Chapter 60

Chapter 60

Xie Zhigui was tormented by a nightmare.

In the dream, he was clad in exceedingly loose clothing, his belly as swollen as if he were concealing a basketball underneath. Terrified, he sought help from Ming Fei Yu.

Ming Fei Yu embraced him, caressing his belly with gentle, soothing strokes, her smile tender yet unsettlingly eerie.

"Don't be afraid. Once our child is full-term, you'll give birth, and your stomach will shrink back down," she whispered.

"What did you, what did you say…?"

It was as if lightning had struck him, his mind went blank, and suddenly, the crisp laughter of a child rang in his ears — "Daddy, daddy... hug, hug..."

The voice seemed to come from everywhere, elusive yet omnipresent, sending him into a state of panic. He wanted to run, but he couldn't move.

Suddenly, the child's laughter ceased, and the unnerving sensation of something heavy in his belly faded away.

But somehow, there was now something in his hands. Looking down, he saw a fair, one-year-old child with eyes of a devilish crimson, just like Ming Fei Yu's, its skin pale and lifeless, yet its features were carved in his likeness.

Anyone with eyes could tell who the child's parents were.

The child, possibly finding his horror amusing, giggled strangely and reached out its chubby arms: "Daddy found me, now it's my turn to find daddy."

The child's innocent, game-like tone was for Xie Zhigui a knell before execution.

This was no angelic child, but rather a ticking bomb, a rotting fishbone lodged in his throat, a handful of coarse salt rubbed into a wound!

His already fragile nerves shattered completely, crushing him.

Child: "Daddy?"

"Ahhhh!" He screamed hysterically, losing control, his body shaking violently. Although he didn't throw the child away, he was so broken that he could no longer stand, collapsing to his knees with a thud.

"Why, why did you still come into being... I don't want you, I said I didn't want this!"

Large tears splashed on the ground, splashing onto the child's face. The child pouted in hurt, feeling the dislike from his father. A deluge of tears poised to fall, and right before the child could cry out, Ming Fei Yu scooped him up and comforted him.

"Bastard!!!"

Xie Zhigui clutched at Ming Fei Yu's clothes, the veins on the back of his hands bulging frighteningly. He looked up at Ming Fei Yu with red, furious eyes, rage and malice seeming to ignite a fire that could incinerate this bastard.

"Why did you bring him into this world!" Xie Zhigui croaked with indignation.

He must resemble a cornered beast by now, bloodied from frantically crashing against the confines of its cage.

"Because of you, my darling," Ming Fei Yu cooed to the child, then turned to him with a smile.

Tender and loving?

To Xie Zhigui, that smile seemed as cold as a serpent’s, laden with conspiracy.

He asked incredulously, "To bind me?"

Ming Fei Yu’s smile deepened. "Yes, to ensure you'll never leave me. No, it should be 'us' now. Our little family of three will always be together."

Ming Fei Yu passionately depicted a future filled with bliss and fulfillment.

"You lunatic!"

Xie Zhigui erupted with sudden strength, lunging forward to deliver a punch straight at Ming Fei Yu's face.

The punch was heavy, its force carrying the sound of cracking bones within the fierce wind of the blow.

Ming Fei Yu staggered backward from the impact, quickly steadying herself. Her facial muscles twitched briefly, yet she neither showed anger nor a change of color, maintaining her composed demeanor.

"The baby has stopped crying. Would you like to hold him?"

How could this bastard still manage to smile!

Xie Zhigui was thoroughly enraged by him, trembling with anger yet restrained by the presence of the child.

"Ming Fei Yu! By what right did you bring a child into this world against my wishes!"

Ming Fei Yu replied indifferently, "The child is mine too."

Xie Zhigui retorted furiously, "All the more reason you shouldn't have had him!"

Ming Fei Yu approached, frowning at him as if puzzled by Xie Zhigui's strong resistance, which was so unlike the other mothers in the village who radiated with joy.

"We can give our child a complete family. As long as you stay with me, I will never abandon the child. Together, we'll raise him, teach him about life, watch him build a family of his own. Aren't we going to be surrounded by our children and grandchildren, the very image of the fulfilled life you desire?"

"I've told you, whatever you want, I'll give you."

Xie Zhigui felt as if he had fallen into a fathomless icy abyss.

Cradling the child, Ming Fei Yu extended his hand toward him, "Come, let's go home together."

"No, no!" Xie Zhigui shook his head, retreating continuously with a face painted in agony and terror, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on the child in Ming Fei Yu's arms.

"If you must go mad, leave me out of it. I won’t be part of your chaos!"

Ming Fei Yu: "I'm not being reckless. I want to spend a lifetime with you. We could have a normal family. Just come to me, one step is all it takes."

Ming Fei Yu closed in slowly, a slight smile curling at the corner of his mouth, advancing on his prey with a calm assurance, clearly determined to win.

However, every nerve in Xie Zhigui was strained taut, he kept retreating, retreating, until there was nowhere left to go.

It couldn’t be normal; they were not normal people. How could they possibly have a normal family?

"I can't have this child, I just can't..."

Towards the end, his voice trailed off into a trance-like murmur, repeating the same line over and over.

A mocking light gleamed in Ming Fei Yu's eyes as he scoffed, "After lying with a monster so many times, are you still afraid of having a child?"

The words jabbed a raw nerve in Xie Zhigui; he suddenly looked up, his pale, sweaty face marked with suspicion and inquiry.

"What did you just say?"

Ming Fei Yu smiled as he reached to pull his hand, "It's nothing. The child is tired; we should head home. We can talk about everything there. Let's go."

His grip was strong, leaving purplish-red marks on Xie Zhigui’s wrist.

Xie Zhigui stared at him oddly, then pried Ming Fei Yu's fingers off one by one, flinging them back.

"Ah Gui!"

Ming Fei Yu's patience was wearing thin with the provocation, but he still managed to contain his emotions, sighed, and said in a gentle tone, "Don’t frequently test my tolerance for you."

"Come here."

Xie Zhigui's gaze swiftly swept over the cracked palm, then back to the eyes before him, and suddenly he understood.

He began to retreat to the side, vigilantly maintaining a safe distance between them.

Ming Fei Yu's brows knotted in concern at the sight: "Ah Gui, are you afraid of me?"

"Don't call me that," Xie Zhigui said coldly, fixing his gaze on him.

The character "川" formed between Ming Fei Yu's brows as they furrowed deeper, wounded by Xie Zhigui's aloofness and coldness. He glanced at the child, who looked pitiful, and back at Xie Zhigui, his expression filled with a silent, desolate reproach.

Xie Zhigui observed his act with cold eyes, disgust coloring his voice, "Have you had your fill of pretending?"

"Pretending?"

Xie Zhigui pronounced each word deliberately, with absolute certainty: "You are not Ming Fei Yu at all."

Surprise flickered across that creature's face, followed by a low, eerie chuckle. Then it threw back its head in a brazen laugh, shoulders shaking with the motion, its voice shrill and loud, grating like a steel blade scraping across glass, piercing enough to draw blood from the ears.

Xie Zhigui remained as calm as ever, watching as it gradually revealed its true form.

Thick, dark energy surged from every corner of its being, sweeping rapidly towards Xie Zhigui, who retreated until the darkness pursued him no longer. Then he saw it: a face riddled with cracks and horrid features, slowly lifting from the roiling, ominous dark waves, with empty black eyes and a mouthful of bizarrely red teeth.

It raised its equally shattered hand, waving it about as if the body had been molded from coal ash and sticky mud, with bits of dark, red, unidentifiable matter occasionally falling off, plopping to the ground, and emitting a nauseating odor.

It approached slowly, calling him in a strange, eerie tone: "Little Gui, little Gui."

Xie Sanxiao opened his arms affectionately: "Now that you've recognized me, why not come to daddy? Daddy has missed you so much."

Xie Zhigui suddenly let out a scornful laugh, stepping back, his lips parting: "Then why aren't you dead yet?"

For a son to address his father with such undutiful words, even Xie Sanxiao, who was not fond of him, felt displeased.

He stopped and asked, "When did you learn to mask barbs with your laughter?"

Then, pondering, he said, "Did that monster lead you astray?"

Xie Zhigui directed his gaze aside, unwilling to argue with this creature.

Seeing Xie Zhigui's resistant demeanor when mentioning a certain individual, a deep-seated hatred flashed in Xie Sanxiao's eyes.

They were a peculiar father and son duo, sharing the closest of blood ties, yet each wishing the other would hasten to their demise.

Xie Zhigui sneered at him, finding the term 'father' ironic when it came from that creature's mouth.

This thing, no longer resembling a human, more like a twisted, dark monster, had the audacity to shamelessly demand to be called 'father.'

Perhaps Xie Sanxiao didn’t truly desire a touching reunion with his son after a long separation; he just wanted to disgust him.

"Son, why are you ignoring your father?"

Xie Zhigui felt a visceral loathing for that hideous face, that hypocritical man, both psychologically and physically.

He refused to play along any longer, bluntly stating, "I've even prepared your coffin; can't you just go quietly? Why crawl back?"

Xie Sanxiao seemed much calmer facing his son’s curse this time, "For you, my son, your father is worried about leaving you with a monster."

Xie Zhigui scoffed lightly, "No one wants you back here – me, my sister, my mother, including all your ‘friends’. No one wishes you alive; we all hope for your death."

He emphasized the word "death," signaling to Xie Sanxiao that playing the father-son sentiment card was futile.

Xie Sanxiao’s expression changed, for a moment becoming extremely ferocious and terrifying.

But it was just a moment.

Even without human semblance, he could still put on the caring father façade, looking at him with concern, "Child, when did you become so venomous?"

Xie Zhigui wasn’t buying it: "I've always been this way."

He added, "It has nothing to do with Ming Fei Yu; I was born this way."

"You should realize, being your son, I am cut from the same cloth."

Hypocritical, selfish, callous, ruthless... adept at masking one's true self behind a facade of appearance and demeanor.

They were both self-centered, the difference being one doesn’t sacrifice lives for personal longevity, while the other treats lives as expendable.

They stood facing each other, with two paths stretching out beneath their feet, leading in different directions.

Xie Sanxiao looked at him for a long time, recalling the days he had been suppressed, his expression complex.

His fine son indeed resembled him, not just resembled but surpassed him, more ruthless, more decisive.

With the façade stripped away to this extent, there was no longer any point in continuing the charade.

Far from nauseating Xie Zhigui, it was he who fed a dose of bitter medicine back to his adversary.

Xie Sanxiao maintained a smiling demeanor but with a threatening tone, "Dear son, aren’t you afraid that your father might leave you in a sleep from which you’ll never awake?"

Xie Zhigui's eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly, so fast it was almost an illusion.

His resolve only strengthened; meeting Xie Sanxiao's disdainful gaze, he said with calm composure, "That would be perfect."

"As long as I'm here, you'll never possess this body again, never harm another soul. I'd rather destroy it than let you have it!"

Xie Sanxiao sensed the finality in his words, a bad premonition settling in.

His hunch was correct, for from the moment Xie Zhigui saw through his façade, he had prepared to trap him in a dreamscape forever.

This spur-of-the-moment decision, Ming Fei Yu might never understand the reasons behind it; how long this time would he cradle a comatose body in anguish?

The image incessantly surfaced in Xie Zhigui's mind, and he silently apologized, "I’m sorry."

I know you can’t hear me, but I have no other choice.