“Enough!!!”

The sudden roar ripped out of him.

It was almost hoarse, using more strength than he had ever used in his life.

His body lurched forward so sharply that Xu Wenxi almost took a step back.

But the ropes binding him were still unshakable.

Xu Wenxi looked at the boy, suddenly furious like a wild beast, even with bloodshot eyes, and seemed a little unable to believe it.

“What did you say...?”

“I said enough!”

It was as if Lu Huai’s soul had flown out of his body. At this moment, he seemed unable to control his emotions, his lips, or the words he wanted to say.

It was as if, in this moment, he wasn’t even himself anymore.

After a slight daze, Xu Wenxi returned to her cold expression. If anything... she looked even colder. She gripped the thin whip again.

“Putting on a brave front? Or a cornered dog jumping the wall? You scared me. That’s serious, damn it...”

“I have social anxiety! So what?!”

“You still dare talk...”

“Why can’t I talk?!”

At this moment, Lu Huai was like a mad dog that bit anyone it saw. He was hysterical, like he no longer cared about anything.

“I know I’m pathetic. I know I haven’t been normal since the second year of middle school! I’m worse than those people outside with average looks, average age, and average families! I know I have social anxiety! But I’ve never treated myself like some victim!

“You think everyone is like you?

“You think I don’t want to start my life over?!

“Do you know how many times I’ve suffered because of this problem of mine? How many times I’ve cursed fate for making this happen to me...

“Just because I’m easy to bully, right?

“Then bully me! Bully me to death!”

Xu Wenxi didn’t bring the whip down. She just watched this sudden outburst.

It was like he had finally reached the limit of what he could endure, but... what came out was a pile of things she had never heard before.

And Lu Huai seemed completely unable to stop now.

“Yeah, my grades look good. I work part-time too. I write novels too. I want to make money. Why? Why don’t I live a simpler life? Why do I have to think about so much?

“Because I was born into an ordinary family!

“My parents can’t leave me much savings. In the future, buying a house, getting married, every problem might have to be solved by me alone!

“I study hard, but I still can’t reach the standard of a genius!

“I grind through problems day and night, and I still can’t score high as easily as those top students!

“I’m not some academic genius! I can’t see a way out for my future!

“Even if I get into a good university, even if I graduate, without strong connections, without a family background like yours, without a handsome face, without special height, what can I even do later? Is there any light in my future?! Maybe it was dark from the start. Maybe this was hell mode from the beginning, wasn’t it?!

“So am I wrong for thinking about all this? Am I wrong for not daring to try many things because I’m sensitive? Am I wrong for having social anxiety?!”

“I fantasize about every pretty girl I meet. I imagine maybe some wonderful story could happen with them. But I’ve never acted on it.

“Because I know there won’t be any result. I can’t even open my mouth. It’s not just social anxiety. It’s because I know I’m not worthy!

“No one would ever like me. In the future, I can’t even be sure I’ll get married, or marry the girl I truly like. I even think I’ll die alone!

“To people like you, my thoughts are childish and laughable. My social anxiety just looks fake and pretentious!

“It looks like I don’t dare try anything, because I’m more afraid of failure than anyone...

“It looks like I don’t like anything, because I’ve never gotten what I wanted...”

“...”

The one who fell silent, the one whose gaze shifted, seemed to have become the girl who had always controlled the situation.

“See that?! The secrets you know, the secrets you don’t know, I’ve told you all of them. I have nothing left. I don’t want anything anymore! Do whatever you want to me. I only did one tiny thing. Your voice message made me uncomfortable, so I deleted you. That’s normal, right? That was normal to begin with, right? Because we barely had any connection at all, and we were never going to have one!

“Why would someone like you come after me?

“Just because this pissed you off?

“Or do you actually enjoy this? Just moving your fingers a little, and making someone ordinary beyond ordinary, someone not even as good as ordinary, suffer and be destroyed by you!

“You want me to beg you? Or take off your shoes? Bite off your socks? Wag my tail and beg for mercy?

“Say it!

“Do whatever you want!

“You can even kill me! But... but... you can’t touch my parents...”

When he said that—

When surprise appeared in Xu Wenxi’s eyes—

When this girl even curved her lips into a faint smile—

Lu Huai seemed to lose all his strength.

He slumped against the chair and looked up at the ceiling.

His eyes were red, yes, but he didn’t cry.

He couldn’t explain his emotions.

He only stared at the light and muttered like he was talking in a dream.

“Because... I’ve never made them proud. I’ve never made them feel at ease... I can’t, at the very end... drag them down too. Do whatever you want to me. I’ll accept it, no matter what... damn it... damn it!”

After saying that, Lu Huai’s mind almost went blank.

He felt like his hands and feet were numb.

He had never spoken this much in his life, and never with this kind of attitude.

He looked like a mentally unstable man who had completely lost control.

He even thought, if back in that blazing summer, he had faced those people with this same attitude... those people who blamed him... would things be different now?

Maybe he would be more confident...

Maybe he would have calmly gone and played more sports...

Maybe he would be taller...

Maybe he would be more handsome...

Maybe he would have had a completely different life...

Maybe he would never have crossed paths with this girl at all, and never ended up in this situation.

How badly he wanted to start life over. Because even now, his life... was fucking full of regrets.

He even felt it was a miracle he had never slit his wrists.

It wasn’t that he had become better or stronger. He had only drifted through life like most of the walking dead in this world, empty and numb.

Only now... thinking about all that was useless anyway.

From now on, he would only become more cowardly, more afraid of trouble, more unable to face this world...

His life...

Had been ruined.

Lu Huai suddenly laughed.

Right then, the door was pushed open.

“Miss, did something happen?”

The short-haired woman appeared in the doorway, watching the situation in the room with caution.

And the girl standing before Lu Huai, the one who truly possessed a top-tier beauty that could shake the world, put on a breathtaking smile.

“It’s nothing. You can leave.”

“Yes, Miss.”

The door closed again.

It was as if even the last trace of light had been taken away... though really, there had never been any hope or faint light from the start, had there?

In his life, other than those childish jokes and foolish moments of happiness, where had hope ever existed?

The future had always been uncertain. The despair of an ordinary family with no visible way out.

Forcing himself to be happy.

Yet knowing clearly that some pressures had existed from the very beginning.

And now... they had only arrived ahead of schedule. The boy no longer wanted to think about life. He no longer wanted to think about the future.

He only hoped Xu Wenxi still had a little bit of conscience left, and that whatever she wanted to do, she would do it to him alone.

What he didn’t know was that this girl’s mood and expression had already changed.

There was light in her eyes.

As she looked at Lu Huai, it was as if she were looking at something novel, something that had never appeared in her world before.

She threw the whip onto the floor.

Then she stepped forward. Her knee pressed directly between Lu Huai’s legs, and one hand pinned the back of his chair behind his head.

Just like that, Xu Wenxi was almost draped over his whole body.

They weren’t pressed tightly together, but her scent spread around him.

Her body heat was scorching.

Lu Huai couldn’t handle it either. A completely inappropriate nervousness rose in him.

He looked ahead. The bright light that should have been in front of him was suddenly blocked by Xu Wenxi’s flawless face, the face that could so easily stir hatred in his heart.

She smiled as she looked at him.

Their eyes met at close range.

Her nose was small, yet elegant and straight.

Her lips were red and enticing.

It was as if, if she lowered them just a little, if he leaned in just slightly, he could receive an experience he had never had before.

Kissing a beautiful girl?

What did that feel like...?

Lu Huai didn’t know. He had never tried it.

People online said it was sweet.

Others said there was nothing special about it, just exchanging saliva.

Lu Huai didn’t know. He didn’t dare make a judgment. He only knew that thinking about this right now was a bit too much.

Just a moment ago, this girl had been threatening his family.

She was beautiful, yes, even stunning beyond ordinary people.

But... she definitely wasn’t cute. If anything, she was hateful...

How could he have any fantasies about a girl like this? Of all people, this was the worst possible one.

Lu Huai tried to steady his gaze, but as he looked at her face against the backlight, she seemed almost like a god descending.

“I found a new kind of fun.”

That was what Xu Wenxi said. Meanwhile, her other hand touched the boy’s face.

Goosebumps rose on Lu Huai’s skin. He even wanted to throw up. From the bottom of his heart, he felt disgust and revulsion.

Could an abuser be forgiven and called a good person just because of one sudden act of kindness? Who else had she hurt besides him?

Lu Huai didn’t answer.

But Xu Wenxi continued with obvious interest.

“So... let’s begin like this. From now on, you’re mine.”

What kind of words were those?

He was hers?

What was a living, breathing person to her? A toy?! Something to whip for her amusement?!

Lu Huai felt anger surge through him. The places the whip had struck still burned with searing pain.

“No...”

“Now, you need to remember...”

The girl completely ignored Lu Huai’s resistance.

She looked at his brows, at his eyes, at his thin lips.

Then she spoke, word by word.

“You are my possession now. I’ll make you brand new, completely different. And the price, the price is... everything you have belongs to me. You can only live for me. I’ll give you everything you’ve dreamed of, everything you want but can’t get... but if any other girls appear around you in the future, I’ll be upset, okay?”

A whisper like a demon’s.

He couldn’t accept it... couldn’t accept it at all... He wasn’t anyone’s possession... he... didn’t like a girl like this... no matter how beautiful she really was...

“No... I won’t agree...”

Lu Huai resisted with difficulty.

Xu Wenxi’s answer was simple.

“Think about yourself. Think about your parents. You can’t refuse.”

Lu Huai closed his eyes in pain.

He didn’t want to accept fate... but when he thought of his parents... he understood that this might be the process of swallowing humiliation and enduring in silence.

He gave no answer, and that seemed to count as default consent.

Xu Wenxi smiled.

“Until... until I get tired of playing.”

His life really had... been ruined.

That was the sorrowful thought in Lu Huai’s mind.

Then—

His eyes suddenly flew open, as if he had realized something in an instant, and what he saw was Xu Wenxi’s smiling face descending toward him.

For a split second, his pupils dilated.

Then, in that same instant, their lips met.

She... kissed him?!

His mind went fuzzy, then snapped clear in an instant.

That instant felt long, yet fleeting.

It seemed full of endless meaning, yet also... nothing at all.

Only when Xu Wenxi lifted her head did he come back to himself. A sheen glimmered on her lips, wet with saliva from who knew which of them.

Her eyes sparkled with disdain, and a teasing kind of frivolity.

Her voice was alluring, yet every word stabbed at the heart.

“I’ll be taking your first kiss. Looking forward to working with you from now on, Lu... Huai.”

A faint glimmer flickered in Xu Wenxi’s eyes as she looked at the boy before her, still timid, dazed, and carrying a trace of fear toward her. Then she slowly raised her hand and lightly patted his face.

It was so light, so very light, that it felt more like a gentle caress.

“Stunned stupid?” Her voice carried a sneer she couldn’t hide.

Lu Huai stared at her with slightly hollow eyes. What Xu Wenxi saw in them was confusion, and a strange helplessness that stirred pity.

Lu Huai’s head seemed to buzz. At the very moment he should’ve been panicking most, he suddenly fell silent.

All these years, he had always liked watching everyone’s lives from the perspective of an outsider.

Xu Wenxi. The cutest heroine in the whole server. The Xu family. Silver Iris Group. A power that could cover the sky with one hand... a lunatic. A madwoman.

One of the privileged, looking down on the human world from high above.

And yet, a wicked woman...

A cold-blooded creature...

Endure... endure...

That was what Lu Huai told himself.

There would definitely... be a chance to take back his own life.

Even if he had the awareness that if you got beaten, you had to stand straight and take it, even someone like him didn’t want to always be the one getting beaten.

The greatest challenge of his life began here. In the diary entry about this day, Lu Huai wrote exactly that.