T/n: Another angsty and frustrating chapter, but it’s even worse than the previous one 🥲 if the previous chapter was too much for you, then I strongly suggest skipping this chapter. Everything will be explained in the next chapter, so you won’t miss any major plot development by skipping this chapter. Take care peeps 🫶
It had been a long time since Liu Lin suffered from such a big loss.
Ever since he grew up, he had never been beaten so badly.
He had no power to fight back. In front of this man, he was like a child, unable to predict his next moves and unable to dodge his strikes.
He was as helpless as Yao Yue when she was facing him.
The only thing he could do was bear this one-sided torture.
It hurts.
It hurts like hell…
It hurts so much…
Xiao Qi, it hurts so much…
The man grabbed his head and repeatedly slammed it against the wall. Liu Lin could even feel his skull shattering, his brain sloshing, so dizzying he felt like vomiting it out.
Blood was all over his face.
But his eyes kept looking at Yao Qi who was standing not far away from him.
Xiao Qi…
Xiao Qi—
Look at me…
Yao Qi didn’t look at him. From the beginning to the end, Yao Qi only looked at the man who was battering him.
Just like the times he beat up Yao Yue back then, Yao Qi’s eyes were only looking at him.
Yao Qi’s tenderness didn’t belong to him anymore. Now that he had another person by his side, he no longer needed Liu Lin, and he would never again give him another glance.
Thinking of this, Liu Lin felt as if his heart was being cut apart with a knife. Slowly and gently, just like how Yao Qi had always been, yet it was so excruciating he couldn’t even breathe.
His mouth gaped open like a fish thrown ashore, unable to breathe yet gasping for air, suffocated to the point he couldn’t feel the pain from the wounds on his body.
“Alright, that’s enough, don’t get your clothes dirty.” Yao Qi took the man’s hand.
The man smiled and let him go.
Liu Lin crumbled to the ground, his joints twisted like a wooden puppet without strings. Blood flowed into his eyes, dyeing the image of Yao Qi leading away the man in a layer of red.
He was like a piece of trash that had been thrown away by his owner, unable to do anything other than watch Yao Qi leave.
Liu Lin was sent to the ICU.
He didn’t know who sent him to the hospital. He was in a coma for two days, and when he woke up, he couldn’t feel any strength in his body.
He could feel the pain of his ribs poking into his organs, but that wasn’t important. He wanted to see Yao Qi.
So once he felt that he had regained some strength, he secretly left his ward.
His whole body was hurting.
Yao Qi didn’t want him anymore — the pain made him finally realise what this meant.
It meant that Yao Qi was no longer his.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
It meant that Yao Qi belonged to someone else.
“If you dare leave me one day, I’ll kill you.”
He spoke with such viciousness that it seemed as though he had already turned into a vengeful ghost who came for Yao Qi’s life.
“Alright.”
Taking Liu Lin into his arms, Yao Qi tilted his head to kiss his face and peck his earlobe, gently consoling the beast who had protracted its claws.
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Going back to the hospital was the last thing he needed right now.
He wanted to kill Yao Qi.
Before entering the apartment, Liu Lin saw a white bundle in the garbage collection point below the building. Warm liquid spilled out from his eyes and fell to the ground.
Step by step, he slowly walked over, as if some kind of danger was waiting there.
That white bundle was a plush toy.
A big fox plush toy.
Its fur should have been snow-white, fluffy, soft and smooth, but now it had been stained with various colours under all the garbage. Its two front paws were still sticking to its snout, highlighting the two black beady eyes which should have looked extremely adorable, but now those eyes only seemed pitiful, as if they were silently crying.
“Ah-Lin.” Yao Qi softened his already gentle voice, sounding so tender it enticed Liu Lin.
“Fox.” Seemingly receiving some encouragement, Liu Lin uttered the word in a low voice. He paused, and then added, “It looks like you.”
He was going to kill Yao Qi!
Liu Lin turned around and walked back towards the building. His foot kicked something on the ground. He looked down and saw a book, ‘Angel and Monster’ written on the cover. The white cover had gotten so dirty that you couldn’t tell what colour it originally was.
“It’s my first new year’s gift for you.” Yao Qi waited for the man to finish changing his shoes before closing the door and slowly speaking, “But it seems like you don’t really like it, so I’d better throw it away.”
“For me?” Liu Lin was taken aback for a moment. Hearing what Yao Qi said, he immediately snatched the bag regardless of his previous apathy. “Who said I don’t like it? I like it! You already said it was for me, and I never said I don’t want it, so you can’t throw this away!”
He was going to kill Yao Qi!
Taking his eyes off the book, he stepped into the corridor. At some point, his bare feet had been scraped and scratched, leaving behind bloody footsteps in his track.
He picked out the lock with the keyring he had stolen from the security guard.
This place was no longer his home.
Just like Yao Qi, it no longer belonged to him.
Creak.
This was very similar to what Yao Yue did back then. The difference was that he had now become ‘Yao Yue’. He had become the unwanted existence.
The door opened, and Liu Lin quietly walked inside. The living room light was on, but no one was there.
There were sounds coming from the bedroom, which could only mean that Yao Qi was inside.
Liu Lin grabbed a knife from the kitchen and slowly approached the bedroom.
“Good boy, call me daddy, daddy will give you a lot of loving,” Yao Qi’s voice echoed through the door, the smile in it audible.
“Daddy,” another voice responded to him.
“Daddy will give you a lot of love,” Yao Qi repeated.
Liu Lin felt a hand wrapping around his waist before sliding down to his ass, sensually rubbing and pinching it. His muscles spontaneously tensed, stiffly letting Yao Qi do as he pleased.
“So be good, alright?” He continued to coax the man, the hand groping Liu Lin’s buttock now moving completely obscenely.
He would give him a lot of love in every sense of the word.
Heh.
Liu Lin silently scoffed, feeling disgusted.
He only came back one day late, why did everything suddenly turn this way?
Was this the punishment he got for choosing the second option?
“Choose well. Your choice will determine what kind of punishment you get.”
Yao Qi curled up the corners of his lips. Tenderly, he raised his hand to softly caress Liu Lin’s cheek.
Was he treated like this because he made the wrong choice?
He stood in front of the door and listened to the passionate sounds coming from inside, expressionlessly staring at the knife.
Previously, he was the one who was held in Yao Qi’s arms.
Now, it wasn’t him anymore.
That was obviously his Xiao Qi.
Xiao Qi could only belong to him.
Therefore, he had to kill Yao Qi.
He stared at the clock in the living room, watching the time go by little by little, silently moving his joints whenever they started to feel stiff.
He had done this kind of waiting before. At that time, he was standing inside the door, waiting for Yao Yue to come.
And Yao Yue, on the other hand, was waiting for her opportunity outside the door.
Now, like Yao Yue, he was waiting for his opportunity outside the door.
The clock faithfully ticked by. At last, there was no more sound coming from inside the door.
Liu Lin waited for a while, and then quietly pushed open the door. In the bedroom, two people were sleeping together. Yao Qi was hugging that man, just like how he had hugged Liu Lin back then.
Liu Lin stood by the bed and raised his knife, aiming at Yao Qi’s neck, but abruptly stopped mid-swing. Yao Qi had turned around in his sleep, showing half of his face, rubbing it against the pillow like a cat.
His Xiao Qi looked so good. He could always soften Liu Lin’s heart, making Liu Lin feel that he couldn’t bear to hurt him.
But this time he wouldn’t forbear it, because Yao Qi abandoned him.
So he would kill him.
Liu Lin grinned silently. Once again, he raised the kitchen knife and swung down—
Stab!
Instead of piercing flesh, the knife slashed at the soft bedding.
As if sensing his attack, that man suddenly opened his eyes and quickly rolled to the side with Yao Qi in his arms. He stretched out his arm to grab the lamp on the bedside table and smashed it at Liu Lin.
Facing the unexpected turn of events, Liu Lin reacted half a beat late. Due to his injuries, even if his brain had already urged him to move, his movements couldn’t keep up, leaving him to suffer from the full blow.
This moment blew his only chance to escape.
He missed the best window of opportunity. If he hadn’t hesitated, Yao Qi would’ve already been dead by now.
In the end, it was his weakness towards Yao Qi that doomed himself.
Clang!
The knife fell to the floor with a loud noise.
The ribs that had just been set were broken again, piercing into his stomach. Scrambling for purchase, Liu Lin tried to get up using the bed. The sound of the man’s footsteps rang in his ears. The next second, he kicked Liu Lin back down to the floor.
The man stepped on his right hand, and then, using the kitchen knife, he chopped off Liu Lin’s right hand.
“Arghh—” a painful shout burst out of his mouth.
His consciousness started to waver from the pain.
He saw Yao Qi waking up, glancing at him with a frown before promptly looking away.
Xiao Qi…
Xiao Qi… look at me…
Look at me—
I’m not disobedient, I just want to protect you…
Xiao Qi, look at me!!
The man stepped on his left hand and swung the knife again—
“Urgh!” Liu Lin swallowed the scream that was rushing out of his throat. He persistently looked at Yao Qi, tears unconsciously pouring out of his eyes and streaming down his face, blurring the sight of Yao Qi.
Liu Lin wanted to wipe away the tears, but he had no strength left, and he had even lost both of his hands now. He could only frantically blink his eyes, trying to expel the meaningless liquid from his body so that he could see Yao Qi more clearly.
Yao Qi still didn’t look at him.
The man raised the knife and pressed it on Liu Lin’s neck.
Xiao Qi… I’m going to die, won’t you look at me?
—Spurt.
The knife slashed across his neck.
At the moment of death, Liu Lin felt the pain of the blade cutting into his neck.
The Yao Qi in his sight never gave him another look.
Small theatre
Director: Cut—! Okay, it’s over, time to get off work! Xiao Qi, don’t look so scary, Ah-Lin is fine. *calls out to a staff* Go and collect the props.
Ah-Lin: *gets up from the floor and licks the ketchup splashed on his face* *sees Yao Qi’s face* *immediately rushes over to hug him* It’s alright, it’s all fake. Gimme a kiss╰(*′︶`*) ╯
Xiao Qi: …What the hell is this plot *glaring with gritted teeth* Didn’t you say it was only going to be a simple death scene? Where does the hands chopping part suddenly come from?
Director: *pointing at Ah-Lin* Ask him, he’s the one who added it.
Ah-Lin: …The fuck? *shocked* No, I didn’t—
Xiao Qi: Tsk.
Yao Yue: Wait a moment, I haven’t even showed up yet, why is it already over? *shocked +2*
Shao Qing: Do you really think we’ll get this kind of ending? Are you stupid? *scoffing*
Director: Hahahaha! So who actually believed this was the ending? Raise your hand!
T/n: *taps into mic* Is anyone still here? To commend the masochistic warriors who read this chapter to the end, I’d like to offer a small reprieve in the middle of this cliffhanger: none of the things that took place in chapters 34 & 35 actually happened. But just because it didn’t happen for real didn’t mean that it hurt any less for Liu Lin (or for me 😭 translating these two chapters really took a toll on me sobs)… The author (and Yao Qi) is so cruel to him 🥲 but what can I say, their relationship had never been equal in the first place 🥲🥲🥲
/sighs in relief/ Oh my gosh, I really thought Liu Lin will be disabled forever QAQ. Now that I saw the translator’s note and the small theatre, at least I’m reassured that it didn’t happen in reality.
I’m also one of the masochistic warriors, ah! Slightly proud that I finished both chapters! Thank you so much for the update <3
If that happened for real I wouldn’t be translating this novel and would instead tell everyone I know not to read it 😂
You did it, masochistic warrior! The suffering (for the most part) is over now, you’ll be reaping the fruits of your patience soon! Lmao thanks for reading 💝💝💝
So, did they drug him or was it a dream? (｡ŏ_ŏ)
+1
I just only pity LL and be angry and disappointed in YQ… I don’t know what YQ a made him sure that he wouldn’t leave him for sure or didn’t do self-harm. It’s just stupid…You could just sit and talk, eh
Thank You for the new chapter ♡(ŐωŐ人)
Me too 🥲 but as we can see from this Liu Lin, sadly, really can’t live without him sobs
Thank you for reading 💖💖💖
Thank you for the update translator!! Monday isn’t coming fast enough 😭😭😫
Tuesday**
Thank you for reading! Less than two days now! 💝💝💝
Geez man I thought it all actually happened! But looking back now I realize this is probably a nightmare from that tranquilizer thing!
After such a chapter, I thought it’d be cruel not to at least let readers know it didn’t happen for real 😂
Thank you for reading 😊💝
Professional patient here:
Okay, I’ve been this drugged up with painkillers and muscle relaxers. This dude is messed up.
I gotta say that this messed me up, too. I was grateful for the small theater and then, because I’m dark hearted, I actually got a small grin at how well this hallucination was written.
Nice job, author. Bravo.
I hope it didn’t mess you up too bad hhh I think the author was also afraid of people rage quitting the novel so she wrote the small theater lmao.
Thank you for reading! 💝💝💝
It was interesting. It didn’t feel like he would actually do that to Liu Lin, so I was grateful to read that it was just drugs, otherwise I don’t think I would have read it the rest of the way, though it is well-written. I stand for my little dog, because the fox is way too cunning!
eh, it didn’t really affect me because it just read as a dream sequence. Even if I want to engage, my trope radar doesn’t allow me to… so I just spent the whole time looking like :]
That’s really the best way to read this chapter hhh
Thanks for reading! 😊💖
uwah, so much heartache T^T it hurts, and it’s like 4am but I’m still here for it~ thank you for translating, hanging on for the sweet sweet end!!
Pat pat, it’s (mostly) over now 🥲 lemme give you a virtual hug haha.
Thank you so much for reading! We’re getting closer to that sweet sweet end! 😊💖💖💖