Inside the shop, a woman in a blue-green checkered dress slumped to the ground, trying to shout but forcing herself to keep her voice down, her forehead veins bulging as she strained.
"You really did me a favor! I've sacrificed so much for this family, and I always thought some vixen would fall for you. Turns out it wasn't a vixen. No wonder you two were always driving together, having an affair. I was always laughing at that guy surnamed Sun, and it turns out you were one too! Huh? I could tolerate you finding a woman because you couldn't stand being alone, but finding a man and being the one who gets taken advantage of? Do you even count as a man?!"
The woman in the blue-green plaid was panting heavily, trying to catch her breath. "I really...I really...ah!"
Her pent-up resentment turned into a low, gritted-teeth scream as she grabbed whatever was at hand and threw it at the man on the ground.
The man, his head covered in blood, sat on the ground without uttering a sound, then said in a hoarse voice, "You don't understand..."
“I know your great-uncle and great-aunt, you’re just a garbage bag for shit, you stuff all sorts of trash into your body, your mother gave birth to you for nothing!” After cursing, the woman in blue and green plaid muttered resentfully, “Others are like a beautiful flower stuck in cow dung, but you’re a lump of cow dung thrown on the ground waiting for dung beetles to push you, you stink to the whole nest.”
Outside the door, Shi Jinzhe covered Shehe's ears. This older sister was too strong; she couldn't let Shehe hear these things.
Shekh moved his lips and said softly, "Even if you block my view, I can still hear you."
"Don't listen, or you'll go astray."
The woman in blue and green plaid inside was still angry, chattering incessantly. The man sitting on the floor, however, noticed the commotion outside. "Who's there?" he asked.
Seeing that his side had been exposed, Shekh first revealed himself and entered the store.
"Is it you?" The woman in the blue-green plaid had a strong impression of her and Shi Jinzhe, and pulled a coat from behind the stool and threw it to her man.
"He cheated on me?" Shekh cut straight to the point without any preamble, leaving the woman and the man on the ground stunned.
The man avoided eye contact, and the woman in blue and green glared at him. She suppressed her complaints, thinking that family matters should not be aired in public, and finally calmed herself down and said, "No, it's just a quarrel between husband and wife. Do you want to buy anything? We only have a few melon seeds left."
“By covering for him, you’re essentially helping him and the man who broke up your marriage,” Shekh said bluntly. “Why should you show them any mercy?”
They were so angry they forgot to close the shop. Even in this state, they still tried to cover it up. They're just making a fuss over nothing.
"No... Apu and I are truly in love, we..."
Upon hearing the name Apu, Shekh immediately looked at the man on the ground. They had previously speculated that Apu referred to a certain type of person, but could it also include a third party?
Shekh's gaze made the man on the ground feel uneasy. He retorted, "I'm truly happy with Apu. He's very good to me, he's educated, and he's taught me a lot. We just couldn't help ourselves..."
Shekh: "Why weren't you with your Apu before you got married?"
"...I didn't know him back then. I only discovered that my true love was someone else after I got married."
What if you meet the love of your life after you get married?
This same question, which appeared in the horror lover's copy, simultaneously jumped into Shi Jinzhe and her mind.
When Shi Jinzhe's answer was to die for love, her answer was to choose her lifelong love. Her reason was that she only cared about her lover's feelings, that she had no morals, and that she only wanted herself and her lover to be happy.
Sheh forced a short laugh through her teeth; so this was what was waiting for her.
The darkness intensified in the four corners of the room that were not illuminated by the lights, and the light circle around where they stood shrank. The visible change attracted the attention of others, and Ding Xun, as a player, keenly took a step inside.
The woman in blue and green plaid looked left and right, muttering, "Is it a loose power cord or a bad connection?"
The man continued his passionate declaration, completely unaware that darkness had descended upon him: "I can't control myself. I can give up anything. I really want to be with Apu... I... uh!"
His eyes suddenly bulged out, and then his body disappeared, turning into a wisp of mist that was pulled into the darkness.
The husband's death was so sudden that the blue-green checkered woman was stunned before she could even cry out.
"...What...what...is going on?"
Shekh stepped on the encroaching darkness, twisting his ankle as if crushing a rat that couldn't bear the light.
She looked down and gazed at the black figure.
"You've got a good plan."
The pathetic wife of a gay man, the cheating husband—all of this night instilled in her feelings of disgust and contempt from the outset. These feelings deepened with each revelation they made, until the man's words just now triggered a memory.
The moment she thought of this problem, even the slightest self-doubt would, like Zhuo Jiajia, unknowingly give the black mist an opportunity to take advantage of her vulnerability.
In fact, she hesitated for less than a second.
I hesitated, wondering what she would do if she encountered this situation after marriage, and whether she would unhesitatingly become the kind of person I despise.
Fortunately, a hand caught her in time.
Sheh looked down at Shi Jin's broken hand. She thought her answer would remain the same, she would still choose her beloved. In the entirety of her serpent life, the word "beloved" would only appear once.
Marriage was the result of her careful consideration, not a choice to make do. She didn't need to force herself to rationalize her behavior for the sake of logical consistency. Marriage and true love were one for her, so she didn't need to doubt herself.
This trap won't work on her.
Shekh lifted the darkness on the ground with his bare hands, like tearing off a piece of black lacquer that had melted in the sun.
With just a thought, the black mist successfully stole her power and infiltrated the defensive formation of Shijinzhe, then successfully devoured the light and absorbed her husband. It was indeed not to be underestimated.
Assimilation began. In Shekh's hands, darkness instantly turned into mist. With a sudden tug, the ground seemed to have had a black curtain pulled off, revealing its original cement color.
She was slightly disappointed; it was just a clone, and she couldn't find the original body yet. She needed to know who the first person to draw it out was.
"Let's continue."
The woman in the blue-green plaid was speechless; her once booming voice suddenly went hoarse, as if she hadn't yet recovered from the shock of her husband's disappearance.
Shi Jinzhe was tired from standing, so he and Shehe sat down in two luxurious golden rattan chairs. He asked the woman in the blue and green checkered pattern, "I heard you say someone surnamed Sun, is that Sun Ao? Is he related to the owner of the Xinxin Hotel, Mr. Sun?"
Lan Lüge didn't realize he was talking to her until Ding Xun next to her pressed her shoulder down onto a small stool. "Sit down and answer."
"Ah...?" Her voice trailed off as she sat down, bending her legs and placing her hands on her knees. "What? Boss Sun?"
“Yes, Mr. Sun, Sun Ao, tell me everything you know.” Shi Jin repeated, then told Ding Xun, “Keep your eyes on the outside.”
"Okay," Ding Xun replied.
Shi Jinzhe looked back and said, "Speak."
“Sun Ao…” the woman in blue and green stammered, “He… he’s not an honest man either. We used to say that his wife couldn’t have a child after ten years of marriage, so there must be something wrong with her. We gave her folk remedies and took her to the hospital, but it turns out that the problem was with Sun Ao.”
At this point, the woman in blue and green regained her composure and spoke more fluently, "It was at the Xinxin Hotel, Pu Kui, oh, that is, Sun Ao's wife, Pu Kui exposed Sun Ao's affair with another man, many people saw it, the two of them sleeping together without clothes on."
Shi Jinzhe: "Does Sun Ao have any connection with Boss Sun?"
"Boss Sun is Sun Ao's sister. She's easy to talk to. If you don't have enough money, you can stay there by mortgaging something. She's also good at negotiating prices, so many truck drivers who pass through here like to stay there. Who knew... that the couple would both have affairs with outsiders."
Ding Xun, who was listening in, asked in confusion, "Who? A couple?"
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