Rongrong turned her head aside, avoiding the ember that fell with the ash.

Her mistake was that her conscience hadn’t died completely.

She didn’t want to end up with a charge for intentional assault, but she also couldn’t stand by and watch someone die. That was how she’d gotten dragged into this.

Xu Zhao refused to let Qiu Rongrong go. He waved over the group of underlings with him and had them tie her up.

They bound her to a frame, like a crucified Jesus.

The knots were amateurish.

Qiu Rongrong shifted a little and realized that if she used the right leverage, she could slip her hands out of the hemp rope.

The blond setting up the camera had hands that wouldn’t stop shaking. “Brother Zhao, if the school investigates this and it gets traced back to us, we could end up in prison. Are we really doing this?”

Xu Zhao stood to the side, already three cigarettes in.

He blew smoke straight into Qiu Rongrong’s face, restless and agitated, raising his voice to cover his guilt. “She’s an orphan with her whole family wiped out. What’s there to be afraid of?

“Guixu City has five thousand missing people a year. One more? My Xu family can smooth it over.”

Choking on the smoke, Qiu Rongrong coughed hard. She knew these students were scared too, so she snapped, “My brother will come looking for me. If anything happens to me, he’ll make sure you pay for it!”

“Didn’t you say your whole family’s dead? Where’d this brother come from?”

Qiu Rongrong met his gaze. At a time like this, she couldn’t flinch.

Xu Zhao stared at her for a moment, then suddenly remembered the man who always drove her to and from school. He threw his head back and laughed. “So that’s what you mean-your little boyfriend!”

His expression turned even more vicious.

One rotten idea after another bubbled up, and the thought of it thrilled him.

“Tell me-if I strip you naked, let my guys take turns with you, then mail the video to your boyfriend… what do you think he’ll do? Dump you? Dump you? Or dump you?”

Qiu Rongrong’s face went dark.

She was afraid they’d really go that far.

Malice couldn’t take provocation. Once it got sparked-dopamine rushing in-it would spiral without limits.

Seeing that Qiu Rongrong was genuinely scared, Xu Zhao held his cigarette between long fingers and pointed at the blond, who’d gone pale with fright.

“You. Go. Do her. I’ll record a selfie video.”

“If we film it, that’s evidence.” The blond was a total coward. “How about we just beat her up and let her go?”

“You fucking say that kind of nonsense again and I’ll make you the one getting fucked!” Xu Zhao was vicious even to his own people.

Terrified, the blond stumbled over to Qiu Rongrong. With trembling hands, he undid his belt. As he fumbled with it, he muttered, “Amitabha… debts have their owners, grudges have their source. It’s not that I want to do this to you. If you get out alive, don’t put it on me…”

Qiu Rongrong stared straight into the blond’s eyes and enunciated each word clearly. “I’ll blame you. Even as a ghost, I… won’t… let… you… go.”

Over there, Xu Zhao was fiddling with the camera. He didn’t hear what the blond said-only assumed the two of them were whispering to each other. He sneered, “Flirting? Hurry up and start. I’m getting impatient-there’s a line waiting behind you.”