"ah!"

The intense screams assaulted their eardrums.

Startled by the sudden scream, Su Zhimeng threw herself into Bai Ye's arms.

"Help me! Help me!" A deep female voice cried out, making the already dark environment even more terrifying.

"ah!"

The scream wasn't a synthesized electronic sound; it came from the angelic senior in her arms.

Su Zhimeng hugged Bai Ye's waist tightly, not daring to let go for a moment, and her eyes visibly reddened.

It seemed that only the broad embrace in front of her could give her a sense of warmth.

She was really scared; she was terrified of the dark, so very terrified.

Memories of her childhood echoed in her mind.

I vaguely remember that stormy night.

She sat in the corner of the living room, watching the thunderstorm outside the window.

Listen to the thunder roaring and the raindrops pattering down.

The father and mother, standing silently by the bedroom door and on the sofa in the living room, stared at each other.

The living room lights were off, and it was very dim, but the flashes of lightning outside the window occasionally illuminated the living room.

Tears streamed down the mother's face, and the father's face was contorted with pain.

She was too young to notice the quiet atmosphere in the living room.

In her eyes, her parents were very loving and loved her very much; they would always be one big family.

That night, her father went out, and her mother cried uncontrollably. She didn't know what had happened and tried to comfort her mother.

Her mother patted her head and smiled, "Mengmeng, stay home and behave yourself. Mom will be back soon!"

At that time, Su Zhimeng was an innocent and carefree child who listened to her mother very much: "Mmm!"

At that time, she vaguely felt that the smile on her mother's face was no longer as bright as before, but rather had a gloom that she had never seen before.

The mother also went out of the house.

Su Zhimeng waited for her parents alone in the living room.

The thunder grew louder and louder, and flashes of lightning appeared intermittently. Su Zhimeng covered her ears and closed her eyes in fear.

But the thunder seemed to penetrate all the barriers and land precisely in her ears.

That night, amidst the thunder, my mother and father never returned.

The rain gradually subsided, the thunder gradually faded, and the moonlight shone not even a sliver in the pitch-black night.

The living room was pitch black, without a single light. In the quiet night, she was the only one there, hugging her knees and leaning against the sofa, her body curled up in fear.

At that moment, she so desperately wished for her mother and father to be there.

But there was no trace of them that night.

She suddenly began to hate the dark, and it seemed that every night she would recall the memory of that night.

After that night, Su Zhimeng lost her once warm family. Her father seemed to have abandoned her, and her mother was no longer as gentle as before.

A happy family fell apart that very night.

Later, her mother remarried, and her stepfather treated her very well, treating her like his own daughter.

However, the mark of her biological father always remained in her heart, and the inner turmoil constantly tormented her.

She gradually became more sensible, and in her stepfather's eyes, she became a perfect young lady from a respectable family, and a gentle angel with her own halo in the eyes of others.

But only she knows the pain in her heart.

She knew in her heart that her mother's concern for her was decreasing as she got older.

My sister, born to my mother and stepfather, has always been the child my mother cares about the most.

She slowly began to hate that home.

Her grades had always been excellent since she was a child, but her mother never seemed to care about them; her attention was not on her.

She also secretly wiped away tears, always alone in the dark night.

She felt so helpless, as if no one truly cared about her.

...

Bai Ye looked at her senior with a pang of heartache and suddenly felt a deep regret for not stopping Su Zhimeng from playing this murder mystery game in the first place.

He felt it was his fault for not trying to dissuade people from being scared, even though he knew they were afraid.

His clothes seemed damp, seeping through the fabric onto his chest.

Bai Ye's eyes showed even more heartache.

He reached out and gently embraced her, pulling her into his arms, patting her back softly to soothe her.

Bai Ye said softly, "Don't cry, senior. I will always be by your side."

Bai Ye's words acted like a shot of adrenaline, briefly pulling Su Zhimeng back to her senses.

She opened her eyes, briefly broke free from Bai Ye's embrace, stared blankly at Bai Ye for a moment, and then hugged Bai Ye again, resting her little head on Bai Ye's chest.

Silent weeping is always the most heartbreaking, and Bai Ye only hoped that his chest could bring her a little warmth.

The angelic senior from back then was like the sun, warming his heart.

Now that the sun is gone, he will try his best to become the moon, not seeking to illuminate the world of the angel senior, but only hoping that his afterglow can light up that corner of the world.

The two figures embraced tightly. Slowly, Su Zhimeng stopped sobbing. As her reason returned, her face burned with embarrassment, as if she felt she had been extremely rude.

She wanted to break free from Bai Ye's embrace, but there seemed to be a magical force within his arms that kept attracting and binding her.

She felt that Bai Ye's embrace was so warm and so reassuring.

She seemed...she seemed to crave his embrace?

Bai Ye, holding Su Zhimeng, felt a peace in his heart that he had never felt before.

He hadn't been able to calm down and think things through like this in a long time.

The girl in his arms seemed to be making some movement, but Bai Ye ignored her.

He felt a little selfish; he seemed to enjoy holding it in his arms.

The beautiful woman in his arms seemed to possess a magnetic force, drawing him in.

Bai Ye freed one hand and placed it on the back of Su Zhimeng's head, stroking her hair and gently pulling her into his arms.

Su Zhimeng's mind went blank for a moment. The movement in her hair and the sensations she felt made her unable to believe it.

I can't believe Bai Ye would be so bold.

She's Bai Ye's senior... How could she... How could she...

Her face was flushed, and her whole body seemed to be burning with heat.

Bai Ye's words reached her ears, bringing her back to her senses for a moment: "Don't be afraid, senior, I will always be by your side."

The senior's reaction was too strong. Bai Ye guessed that the senior might have had some experience in her childhood that made her so scared.

The more vividly something is etched in your childhood memory, the more you fear it as an adult. (My house burned down when I was little, and I stayed with other people for a while. Every evening I would wake up in a panic, go out to check the situation downstairs, and I would still dream about it from time to time. In those rural houses, when the first or second floor caught fire, I escaped by climbing onto the air conditioner unit outside the third floor to reach my neighbor's balcony. I accidentally fell from the third floor.)

So he couldn't think of any good way to comfort her, and could only hug her like this, hoping that she could get through it.