Chapter 59: The Devil’s Sacrifice (09p1)
Helan Duo stared at Yu Jiao for a moment, then lifted a hand and tucked a fallen strand of hair behind his ear. Another impeccable, perfect posture. Helan Duo smiled.
“Of course. It would be my honor.”
“…”
After getting the ointment, Helan Duo tapped the screen on the side a few times. An examination table extended, looking cold and hard. But his voice was soft. “Madam, please lie on the ‘bed’. I will apply the medicine for you now.”
—It was hard to say this wasn’t his revenge.
What a petty man.
Yu Jiao shot Helan Duo a glare, took off her thick, cotton shawl and spread it on the examination table, then gracefully sat down. Yu Jiao lifted her smooth, slender legs and said in a coquettish voice, “Could I trouble you to take off my shoes, Dr. Helan?”
—Two can play at that game.
The pure and noble Helan Duo stared at her arrogant, provocative feet for a moment, then put on his usual, flawless smile. “My honor.”
Helan Duo took Yu Jiao’s ankle in one hand and, with the other, deftly removed her shoe.
The white medical gloves, at this moment, also added a touch of professionalism to this “attentive service.”
Just as Yu Jiao was enjoying the sight of his elegant, arrogant face, humbly performing such an inappropriate, “lowly” task, she saw that after Helan Duo had taken off her shoes, he did not let go. Instead, Helan Duo held both her slender ankles with one hand and, with a “humble” lift, pulled her legs straight.
“What are you doing!”
Yu Jiao couldn’t struggle. Yu Jiao kicked her legs, aggrieved, like a rabbit with its feet tied.
With a ding!, restraints shot out from both sides of the examination table and tightly bound her hands to the surface.
Now, Yu Jiao was truly a prey, at his mercy.
“What am I doing?”
Helan Duo repeated her question in a gentle voice. With his free hand, he took some ointment and, tilting his head, smiled. “Applying the medicine for the Madam.”
His handsome, beautiful face looked extremely hateful.
Because of the position, the hem of Yu Jiao’s skirt had slid down, and her two pale, straight legs were now completely exposed to his gaze.
Helan Duo’s two fingers, covered in ointment, like a brush, lightly swept from Yu Jiao’s ankle to her thigh.
Helan Duo tilted his head slightly, his long eyelashes lowered, looking both focused and nonchalant, as if he were playing some classical instrument.
The smooth ointment soothed her unhealed wounds, bringing a cool, itchy sensation. The reddish scars immediately disappeared.
Yu Jiao stopped struggling.
—She had always been a person who adapted well to sudden situations and would then wait for an opportunity to retaliate.
After slowly applying the medicine to her legs, Helan Duo looked up, his beautifully curved eyes smiling. “Is the Madam satisfied with my service?”
Yu Jiao looked at him coldly. “No. Very unsatisfied. Can you let me go now?”
“Unsatisfied…”
Helan Duo looked troubled and self-reproachful. He blinked and said sincerely, “Then I must redouble my efforts to satisfy the Madam.”
“You!”
Yu Jiao was furious. Before she could get angry, she felt a chill—that bastard Helan Duo had pushed the hem of her skirt up above her waist!
The position was extremely shameful. Yu Jiao was like an infant, unable to care for herself, having her diaper changed.
Anyway, this guy isn’t doing anything extra. Yu Jiao simply turned her head and told herself to endure it for a while. Later…
“…”
Over there, after seeing the long, crescent-shaped scar on her side, Helan Duo’s pupils constricted.
“…”
Helan Duo’s gaze darkened. He traced circles with his fingers as he applied the medicine, but after a long moment, it showed no signs of healing.
Yu Jiao knew: this scar was from before she had entered the game. It could not be erased in the game.
Yu Jiao reminded him coldly, “This is an old wound. Don’t waste your time.”
Hearing this, Helan Duo closed his eyes. After a few breaths, when he opened them again, he was calm.
Helan Duo released her from her restraints and took off the ointment-covered gloves, throwing them away.
The moment her legs were free, Yu Jiao kicked him, hard and accurate.
“…”
Helan Duo intercepted her without looking back, and her ankle, for the second time, was in his hand.
“What? Does the Madam want to continue?”
Helan Duo chuckled and looked back, then rolled over and pressed down on her legs, leaning over her. His pale, affectionate eyes were close, like a flower in a mirror, a moon in the water, looking past her to a fantasy.
Helan Duo caressed her cheek and said in a low voice, “The Madam’s command, I dare not disobey.”
Helan Duo was acting all affectionate, but Yu Jiao was unmoved. She sneered, “When I commanded you to let me go, why did you dare to disobey?”
Helan Duo smiled but said nothing, burying his head in the crook of Yu Jiao’s neck. His breath was cool, like wet, cold seaweed.
A large, jade-like, cold hand caressed her body, rubbing it slowly, like a dazed, affectionate caress.
Yu Jiao felt strange. A chill suddenly shot through her ear, and then, the communicator on her ear was as if swept away by something—Fu Sheng’s stammering, inexperienced whisper was cut short.
The thing that had swept away the communicator was long, thin, wet, cool, and smooth. Like the tongue of a toad, or the… tentacle of a mollusk?
Before Yu Jiao could react, she felt Helan Duo lean in close to her ear, his clear, hoarse voice certain:
“You are not Yu Jiao.”
“…”
My identity has been discovered. So his strange closeness just now was a feint.
Yu Jiao’s heart sank slightly.
Yu Jiao knew Helan Duo was a smart person. If he didn’t have ironclad proof, he would never have come to this conclusion. Yu Jiao might as well stop pretending and look directly into his dark, pale green eyes:
“When did you know?”
Helan Duo stood up without a shred of reluctance, tied his long hair back again, and then answered coolly:
“The first time I saw you.”
Helan Duo was really too sharp.
Although Yu Jiao had no memory of the original owner, she had been very cautious since entering this instance. Logically, she shouldn’t have left any flaws. Even Yuan Cang and Nie Hongshen, who had been in close contact with her, had not suspected her.
Yu Jiao had never thought that Helan Duo would have discovered that she was not the original the first time he saw her.
“Why?” Yu Jiao frowned. “How did you find out?”
“It was too obvious.”
Helan Duo sat on a chair to the side and, with a bent index finger, raised his hand, as if he were tracing Yu Jiao’s silhouette.
“She is a very boring person, like a string puppet, or a pre-programmed procedure.”
Helan Duo propped his chin on his hand, his pale green eyes narrowing. “And you… are very interesting.”
Seeing that Yu Jiao was not very satisfied with this vague answer, Helan Duo’s gaze moved down and landed on her abdomen. “I was already very sure, but when I saw the scar on your side just now, I knew that you were not her.”
Yu Jiao: “What do you mean?”
Helan Duo said coolly, “She is a perfect humanoid weapon, without any flaws—as for why I know so much, it’s because she and I are partners.”
Yu Jiao was taken aback.
Yu Jiao had thought that the original owner and she shared the same body. Could it be that only after she had truly entered the game would she replace the original owner’s body with her own… and, the original owner and Helan Duo were partners?
As Yu Jiao was lost in thought, Helan Duo suddenly leaned in very close, his probing gaze on her face. “But, I’m really curious. Why do you and she look exactly the same?”
“Has the Moon Moth’s cloning technology become so mature?” Helan Duo asked with a smile.
Catching the extremely subtle change in her expression, Helan Duo laughed. “You don’t know the Moon Moth?”
His tone was a little questioning, and he stared at her without blinking.
Based on the context and his previous action of destroying the monitor, Yu Jiao reasonably deduced that the so-called “Moon Moth” was Nie Hongshen’s biotechnology company.
So, Yu Jiao answered, “How could I not know the organization I belong to?”
Helan Duo smiled meaningfully, as if he had already seen through her disguise.
“The Moon Moth and the Apocalypse Cult have always been at odds. Not many people know about Nie Hongshen’s identity…”
Helan Duo suddenly took a small knife from a nearby table and toyed with it in his hand, his gaze slanted. “Who sent you?”
Yu Jiao was still bound to the examination table, at his mercy. Seeing his perverted, murderous look, the hair on her back stood on end.
“My partner has been replaced by you. Do you think there’s any need for me to keep you?”
Helan Duo’s gaze was gentle, but in contrast, his sharp blade was caressing her bare skin, inch by inch. With a slight push, Yu Jiao would be splattered with blood.
Her mind was racing. “If you don’t tell me what your cooperation was, how can you be sure that I have no value? Besides, you’ve already admitted that I’m very smart.*”
Yu Jiao lifted her chin slightly.
Though she was in a weak position, she was negotiating with him with such confidence.
Helan Duo narrowed his eyes, looking as if he had been persuaded. He explained slowly, “I help her cover for herself in the Apocalypse Cult, and she finds something for me in the Moon Moth.”
…So the original owner was a double agent.
Yu Jiao immediately took over. “Nie Hongshen hasn’t suspected my identity yet. I can take her place and help you find that thing in the Moon Moth.”
“Well…” Helan Duo deliberately drew out his words. “That’s possible.”
Yu Jiao’s heart relaxed slightly, but then she saw the knife return to her neck, its cold blade lifting her chin.
Helan Duo said slowly, “I’m really curious now. Who are you? What is your intention in risking your life and going deep into the tiger’s den and the wolf’s lair?”
The corners of Yu Jiao’s eyes curved up, and her glistening grey eyes were reflected in the incandescent light. “Researcher Helan is so smart. You should be able to guess, right? I won’t deprive you of the fun of solving the puzzle.”
Her clothes were in disarray, and her bare skin, set off by the black cotton shawl, was like spotless white snow, stirring an unstoppable desire to destroy in the viewer’s heart. And her voice was seductive. “You can think of me as your experiment.”
His hand grew a little heavy.
Her delicate skin was broken by the blade, and a vibrant drop of blood slid down, a piercingly beautiful sight on her pale white neck.
Helan Duo timely caught the drop of blood in a test tube. He lowered his eyes and smiled. “You’re right. I’m looking forward to uncovering your secret.”
“…”
The test tube with the blood was labeled: [A secret, waiting to be discovered], and then it was placed in a cold, steaming box.
“Now,”
After Helan Duo had done all this, Yu Jiao shot him a glance and gestured. “Can you release your partner now?”
…