Chapter 4: Aftermath (Part 1)

Chapter 4: Aftermath (Part 1)

Li Su woke up in the hospital. His mother sat by the bed, her eyes swollen from crying.

Li Su wanted to comfort her, but his voice came out hoarse and harsh.

Like some wild beast.

Startled by his own voice, Li Su vaguely recalled everything he had been through.

So surreal, so unreal.

It was a sunny afternoon when he left home with his friends to play hide-and-seek. At an abandoned chemical plant, in a secluded warehouse, there was a brother who looked older than him, and a... madman who loved corpses.

He was beaten, tied up, and locked in a dark compartment with a corpse.

He seemed to hear the madman's piercing scream, and saw that poor brother, also like a madman, swing a machete and chop off two arms.

And then...

That brother, Wu Yi, wanted to be his friend forever.

Li Su's body trembled uncontrollably.

Li Su didn't know what was wrong with him. Just thinking of Wu Yi sent a chill down his spine. Those terrifying images and memories swirled in his mind, the madman's piercing screams echoing endlessly.

His mother noticed something was wrong with Li Su and was about to check on him.

Suddenly, orderly footsteps sounded at the door. His mother turned to look, and Li Su followed her gaze toward the entrance.

It was the police.

.

A male officer spoke with his mother at the door, while two female officers entered with kind expressions and chatted with Li Su.

"Little buddy, can we ask you a few questions?"

Li Su blushed a little. The two female officers were quite... sexy. Their uniforms and caps were neat, making them look sharp and imposing. Li Su liked them.

He nodded, feeling he could answer anything.

They first asked his name, age, which elementary school he attended, and how his grades were.

"Not great. I don't like studying."

They asked what he liked.

"I like watching TV, especially the movie channel. I also like watching the news. The lady anchor in the morning is very pretty."

They smiled at each other, then asked a few more everyday questions before finally getting to the point.

How did he find that warehouse, what did he hear and see, and why did he become a victim of the kidnapping?

"I saw that man trying to rape Wu Yi's mom. I heard Wu Yi screaming, so I picked up a brick from the ground and charged at him."

"Do you know the relationship between the 'Wu Yi' you mentioned and that man?"

Li Su shook his head.

Probably not. The man was a suitor of Wu Yi's mother; what connection could he have with Wu Yi?

They wrote something down in their notebooks. Li Su wanted to see, but they stopped him.

They then asked him if he remembered how Wu Yi defeated the man.

They used a word that sounded like something out of an adventure story—'defeated'.

But this wasn't a defeat.

Li Su had played plenty of games. The way to beat a level was to defeat the final boss and knock him down. No blood spatter, no broken limbs.

Li Su couldn't help but start trembling again.

He didn't want to talk about how Wu Yi swung the knife to cut off the man's arms, nor did he want to say how, in the last second, he saw Wu Yi drive the blade into the man's chest.

He didn't know if this was against the law.

Had Wu Yi turned into a murderer?

Would he be an accomplice?

He instinctively concealed the truth, and his heartbeat thumped uncontrollably.

"I... I don't know. I fainted. I was in so much pain—my throat hurt, my whole body hurt. I was beaten, I was scared, I even peed my pants. I couldn't take it anymore, so I closed my eyes and fell asleep. When I woke up... I was in the hospital."

The two female officers felt great sympathy for Li Su's ordeal and gently rubbed his head.

"It's over now. Auntie knows this must have left a shadow in your heart. But don't be afraid. The bad guy is gone. No one will hit you or hurt you anymore. But little buddy, from now on, don't wander too far from home when you go out, and don't go to deserted places, especially when playing hide-and-seek."

He had almost gotten himself to a place where no one could find him.

Li Su nodded, indicating he had learned his lesson.

As the two female officers were about to leave, Li Su called out to them.

"Will... will I go to jail? Will I be executed?"

The two female officers exchanged glances, then came back to him and said gently.

"Little buddy, none of this has anything to do with you."

Li Su didn't feel comforted. He really wanted to ask about Wu Yi, but since the police didn't mention him, he didn't dare ask.

Because Wu Yi had actually killed someone.

His mother talked with the police for a long time, until his father arrived at the hospital with Li Su's younger brother. Together they saw the police off.

His brother Li Shuo, one year younger than Li Su, lay crying by the bed. He cried so loudly that a doctor came back to warn him.

Only then did Li Shuo force himself to stop crying. He hugged Li Su, touched his eyes and mouth, and asked if it hurt.

Li Su said, "It doesn't hurt anymore."

But the moment he spoke, Li Shuo seemed stunned. After a long silence, he inexplicably said, "If he were still alive, I would kill him with my own hands!"

Li Su knew it was his voice that had triggered Li Shuo, but he never expected Li Shuo to say something like that.

He and Li Shuo were very close; they told each other almost everything.

Li Su knew that his brother loved him, deeply, profoundly.

But the very idea that love could lead to murder made Li Su's blood run cold. He recalled the obsessive words the madman had spoken, making him afraid of the word 'love.'

.

Dad came back after paying the hospital bill, bringing a nutritious meal.

Li Su ate while watching TV, and Li Shuo peeled fruit for him nearby.

Mother and Father talked at the doorway, their voices not particularly low.

"Gu Zi's eyes have lasting damage—can't withstand bright light, incurable. Then there's his throat, his stomach... The facial injuries are the easiest to fix; he needs skin graft surgery, but he won't be able to smile from now on..."

Li Su hadn't actually looked in a mirror yet; he had no idea what he looked like now.

All he remembered was being in Wu Yi's arms, his mouth area hurting terribly, his throat on fire, and his stomach churning violently.

As he pieced it together now, a wave of fear washed over him afterward, and the pains he thought were gone came roaring back.

"Huole, get me a mirror."

Li Shuo heard him, put down the fruit, and went to the bathroom to fetch a small red handheld mirror.

Li Su took the mirror and looked—and was shocked.

His lips were covered in wounds, ugly and disgusting; the skin below his lips was wrinkled and bunched up, like... an asshole.

Li Su tossed the mirror aside in a panic and burst into tears, burying his face in the bed.

"Waaah!"

His gut-wrenching sobs brought Mother and Father in from the doorway.

They saw Li Shuo standing helplessly by the bed.

Mother's first reaction was to slap Li Shuo, knocking him sideways, but he stood stubbornly, racked with guilt for making Li Su cry.

"I'm sorry, brother. I'm sorry."

Li Shuo apologized to Li Su, but Li Su was crying so hard he didn't hear.

Mother gave Li Shuo a harsh scolding, then chased him out of the room.

Father picked up Li Su and wiped his tears.

"Don't be afraid. Dad will do the surgery himself. After surgery, your skin will recover, just like anyone else."

Mother added soothingly, "Stop crying, sweetie. Your eyes are injured; if you keep crying, you might go blind."

Li Su thought to himself that he had already become an ugly monster; if he went blind too, he'd be just like Wu Yi—not wanting to live anymore!

He choked back his tears.

"They... saw me like this..."

Father paused, realizing he'd just run into the two female cops leaving the ward earlier. He quickly put two and two together.

So Li Su was embarrassed about how the female cops he had a crush on had seen him in this state, hurting his pride and making him lose face.

Li Su was so obsessed with his looks for one simple reason: since childhood, his good looks made him a hit with girls.

As a kid, aunties and older sisters would always pinch his cheeks.

Now, he got love letters all the time from female classmates.

Inevitably, Li Su had developed a bit of narcissism.

So getting disfigured hit him just as hard as, say, the end of TV.

Blind eyes, ruined face, hoarse voice.

Li Su kind of regretted going to play hide-and-seek, regretted going to the warehouse, regretted playing the hero, regretted... meeting Wu Yi.

But Dad kept his word. As the doctor suggested, he first let Li Su rest for two weeks, then scheduled the skin graft surgery.

During the surgery and the long recovery that followed, Li Su's heart was filled entirely with the misery of worrying about his face and the joy of not having to attend school—leaving no space to think about that Song Wu Yi, who was tied up with all the dark memories and pain.