He woke up from his dream in a daze. A ray of light shone in through the gap of the curtain, drawing a bright golden line in the room. Fine dust slowly swirled in the air. Beside him was a woman who was sleeping soundly.
The image of the plasma TV was frozen in blue. The music that had been playing last night had stopped, probably because the CD had run out. Underwear were thrown on the floor, all kinds of erotic equipment, paper bags filled with white powder, syringes, and drug paraphernalia were scattered all over the floor. The room was filled with the smell of debauchery. Ying Zifeng pushed away the naked woman beside him. When he sat up from the bed, he felt a headache that was similar to the Golden Hoop Curse.
He reached out to touch his forehead and inadvertently saw the circle of scars again.
"Damn it!"
He cursed and threw the pillow off the bed, knocking over the drugs on the small table. Just like every time he woke up in the past few years, the air around him had a sense of illusion. His mouth was dry, and he felt weak. The sound of the air conditioner seemed to be ringing in his ears. It was dry and dull, like a hundred flies flying around him. He reached out to pat them a few times, walked to the window, and pulled the curtains open. The sunlight that shone in made him feel uncomfortable for a while, and he immediately pulled the curtains shut again.
It was eleven o 'clock in the morning. He looked back at the half-naked woman on the bed. She was very beautiful, but he couldn't remember her name. It didn't matter. After all, it was just for money. Sweetheart, Kitty, it didn't matter. He had changed women every day for the past few years. In fact, he wasn't picky. Sometimes he would sleep with ugly women, but he would forget about them the next day. Some women he might have slept with three or four times, but it was all for money … He didn't lack money!
Some things happened in the blink of an eye. Four years had passed in the blink of an eye, and his concept of time was very vague. After he came out of the sanatorium, his father only spoke to him once, and then he didn't care about him anymore. His brother, however, often came to see him.
There was a period of time when his temper became very irritable and he wanted to kill someone or something. However, his friends who could do such things seemed to have left him overnight. Later, he found out that his father and elder brother had given him a strict order not to have such thoughts.
After that, he began to take drugs. Until now, because every time he saw the scars on his arm, he was in extreme pain.
He put on a shirt to cover the scar on his arm. He was still only wearing a pair of underpants. He pushed open the door and shouted, "Auntie Wu!" When he looked at the railing, he saw a servant fainted on the ground.
"Overdose … Overdose …"
He shook his head and muttered to himself.
He was in the corridor on the second floor of the villa. When he looked down, he saw a person sitting in the living room. He looked at the person's back. Outside the door, a guard collapsed in the sunlight.
"Overdose … Hallucination …"
It was not the first time he had seen a similar scene in the past few years. It was different every time, but the figure was as familiar as a nightmare. Sometimes it was a dark space full of flesh and blood, sometimes it was the ruins where blood and fire intersected. The demon had dragged him into hell and killed him time and time again.
After repeating this scene countless times, he finally had some resistance. At this time, he muttered as he staggered downstairs, "I'm not afraid of you!
You're an illusion … an illusion! "
The illusion turned around, looked at him, and said slowly, "Ying Zifeng, I've waited a long time for you to wake up."
"You're an illusion …"
He staggered down the stairs to the living room. He saw the figure walk over with a can of Coke in his hand. Then, he poured it over his head. The frozen liquid flowed down his head, causing his whole body to shiver. Bubbles rose in the air, and the face looked at him coldly.
Moments later, his wandering eyes finally focused. He suddenly sat down on the ground, and his hands desperately tried to climb up the stairs. "No, no, no, no, no, no … You're already dead, you're already dead …"
"You're right, I also thought I was dead." The spirit called Jiaming stood there and looked at the watch on his wrist. "You're awake?"
"You can't kill me, you can't kill me …" Ying Zifeng climbed up five steps, and then his whole body slid down. When he was about to climb up again, Jiaming had already walked over and squatted in front of him. Suddenly, his whole body lost all strength. He looked at the ordinary and cold face, and said subconsciously, "You can't kill me, my father … my brother and the rest will take revenge, they will all take revenge … You don't dare to kill me, you didn't dare to kill me last time … They will take revenge …"
These words were actually the words he had been saying to comfort himself for the past few years. That person was already dead, or perhaps he did not dare to kill him. In these words, he saw Jiaming shake his head, and there was some regret and disappointment in his eyes. Then, he gently reached out and patted him on the shoulder, as if he was earnestly comforting him.
"I can't … This time is different from last time, I can't do it anymore …"
Then, the hand pressed on his neck, and suddenly, darkness came.
*****
11: 30 AM, Chaohai Group's headquarters.
Ying Haisheng and Ying Zilan received a call from the bodyguard in the elevator, and learned that Ying Zifeng had been kidnapped.
"Did anyone see what the kidnapper looked like?"
"No, everyone in the villa was knocked out, and there was no record on the CCTV, but we estimated that the time was half an hour ago …"
"This guy, I told him not to make a fuss. Who did he offend this time?"
Ying Haisheng scolded bitterly. He used to hate his second son for not living up to his expectations. Since the incident four years ago, the Ying family's status in Yanhuang Awakening had been declining, and he wished that he had never had this son. In the past few years, he had just let him do whatever he wanted, and even took away most of his power. At most, he left him the capital to spend money and have fun, but who knew that this kind of thing would happen again?
The matter of Kong Jian Zhi's Dust had already made him worried, and he was irritated. However, Ying Zilan, who was next to him, was already nervous. She asked several questions in a row, and then asked him to immediately go to her brother's residence to deal with this matter. Although he did not like his second son, it was not a big deal that his eldest son valued brotherhood. He waved his hand and said that they were ready to go their separate ways.
Originally, they were going to attend a business banquet. Now, the arrangement was naturally for Ying Haisheng to attend the banquet, and Ying Zilan to deal with the kidnapping case. Together, they walked out of the hall. Under the protection of the bodyguards, both of them were thinking about whether there was a conspiracy behind this matter. For example, if they did not want Fang Zhitian to get Kong Jian Zhi's Dust, perhaps Fang Zhitian would kidnap their son instead. Just as they walked to the door, the father and son's phones rang at the same time. It was the same unknown number.
"Maybe it's the kidnapper …"
Ying Zilan looked at her father and put the phone to her ear. Just now, Ying Haisheng pressed the answer button. "Hello."
"It seems that you know about Ying Zifeng."
The voice on the other side of the phone was casual and indifferent. It seemed familiar, but also had a trace of unfamiliar indifference. As they spoke, the two, along with a dozen bodyguards, had already walked out of the Chaohai Group's main gate. The small square outside was bright and beautiful. Due to the good design of the surrounding buildings, when they walked out of the gate, a cool natural breeze blew. Everyone's clothes fluttered loudly. The motorcade waiting for them had already stopped a few meters away from the main gate. Ying Haisheng was silent for a second. "What do you want?"
"I'm here to deliver something."
"What is it?"
"A family portrait … I asked you to go to Jianghai to get your family portrait, but you refused. Then I'll have to trouble you and deliver it to you."
Less than two meters away from the car in front of them, Ying Haisheng and Ying Zilan suddenly stopped. The wind blew past, and the people in the small square came and went. Four years of memories flashed past, and that memory was so vivid that it was as if they saw that ordinary but incomparably terrifying young man standing in front of them talking. Their hearts suddenly tightened, and at the same time, a black shadow fell from the sky.
Bang, boom — —
"Ah — —"
The human body that fell from the ten-story building smashed into the roof of the car on the side. The bulletproof glass shattered like pearls, and after the explosion, the person's scream in the air could be heard. The bodyguards rushed in from all sides, protecting the Ying father and son. Ying Zilan abruptly pushed the bodyguards beside her away, and looked at the sunken roof in front of them. Ying Zifeng's body was covered in blood and twisted, and he seemed to still be looking at his brother and father, but his eyes had completely exploded.
Under the tugging of the bodyguards, Ying Haisheng saw the scene in front of him clearly. Almost instinctively, he shouted, "Gu Jiaming, I'll make sure that the people you care about die without a complete corpse!"
"… Still so uncreative."
The voice on the other side of the phone sighed softly. At the same time, the wind in the small square blew, and a piece of thin red silk cloth flew into the sky.
The silk cloth was thin and wide, and it was originally folded and clipped under a person's armpit. That person panicked, causing the huge silk cloth to fall out of his hand. It spread out and flew in the air, and just happened to cover the Ying father and son group. The two sides were now only four or five meters apart. Seeing that person walking towards them, the bodyguard at the front suddenly stopped and raised his gun with both hands.
The person in front of him blurred, and that person's right hand swung from the bottom left to the top right, and the two fingers that he extended seemed to only lightly draw a line in the air.
The shadows intersected, and there was no sound of gunfire. In the next moment, the huge red silk cloth completely covered more than a dozen people. Outside the silk cloth, the bodyguard who raised his gun first knelt on the ground silently, and blood spurted out from his neck.
Between the silk cloth behind them, screams and gunshots rang out one after another, accompanied by the chaos of the shadows.
The silk cloth was light and thin, and under the summer afternoon sun, it could not block much of the light, and it did not cause too much trouble for movement. The person walking towards them was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. However, the moment he crossed paths with this group of people, both Ying Haisheng and Ying Zilan had already realized that this was Gu Jiaming.
His makeup was very casual, and at most, it covered his original appearance, but it did not cover up his body and basic outline. However, all of this might not be important in front of them. As he walked over, two bodyguards raised their guns, and the other bodyguard in front grabbed at his hands. In front and back, more than a dozen bodyguards focused their attention almost at the same time. These bodyguards had undergone strict training, and their bodies were flexible and strong. However, in the face of such a situation, Jiaming's only move was to wave two fingers of his right hand.
A semicircle, a diagonal wave, a horizontal pull, and a light tap. That movement seemed easy and casual, and even the Ying father and son could catch it. However, all of the attacks seemed to be useless in front of him. He lowered his head and walked forward, slightly tilting his body, sliding, and continued to walk … As he took the second step, the fingers had already brought out continuous fine lines of blood in the air. The blood lines went from one person to another person's body, throat, wrist, eyes … The blood lines in the air were like brushstrokes. Ying Haisheng could only watch as the fingers swept past the First Born's eyes and Adam's apple. Then, like a phantom, it passed through the layers of bodyguards and pulled at his throat.
In less than three seconds, Jiaming walked through the crowd and pulled at the silk cloth above. The silk cloth flew out like a kite, and the sun fell on their heads again. More than a dozen people at the back began to fall to the ground one after another. He still walked forward casually, put the bloody blade in his right hand into his mouth, then raised the camera on his chest and pressed the shutter.
In the low and slow sound, the photo was developed. He took down the photo and flicked it to the back. With the wind in the small square, the piece of paper floated in the pool of blood in front of Ying Haisheng and his son.
Without looking back, he walked through the chaotic crowd in front of him. When he reached the street corner a dozen meters away, he stretched out his hand and snapped his fingers in the air. "Taxi." A taxi stopped by the roadside. He got in and said to the driver, "Go to the airport."
The driver stepped on the accelerator, lowered his head slightly, and looked at the street in the distance through the rearview mirror, and then looked at the passenger's camera. "Seems like something happened over there. Is it a reporter?"
"That's right." He smiled.
"I'm in a hurry. Thank you."
A few minutes later, the first batch of police officers arrived at the scene. Faced with more than a dozen bodies with their throats slit, they were at a loss. Half an hour later, Fang Zhitian, who was far away in Jianghai, received the news that Ying Haisheng and his son had been killed. An hour later, the news was confirmed.
At two o 'clock in the afternoon, the flight from Guangzhou to Jianghai arrived on time. Jiaming, who had changed back to his original attire, walked out of the airport hall and once again set foot on the fiery Jianghai. He bought a pair of sunglasses in a shop near the airport to cover his somewhat blank eyes.
He still remembered this city, remembered many things, but the feelings contained in those memories had become somewhat alienated under the four years of pain and the overlapping memories of two lives. It was like the girl named Lingjing and Shasha, who was killed by him in a certain memory and left in a certain memory. It was like the coldness and attachment in his heart, the killer's heart was full of guilt. The constantly conflicting memories of Pei Luojia and the ordinary school days were still in his memory, but they had been cut into pieces by the unbearable pain. This forced him to stop again and look at himself at this time. The past and the future of this city alternated in his mind.
A taxi stopped beside him. He shook his head and stood at the fork in the road ahead for a long time. He chose a direction and began to walk. Under the scorching sun, he kept walking forward, looking at every person in this city, every car, every shop, every billboard, and regaining the fragments of his memory.
At the same time, Fang Zhitian and the others in the corner of the city were caught in a huge crisis and problem. In the past four years, Ying Haisheng's forces no longer held the same pivotal position as before in Yanhuang Awakening. If there was a problem in normal times, the forces could naturally take advantage of the situation and annex everything. But in the current situation, they no longer had such a calm advantage. The immortals that appeared a few days ago couldn't even stop the army from moving out. Although they caused great damage to them at that time, now they could counterattack at any time. The shadow of death was hanging over the heads of every Yanhuang Awakening member in Jianghai. Ying Haisheng's death, the mysterious killer that appeared in Guangzhou, whether it was Pei Luojia or other dark organizations that wanted to fish in troubled waters, they were afraid that it would be the last straw that broke the camel's back.
It had nothing to do with darkness or light. In a small martial arts school in another corner of the city, a woman named Lingjing sat in front of the window, looking at a stack of song scores on the desk. She sang softly, preparing for the guest performance at Fang Yusi's concert tonight. No matter how focused her expression was, at this time, there was only the sadness of heartbreak and confusion about the future in her heart. At this time, a woman who had the same feelings as her, like a twin, was looking at her from the balcony of a building hundreds of meters away. When the wind blew, the hair on her ears lifted …