Chapter 53: The Devil’s Sacrifice (03)
“Of course it’s mine.”
Yuan Cang, though he was in the wrong, was full of confidence. “The one in her belly is the next heir of the Yu family, and I am the current head. How is it not my cub?”
…Of course it’s not.
This bizarre and simplistic view of ethics made the room fall silent. After a long moment, the AI butler corrected him, “Young Master, the one in the Madam’s belly is your younger sister or brother. You should say, ‘I’m going to be a big brother’.”
Yuan Cang: “Oh.”
“…”
Helan Duo pressed a hand to his forehead. “For a second there, I actually believed your idiotic nonsense.”
Yuan Cang: “?”
He immediately shouted, “A81, is having a fake brain something to be proud of?”
Helan Duo let out a soft laugh.
“You haven’t changed a bit in all these years. Still so brazenly stupid.”
Even his harsh words were delivered in a voice that was gentle to the extreme.
Helan Duo crossed his arms and, first, tapped his temple. “First, this is the brain that your Yu family hired for a hefty price.”
“Second,” his long, slender fingers moved down and tapped his name tag, “I have a name.”
A long “oh.”
Yuan Cang bent down, raised an eyebrow, and read, “Hè, ln… zé?”
Yuan Cang maintained his bent posture, his demonic eyes looking up, his gaze like a venomous scorpion, fixed on Helan Duo. He sneered, “What an act.”
Helan Duo looked down at him and smiled. “Idiot. That character is pronounced ‘duó’.”
“…”
“What’s the difference?” Yuan Cang straightened up and met his gaze, a sarcastic smile on his lips.
“Isn’t it just your fig leaf? You’ve learned a lot from the Yu family in these few years. Don’t tell me you’re still… hmm? What was that word again? Something about a foolish heart?”
AI Butler: “I believe you mean to say: ‘a fool’s wish’.”
“Right.”
Yuan Cang’s crimson tongue rolled over his sharp, shark-like teeth, a cruel smile on his face.
“A fool’s wish.”
Helan Duo’s smile didn’t change, but his eyelashes trembled slightly. The change did not escape Yuan Cang’s eyes. He grew even more provocative. “You might as well take the surname Yu, like the old man. Why are you still surnamed He?”
“…”
The cold, heavy aura around Helan Duo suddenly dissipated, and he let out a light, airy laugh.
Yuan Cang: “?”
AI Butler: “…Young Master, that is not the surname ‘He’. It is the compound surname ‘Helan’.”
Yuan Cang: “Huh? Oh.”
Helan Duo: “Hehe, idiot.”
Yuan Cang’s eyebrows shot up, and he was about to trade a few punches with this beast in human form. Just as the farce was about to begin, Yu Jiao sat up and interrupted impatiently:
“Can it be aborted?”
Her calm, hoarse voice made the room fall into a dead silence.
The two who had been at each other’s throats both turned their gazes to her.
The long-haired woman sat on the hospital bed, her face pale, her expression cold as she repeated, “The child. Can it be aborted?”
Yuan Cang paused, let go of Helan Duo’s collar, and pushed him away, narrowing his eyes at Yu Jiao.
Then, without looking back, he elbowed the person beside him and, with a heavy emphasis, said deliberately:
“Dr. Helan, you’ve got a patient.”
Dr. Helan, who had had his back to the hospital bed, finally turned around. He slowly and deliberately smoothed his wrinkled collar and then looked down.
Only then did Yu Jiao see the true face of this angel in white.
He had a high ponytail, his long, light beige hair like a cascading tassel. His pupils were also a light color, almost blending in with his skin, with only a faint, translucent green.
Paired with his moderately proportioned face, he was truly like a white cross, inlaid with jewels, in a church. He could easily make one let down their guard, but Yu Jiao always had a sense of dissonance.
…He was too exquisite to be real.
The corners of his eyes, the bridge of his nose, the arch of his eyebrows, the curve of his lips—every detail was like a perfect equation, calculated by a precision instrument. Even the expression on his face was impeccable.
His eyes were curved, his thin lips slightly upturned, a kind and friendly look.
“No, it can’t,” Helan Duo said with a smile.
Yu Jiao nodded and looked away. “Oh.”
She didn’t press the issue.
Helan Duo’s probing gaze fell on her face. He asked in a gentle voice, “Has the Madam given up on the idea of an abortion? Aren’t you curious why I refused you?”
Hearing this, Yu Jiao laughed inwardly.
—Just as Yuan Cang had said, this Helan Duo loved to put on an act.
A sarcastic, calculating glint flashed in her eyes, all of it hidden by her lowered eyelashes.
Under Yuan Cang and Helan Duo’s probing gazes, the woman was stunned for a moment, then her expression gradually softened, as if she were lost in some beautiful memory. A gentle smile unconsciously appeared on her pale white face. Yu Jiao reached out and caressed her flat abdomen, her entire being radiating a maternal glow.
“I’ve thought it through… This is the last precious thing he left me.”
Yu Jiao looked up, her gaze sorrowful, her voice as soft as a piece of candy, yet it held a moving determination. “I will raise the child well and let our combined bloodline continue.”
“…”
Yuan Cang immediately sneered. Helan Duo looked at her strangely.
Meeting their different gazes, the woman, who had been so sorrowful a second ago, suddenly let out a light laugh. Like a beautiful ghost, emerging from a cold pond, her gentle aura instantly faded and was replaced by a cool, dark, and unfathomable one.
Yu Jiao leisurely propped her head on her hand. The loose hospital gown was bunched up at her elbow, revealing her smooth, full forearm. The slightly upturned corners of her eyes held an undisguised, contemptuous smile.
“Are you satisfied with that answer?”
The upward lilt of her voice was like a hook.
—Of course, she was not overflowing with maternal instincts.
Because Yu Jiao didn’t know the original owner’s personality and experiences, a half-true, half-false reaction like this would leave room for them to fill in the blanks.
It was also a way to pave the way for her future “personality change.”
But, she really wasn’t sure whose child it was.
Yu Fenghe? “lover”? Or… a ghost’s child?
At the thought of the last possibility, Yu Jiao felt as if ants were crawling all over her. She just wanted to get rid of this hot potato as quickly as possible.
But she didn’t know the original owner’s love life, let alone her married life with Yu Fenghe. She didn’t dare to act rashly. Her question about the abortion just now was just a test—after all, she could justify it in any way.
It could be that she was heartbroken after losing her husband, or that she wanted to get rid of the burden and find a new love…
Just as Yu Jiao was thinking this, her vision suddenly blurred.
Whoosh!
A figure flashed by, and then, with a loud bang, she felt the entire hospital bed shake. As she was feeling dizzy, she suddenly felt a vigorous, clean presence wash over her, with an extremely aggressive quality.
Yu Jiao looked up and met a pair of strange pupils, glowing with a dark light.
Yuan Cang braced his arms on the headboard and leaned in close to her. A distance that would make any widow sound the alarm.
Yu Jiao tilted her head slightly, and his well-defined arm came into her view.
Not to mention, Yuan Cang had one leg bent and resting on the bed, his overly scorching body heat penetrating the thin blanket and invading her.
“Mother.”
Yu Jiao frowned and looked at his wild yet soft and beautiful face.
—This person had a magic that made any outrageous act seem justified.
Even pinning his newly widowed stepmother to the bed;
Even after just calling her ‘mother’, he was spouting wild, rebellious words of flirtation:
“This disdainful look of yours is really something.”
Yuan Cang stared at her without blinking and slowly licked his lips.
As if he were contemplating where to take the first bite.
Yu Jiao coldly accepted his simple yet bizarre compliment. Just as she had grown accustomed to his simple yet bizarre sense of ethics.
Her cold expression didn’t change.
Not far away, Helan Duo’s gaze was still on the lingering sarcasm and contempt in her eyes.
Tracing it inch by inch.
His gaze had a strange, critical quality, as if he were comparing experimental results and finding that the data was exactly the same as the accurate values. There was a nitpicking harshness to it, yet it also held an inescapable… craving.
A mixture of the desire to destroy, to devour, and to study.
Snap.
Helan Duo closed the medical file and, with a light and gentle voice, made his decision:
“Madam, please come and see me here at eight o’clock every night from now on.”
Meeting Yu Jiao’s questioning gaze, he narrowed his eyes and smiled, slowly uttering four words:
“Prenatal check-up.”
“…”
Yu Jiao was still half-enclosed in Yuan Cang’s embrace. She looked at the tall, jade-like Helan Duo from a distance, as if she were being drawn into the vortex of his pale green eyes. No matter how she looked at it, he had ill intentions. Another act that would make any widow sound the alarm.
Yuan Cang also shot him a sidelong glance, staring at the doctor with the face of a man and the heart of a beast. He lifted the corner of his lip in a knowing sneer. Then he moved slightly, completely blocking Helan Duo’s figure, and dominated her field of vision.
But Yuan Cang didn’t veto the invitation, which sounded wrong, was non-negotiable, and did not allow for refusal. As if there were some unspoken, tacit understanding.
Yu Jiao looked up and silently studied his expression, but then she saw him place his hand on her lower abdomen.
A scorching heat was transmitted, but the five long, sharp claws brought a chilling threat.
“I’m really looking forward to the birth of our child.”
Yuan Cang gave a big smile.
…
Yuan Cang’s sense of ethics was clearly rotten to the core. No amount of correction could make him a model citizen.
Yu Jiao had no desire to deal with him. Just then, the AI butler reminded her, “Madam, it’s time to prepare to receive the guests who have come to pay their respects.”
It paused and asked considerately, “Is your body able to handle it?”
Yu Jiao nodded, pushed him away, and got off the hospital bed. Without a glance at the two men with their different expressions, she put on the jacket that the mechanical arm had handed her and followed the AI butler’s guidance out of the infirmary.
The woman’s slender figure was hidden in the loose jacket. Just as the automatic door was about to close.
“Madam.”
Helan Duo’s unique and beautiful voice drifted out:
“When you’re alone… please don’t keep looking in the mirror just because you’re beautiful.”
His meaningful words made Yu Jiao’s heart skip a beat.
But then she heard him chuckle to himself, his voice soft. “I’m afraid you’ll be late for the afternoon memorial service.”
“…”
“Then, see you later.”
Click. The door closed.
Fu Sheng and Ruo Meng, who were standing guard outside the door, bowed.
After a pause, Yu Jiao walked on without looking back, following the indicator lights through the complex white corridor and back to her room.
But this time, she didn’t dismiss the maids. Instead, she let them come in and help her dress.
Yu Jiao stood naked before the mirror, while the two maids tidied the clothes the AI butler had chosen for her and carefully helped her put them on. Yu Jiao tilted her head slightly—the portrait was hanging on the wall, directly opposite the main door.
Nothing out of the ordinary.
Fu Sheng stood on her tiptoes and carefully fastened the buttons of the cheongsam.
Yu Jiao looked down at her.
Yu Jiao couldn’t help but wonder how her tightly closed mechanical eyes could accurately find the small buttons.
On the other side, Ruo Meng was standing on a stool, combing Yu Jiao’s hair.
They were both about fourteen or fifteen years old, still children. Yu Jiao didn’t know what kind of roles they played in this treacherous world.
When Fu Sheng had fastened the last button, and when Ruo Meng had gathered all her hair behind her head, Yu Jiao looked up at the mirror and stared for a long time—
There, on her pale white neck, was an irregular black pattern, like a strangulation mark.
And like a collar, a mark from some unknown being.
Yu Jiao’s gaze darkened.
…No one could see this but her.
Including Yuan Cang, Helan Duo, and Fu Sheng and Ruo Meng.
—At least, they showed no signs of seeing anything unusual.
Yu Jiao was sure that they hadn’t let their gaze linger on this spot for even a second.
A mark that only she could see… it was like a smug display of power.
Yu Jiao closed her eyes.
“It’s done, Madam.”
Ruo Meng, whose mechanical mouth was tightly closed, spoke from somewhere.
Yu Jiao opened her eyes.
Fu Sheng timely handed her a wide-brimmed hat with a black veil and pearls. She reminded her in a low voice:
“Madam, there are many guests today, a mixed crowd. It is not appropriate for you to show your face.”
Yu Jiao’s eyebrow arched slightly.
This future world not only has a retro aesthetic, but its values also have a whiff of foot-binding, she thought.
She just didn’t know if these rules were only for the identity of the ‘cult leader’s wife’.
Yu Jiao was silent, and obediently put on the ‘cult leader’s wife’s’ hat.
…
The Memorial Service
This was a vast, snow-white, circular venue. The dome seemed to be endlessly high. One could vaguely see the magnificent relief carvings above, but not what they depicted, as they were veiled in a hazy, gauze-like material of unknown origin.
Like looking down at the surrounding clouds from an airplane.
Layer upon layer, bizarre and grotesque, indescribable. It made one clearly feel their own insignificance.
The unknown white gauze hung down, and a wind from an unknown source made it sway slightly.
Even the wide gauze was far from the people on the ground.
A distant chant echoed ethereally in this space.
In the holy whiteness, only the coffin in the center was a heavy, oppressive black.
A few followers in white robes were gathered around the coffin, praying in low voices. Others were moving through the empty hall, guiding the guests.
“Is that Mr. Yu’s wife?” a guest asked in a low voice.
His companion followed his gaze.
Among the neatly kneeling, white-robed followers, the black figure was particularly striking.
Not only because she was dressed in black, but also because her body, wrapped in the cheongsam, was graceful and alluring. Just her back was a stunning sight, making it impossible for one to look away.
“No wonder Mr. Yu, who was a widower for so many years and lived a life of abstinence, would remarry.”
The two of them exchanged a knowing smile.
Just as they were about to indulge their imagination further, a voice as cold as ice, “Move,” cut them off.
Before the two of them could react, two tall bodyguards ruthlessly separated them. The next moment, a woman in sunglasses strode through them and, without looking back, walked towards the coffin in the center.
Looking at the woman’s back, who was dressed in a black suit, the two gossips’ faces immediately turned green.
“Yu Bingci!”
—It was too awkward to be talking bad about someone’s brother in front of their sister.
No wonder she had insisted on walking between them, even though the path was so wide. She was definitely venting her brother’s anger.
But… didn’t everyone say that the brother and sister had a very bad relationship?
The two of them had no time to think. Seeing that Yu Bingci had no intention of pursuing the matter, they tucked their tails between their legs and were about to flee when, suddenly, a shadow blocked their path.
Above the shadow were two precise mechanical wheels, and above that were custom-made leather shoes on footrests, and two long, slender legs, encased in suit trousers.
The man in the wheelchair was propping his head on his hand, looking at them with a half-smile.
“Mr… Mr. Nie…”
The two of them swallowed at the same time.
Although the man was in a wheelchair, and his height was much lower than theirs, the aura around him and the status he represented made the two of them tremble, as if they were ants, about to be crushed under his leather shoes.
“It’s not appropriate to say such things at a deceased person’s funeral, is it?”
A deep, magnetic voice sounded, like a harp, played by the dead on the banks of the River Styx.
“S-sorry!!”
The two gossips were almost in despair.
—Although Mr. Nie is Yu Bingci’s legal husband, I heard that his relationship with his brother-in-law is also like fire and water. Why is he venting his anger for him!?
The two, whose careers had just been cut short, couldn’t figure it out, no matter how hard they thought. Why was Mr. Nie displeased?
—
“Hello.”
A cold greeting came from behind.
With the help of the maid, Yu Jiao stood up and turned to the newcomer.
The woman, dressed in a black suit, took off her sunglasses, her grey-blue eyes shooting over with a scrutinizing gaze.
Her long hair was slicked back with gel, and the contours of her exposed face were somewhat sharp. There were faint lines on her brow and cheeks, and she looked difficult to get along with.
Yu Jiao bore a three-tenths resemblance to Yu Fenghe.
“Yu Bingci.”
Yu Bingci extended her hand briskly and added, “Yu Fenghe’s half-sister, from the same mother.”
While Yu Jiao was sizing up Yu Bingci, Yu Bingci was also sizing her up.
This new sister-in-law was dressed in a well-tailored cheongsam—a flicker of sarcasm crossed Yu Bingci’s eyes: the peculiar taste of that half-brother of hers—but even with her bias, Yu Bingci had to admit that her little sister-in-law looked stunning in it.
It was a pleasing sight even to her, a woman who disliked dressing up.
A sleeveless, high-slit cheongsam, black gloves covering her forearms, a black velvet shawl, and low-heeled black ankle boots.
The exposed sections of her skin were like snow and jade, not at all outshone by the holy whiteness of the hall. In fact, the healthy, cool-pink glow of her skin made her even more captivating, so beautiful it was hard to look away.
It was just a pity that she wore a veiled hat that concealed her face, offering only a hazy, tantalizing glimpse of her rich beauty, inviting one to explore further.
The beauty extended her hand. Her slender fingers, encased in black lace gloves, lightly took Yu Bingci’s.
“Hello, I’m Yu Jiao.”
Her voice was also cool and soft, quite likable, not to mention the generous smile she offered from behind the black veil.
Yu Bingci’s favorable impression of this sister-in-law, who was much younger than her, increased significantly.
Yu Jiao smiled.
—Prior to this, she had already gathered information about this sister-in-law through various channels.
When Yu Jiao heard that she and Yu Fenghe did not get along, Yu Jiao had thought: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. She was determined to try and get close.
Just as the two were about to converse, a low, smiling voice was heard:
“Bingci, is this our little sister-in-law?”
Hearing the voice, Yu Bingci let out a very soft click of her tongue and turned her head coolly.
Yu Jiao also looked over and saw a man in a mechanical wheelchair approaching gracefully.
It had to be said, he was indeed a very charismatic man.
Silver-grey hair, violet eyes, deep-set features. His broad shoulders filled out his suit, and his entire being radiated the hormones of a mature man. Being in a wheelchair did not detract from his handsomeness; in fact, it added an air of composure and disdain.
“Hello, little sister-in-law.”
His voice was deep and rich, yet it was like a light feather, tickling one’s ear, over and over.
He extended a well-defined hand. The blue veins on the back of it snaked into his cuff, giving off a strangely sensual air.
“Nie Hongshen.”
Just as he finished introducing himself, Yu Jiao heard the system notification sound.
【All four capture targets have now appeared.】
Yu Jiao paused, a strange thought in her mind: The last capture target to appear is this Nie Hongshen? Yu Bingci’s husband?? My brother-in-law???
Even her sense of ethics, which had been tempered by Yuan Cang’s wild remarks, couldn’t help but be a little shaken.
However, the next moment, the system notification sounded again:
【Please answer the following questions:】
【1. Your secret lover is ____】
【2. The father of your child is ____】
【3. Your unspeakable secret is ____】
【4. You were used by ____】
【5. ■■ You have forgotten ____】