Chapter 11

Bai Wei was once suspicious that his memory might be failing him. Lu Sen hadn’t died, and everything that happened in Naples was just a hallucination brought on by newlywed anxiety. He spent the first two months in Snow Mountain Town in fear and confusion, repeatedly testing whether Lu Sen was really alive. In the following four months, he endured Lu Sen’s living habits.

Surprisingly, it was Lu Sen’s habits that drove him mad before any supernatural factors could.

Eventually, he decided he had to get rid of this walking dead, this terrible husband.

In order to murder Lu Sen, he became more familiar with him. Married life should have brought honesty and mutual understanding. However, he discovered another new secret of Lu Sen.

“Lu Sen’s abilities… or perhaps his family background surpass my imagination. Maybe our encounter in Naples wasn’t an accident, but rather an enemy seeking revenge. Lu Sen staged a fake death and, after that, found me, bringing me to Snow Mountain Town with a clear conscience.”

Could it be that Lu Sen wasn’t a monster? But if that’s true, someone like Lu Sen, with such a deep mind, would be even more terrifying than a monster.

Wei could not imagine what Lu Sen’s intentions were or what he planned to do to him. Lu Sen was surely using this marriage to gain or cover something.

He had to find a way to get rid of him. Wei already knew the result of leaving Lu Sen. Lu Sen would definitely find him.

It was frightening, dangerous, but also exciting. The feeling of potential intellectual confrontation made Wei feel exhilarated.

And besides that…

“Lu Sen’s life insurance… is it real?”

—–

“Darling, I parked the car in the backyard,” Lu Sen said, crawling in through the roller door, blushing and yawning. “Strange… I’m a little tired.”

Bai Wei greeted him with a smile. “Honey, you’re back.”

Bai Wei must have spent the whole day at the repair shop. He had hired two temporary workers to clean the repair shop thoroughly and sat on a lounge chair reading. But the spotless repair shop and the flowers on the counter symbolized “love” for Lu Sen. He found it amazing that he had received so much human love.

Lu Sen gazed at his “wife,” wearing black-and-white striped pajamas. Bai Wei looked at him with a playful expression. There was a repair shop in the town, and the repair shop had a room for the boss to sleep in, and in that room, there was Bai Wei waiting for him to come home.

He thought, this family script is getting better and better.

At that moment, Lu Sen felt proud of himself for being able to create such a home. His relationship with Wei was increasingly fulfilling.

—-

Today, the second-hand car dealership owner raised the price, asking him to pay an extra 50,000 yuan to buy back his car. Lu Sen didn’t like being threatened, so he tied them up and threw them into a small bay in Black Harbor, taking their money and driving home.

He did it cleanly. He gained new income over the weekend and drove the car home. Since Bai Wei loved him so much, he would also play the role of a good husband. So, before coming home, he even washed his hands.

Bai Wei showed concern and sent Lu Sen to make dinner. He used the opportunity to check the vehicle in the backyard, accidentally discovering that the trap he had set was still intact—not broken.

—What’s going on here! Wei thought angrily as he dismantled the trap.

Eventually, he gave himself an answer. Lu Sen was particularly lucky. Yesterday, there was no rain, nor snow. Lu Sen had rolled down the windows on the highway and enjoyed the rushing wind, letting all the carbon monoxide dissipate in time.

How could someone open the windows while driving? Doesn’t he find it noisy? Wei once again confirmed that he couldn’t live with Lu Sen for another day.

He carefully destroyed the trap. Before, Wei had wanted to dismantle it because he was worried the next car buyer might die from the trap, exposing his actions. Now, he was worried Lu Sen might discover the death trap he had set. He was now very cautious about Lu Sen.

From now on, I’ll have to find ways to use more covert accidents to carry out the murder, Bai Wei thought.

If everything goes as he plans, Lu Sen is very meticulous…

Then Wei smelled the scent of the repair shop.

Cheap, pungent, instant noodle aroma.

Bai Wei’s mind immediately tensed.

He had left marinated beef, sliced carrots, onions, and small tomatoes in the kitchen… but what had Lu Sen done?

“Darling, you’re back,” Lu Sen said, looking up from the computer. “Dinner’s ready.”

Lu Sen turned off the screen and hid the email from his mercenary friend in the darkness.

… He calls this dinner?

The marinated beef, sliced carrots, onions, mushrooms, celery, and fresh tomatoes were all boiled in the same pot of instant noodles, and Lu Sen hadn’t forgotten the seasoning packet. After witnessing this chaotic pot of food, Wei took a deep breath. Finally, he managed a proper smile. “Thank you for your hard work.”

He picked up a piece of carrot and slowly chewed it with his back teeth. Lu Sen, sitting across from him, quickly finished his bowl, as if he had no sense of taste.

Bai Wei suspected that Lu Sen might indeed not have faked his death. At the very least, Lu Sen’s mouth was definitely dead. Otherwise, how could he eat such a thing? He tried to see Lu Sen’s cunning in his behavior.

He ate very little. Lu Sen volunteered to wash the dishes. Before washing, he came to Wei’s side. “Can I kiss you?”

Wei allowed him to kiss his cheek.

—Lu Sen’s mouth isn’t dead, and he can kiss people. That’s terrifying!

Bai Wei went to the bathroom and scrubbed his face vigorously. After finishing, he entered the room and found Lu Sen staring at him.

“What’s wrong?” Wei asked.

“I feel like you’re not happy. Why don’t you just say it?” Lu Sen asked, confused.

“Sometimes I just lose my appetite, sometimes I just don’t want to read. Don’t you believe that there are such things as coincidences in this world?”

Bai Wei continued to skip the topic, but Lu Sen seemed to not understand: “But today, it’s clearly not a coincidence.”

Oh my god, why does he have to dig so deep? Bai Wei felt annoyed, even a bit angry.

They could have had a peaceful evening. Lu Sen reading his book, Bai Wei thinking about what to do tomorrow. No arguments, no conflicts. He could also observe whether Lu Sen was as cunning as he thought. But all of that was ruined by Lu Sen’s relentless digging.

“If I didn’t say it, why would you think I’m unhappy?” Bai Wei said.

Bai Wei was clearly more upset than before. Lu Sen was confused, not knowing what he had done wrong.

Lu Sen was born in the depths of the ocean, with no parents, and when he became a mercenary in human form, he only built relationships based on mutual use with his teammates. He understood that human property and social standing were passed down through the bond of “family.” If one wanted to settle down and develop in human society, accumulating relationships, wealth, and status, integrating into a human family was the best choice.

Bai Wei was elegant, calm, good-natured, emotionally stable, scholarly, and came from an ancient family. Coincidentally, she was also Lu Sen’s fiancée. There was no one better suited to be his “settling partner” than Bai Wei. Moreover, Bai Wei was beautiful, and having her as his partner felt very good.

This was how Lu Sen had thought.

Now, Bai Wei was giving him the “signal” to build a “happy family.” From this, Lu Sen discovered another meaning of “family” for humans — beyond the combination of property, status, and relationships. He didn’t understand this new definition, but Bai Wei’s care for him made him feel wonderful, so he started trying to play the role of a “good husband.”

Lu Sen knew he was ignorant about this, but he was eager to learn. He studied what a good husband should do by reading novels and watching TV shows. For example, today, he showed care for Bai Wei’s emotions, thinking that he had done nothing wrong.

He didn’t understand why Bai Wei was getting more upset.

“Alright, but I can feel it,” Lu Sen said.

“But how does that affect you?” Bai Wei asked.

Lu Sen fell silent for a moment. He was obviously thinking. After a while, he said, “Theoretically, it wouldn’t affect anything.”

Bai Wei washed his face in front of the sink and glanced at the gas stove. Using the excuse of going out to buy groceries in the morning, getting Lu Sen killed by gas poisoning seemed like a good choice. But the problem was, he had argued with Lu Sen today — he didn’t want to commit murder so obviously.

So the next week would be a relatively peaceful one — Bai Wei decided to leave it to time. When he was younger, his parents often fought, but after returning to his grandfather’s house, there was no arguing. Any disputes were handled by the family rules. The way Bai Wei thought of handling this argument was to wait for the house renovation to be completed.

When that day came, he could use the excuse of liking the new house’s decoration to “make up” with Lu Sen and then continue with his murder plan.

Bai Wei turned to turn off the lights. Lu Sen was still beside him, looking at his phone. When the room darkened, Bai Wei heard Lu Sen’s muffled voice: “Did we fight tonight?”

Before Bai Wei could respond, Lu Sen continued, “We didn’t say much, didn’t fight physically, but it feels like we’re fighting.”

Bai Wei: …

If Lu Sen hadn’t pried so much, they could have avoided ruining the atmosphere tonight! Once Bai Wei calmed down, he could have gently told Lu Sen, “You worked hard cooking, I still want to eat your food. Tomorrow morning, I’ll go buy groceries, you stay home and rest.” Then, when he left the next morning, he would turn on the gas.

But Lu Sen just couldn’t stop talking. He cornered Bai Wei, broke the “peaceful atmosphere” of their home, and even delayed his murder plan.

Bai Wei lay under the blanket, starting to feel angry again. He didn’t even understand his own feelings. After all, Lu Sen would die sooner or later, yet he was still angry with him. This reminded him of his first target for murder.

A homeless man outside the Black Port City TV building.

The homeless man used drugs, gambled, and had been imprisoned for child molestation in his youth. After being released from prison, he set up camp outside Bai Wei’s workplace, spat everywhere, exposed himself, harassed Bai Wei’s colleagues and subordinates, and began stalking an intern. Bai Wei had called the police multiple times, stuffed him into a sack twice, and sent him to the homeless shelter in Black Port City, but the man left the shelter twice and returned to the TV building.

Bai Wei had been furious with him, but that anger completely dissipated after he decided to murder him.

But for Lu Sen, no matter how he planned his murder, Bai Wei would always feel angry with him. Bai Wei knew that if he started to ease the atmosphere now, it might speed up his progress in murdering Lu Sen.

But he couldn’t say it.

Clearly, Bai Wei had a strong desire for his goal and was willing to make any sacrifice to achieve it.

Lu Sen continued, “I’ve been thinking for a long time. You feeling angry doesn’t really affect me. But I’ll feel very sad. I don’t know why. On one hand, when I see you upset, I feel sad too. I think it’s because I feel like you’re very pitiful.”

… He should have kept quiet. Bai Wei gritted his teeth.

Lu Sen continued, “On the other hand, I feel sad because you’re clearly upset, but you won’t say why. So maybe tomorrow, the day after, or a few days from now, you’ll still be upset about the same thing. When I think about that, I feel really sad.”

Bai Wei: …

“Don’t you think the person who ruined the atmosphere is you?” Bai Wei said. “If you hadn’t asked about this, we could have peacefully gotten through tonight.”

“But you’ll still be upset,” Lu Sen said.

“But I won’t say anything,” Bai Wei replied.

“Why won’t you say anything? Clearly, you’re upset.”

The conversation circled back to the beginning. At that moment, Bai Wei thought about his family—the one he had at the start, with his mother and father, back in White Sea. His parents had betrayed their family, eloped, and settled here. They talked every day, and they argued too.

Until one day, they smashed each other’s heads with a vase, and his mother moved him to Black Port.

Life in Black Port was the quietest it had ever been. His mother, Bai Ju, was a pale, silent woman. When she wasn’t arguing with his father, she hardly spoke. Occasionally, she showed Bai Wei photos of her past. She had short hair and wore men’s clothes, posing beneath a large ivy-covered wall at the naval academy, looking quiet and stubborn.

“At that time, I was my father’s pride,” his mother said, staring at the photo for a long while before speaking softly, “You know, my father never called me ‘daughter.’ He always called me ‘son,’ saying I was his pride.”

“I was wrong. I couldn’t argue with him, I couldn’t go back. I’m not the captain of my own life; I can only stay here, a stranger in a foreign land.”

Later, his mother died of illness. He had stayed with her body for over a week until a neighbor, smelling the odor in the summer heat, discovered only a few-year-old child cleaning his mother’s body every day. The neighbor called the police, and Bai Wei met his grandfather for the first time.

His grandfather, leaning on a cane, looked like he was falling apart for a moment. But soon, he regained his stern demeanor and took Bai Wei back to his home.

After that, Bai Wei never argued with his grandfather. The Bai family’s strict family rules were the standard for everything in life. Besides, many “small matters” weren’t worth arguing about. Moreover, his grandfather had managed to protect the family’s vast fortune as a cripple, which proved his correctness.

But Bai Wei’s current family was chaotic. There were no rules, no plans, and no future. He didn’t want to argue with Lu Sen over trivial matters. He didn’t know how to argue, and he had long been planning to kill Lu Sen.

Lu Sen said, “Is it because the repair shop is too small? In a few days, we’ll be able to move back home.”

“……”

Lu Sen continued, “Is it because you’re worried about the repair shop’s income? I’ve been considering opening a guesthouse in town. It might be a good choice.”

“……”

Lu Sen said, “Or is it because you feel inferior because of your lack of interest in sex? Darling, I’ll think of something soon…”

Bai Wei couldn’t take it anymore. He flipped the blanket, turned to Lu Sen, and said, “How could you put the ingredients for beef stew with red wine in instant noodles?”

“Huh?”

Bai Wei: “And you added the sauerkraut seasoning packet? I told you I was making beef stew with red wine tonight!”

“…I also added red wine to the noodles,” Lu Sen said.

Bai Wei’s stomach began to feel uncomfortable. He thought in despair that he had actually eaten a bite of that.

Lu Sen scratched his head. “I thought it would be more nutritious. Sorry. Is this taste bad for humans?”

Bai Wei: …

He was just rambling. Bai Wei took a few deep breaths and finally managed to calm down. “Honey, I was overreacting.”

“I’m going to kill you in three days.”

“Oh, this isn’t overreacting,” Lu Sen said seriously. “Eating is very important. I’ve seen many people who’ve starved to death.”

Lu Sen said this with sincerity. When he first came to land and casually copied a human form, he found himself in a war-torn country. There, he had indeed seen many people die of starvation.

It was then that he realized how important eating, living, sleeping, and going to the bathroom were for humans, and for monsters like him who had no kin.

Bai Wei felt angry, but also a little sad. He didn’t understand why Lu Sen’s words made him feel so upset. He buried himself in the blanket, pretending to sleep.

“Please forgive me, I’ll cook for you every day,” Lu Sen said sincerely. “Although I don’t know what kind of food tastes better, I’ll try every day.”

Bai Wei didn’t respond. He just pretended to be asleep, burying himself under the covers.

They were both in bed. But they were in separate blankets, with different bedding between them.

—He’s safe, Bai Wei thought.

—-

The next morning, Bai Wei woke up first. He looked at Lu Sen sprawled beside him and thought about what had happened the night before.

It seemed like the argument was over. Bai Wei thought.

But as he left the kitchen and headed to the market, Bai Wei took a few steps back.

He turned off the gas valve that he had left open.

The renovations took longer than Bai Wei had expected. He and Lu Sen had stayed in the repair shop for another ten days. After ten days of eating Lu Sen’s cooking, Bai Wei finally couldn’t take it anymore.

On a sunny Wednesday morning, he woke up early, claiming he was going out to buy groceries, and before leaving, he opened the gas valve again.