Chapter 190: Your countdown begins

*Xin Lei*

I saw her slowly coming out in the light where I was. As our gazes met, Zhang Ning tilted her head and giggled.

"Just as I expected, you know who I am. I felt it in your expression when you came back."

I typed. "You did a good job of hiding until now."

"Isn't it?"

I smiled and typed. "But, only cowards hide."

The smile on her face flickered just a bit.

I continued typing. "First, you hid behind your sister. You blamed everything on her and got away. And now you are hiding behind a username - CrimsonInstinct."

Then her smile completely disappeared.

I chuckled and typed again. "You see, Zhang Ning. I am not pitiful. I cannot speak, but at least I don't have to hide from the world. I don't fear that people will find my true self because my hands are not stained by blood like yours. You, on the other hand…"

I tsked at her and snickered. My fingers hit the keypad again. "Poor you. You did nothing but hide and run away. And it's pitiful that you have to live your life like that because your true self will make people send you to a mental institution."

She bent towards me and squinted her gaze. "Xin Lei, I am warning you...in your limits."

I looked at her expression and found it satisfying to see her riled up and uncomfortable. I enjoyed hitting her sore spot.

I typed. "I think it's best that you don't utter the word 'limits' because clearly, you don't have any, and you have already crossed every limit that there is."

Zhang Ning stared at me, and then she suddenly laughed out loud.

"What limits, Xin Lei? They are not any limits. Haven't you heard?" She giggled creepily, "One has to cross all boundaries and do everything it can to know the purpose of one's life. To know who you are and what you truly want."

She pouted. "I did just that. It is not wrong to get to know oneself."

I raised my brow. I typed. "And what is the use of such identity if you cannot show it to the world?"

Zhang Ning smiled. "Who says that I don't have a world?"

I burst into laughter.

"What is so funny?" I felt her voice turn from playful to grim.

I shook my head and typed. "World? That dark web is what you call the world? That is not a world. That is just a bunch of cowards like you who cannot come to light."

Zhang Ning was swinging a small dagger in her hand, but it hardly affected me.

"Because people like you don't accept us."

I nodded and typed. "You see, Zhang Ning. When the majority of people have a general morality towards something that should or should not be done, it is not 'them' who are crazy, it's 'you.' You expect people to accept that you like killing people?"

She frowned and pouted her lips again. "Why not? Everybody does things they like to do. Everybody has hobbies. Cooking, gardening,  drawing...Why can I not have one?"

I narrowed my eyes. 

Well, I knew whoever the boss was was a crazy person, but talking to her felt like a really different experience.

She said spilling blood was her hobby? She was comparing murder to cooking, gardening, drawing, and other normal hobbies...

Clearly, she cannot be reasoned with.

I typed. "So, you like seeing blood?"

She smiled. "Yes!"

I typed. "You like hurting people?"

"Yes, yes! Now, you understand me."

I typed one word. No, actually two. "Bai Li."

Her million-dollar smile faltered, and I saw her stiffen.

Yup. I had hit right on the spot.

I typed again. "If you get the chance to hurt him, then will you?"

No answer.

She was staring at me, expressionlessly as if she seemed to process it.

I typed. "I bet you will. It would be so much fun just like you did with others."

Now, she was shifting her weight back and forth on her feet.

I typed. "Seeing his painful expression as blood would trickle out of him…"

"Stop."

I kept on typing, ignoring her. "The sight of the dagger piercing his skin or his nails being clawed out or him screaming when you throw acid on his face…"

"Stop."

Yeah, I wanted to stop too. I didn't even want to imagine Bai Li in pain, and I felt my heart getting ripped apart, but I had to make her realize something through her thick skull.

I hit the keypad again. "And you know? Bai Li is a tall man with a lot of mass and muscles. Like, so more mass, more blood! Just the way you like it."

"Stop it, you bitch!"

Zhang Ning suddenly swung the dagger. But I didn't close my eyes. 

Instead of cutting me, she stabbed the knife on the chair, just near to my neck.

I heard her breathing heavily as she let out deep breaths.

I smiled and typed. "What happened? Did I say something wrong? I don't think so. I just described what you do to other people."

Her gaze flickered, and I felt madness in them but also confusion and disarray.

"Don't talk about Bai Li like that."

I typed. "Why not?"

She said nothing.

I chuckled and typed again. "You like Bai Li, right?"

She froze.

"That's why, strangely enough, you cannot think of doing the same things to him. That is exactly what their loved ones feel when you kill people. So, who do you think you are to murder someone when you feel the same emotions for somebody else?"

I heard her teeth grinding and sensed it was taking effort for her to control her anger.

I typed. "Oh, and if you think that I am pitiful because I cannot speak, then do you think Bai Li is pitiful too? Isn't he blind?"

Zhang Ning glared at me. "Xin Lei! So what if he is blind? Can he compare to you?" She sneered. "He is strong, and he can fight, and he saved me despite that he cannot see. Isn't it impressive?"

I chuckled. I typed again. "Impressive, but unfortunately, he doesn't like you. And he never will."

That stirred her up again. "You think you are any special? I am a politician's daughter. I can give him so much more than you can ever imagine. You know...I can also help him regain his sight."

I rolled my eyes. I shifted the phone a bit and typed. "I can already vouch that he would rather choose to stay blind than taking your help to get back his sight. Poor you. I thought that you would understand your boundaries when you saw Bai Li and me kissing in the hospital."

She suddenly jerked her head towards me. Then she chuckled and burst into laughter.

"You bitch...you did that on purpose. You knew I was there."

I shrugged.

"But unfortunately, you are living in too much delusion," my fingers were already tired from typing now. "How did you feel seeing Bai Li getting excited for me?" I sneered.

She clenched her fists.

"You know he tastes delicious. His tongue works wonders. But oh no. You will never feel that because Bai Li will never look at you. Literally and figuratively."

I typed. "And now you kidnapped me." I sighed, "I can only feel pitiful for your fate once Bai Li finds me."

Zhang Ning giggled like a small child, which sounded eerie and creepy.

"He will never find you."

I blinked my eyes.

I typed. "I don't know where you get the confidence from. He will find me, and if you think he cannot, then clearly you don't know him enough." I snickered, "And you claim you like him?"

Zhang Ning grabbed my chin and squeezed it. A dull pain coursed through my jaw, but I didn't falter in my expression.

"What if I kill you? I need to eliminate you so that I can have Bai Li all to me."

I laughed and typed. "Kill me? Then I feel more pitiful for your fate. Go ahead. Kill me."

She just kept staring at me.

I typed. "Say. Bai Li must have said something to you, right? When he realized that I was gone? He must have definitely warned you something. What was it?"

Suddenly, I saw her expression change. She averted her gaze.

I smiled, feeling victorious.

I typed. "So yeah. Your silence gave away everything. My advice to you. Take his warning seriously because, you know, he likes me too much."

I sighed and typed again. "I don't know what he will do if he sees my dead body. If your love for blood can make you go crazy, then so do my death can make Bai Li go insane. And you should probably stay away from him at that state."

Zhang Ning laughed with a sinister ring to it. "I will never let that day come."

She turned and began to leave. I typed.

"Bai Li is a force from whom you cannot hide, Zhang Ning. He will find you even if he has to go to hell and drag you out of it. So, your countdown begins because he will hunt you down until he makes you pay."