Chapter 123 Madness
A strong smell of dust and rust made Ruan Yao's nostrils itch.
She struggled to open her heavy eyelids, her vision clearing from blurry to sharp. The first thing she saw was a lone, dusty light bulb hanging in mid-air, emitting a dim, yellowish light.
She found herself lying on the cold, rough cement floor, her hands and feet tightly bound with rough hemp rope, and her mouth covered with sticky tape, making it difficult for her to even breathe.
This is... an abandoned warehouse.
Memories flooded back like a tide: the van that had recklessly blocked the middle of the road, the smashed windows, and the handkerchief with a pungent chemical smell that had been used to cover her mouth and nose...
She was kidnapped.
Her heart clenched, and a tremendous fear gripped her instantly.
"You're awake."
A familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from the shadows not far away.
Ruan Yao turned her head sharply and saw Shen Yu walk out from behind a pile of discarded iron barrels.
He still wore that gentle smile she knew so well, but the smile didn't reach his eyes, instead making him seem strangely eerie.
His expensive suit was wrinkled beyond recognition, his hair was messy, and the dark circles under his eyes made him look haggard and gloomy.
"Isn't that surprising?" He walked closer step by step, squatted down, and looked her in the eye.
He reached out, seemingly wanting to touch her cheek, but Ruan Yao turned her head away in disgust.
His hand froze in mid-air, and a crack finally appeared in the smile on his face.
"Why did you do this?" Ruan Yao struggled, letting out muffled sobs from her throat, her eyes filled with questioning.
"Why?" Shen Yu chuckled softly, as if he had heard the biggest joke in the world. The laughter echoed in the empty warehouse, sounding particularly eerie.
"I want to ask why too." The gentle smile on his face shattered, replaced by a twisted excitement. "Why does Huo Yanzhi have everything? Why is he born at the top while our family has to struggle for survival? Why can he so easily destroy everything I have, destroy the hard work of generations of our Shen family?"
His voice grew increasingly agitated, eventually turning into a near roar.
"And you too!"
He asked in a low voice, as if he were asking her, but also as if he were asking himself.
"Why should he get you? We grew up together, everyone said we were a match made in heaven, you should have been my wife!"
As Ruan Yao watched him go mad, her heart sank deeper and deeper.
The fear remains, but even more so, there is a profound sense of disgust.
Shen Yu was stung by her gaze.
He reached out and tore off the tape from Ruan Yao's mouth.
With a tearing sound, her lips were ripped open and felt painful, but she was finally able to speak.
"Shen Yu, you are truly pathetic."
The madness on Shen Yu's face froze for a moment.
“You blame all your failures on others.” Ruan Yao looked at him calmly. “You were jealous of Huo Yanzhi, so you schemed against him. Now that you’ve lost, you’re resorting to such despicable means to get revenge. You’re not even half a finger of his.”
"Shut up!" Shen Yu was stung by her words and suddenly reached out and grabbed her chin, the force almost crushing her bones.
"What do you know!" His eyes were bloodshot. "Do you know how much I've sacrificed for this day! I could have had everything! It's all because of him!"
Ruan Yao was forced to raise her head and meet his venomous gaze without fear.
“Yaoyao, tell me,” he stared intently into her eyes, his voice trembling, “did you ever, even just a little bit…love me?”
This was his last obsession, the only solace he sought after this crushing defeat.
Ruan Yao looked at the completely unfamiliar man in front of her and spoke each word clearly.
"No."
These two words were like two sharpest knives, instantly piercing through Shen Yu's last pretense.
"Before, I only thought of you as a brother I had a good relationship with."
Ruan Yao's voice was calm, so calm it was almost cruel.
"Right now, you mean nothing to me."
"I have never liked you in the way that romantic love is."
“You…” Shen Yu seemed to have all his strength drained away, and the hand that was gripping her chin loosened a little.
These words were like the sharpest knife, completely dissecting and crushing Shen Yu's last, pathetic pride.
He stared at her blankly, a strange, leaky laugh coming from his throat.
"Heh...hehe..."
He suddenly reached out and grabbed Ruan Yao's chin, forcing her to look at him, his eyes filled with utter madness.
"It's come to this! Ruan Yao! It's come to this!" he almost roared, "Can't you even lie to me once?!"
A sharp pain shot through her chin, but Ruan Yao didn't shed a single tear. She simply looked at him with the eyes of someone looking at a stranger.
“Chen Yu, come at me.” She warned him, “This is between us. If you dare to use me to threaten Huo Yanzhi, if you dare to let him get hurt in the slightest, I swear, I will never let you go for the rest of my life.”
"Huo Yanzhi! Huo Yanzhi! It's Huo Yanzhi again!"
These words completely ignited Shen Yu's last shred of reason.
The last vestige of affection he held for Ruan Yao was completely consumed by jealousy and hatred at this moment, transforming into the most vicious revenge against Huo Yanzhi.
He released his grip, took two steps back, and a twisted, venomous smile appeared on his face.
Do you think he'll come to save you?
Shen Yu took his phone out of his pocket and waved it in front of her.
"The address I sent him was the dock in the east of the city. I had prepared a big gift for him there. If he went there, he would be doomed."
Ruan Yao's heart sank.
“And I,” Shen Yu admired the fear on her face, and smiled even more triumphantly, “will take the billion in cash he sent, and from here, from the abandoned factory in the west of the city, I will get into a car that has been prepared long ago and fly far away.”
Shen Yu leaned down and whispered in her ear in a chilling tone, "But before you leave, you said... if I do something to his beloved fiancée..."
He reached out and traced an ambiguous line across Ruan Yao's cheek.
"If he knew you'd become my woman even on his way to the underworld, wouldn't he be so enraged he'd be driven mad?"
A chill ran up Ruan Yao’s spine to the top of her head.
She finally understood that he not only wanted Huo Yanzhi's money and life, but also wanted to destroy Huo Yanzhi's dignity and spirit in the most vicious way.
"How dare you!" Ruan Yao's eyes instantly turned red, and she struggled desperately. "Shen Yu, you madman! If you dare to lay a finger on him, I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"
"I'm just crazy!" Shen Yu was amused by her intense reaction and laughed even more heartily. "Driven crazy by you, by Huo Yanzhi, by this world!"
He laughed, tore open his shirt collar, and leaned down to press against Ruan Yao.
The feeling, a mixture of fear and disgust, made Ruan Yao's stomach churn.
Just as he was about to touch her, Ruan Yao seized the opportunity, suddenly raised her head, and bit down hard on his shoulder with all her might.
"ah--!"
Shen Yu let out a heart-wrenching scream.
Ruan Yao bit down hard and refused to let go, tasting the bloody flavor in her mouth.
In pain, Shen Yu instinctively pushed hard.
A muffled "bang" was heard.
Ruan Yao's head slammed heavily against a rusty iron frame next to her.
A sharp pain struck, her vision went black, and the whole world began to spin.
In her hazy state, she seemed to hear an extremely sharp and piercing sound of tires screeching against the ground coming from outside the warehouse.
The sound shattered the silence of the suburbs, like the scythe of death, or perhaps... the tolling of a redemption bell.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
