Chapter 1: Dark Clouds (Part 1)

Chapter 1: Storm Clouds (Part 1)

Before the seventh-day mourning ritual for his mother was over, Song Shuzheng brought a woman and a boy into the Song family home.

The boy was two years older than Song Wuyi. Song Shuzheng took the boy for a paternity test, and the results proved that they were indeed father and son—the boy was Song Wuyi's older half-brother.

It was only then that Song Wuyi learned Song Shuzheng had been having an affair all along.

At the time Song Shuzheng married his mother, he already had another woman and a child on the side.

His mother just never knew.

Still mired in the grief of losing his mother, Song Wuyi now had to face his father's infidelity and the other woman moving into the home and taking over.

He couldn't accept it.

That very night.

He left the Song family home alone and ran to the mortuary where his mother's body was being kept, hoping to see her one last time.

But the mortician looked terrified when he saw him.

His mother's body was gone!

Song Wuyi wanted to go back and confront Song Shuzheng, but on his way home, he was kidnapped.

The kidnapper was a former suitor of his mother, a madman who loved her but could never have her.

He had also stolen her body.

An abandoned warehouse.

Song Wuyi was hung by ropes and immersed in a pool of chemical wastewater.

The madman said, "Your mother abandoned me for money! Because of Song Shuzheng's status, she was that money-hungry! And what did her choice get her? Her choice betrayed her in the end!"

Song Wuyi asked, "Why don't you take revenge on Song Shuzheng instead?"

The madman let out a shrill laugh, "I will, I will! Once I marry your mother, I'll be her husband. Her grievances are my grievances, her hatred is my hatred. But before I get revenge on Song Shuzheng, I'll kill you first, boy. Your birth kept your mother tied down and stopped her from leaving him. You're the reason she sank deeper into the mire. You deserve to die too!"

Song Wuyi wasn't scared by the madman's death threats, but he zeroed in on a key point in his words.

Marriage. Husband.

His mother was already dead.

This madman was going to desecrate his mother's body right in front of him!

Song Wuyi screamed, throwing away twelve years of good upbringing, cursing with every filthy word he knew.

He was bound tight, and the wastewater splashed up as he struggled, spilling onto the floor.

He could only watch helplessly in despair as the madman kissed his mother's cold body.

"No!"

"Don't!"

"Get away from her!"

"Don't touch her!"

Blood seeped from between Song Wuyi's clenched teeth.

Suddenly, the world turned upside down.

He felt himself going crazy as well.

.

"You sick perv!"

Li Su leapt in through the warehouse window, a brick in his hand, and smashed it over the madman's head. The madman crumpled to the ground, convulsing.

Only then did Song Wuyi dare to open his eyes.

Furious, Li Su jumped on the madman and stomped on him a few times.

Li Su noticed Song Wuyi.

He grabbed a few bricks from the side and stacked them under the wastewater pool to stand on, and reached for the end of the rope holding Song Wuyi.

"Don't be afraid. I'll get you out of here now."

Li Su had originally come to the abandoned chemical factory to play hide-and-seek with some friends. Following a secluded path, he stumbled upon this scene that seemed straight out of a movie.

He could hear the despair in Song Wuyi's voice.

"No use, I can't reach it. I need more bricks."

Li Su jumped down again and was busy gathering bricks when the madman on the ground grabbed his head and stood up.

Song Wuyi shouted hoarsely, "Run! Run!"

Li Su turned at the sound and saw the madman with blood all over his face blocking his way, wearing a terrifying grin on his twisted face.

The madman twisted Li Su's arms behind his back and bound them with coarse rope.

Li Su struggled fiercely, kicking the madman several times.

The madman's mind was muddled, his patience gone. He lifted Li Su with one hand and forced his head into the wastewater pool where Song Wuyi was submerged.

The sewage stung his eyes, and Li Su screamed immediately.

.

Li Su never expected that on an ordinary afternoon, he would be sucked into such a brutal kidnapping.

"I came here with some friends to play hide-and-seek. If they can't find me and notice I'm not back, they'll come find me with my parents. Then we'll be saved."

At ten years old, Li Su was still a fearless child, his understanding of the world naive. Life and death were too abstract a concept for him.

So even though his eyes were red, there was hardly any fear in them.

Song Wuyi looked at Li Su and let out a sudden, hollow laugh.

But the laugh held no meaning.

The madman carried the corpse away somewhere. Song Wuyi kept trying to free himself from the rope.

Li Su muttered in confusion, "Why can't they leave people alone even after they're dead? That's just twisted..."

Song Wuyi remembered how his mother had been depressed during her life because of Song Shuzheng's neglect, thought of Song Shuzheng cheating with that woman in his mother's old bedroom, and recalled how the madman had stolen her body to defile it after she died.

What exactly is love?

Why does it make people depressed, act out, go mad?

Why does love become dangerous, harming the body, grinding down the spirit?

When the madman returned, a small moving truck was parked at the entrance of the warehouse.

The madman threw Li Su and Song Wuyi into the compartment filled with clutter. As the compartment door closed, their vision got swallowed by darkness.

Li Su’s optimism also got swallowed up by the dark.

The madman was moving them, which meant the friends and parents he was counting on wouldn’t be able to get to him in time.

Li Su felt like crying, but his eyes were stinging like hell.

Song Wuyi didn’t react at all.

Pretty soon, Song Wuyi crawled over to Li Su and untied the rope around his wrists.

Li Su asked in surprise, “When did you get loose?”

Song Wuyi didn’t answer his question, as if suddenly remembering something, and started frantically searching through the compartment.

Li Su knew what he was looking for; he rubbed his wrists and joined in.

The compartment wasn’t large, but the clutter piled up made the search difficult.

Though Li Su wanted to help find it, at his age, he was still pretty scared of the dead body.

He carefully felt around in the pitch-black dark.

Suddenly, his fingers touched something cold and slippery.

It's a hand!

Li Su knew he'd found it.

He tried to shift the body to a more open spot, exerting force, but there was no resistance. He lost his balance, fell flat on his back, and hit the floor hard, and it took him a minute to snap out of it.

The thing in Li Su’s hand was indeed a hand, but it wasn't attached to any body.

“Aah!”

Li Su screamed and instinctively chucked the thing away.

Song Wuyi quickly crawled over when he heard him scream.

“What’s wrong? Did you find it?”

Li Su grabbed Song Wuyi.

He didn't know how to explain, and he couldn't help crying.

“I... I didn't find it...”

But Song Wuyi could tell he was hiding something. The worst scenario crossed his mind, and he forced himself to be calm: “Let me see.”

Song Wuyi pushed him away.

He felt around on the floor, feeling his way into the darkest corner.

Li Su couldn’t see, but he heard Song Wuyi’s breathing, already heavy, get faster, followed by faint gasping sounds—intermittent, like he was about to suffocate.

Li Su felt like he couldn't breathe either.

All this was too much for him.

He was trapped in a compartment with a dismembered body, the air smelled like rot.

He was grossed out.

But he couldn’t show it.

Because this was someone's mom.

Li Su groped for Song Wuyi’s trembling body in the dark and slowly pulled him into a hug.

“Your mom doesn't feel any pain...”

Li Su didn’t know what else to say to comfort him; words couldn't fix anything. All he could do was mechanically pat Song Wuyi's back, trying to lend him strength.

After a while, Song Wuyi suddenly turned around and wrapped his arms around Li Su’s waist.

“No pain. She was going to be cremated anyways.”

It sounded like he was trying to comfort himself.

Li Su heard him and went along with it: “Yeah, exactly... Ouch!”

Suddenly, his waist tightened. Li Su felt like he was getting choked. Song Wuyi was holding him so tightly he couldn’t breathe.

“Wu Yi, Wu Yi, you're squeezing me too hard!”

Then the grip suddenly loosened.

Li Su heard Song Wuyi ask in his ear, “What did you call me?”

Li Su said, “When I was eavesdropping outside the warehouse, I heard that crazy guy call you Song Wuyi. Wu Yi—I figured you were born on Labor Day, yeah?”

Li Su let out a goofy laugh, trying his best to lighten the oppressive atmosphere.

“No.”

Li Su let out an “Oh.”

Song Wuyi stopped hugging him, but Li Su could feel that there was no trace of vitality left in him.

If he didn’t speak, the whole compartment would be terrifyingly silent, with only the sound of two people breathing heavily.

Li Su pulled Song Wuyi back into his arms.

“If you want to hold on, hold on. Hug me tight, it doesn’t matter.”

Song Wuyi’s body stank—the smell of the sewage pit.

Li Su didn’t mind; instead, he rested his head on Song Wuyi’s shoulder.

The moving truck drove on to an unknown destination. Li Su and Song Wuyi fell asleep in each other’s arms, with the scattered remains of the corpse rolling beside them.