Chapter 19: The Price of Intervention

Individuals like Lin Qing, who possessed a natural resistance to anesthetics, were exceedingly rare; it was possible he was the only one of his kind. Consequently, despite her profound reluctance after inhaling the anesthetic, Su Yao understood that her elaborate plan had utterly failed.

She would not experience the thrill of the kill.

All her efforts had been for naught!

Damn it!

As Su Yao’s body swayed precariously, Lin Qing clenched his injured hand, stemming the rapid flow of blood. He then swiftly reached out, encircling Su Yao’s slender waist and preventing her from collapsing to the floor.

This was not an act of chivalry, however, but a pragmatic move born from the knowledge that her bodyguards waited just beyond the door. Had he allowed Su Yao to fall and sustain injury, he knew those guards would never forgive him.

With these thoughts swirling, Lin Qing carefully lifted Su Yao onto the hospital bed. He then pressed the call button situated by the headboard.

‘Help,’ he cried, ‘I’ve been stabbed!’

No sooner had Lin Qing spoken than he snatched the scalpel from Su Yao’s grasp. He swiftly wiped away the fingerprints with a bedsheet before hurrying to where Li Mei lay sprawled on the floor, forcing the blade into her hand.

Li Mei bore the weight of numerous crimes; after countless murders, an additional charge of assault with a knife would hardly alter her fate. While he had indeed rescued Li Mei from Su Yao’s clutches, this act did not absolve her of guilt.

A perpetrator, Lin Qing knew, could never truly evade the long arm of the law.

As the old adage wisely declared: ‘Justice for evil deeds may be delayed, but it is never denied.’

After completing these frantic actions, Lin Qing was overcome by a wave of dizziness. He cast his gaze down to the wound on his hand, realizing with a jolt that he, unexpectedly, was the one most gravely injured.

‘Why… I intended to kill you, yet you saved me,’ Li Mei murmured, her voice tinged with bewilderment. ‘You are truly a strange one.’

As Lin Qing’s legs buckled, sending him sprawling to the floor, Li Mei, still lying where she had fallen, began to speak.

Li Mei had not lost consciousness from her fall; instead, she had silently observed the chaotic events unfolding around her. The frantic madness that had gripped her face moments before had vanished, replaced by an expression of profound loneliness and sorrow, as though she had abruptly awoken from a terrifying nightmare.

It was, however, too late.

‘There are no profound ‘whys’ to dissect here,’ Lin Qing stated, his voice firm. ‘You have committed numerous murders, and you are undeniably guilty. However, your punishment will not come from me or from her, but from the unyielding judgment of the law.’

Naturally, Lin Qing had no intention of revealing the Skull’s unique abilities. Nor would he grandiosely declare his true reason for preventing Su Yao from transforming into the era’s most terrifying serial killer.

Thus, he had been compelled to concoct a ‘righteous’ explanation for his recent actions. Yet, he knew full well that anyone overhearing it would undoubtedly deem him insane.

To nearly forfeit his life and sustain such severe injuries, all for such a reason…

Upon hearing Lin Qing’s words, Li Mei couldn’t suppress a laugh. Yet, even as her lips curved upwards, tears began to stream uncontrollably down her face.

One misstep had led to a cascade of errors. She had been terribly wrong. All because of her former boyfriend, she had caused the deaths of so many innocent lives.

‘Oh, and a word of caution,’ Li Mei added, ‘Su Yao is the sole heiress of a powerful chaebol family. Regarding today’s events, it would be wise for you to entirely omit any mention of her involvement.’

Even as Li Mei’s laughter continued unabated, Lin Qing’s face had turned ghastly pale. ‘Why aren’t the doctors here yet?’ he thought frantically. ‘If they don’t arrive soon, I’ll surely faint from blood loss!’

Had he perhaps pressed the call button too gently, or spoken too softly? He should have screamed that he’d encountered a murderer!

‘He must have been a traitor in a past life,’ Lin Qing mused darkly. ‘That’s the only explanation for encountering a disaster like Su Yao in this one, and enduring all these accompanying misfortunes.’

‘Should I transfer schools?’ The thought flickered through his mind. ‘Even if I don’t have the spare funds, remaining entangled with Su Yao will surely cost me my life.’

‘Perhaps it’s a possibility worth serious consideration!’

‘Heavens, what in the world has transpired here?’

‘Miss!’

‘Doctors, quickly! A life-threatening incident has occurred here!’

Just as Lin Qing’s thoughts spiraled in a chaotic jumble, a sudden cacophony erupted from the doorway. A wave of relief washed over him, immediately followed by a tide of darkness that swiftly enveloped his senses. Lin Qing’s consciousness began to fade.

Finally, he was safe!

Yet, even as his awareness dimmed, Li Mei’s whispered warning drifted into Lin Qing’s ears.

‘You must be wary of that woman, Su Yao,’ she murmured. ‘She will kill you.’

****

When Lin Qing eventually stirred from his unconsciousness, he found himself still confined to a hospital room, its air thick with the pungent scent of disinfectant.

Beyond the window, sunlight streamed brightly, and birds chirped merrily from the branches.

However, the wound carved into his palm by the scalpel now began to throb with a dull ache.

This sensation caused Lin Qing to frown faintly and press his lips together. He slowly opened his eyes, directing his gaze toward his injured hand.

Curiously, his heavily bandaged hand failed to capture Lin Qing’s attention. Instead, it was the handcuffs encircling his wrist that rendered him utterly speechless.

He hadn’t registered the coldness of the cuffs earlier, for these were not the utilitarian iron shackles of an arrest. Instead, they were ‘intimate’ handcuffs, playfully wrapped in leopard-print cotton.

They resembled the sort of implements one might glimpse in pop-up ads on certain websites, the kind featured in those ‘indescribable’ scenes.

‘Awake?’

As Lin Qing pondered why he found himself restrained by such peculiar handcuffs, Su Yao’s voice suddenly resonated from the adjacent hospital bed.

Once the curtain separating their beds was drawn open, Su Yao, seemingly returned to her composed self, offered a gentle smile. There was no trace of last night’s frenzy; she had evidently reclaimed her customary composure.

Yet, the icy glint in her eyes as she regarded Lin Qing served as a stark reminder that the previous night’s events had been no mere dream.

‘Has Li Mei been apprehended by the police?’

Lin Qing observed Su Yao, who appeared utterly refreshed. Beyond the brief moment he had muffled her with an anesthetic-soaked cloth, she had emerged from the previous night entirely unharmed. She remained, as always, the radiant goddess in everyone’s eyes.

He, however, was the unfortunate one. Not only did he bear a scalpel wound on his palm, but a spot on his arm, savagely pricked by a needle, now throbbed with an undeniable ache. In essence, the universe had perfectly orchestrated a scenario where only he had suffered.

‘When I regained consciousness,’ Su Yao began, ‘Li Mei had already been taken away. The police station just called, informing me that Li Mei confessed to all her crimes without offering any resistance. They also mentioned their intention to award you a ‘Brave Citizen’ certificate.’

As Su Yao spoke, she gracefully rose from her hospital bed. Barefoot, she stepped onto the plush carpet and began to advance towards Lin Qing. Her pace was unhurried, yet in what felt like the blink of an eye, she stood directly before him.

Gazing down at the bound Lin Qing, Su Yao’s smile softened further, creating a stark and unsettling contrast with the frigid intensity in her eyes.

Evidently, Su Yao was a woman who held grudges. Particularly after the events of the previous night, Lin Qing, having unexpectedly turned against her, now existed as nothing less than a traitor in her eyes.

‘Therefore, might I inquire, Mr. Brave Citizen Lin, why precisely did you choose to obstruct me yesterday?’

Su Yao settled beside Lin Qing, articulating the question that lingered in her mind. As she spoke, she leaned swiftly towards the reclining man, her ample bosom pressing intimately against his chest. A pair of slender, elegant hands followed, their touch seeming both accidental and deliberate.

The hands resting upon his chest did not remain stationary; instead, they began to trace an upward path. As a tingling sensation spread across his skin beneath her fingertips, Su Yao’s hands reached their destination: Lin Qing’s throat.

The playful teasing ceased abruptly as her hands tightened. Lin Qing’s slender throat was now entirely within her grasp, and with his own hands bound, leaving him utterly defenseless, a single, forceful squeeze could easily extinguish his life.

‘If you cannot provide a satisfactory explanation,’ Su Yao purred, her voice dangerously low, ‘you will die a most gruesome death.’

Su Yao’s hands tightened their stranglehold on Lin Qing’s throat, and the last vestige of a smile vanished completely from her face.