Chapter 248: Shattered

“Slap!”

Ye Lan’s heart suddenly tightened. 

She stared intently at Mu Xi’s face, trying to find a trace of pain or satisfaction. 

However, Mu Xi only furrowed her brows, her expression showing clear dissatisfaction and… disappointment.

“Not enough… too light… Ye Lan… use more force! Make me feel the pain! I beg you…”

“No…” Ye Lan shook her head, tears wetting her silver hair. 

Her voice became urgent, even carrying a hint of a command, completely unlike her usual dependent and submissive self.

This contrast made Ye Lan’s heart feel even heavier. 

She felt as if she were seeing the imprisoned, distorted part of Mu Xi’s soul, screaming frantically from within.

Ye Lan took a deep breath. 

The air felt as if it were filled with glass shards, cutting her throat until it stung. 

She raised her hand again. 

This time, her hand paused in the air for a moment before she swung it down with a flash of determination!

“Slap!”

This time, the sound was clear and loud, sounding exceptionally abrupt in the quiet car. 

A distinct red mark quickly surfaced on the fair skin.

Mu Xi’s body arched suddenly, and a short, suppressed gasp escaped her throat. 

It did not sound like pure pain; instead, it carried a strange, terrifying sense of satisfaction. 

The sound was extremely faint, yet it felt like a hammer striking heavily against Ye Lan’s heart.

With a blurred expression, an indescribable feeling spread through Ye Lan’s heart. 

Mu Xi’s breathing became heavier. 

Her body was no longer as tense as before, instead beginning to relax slightly, as if some long-suppressed emotion had finally found an exit. 

Looking at that red mark and the expression of mixed pain and satisfaction on Mu Xi’s face, what stirred within Ye Lan was heartache, anger, confusion, and a hint of a dark emotion that felt foreign even to her.

Mu Xi’s gaze was somewhat vacant, but the corners of her mouth seemed to curve into an imperceptible arc.

Ye Lan’s hand remained in midair, trembling slightly. 

She watched Mu Xi’s reaction, her mind in complete disarray. 

She had hurt her, yet she seemed to enjoy it.

Mu Xi turned her head slightly, her watery eyes looking toward Ye Lan’s hand with an even deeper longing.

“Again…” Those two words were light as air, yet they carried an undeniable sense of command.

Ye Lan’s heart constricted violently, nearly stopping.

She looked at the pleading dependence in Mu Xi’s eyes, and beneath that dependence, a deeper, almost frenzied obsession.

This was not the Mu Xi who was usually docile and well-behaved, the one who only timidly called her “Ye Lan.”

This was another her, a twisted soul imprisoned deep within a delicate shell, screaming hoarsely in the darkness.

She wanted to refuse, wanted to pull this small body into her arms and tell her that everything would be alright, that she did not need to use this method to feel her own existence.

But Mu Xi’s gaze hooked into her like a barb. 

Within those eyes, besides longing, there was a near-desperate plea. 

It was as if only pain could allow her to confirm she was still alive, allowing her to grasp a shred of reality amidst the boundless blankness and void.

‘Is this the brokenness hidden deep within Mu Xi’s soul, something even she herself has never noticed?’

Ye Lan did not know, and this unknown brought a sense of helplessness that seeped into her very marrow. 

She remembered swearing that she would give Mu Xi freedom, that she would spoil her and make up for all the debts of the past. 

But now, the “freedom” Mu Xi craved was presented in such a self-destructive manner. 

What should she do? 

Satisfy her and watch her sink? 

Or refuse her and let her continue to be tortured by that inevitable pain and emptiness?

The air seemed to freeze, the pressure making it difficult to breathe. 

Ye Lan’s fingers curled.

“Please…” Mu Xi called out again. 

Her voice was lower, carrying an imperceptible tremble that seemed to be pain, yet also anticipation, “Ye Lan…”

That “please” completely shattered Ye Lan’s final hesitation. 

She slammed her eyes shut.

When she opened them again, only a nearly destructive resolve remained.

She could not let Mu Xi be swallowed by that invisible agony. 

If pain was the only reality she could feel right now, then — she would give it to her.

Another crisp sound rang out, heavier than the one before. 

The force was so great that Mu Xi’s entire body jolted before she fell heavily back onto the mattress. 

A new red mark overlapped with the previous one, the color turning deeper as the edges quickly became a purplish-red.

“Ah — !”

This time, it was no longer a suppressed gasp, but a short, sharp cry of pain. 

Mu Xi’s body trembled violently. 

Tears finally poured uncontrollably from her eyes, sliding down her cheeks and soaking her silver hair and the bedsheets.

However, beneath that clear pain, Ye Lan still caught that fleeting, morbid satisfaction. 

Mu Xi’s brows were tightly knit and she had bitten her lip until it bled, but her body did not resist. 

On the contrary, she seemed even more relaxed, as if the intense pain brought about an ultimate release.

Ye Lan felt as if her heart were being soaked in cold salt water, both bitter and stinging. 

She forced herself to look at Mu Xi’s face, at her pained yet dazed expression, and at the increasing number of marks on her fragile skin. 

Every time she swung her hand, it felt as if she were whipping her own heart.

She began to repeat the action mechanically.

“Slap! Slap! Slap!”

The crisp sounds echoed within the enclosed car, forming a strange and suffocating rhythm. 

Every strike was accompanied by Mu Xi’s short or suppressed gasps and whimpers.

Ye Lan’s gaze gradually became vacant, and her movements lost their initial hesitation and struggle. 

She no longer thought about whether this was right, nor did she try to distinguish the subtle changes in Mu Xi’s expression. 

Something dark that had been dormant for a long time woke up in her heart and began to dominate her behavior.

‘Is it anger? Anger toward Luoyuan, toward Destiny, toward Mu Xi’s current situation, and toward my own powerlessness?’

‘Is it a desire for destruction? To see this flawless treasure shattered by my own hands and gain a twisted sense of control from it?’

‘Or is it… some deeper level of resonance?’

Mu Xi used pain to confirm her existence, while she — was she using the infliction of pain to vent the pent-up, frenzied love and despair within her own heart?

She did not know.

She only knew to raise her hand, let it fall, raise it again, and let it fall once more.

Mu Xi’s skin was already swollen, and in some places, tiny beads of blood even seeped out. 

Her crying gradually changed its tone, shifting from the whimpers of strange satisfaction to a pure, fragile wail.

“Ye… stop…” Her voice began to break, filled with fear and entreaty. 

“Wuwu… Ye Lan… stop…”

The previous morbid longing had vanished, replaced by a sober, unbearable agony.

“No more… you… stop… it hurts so much…”

Mu Xi tried to curl her body up to avoid the hand that kept falling, but the space in the bedroom was too small; she had nowhere to run. 

A bit of clarity returned to her eyes, but it was filled with terror. 

She did not understand why the person who had been satisfying her needs one moment had become a tormentor bringing pure harm the next.

Ye Lan heard her cries for mercy, the broken, tearful voice entering her ears clearly.

Reason told her that she should stop immediately, that she should hold her and comfort her.

However, she could not stop.

Like a train out of control, she was crashing frantically along a set track. 

Once those dark emotions were released, they were like a monstrous flood, swallowing her will.