Mrs. Shen: “Since you killed all these people, why did you mutilate them? What was the purpose of cutting off their toes?”
Ran Jingjing: “My own body has a defect. I used to play recklessly and thoughtlessly cut off a toe. When disposing of those bodies, that image would repeatedly flash in my mind, and I unconsciously cut off their toes.”
Ran Jingjing sighed deeply. “That’s all there is to the story you want to know.”
Bai Lixin: “You were injured at the crematorium. Normally, you should have been recuperating, but you recovered the next day?”
Ran Jingjing: “Yes, in order to push all the blame on Su Hong, I was indeed injured, and the ghost control technique also failed. After being injured, I went home and slept. The next day I woke up and my body was fine, but the ghost control technique never returned.”
Bai Lixin: “Did it hurt at the time?”
“No.” Ran Jingjing’s expression was numb. She rubbed her unusually fair fingers across her distinctly layered neck. “Since inheriting this body, I haven’t felt pain or fatigue.”
“Even though this body was left to you by Su Xiaohua, don’t you find it strange to have a body without any pain or fatigue? The pain inflicted on this body should have caused something. If you don’t feel pain, where does the pain go? Does it disappear into thin air?”
Ran Jingjing was unconcerned. “Isn’t there a condition called congenital insensitivity to pain in the world? Perhaps Xiaohua cut off my pain nerves out of consideration for me when she was piecing the body together.”
Bai Lixin: “If you think that way, there are still contradictions. Su Xiaohua liked you and was willing to leave her best things to you. While pain nerves can cause pain, they are also the body’s self-defense mechanism. Humans without them are like livestock without fences, they easily get lost and end up in tragedy. She cherished you so much, why would she leave you such a hidden danger?”
“Then what do you think?” Ran Jingjing was a little impatient. “Actually, I don’t care about the reasons anymore now that I’ve come this far. Nothing matters to me anymore.”
The young man stretched out an index finger and shook it left and right. “No, this matter might be quite important to you.”
“The sensation of pain hasn’t disappeared. The truth that you can’t feel pain is that someone else has felt this pain for you.”
Ran Jingjing pursed her lips, her eyes impatiently scanning the room. “Who would feel pain for me? Don’t…”
As her gaze swept around, Ran Jingjing inadvertently caught sight of the box on the coffee table.
She suddenly stopped talking and abruptly realized something. She stumbled off the sofa, and awkwardly made her way to the coffee table.
Slender and fair fingers tremblingly opened the box, revealing that beautiful and delicate head.
Su Xiaohua’s head lay quietly in the box. Her eyes were slightly closed, her neat black bangs covering half an inch of her eyebrows, and her smooth hair spread around, still eerily beautiful.
Although they had seen Su Xiaohua’s head once before, Mrs. Shen and the others still felt a chill down their spines when they saw it again.
Ran Jingjing stared blankly at Su Xiaohua’s head, stretched out her arms and carefully cradled it.
The thick hair spread out, some hanging Ran Jingjing’s legs, some covering Su Xiaohua’s cheeks.
Ran Jingjing carefully brushed aside the strands of hair, stroking Su Xiaohua’s delicate, tender cheeks and murmuring, “Is it you, Xiaohua? I can’t feel pain because you took on that pain for me? Xiaohua, are you still conscious?”
Chin, cheeks, nose, eyes… Ran Jingjing traced Su Xiaohua’s features bit by bit with her fingertips.
The beautiful fingers finally stopped at the corners of the girl’s eyes, and Ran Jingjing’s hoarse voice choked with sobs, “Xiaohua, if you’re really still alive, open your eyes and look at me, okay?”
The girl’s eyelashes trembled lightly, like two butterflies dancing among flowers.
As they trembled, those eyelids that had always been closed fluttered twice.
Su Xiaohua, who was only her head, slowly opened her eyes.
The pair of dark round pupils reflected a pale and sad face.
Su Xiaohua’s expression was dazed. Her mouth opened, and her tender pink lips moved as if trying to say something.
But without vocal cords, all her sounds were muted.
But it seemed there was no need for Su Xiaohua to say anything, because the moment she opened her eyes, Ran Jingjing had already collapsed.
All her persistence and strength crumbled instantly, like a wooden house gnawed by thousands of termites, collapsing into ruins in an instant.
“Xiaohua!” Ran Jingjing bent over, hugging Su Xiaohua’s head and crying uncontrollably. “Xiaohua, you were alive all along. You were always here, you were always here.”
It should have been a touching reunion between best friends, but Mrs. Shen and the others felt no such emotion.
They looked at each other, feeling that the scene before them was absurd and eerie.
A head that opened its eyes.
A woman holding a head and weeping bitterly.
No matter how they looked at it, it seemed terrifying, not at all touching!
If you want to show your friendship, can’t you leave us out of it?
We just want to live, can’t you let us go!
“Jingjing, I’m sorry.”
Amid the absurd scene, a voice sounded somewhat abrupt.
The three simultaneously looked at the strange and mysterious young man, who continued, “I thought what I did was for your good, but it turned out to be a burden for you.”
Ran Jingjing looked up,her eyes already red. “What are you saying?”
Bai Lixin: “I can read lips. I’m repeating what Su Xiaohua just said.”
Ran Jingjing froze for a moment, looked down at Su Xiaohua, and saw her mouth moving again. “What is she saying?”
Bai Lixin: “She said…”
“I don’t need to be healed.”
“This is the price of my cowardice. People must pay for what they have done.”
“I hope you can live well. I didn’t know you were doing all that.”
“Seeing you live well would make me happy.”
Mrs. Shen’s eyes lit up. “Ran Jingjing, did you hear that! Xiaohua herself said she doesn’t need you to heal her. Stop now while you still can.”
“Let us out quickly.”
Ran Jingjing’s mouth twisted into a smile more bitter than crying. “Xiaohua, I won’t give up on you.”
“Even if you say that, I won’t.”
“I want you to be well, so after you get better, don’t forget to live well, carrying my belief.”
Mrs. Shen was a bit anxious. “Ran Jingjing! Weren’t you looking for Su Xiaohua? You’ve found her now, and she’s still alive. Just let us out now and you can go home with Su Xiaohua’s head. Wouldn’t it be nice to be together forever??”
Ran Jingjing glanced at Mrs. Shen. “Of course not. This Xiaohua is not the happy Xiaohua. I want more than just Xiaohua being alive; I want to heal her. Even if she has given up on herself, I haven’t healed her.”
“And it’s useless. Those monsters outside were planted by me a long time ago. Their instructions are to trap everyone here, except Xiao Xin and Gan Tai. My ghost control technique no longer works, and they won’t listen to me. From the moment we entered here, it was destined that we couldn’t leave.”
“What do you think, Su Xiaohua?” Bai Lixin suddenly threw the question at the beautiful head.
The beautiful head blinked its lovely eyes, looking confused.
Bai Lixin: “You created Ran Jingjing and the others because of your mental illness. You wavered and allowed yourself to be torn apart by these personalities, just like you bowed to fate in reality. But now, there’s a personality willing to sacrifice herself, setting up such a big plan just to heal you.”
“When you gave up on yourself, your personality didn’t give up on you.”
“Now that it’s come to this, don’t you want to try living again?”
The beautiful head opened its mouth, opening and closing it silently: “…”
Bai Lixin: “…”
Ran Jingjing looked at Bai Lixin anxiously. “What did she say?”
Bai Lixin smiled gently. “She said thank you, she wants to live again.”
The beautiful head suddenly closed its mouth, its eyes staring straight at Bai Lixin.
Ran Jingjing finally showed a relieved smile. “That’s good, that’s good. Xiaohua, even if I don’t appear in the future, it doesn’t mean I’ve disappeared. I’ll always be by your side. If you’re not afraid of these torments, what is there to fear in the real world?”
“Boom.”
“Ssssh sssh.”
Dust fell from above, and the ground began to shake.
The wooden house swayed precariously, as if it would collapse in the next second.
In Bai Lixin’s mind, red alarms flashed frantically.
System alert sounds kept ringing.
[Warning, warning, the building is about to collapse. Please leave immediately. After analysis, the probability of death if the building collapses is… 100%]
[Warning, warning, time-space distortion detected! Time flow is accelerating, please complete the copy task as soon as possible.]
Accompanied by the system’s prompt, Bai Lixin saw the time in the upper right corner of the display screen decreasing rapidly.
In the blink of an eye, the previously remaining four hours had shrunk to just over ten minutes, and those minutes were quickly disappearing.
[Task 1: Please find Su Xiaohua’s whereabouts. This copy is a single-player copy and the task difficulty is S-level. After completing the task, you can receive rewards based on your performance. (Task completion: 90%)]
[Task 2: Survive in the copy for 15 days. (Time countdown 00:12:12)]
“Boom!”
A wooden beam fell, landing heavily in front of Ran Jingjing, just a few steps away from her.
“Ran Jingjing!” Wang Tou shouted anxiously, “Watch out above!”
Ran Jingjing looked up, and another beam fell, this time right above her head.
However, she did not dodge but instead showed a look of relief.
“Boom!”
There was a loud noise, thick smoke rose, and Ran Jingjing and the beautiful head were buried under the beams.
Mrs. Shen and Li Chongming were terrified and rushed out of the door without hesitation.
But as soon as they stepped outside, those black monsters clung to them like maggots on bones, rushing at them like hyenas smelling food.
“Ah!”
With a scream, Li Chongming’s chest was stabbed by a black tentacle, and he died instantly.
Mrs. Shen fared no better. The black monsters surrounded her, and amidst her terror, she was swallowed whole.
The wooden house continued to collapse. Seeing the others die one after another, Wang Tou turned his face away in distress.
He sighed, “I’ll be next.”
“Bai Lixin, can you tell me one thing before I die?”
Bai Lixin: “What is it?”
Wang Tou: “What did Su Xiaohua’s head really say earlier?”
