“Why does it feel like the plot is heading towards the inner world?”
“Don’t tell me that just now Xiao Xi was covering her mouth, pressed behind the door, and all that noise was coming from her.”
(sweating)
“This is obviously suspicious. Isn’t the male lead going to check inside?”
“Wow, is this marital infidelity? New tag for Prisoner Xi +1.”
After Lin Zhen left, the camera cut away.
Dr. Forefinger opened the tightly shut iron door and instructed,
“Come out, he’s gone.”
As soon as he finished speaking.
Tap, tap, Suddenly, footsteps echoed with a strange, sticky sound, and a blood-soaked girl stumbled out, lost and broken.
“Are you disappointed that you weren’t discovered?” the man chuckled.
“I… I’m not.” Yun Ruoxi kept her head down, tears flowing uncontrollably. She reached up to wipe them, but the blood on her hands only made her face stickier and wetter.
“No, you are.” Dr. Forefinger’s smile vanished. He walked to Yun Ruoxi’s side and pressed both hands on her shoulders, saying softly, “Let me tell you what you were just thinking.”
“You thought you were in so much pain, so if A Zhen had found out, it would have been better. That way, you wouldn’t have to suffer alone, keeping this secret, and they could help you through this hardship.”
“And if you were discovered, it wouldn’t count as you confessing on your own.”
Each word from Dr. Forefinger struck straight to the heart. The girl, whose thoughts had been laid bare, covered her face in anguish.
“Don’t say it, please, I beg you, don’t say it.”
“But have you ever thought, if you tell them,” Dr. Forefinger tightened his grip on the girl’s shoulders, and pain flashed across her face, “they might end up just like you?”
Fear flashed fiercely in Yun Ruoxi’s eyes, “No… Please, Doctor, don’t.”
“Then don’t try to be clever like you did just now,” Dr. Forefinger said coldly.
Just a moment ago, Yun Ruoxi, overwhelmed by pain, had thought of momentarily bypassing the mental imprint in an attempt to seek help.
Her willpower was even stronger than he’d imagined.
It seemed he needed to stoke the flames a little higher.
A flash of sharp light glinted in Dr. Forefinger’s eyes.
He put on a gentle smile once again, and in a voice full of regret said to Yun Ruoxi,
“Actually… do you know, just now, I made a decision in my heart: if A Zhen had chosen to open the door and seen you like this, I would have let you go and removed that thing in your mind…”
At his words, the girl’s body trembled violently. She looked up in disbelief at Dr. Forefinger, who continued speaking.
“But maybe it’s fate. Maybe your feelings haven’t reached that point yet.”
“There was only a thin iron door between you. His ability is Metal Manipulation, yet he didn’t realize you were pressed against the door, didn’t recognize the noise you made was a cry for help, and didn’t even catch your scent in the midst of all that blood.”
“So, unfortunately, I can’t let you go. You’ll have to stay here, continuing to sink deeper into this hell!”
Dr. Forefinger finished and let out a sigh.
A trace of hatred flashed across Yun Ruoxi’s face as she cursed, “Liar! You’re a liar! You’ve been lying to me! You’ll never let me go! You want to turn me into the person I hate most, only then will you let me go!”
“Just you wait. When I finally turn bad, you’ll be the first one I kill!”
“Am I really lying to you?” Dr. Forefinger seemed utterly unconcerned by Yun Ruoxi’s empty threats. In fact, he rather enjoyed seeing her finally show such venom.
“Perhaps!”
He released Yun Ruoxi’s shoulders and gripped her chin, forcing her to look up at him.
“But what if? What if I’m telling the truth? Have you ever thought about that? At least up until now, I’ve kept every promise I’ve made to you!”
The key in these words was not Dr. Forefinger’s credibility, but the phrase that could kill without a trace—“But what if?”
Yes, what if? What if Dr. Forefinger was telling the truth?
Like a desert traveler dying of thirst who suddenly sees the mirage of an oasis at the horizon.
Even knowing it was probably false, one couldn’t help but still harbor a sliver of hope deep in the heart.
Or perhaps, a bit of wishful thinking.
But now, that hope had been shattered too, and by none other than her own would-be savior.
One could only imagine the impact on Yun Ruoxi.
Her inner world rumbled with thunder and lightning.
Her pupils flickered, her expression twisted madly.
Hope, longing, regret, pain, disappointment, despair, and finally—an instant of fleeting hatred in her eyes.
A hatred directed at Lin Zhen.
Dr. Forefinger watched Yun Ruoxi’s expressions with satisfaction. Suddenly, he released his iron grip and turned to leave.
The girl, flung aside, collapsed to her knees, hugging her legs and curling into herself once more.
In the cold agony of the deep night, she wept silently.
At the same time, the camera showed Lin Zhen climbing into bed, falling into a peaceful sleep beneath a warm quilt.
For some reason.
Ever since that night in Yun Ruoxi’s laboratory, Lin Zhen had noticed subtle changes in the girl’s attitude towards him.
She became less close, less friendly.
She even insisted on sneaking out of the base a week before the final assessment to the Thin Mist Forest, just so he could help find her a birthday present. When Lin Zhen refused, it led to a quarrel.
Lin Zhen simply couldn’t understand why she was willing to risk being caught by the instructors and Bo Shi, risking strict surveillance and punishment, all just to go to the Thin Mist Forest for a birthday gift.
Couldn’t she just pick something from the exchange center?
Besides, wasn’t Aili’s birthday long past? Why was Yun Ruoxi preparing so far in advance?
But this time, Yun Ruoxi was completely unmoved, as stubborn as an obsessive, refusing to yield.
In the end, Lin Zhen had no choice but to accompany her, using participation in another team’s training as an excuse to make a trip to the Thin Mist Forest.
Yet even though Yun Ruoxi said it was to get a present for Aili, it seemed more like she simply wanted to visit the Thin Mist Forest herself.
She flitted through the woods, eventually stopping atop a tall tree, gazing silently at the little birds in a nest.
“So, are you going to give Xiao Ai a little bird?” Lin Zhen asked.
“No.” Yun Ruoxi shook her head. “Little birds are free. I don’t want to shackle them.”
“And I’ve already prepared Xiao Ai’s present.”
As she spoke, she took out some twigs she’d gathered from around the forest and, using her mind, pieced them together into a comb.
“A Zhen-ge, can you give this comb to Xiao Ai for me when the time comes?”
The comb floated gently before Lin Zhen.
Looking at it, he felt something was off and asked, “Why don’t you give it to her yourself?”
“Because I want to prepare a big surprise for Xiao Ai myself. I won’t have my hands free at the time, so I need you, A Zhen-ge, to give her the birthday present in my place.”
Yun Ruoxi smiled gently.