Chapter 142 - 122: A Life for a Life! A Debt Must Be Repaid

[Ding! Congratulations, Host, for scripting two plots: ’Demon in the Flesh’ and ’Silent’.]

[Calculating rewards...]

[Immersion Levels: 72% and 93% respectively.]

[Congratulations, Host, you have received the rewards: Stable Consciousness, Master of Reading.]

[Stable Consciousness: Your self-awareness will become crystal clear, unaffected by interference from other memories. Negative emotions will be diminished, and the impact of memories from dream immersion will be drastically reduced. Perhaps, you can now remain yourself...]

[Master of Reading: When you organize information into a file for review, you may be able to obtain more complete information. Your information retrieval and associative thinking abilities are enhanced!]

「November 1st.」

「8:30 in the morning.」

Xu Huo opened his eyes. He stared at the light blue screen before him, speechless for a long time.

It took him a long moment to come back to his senses.

Last night, he had made a deal with Sun Yang: fulfill one of her wishes, and in return, he would learn the full story of the case.

Specifically, the actions of her fourth personality, one of four that had split from her psyche.

Her memories were split into two. One part was positive—the Sun Yang he had met. The other was extreme, consumed with thoughts of revenge, constantly plotting how to use its frail body to retaliate.

So, this personality went to the black market and sought out the blood brokers.

The people who frequented that place were usually destitute, which made them easy to exploit.

A few months later, Liu Wen appeared. The fourth personality hesitated, but its extreme emotions pushed it toward a dark path. It gave Liu Wen information about a job opening at a private school.

And so, Liu Wen went.

But Song Min, her only "family," could sense that something was wrong with Sun Yang around that time.

So, with almost no discussion, she went to find her.

After its extreme emotions subsided somewhat, Sun Yang’s fourth personality sensed Song Min’s intentions. Though nothing was said, it tacitly allowed her to go and persuade Liu Wen to return; otherwise, Song Min would never have found her.

The personality regretted its actions, realizing it shouldn’t have involved an innocent person, deviating from its original plan to find a desperate criminal to use as a weapon.

It hoped Song Min could talk her out of it.

But what neither of them expected was...

Liu Wen stayed.

It was her own decision, and she couldn’t be dissuaded. After her mother’s death, events were set in motion, heading toward a predictable and tragic conclusion.

After that, Sun Yang quietly waited for Liu Bo’s arrival.

Liu Bo was a brilliant investigator. He saw that Liu Wen’s death was not what it seemed, but Cheng Yu was his higher priority. So, after killing Cheng Yu...

He didn’t complete Sun Yang’s revenge for her.

He left four people alive, lured away the police officer guarding Sun Yang, and then went to kill her. But that night, faced with the sight of Sun Yang—who had already drunk paraquat and was now attached to colostomy and urine bags—he couldn’t bring himself to be ruthless. Instead of a fatal blow, he stabbed her once in the abdomen and left.

And that brought things to the present...

"Tsk, delete."

Xu Huo shook his head, muttering his usual, helpless curse.

To be honest, he wasn’t in a good mood. Even with the aid of his Stable Consciousness skill, the cinematic scenes from his dream immersion still lingered in his mind, leaving him feeling somber.

The ordeal of Sun Yang, also known as Shen Miao.

The ledger of nineteen-year-old Liu Wen.

Liu Bo’s life flashing before his eyes...

When he woke up this morning, before his new Skill had kicked in to bolster his consciousness, these three scenes had filled him with a profound sense of sorrow.

That one-to-one immersion...

It was mentally agonizing!

However...

It was precisely because of his own mental anguish that the things he wrote also made others suffer a bit.

Thinking of this, Xu Huo couldn’t resist. He opened the book review section on his computer, hoping to get a laugh from his readers.

He moved the mouse, clicked, and in the next second, a wall of black text filled the screen.

[ImAnHonestGuy: Hah, you actually made me laugh. Luring us in for the slaughter. You guys who recommended this are something else, truly invincible!]

[SimplifiedFont: To all my friends in the reviews who said this was a heartwarming story—how are you? Are you sleeping well? Because I can’t sleep at all now.]

[ProfilePic: Bro, stop writing, I’m begging you. Why don’t you just kill me instead? Anything but this!]

[SkydiveElite: OK, give me twenty minutes. I need to go have a little "heart-to-heart" with the friend who recommended this "heartwarming" novel to me.]

[StickyNote: I remember it like it was yesterday... It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon. I decided to slack off at work, so I opened up my computer and clicked on a novel. Then I saw the review section, filled with people saying how heartwarming and happy it was. I actually believed them. And I clicked ’Read’...]

[SlowpokeInShades: Hey, you, the commenter above! You’re one of them! I fucking saw your post! After you read it, you posted one of those "heartwarming" reviews too, didn’t you, you son of a bitch!]

[Glass Cup: What’s that shattering sound? Hehe, oh, it was just me. My heart. Author, I’ll never forgive you. I’m going to haunt your profile forever... and ever!]

[LittleWorm: Are apples sweet? Of course they are. Hey, author, where do you live? I’d love to send you some sweet, sweet apples~]

[...]

It was, as they say, the Law of Conservation of Smiles.

Since all these people had lost their smiles...

...then someone else had to be the one to smile.

Xu Huo smiled and let out a long, satisfied sigh.

Some say it’s difficult for an author to truly stir a reader’s emotions with a story.

Hmph. Xu Huo disagreed.

’All he had to do was lift a finger, and the emotions came pouring in, didn’t they!?’

He didn’t dwell on it any longer.

Xu Huo got up, dressed, put on his shoes, and walked out of his hotel room.

The police department provided free lodging, but the conditions weren’t great, so he’d opted for a hotel. The department was footing the bill anyway.

As he opened his door, he found himself facing Chu Xi’s room directly across the hall.

"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK~"

Xu Huo knocked. The door opened a crack, revealing an adorably dazed face.