Chapter 97 True Face and Sharing the Abyss
"Who are you?"
Huo Shen's voice was low, but it exploded like thunder in Su Yan's ears, shaking his soul. The glaring comparison report on the tablet screen in his hand was like the cruelest judgment book, laying his biggest secret nakedly under the light.
Su Yan froze in place, his mind blank. All his carefully constructed disguises crumbled at that moment. Fear washed over him like an icy tide, instantly drowning him, leaving his limbs cold and even his fingertips trembling slightly.
He looked at Huo Shen, the man standing at the junction of shadow and light. His eyes were colder and sharper than he had ever seen before, as if they could penetrate his skin and reach his helpless soul from another world.
There's no escape.
This realization, like a blunt knife, severed his last hope. The long period of tension, fear, and pretense reached a breaking point, spawning a desperate, desperate courage.
He slowly stood up straight. Although his face was still pale, an almost rebellious and desperate light ignited in his eyes, which always showed a hint of weakness and caution.
"Who am I?" Su Yan repeated the question, his voice hoarse and mocking, as if he had just survived a disaster. "Mr. Huo, haven't you already investigated everything? A person whose behavior patterns, knowledge structure, and perhaps even soul are completely different from the 'Su Yan' you investigated."
He met Huo Shen's cold gaze and walked out from behind the desk step by step, no longer hiding or dodging.
"Yes, I'm not him." Su Yan stopped a few steps in front of Huo Shen, raised his head, and spoke clearly, word by word, "That cowardly 'Su Yan' who only knew how to rely on his brother and met all of your expectations has disappeared long ago. The one standing before you now is just a lonely ghost who accidentally broke into this world and is desperately struggling to survive."
He admitted it. In a way that was almost self-destructive, he exposed the most vulnerable truth to this most dangerous man.
The study fell into a deathly silence. The air was so still that one could almost hear the dust settling.
Huo Shen stared at him intently, his deep eyes filled with extremely complex emotions - there was the coldness of being confirmed, the anger of being deceived, the scrutiny of things beyond the scope of understanding, and perhaps... there was also a very quick confirmation of this "difference" that even he himself could not catch.
The "Su Yan" he imagined shouldn't have such a look in his eyes. He shouldn't have straightened his spine at such a completely exposed moment, revealing a thorny, desperate calmness.
"Lonely ghost..." Huo Shen repeated the word in a low voice, as if savoring its meaning. He took a step forward, out of the shadows, the light illuminating every inch of the cold and hard lines on his face. "So, your previous fear, your obedience, everything about you, were all performed for me?"
"What else?" Su Yan said with a bitter tone, "In front of someone who can easily decide my life or death, and who clearly treats me as a substitute for someone else, if I don't act, am I supposed to cry and beg you to let go of a wandering ghost who has occupied your 'property'?"
"Substitute..." Huo Shen's eyes suddenly became extremely sharp. He stretched out his hand and grabbed Su Yan's wrist again, with such force that it almost broke his bones. "You always knew?"
Su Yan frowned in pain, but he didn't struggle. He just looked straight at Huo Shen, "It's hard not to know, right? Mr. Huo. The way you look at me, sometimes it's like you're looking at a precious collection, and sometimes... it's like you're looking through me, at a shadow that will never return."
His words were like a precise dagger, piercing the most secret corner of Huo Shen's heart once again.
Huo Shen's breathing became noticeably heavier, and the storm in his eyes gathered again. Being seen through his obsession so clearly by a "lonely ghost" made him feel an unprecedented sense of offense and loss of control.
"You're very bold." Huo Shen's voice was terrifyingly low, carrying a dangerous aura of impending storm. "You know my secret, and now you've let me know yours. Tell me, what should I do with you?"
His gaze was like substance, sweeping across Su Yan's fragile neck with undisguised murderous intent.
Su Yan's heart was beating wildly in his chest, but he knew that retreating at this moment would be disastrous. He forced himself to steady his voice, even adding a hint of provocation:
"Kill me? Then Mr. Huo, the 'key' you worked so hard to find to crack Xiao's 'Melody Key' will be gone. Besides, isn't a 'variable' from outside this world more interesting than a known, boring cannon fodder?"
He was gambling. He was gambling on Huo Shen's obsession with the secret left by Ah Xiao, his curiosity about the "unknown", and the tiny attraction generated by his own "difference".
Huo Shen stared at him for a long time without saying a word. His gaze dissected him from head to toe countless times.
The grip on his wrist loosened little by little.
But the next second, Huo Shen suddenly pulled him closer, clasping his neck with his other hand and forcing him to look up. Their bodies pressed tightly together, their breaths intertwined.
"Interesting?" Huo Shen lowered his head, his nose almost touching his. His hot breath carried a deadly sense of oppression. "You're right, it is very interesting."
His thumb rubbed the sensitive skin on the back of Su Yan's neck, causing a shudder.
"A soul that doesn't belong to this world, yet somehow got the key to unlocking the mystery of the past." Huo Shen's tone was strangely mixed with coldness and excitement. "Su Yan, or... whatever you are. You've succeeded in making me... more interested in you than ever before."
This is not a sweet talk between lovers, but a declaration from a hunter to his unique prey.
"From now on, you are no longer a stand-in." Huo Shen's voice was firm and resolute, with the force of reshaping the rules. "You are my 'accomplice', the 'key' to solving the mystery, and also... an 'unknown number' that I need to re-evaluate and control."
His lips were almost touching Su Yan's earlobe, like a devil signing a contract:
"I will keep your life for now. But your freedom, everything you have, inside and out, will completely belong to me. Use everything you have to pay the price for your deception and this 'fun'."
After saying that, he let go of Su Yan, as if he had touched something that required extreme restraint.
Su Yan stumbled a step, leaned on the desk, and panted slightly. The back of his neck and wrists still lingered with Huo Shen's domineering touch and warmth.
His identity was exposed and his greatest fear became a reality.
But the expected destruction did not come immediately. Instead, it was replaced by a deeper and more thorough bondage, and a strange new relationship based on a dangerous balance.
He looked at Huo Shen. The man put on the cloak of indifference again, but deep in his eyes, something had completely changed.
Between them lies the secret of a world, the shadow of a dead soul, and indelible deception and control.
But at this moment, in a twisted way, they were truly standing face to face on the edge of the same abyss.
Share secrets and fall into the abyss together.
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