“He’s my stepfather.”

“Stepfather? Then why do you both have the surname Lin?”

Bai Wei’s eyes were full of suspicion. She clearly still didn’t believe her.

Lin Chu curled her lips into a bitter, mocking smile.

If her parents hadn’t also both had the surname Lin, who would willingly share the same last name as the man who ruined their life?

She was born in a village where everyone had the surname Lin.

Every household in that rural village bore that name.

Her mother remarried Lin Hongfu when Lin Chu was seven.

Before her father passed away, he spent all their savings on medical treatments and medicine.

They were left in serious debt.

Those debts were only paid off thanks to the bride price Lin Hongfu gave when he married her mother.

Lin Hongfu was a butcher.

A large, rough-looking man.

He was also a recently widowed man.

Because of his skill in slaughtering pigs, he never lacked work and earned more than most in their village.

Her mother saw this as a way to support them and chose to marry him.

Unfortunately, even though Lin Hongfu had money, he never spent it on them.

At seven years old, Lin Chu was at the age to start school.

Though tuition was free under compulsory education, textbooks and uniforms still cost money.

Lin Hongfu refused to pay.

Only after her mother pleaded again and again did he agree—but only if Lin Chu earned it herself.

Earning money meant helping him slaughter pigs.

He enjoyed watching her scream in fear at the sight of pig’s blood.

So he made her do the bleeding.

He paid her five yuan per pig.

And so, little Lin Chu, who had been terrified at first, gradually adapted to the butcher’s life.

She saved up enough to pay her own school expenses.

Lin Hongfu had no children of his own. He always hoped to have one with her mother.

But her mother never became pregnant.

One day, when Lin Chu was eight, a drunken Lin Hongfu beat her mother for the first time.

Lin Chu tried to stop him, but that only made things worse for her.

After that, the beatings continued—countless times.

Eventually, after Lin Chu had gone to university, her mother was driven into a mental hospital by the abuse.

And finally, one month before Lin Chu was thrown into the apocalypse, her mother died.

She lost the last person she had in the world.

Lin Hongfu?

He was no family of hers.

He was the man who killed her mother.

Her enemy.

After hearing Lin Chu’s brief account, Bai Wei’s eyes glazed over.

It took her a long moment to regain her focus.

“That Lin Hongfu… truly inhuman.”

“If what you said is true, then you really couldn’t have helped him. Maybe I was wrong about you all along.”

But before long, she shook her head again, frowning at Lin Chu.

“No, wait—Lin Hongfu’s execution was indeed postponed. How do you explain that?”

Lin Chu glanced at her lying on the ground, then turned her gaze back to the window.

“You think I wanted him to live longer?”

“Besides you, I’m probably the one who most wanted him dead.”

“But while he was in prison, someone powerful advised him, and he found a way to delay it.”

At this, Lin Chu could only sigh.

She had once hoped Lin Hongfu would die before her mother. Maybe then, her mother could have returned to some sense of normalcy.

Who would have thought he’d suddenly pop up, claiming he had vital information on a decades-old unsolved case?

Lin Chu had asked her colleagues involved in that case, and to her surprise, the information Lin Hongfu provided might actually be true.

So, until that cold case was resolved, he couldn’t be executed.

What a cruel irony.

Bai Wei carefully observed Lin Chu’s face and saw no signs of acting.

Then she realized—Lin Chu had already taken her hostage. If she wanted to kill her, she could’ve done so easily. There was no reason to put on an act.

Understanding this, Bai Wei opened and closed her lips a few times, then finally murmured:

“I’m sorry. I was wrong. Kill me or spare me, it’s up to you.”

“I just have one request.”

Her eyes became pleading as she looked at Lin Chu. “If you ever get the chance to kill Lin Hongfu—could you burn a stick of incense and let me know?”

The path of vengeance had been lonely and bitter.

Carrying this hatred alone, she barely slept at night.

Now that she knew someone else also hated Lin Hongfu just as deeply—even though she was in such a hopeless position—she finally felt some comfort.

Lin Chu looked at her, lips curving faintly.

“In a place like this, where would I even find him?”

Hearing her tone start to falter, Bai Wei became anxious and quickly said:

“I know where he went—I can tell you!”

Lin Chu tapped her index finger. “You mean, he also entered the Infinite Apocalypse?”

Bai Wei nodded firmly.

“I’m sure of it! He entered ten days before I did.”

Her words surprised Lin Chu.

“How do you know that?”

As soon as she asked, Bai Wei’s expression turned unnatural.

Lin Chu narrowed her eyes. To know the exact time Lin Hongfu entered prison, she would’ve had to be locked up in the same prison…

Like Ma Yan.

Before Ma Yan died, Lin Chu had asked him about it. He told her that Lin Hongfu, the prisoner, had indeed disappeared before he did.

That was how Lin Chu concluded Lin Hongfu had likely been dragged into the Infinite Apocalypse.

But how did Bai Wei know the exact timing?

While Lin Chu was still thinking, Bai Wei, flustered, began to explain her own situation.

It turned out she had indeed been a nurse in the real world.

Assigned to the ICU ward.

She had seen death too many times.

She’d also seen too many elderly patients forced to suffer in ICU for the sake of their children’s pension benefits.

Then came the day Lin Hongfu’s execution was postponed.

An elderly patient, unable to endure the pain any longer, begged her during a routine medication change to end his life.

She agreed.

She pulled the oxygen tube.

The patient’s children accused her of murder.

She immediately pleaded guilty and was locked up as quickly as possible.

That was how she finally got her wish—to be imprisoned in the same facility as Lin Hongfu.

Her father’s killer.

She had planned to take him out right there and then.

But just as everything was set in motion—Lin Hongfu vanished.

Bai Wei couldn’t describe how devastated she’d felt at that moment.

She had sacrificed her life for revenge.

And yet her enemy simply disappeared from prison.

Along with several other inmates.

But Bai Wei was too overwhelmed to care. That sudden loss of hope at the final moment nearly drove her mad.

Ten days later, she was also thrown into the Infinite Apocalypse.

That’s when she knew—her chance had come.

If she could just catch Lin Hongfu in one of the many mission worlds, she could finally take her revenge.

“You’re already in the fourth world. Since he entered before you, he should be reaching the fifth world by now, right?”

Hearing that, Bai Wei pressed her lips together and shook her head. “The flow of time in Infinite Apocalypse… might not work the way we expect.”

“I don’t know how many worlds he’s been through, but from the information I gathered in earlier ones, I do know which world he’s going to next.”

At her words, a cold light flashed in Lin Chu’s eyes.

“Tell me.”