Perhaps due to Li Hu’s hints, Zhou Hui had many chaotic dreams that night.
Living at his level, he knew when he was dreaming, and he found it strange how he could recall such ancient and hidden past events, and how these events, after thousands of years of changes, were still as clear as yesterday.
It was when the Phoenix was giving birth to its eldest son. The celestial phenomena were bizarre, and the cosmic balance was unstable. The mother’s inner core was rapidly absorbed by the embryo, and many said the Phoenix wouldn’t survive this time. The Phoenix was reborn through nirvana, but that didn’t mean it could live forever. Once its soul returned to the infinite void beyond the thirty-three heavens, it was said to become eternal, but in reality, it was no different from death.
Zhou Hui knelt before the hundred-foot golden Buddha of the Heavenly Dao for seven days and seven nights, a string of azure prayer beads in his hand, which he must have turned thousands of times.
“Will you take refuge?” the Buddha asked for the first time.
Zhou Hui was silent for a long time, then said, “No.”
Outside the Buddhist hall, thunder and lightning flashed, and torrential rain poured down. Countless lightning bolts, like winding giant dragons, descended from the sky, scourging the human world into scorched earth for thousands of miles.
Hu Qing held a paper umbrella, walking up the winding bluestone path from the mountain. He stood at the entrance of the Buddhist hall, like a lonely ghost in the rainy night, his wet face revealing a ghastly pallor. He whispered, “He can’t hold on anymore.”
“…”
“The Phoenix said that if it came to the very end, it could sacrifice its inner core to protect the embryo.”
“…”
Inside the Buddhist hall, the lamp flickered like a bean. Half of Zhou Hui’s profile was obscured by darkness, appearing obscure. The Buddha asked again, “Will you take refuge?”
This time, a long, long time passed, so long that Hu Qing thought he had either fallen asleep in that position or had simply turned into stone and rooted himself underground, when he suddenly heard him speak, in a hoarse voice, “No.”
On the tenth day, heaven and earth overturned, dark winds raged, and the torrential rain was ceaseless, like the legendary hell of ice. Throughout the vast world, demons and ghosts danced wildly, glaciers collapsed, seawater surged backward, and the earth trembled and cracked under the scorching heat of blood and fire.
Zhou Hui trembled all over, his nails digging hard into the prayer beads, causing several pieces of azure glass to be covered in cracks. The Buddha asked for the third time, “Will you take refuge?”
Sharp fragments dug deep into his palm, and streaks of blood flowed along the fine cracks into the heart of the prayer beads, reflecting a hazy and beautiful faint light under a single candlelight.
“I…”
He wanted to say I am willing to take refuge, but the weight of those few words was like heaven and earth collapsing, bending his back, almost every inch of his bones threatening to break.
“I…” He tightly closed his eyes, trembling as he opened his mouth, but then suddenly heard a voice from in front of the Buddhist hall: “It’s born! The Phoenix’s nestling is born!”
—— “Peacock has descended onto the world, bringing with it virtue and brightness. His virtuous achievements have come to their successful conclusion, and his teachings will reach and be understood by all!”
—— “Mahamayuri Vidyaraja. He was born into this world like a golden sun shining on snow mountains. Hence, I grant him the title of ‘Peacock Vidyārāja’!”
…
Zhou Hui’s body suddenly relaxed, as if a thousand-pound burden had been lifted. He let out a long, complete breath. However, he couldn’t take that breath back in—
“Evil creature! Too late!” The Buddha’s voice boomed like thunder from the distant thirty-third heaven. “Obsession unawakened, beyond salvation, you have lost your last chance!”
“You shall suffer the blade and fall into hell, enduring the pain of unredeemable suffering for all eternity!”
Zhou Hui looked up to see a pair of angry eyes, the Buddha’s solemn visage, as if it would collapse at any moment and devour people. He suddenly retreated several steps, gasping for breath, feeling cold sweat all over his body as if soaked in ice water.
Just then, Hu Qing rushed wildly from outside the Buddhist hall, his voice so sharp it almost changed pitch: “Zh-Zhou Hui! Go quickly and see, the newborn’s eyes—”
Zhou Hui suddenly turned around, seeing the Nine-tailed Fox’s face pale and ashen, filled with an indescribable fear and terror. He couldn’t help but ask, “What’s wrong?”
“The newborn opened its eyes,” Hu Qing said, trembling. “Its pupils reflected… the Phoenix’s death.”
The prayer beads clattered to the ground, the thread broke, and the azure glass beads scattered across the floor with a tinkling sound.
Zhou Hui suddenly opened his eyes. Outside the window, a heavy rain had started at some unknown time, splattering against the hotel’s glass panes. A faint, undetectable scent of dampness and salt hung in the air.
Chu He was reaching over him to grab his phone from the bedside table on Zhou Hui’s side. Seeing him, he turned back without a word.
Zhou Hui chuckled, rolled over, and pressed heavily onto him, one hand instinctively reaching down: “I don’t believe you haven’t learned your lesson yet… Hmm? How many times do you have to suffer before you get smarter?”
In the dark, warm room, the scent of desire that had just subsided began to steam again, making one’s consciousness particularly hazy in the misty, rainy night. Chu He let out a muffled groan, his hand instinctively gripping the bedsheet. Zhou Hui seized his fingers in between thrusts, clasping them in his own palm.
“I just wanted to… make a call…”
“No signal,” Zhou Hui said, sucking and kissing him hard, his breath coming in ragged gasps. “In this barrier, you and I are the same. Or do you think you can get out?… It’s not that simple, I’m telling you…”
Naked bodies rubbed against each other, emanating scorching heat, making one particularly crave indulgence. For a moment, Chu He felt as if the dark night was like bottomless water, enough to drown a person alive; he desperately tilted his head back, gasping for air, but felt the hand clamped on his throat tightening. Finally, just as he was about to suffocate, a hazy light suddenly flashed in his mind, like colorful blocks exploding, and his whole body trembled as if electrocuted, his limbs went weak, and even his internal organs spasmed. He let out a painful and blood-curdling gasp that he himself didn’t hear.
Zhou Hui also gasped for air, gradually calming down after a long while, then lowered his head for a brief kiss. Chu He was utterly exhausted, lying there unwilling to move. Zhou Hui lay on his side next to him. In the darkness, sweat could be seen glistening on his solid, naked upper body. His voice, hoarse with satisfaction, asked, “Who did you want to call?”
“Zhang Shun.”
“Is your brother an overgrown child? Does he get anxious if his older brother stays out one night?”
Chu He lay still and silent, then suddenly asked, “Did you just have a dream?”
“No,” Zhou Hui immediately denied. He paused, then added: “Hu Qing already told your brother that you’ll be back tomorrow. What, you can’t even wait one night? Your brotherly affection is truly touching, tsk tsk.”
“…” Chu He was speechless for a moment, then said, “I’m just wondering, if there’s no special reason, why did you trap me in this barrier for a night? For fun?”
“Can’t I do things without reason?”
“You’re not that kind of person. What you do, if not a hundred percent, then at least ninety-nine percent, has a reason.”
Zhou Hui shifted to a more comfortable position beside him, casually saying, “It seems you really don’t understand me.”
“…” Chu He frowned, then rubbed his brow with his middle finger knuckle, looking a bit confused. His appearance reminded Zhou Hui of some old, fragmented, and heartwarming moments from a long, long time ago, making him smile faintly. Just as he was about to tease him, some obscure, dark shadows from his dream suddenly appeared, like malicious demons hiding behind a perfect, peaceful life, suddenly revealing grotesque smiles.
Zhou Hui fell silent.
“You know I trapped you for a night for a reason, but you can’t figure out what that reason is. I guess our ways of thinking are just different.” After a long while, he suddenly gave a playful smile and naughtily hooked Chu He’s chin with his hand. This action was actually very frivolous, but coupled with his handsome, unbeatable face, it had a captivating masculine charm.
“—Don’t worry, darling, just one night. Your husband always knows when to stop with playful intimacies, didn’t you know?”
Chu He looked at him expressionlessly. Zhou Hui blinked, revealing a sly smile.
Meanwhile, in the suburban development zone, at the construction site.
Zhang Shun parked his Ferrari by the roadside and got out of the car with an umbrella. The wilderness was flattened by the heavy rain, and the distant plains stretched endlessly, without a single light, like a monstrous creature revealing its huge, boundless, pitch-black fangs on the horizon. The caution tape from the discovery of the bodies was still wrapped around the barbed wire, but it had been torn to shreds by the downpour.
Zhang Shun took a deep breath, silently bolstered himself, lifted the caution tape, and ducked under it. It didn’t feel scary during the day, but standing in front of the construction building at night, looking at the large pit where six coffins had been unearthed just hours ago, the horrifying feeling of dread came flooding back. For a moment, Zhang Shun almost wanted to turn around and leave, but thinking of Zhou Hui’s seemingly nonchalant yet ruthless demeanor, and Li Hu’s ambiguous reminders and hints, Second Young Master Zhang gritted his teeth and stood his ground.
“How do I use this?” he muttered softly, looking down at the golden Buddha seal in his palm. It seemed that during the day, that woman surnamed Li just pressed it on the ground and recited a few incantations, and the mirror image reflected the underground like an IMAX 3D blockbuster. By the way, what were those two incantations?
“Even if I can’t get in, shouting a few words or handing over some water should be possible. If all else fails, I’ll call the police…” Zhang Shun mumbled to himself. Just as he was about to press his palm into the damp mud of the large pit, a light suddenly flashed on the distant road, followed by bright headlights approaching from afar.
Someone’s coming? Zhang Shun was startled and immediately looked around. After a half-second of hesitation, he bolted into the construction building, quickly hiding among a pile of scaffolding.
However, he guessed wrong. It wasn’t a police car that drove over, but a Grand Cherokee. As it approached the construction site, the large vehicle turned off its headlights and stopped directly in front of the construction building. Then the car doors opened, and several people got out one after another, quietly exchanging a few words: “￥％#&％￥…” “#￥W%（*&…”
Zhang Shun’s heart skipped a beat—it was Japanese people! It was the Japanese investors that Mayor Huang had mentioned buying this construction site during the day! Why were they here so late? Could the murder really be related to them? Zhang Shun’s heart pounded like a drum. He couldn’t help but secretly peek out—only to see several Japanese men collectively carrying a long cloth bag from the car, throwing it on the ground, and then carrying out a huge long wooden box. Zhang Shun recognized what it was, and his legs instantly went weak.
—It was a coffin.
Another white-robed young man got out of the car, his steps and expression stiff. He walked down from the car step by step, standing in front of the cloth bag and the coffin. Zhang Shun almost peed his pants when he saw clearly that the young man had a gun pointed at the back of his head, held by a middle-aged man in a gray suit. All the others stood in a circle watching.
Is this a murder scene? Am I, damn it, caught in a murder scene?!
Zhang Shun trembled like a sieve, contemplating whether it was more feasible to sneak away unnoticed or to flop to the ground and pretend to faint. Just then, he heard the man in the gray suit speak, in Chinese no less: “Do it now, don’t make me do it!”
The young man trembled all over, and after a long while, hoarsely said, “But I don’t want to kill anymore. Just kill me.” After speaking the last word, he suddenly became calm, standing there with his eyes closed.
The man in the gray suit probably hadn’t expected the youth to say that. After a moment of surprise, he became furious, slammed the gun butt hard, knocking him to the ground, and then kicked him several times. The youth curled up in pain but bit down hard, refusing to yield, only letting out a short cry of pain when pressed. The man in the gray suit kicked him a few more times, to no avail, and finally raged, “Do you think only you can do this, Yan Lanyu? You all! Untie this bag!”
Two subordinates nearby immediately untied the cloth bag and pulled it off. Zhang Shun then saw that there was actually a person inside. That person must have been unconscious; there was no reaction to such a commotion. The man in the gray suit spat, then walked up to the person with his gun. The youth called Yan Lanyu lay prostrate on the ground, probably knowing what was about to happen, shaking his head and gasping in pain.
Zhang Shun, however, didn’t react, or rather, this well-protected rich second generation didn’t even realize there was such a cruel side to the world. He instinctively widened his eyes, only to see the man in the gray suit raise his gun. The suppressed gun went thwack. Blood spurted from the head of the person in the cloth bag, and then their head tilted, motionless.
K-killed!
Zhang Shun trembled as if electrocuted. He stumbled backward half a step in a panic, Clang! hitting the steel scaffolding. In that instant, Zhang Shun felt all the blood in his body turn to ice. Then, a few people not far away simultaneously turned their heads and shouted, “Who’s there?!”
Zhang Shun froze for half a second, then turned and ran!
It proved that even a cornered rich second generation couldn’t run as fast as a well-trained wolf. He had only rushed a few steps before he was caught and slammed to the ground. Then, several punches rained down on his head and face, making him yelp as he covered his head. Soon, the intense pain made him lose the strength to scream, and he could only utter intermittent pleas for mercy in between punches to his face and body. For a few seconds, he even thought he would be beaten to death—he had never imagined being pinned down and violently beaten was such a terrifying and desperate thing. It occurred to him that he was even worse than that young man named Yan Lanyu; at least that kid had bitten down and not begged for mercy…
“Stop!” someone suddenly shouted.
The punches gradually ceased. Zhang Shun gasped wretchedly for a while, and then the excruciating pain slowly returned to his reflexes, piercing through the numbness. He saw the man in the gray suit standing in front of him with his gun, his face gloomy. Not far away, the young man sharply shouted, “Don’t kill him! I’ll make the seventh laughing corpse for you!”
Zhang Shun stared at the gun, his mind completely blank. It was truly stiff and blank; he didn’t even think of thoughts like “My life is over,” “I’ll be a good man again in eighteen years,” or “Brother, I’m dying, are we going to meet underground soon?”
“…Tie him up,” Zhang Shun felt like an entire century had passed, though it was only a few seconds, before he heard the gray-suited man’s voice: “Bring him here. If the body isn’t successfully made, he’ll be used as a substitute.”
The subordinates immediately found ropes from the Cherokee and tied Zhang Shun up, delivering him to the gray-suited man and the youth. The youth had already gotten up, kneeling beside the man’s corpse, staring intently at Zhang Shun and asking, “Who are you? Why are you here?”
Zhang Shun trembled uncontrollably. He knew it was too embarrassing, but he truly couldn’t stop. He desperately thought that he was still too inexperienced. At a critical moment, he wasn’t as mature and calm as his brother; he was completely useless.
“I… I was just passing by, just getting soy sauce. Please, don’t kill me…”
Yan Lanyu chuckled briefly, his expression very sad: “You’d better close your eyes.”
Close his eyes? Why? Are you really going to kill me to make the eighth corpse? Damn, will I also lie in a coffin laughing like that ghost? …A million thoughts instantly flooded Zhang Shun’s mind. He heard the youth say: “The next process will be a bit disgusting. I’m going to take out all of this person’s internal organs and then take some measures to make his face… You’d better close your eyes.”
Zhang Shun stared at him in disbelief, realizing the youth wasn’t joking. He immediately squeezed his eyes shut and turned around. Rustling sounds came from behind him, followed by a strong smell of blood. Something wet and squishy dropped to the ground with a splat. Realizing what it was, Zhang Shun immediately broke out in goosebumps. He didn’t even realize it himself, but he was actually trembling so much that he couldn’t even stand steadily. Several Japanese men let out obvious sneers.
“Alright,” Yan Lanyu finally said hoarsely after an unknown period, “Put him in.”
Several people stepped forward, lifted the corpse, and placed it into the coffin. Zhang Shun used all his courage to open his eyes just a crack—he thought if he didn’t die tonight, he had to remember what this person looked like, so he could burn him some ladies or iPhones during holidays in the future. Who knew that as soon as he opened his eyes, he was terrified. The corpse was completely naked, its mouth stretched to its ears, arranged in a grotesque cross-legged sitting posture, one hand holding a small knife plunged into its chest, the other hand raised flatly, its index finger pointing straight ahead.
Zhang Shun was practically scared out of his mind. He saw that the Japanese men were not repulsed. They placed the corpse into the coffin, closed the lid, and began to dig in the large pit where the six coffins had been unearthed during the day, using a special tool. They dug very quickly and vigorously.
Fortunately, they didn’t make Zhang Shun dig with them—Second Young Master Zhang thought they probably found him troublesome, rather than having studied the Geneva Convention’s articles on not forcing prisoners of war to do hard labor. The soil at the bottom of the pit was loose, and soon they dug a seven-foot square pit, lifted the coffin, and buried it inside.
Yan Lanyu sighed and sat on the ground, telling Zhang Shun, “Step back.”
Zhang Shun quickly retreated several steps, only to see him pull something from his neck, seemingly a sharp, grayish-white pendant. He used the sharp tip of this pendant to pierce his middle finger, and began drawing talismans on the ground with his blood, chanting something softly as he drew. All the Japanese men retreated, but the man in the gray suit stepped forward and pressed the muzzle of his gun against Yan Lanyu’s head.
“Is this necessary, Uncle Aida?” Yan Lanyu asked, without turning his head, with a slight taunt in his voice.
The man in the gray suit said coldly, “With your cunning, fox-like nature, who knows if you’ll deliberately mess something up so that all of us perish here?”
Yan Lanyu seemed disdainful to answer, but from Zhang Shun’s angle, he could glimpse out of the corner of his eye that Yan Lanyu subtly wiped away a section of a talisman on his wrist and redrew a few strokes.
As the talismans became more numerous and dense, the surrounding wilderness slowly grew darker. Zhang Shun was particularly sensitive in the tense environment. Soon, he noticed that the already thinning rain had stopped. Then, the wind grew stronger and stronger. Dark clouds layered like thick mud covered the pale, fuzzy moon, and the entire wilderness turned pitch black like ink. Even the flashlight beams a dozen steps away became blurry.
Yan Lanyu continued drawing without looking up. His and Aida’s faces seemed to glow with a faint green light, looking unusually terrifying.
Zhang Shun shivered. Then, he heard long, mournful, and shrill screams emanating from deep within the wilderness, approaching from all directions.
The Japanese men also stirred slightly, looking around, but could see nothing. In the darkness, countless phantoms seemed to fly from afar, dragging long wails, hovering above their heads, and even whispering miserable, sharp wails close to their ears. This eerie and terrifying atmosphere was like a live-action Hollywood ghost movie.
Several Japanese men, holding flashlights that had turned completely green, were trembling—only Zhang Shun, standing to the side, had, due to extreme fear, broken out into a self-deprecating calmness. He thought, What’s so scary about ghosts? Grandpa has seen ghosts by his bedside and even critically hit a Demon Lord. You Japanese devils are far more terrifying than ghosts, okay?
“How could this be?” Aida, ignoring the foul, cold wind blowing against his ear from something clinging to his shoulder, loudly asked Yan Lanyu, “What tricks did you play?!”
“This is normal,” Yan Lanyu said calmly, still drawing. “The Seven Laughter Corpses attract countless lonely souls and vengeful spirits from all directions, and too many ghosts will cause the earth-born fetus to spasm from extreme pain, thereby collapsing the earth veins…”
Before he finished speaking, there was a muffled boom, and everyone felt the ground beneath them shake.
“It’s the earth-born fetus!” Aida exclaimed in shock, then with wild joy: “The earth-born fetus is moving!”
Yan Lanyu ignored him. The talismans had consumed too much of his energy. He once again pricked his finger with the strange grayish-white pendant, finished the last few strokes with blood, then suddenly stood up and retreated several steps. Then, the earth trembled, emitting a cracking roar!
Everyone stumbled amidst gasps. Zhang Shun, caught off guard, fell flat on his face, instantly spitting out half a bloody front tooth. He got up before he could curse, only to see the large pit beneath his feet crack open. The cracks quickly spread downwards with a terrifying creaking sound, forming a bottomless black chasm within seconds. At the same time, countless fissures rapidly snaked outwards in all directions.
A corner of the coffin, buried underground just moments ago, became visible in the chasm. It suddenly shook with a clang, then was pulled by a force emanating from the chasm below—Zhang Shun instinctively knew something was pulling it—the coffin wobbled in the mud for a few seconds, then with a whoosh, it was forcibly dragged down by the thing underground!
Zhang Shun was horrified. He took the opportunity to turn and run, but then Aida roared, “Grab him! Make him go down first!”
Several Japanese men lunged forward, instantly pinning him down tightly. Zhang Shun struggled and resisted with all his might, but to no avail. He was tied up and pushed towards the opening of the hole. He couldn’t help but exclaim in terror, “Don’t go down! There’s something down there! The coffin, the coffin was pulled away!”
Aida gave a mocking smile and ordered his subordinates, “See how deep it is inside.”
Several Japanese men tied bricks to ropes and threw them into the opening. Because the earth’s tremors hadn’t completely subsided and the opening of the ground fissure was very steep, they pulled one after another. A moment later, the bricks hit the bottom. They then pulled out the ropes and measured, finding it to be over twenty meters deep.
Aida pointed at Zhang Shun and said, “You, go down first.”
Over twenty meters! Even sliding down a rope, he could fall to his death! Not to mention the strange thing down there! Zhang Shun desperately shook his head and shouted, “No! Don’t make me go down! If I die, my family will definitely not let you off! If you want money, I have it! Just name your price!”
“Money,” Aida scoffed, “For people like us, money is the least valuable thing. Send him down!”
The subordinates immediately pushed Zhang Shun towards the fissure. Second Young Master Zhang struggled and screamed, and in the chaos, his face and body were hit several more times. Although the Japanese men were well-trained security personnel, Second Young Master Zhang was truly fighting for his life at this moment. For a while, he wasn’t immediately pushed down. Aida, after waiting a few minutes, grew increasingly annoyed. He suddenly drew his gun and roared, “Are you going down or not?! Don’t make me throw your corpse down to clear the way!”
Zhang Shun screamed in fright, his legs turning to jelly. He was violently pushed by a subordinate and almost fell into the fissure.
“Let him go,” just then, Yan Lanyu stood up and walked forward, placing his hand on the subordinates who were pushing Zhang Shun. He spoke in a calm and unquestionable tone: “I’ll go down first.”
The subordinates hesitated and stopped, looking to Aida for approval. Aida’s expression was peculiar; he looked Yan Lanyu up and down, then slowly snorted, “You’re still so soft-hearted… Fine, you were going down anyway. It doesn’t matter if you go down early to clear the way.”
Yan Lanyu gave a cold laugh and didn’t reply. He took off his outer kariginu; underneath was a short training outfit. The young man’s figure was slender and agile. After a subordinate tied a climbing rope around his waist, he walked down the steep earthen slope step by step. Before reaching the hole, he looked back at Zhang Shun and said, “Follow me. Don’t be afraid.”
He still looked very young, at most seventeen or eighteen, possibly only fifteen or sixteen. Children of this age were usually still in middle school, but his eyes already held a weariness and hardship that many adults lacked.
In that instant, an inexplicable feeling powerfully struck Zhang Shun’s heart. He suddenly thought that it had always been like this: whenever there was danger, he was always protected by others—Chu He, Zhou Hui, even that woman named Li Hu, and now this teenage boy… He was always the one being protected; he always watched others get hurt and bleed in front of him.
Zhang Shun opened his mouth, but couldn’t make a sound. After a long moment, he heavily nodded.
Yan Lanyu jumped down without looking back. Zhang Shun was given a hard shove by a Japanese man and stumbled headfirst into the fissure right behind him. As he went down, his forehead scraped harshly against the pit wall. Before he could even feel the pain, he suddenly lost his balance, plummeting at least two or three meters vertically with a whoosh.
With a thud, he landed heavily on a protruding rock, grimacing in pain. He heard Aida asking from above, “How is it down there?”
Yan Lanyu was ahead of him and said without turning back, “Let out more rope!” Then he turned and made a “shhh” gesture, pulled out a dagger from behind his waist, and slipped it into Zhang Shun’s arms.
“You…”
Yan Lanyu cut Zhang Shun off, speaking quickly and softly, in fluent Chinese that didn’t sound at all Japanese: “Listen, I’ll lead these people to a dead end in a bit. If you get a chance, run.”
“What about you?”
A faint smile appeared on the youth’s face, “I’m going to kill all of them.”
At that moment, Zhang Shun didn’t know what to say. Those few seconds felt incredibly heavy to him. A moment later, he swallowed hard and firmly said, “I’ll stay and help you!”
Yan Lanyu smiled and shook his head, pointing to the grayish-white, flake-like pendant on his chest: “If you get a chance, after I die, take this pendant. It can protect you and allow you to safely exit this cave. After you get out, please tell Zhou Hui, the one you were with during the day, about my death. Please ask him to relay it to someone named Yu in National Security. This fragment is what their National Security has been looking for.”
The cave was very dark, but Zhang Shun felt tears slowly welling up in the youth’s eyes, even though he couldn’t hear any sound.
“I can’t run away alone,” Zhang Shun gasped, stubbornly refusing. “You’re still so young. I can’t… Who is this Yu person? Can he come and save you? Or you can come with me, we…”
Yan Lanyu said, “He’s someone I saved two years ago. I gave up my chance at freedom to save his life. He promised to come back and save me two years later, but he broke his promise.” The youth paused sadly, then whispered, “Please tell him that Yan Lanyu is dead. This is the last thing I can give him.”
