It shattered gently again.

At night, the windows were tightly closed, making it completely draft-free.

A pale yellow lamp hung above the bed in the room. Xu Li wrapped her entire body in the cup, leaving only her head outside to breathe.

Xu Li has always suffered from insomnia, but the symptoms have become more pronounced in the last few days.

Since meeting Fei Li's parents, Xu Li has felt that some things are slowly changing.

Xu Li had only met Fei Li's parents once, at a parent-teacher conference at school. She couldn't remember what they looked like, but when they said they were Fei Li's parents, Xu Li could still recall their appearance in her mind, as if she could see Fei Li's fierce and aggressive demeanor through them.

Xu Li knew they had already reported the case to the police. After all, it was a matter of life and death, and any parent would cry foul, but no one knew whether they were truly innocent or not.

What stage has the case reached, and what has been uncovered in the investigation?

Xu Li thought about it every night, tossing and turning in the dead of night, feeling as if insects were slowly devouring her.

Although Xu Li didn't want to see Duan Ruiming again, she could still piece together some information about Linpu from the details he revealed each time.

It seems that it really is time to leave.

Before Xu Li came to Yangcheng, she knew this day would come, and her trip to Yangcheng was only a temporary escape. She could not leave cleanly and would eventually return.

But this day came a little too soon.

This left Xu Li somewhat at a loss.

The next day, something happened at Tianguang Hall.

To be precise, it was Mingyue Ye who had the accident. The accident occurred in Tianguang Hall, but the injured were Mingyue Ye's people.

The matter was quite ordinary and could be summarized in a few words, but the only thing that couldn't be explained was why Zhou Junchang would pin someone to the ground and beat them without saying a word.

That night, someone got drunk and came out of the private room, stopping Xu Li.

This situation is very common. Xu Li thought it was just a drunken tantrum, so she reluctantly made an excuse to ask for help.

The man initially entered the store wearing a gray long-sleeved shirt, but now, two hours later, he must have drunk quite a bit. He kept pulling up the hem of his shirt to reveal his unevenly colored belly, and occasionally scratched it.

Perhaps he was truly drunk, or perhaps "alcohol emboldens the timid," and things he wouldn't normally dare to do so seemed to become acceptable under the influence of alcohol.

The man wouldn't let Xu Li leave, and approached her step by step.

Xu Li realized something was wrong and started calling for help, but perhaps because everyone was busy and quite far away, no one heard her.

Xu Li was forced into a corner.

The heavy metal music from the bar downstairs was still playing, just like Xu Li's heart pounding wildly.

Xu Li was racking her brains for a solution when she felt a strange sensation on her waist.

The first thing that came to mind was Xu Li's body.

Xu Li felt a churning in her stomach, felt nauseous and wanted to vomit, and screamed in protest.

At first, the person only held Xu Li's hand, but after Xu Li fell to the ground, the person directly grabbed her feet.

The night was dark, and the view outside the window was bottomless.

Xu Li pleaded desperately, her throat hoarse, begging him not to touch her.

The man in gray remained completely unmoved, casually unbuckling his belt. His trousers hung loosely around his waist, looking rather disgusting.

Xu Li closed her eyes, and a hot tear rolled down her cheek.

Xu Li was dragged to the door of their private room. She no longer had the strength to shout. Her voice was hoarse, and she could taste a faint rusty blood in her mouth.

The clothes were torn open, revealing the force inside.

Xu Li felt something hadn't fully healed, and it gently shattered again.

Xu Li watched as the gap in the door to the private room grew smaller and smaller; outside the door was heaven, inside was hell.

Just as the door to the private room was about to close, a pair of hands forced their way through the crack in the door.

The door gap was very narrow, but he still managed to squeeze in, as if his bones were about to break.

The man in gray saw a pair of gloomy eyes inside the door, eyes that seemed to want to tear someone to pieces. He had been through a lot in the underworld, but when he saw those eyes, he was still shocked.

The people outside were very strong. The man in gray ignored Xu Li, who was lying unconscious on the ground, and braced his hands against the door.

Even so, the disparity in strength was still too great, and the door was quickly pushed open by the people outside.

At that moment, even with her eyes closed, Xu Li could still feel the light shining through her eyelids onto her face.

The door was pushed open.

Zhou Junchang rushed into the private room dressed in black. If Xu Li had opened her eyes, she would have been terrified by the look in Zhou Junchang's eyes.

After a dull thud, the man in gray screamed as he was thrown to the ground.

Zhou Junchang didn't stop. He turned the man's face and punched him repeatedly. His fists pounded down with anger, each blow landing precisely on the man's side and ribs.

The dull thuds continued, and the noise from banging on the door attracted the attention of passersby. Seeing the two people entangled on the ground, they panicked and ran away to call the police.

Inside the private room, the man in gray tried to struggle, but Zhou Junchang held his shoulders firmly, rendering him unable to move. The man's eyes began to roll back, and his body went completely limp.

The news spread quickly, and some curious onlookers, unafraid of death, gathered at the doorway. They saw the person lying on the ground twitching, his face smashed to pieces, covered in blood, unrecognizable as human.

"Call the police immediately!"

People will die!

"Is there anyone who dares to stop them..."

The crowd stirred, but no one took any action.

Xu Li opened her eyes in the corner, glistening with tears. Her clothes were tattered from the struggle. The night wind was cold, and Xu Li shivered, clutching tightly to the intact piece of fabric covering her chest.

When Xu Li looked up, all she could see was Zhou Junchang's back. Zhou Junchang was blocking her way, so she couldn't see his face. Xu Li didn't know what was going on, but from the vibrations of each exertion, she knew something was wrong.

She couldn't let Zhou Junchang continue fighting.

Xu Li's legs had given out, and she scrambled to grab Zhou Junchang's sleeve, crying out, "Zhou... Junchang, Zhou... Zhou... Junchang..."

With little strength and a soft voice, Zhou Junchang shook off her the moment she grabbed her clothes.

But upon hearing Xu Li's voice, Zhou Junchang briefly regained his composure.

Tears welled up in her eyes again: "Stop hitting me...really...please...stop hitting me..."

His fist was clenched so tightly it was trembling. He looked into Xu Li's eyes, which acted like an emotional stabilizer, and the fist that was hanging in the air never came down.

Xu Li reached out and wrapped her small hand around Zhou Junchang's, but because she had no support, she fell into Zhou Junchang's arms.

The sound of sirens grew louder as they approached, piercing the deathly silence. Alternating red and blue lights danced on the mottled wall, dispelling most of the lingering tension in the air.

A group of people knew that the excitement was coming to an end, and many stopped looking around and waiting.

Zhou Junchang was kneeling with half his body down, and even though the blows were applied to his flesh, he used tremendous force, causing his knuckles to become red and bleeding.

Two uniformed police officers strode in, their flashlight beams sweeping across the unconscious man lying on the ground.

Zhou Jun was handcuffed first, and before leaving, he took off his own clothes and gave them to Xu Li to wear.

The handcuffs gleamed with a cold, hard metallic sheen, and the chains reflected sharp, fragmented light under the lamplight, which Xu Li found dazzling.

Then, the sound of an ambulance could be heard in the distance.

In the instant she turned around, Xu Li grabbed Zhou Junchang's hand, wanting to say something, but she didn't say it.

She wanted to ask him if he was in pain.

Why call an ambulance for people like this? Why is no one paying attention to them? Why do they get called the police when they resist?

After the police got the gist of it, Mingyueye and Tianguangting notified Zhou Ji, and then hurriedly closed the door.

Xu Li, being a party involved, also needed to be taken to the police station. However, on the way to the police station, the two were not in the same car.

The police lights were still flashing, their noise breaking the silence of the night.

The night was very quiet, so quiet that no one would know if something broke.

Xu Li was released that night.

But Zhou Junchang didn't. He wanted to wait, until that person was about to wake up, until that person was alright...

How long will it take?

Xu Li didn't know, and no one else did. Xu Li was still wearing Zhou Junchang's clothes, as if she could feel his body temperature.

Her knees were scraped raw, the blood had congealed, and everything below the knees was red, a horrifying sight to behold. The police told her to get it treated, but Xu Li had no interest in anything else.

When Zhou Ji found out, the person wasn't in Yangzhou, and it wasn't as convenient for him to handle things himself. Zhou Ji checked the surveillance footage from that night and also investigated the person lying in the hospital.

With a dislocated jaw, a comminuted fracture of the cheekbone, and a concussion, he might not have survived if he had been brought in any later that night.

Zhou Ji arranged for a doctor and medical equipment overnight. If someone had died, things would have been very difficult to handle. Although his life was saved, it would still take some time for him to wake up.

When Zhou Ji heard that the person involved in the incident was Zhou Junchang, he was still quite surprised. Based on his understanding of Zhou Junchang, he was not the kind of person who would cause trouble. What could possibly make Zhou Junchang unable to resist taking action?

Looking at the surveillance footage, everything became clear.

Zhou Ji frowned deeply. He had consulted many people, hoping to resolve this matter as minorly as possible.

Now that everything is almost arranged, we're just waiting for the person in the hospital to wake up. The matter isn't too serious; the person's life has been saved, and he doesn't seem to have any special background, so everything is fine.

That evening, after learning that Xu Li had been released, Zhou Ji called Xu Li.

No one answered.

Zhou Ji knew that he would most likely fail to get through, but he still did it anyway.

Then he asked Ah Feng to look for Xu Li. After searching around the hotel, Ah Feng went home and went upstairs to knock on the door.

No one answered.

The next day, Ah Feng found the landlord, got the emergency key, and opened the door.

They're still not here.

Just as they were wondering where to go, Xu Li returned.

She was still wearing Zhou Junchang's clothes, her lips were pale, her eyes were empty, her hair was disheveled, and she looked like a ghost.

Ah Feng closed the door for Xu Li, and left quietly without disturbing her.

Ah Feng had never seen Xu Li like this before, or rather, no one had ever seen Xu Li like this before.

If she only returned this morning, then where did Xu Li go last night?

No one knows, or even if they did, where she would go, where she would dare to go, or where she would want to go.