Chapter 70: The Devil’s Sacrifice (20)
Revenge?
How to take revenge? It couldn’t be what she was thinking, could it…
The eighteen-year-old ‘Helan Duo’s’ jade-like face was a delectable red. He struggled to lift his eyelids, his damp eyes like a spring fog, hazily locking onto Yu Jiao.
He panted and murmured, “Mother… run…”
The twenty-nine-year-old Helan Duo let out a soft laugh, his moist lips curving into a cruel arc. He said in an incredibly gentle and pleasant voice:
“Idiot.”
The silver-grey scale-spine coiled around ‘Helan Duo’s’ slender, fragile neck.
Helan Duo slowly tightened his grip and sighed, “To think I went to such lengths to make up for the regrets of the past.”
“You couldn’t even grasp the opportunity I gave you.”
As he spoke, the cold tip of the scale-spine contemptuously tapped ‘Helan Duo’s’ face.
…This Helan Duo, whether in appearance, clothing, scale-spine, or other aspects, was exactly the same as in reality.
Yu Jiao frowned. “Why can you appear in your original form in the dream?”
Hearing this, Helan Duo turned his head and answered in a soft, gentle voice, “In the end, it’s just a virtual game. As long as you decipher the underlying data, you can rewrite the state. Isn’t that how you got rid of the drug’s effects? But—”
He curved his beautiful, green eyes, his gaze like a deep, dense silk net.
“Yu Jiao, you really surprise me. To think you could appear in this game with her face. But… a fake is a fake after all—”
As his words fell, the silver-grey scale-spine shot out, wrapped around Yu Jiao’s waist, and pulled her over, stopping her right in front of ‘Helan Duo’.
A flexible scale-spine brought over an armchair, and Helan Duo sat down composedly. The two scale-spines that had congealed in his high ponytail were like tentacles, one restraining Yu Jiao, the other holding his other self.
Helan Duo crossed his hands on his lap and announced in a warm voice:
“Since this play has been rotten from the root, then let’s just go with the flow.”
“…”
“Even if my past wish is fulfilled in such a crude way, I’m happy to see it.”
Helan Duo curved his lips elegantly, but the bottom of his cool, cold eyes was cruel.
“Then now, let’s begin.”
“…”
The scale-spines that bound Yu Jiao and ‘Helan Duo’ forcefully shortened the distance between them, pressing them tightly together.
The clear, pleasant voice was seductive:
“Yu Jiao, you must have been very unhappy to be drugged by this brat. Now… he’s at your mercy. Get your revenge.”
“…”
“As for you, haven’t you been longing for her since you were eleven? You’ve been dreaming of her for seven years… Today is the day your wish is fulfilled.”
The long-awaited fragrance rushed towards him. ‘Helan Duo’ gritted his teeth and turned his head away.
His sharp jawline had a proud, unyielding quality.
“I can’t.”
Helan Duo’s eyebrow arched slightly. “Why not?”
His only response was a cold snort.
“Because I’m not as despicable as you.”
The young man’s eyes were burning like sparks.
As he spoke, a strand of his hair fell, and a snow-white scale-spine suddenly grew out from it, attacking Helan Duo like a shooting star.
A sharp, grating sound of collision—
The snow-white, pure scale-spine was blocked.
The steel-like, silver-grey scale-spine tightened its grip… making a scalp-numbing, cracking sound.
‘Helan Duo’ let out a muffled grunt.
His flushed face turned a little pale, and a cold sweat beaded on his forehead.
Helan Duo sighed.
“Too weak—too naive. The eighteen-year-old me.”
He put on a helpless expression and, at the same time, completely broke his eighteen-year-old self’s scale-spine.
—Crack.
‘Helan Duo’ gritted his teeth and swallowed the cry of pain.
The broken, snow-white scale-spine rolled to Yu Jiao’s feet and, pitifully, curled up like a living thing.
Sensing Yu Jiao’s unbearable gaze, ‘Helan Duo’ pressed his pale lips together and turned his face away.
The next moment, he was forcefully turned back.
Helan Duo propped his chin on his hand and feigned puzzlement. “Don’t want to be so despicable? But… you, me, we… aren’t we always so despicable?”
At this, he couldn’t help but sneer:
“Helan Duo, have you been pretending to be a gentleman for so long that you’ve deceived yourself?”
‘Helan Duo’ closed his eyes.
However, the voice, which was the same as his, was incessant.
“Or—you don’t want a substitute? But, you didn’t notice from beginning to end that your long-cherished mother had been replaced.”
The silver-grey scale-spine brushed past the corner of Yu Jiao’s eye, forcing her to narrow them.
Just then, ‘Helan Duo’, who had been at a disadvantage, curled his lips into a cold, sarcastic smile.
The silver-grey scale-spine grabbed his hair and forced him to lift his face.
“What are you laughing at?”
Helan Duo smiled. “Say it, so I can be happy too.”
“Ha—”
The young man opened his eyes, his gaze cold and sharp. “I’m laughing that the grown-up me would become so annoying, so self-righteous, so blind to the truth—”
The silver-grey scale-spine wrapped around his neck, cutting off his unfinished words.
“What right do you have to judge me? You—”
In the experience of near-death, ‘Helan Duo’ narrowed his eyes and smiled, very naturally picking up his words. “Yes, I’m just a piece of fake electronic data, implanted with your experiences of the first eighteen years, simulating your image at the age of eighteen.”
His slightly childish face was calm.
“…”
…He actually knew.
Yu Jiao was a little surprised.
Helan Duo raised his eyebrow with interest. “I didn’t expect you to have guessed.”
“In that case,” he said, enunciating each word, “you should understand that no matter what, a fake can never compare to the real thing.”
His words were a double entendre.
He was both mocking the virtual image, which was made with him as a reference, and whose abilities were certainly far inferior to the original;
And he was also implying that Yu Jiao, as a substitute, could not compare to the real white moonlight, Jiao Hongyue.
“…”
‘Helan Duo’ narrowed his eyes, and a hint of contempt flashed in his green eyes, which were just like his. “You’re not so great either.”
So what if he’s the original?
He’s still blind to the truth. He actually didn’t notice—
—The “fake” he was so sure of was actually the “real thing” he treasured.
There was no substitute, no white moonlight.
There was only…
Though his hands and feet were bound, the broken scale-spine trembled and rose, gently brushing against Yu Jiao’s face.
His gaze was soft.
“Mother, Mother… so your…”
—Is your real name Yu Jiao?
Yu Jiao was stunned.
In all the time she had been in this instance, this was the first time she had been looked at with such a filial, focused gaze.
He murmured to himself, “That’s good…”
“How boring.”
Helan Duo suddenly felt bored, stood up, and said coolly, “Since you’re unwilling to fulfill your wish, then disappear.”
The sharp scale-spine was raised high.
“Helan Duo!”
Yu Jiao subconsciously blocked him. “Don’t hurt him.”
The silver-grey scale-spine paused.
“What?”
His long, jade-like fingers pinched Yu Jiao’s chin, forcing her to meet his green eyes, which had turned a bright white.
Helan Duo slowly curled his lips. “You can’t bear it?”
Unconsciously, his usually composed, elegant voice was now laced with a coldness he was not aware of.
Yu Jiao turned her head, shook off his fingers, and said coldly, “Does the mind of the supposedly clever Lord Helan only have room for these matters of the heart?”
Helan Duo’s dark, cold, beast-like eyes looked at her quietly.
Yu Jiao lifted her chin. “Don’t forget, we’re in a dream game. We can only leave after we’ve finished the entire plot. If you kill an important plot character and get trapped in the game, don’t blame me.”
Yu Jiao curled her lips in a sarcastic smile, her gaze provocative. “That would be just what Nie Hongshen wants.”
Helan Duo looked at him flatly and repeated softly, “Finish the plot?”
He smiled, but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Do you know what really happened on this day in history?”
All the records had just glossed over it. They were silent about this historic day. Besides the guests who were present, almost no one knew why the world-famous Jiao Hongyue had suddenly died.
“What happened?”
Helan Duo lowered his eyes, his pale eyelashes hiding the emotion in them. He said coolly, “On this day, she… Jiao Hongyue was brutally murdered by her husband, Yu Fenghe.”
“…”
…It was unexpected, yet it made sense.
Yu Jiao frowned.
“This…”
‘Helan Duo’s’ eyes widened. He said in shock, “Impossible! How is that possible? Adoptive father was devoted to Mother. How could he…?”
Helan Duo lifted a pair of eyes that were as desolate as a sorrowful rain and let out a muffled laugh. “Boy, your stupid look now is exactly the same as when I found out about this back then.”
“…”
The air fell into a lonely silence.
Soon, a light, cheerful voice broke the silence.
“Alright,” Helan Duo said. “I won’t interfere.”
With that, a cold light flashed, and the silver-grey scale-spine cut the ropes that were binding ‘Helan Duo’.
In a flash of lightning, Helan Duo’s figure had already disappeared.
His light, airy, and sharp words echoed:
“Yu Jiao, then let me see how you complete this so-called plot.”
“…”
Yu Jiao lowered her eyes, silent, and helped the weak ‘Helan Duo’ up. “Are you alright?”
His dog-like eyes looked at her with a longing expression. “Yu Jiao.”
Yu Jiao: “?”
One after another, a continuous, hoarse call.
“Yu Jiao, Yu Jiao… it hurts.”
The young man’s face was pale, his thin figure trembling slightly, and the broken scale-spine in his hair was twitching.
“It hurts…”
He fell limply, just happening to fall into Yu Jiao’s arms. He secretly rubbed his head against her neck.
Yu Jiao hesitantly patted his back.
He pushed his luck and, with a slight tilt of his head, revealed a pair of glistening green eyes, his voice soft. “Yu Jiao, is that your real name? Which yu? Which jiao?”
A look of ‘I’m about to die, I have one last request’.
Yu Jiao tensed her face, and finally sighed. She wrote in his palm, “This Yu, this Jiao.”
“…”
‘Helan Duo’ sweetly clenched his palm, as if he had caught some treasure, and narrowed his beautiful eyes in a smile.
Suddenly, as if he had remembered something, he shot up and said with a serious expression, “Yu Jiao, don’t hate me just because of that annoying guy.”
Yu Jiao: “Ah?”
“What the twenty-nine-year-old Helan Duo did in reality has nothing to do with the eighteen-year-old me!”
—He was righteously drawing a line with his original self.
Seeing his serious look, Yu Jiao couldn’t help but smile. “Alright, you should go and treat your wounds.”
In just a short time, the little young man had already figured out her weakness of being soft-hearted.
His every move, every look, every sentence was carefully designed to hit her weak spot.
At this moment, he was even lightly biting his tender lower lip, his eyes glistening and lovely, and he feigned a difficult look. “Alright… it’s alright. I can relieve the drug he gave me myself. It’ll just be a little uncomfortable, a little difficult, a little sad.”
Yu Jiao: “…”
She pushed the sticky young man away and stood up. “Then you should solve it as soon as possible. I’ll give you some privacy.”
“…Don’t go.”
He tugged at her sleeve, his clear green eyes so clear they were about to shed tears. His voice was light and hoarse, with a careful, probing quality. “It’s uncomfortable, it’s difficult, it’s sad.”
“…”
Yu Jiao said helplessly, “What do you want me to do?”
The young man’s face flushed red, and his voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz. “I want you… to help… me…”
…
…
Yu Jiao wiped her hands.
“You… get some rest. I’m going out first.”
The young man’s long, thin body was limp on the sofa. One arm was on his face, covering his wet eyes, and his messy hair was clustered around his flushed, embarrassed face.
Hearing this, he quietly moved his arm down a little. The moment he met Yu Jiao’s gaze, he flinched like a startled rabbit and pulled it back.
He just let out a muffled “hmm” from his throat in response.
***
Yu Jiao tidied her collar and, just as she had returned to the cheerful banquet hall, a servant came up to her. “Madam, the sir has requested your presence.”
…Could it be that Yu Fenghe and Chow Chow have finished talking?
She was really curious about what the two of them had talked about.
Yu Jiao nodded and followed the servant to Yu Fenghe’s study.
The further in they went, the brighter it became. The pale, white light made it impossible to hide.
The furniture and items gradually became sparse, and in the end, there was only a bare, cold, metallic white wall.
Like a prison.
Yu Jiao thought, for some reason.
It didn’t quite fit Yu Fenghe’s gloomy, elegant, and bleak aura, but it already had the makings of the Apocalypse Cult of eleven years later.
“Madam, please.”
The servant stopped and bowed.
A blue light flashed, and the automatic door slid open.
The small room was almost empty, truly like a real prison.
A tall, slender figure had his back to Yu Jiao, and he was moving with a rustling sound.
…It looked a little strange.
Yu Jiao had the untimely thought: Could it be that he’s dismembering Chow Chow…?
That does seem like something Yu Fenghe would do.
“Hongyue, you’re here.”
The figure turned around, a teapot in his pale hand.
…So it was tea.
Yu Fenghe’s oak-leaf-like eyes were looking at her quietly, like a light rain on an empty mountain, but the edges were sharp.
“Come, sit.”
Yu Jiao sat on a cushion.
Yu Fenghe turned his back to her again to pour the tea.
The Smart Brain on her wrist suddenly rang, showing that she had received a message.
She opened it.
The next moment, a small projection unfolded.
The woman in the image had a face that was familiar to Yu Jiao.
Thin, serious, and cold.
—Yu Bingci.
She looked much younger. At this moment, she was in her prime, without the indifference and fatigue of eleven years later.
“Hongyue, the moment you see this message, please leave my brother immediately.”
Her expression was serious, her voice slightly heavy. Then she paused and took a deep breath:
“I suspect that my brother has been replaced by something, neither human nor ghost.”
“…”
The hair on her arms stood on end.
A sense of foreboding and a cold, ghostly air came at the same time.
“Hongyue… what are you doing?”
Yu Jiao looked back in shock and, unexpectedly, met his classical, quiet eyes.
Dark, black, like a black hole in the universe.
In her ear, Yu Bingci’s grave voice sounded:
“The person by your pillow is no longer the person who has been with you through thick and thin for seven years. Be careful of him.”