Chapter 36: The Unmasking

A staff member greeted Hua Mu’ai with a warm smile, urging, “Please, come right in, young lady.”

The door slid shut behind them, and the gondola began its slow ascent.

An awkward silence settled within the confined space.

Hua Mu’ai stood with her arms crossed, her gaze fixed silently on the view outside the window.

‘Was this truly another coincidence?’

‘I’m not so easily fooled, young lady.’

Xia Xingyan broke the silence, her voice still cool and clear. “What a coincidence,” she remarked. “We meet again.”

“Indeed, quite the coincidence,” Hua Mu’ai retorted, her smile failing to reach her eyes.

She subtly assessed her opponent.

Xia Xingyan maintained an impeccably proper posture; her hands rested neatly on her lap, her back ramrod straight, embodying the perfect decorum of a refined young lady.

Yet, Hua Mu’ai observed a tell: Xia Xingyan’s left index finger, resting on her knee, was unconsciously tapping a subtle rhythm.

This was a classic unconscious tell, a nervous tic exhibited by those who were either lying or under immense stress.

During her time as Tian Lanxing, Hua Mu’ai had interrogated countless unyielding criminals, becoming intimately familiar with such micro-expressions and body language.

‘This woman is very likely lying!’

A cold sneer formed in Hua Mu’ai’s mind.

[Combat instinct activated.]

[Target: Young woman ahead.]

[Physiological data scanning… Heart rate: 110 beats/min. Adrenaline level: mildly elevated. Micro-expression analysis: none.]

[Overall assessment: Target is in a state of high tension and excitement.]

The data presented by the system unequivocally confirmed her suspicions.

‘She really is lying!’

‘Oh, so she’s playing a covert game with me here? Everything that happened before suddenly makes perfect sense.’

Rage surged through Hua Mu’ai, consuming her.

“Xia Xingyan, are you out of your mind?!” she finally burst, her composure shattering. “Ever since the haunted house, you’ve been plotting against me! Is it amusing? Does it give you a great sense of accomplishment to make a fool out of me?”

Xia Xingyan froze, taken aback by the ferocity of the outburst.

She had never anticipated such a violent reaction from Hua Mu’ai.

Each angry word Hua Mu’ai uttered gnawed away at Xia Xingyan’s composure.

‘No, that’s not it.’

‘I merely wanted to see you one more time.’

She desperately yearned to explain, to apologize, to force even the most humble smile onto her lips to diffuse the tense atmosphere.

Yet, her throat felt as if it were constricted by concrete, and the muscles in her face refused to respond in the slightest.

Ultimately, she could only manage to rasp out three words.

“I didn’t…”

“You dare deny it?!” Hua Mu’ai sprang to her feet. “Do you truly believe I’m ignorant? Over sixty percent of Golden Island’s industries are owned by your Xia family! Orchestrating a lottery and engineering a few ‘chance encounters’ would be utterly trivial for a Young Miss Xia such as yourself, wouldn’t it?”

Earlier that afternoon, after their thrilling ride on the drop tower, Gu Qianqian had been browsing online for travel tips when she stumbled upon information revealing the Xia family’s controlling stake in the island, inadvertently informing all three of them.

“You…” Xia Xingyan’s pupils constricted imperceptibly.

“Hmph, I hit the mark, didn’t I?!” Hua Mu’ai’s chest heaved with indignant fury. “Drop your pathetic act! That wooden expression of yours, combined with your deceptive little tells, makes me absolutely sick to my stomach!”

‘Sick…’

The single word utterly shattered Xia Xingyan.

‘To think that in the eyes of the person she revered most, she was nothing short of repulsive.’

‘Why… why can’t I even manage to utter a simple “I’m sorry”?’

‘Why am I incapable of even showing a sorrowful expression?’

As she gazed into the furious, burning purple eyes, a sharp pang shot through her heart.

‘She had only wished to draw a little closer to her “light,” so why had it led to such a devastating outcome?’

Her eyes suddenly burned, and tears welled up uncontrollably, tracing paths down her cheeks.

Yet, her face remained an impassive mask, an iceberg that had weathered millennia without changing.

Witnessing the tears silently stream from Xia Xingyan’s eyes, the scathing words Hua Mu’ai had prepared abruptly lodged in her throat.

‘What the hell… why is she crying?’

Just then, the entire gondola jolted to a halt, and every light on the Ferris wheel abruptly extinguished.

A chorus of gasps erupted from the other tourists.

Their gondola, coincidentally, had come to rest precisely at the Ferris wheel’s apex.

Below, the city lights glittered like scattered jewels, a breathtaking, dreamlike spectacle, yet neither woman was in any mood to appreciate it.

Hua Mu’ai paused, then a cold sneer twisted her lips as she looked at the shadowy figure beside her in the sudden darkness.

“This wouldn’t happen to be another one of your elaborate schemes, would it, Young Miss Xia?”

In the enveloping darkness, Xia Xingyan offered no reply.

She simply retrieved her phone in silence, her fingers tapping a few times on the screen.

‘Originally, this had been intended as the most romantic part of her entire plan.’

‘To pause at the highest point, sharing the most beautiful night view with her “light.”

‘But now…’

‘It would be better if this simply ended quickly.’

Mere seconds later, the gondola’s interior lights flickered back to life, and the Ferris wheel resumed its slow, deliberate rotation.

‘It truly was her.’

Hua Mu’ai was utterly speechless.

‘This woman would go to such extreme lengths just to get close to her.’

‘A madwoman.’

No further words passed between them.

As soon as the gondola touched down and the door hissed open, Hua Mu’ai bolted out, never once glancing back.

Just before disappearing into the crowd, she turned her head slightly, her face etched with undisguised revulsion.

“Your expression never changes, does it, Xia Xingyan?”

“Are you truly incapable of showing emotion?”

With those words, she vanished amidst the throng.

Only Xia Xingyan remained, standing motionless, allowing that chilling question to echo, endlessly, within the hollow chambers of her heart.

‘She had lived for Tian Lanxing; if even that purpose were stripped away, what meaning would life hold?’

****

Within the opulent presidential suite of the hot spring resort.

Xia Xingyan stood before a colossal floor-to-ceiling mirror.

The young woman reflected there, possessing peerless beauty, appeared nonetheless as a lifeless sculpture.

She raised a hand, her fingers gently tracing the contours of her own face.

Then, she attempted to pull at the corners of her mouth, striving to form a “smile.”

Yet, no matter how desperately she tried, the muscles in her face remained utterly rigid, as if they were not her own, refusing to obey her will.

She then attempted to contort her features into expressions of “anger” and “sorrow.”

The outcome remained the same.

On that unyielding face, aside from her faintly reddened eyes, not a single trace of emotion could be discerned.

‘Are you truly incapable of showing emotion?’

The look of utter disgust on Hua Mu’ai’s face as she uttered those words pierced deeply into Xia Xingyan’s heart.

‘Why can’t I even manage the simplest expressions?’

Her mind drifted back to when she was merely six years old.

It was the first time she had claimed victory in a national piano competition.

Clutching the gleaming golden trophy, she had excitedly raced home, eager to share her triumph first and foremost with her mother.

“Mama, look! I won first place!”

What awaited her, however, was neither praise nor a warm embrace.

Instead, a resounding slap.

“*Smack!*”

The sharp crack echoed ominously through the cavernous living room.

Her small body reeled from the impact, and a vivid, angry red mark swiftly blossomed on her delicate cheek.

Every servant present bowed their heads, not daring to even breathe.

Clutching her stinging face, she gazed up at her mother, her eyes wide with disbelief.

The woman stared down at her, her voice devoid of any warmth.

“I have cautioned you numerous times before,” she stated, “an heir of the Xia family does not lose composure over such trivialities.”

“Quickly compose yourself and discard that inappropriate expression!”

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