He raised his hand to touch Liang Ye’s upturned lips, but could only feel a cold, smooth mirror surface.
He froze for a long while, his cold fingertips touching his own lips.
Soft, warm… just like Liang Ye’s.
He couldn’t control the infatuation and longing in his eyes as he watched that hand in the mirror caress his lips, leaving behind a patch of blood-tinged red.
They seemed the same, yet they were fundamentally different.
When he was Liang Ye, life had been long, dull, without any vibrant flavor. Wrapped in hatred and desire, he had struggled desperately but couldn’t find a way out. He had driven himself mad. All he could see was thick, sticky darkness. The resentment and anger that came with death had already burned him to ashes, yet they remained disgustingly branded in the depths of his soul, breaking down and screaming day and night, unable to tolerate peace and rebirth.
But his Liang Ye was vivid and alive, always able to turn danger into safety, standing effortlessly at the pinnacle of power.
A lovely little madman.
He despised his former self as Liang Ye, yet still carried the arrogance of being Wang Dian, and then fell hopelessly in love with the current Liang Ye.
“You’ve truly gone mad.” Wang Dian looked contemptuously at himself in the mirror, leaning forward until their foreheads touched, sighing regretfully, “Liang Ye, what a failure.”
He tried once again to find some scars or wounds on his body, but besides the small scar that had always existed on his left hand, there was nothing. Even the red birthmark on his chest remained intact, as if silently mocking his delusions.
The mirror shattered, scattering across the floor.
His blood-covered hand gripped a sharp piece, gradually tightening his hold, and deliberately placed it against the red birthmark on his chest.
“…Never mind.” Wang Dian suddenly released his grip, casually tossing the shard away. With an expressionless face, he pulled the glass fragments from his palm, muttering, “Liang Ye likes to kiss here, I’ll keep it for him.”
He walked barefoot out of the steamy bathroom, thought for a while before finding the medical kit, and lowered his eyes to begin treating the wound. Staring at the blood on his palm for a long time, he eventually couldn’t resist lowering his head to lick it.
F*ck.
It was sweet.
He raised his eyebrows, kissing the wound like one possessed, gently gnawing at the slightly painful cut, a tingling pleasure rising from the base of his spine.
He cursed under his breath, clenched his jaw, grabbed his wrist, and tore his palm away from his lips. He swallowed in dissatisfaction, closed his eyes, leaned back on the sofa, and let out a mentally and physically pleasurable sigh.
He missed Liang Ye so much.
He wanted Liang Ye, wanted to argue with him, wanted to see him kill, wanted to see him cunningly and smugly show off, wanted to kiss every inch of his skin, wanted to hear him tremblingly call him “brother,” wanted to pin him down and make him cry, wanted him to come over angrily yet bashfully for a kiss… wanted to touch him.
But there was only himself here.
Wang Dian tilted his head back, staring at the ceiling for a while, then turned to look at the brightly lit skyscrapers outside the window and the winding overpasses in the distance. The endless stream of cars gathered into strings of brilliant lights, looking slightly noisy and unreal.
All the modern things he had yearned for while in Northern Liang now made him feel not the slightest bit of reality.
This was a dream.
When he woke up, he would see Liang Ye.
He closed his eyes, opened them, closed his eyes, opened them, closed, opened… there was only the pale ceiling, no Liang Ye.
If he had truly gone mad, why couldn’t he stay mad? Why did he have to wake up?
Wang Dian lay face-up on the sofa, carefully considering this matter. Outside, day turned to night, night turned to day, making it difficult to sense the passage of time.
The harsh sound of music rang out in the empty, silent room.
Wang Dian lazily raised his hand, answered the call, and almost couldn’t produce a sound when he spoke, “Hello.”
“Chairman Wang, it’s about our previous acquisition case of Yiwei Technology…” The rambling voice came through the phone.
Wang Dian stared vacantly at the transparent cabinet beside the television, patiently waiting for the other person to finish before calmly saying, “If I remember correctly, Lian Pu was fully responsible for the Yiwei acquisition?”
The person on the phone suddenly laughed awkwardly, saying dryly, “Yes, yes, it was indeed Vice President Lian in charge, but we mainly acquired Yiwei because we initially wanted to secure that piece of land in the east part of the city, but now… I just thought I’d call you for guidance…”
“Go ask Lian Pu.” Wang Dian gave a light laugh. “I’ll pretend I never received this call.”
The other side immediately dared not speak further.
After hanging up, Wang Dian narrowed his eyes to check the time, then looked at various kinds of food images, but felt no hunger whatsoever.
Although reason told him that not eating, drinking, or sleeping for two days and two nights was bad for his health, he wasn’t hungry at all. Only when he thought of Liang Ye did sweet saliva form at the root of his tongue, and overwhelming hunger made him dizzy.
He wanted to eat Liang Ye, hold him whole and bite him, peel his skin, break his bones, drink his blood, crush him and hold him in his arms… His blood violently rushed through every pore, bringing fine and trembling excitement. He looked at the face reflected in the darkened phone screen, and the bloodthirsty desire in his eyes gradually began to spread.
There must be a way.
Since he could travel through time once, he could definitely do it a second time!
Even if time travel was his absurd fantasy, by the same logic, if he could go mad once, he could go mad a second time!
He wanted Liang Ye!!
Wang Dian suddenly sat up from the sofa, neurotically biting the already healed wound on his palm. His face, having not had a drop of water, showed an abnormal flush. His tongue tasted the long-absent iron sweetness. He excitedly watched Liang Ye reflected on the TV screen, stood up and anxiously paced back and forth in the living room, pleasure filling every nerve.
Now he was even more inclined to believe he had gone mad, and the operability of that was greatly increased—making himself go mad was much easier than time travel.
As long as he could get Liang Ye again, he didn’t mind going mad once more.
So he began to carefully recall what had happened the day he went to the winery. He had worked overtime until past four in the morning, then drove home, took a shower, ate a simple breakfast, then had a three-hour video conference with the overseas branch. At noon, he had a business lunch, entertained until past three, slept in the car for more than two hours, woke up and drove to the suburban winery, picked out a bottle of wine that was barely passable… Business lunch?
What business lunch?
Wang Dian greedily tasted the blood oozing from his palm, narrowing his eyes—it was still for that piece of land. Someone with inside information had learned of his intentions, pulled strings through several layers to have lunch with him, wanting to cooperate, and had even given him something…
He pretended his palm was Liang Ye’s, slightly tilted his head, and his blood-stained lips tenderly kissed his own wrist. He carefully felt the wetness and softness of his lips and tongue, his cold gaze falling on that transparent cabinet.
He hadn’t carefully looked at what the other person had given him; it should have been placed there by his assistant. Inside were all kinds of miscellaneous gifts, most of which hadn’t been opened.
Wang Dian reluctantly moved his lips away from his wrist, took out the small black box from the cabinet, and noticed a circle of fine, reddish tooth marks on his wrist.
If only they were Liang Ye’s.
He licked his lips, opened the box, and his eyes suddenly fixed.
It was an arc-shaped bone, curved on top and concave at the bottom, yellowish-white, giving off a strangely faint red glow under the light, making his hair stand on end and his neck go cold.
The bone fell to the ground, touched the blood from his wound, and looked even redder.
He almost instantly felt an excruciating pain in the back of his neck, his face contorted as he opened his mouth, frantically and hurriedly covering the back of his neck, knocking over the heavy cabinet, which fell directly on him.
The intense pain left him no energy to care about anything else. He tightly covered the back of his neck, his whole body curled up, staring at the bone not far away, silently howling.
Why… why was I the one who died?
I can’t accept this!
I want to go back!
It shouldn’t be like this!
Go back!!!
Wang Dian stared at the bone, his eyes bulging, and with difficulty stretched out one hand, tightly grasping the bone in his palm, holding it to his chest.
[Chairman Wang, this is a little trinket I acquired at an auction. I heard you like collecting these things, so I took the liberty of buying it for you…]
[It’s a piece of cervical vertebra, a single piece dug up, not worth much, just pretty… looks red under the light, very beautiful..]
[Haha, why it’s red, I wouldn’t dare to lecture you on that, you’re the expert in this field… No, no, Chairman Wang, you misunderstood, it was all from a legitimate, legal auction. I know your rules, everything is clean and clear…]
[A small gift, not worthy of much regard. When you get that piece of land, I’ll make sure everything goes perfectly smooth for you…]
Wang Dian took deep breaths, finally forcing himself to calm down, but didn’t dare look down at the bone in his hand.
He laboriously pushed away the heavy cabinet on his body and struggled greatly to get up from the floor. Having not eaten for two days and two nights, as soon as he stood up, his vision went black, and he staggered, holding onto the wall beside him.
He looked around the spacious, cold room in confusion, suddenly remembering what he liked to collect.
He washed his face, changed his clothes, gripped the bone in his hand, opened the door, took the elevator, and started his car.
An hour later, the car stopped in front of a villa in the suburbs.
Wang Dian held the steering wheel and let out a breath, looking at the dark windows of the villa, and only got out of the car after a long while.
He had been born into a wealthy family and had not experienced many setbacks. Naturally fond of seeking excitement, in his youth he was obsessed with cars and extreme sports. As an adult, he had reformed, appearing respectable and refined, playing with jade, tea, and various things that could cultivate character and give an air of sophistication.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of leather shoes echoed in the spacious corridor. The dim light cast the man’s shadow on the wall, which was hung with all kinds of lifelike animal specimens, each staring with dark eyes at the visitor. The hem of his coat hung naturally, then was lifted by the wind created by the opening door.
But his most passionate hobby was collecting various small fragments.
The heavy door slowly opened.
In the basement of over a hundred square meters, numerous transparent display cabinets were neatly arranged. The bright lights illuminated each cabinet clearly.
Without exception, all contained white bone fragments of similar sizes.
