CH 89

Lu Ye is gone.

Qi Yanbai had no idea how Lu Ye managed it.

It was as if, just like those grand old-fashioned escape magic tricks, no matter how harsh the conditions or how bizarre the situation, as long as the curtain was drawn and lifted, all that remained on the ground would be an empty chain.

Lu Ye was like a mermaid after sunrise, like a snow doll in spring. In any case, it took just the blink of an eye, and he disappeared from Qi Yanbai’s sight as if he had never been there, turning into foam, turning into water stains, silently vanishing.

Qi Yanbai didn’t understand how all of this had happened, but as he looked at the opened handcuffs on the floor, there was a fleeting moment when he doubted his sanity.

“Did he truly belong to me?” Qi Yanbai wondered, or had everything that happened during this time been nothing more than a delusion caused by his madness?

His thoughts momentarily wavered until he subconsciously reached into his pocket and touched Lu Ye’s phone. This narrowly held onto his fragile mental state, preventing him from falling into the whirlpool of self-doubt completely.

Outside, the rain continued to pour heavily. The glistening water stains on the floor had spread inside, wetting the edge of the carpet, casting a shadow-like gray.

Qi Yanbai stood still at the door for a while, then, with a blank expression, he walked into the room.

Deep down, he couldn’t bring himself to accept it. He wanted to see if Lu Ye had left anything behind for him—whether it was a memento, a few words, whether they were words of abuse, threats, or just a calm farewell. Even a more decisive farewell would offer him some consolation.

But there was nothing. Besides Lu Ye’s discarded sleepwear hanging crookedly by the bed, there was nothing in the room left by him.

He seemed to leave very calmly. Everything in the room remained undisturbed, except for the wide-open balcony window that symbolized his departure. Everything in the room was just as it was before Qi Yanbai left.

There was no excitement of his regained freedom, no resentment from being imprisoned for days. It was as if Lu Ye no longer cared about Qi Yanbai at all, as if he didn’t want to waste any energy on something irrelevant, as if he had left with ease, without leaving a single word for Qi Yanbai.

Love was gone, and so was hatred. He left this place without a second thought, as if leaving an ordinary business trip destination, without a trace of nostalgia.

Qi Yanbai couldn’t describe the feelings in his heart. His emotions were a complex mix of anger and resentment, triggered uncontrollably by Lu Ye’s indifference and betrayal. However, at the same time, he mournfully understood that Lu Ye had always been this way.

He was calm, sharp, and proud. He had always been distant and cautious with strangers. Initially, it was Lu Ye’s demeanor that had attracted Qi Yanbai, but now he had simply withdrawn all the favor he had shown to Qi Yanbai, returning everything to its original state.

There was no place to vent this anger and disappointment. Whenever Qi Yanbai thought about how everything Lu Ye had done for him during this time had been false, merely a means to escape, he felt wronged, angry, and almost had the urge to tear up all his paintings.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t even tear up the portrait of Lu Ye, let alone the “debut work” created by him in the living room. He angrily removed his own unfinished work from the easel, tearing the paper into shreds.

The pieces of paper fluttered to the ground, but Qi Yanbai didn’t feel any relief. He wanted to vent, but he was exhausted to the core, overwhelmed by the thick, sticky, and heavy emotions that rose from the ground, engulfing him like a swamp.

Qi Yanbai didn’t know how long he had been sitting in the living room. The rain outside had gone from heavy to light, and by the time the afternoon passed, most of the lively shrimp on the floor had died, with only a few struggling feebly in the puddles, occasionally twitching before finally lying still.

The room gradually grew darker, and Qi Yanbai on the sofa was about to sink into the darkness when suddenly, there was a faint sound of footsteps in the corridor.

The footsteps drew nearer, finally stopping outside the door.

Then the door gently clicked, as if someone from outside had manipulated the keypad lock.