At the End of the Rope

Polished lace-up shoes, black suit trousers, a white shirt rumpled from drink. His gaze moved upward, until that suave face finally emerged beneath the light, his eyes brimming with malice.

It was Jiang Boyun!

Lu Yan's heart lurched. He couldn't tell whether this was good or bad. The good news was that he and Jiang Boyun had never had any deep-seated feud. The bad news was that he'd just beaten the man senseless last time. No grudge? Well, now there was one!

"Chairman Jiang?"

There was a trace of tension in Lu Yan's voice if one listened closely, though it was well hidden beneath the faint smile he used as a disguise. "What couldn't we have arranged to discuss face-to-face? Why did you have to bring me here this way?"

"Arrange to meet? You really think I could still get you to meet me?"

Jiang Boyun sneered. He casually tugged at his tie, then bent down and gripped Lu Yan's chin. His fingers pressed so hard they nearly sank into his flesh. "I've been tied up negotiating contracts lately, so I couldn't spare the time to deal with you. You didn't seriously think we could just let what happened last time slide, did you?"

Lu Yan breathed a sigh of relief. So it really was about the fight. "Chairman Jiang, I was too impulsive last time. If you really can't let it go... I'll let you hit me back?"

As long as he survived, what was one beating?

Lu Yan was thinking very clearly.

But Jiang Boyun clearly wanted more than that. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Hit you back? If I wanted to hit you back, couldn't I just have my people do it? Why go to all this trouble to tie you up and bring you here?"

Lu Yan: "..."

What did that mean?

Jiang Boyun was obviously drunk. Lu Yan could clearly smell the alcohol on him. Any negative emotion, once fermented by alcohol, grew intense enough to make one's heart shudder.

Jiang Boyun shifted his hands to Lu Yan's throat and tightened them bit by bit. Suffocation came over him like a tide, making his head swell and throb.

"Lu Yan, what have I ever done to treat you badly?"

Going against his conscience, Lu Yan forced out, "You've treated me pretty well."

But Jiang Boyun only grew angrier. "Well? If you really thought so, then why are you still tangled up with that bastard Xue Jin?!"

With tears in his eyes, Lu Yan automatically activated his skill at talking nonsense. "Actually, I was forced into it. The one I've always liked is you."

For once, Jiang Boyun cursed. "That's fucking bullshit!"

Lu Yan was nearly being strangled to death. Even his words came out in broken fragments. "It... it's true..."

"People outside are saying that you and Lin Anni, the heiress to Dingyou Group, are... are getting engaged. I have no money, no power, and I can't offer you any help, so I deliberately used Xue Jin to... to make you jealous... I wanted you to leave me..."

After saying so much in one breath, Lu Yan felt that he truly was about to pass out. At last, he gritted his teeth and added one final, vicious dose. "If you don't believe me, then strangle me to death. After all, all these years, you've only ever treated me as some dispensable kept lover. Even now that I'm dying, you still never believed me!"

A flicker of thin anger passed through Jiang Boyun's eyes. "You!"

Lu Yan was exceptionally good at turning the tables. "If I didn't like you, why would I have risked my life to help you set up Yu Zechuan?! If I didn't like you, why would I have followed you without a word for all these years?! Now that you're getting married, you won't even let me go free?!"

That string of questions left Jiang Boyun speechless. He reflexively pulled back his hands and took a step away, guilt and uncertainty flashing in his eyes one after another. "Lu Yan, you're getting better and better at talking your way out of things!"

Lu Yan met his gaze without flinching, knowing he absolutely couldn't show weakness now. "I'm here. Kill me if you want. Do whatever you like. I'll just count it as having been blind and mistaken about you all this time!"

He sounded so utterly righteous that, for a moment, it seemed as though Jiang Boyun were the one with a guilty conscience. On top of that, Jiang Boyun had been drinking and wasn't thinking clearly. He really did look as though he'd been bluffed.

Irritably, Jiang Boyun wiped a hand over his face. Just as he was about to say something, someone suddenly knocked on the basement door. A man's lowered voice came from outside. "Chairman Jiang, it's urgent."

Jiang Boyun was impatient. "Whatever it is, tell me tomorrow!"

The voice outside sounded somewhat anxious. "Chairman Jiang, there's been an incident with the Dingyou project."

"What did you say?!"

Those words sobered Jiang Boyun up by more than half. He didn't even spare Lu Yan another thought before immediately turning and leaving the basement. The iron door slammed shut with a deep, vibrating boom, making the silence and emptiness around him feel even more profound.

The moment Jiang Boyun left, Lu Yan let out a breath. Slumped in the chair, he fumbled painfully at the rope knots around his wrists, trying to untie them. At the same time, he inched the chair toward the door and listened carefully for sounds outside.

Jiang Boyun hadn't gone far. Snatches of conversation drifted from the hall, too indistinct to make out clearly, but the last few lines were so furious that even locked inside, Lu Yan heard every word.

"What did you say?!! The project was ordered to halt?! What the hell was the inspection team doing?! The project is already half finished, and now you're telling me there's a problem with the terrain?!"

"Where's that old bastard Lin Hongjing?! Call him! Right now, immediately!"

Faced with Jiang Boyun's savage expression, as if he wanted to devour someone alive, the assistant was so nervous he began to stammer. "Ch-Chairman Jiang... someone leaked this to the media. It's spreading like crazy online now. By tomorrow, we probably won't be able to contain it. We contacted Dingyou the moment it happened, but they won't answer our calls at all..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Boyun shoved him violently aside. The assistant crashed into something, his vision spinning. By the time he recovered, Jiang Boyun was gone.

Jiang Boyun strode quickly into the living room and fumbled for his phone to call Lin Hongjing, panicking so badly that even his fingertips trembled. He vaguely sensed that he'd fallen into some enormous trap, yet he couldn't find a single flaw in it.

Plenty of companies had been competing for the island project. If Lin Anni hadn't liked him, Lin Hongjing never would have shared that piece of the pie with him. Even if Lin Hongjing wanted to set him up, wouldn't he spare a thought for Lin Anni?!

Jiang Boyun could think only of the investment about to go down the drain. Cold sweat soaked his body as his fingertips flew across his contacts. One moment he wanted to call Lin Anni, the next he wanted to call Lin Hongjing. In the end, he didn't make either call. In his rage, he hurled the phone away.

"Bang!"

The phone struck the stone tile with a heavy crash. The force shattered the screen into a spiderweb in an instant, cracks spreading in every direction, just like the life that was about to splinter apart before him.

In the basement, some unknown amount of time later.

Lu Yan finally managed to break free of the ropes.

His fingers were long, and he had plenty of patience. In the dark, he felt around until he hooked the outer loop of the knot, then struggled to pull it outward. Just as his wrist was about to cramp, it finally loosened.

Rustle.

The rope fell to the floor with a soft sound, coiling across the damp ground like a snake. Lu Yan bent down to untie the ropes around his ankles. He had been bound for too long, and when he stood, he nearly staggered and fell.

He couldn't stay here. He had to find a way to escape! If he stayed any longer, he would either die at Jiang Boyun's hands or lose his chastity. Either outcome was terrifying enough for Lu Yan.

Lu Yan worked his limbs, then looked up and spotted a ventilation window overhead. He stepped back to gauge its size and found that it was nowhere near large enough for an adult man to crawl through. He could only give up in vain.

"System."

With no other choice, Lu Yan called out to that black-hearted fiend.

"How much time is left until the game ends?"

The System materialized in the dim air. Its voice was no longer quite so lifeless, and for once, there was even a trace of pleasure in it. [Two days... and three hours remain.]

If there were only three hours left, Lu Yan could grit it out no matter what. But two days and three hours? The difficulty had increased by far more than a few times.

With his back against the door, his heart beat faster as death drew nearer. "You sound pretty happy."

The System denied it. [No. I am merely answering your question, my Host No. 503.]

Lu Yan mocked himself. "If I die, you'll get your Host No. 504 right away."

The System neither confirmed nor denied it, simply fading away.

Lu Yan had no other weapon. He could only drag the chair to his side, press himself tensely against the back of the door, and wait as time ticked away second by second.

It would be best if Jiang Boyun didn't come in.

If he did, Lu Yan would raise the chair and smash him over the head. Maybe he could escape in the chaos. In any case, he had to protect his chastity.

Lu Yan could feel that a long time had passed. Drowsiness crept over his mind, and he could barely keep his eyes open. Outside, the sky faded from dark to darker still, and even the moon looked bleak and lifeless.

Just as Lu Yan's vigilance began to ebb, faint footsteps suddenly sounded from outside. He jolted awake as if pricked by a needle, veins standing out on the hand gripping the chair.

The footsteps drew closer and closer, until they finally stopped at the door.

Lu Yan retreated two steps and slowly raised the chair in his hands.

With a creak, the door opened. Jiang Boyun appeared in his line of sight. Without a second thought, Lu Yan swung the chair at him. There was a dull impact, and the other man's body crashed to the ground. He was completely knocked unconscious.

Standing behind the door, Lu Yan let out a long breath at the sight. He tossed the chair aside and immediately stepped forward to search Jiang Boyun's pockets. He found the man's phone and prepared to call the police.

The System had only said he couldn't call the police when Yu Zechuan was trying to kill him. It hadn't said he couldn't call the police when Jiang Boyun was trying to kill him, had it?

Lu Yan felt there was nothing wrong with that logic. Crouching on the floor, he dialed the number, only to discover there was no signal in the basement. Sweat broke out on him in his panic. He failed to notice the pair of black men's lace-up ankle boots that had appeared in the doorway at some point.

"..."

The shoes were smeared with mud and some kind of viscous liquid. They did not look clean.

Jiang Boyun lay facedown on the floor, unconscious from the blow to the back of his head. But a pool of blood slowly spread beneath him, growing wider and wider as the metallic stench of blood permeated the air.

Holding the phone, Lu Yan was slow to sense that something was wrong. He lowered his eyes and saw that, at some point, a pool of blood had formed at his feet. His face changed. At last, he looked up toward the door.

There was a figure standing there.

The person wore a black hoodie and blocked most of the light as he stood in the doorway, revealing only a sharply defined jaw. His right hand hung at his side, pale, slender fingers curled around a sharp folding knife. Blood dripped slowly from its tip.

Drip.

Drip.

Lu Yan's heart sank with it.