chapter 2

Chapter 2

In fact, I hesitated for a long time about whether to let my mother see Xiao Min one last time. But thinking of her high-risk heart disease and long-standing hypertension, I finally decided to let Xiao Min finish this journey with only me by her side.

Exhausted in both body and mind, I thought everything could come to a brief end, that I could bury my head in the sand for a while and hide. Yet I soon discovered that things were far from simple.

While packing up Xiao Min’s things in her school dormitory, I found there seemed to be something hidden under her mattress.

I reached out to check and, with a clatter, more than a dozen photos scattered to the floor. Lying on top of them was a pair of cold, gleaming metal handcuffs.

Before I even picked up the photos, I could already see those patterns of flesh and red mingled together.

– Bodies.

– Xiao Min’s young body.

– A body covered in all kinds of injuries too horrible to look at.

Most of them showed her bound, some kneeling on the ground with a dog-like collar around her neck, her body covered in whip marks, cigarette burns, even the blunt traces of being struck by some heavy object.

I hurriedly knelt down and picked up the scattered photos one by one, afraid they would be seen by someone else and strip her of her last dignity.

Even a fool could tell this had everything to do with Chen Suiyuan.

When I came out of Xiao Min’s dorm room, I was still in a daze.

Liang An helped me carry the things to the car. He wanted to hug me, but in the end only patted me on the shoulder. “Reminded you of her, didn’t it?”

“Huh?” I came back to my senses, only then realizing that the box in my hands had already been taken away. I fumbled for an answer, “No, it’s nothing.”

On the way home, my mind was in chaos, growing more and more tangled the more I thought about it.

“If you ever need anything, just come to me. There’s no need to be polite between us,” Liang An said, searching for something to say.

“No need, everything’s more or less settled. You’ve already helped me a lot these past days.” I forced out a smile, utterly exhausted. “Thank you.”