Chapter 48: Sea Water

Everything that day felt like a collapsing, shattering dream.

Fine snow blanketed the charred remains of bricks, and the bone-piercing cold wind occasionally stirred the dust that hadn’t fully burned.

Gu Wanting stood amid the ruins, her expression twisted into a cold indifference after the initial shock and anger had subsided.

Su Zhi stood beside her, her usually calm doll-like face equally placid, like a stagnant pool of water. They had returned overnight without adjusting for jet lag; the dark circles under their eyes, though covered with concealer, were still clearly visible.

They stood in the cold wind, their gazes icy as stone.

“Where is Yu Zhu? Ming Yue,” Su Zhi asked.

Ming Yue didn’t answer.

“Ming Yue, don’t tell us that it only took a few days for this place to become like this.”

The rubble under Su Zhi’s feet scraped sharply against her shoes.

“What exactly happened?”

Her voice carried a coldness even more piercing than when speaking of Huo Xin being out of the game.

Ming Yue clenched her palms, meeting their gazes. “The night before, the villa caught fire. Yu Zhu… Yu Zhu was in the basement at that time.”

“Yu Zhu?” Gu Wanting asked coldly.

They all knew Ming Yue would never call him by his name; she always called him “Sister,” claiming it helped her reach the faint, buried memories of her, even when holding him—it was always through him, thinking of that sister.

Ming Yue clenched her hands tightly, her face pale. “Sister was in the basement. When I arrived, the outer fire had already been extinguished. I didn’t let them in.”

“It was… it was only yesterday morning that I sent someone to the basement to… to handle Sister’s…” She suddenly couldn’t continue.

The once vibrant, lively person had been burned into unrecognizable blackened bones—this scene had stripped her of all words.

“Did you send Yu Zhu to the hospital?” Su Zhi avoided the inevitable truth, clinging to every word.

Among the four, Su Zhi’s presence had always been low. She lacked Gu Wanting’s ruthlessness, Huo Xin’s pretentiousness, or Ming Yue’s quirks, so despite being slightly older, she could remain composed and converse casually with anyone.

This was the first time Ming Yue saw her face fall, the energy around her coalescing like a dark cloud at her brow. She denied the facts repeatedly, demanding an answer she already knew.

“At that time… it was already…”

“Already what?”

Already reduced to a charred skeleton—her claim of sending him to the hospital was meaningless.

Ming Yue bit her lip tightly, hearing Gu Wanting let out a cold laugh.

“Yue Yue, where is my dog?”

“Where is he?”

“Sister said…” Ming Yue’s voice was faint.

“Buried… buried at Yong’an Cemetery.”

“Yong’an, huh? That’s a good place,” Gu Wanting stepped closer, her tone dripping with mockery. “But why the rush?”

“The fire happened at midnight, and by the afternoon he was already buried at Yong’an. Yue Yue, doesn’t that seem a little… hasty?”

“This was arranged by Sister. At that time… I… I was scared. Sister told me to go back first.”

“Then why did the fire happen exactly when we left?”

“I don’t know… it happened too suddenly, I don’t know, I don’t know…”

“Did you hide Yu Zhu?” Su Zhi also stepped closer.

“How could I possibly hide Sister? How could I? How could I do that?”

“Ming Yue!” Gu Wanting suddenly raised her voice.

“How are we supposed to believe you?”

“I didn’t hide him. I even checked the chains on Sister’s hands when I left. The fire was so big… when they found Sister, she was already… already…”

“You fell for him,” Su Zhi mercilessly revealed.

“You liked him, wanted to tame him, wanted him to love you like Huo Xin, and of course you’d do anything, even if it meant setting a fire.”

“No… no… how could I like him? How could I?”

This four-person game began with unspoken dark desires in their hearts—mad, secret, and unutterable.

So for a caged pet, you cannot manipulate him, you cannot fall for him—this was their unspoken rule.

Desire was only desire—pure, flawless, and capable of dragging one into the abyss.

Breaking the rules meant elimination.

Huo Xin had been eliminated this way.

Ming Yue would be no different.

“Yue Yue,” Gu Wanting lifted Ming Yue’s chin with her slender fingers, squinting slightly.

“Why deny it?”

“You’re crying.”

Ming Yue was startled; Gu Wanting’s cold fingers wiped a tear from her cheek.

Crying… she cried?

How… how could that be?

“Hah.”

“Ming Yue, it ends here. Take care of yourself.”

Gu Wanting stepped away. As they brushed past, an icy snowflake fell onto Ming Yue’s face.

Su Zhi followed behind, observing her dazed state. Her voice lowered, “Ming Yue, you know exactly how things happened in your heart. But now… it’s over.”

The two of them left, one after the other, snowflakes drifting down. Ming Yue remained alone amid the ruins.

Afterwards, the Ming family, like the Huo family, suffered.

Various business projects were harshly suppressed by Gu Wanting, while other unknown forces opportunistically tried to take advantage. The Ming family’s atmosphere visibly grew cold and busy. No matter how hard Mr. Ming worked, it was already futile. Over six months, the Ming family gradually lost its central position in City C’s commercial circle.

Ming Yue, like Huo Xin,

Gradually stopped being herself.

She began to think she had hidden Yu Zhu, wearing a lavish gown, taking Gu Wanting to the sea in Zhou’an, pointing at the endless waters, and saying, “He’s there, Yu Zhu is there.”

Gu Wanting pushed her into the sea, layer after layer of waves washing over her thoughts.

“I didn’t know you’d gone this insane, Ming Yue. If you want to die, I don’t mind giving you a push.”

“Gu… Gu Wanting…” The briny sea water choked her lungs. Ming Yue dragged her down with her, “Why only speak about me? Haven’t you gone insane too?”

“If you’re not insane, why did you take revenge on the Ming family so frantically? Since I brought you here, why don’t you trust me that he’s hidden here?”

“Liking him… what’s wrong with liking him? I can’t control it, I can’t control it…”

“Cough… Su Zhi, where can that woman ever get? Hypocritical and aloof. She thinks she hides it well, but can’t you see? She likes him too, she likes…”

“Why… why show me that fire? Why let me see it with my own eyes? Why can’t I deceive myself? Why?”

Gu Wanting broke free from Ming Yue’s grasp, struggling to stand and wipe the seawater off her face.

“Ming Yue, Huo Xin went mad. You went mad. All of you went mad.”

Mad.

All mad.

The cool evening wind of the imperial capital blew over. Ming Yue knelt on the ground, holding her face, crying and laughing simultaneously.

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