socalfunplaces Chapter 45 Long Time No See
Chapter 45 Long Time No See
The rain started falling in the early morning.
He Chutian stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of his hotel room, wearing a black suit today.
It was hand-sewn, and the measurements were taken three times.
The cuff buttons are sterling silver, and the tie clip is platinum.
The shirt is made of imported poplin, so white it shines.
He straightened his tie in front of the glass, making sure his appearance was impeccable.
Then he turned around and glanced at the black velvet box on the bed.
Inside the box was a diamond necklace.
This is not a diamond necklace that you can just buy anywhere in a store.
The main diamond is a one-carat cushion-cut diamond with VVS1 clarity, D color, and no fluorescence.
The set features 42 diamonds, totaling 1.5 carats, set in a platinum base.
The certificate is from GIA, the box is from the original brand, and the invoice has a six-digit number.
Six digits.
For He Chutian, this was nothing.
Although the He family's collateral branches cannot compare to the main family's wealth, the credit card He Chutian used at school had enough limit to buy the entire hotel.
The six-figure necklace was just his monthly allowance.
But this is not the point.
The focus is not on the necklace's value, but on its symbolism.
Diamonds are a symbol of eternity, and necklaces are tools for encircling the neck.
What he wanted to give Tang Yuan was not just a necklace, but a promise.
A false promise, doomed to betrayal, used to exchange her body.
He picked up the velvet box, opened it, and took a look.
Very beautiful.
But He Chutian knew that even the most beautiful diamond was nothing more than a flattened piece of carbon.
Just like even the most beautiful woman, she is nothing more than a vessel for venting desires.
He closed the box, put it in his pocket, and then took out a small plastic bottle from another pocket.
There were no labels on the bottle, but He Chutian knew what was inside.
This is a prescription-grade aphrodisiac, three times more effective than regular products.
He doesn't need it to get to work tonight; he needs it to get to work tonight.
In a more violent, more lasting, and more effective way to make him forget who he is.
Then he put the medicine bottle back in his pocket, picked up his phone, and glanced at the message Tang Yuan had sent:
"Senior, your room number is 1806. Just come right up! The banquet starts at 7 PM. We'll be waiting for you!"
He Chutian looked at the red heart emoji and a slight smile appeared on his lips.
He scrolled out Tang Yuan's chat box and glanced at another chat box.
False leaves.
"We have a mission."
He did not reply.
It's not that I didn't see it, it's that I didn't want to reply.
The fake leaf's task can wait, but Tang Yuan's birthday only comes once a year.
Or rather, Tang Yuan's "sacrifice" only happened once in her life.
He had one chance to have her, and one chance to destroy her.
He had a chance to nourish his hungry soul with her pain.
This opportunity is more important than any task.
He put his phone in his pocket and took one last look at himself in the mirror.
The man in the mirror was over 1.9 meters tall, with fair skin, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a custom-made black suit.
She looks like a model who stepped out of a fashion magazine.
But he knew what was hidden beneath the suit.
The fragments of the gluttonous beast churned within him, not from excitement, but from hunger.
It wasn't hunger for food, but hunger for something else.
The hunger of suffering.
Hunger for conquest.
Hunger for destruction.
He Chutian smiled at himself in the mirror; the smile was gentle, elegant, and charming.
Then he turned around, opened the door, and walked into the hallway.
The hotel is located in the heart of Taoyuan City, in a 38-story building with a glass curtain wall exterior.
He Chutian arrived at 6:45, 15 minutes earlier than the agreed time.
He didn't rush upstairs, but sat on the sofa in the lobby for a while, ordered a glass of whiskey, and sipped it slowly.
He needs to get himself into the zone.
It's not about being a "good senior" or a "perfect boyfriend," but something else entirely.
A more primitive, wilder, and closer-to-wild state.
In that state, he would not be bound by morality, nor by emotions, nor by anything.
That state of being was his true self.
He finished the last sip of whiskey, placed the glass on the coffee table, stood up, and walked toward the elevator.
As the elevator doors closed, he saw his face reflected on the stainless steel door panel.
The lines of that face were too soft; it looked too docile, like a domesticated, harmless animal that wags its tail.
He doesn't like this face.
But it's okay.
After tonight, Tang Yuan will see what's beneath that face.
The elevator stopped on the eighteenth floor, the doors opened, and the corridor was covered with thick carpets that made no sound when stepped on.
He Chutian walked along the corridor for about fifty meters and stopped in front of room 1806.
The door was ajar.
He pushed open the door.
There were already many people in the room.
They were all Tang Yuan's classmates, mostly freshmen from the School of Literature, but some were faces that He Chutian recognized.
Several student council members, one or two people from the martial arts club, and some other faces he didn't recognize but looked familiar.
The room was decorated with great care, with balloons, ribbons, fresh flowers, and a three-tiered cream cake with nineteen candles on top.
But He Chutian's gaze did not linger on anyone for more than a second.
Because he saw Tang Yuan.
She was standing at the other end of the room, surrounded by a group of people, talking to a girl.
She wore a burgundy dress today, not the flashy, revealing kind of red.
It is a restrained red.
She was wearing makeup.
It's a very exquisite and meticulously crafted makeup look, with every detail carefully considered.
She was more beautiful than He Chutian had ever seen.
But her gaze did not fall on him.
He Chutian stood at the door, holding the black velvet box in his hand, waiting for her to see him.
As he expected, Tang Yuan's eyes would light up the moment she saw him, and she would run over with a smile, hug his arm, and say in a coquettish tone, "Senior, you're finally here."
But Tang Yuan did not.
She was still talking to the girl, her eyes not looking towards the door.
Her expression was calm, even somewhat indifferent.
He Chutian stood at the door for about five seconds, and then he went inside.
"The senior is here!"
Someone shouted, and the crowd's attention turned to him.
Several student council members came over to greet him, and Tang Yuan's roommates also gathered around, chattering about things like "Senior is so handsome" and "Senior looks so stylish in a suit."
He Chutian responded with a smile, his gaze passing over the crowd and landing on Tang Yuan.
Tang Yuan finally looked at him.
But the look in his eyes was not what he had expected.
It wasn't a loving gaze, but rather the gaze one would give to an ordinary friend.
She smiled at him, a smile exactly the same as the one she had given to the other girl earlier.
Then she lowered her head and continued looking at her phone.
He Chutian's smile remained unchanged, but something stirred within him.
sense of violation.
But he quickly suppressed this sense of unease.
She might be nervous.
It's normal for women to feel nervous in these situations, especially when they know what's going to happen tonight.
Her indifference wasn't indifference, it was nervousness.
Her gaze wasn't devoid of warmth; she simply dared not look him in the eye.
She wasn't ignoring him by looking at her phone; she was just distracting herself.
He Chutian convinced himself with this explanation.
Then he walked over and handed the black velvet box to Tang Yuan.
"Happy birthday," he said.
Tang Yuan took the box, opened it, and glanced inside.
The diamonds refracted a dazzling white light under the room's lights, eliciting gasps of amazement from those around them.
Someone exclaimed, "My God, this is so beautiful!" Another said, "Senior, you're so rich!" Someone took out their phone to take pictures, and the flash went off.
Tang Yuan looked at the necklace in the box, her expression unchanged.
It wasn't that he disliked her, nor that he liked her; rather, it was an expression that He Chutian couldn't decipher.
She looked at the diamond, her eyes showing no surprise, no emotion, nothing that a woman receiving an expensive gift should have.
She closed the box, looked up, and smiled at He Chutian.
"Thank you, senior."
Four words.
Then she put the box on the table next to her and turned back to continue talking to the girl.
He Chutian stood there, still holding the box out, feeling as if something was stuck in his throat.
He took a deep breath, swallowed it, and then turned and walked toward the bar.
He needs to drink.
He Chutian couldn't remember how much he had drunk.
Whiskey, red wine, champagne, beer.
Liquids of various colors, strengths, and flavors poured into his throat like a waterfall, washing away his reason layer by layer.
With each drink, he would tell himself: "Just one more drink and then I won't drink anymore."
But after finishing that cup, his hand would automatically reach for the next one.
Because he didn't want to stay rational.
Reason kept him clear-headed, and this clarity made him notice the details he didn't want to notice.
Tang Yuan never looked at him; she kept looking at her phone. Every word she spoke to him was spoken in the tone of someone talking to a stranger.
These details felt like needles pricking his skin; they didn't hurt, but they itched.
So he drank.
Alcohol is an anesthetic; it can remove the needles and suppress the itching.
It can bring him back to the state he believes he should be in.
That state of being dominated by desire, driven by instinct, and without the need for thought.
He didn't know how many cups he had drunk, nor how much time had passed.
The sounds in the room grew increasingly muffled, and people's faces became more and more unreal.
The lights grew brighter and brighter until they began to sting his eyes.
He vaguely remembered sitting on the sofa, with someone talking to him. He answered, but couldn't recall what they said.
He remembered the cake being served, someone singing "Happy Birthday," Tang Yuan blowing out the candles, and making a wish he didn't know about.
He remembered raising his glass and saying a toast, and the people around him laughed, but he didn't remember what he said.
Then everything became blurry.
He remembered standing up, wanting to walk towards Tang Yuan, but his legs wouldn't obey him, and he bumped into the coffee table after taking one step.
The dull pain in his knee brought him to his senses for a moment.
In that instant, he saw Tang Yuan standing at the other end of the room, her back to him, looking down at her phone.
She was smiling.
But that smile wasn't directed at him.
He Chutian wanted to walk over and ask her who she was chatting with, and he wanted to take the phone from her hand to see what the words on the screen were.
When He Chutian woke up, he felt almost unconscious.
He blinked, letting the focus slowly return, and then he could see clearly.
The room was dark.
His body was curled up in a contorted position, and there was a nauseating bitter taste in his mouth.
He slowly sat up, supporting himself on the sofa armrests, and waited until he felt dizzy.
Then he looked around.
The room was empty.
There were no balloons, no ribbons, no cake, and no people.
There were only wine glasses and plates scattered on the coffee table, and some flattened pieces of ribbon on the floor.
He Chutian glanced at his watch.
2:47 AM.
He slept for almost seven hours.
What about Tang Yuan?
He stood up, his legs went weak, and his knees almost hit the coffee table.
He leaned against the wall, waited for the dizziness to pass, and then began to check the room.
It's not in the living room, not in the bathroom, not in the bedroom.
The bed was neatly made, the blankets showed no signs of being opened, and the pillows were placed at the hotel's standard angle, indicating that no one had lain on them.
Tang Yuan is not here.
He Chutian stood at the bedroom door, looking at the neatly made bed, and something inside him cracked open.
He walked back to the living room and picked up his phone from the coffee table.
The phone screen is black.
He pressed the power button, but there was no response.
I pressed it again, but still nothing.
He turned his phone over and saw...
The screen is broken.
It was crushed by something.
Someone stepped on his phone and smashed it while he was asleep.
No, it's not "someone".
It is "she".
Tang Yuan.
humiliation.
He'd been tricked.
He was tricked by Tang Yuan from beginning to end.
Those smiles, those messages, those hints, that question, "Do you want it, senior?"
It was all an act.
She never really intended to offer herself to him in the first place; she wanted to lure him here, get him drunk, and then...
And then what?
He Chutian didn't know.
Because he didn't know why Tang Yuan did that.
If she just wanted to play him, then she has already achieved her goal.
But what if she has other motives...?
His mind became exceptionally clear in that instant.
The numbing effect of alcohol was completely dispelled by the combined effects of fear and anger.
Tang Yuan kept looking at her phone during her birthday party.
Who is she messaging?
Why doesn't she look at him?
Is it because of a guilty conscience?
Or is it because she has already completed her task and no longer needs to act for him?
Why did she smash his phone?
Was it to prevent him from contacting the outside world?
Or was it to prevent him from seeing something on my phone?
He Chutian stood up, threw the remains of his phone into the trash can, and strode towards the door.
He needs to leave this room.
He needs to find Tang Yuan.
He needs...
He opened the door.
There was a person standing outside the door.
False leaves.
He stood in the corridor with his hands behind his back.
"woke up?"
False Leaf's voice was devoid of any emotion.
He Chutian stood at the door, his clothes disheveled and his hair messy.
Disgraceful, wretched, and utterly undignified.
He opened his mouth as if to say something, but Jia Ye didn't give him the chance.
Jia Ye turned around and started walking down the corridor.
"Come with me."
It wasn't an invitation, it wasn't a suggestion, it was an order.
He Chutian followed behind Jia Ye, walked through the corridor, entered the elevator, went down to the first floor, walked through the lobby, and walked out of the hotel.
It's still raining.
The false leaf did not have an umbrella.
He walked into the rain, and the rain fell on him, but strangely, his clothes didn't get wet.
The raindrops seemed to be repelled by an invisible barrier the moment they touched his body.
It slid down along the contours of his body, forming a dry, circular area at his feet.
He Chutian followed behind Jia Ye, getting soaked by the rain.
Rainwater streamed down his hair, soaked into his collar, and flowed down his back, its chilling coldness penetrating.
He didn't care, he didn't even feel anything.
His entire attention was focused on the back of the fake leaf.
They walked through three streets, passed a park, went past a construction site, and finally arrived at a dock.
Taoyuan Port.
Taoyuan City's largest cargo port is bustling with activity during the day, but deserted at night.
But the dock wasn't empty.
He Chutian stopped in his tracks.
The dock was packed with people.
No, it's not a person.
It is zero.
Various kinds of zeros.
There were Zero, Overlord Zero, and some Zeros that He Chutian couldn't name, which were even stranger in shape and larger in size.
They stood motionless in the rain.
He Chutian stood at the entrance of the dock, raindrops dripping from his hair, blurring his vision.
His legs were trembling, not from the cold, but from the screaming of the gluttonous fragments inside him.
It wasn't a scream of fear, but a scream of excitement.
False Leaf walked past the lines of zeros without even glancing at them.
As he passed by, the zeros all bowed their heads in unison, as if paying homage to their king.
He Chutian followed behind Jia Ye, passing through Zero's queue.
They were confirming his identity, confirming the existence of the Taotie fragments within him, and confirming that he was one of their kind.
His heart beat faster as he walked past them.
Then he saw her.
At the end of the dock, near the water, there is a circular open space.
The Zeros stood in a circle around the open space.
In the center of the open space stood a person.
No, it's not "standing".
It is "supporting".
She supported herself on the ground with one hand, half-kneeling, while the other hand covered her chest, her body leaning slightly forward.
She was covered in blood.
Rainwater washed down her body, diluting the blood into a pale red color, forming a growing puddle beneath her.
Her clothes were torn in several places, with the fabric hanging on her body, revealing her skin underneath.
But the skin wasn't a normal color; it was...
Scales.
Beneath her skin, patches of purple scales were visible.
Her hair was disheveled, her hairpin was nowhere to be seen, and her black hair was soaked and stuck to her face.
But He Chutian recognized her.
That figure.
That outline.
That outline, even when covered by blood, rain, and scales, is still recognizable.
Tang Yuan.
He stood at the edge of the open space, rain pouring down on him, soaking his shirt so it clung to his body, and making his lips turn purple from the cold.
But he didn't move, he didn't even blink.
Because he saw what she was holding in her hand.
A necklace.
It wasn't the six-figure diamond necklace he gave her.
Instead, it was a very low-quality, cheap necklace, like one that you bought for twenty yuan from a street stall.
Tang Yuan held the necklace in her hand, looking very appreciative.
She slowly and laboriously raised her hand, held the necklace up to her eyes, and then wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
Finally, he hung the necklace around his neck.
The chain was too short; she had to fasten it several times before she could.
He Chutian watched that action and felt something shatter inside his chest.
It's not a cell phone.
It was something of his that he was never aware of.
Jia Ye stood at the edge of the open space, his hands behind his back, staring at Tang Yuan in the center of the open space.
He Chutian stood a step behind Jia Ye, the rain soaking him to the bone, but he felt no cold.
His entire senses were occupied by the blood-covered woman in the center of the open space.
He wanted to speak.
I want to ask.
I want to know what happened.
I want to know what Tang Yuan really is.
But it felt like something was choking him, and he couldn't utter a single word.
Jia Ye turned her head and glanced at him.
That glance was very short, only a fraction of a second.
But in those fractions of a second, He Chutian saw something in Jia Ye's purple eyes that he had never seen before.
It wasn't anger, disappointment, or blame.
It's cold.
A coldness deeper than anger, heavier than disappointment, and crueler than blame.
"idiot."
Jia Ye's lips moved slightly, her voice so soft it was almost drowned out by the sound of the rain.
But He Chutian heard it.
Every syllable was clearly audible.
idiot.
The word was like a knife, flying out of Jia Ye's mouth and piercing He Chutian's heart precisely.
He wanted to argue.
I wanted to say that he hadn't done anything wrong.
I want to say that what happened to Tang Yuan was not his fault.
He thought he would do the task that Jia Ye had given him.
But he didn't say it.
He Chutian.
At the most crucial moment, I chose to be a fool driven by desire, irrational, and like a beast who only knew how to mate.
He lowered his head, raindrops dripping from his bangs, blurring his vision.
He didn't look up.
Because he dared not look into Jia Ye's eyes, and even less dared he look into Tang Yuan's eyes.
Jia Ye turned away and stopped looking at him.
He began to walk slowly and gracefully towards the center of the open space.
Rainwater bounced off his feet, leaving a trail of dry footprints behind him.
It's like an invisible road, paved just for him alone.
Jia Ye walked up to Tang Yuan and stopped.
The distance was less than two meters.
Tang Yuan raised her head.
Rainwater washed down her face, diluting the blood and revealing her true appearance.
Her face changed.
It's not that it's become ugly, it's that it's become less human.
Jia Ye looked at Tang Yuan and remained silent for a few seconds.
Then Jia Ye laughed.
"Long time no see"
"chaos"