CHAPTER 89: CHAPTER 89; YOU PROMISED

"Shen Xiao doesn’t get to pretend now. Not after leaving her to bleed alone."

He stood slowly, walking over to a drawer sealed with reinforced steel. With a fingerprint and a breath-code, it clicked open. Inside sat a small vial of blood, dark, almost black, resting in a velvet case next to an old, cracked locket.

He took out the locket.

Inside was a photo of Yueyao, smiling faintly, no makeup, eyes softer than the steel they later hardened into. She used to be the sweetest girl he had ever seen, but suddenly, her eyes were soulless!

He stared at it for a moment longer, thumb grazing the curve of her cheek.

"I told you I would protect you," he murmured. "Even if it meant disappearing. Even if you hated me for it, I will always do."

His voice cracked with heartache.

"But now he’s digging... sniffing around places I buried dirty linen with my own blood. If he finds out everything, if he learns the truth about that night..."

He paused, his breath shaking.

"...will you forgive him, Yueyao? He will be repentant, will you give him another chance?"

There was a beat of silence.

The air surrounding him grew heavy.

His fist closed around the locket, protecting it like he was protecting some treasure.

"No."

He slammed the drawer shut.

"No one else gets to hurt you, and not even him. I won’t allow it!"

Turning back to the monitors, he barked at his man over the comms.

"Burn all the backups. Relocate the hospital staff again. If anyone gets any close to the truth, eliminate the lead. Auntie Mei stays comatose, under our protection until further notice. No slip-ups."

"Yes, Sir."

He stared at the screen once more, Yueyao wincing in pain, biting her lip, her tears staining the pillow helplessly.

And then, almost inaudibly, he whispered,

"You were never just a girl, Yueyao. You were the only thing that made this damned world bearable."

His eyes glinted with a feverish devotion.

"And if he wants to touch you now... he will have to come through me."

The flame of the lighter hissed as he snapped it shut, plunging the room back into shadows.

He stood motionless for a moment, the locket now clenched tightly in his palm, his breath uneven, and strained.

Outside the glass windows of the high-rise, the city pulsed like a breathing beast, unaware of the war quietly building in its veins.

He exhaled slowly, eyes cold, and controlled.

"Monitor Shen Xiao’s every step," he said at last, voice low and sharp as a blade. "If he gets too close to the truth, we don’t warn him. We will break him."

"Understood."

The line went dead.

He turned, disappearing into the darkness of the corridor behind him, the door sliding shut with a hiss of air.

Only the faint echo of his footsteps remained, and the quiet hum of the monitors, still replaying Yueyao’s face in an endless, silent loop.

— — — — — — — —

(Yueyao Awakens 2 hours later)

Darkness clung to her like damp fog, it was suffocating and silent.

But inside the darkness... something was already unraveling.

The first nightmare hit like a crashing wave.

"Don’t touch me!" her voice screamed, but it wasn’t her voice, it was younger, and thinner. A child’s voice echoes off the sterile walls.

There were white coats. Cold metal restraints biting into her wrists. She was on a gurney, being wheeled down a corridor.

Bright lights passed overhead like disorienting flashes. Hands, too many hands, grabbing at her legs, pinning her arms as she thrashed and screamed.

A needle glinted, and, she screamed louder.

Outside the swinging doors, she could hear her mother sobbing, and begging, "Please don’t hurt her! She’s just a child!" Then the doors slammed shut.

And everything went black.

"She’s unstable. Sedate her.... now!"

"No, Mama! Mama, help me!"

The shadows twisted, contorting into monstrous shapes.

The gurney beneath her shifted... no longer a stretcher, but a surgical table.

Blinding lights flared above, searing her retinas. Her legs were numb, dead weight, but her belly... her belly burned like fire, as if something inside her was being torn away.

Figures loomed over her, faces hidden behind surgical masks, eyes cold and distant.

One of them spoke, voice muffled and indifferent: "She’s still conscious. Increase the dose."

"No!" she screamed, or tried to... but no sound came out.

She wasn’t a person to them... But just rather a body...

She was just a vessel...

And she was being emptied.

"She’s hemorrhaging."

"Clamp it. Clamp it now...."

A scream tore through her, not of pain, but of loss. A loss her body understood before her mind did. The warmth between her legs wasn’t life.

It was death.

Blood, there was blood everywhere.

And then.....

A hand gripped hers.

It was warm and gentle.

She turned toward the source.

"Shen Xiao...?" she whispered, but the man’s face blurred, the edges of his silhouette flickering like bad reception.

Then the voice, cold and biting, echoed, "You always run to him. Even when I bleed for you."

A shadow stepped out from the corner. Silver cufflinks and a lighter flicking open. Every opening click sounds like a calming alarm.

"You should have stayed with me."

Yueyao’s heart slammed against her ribcage uncontrollably. Her hands scrambled for something, just anything, but found only air, she couldn’t get hold of anything.

"You promised..."

"You promised me..."

She ran through a maze of twisted memories and pain. Doors slammed shut behind her, echoing like screams.

Her voice caught in her throat, and no sound came out. The hallway stretched endlessly, lined with cameras, all staring... all watching her drown.

The shadows thickened, creeping toward her like smoke. Cold arms reached from the dark, wrapping around her, pulling her down.

"You don’t get to forget," a voice hissed.

"Let me go!" she cried, her voice finally breaking free.

And then, she was falling.

Down... down... Deeper down into the black hole.

A faint beep echoed in the distance.

Her breath hitched.