Chapter 42: Three Times Stronger

Looking at the young man slumped in the seat, sound asleep, a long-lost, twisted sense of pleasure arose within Zhao Yicheng.

“You should have done this a long time ago.”

It was as if a voice echoed in his mind, its words soothing, seemingly possessing a certain magic, full of temptation.

“A hypocritical, self-serving person like you shouldn’t crave others’ affection.”

“Just like before, a friendship cultivated for over ten years, utterly worthless in their eyes. Abandoned just like that.”

Zhao Yicheng approached the unconscious Xu Yinsheng in the seat, leaning over.

They say a forced melon isn’t sweet, but forceful possession… it really does bring an irresistible sense of pleasure.

He should have done this ages ago.

Playing these childish games for so many years, in the end, it wasn’t as effective as a packet of powder.

A slight smile played on his lips.

He stretched out a slender finger to lift Xu Yinsheng’s delicate chin, leaned in close, and whispered, “Xiao Yin, you’ll never be able to leave…”

With that, his thin lips were about to press against those tender, red ones.

Bang!!!

His left cheek suddenly went numb.

A violent impact made Zhao Yicheng’s head roar, sending him tumbling to the ground.

His ears were filled with chaotic noise, and the entire world was shaking.

This feeling was unfamiliar, as if something was rampaging inside him, tearing at every nerve and cell, even his internal organs aching faintly.

The pain was unbearable.

Blood, wine, glass shards, double vision, ringing ears, roaring, his mind blank…

The young woman who was supposed to be unconscious in the seat had somehow left it.

She stood up, looking at him with a cold expression, her eyes filled with disgust and disdain.

Xu Yinsheng tossed aside the broken, blood-stained beer bottle and left the private room without looking back.

Zhao Yicheng couldn’t remember how he left the private room.

Many people on the street were pointing at him, blood dripping onto the ground drop by drop, fine glass shards stuck to his face, causing stinging pain.

He didn’t know how long he walked until he reached a riverbank, sitting on a public bench, gazing at the sparkling river.

Some of his long-held convictions, which were already on the verge of collapse, began to waver.

Zhao Yicheng repeatedly pondered why Xu Yinsheng had woken up.

The drug was a special one, fast-acting, colorless, and odorless.

He hadn’t drugged the food, but had subtly sprinkled some powder when he got up to pour Xu Yinsheng juice.

Had he really done something wrong?

Drugging someone certainly warranted a prison sentence, but he did it for Xiao Yin’s own good.

Whether it was mild delusional disorder or dissociative identity disorder, it needed a swift resolution.

Either Xiao Yin chose one of the two personalities and eliminated the other, or ended the delusion before mild fantasy became severe, or became the fantasy.

Did he act selfishly?

Yes, definitely, it could even be said that selfishness accounted for the vast majority.

He wanted Xiao Yin, not just the person, but also her heart.

From a young age, he had always thought about spiriting Xiao Yin away to his bed in the future.

“Mom, what’s that?”

“That’s trash.”

“Look at the blood on his head.”

“That kind of young man, you can tell he’s not a good person just by looking at him.”

“I bet he’s…”

He looked up and around.

In the corners all around the riverbank, the passersby who had been gossiping scattered like birds and beasts in an instant.

In the past, if he were strolling here, dressed in a suit and looking distinguished, parents would point him out to their children as a successful person; peers would see him as an aspiration; old men and women would compare him to a chess opponent.

In a daze.

A dirty stray kitten jumped out of the grass behind him, its cat eyes gleaming, cautiously looking at his palm.

Zhao Yicheng looked at the faint traces of blood on his fingertips.

He squatted down, took a few small biscuits from his bag, crushed them into powder, and sprinkled them into his palm.

“Eat.”

“Meow~~”

***

The cat obediently lay on his fingers, licking the biscuit crumbs mixed with traces of blood.

It rubbed its small head against him, then used its tiny paws to grasp his knuckles, before gently biting them.

That warmth spread to his heart. Zhao Yicheng’s eyes narrowed.

His gaze fell upon its dirty fur, his eyes deepening, and the corners of his lips subtly curved upwards.

“If it tastes good, then eat more.”

After the stray kitten finished licking the biscuit crumbs from his palm, it seemed to be full, lazily rolling around in place.

Zhao Yicheng chuckled softly, shaking his head.

He stood up; it was time to bandage his wound.

The palm-sized injury on his left cheek still ached, mixed with tiny glass fragments.

Every twitch of his lips brought a piercing pain.

“Meow!”

He had barely walked a few steps when a cat’s meow sounded from behind him.

The stray kitten hadn’t left; instead, it was following at his heels. Zhao Yicheng squatted down, looking at the stray kitten.

“Want to come with me?”

“Meow.”

The stray cat nodded, understanding him surprisingly well.

“You won’t run away after eating your fill?”

“Meow meow.” The stray cat shook its head.

“That’s good.”

Zhao Yicheng opened his palm.

The stray cat jumped into his hand, letting a large hand hold its body without any resistance.

A warm current flowed from his palm, making the stray cat comfortably squint its eyes and gently lick the warmth from his palm.

Zhao Yicheng looked at the obedient, unresisting kitten in his palm and murmured,

“Cats are better. A little food is enough for them to show loyalty. People’s desires are still too many. No, it’s that people have too much, so they don’t know how to cherish things.”

“If only people could be like cats, how wonderful that would be.”

The phone in his pocket somehow fell to the ground.

The power button hit the ground, and the screen faced Zhao Yicheng, who was looking down, automatically unlocking.

Perhaps there was a touch screen issue, as the phone automatically opened the photo album.

Clear pictures, like a PowerPoint presentation, paused for a few seconds before moving to the next.

He saw a photo of himself and Xiao Yin wearing cotton jackets in the snow during elementary school.

He saw himself and Xiao Yin, dressed like hoodlums, playing games in an internet café during junior high.

He saw himself being pulled by a chuunibyou-suffering Xiao Yin to become sworn brothers in high school.

He saw himself and Xiao Yin getting massages at a foot massage parlor in college.

He saw himself having gone abroad, with Xiao Yin wrapping her arms around his neck, singing freely in a bar.

He saw Xiao Yin leaning sleepily in his arms at a hot spring inn after returning to China.

He saw the past, he saw his childhood, he saw the present… he saw some bits and pieces recorded in their shared past.

It was as if a voice echoed in his ear, It’s all gone.

Everything is gone.

There’s no Xiao Yin in the future, no these memories, no anything.

He felt something within his soul completely shatter.

Along with it disappeared some of his last lingering attachments to her.

He suddenly felt a sense of relief, even exhilaration.

He straightened his back and looked at the cat in his arms.

“Her world should only contain me.”

“When her world has only me left, I will be her only one.”

The fed and content stray kitten lay lazily in his arms.

Its large, watery cat eyes stared innocently at him, not understanding its owner’s sudden enlightenment.

A smile formed on Zhao Yicheng’s lips.

The pain on his face was so profound, yet he didn’t feel uncomfortable.

Instead, he felt that the world had never been so clear before his eyes.

He wanted to burst out laughing.

But then he stopped himself.

Because he had something more important to do.

He called his driver and told him to bring a private doctor, sending him the address coordinates.

Looking at the lazy and loyal little creature in his arms, Zhao Yicheng felt as if he was seeing a human-like cat lying in his embrace, lazy and obedient.

He stroked its fur.

“Thank you, little one. I’ll take care of you from now on. You won’t be lonely either; you’ll have a companion of your kind.”

“But not now, though soon, I’ll bring her back.”