Chapter 122: Everyone Wants Him Dead, Yet He Insists on Living

Time flies, and a week has passed unknowingly.

As night gradually fell, Ming Yu appeared downstairs at her home, dragging her slightly exhausted body.

She walked slowly, as if each step required immense effort.

But when she reached the corridor outside her apartment, a familiar figure came into view.

Yin Yixuan was curled up, quietly crouching in front of her door.

His head was buried deep in his knees, making it impossible to see the expression on his face.

Even so, the aura of despair and loneliness emanating from him was unmistakably clear, as if it could penetrate the air and seep directly into Ming Yu’s heart.

Ming Yu paused, her emotions growing more complicated…

In the end, she still took light steps toward Yin Yixuan.

As she approached, Yin Yixuan seemed to sense someone coming.

The first thing he saw was the white sneakers peeking out from beneath Ming Yu’s long skirt.

It was as if he suddenly realized something, and he slowly lifted his head, his gaze traveling up from Ming Yu’s legs until it finally landed on her delicate yet slightly haggard face.

At this moment, Yin Yixuan’s once bright and deep eyes were bloodshot, filled with red veins.

There was no doubt—he had gone several nights without sleep.

The moment he confirmed it was Ming Yu, Yin Yixuan suddenly shot up like a beast provoked, yanking Ming Yu into his arms with force.

His arms clamped around her like iron, as if afraid she would disappear again.

For the past week, he had searched every place she might have gone, yet he couldn’t find her.

“You damn woman! Where the hell did you go this time?”

Although his words were filled with anger, by the end, his voice trembled slightly, as if he was on the verge of breaking down.

Facing Yin Yixuan’s rage, Ming Yu showed no trace of fear. She simply replied indifferently, “I went to verify something…”

“What thing?”

Yin Yixuan immediately pressed, his eyes full of unconcealed worry.

But Ming Yu only pressed her lips together and remained silent.

Forget it…

Yin Yixuan sighed softly, unable to bear forcing her further.

He slowly loosened his tight embrace, instead taking her ice-cold hand in his.

His brows furrowed in pain. “Why are your hands so cold?”

Yet Ming Yu remained silent in response to his concern.

She quietly took out her keys from her pocket, opened the door, and walked inside.

She poured herself a glass of water, but just as she lifted it to her lips, Yin Yixuan seized her wrist.

Ming Yu looked at him, puzzled. “You’re not even letting me drink water?”

Yin Yixuan snatched the cup from her and poured out its contents.

“You’ve been gone for so long. How can you drink this water?”

“Why not?”

Ming Yu simply grabbed the kettle and drank straight from it.

She drank recklessly, water splashing onto her clothes, her neck, even drenching a large portion of her chest.

But Ming Yu didn’t care.

She even looked at Yin Yixuan with provocation. “Water left for a few days is undrinkable?”

“Of course, someone as noble as you wouldn’t drink it.”

“But Yin Yixuan, I am not you. I am different from you…”

“Ming Yu…”

Ming Yu interrupted him. “Yin Yixuan, do you find me crude and dirty now?”

“But I’ve been even cruder, even filthier. I’ve even been a bloodthirsty demon…”

“Forget drinking water that’s been sitting for days—even human blood, snake blood, rat blood—I’ve all drank before…”

“And I don’t find it dirty.”

“Surviving, that’s all.”

“As long as I can stay alive, I can eat anything.”

Yin Yixuan was heartbroken to the point of suffocation. He reached out, wanting to hold her.

But Ming Yu suddenly walked toward the window, her back facing him, her figure lonely and desolate.

“Yin Yixuan, did you know that your eldest brother, Yin Hanyu, was actually afraid of snakes? And that I was terrified of rats since I was a child?”

“But for a long time, he was imprisoned in a snake pit. In the end, in order to survive, he drank snake blood and ate snake meat.”

“At the same time, my world also fell into an endless abyss of darkness…”

“I was locked in a small, filthy, and foul-smelling rat hole. Silence surrounded me, except for my desperate and shrill screams echoing through the air, yet no one responded.”

“I called for help, but no one answered.”

“In my world, there were only those terrifying rats. They crawled over my body like demons… their cold, damp claws scraping against my skin, sending shivers of disgust through me.”

“In that pitch-black hole, I could see nothing, but I could hear the constant gnawing and sharp screeches of the rats—it never stopped.”

“The horror was unbearable, my nerves stretched to the breaking point, fear and revulsion consuming me… I wished I could die just to end it all.”

“But at that moment, Yin Hanyu actually crawled out of the snake pit. He even laughed and told me—he was no longer afraid of snakes…”

“He said, ‘What doesn’t kill us will eventually be killed by us.'”

“But he could do it—I couldn’t…”

“I really couldn’t. I wanted to die… So I begged him, if he ever escaped, to find my parents for me. And to ask them—what did I do wrong? Why did they give birth to me only to abandon me?”

Yin Yixuan turned away, his voice hoarse as silent tears slipped down his face. “Did he promise?”

“No.”

Ming Yu still stared out the window. “Yin Hanyu didn’t promise.”

“Instead, he mocked me…”

“He mocked me for being weak, for being naïve, for being sentimental, for being a joke.”

“He told me that without parents, I still had myself. That I shouldn’t live for the parents I imagined.”

“Because my parents were probably long dead.”

“And even if they weren’t, they had probably long forgotten about me…”

“Because that was exactly how he was.”

“He said that on his first day back at the Yin family, everyone told him his good days were coming… that he was the most noble child, the true heir.”

“But that very night, his mother died in his father’s arms. He didn’t even get a chance to ask why before he fell into hell…”

“He missed his mother, even his father. But missing them was useless. Because when he woke up, there was no one—only those disgusting and terrifying snakes.”

“He told me to stop dreaming.”

“Not only did he refuse my request, but he also said that if I died, he would only spit on my corpse and curse me as useless trash…”

“I was so angry, I wanted to kill him and drag him down with me.”

“But he mocked me again… saying I couldn’t even crawl out of a rat hole, yet I dared to think about killing him?”

“He sneered and told me—if I wanted to die, I should do it alone, and not drag him down with me.”

“He said he would live to be a hundred years old.”

“Everyone wanted him dead, yet he insisted on living.”

“I argued—living in such pain, was it even worth it?”

“He asked me back—was dying any better?”

“He said—death is not an escape, but the loss of all possibilities. Once dead, there is nothing left.”

“But as long as you’re alive, there are still countless possibilities…”