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Join the ServerThe moment Lin Zhiyan’s words fell, the air instantly seemed to thicken. Damp wind mixed with the large pool of blood spreading across the floor, evaporating together into a drifting mist that clung to the three of them—their hair, faces, and clothes—wrapping itself around everything in the room.
“W-What are you talking about? What attention?” Li Siheng’s voice trembled ever so slightly. His dry eyes shifted, confusion filling his face. “Who are you? What are you trying to do?”
The hand gripping the shard of glass trembled as well. His entire body was taut, like a string stretched to its breaking point.
“Why ask me what I want to do?” Lin Zhiyan moved forward little by little, using her voice to draw his attention while masking the sticky, faint sounds of her footsteps through the blood. “Right now, you’re the one holding Zephi hostage. Logically speaking, you’re the one in control. You’re the one who can do whatever you want.”
She said softly, “Even if you push that shard deeper… cut through his throat… and kill him completely.”
Zephi’s breathing sounded like a broken bellows. His white hair was stained with blood and grime. He looked at her weakly, but the warning in his eyes was unmistakable.
Lin Zhiyan couldn’t help admiring him a little. Judging from the amount of blood he’d lost, an ordinary person would have passed out long ago. Yet he was still conscious, still capable of assessing the situation.
Li Siheng’s chest rose and fell as blood ran down his arm. He seemed to agree.
“I can kill him. Of course I can…”
The distance between them narrowed to only two or three meters.
Lin Zhiyan measured it carefully from the corner of her eye.
The next second, Li Siheng suddenly raised his head and contradicted himself.
“No… I can’t listen to you. If I kill him, then I won’t have… won’t have a hostage…”
Lin Zhiyan immediately stopped.
Her words interrupted him before her movement did.
“Why do you need a hostage?”
“Because you won’t let me leave!” Li Siheng’s eyes widened sharply. His pupils dilated. “You forced me! Every day, every day, every day, every day, every day you tie me to a bed! Why? Why do I have to be locked up while he gets to do whatever he wants?!”
What the hell is this…?
Just how twisted was the environment you grew up in?
Shocked though she was, Lin Zhiyan didn’t let it show.
“Then kill Zephi.”
Zephi’s fingers dug tightly into the carpet. The veins on his bony hand bulged.
As if struggling not to lose consciousness, his pale, dry lips moved weakly.
“You… what exactly…”
Lin Zhiyan felt fairly certain that Zephi wanted to murder her entire family right now.
Fortunately, she was an orphan.
No relatives. Very safe.
Li Siheng stared at her without speaking. There was an oddly innocent look on his bloodstained face, making him appear as beautiful as a peach blossom.
Softly, he said,
“I can’t. I can’t do that…”
“Exactly. You can’t.”
Lin Zhiyan laughed.
Mockery flashed through her eyes.
“You made such a huge spectacle because you want everyone to look at you. To watch you lose control. To watch you fall apart. You want everyone revolving around you.”
“You don’t dare leave, because you know that once you do, you’ll end up somewhere nobody cares what you do.”
“You don’t dare kill Zephi either. You’re afraid of the consequences. You don’t know what will happen afterward.”
With every sentence, she moved a little closer.
Li Siheng didn’t seem to notice.
He stared fixedly at her, wanting to refute her.
But in the end, his mouth hung open while tears streamed down his face.
When she was only two steps away, he suddenly raised his head in panic and pointed the shard at her.
“Get out! Get out! Stay away from me! Stay away!”
More blood burst from the wound in Zephi’s neck.
His throat moved a few times.
The icy gray in his eyes dimmed even further.
Li Siheng was visibly agitated.
He brandished the shard with a fierce expression, yet there remained something childlike about him.
Only now, from this distance, did Lin Zhiyan realize why.
The shard was clutched awkwardly in his hand. Even his fingers seemed unable to find a proper grip.
Like a small child who still hadn’t learned how to use strength correctly.
Suddenly, something Aiwen had once said flashed through Lin Zhiyan’s mind:
The Nosoi family had cursed genes.
Could Li Siheng’s condition be connected to his genetics?
She suppressed the thought and looked at Zephi.
“Are you okay? You look really stiff. You seem kind of dead.”
After she spoke, Zephi lifted his eyelids with visible effort, then let them fall again.
Just enough to indicate he was still alive.
Seeing that, Lin Zhiyan felt oddly disappointed.
Sigh. Capitalists.
Sigh. They really are hard to kill.
Sigh.
Li Siheng couldn’t stand her attention shifting away from him.
A burst of anger exploded from him.
Leaning forward, he waved the shard wildly.
“Get out! I told you to get out! Or you’re next!”
Lin Zhiyan: “…”
Was he planning to suffocate her by attacking the nitrogen and oxygen molecules around her?
Interesting idea.
Li Siheng continued raging with the ferocity of a madman and the mentality of a child.
Lin Zhiyan, meanwhile, suddenly lunged forward.
She kicked him hard in the shoulder.
The next instant, Li Siheng toppled backward.
Zephi fell with him.
Li Siheng landed flat on his back.
Zephi collapsed across his legs and rolled off to one side.
Lin Zhiyan almost laughed.
She hurried forward, activated the injector, and knelt down.
The needle extended.
[Injector activated. Please administer immediately to personnel suffering severe blood loss for emergency hemostasis and blood regeneration.]
Holy crap.
High-tech.
Almost injected the wrong person.
Realizing her mistake in time, Lin Zhiyan immediately turned toward Zephi.
Without ceremony, she grabbed his head and lifted it.
His consciousness was nearly gone.
His breathing was weak.
His eyes stared blankly at her.
Quick, quick, quick.
Inject him, call everyone in, then leave with my mission accomplished.
Keeping one ear trained on sounds behind her, she tore open Zephi’s shirt and drove the needle into his arm.
The moment she did, blue text appeared on the injector:
[Nanoparticle medication injection in progress. Please follow instructions precisely. Estimated time remaining: 10:00.]
Lin Zhiyan: “…”
Why was there a process?!
She’d thought she could just stab it in and push the plunger.
For a brief moment, standing at the crossroads of her life, Lin Zhiyan felt utterly lost.
First, this wasn’t a game. She couldn’t kill the enemy and heal the ally afterward.
Second, she remembered she hadn’t disarmed anyone.
Third, she could hear Li Siheng moving behind her.
Despair washed over her.
Gritting her teeth, she simply sat down.
The moment she did, sticky blood soaked through her clothes and touched her skin.
She pulled Zephi’s head into her lap and propped his shoulders against her legs.
His silver-white hair spread across her lap.
His bloodstained shirt had been ripped mostly open.
The injector remained embedded in his arm.
Determined not to look too closely at the sculpted lines of his body, Lin Zhiyan said sternly,
“Don’t struggle. Don’t move. Don’t let the medication backflow.”
Zephi’s eyelids fluttered.
Whether he heard her or had already passed out, she couldn’t tell.
She had no time to care.
Looking toward Li Siheng, cold sweat formed on her forehead.
Li Siheng had gotten up.
Yet he seemed to have lost all aggression.
Sitting on the floor, he stared at his right hand.
After several seconds, his shoulders trembled.
His lips parted.
Tiny sobs mixed with his breathing.
The shard lay beside him, soaked in blood.
At a glance, it resembled fragments of a polished red gemstone.
Lin Zhiyan’s throat felt dry.
Her heart pounded.
No.
Need to distract him.
If he picks up that shard again, he might actually kill both Zephi and me in one strike.
“Li Siheng.”
Her voice shook slightly.
Li Siheng looked up.
His eyes were red, the color spreading beneath them into something strangely beautiful and lost.
“Come here.”
Her voice softened, coaxing.
“Did the glass cut your hand too? Does it hurt? Let me see, okay?”
His eyes widened slowly.
Then curved.
Tears spilled forth.
Holding his wrist, he shuffled over and showed it to her.
“It hurts… it hurts so much… so much…”
He cried earnestly.
His face scrunched together.
“Look… it really hurts…”
Lin Zhiyan quietly let out a breath.
Her heartbeat gradually settled.
She’d guessed right.
He was operating with a child’s mindset.
Making herself sound like a patient kindergarten teacher, she said,
“That’s because you weren’t behaving. Didn’t I tell you not to touch that?”
Li Siheng thought seriously.
Then answered,
“I didn’t touch it. I don’t know why. It wasn’t me.”
The injector flashed another reminder.
Lin Zhiyan immediately replied,
“Then think about it carefully again.”
As she spoke, she lowered her head and carefully pushed the medication according to the instructions.
“Mmm…”
Li Siheng pondered very hard.
After advancing another section of medicine, Lin Zhiyan had barely relaxed when something nudged her shoulder.
She jumped.
Her heart nearly stopped.
Looking up, she found Li Siheng had leaned against her.
He glanced at Zephi, then at her, lips pressed together.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Did you remember?”
“No.”
After a pause, he added,
“I didn’t take that thing. Really wasn’t me.”
Clearly, children could lie too.
Sometimes even more shamelessly.
At that moment, Li Siheng leaned against her body.
Covered in blood, his thin red fingers wrapped around her shoulder.
His head rested against hers.
“Not me…” he mumbled. “It was Zephi. He hurt me… believe me, okay? I don’t know what to do. I feel terrible…”
Instinctively, he sought her trust.
His words were clingy and completely illogical.
Lin Zhiyan: “…”
She glanced at Zephi lying across her lap and silently wondered how many times he’d been falsely accused by Li Siheng since childhood.
“But Zephi’s hurt too. How do you explain that?” she asked.
“I’m the one who saw you threatening him.”
“He stabbed himself.”
Li Siheng looked completely sincere.
His gray-black eyes were wet.
“He hurt me.”
He seemed even more aggrieved.
“Just now he forced me into this. I never wanted to kill him. It hurts so much… look at me. I’m seriously injured. And…”
His damp eyes lifted upward.
A thick darkness surfaced within them.
His voice became soft.
“You told me to kill him too. You don’t like Zephi either, right? I’m better than him. He’s always mean to me…”
Lin Zhiyan: “…”
Wow.
You brothers are seriously dark.
Her fingers brushed lightly through Zephi’s hair as she looked up at Li Siheng.
“Do you know who I am?”
Confusion appeared in his eyes.
But he looked at her seriously.
Lin Zhiyan smiled.
“You don’t know who I am. Which means you don’t know how to make me like you.”
Li Siheng tilted his head.
“…What?”
She leaned closer.
“If you grow up a little more, maybe I’ll like you better. And once you’ve grown up, we can do more things together.”
“But how can I control that?”
Li Siheng didn’t understand.
Lin Zhiyan’s eyes curved slightly.
Without realizing it, she twirled a few strands of Zephi’s hair around her finger.
“That’s a shame. I actually liked you a lot.”
“I wanted to kiss you.”
The moment she said it, she suddenly felt the hair in her hand move slightly.
Looking down, Zephi still appeared unconscious.
Only his tightly furrowed brows had changed.
Before she could speak, Li Siheng tightened his grip around her shoulder and pulled her attention back to himself.
Like a snake, he leaned forward until his face was right in front of hers.
His eyelashes trembled.
His expression was innocent.
His tone solemn.
“Really?”
“Really.”
Li Siheng immediately said,
“I’ve grown up.”
Lin Zhiyan: “…Just saying you’ve grown up doesn’t mean you’ve grown up.”
She lightly bumped her nose against his.
The strands of Zephi’s hair slipped free from her fingers.
Smiling, she said,
“When you remember who I am, then you’ll count as grown up.”
After she touched noses with him, a tiny spark of light appeared in Li Siheng’s eyes.
He couldn’t find words.
He simply nodded over and over, like a wobbling toy doll.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read Not Me, The Fans! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : Not Me, The Fans
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