Blood Neon

Chapter 45

Chapter 45

Shared Rage

When Zhang Qiming heard the girl beside him calmly tell him, "The person who beat you up the day before yesterday is already dead," he was completely dumbfounded.

.

Dead?

The news came too suddenly, so much so that he could hardly believe his own ears.

What’s more, it was delivered in such a light, casual tone.

There was no other reason—“death” as a concept still felt distant to a boy of his age.

If it had been the death of a close family member or a friend he spent every day with, he might have reacted more.

But when you find out that someone you only met for the first time two days ago has died—somewhere, at some time, in some unknown way—how should one react?

A desire for revenge? Fear of death? Or perhaps dread toward a girl capable of killing so casually?

None of the above. Absolutely none of those emotions surfaced.

The death of someone whose face he had nearly forgotten already felt so unreal that, in his heart, something that should have hit like a mountain failed to stir even the smallest ripple.

.

Zhang Qiming subconsciously lowered his head and looked at the bowl of rice in his hands.

Clearly, he hadn’t formed any particularly strong thoughts, yet as he stared at the golden, plump grains in his bowl, unexpectedly, he suddenly lost his appetite.

He wasn’t even sure if it was because the topic had been too serious or something else entirely.

He looked up at Lin Ying and saw that after tossing out that bombshell, the girl was still happily eating. She was chewing rapidly in small bites, without the slightest trace of heaviness.

Right, after all, she was...

He swallowed hard. Right now, compared to that guy’s life or death, he was more curious about something else.

After hesitating for a few seconds about whether he should ask, he finally decided to go ahead—but it was best to ease into it.

"So what happened to them?"

He put on a very curious expression.

"Ate them. Me."

Lin Ying swallowed a mouthful of rice, glanced at him, and answered with a completely matter-of-fact look.

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she added,

"Let me make it clear first—I only acted because of my own reasons. It had nothing to do with you directly; and it wasn’t about taking revenge on your behalf or anything like that, so don’t overthink it, okay?"

Lin Ying definitely didn’t want the other party to get any strange ideas or feel psychologically burdened or anything.

After hearing this, Zhang Qiming felt a little disappointed. So much for easing into the question—he got the answer just like that. But then again, he also felt somewhat relieved.

Right, the two of them had only known each other for a day or two at that point; there was no reason for her to kill someone for his sake...

...Actually, if she had done that, it would’ve been kind of terrifying.

...Although that kind of trait was also kind of nice.

.

To be honest, he really didn’t feel any sort of "my great enemy has been avenged" satisfaction right now.

To him, those guys who were dragged in just to make up the numbers were really nothing more than tools—merely props the other side used to signal "I've got people behind me."

Back when things got physical, their punches probably weren’t even as vicious as the school gangsters he was familiar with.

Unlike those guys, if today he’d heard that Wang Ze and the others had died, then he definitely would have felt good—his mood would’ve brightened on the spot, and as for any lingering fear, that could wait till later.

But hearing that a few people he barely knew had died—at most, he could only say he didn’t feel much about it.

Once he sorted out his thoughts, he did regain a bit of appetite. Though it might have just been because the curry smelled too good. After taking a bite and chewing it down, he casually asked,

"So what exactly happened that time?"

They had chatted quite a bit over the past few days, and he knew Lin Ying wasn’t the type to kill the innocent.

"Let me think how to sum it up."

Lin Ying paused for a moment and organized her thoughts.

"That night I went to a bar, and one of his little underlings recognized me."

"Recognized you?"

"Yeah, they actually thought I was your sister. Then they started pulling up all kinds of random excuses, dragged me over to drink with them, and just kept forcing drinks on me nonstop..."

The girl looked over at him with calm eyes, making him swallow involuntarily.

"You can probably imagine why, right? So when they thought I was drunk enough and started trying to get handsy and get to business, I opened my mouth."

Adding a cheeky little twist to the end of her story, Lin Ying wrapped up her summary.

"Alright, story over."

At the same time, the girl had cleaned out her bowl and even grabbed a napkin to wipe her mouth.

"So, what do you think?" she asked.

"Think what?" Zhang Qiming looked confused.

"About the whole thing," Lin Ying said. "You asked me something, so I want to ask your thoughts too."

She gently bit her lip, then slowly spoke.

"Do you think what I did... was right?"

.

What did he think?

That was a good question—or rather, it was a very broad one.

But he wasn’t Watson, nor was he some master detective. How should he see it?

Zhang Qiming closed his eyes and thought for a moment. Right now, he didn’t really understand why Lin Ying was asking him this question.

Was she worried that he’d report her? Or that if the police came asking, he’d give something away—so she wanted to sound him out?

After all, someone had overheard her being called his sister, and in a way, if this got exposed, he’d be implicated too.

Surely she wasn’t just asking for his honest opinion?

He was just an ordinary high school student. Who was he to judge?

Faced with a problem this complicated, he couldn’t untangle all the threads—and he had no idea what kind of answer to give.

But...

If he were to imagine it for a moment—

He looked at the girl sitting on the sofa, hands clasped at her lower abdomen, rubbing her thumbs together.

If she were just an ordinary neighborhood girl who happened to cross paths with him—

Or, if she really had been his sister whom he’d grown up with for years—

Or maybe, if she was simply Lin Ying, the monstrous girl he had only just gotten to know.

Imagining her in that situation—

Naive and inexperienced with the world, confused and clueless, being dragged by a group of street thugs into some sleazy, shady place and forced to drink.

Their perverted grins, watching the girl drink until she passed out, unconscious.

Then they could start doing whatever vile, disgusting things they wanted...

.

Just picturing it made Zhang Qiming clench his fists involuntarily, his breathing grew heavier.

If it had really been one of his friends, or family, who had been assaulted like that—

He might’ve grabbed a knife right then and there and gone to fight them to the death.

Who were they? What stories did they have? He wouldn’t care about any of that.

He’d only want them dead.

No—in that kind of situation, just killing them with a knife would be too merciful.

He thought viciously.

Only by cutting that thing off and stuffing it into their mouths, suffocating them with their own lust, would it be enough.

.

"I think… there’s nothing wrong with what you did."

He said.

"If it were me, I’d want to kill them too."

Lin Ying smiled. As expected of a boy with a strong sense of justice—she knew Zhang Qiming would say that.

"Alright, alright, I get it. Look at your face right now, you look like you’re about to grab a knife and storm out the door."

"I can already feel your rage loud and clear."

She laughed.

.

That made Zhang Qiming a little embarrassed. Only now did he realize he had gotten caught up in the scenario and lost himself a bit—his reaction had been kind of over the top.

Lin Ying glanced at him with amusement in her eyes.

"No need to be embarrassed. Having a heart that burns with justice, being able to get angry on behalf of others—that’s a good trait. Nothing to be ashamed of."

She paused to find the right words, but then changed the tone of the conversation.

"But still, as your senior, I have to give you a little advice."

"Don’t get carried away when you’re doing things. If something like this ever really happens, don’t go imitating me, running out into the night with a knife. If you should report it to the police, then do it. Think of that as also doing good for others."

Running off alone to fight criminal scum—what do you think you are, some tragic hero carrying the weight of the world into battle? Just saying that out loud already sounds like the climax of a sad story.

"Even if it’s your own family who got hurt, you still have to stay calm?"

Zhang Qiming asked in return.

"Yes."

Lin Ying nodded.

"That’s still better than you rushing off to die alone. No one would be saved that way."

After thinking for a moment, she added, "Only unless it’s truly a last resort—otherwise, it’s still best to go through the proper channels."

"Mm..."

The other party nodded, though it was hard to say whether he actually took it to heart.

Well, she had said what needed to be said, but she didn’t really know how much a kid at his age could truly absorb.

After all, teenagers—they were all hot-blooded and full of pride. Acting first, thinking later, feeling like they were special, unwilling to listen to others... that was the norm.

Couldn’t be helped. After all, the birth of the "self" in a person’s life just happened to occur during this age, didn’t it?

In any case, she wasn’t his family member, so there was no need for a long lecture. Just making the point was enough.

So, she smiled.

"...Thank you."

"Huh? For what?"

Zhang Qiming looked at her, utterly confused.

"Nothing."

She took a small sip of the cold honey tea in her cup.

"Just... if you’d get that angry over something like this too, then I guess I didn’t do the wrong thing."

She had originally wanted to see if, by telling the story in a relatively objective tone, she could gain someone else’s understanding of what happened yesterday.

And the result made her happy.

Because at the very least, it showed that what she had done—in the eyes of a seventeen-year-old, still inexperienced with the world, full of innocent justice, impulsive and reckless hotheaded rookie—

In his still pure and straightforward sense of justice, where good is rewarded and evil punished—

Was not really wrong.

That was enough.

.

"Hurry and eat, your food’s getting cold," Lin Ying said, poking his bowl.

"Ah, we got so caught up talking..."

Hearing that, the girl chuckled softly, then casually asked as if it were nothing,

"By the way, would you mind if I go get another bowl now?"

"?"

Contrary to her appearance, Lin Ying was surprisingly capable of eating a lot.

...

.

As for the dishwashing, that was, of course, left to Zhang Qiming—who, during the meal prep, had just been sitting there with his eyes closed and hadn’t helped with anything.

By the time the two finished lunch, it was already 2 PM. The afternoon sun had already reached the living room sofa.

That was how it was in high-latitude areas—the sunlight was always slanted, all year round.

In the end, out of the four bowls of curry rice they had prepared, Lin Ying alone had eaten two. One bowl remained and was stored in the fridge, left for Zhang Qiming to have for dinner.

The well-fed girl lay alone on the sofa, basking in the sun’s warm touch, and soon began to feel drowsy.

After all, she had been walking around all morning, and then helped prepare lunch—it was only natural to be tired.

Thankfully, the human part of her body could still sleep normally. Just imagining having to share the sleepless, tireless existence of her main body sounded like a nightmare in itself.

Right as she was about to drift off, Zhang Qiming finished tidying up the kitchen and walked into the living room.

"Is it okay if I rest here for a bit?" Lin Ying spoke up first.

"Of course it is," the boy replied. "But is the sofa good enough? Why don’t you just go lie down in my mom’s bedroom?"

"No need," Lin Ying waved her hand weakly.

"This spot is fine. You don’t have to worry about me."

With that, she curled up in a corner of the sofa bed and said nothing more.

Zhang Qiming stood there for a moment, thinking.

After a while, he still ended up going to his parents’ bedroom, taking a blanket out of the wardrobe, and gently covering it over Lin Ying. Then, tiptoeing, he quietly returned to his own room to play video games.

...

...

By the time night fell, Lin Ying had already smoothed out her slightly tousled hair with her hand and was putting on her shoes at the doorway, getting ready to leave.

"Not staying for dinner?"

"No need."

She replied, "Didn’t you say your family might come back tonight?"

Zhang Qiming nodded. They had already talked about this.

Though Lin Ying didn’t particularly mind diving into a shadow to make a quick getaway or anything like that, there was no need to take unnecessary risks. Since nothing was holding her back, it was best to leave early.

"The egg tarts and peach crisps over there are for you," she pointed at the plastic bag on the shoe cabinet. "Just consider them a gift for bothering you today."

She had originally meant to hand them over when she arrived, but completely forgot—and now the desserts had gone cold.

"You’re not having any?"

“It’s fine. I’ll pass by that shop again later anyway—buying them fresh will be even better.”

Lin Ying waved her hand, signaling him not to worry. After all, she was a generous and reliable adult who knew how to share.

Definitely not because she felt awkward leaving while still carrying a plastic bag after hanging out with a high schooler.

.

“Oh, right,”

Just as the girl was stepping out the door, Zhang Qiming suddenly remembered something and leaned against the doorway to ask.

“Still about what we were talking about earlier. If I were a girl, and I really ran into… that kind of thing, what would you choose to do?”

The question might have been a bit impolite, but he couldn’t help feeling curious.

“Then of course I’d kill them all immediately.”

Lin Ying answered without hesitation.

“No—at times like that, just killing them wouldn’t even be enough.”

The girl pinched her chin with her fingers, thinking.

“After all, no matter how many you kill, you can’t change what already happened. And the wounds in the victim’s heart can’t be healed either.”

At this stage, there was nothing she could do about that.

She sighed softly, a little helpless.

“So the only thing I could probably do… is make them die as painfully as possible. Just to offer a bit of comfort, I guess.”

//

//

(This part is finished!)

(It might be a bug on my end? I actually saw myself briefly appear on the bestseller list before the late-night update. I feel like it was probably just because of delayed data updates, but that doesn’t stop me from thanking everyone for the support so far—especially those who’ve been following closely and leaving comments, as well as everyone in the tipping and monthly ticket sections.)

(A special thanks, in no particular order, to Yunlu 002, Dreamweaver, Phantom Moon Fantasy, Xi Mao Yizu, and others, as well as the huge reward from freewater-san. Also thanks to Jian Er, Miss Hell Loli, Hua Kui, Definitely Not Purple, and others for the monthly tickets.)

(Bosses are generous, bosses be healthy!)

(Of course, even just liking and bookmarking is greatly appreciated!)

(——Sudden emergency thank-you session ends here——)

(As for those I didn’t mention by name, please don’t mind it too much. It’s just that listing everyone here would be a bit much… I’ll properly thank everyone who appeared on the reward and ticket rankings, as well as regular commenters, in a compiled November thank-you list later. Just wait with clean necks, haha.)

(And as for that illusion of ranking… surely it’s not because I gazed upon something unknowable and lost all my sanity, right? (crossed out))