Despair-utter despair-spread through the cramped basement.
No one could understand how Qin Chuan felt at that moment. Confessing the truth to the woman he loved had already brought him to the brink of collapse.
Yet reality gave him no chance to catch his breath. An even more hopeless predicament arrived without warning.
Once, he had thought that if he could just endure a little longer, it would all be over. But after he endured one agony, an even greater agony lay waiting.
"Yiyi, I'll hold them off. You..." Qin Chuan's voice grew quieter and quieter, until it was almost inaudible.
Only those who had experienced it could understand that feeling of helplessness.
Could he hold them off? With what?
Their ending seemed to have been decided long ago. He and Yi Yi would be caught by Dad when he burst in, then have their limbs chopped off and be stuffed into vases...
The sinister laughter outside the door drew closer.
Qin Chuan searched frantically, trying to find a weapon that might give him even the slightest sense of security.
Just then, the lifeless Yiyi suddenly spoke, her voice devoid of any vitality.
"Kill me."
"What?" Qin Chuan was dazed. He stared blankly at the deathly pale Yiyi.
"Kill me."
This time, Qin Chuan heard her clearly. Trembling, he approached Yiyi, reached out a hand, then recoiled as though shocked.
Tears spilled from his eyes in his desperation. "There's a way. There has to be a way!"
Yiyi slowly raised her head. Clown's smiling face was reflected in her hollow, despairing eyes, which resembled ashes drained of their last trace of warmth.
"If you really love me, then kill me."
Qin Chuan went rigid, as though his blood had frozen.
The footsteps drew closer.
"Kill me!!" Yiyi's pale, delicate face twisted.