Muchuan and Xiang Wan

“Celebrity…” Ye Lun muttered under his breath.

 “Yes, your identity is just a celebrity. I’m sure you know better how a celebrity stands in the hearts of the public. In no time, they will forget about you. All of your wifey fans, die-hard fans, they will have another new idol. There will be even more good-looking celebrities that will appear and attract their attention. The only place that you will be remembered is in the dossiers kept in the police archives department.”

 “And we, the people that you hate, will live happily. We will get married, have children and our story will continue from there. We will have offspring who will come to pay their respects every year after we die. We won’t have an ending. This is because our story will never end.”

 Ye Lun didn’t move…

 Like a silkworm wrapped in its cocoon, he was weak and tired.

 “The flash drive, the password is… skgmefhom9432.”

 His eyes gradually lost focus.

 “If you have… the courage, just look at it… look at it…”

 It was suddenly quiet inside the ward.

 There was still no sound after a while.

 Xiang Wan gazed at Ye Lun.

 “I still have things to ask you.”

 Ye Lun didn’t answer, as though he didn’t hear anything.

 “Ye Lun, don’t pretend to be dead.” Xiang Wan’s eyes became a little red.

 At this moment, she didn’t feel any better, although she had her revenge on Ye Lun by mocking him. She still felt a stinging sensation in her nose.

 “Someone like you won’t die so easily. Stop avoiding this. There are still so many things…”

 Ye Lun still didn’t make a sound.

 Xiang Wan’s eyebrows creased together tightly. Although she felt terrible inside, she didn’t forget her responsibility.

 “First question, why did Heaven’s Wrath abandon you? Was it because they were unhappy with your performance?”

 “Second, do you know who is the new executor that Heaven’s Wrath has chosen?”

 “Third, why and how is Heaven’s Wrath so concerned and well-informed about Cui Ming, Bai Muchuan, Xie Wanwan and even my past? Are any of us related to Heaven’s Wrath?”

 “Fourth, where is Xie Wanwan’s kid?”

 “Fifth, is your mom still alive? Where is she? And your dad, Wei Gang, do you want him to go to your funeral?”

 “Sixth, sixth, let me think of what else to ask you…”

 Although she was thinking hard, she was actually still in a confused state of mind.

 “… In fact.” Ye Lun suddenly opened his mouth, his voice was so weak that it was almost inaudible.

 Xiang Wan was startled for a moment. She stood up and bent over, ears close to his mouth.

 Ye Lun’s eyes were closed. “My mom’s…” he muttered softly, “dead for a long time. She couldn’t remember me. Don’t take drugs, don’t… my dad, don’t need to come. I couldn’t, go to his funeral anyway.”

 He spoke in bits and pieces.

 Here and there.

 Xiang Wan listened with difficulty.

 She didn’t dare to interrupt him.

 “Xie Wanwan’s kid died shortly after she gave birth. The photo, it’s fake, photoshopped according to Xie Wanwan’s looks. Hurhur… hurhurhur… she didn’t look the same in the past.”

 Xiang Wan: “…”

 Yeah!

 Why didn’t she think of it back then?

 The impact of seeing the photoshopped kid in the picture was so great that none of them remembered Xie Wanwan didn’t use to look the way she was now.

 It was especially overwhelming for Xie Wanwan as she knew she had a kid before. When she saw the picture of the child, she went crazy. It didn’t come across her mind that she had looked different in the past. Even if she had thought of this… although she had cosmetic surgery, her basic features were still there.

 This was where Ye Lun was really good at.

 He knew how a mom would react.

 Xie Wanwan had felt guilt towards her dead kid.

 “You’re really cruel,” remarked Xiang Wan, “but you’re really something to have thought of this. So, I’m even more puzzled that you’re such a talent when it comes to planning conspiracies, why did Heaven’s Wrath abandon you? Even if Operation Heaven’s Wrath failed, they shouldn’t have given you up… Besides, Operation Heaven’s Wrath isn’t a complete failure. Although you didn’t achieve your goals, the impact is still big enough.”

 Ye Lun didn’t move.

 For a good while, he said nothing.

 Xiang Wan was taken aback.

 She reached out a finger to check Ye Lun’s nose…

 “I’m not dead.” Ye Lun suddenly spoke, Xiang Wan quickly took her hand back.

 There were sounds coming from Ye Lun’s throat like there was some phlegm stuck in there. His usual alluring voice became deep, hoarse and unclear.

 “I’m the one… who gave up on them.”

 Eh?

 Xiang Wan stared at him with a baffled look.

 In order to hear him clearly, she had to go closer to him.

 So close that she could see the tiny hairs on his face.

 “Why did you give them up?”

 Ye Lun’s eyes moved but he couldn’t open his eyes. “… The ones that I wanted to kill,” he mumbled, “they don’t want me to kill. Those that I don’t want to kill, they wanted them dead.”

 So they had different thoughts?

 Xiang Wan: “So who do you want to kill? Who do they want to kill?”

 Ye Lun’s consciousness gradually weakened.

 Without a clear mind to support him, he seemed to talk without much sense.

 “Bai Muchuan, Xiang Wan.”

 “…”

 Huh? So who wanted to kill who?

 Xiang Wan’s heart was filled with questions.

 “So they wanted to kill Bai Muchuan or you wanted to kill Bai Muchuan? Or they wanted to kill me, or…”

 No, Ye Lun didn’t want to kill her.

 So that means—

 Xiang Wan was shocked and wanted to ask when she heard Ye Lun mumbling. “Teacher Xiang…”

 “Mm?”

 “… It wasn’t my first time seeing you… at the ‘Palace’. The first was through a surveillance camera… Cui Ming had been spying on you… Your rented apartment, your schools, you dropping out of college, it was all plotted by him.”

 Spying on her?

 That micro spy camera was found on the door of her tiny rented apartment…

 Xiang Wan felt goosebumps all over and recalled about her schooling days.

 “If Cui Ming had been plotting against me, why didn’t he kill me?”

 She asked but Ye Lun didn’t reply to her.

 He seemed to have lost his ability to think. She was unable to communicate with him.

 He was thinking about what he had done, what he had experienced in his life. He was thinking about his painful and misfortunate life. He couldn’t hear what Xiang Wan was saying at all.

 “Tell me. Qin Shu, how did he die?”

 “…” Xiang Wan found herself speechless.

 He asked that question again.

 She was unable to answer that.

 He was immersed in his thoughts, in his scattered mind. He was no different from a wandering soul. His body was no longer under his control as he made a final farewell to his body.

“Teacher Xiang… you’ll… let me… survive till the last chapter, alright?”

 “Ye Lun?” Xiang Wan looked at his dry, seemingly thirsty lips.

 “Please… please…” His condition was deteriorating.

 “Ye Lun?” Xiang Wan called his name lightly. “Why do you mind this?”

 “… nobody loved me… just let… everyone hate me…”

 Xiang Wan looked at his face which got paler and puffed a sigh.

 “Ye Lun, you’re too obstinate. Cui Ming and Meng Chi, even Cheng Zheng, you’re no different from them… but there’s no need to live like that. If you fall down, just get up and you can continue to walk. If something doesn’t work out, then try other ways or even find something else to do… I wasn’t happy when I was young but I’ve always believed that I have the ability to achieve my happiness. It’s the same for Bai Muchuan as well, and he could still live a forthright life till today.”

 Xiang Wan heaved a deep sigh.

 “We’re only humans! Hatred is an innate ability but love is something that we have to learn. Do you understand?”

 There was no more sound.

 No one answered.

 The room was stuffy, not a trace of wind to be felt.

 The patient on the hospital bed no longer had any reaction.

 So the purpose of Ye Lun wanting to see her was not to provoke her but ask her to write him in her novel – Murder The Dream Guy and survive till the last chapter. He wanted to be just like Qin Shu, who was also a genius when it comes to plotting conspiracies. He wanted to be hated as well as admired. He wanted to become a character, whether in a movie or a drama series where a handsome young man would be cast as his character… and not be like his actual ending where he was accidentally killed by a woman. He didn’t want to be a supporting character in the story.

 He was a lonely child.

 A child who lived like a puppet since young.

 He needed attention and love but was controlled until he grew up to an adult. He couldn’t get the things he wanted.

 But now, he was relieved of his unfortunate life.

 …

 The doctor and nurses rushed into the ward.

 Bai Muchuan, Cheng Zheng, Ding Yifan and others also came in.

 The doctor tried to revive him.

 However, there was only a straight line on the ECG monitor.

 The doctor shook his head at Bai Muchuan.

 “He’s gone.”

 Bai Muchuan nodded his head and stayed at his spot.

 Everyone stared at the man who just passed on without making a sound.

 The nurses started to remove all the tubes on him. The life support which had kept him alive was no longer of use.

 What Ye Lun did was atrocious and vicious. It could even be said that he deserved to die.

 However, humans were naturally compassionate to one another.

 Even if he was a wicked man, everything ended the moment he was dead.

 His evil deeds would be sealed forever in the criminal records as reference. But his fate… was after all, closely linked to theirs.

 The natural disaster which started everything 19 years ago. And the Special Training School that was filled with sins and evil.

 These two stories, or rather, two tragic incidents… caused countless people many suffering and sad endings.

 They were similar to dominoes, falling down one after another…

 “Teacher Xiang!”

 Ding Yifan was the first to break the silence.

 “What did Ye Lun tell you?”

 Everyone was curious.

 Xiang Wan looked at Bai Muchuan.

 After a moment’s hesitation, she quietly handed her phone over to him.

 “Go back first, then watch it.”

 …