Cheng Zheng didn’t hesitate.

There wasn’t any light in the surrounding. He switched off the car lights and took a flashlight with him before getting off the car. He followed accordingly to what Ye Lun had told him about the place. However, in order to find out where Ye Lun was, he subconsciously looked around the place with the flashlight. When Ye Lun saw that, he sent a message over.

“Don’t wander around. I won’t feel safe when you act like this and I might just leave.”

Cheng Zheng didn’t dare to look around anymore when he saw that.

This message was more than enough to tell him that Ye Lun was not too far away as he could see what he was doing.

He messaged back. “Where’s Xiang Wan?”

Ye Lun chortled as he replied, “If you have enough sincerity, you’ll see her.”

Cheng Zheng didn’t ask anymore. In about 10 minutes time, he arrived at a big tree.

“I’m here now. What should I do?”

“Continue to walk towards the south.”

Ye Lun gave him the instructions. “There’s another tree ahead.”

“What actually do you want?”

“Just be good and listen to what I say. Do you not want to see your Xiang Wan anymore?”

“…”

Cheng Zheng didn’t reply and continued walking. Soon, he arrived at the spot where Ye Lun had specified. However, Ye Lun played around with him and made him walk a few more rounds. About two to three minutes later, he put down his binoculars and messaged him again. “Walk about another 100 meters to the right and wait there…”

There was no point to put up a resistance since he had made up his mind to exchange himself for her.

He walked to the place that Ye Lun wanted him to and realized that he was now beside another road.

He lowered his head to look at the message that Ye Lun just sent to him. “Get in the car!”

Cheng Zheng was startled by that. The next moment, he saw a car coming down the road from a distance.

“This is unfair! Don’t forget that I have a condition for agreeing to this. You have to let me see Xiang Wan first…”

“There’s no fairness, there’s never is.” Ye Lun laughed. “You lost the right to choose when you have decided to trade yourself for Xiang Wan. Captain Cheng, when you have a woman you care so much for, it’s akin to having a devil living in your heart… Tch, tch, don’t you think you’re being childish for talking about fairness here?”

“Ye Lun! I still have the right to choose!”

“Of course, you can choose to leave now and not care about Xiang Wan’s life or death. You can go ahead to take a gamble. When you have successfully created what I want, I will be kind enough and let her go… I guess that you will choose the second option?”

“Ye Lun!”

“The car’s here now! Get in the car. In no time, you’ll be able to see your beloved woman…”

Xiang Wan stared at that sight. She saw a car stopping before Cheng Zheng and the door to the car opened—

Cheng Zheng hesitated for a moment and got in the car.

The scene gradually disappeared on the screen before Xiang Wan. She felt like her heart had been drenched in cold water and she was struggling to talk, making all those muffled sounds.

Ye Lun had switched off the equipment and turned to look at her with a shrug. “You’ve seen it for yourself. I’ve never forced him.”

Wasn’t that the same as forcing him to comply?

Xiang Wan’s eyes reddened and she glared at him.

Ye Lun was surprised for a moment. “Looks like you do care about this man.” He smiled. “Earlier on when I taunted you, you weren’t as agitated as you are now.”

Xiang Wan’s cheeks were red with rage and she was panting, unable to speak.

Ye Lun seemed to find it interesting to tease her like this. He took her chin again and sized her up. An unusual tiny spark appeared in his eyes. “Teacher Xiang, do you know… how beautiful you look right now?”

His fingers moved gently across Xiang Wan’s face, stroking it…

Xiang Wan’s back went stiff; she got goosebumps all over her skin and she dared not move at all.

She couldn’t afford to antagonize him.

She couldn’t.

Ye Lun looked into her eyes and noticed the calmness that she had been faking. Of course, he knew what she was afraid of.

A while later, he suddenly chuckled. “Don’t worry. I’m not interested in having a woman tonight. After all, I have something even more interesting…” As he said that, he took the cloth and covered Xiang Wan’s head.

“Start driving now!”

…

Ye Lun felt proud that he didn’t need to sacrifice any man and was able to bring Cheng Zheng back.

On the way back, he played his own song in the car and even sang it joyfully.

The melodious tune, his attractive voice… It was difficult to link him to a criminal…

Her head was heavy and her legs were weak. The journey was a bumpy one. Xiang Wan wasn’t sure how long she had sat in the car, but she knew that she almost wanted to throw up when the car stopped.

Like when she first arrived, with the cloth over her head, there was nothing that she could see. She was pulled and dragged back to the room where there were no windows.

They removed the cloth covering her and the cloth stuffed in her mouth and untied her. The first sentence that came from her mouth after all that was:

“Are you that person?”

Ye Lun took a sip of water with a smile. “Which person?”

“… The mysterious ID in my book reviews and comments page.”

When Ye Lun said the words that a devil lived within Cheng Zheng, Xiang Wan was somehow reminded of that.

Ye Lun raised his eyebrows as if he couldn’t understand. “Make it clearer.”

She had remembered that mobile phone number, which was the ID, by heart. She recited it easily before Ye Lun and stared at him coldly. “At that time, the police found a SIM card in the mobile phone of Liang at Vulture’s Mouth and found that it was linked to this account. Back then, all the evidence was pointing to Liang being the mastermind. We have doubts but he was already dead, there was nothing we could do…”

“Hurhur, so?”

Xiang Wan paused for a while and she looked straight at him. “It’s you, right?”

Ye Lun looked at her deeply. “Is this important to you?”

Xiang Wan replied with certainty. “It’s important.”

“I see…” Ye Lun laughed again, revealing a row of white teeth that made him look like a harmless and handsome stud. “Fine then, it’s… me.” He winked at her, with a nonchalant attitude and grinned. Maybe he wanted to show off his capability or he wanted to prove that he was indeed that person, he recited two comments which had strike terror in Xiang Wan before.

“Do your best, I’ll make sure that you’ll be popular! Famous and celebrated! Release your inner demons completely…”

“Be wild and aggressive, bring out your inner demons as though you’re crazy! Turn the world in your novel into purgatory… Hahaha…!”

It was really him?

Xiang Wan’s heart sank.

“Why?”

“Mm? What do you mean?”

“Why did you do all these?”

“It’s just as what I’ve commented. Aren’t those clear enough?” A corner of Ye Lun’s lips quirked upwards. “I hope that you’ll completely release your inner demons and write even more sensational cases… so that Cui Ming can take the idea and do a better job in reality.”

“Cui Ming? You already knew him since then?” Xiang Wan caught that and narrowed her eyes as she tried to ask. “In fact, with regards to the cases that Cui Ming committed, you couldn’t steer clear of it at all.”

Ye Lun scoffed, “What do you mean? I’m not the one who asked him to commit murders to seek revenge.”