With that, I turned my body, exposing myself to the pouring rain once more, ready to leave.
A hand clasped my shoulder, and Leng Meng, standing behind me, turned me around and held the umbrella high over my head again.
After these actions, Leng Meng frowned and said in a deep voice, "As soon as Sister Shuang told me you were in trouble, I rushed over with her."
"I just parked the car by the roadside and saw you running out from the arcade, clutching your head."
"Can you tell me what exactly is going on in here!?"
Hearing Leng Meng's words, and combined with the cold smile I inadvertently saw on Yu Shuang's face earlier, I immediately realized: I had most likely been manipulated by the Queen Bee again!
Looking at Leng Meng's pure and almost flawless face, I shook my head and replied, "As I said just now... my affairs have nothing to do with you!"
"Do you have anything else? If not, please let me pass."
Upon hearing my words, an expression of extreme anger instantly flooded Leng Meng's face.
"Chen Xiang! Didn't you say that past matters were settled?"
"Why is it that you don't hold others accountable, but you insist on singling me out!?"
"Can't you feel at all that I li—"
Seeing that I kept covering my face with my hands, as if realizing something, she paused. After her anger subsided a little, Leng Meng reached out, trying to move my hand away from my wound, "Can I see your injury?"
"There's no need!"
Staring coldly at Leng Meng, I responded in a deep voice.
Ignoring my answer, as if she had suddenly transformed into a different person, Leng Meng suddenly looked at me with icy eyes and demanded, word by word, "Tell me, what happened to the injury on your head?"
I remained silent, then took a step forward again, and under the torrential rain... I brushed past Leng Meng.
Seeing this, Leng Meng rushed out from behind, and after grabbing my arm, her seemingly slender figure once again blocked my path!
Reaching out to hold the umbrella high over her head again, she wiped the rain seeping around her eyes and asked in a娇声 (delicate voice), "Why aren't you replying to my messages? Why aren't you accepting my apology?"
"Why can you chat and laugh with Sister Shuang and Shi Jianguo, but when it comes to me, you don't even say a word!?"
"Why have you become like this? Why won't you even answer this question? What is the reason for all of this!?"
After a moment's pause, I coldly replied, "Because I don't want to be involved with you, or any of you, anymore!"
"Is that answer... satisfactory?"
After speaking, I grabbed Leng Meng's raised hand and pushed her, umbrella and all, away.
Outmatched, I concede.
I knew that this time, I had lost again to the all-powerful Queen Bee.
Although the umbrella was held by Leng Meng, it symbolized Yu Shuang, and Yu Shuang's entire team.
As long as I stood under this umbrella that could shield me from wind and rain, it meant I would always be in a dependent state and had to obey Yu Shuang's every word!
Therefore, I didn't need this umbrella over my head!
Seeing my actions, Leng Meng's tears instantly streamed down her face, mingling with the rain.
Seeing my cold decisiveness, I tossed the umbrella handle I was holding high into the air. Leng Meng abandoned the sheltering umbrella and accompanied me in the deserted street, drenched by the downpour.
The rain poured down from the sky, falling onto Leng Meng's face, washing away the tears from her eyes into the midsummer thunderstorm...
Forcing down her grievances, Leng Meng asked persistently, "Answer my question, who injured you?"
I did not respond to Leng Meng, merely staring coldly at her.
Watching the rain wet and tangle Leng Meng's beautiful hair, her shoulder-length locks gradually becoming disheveled strands in the fierce wind and rain, my heart, for the first time, did not waver in the slightest.
As the saying goes: once, twice, but not thrice!
After being repeatedly manipulated by Yu Shuang, I no longer dared, nor could I, trust any of them!
Let all those so-called principles and sentiments go to hell!
Those who abandon themselves cannot be helped; the self-reliant cannot be defeated.
No matter how Yu Shuang schemes against me or suppresses me, as long as I don't give up, those things that cannot defeat me will ultimately make me stronger!
The phoenix is reborn from endless karmic fire through tribulation!
I, Chen Xiang, though drenched and wounded under tonight's thunderstorm, will transform into a dragon when the rain clears and the clouds part!
From tonight onwards, I will wear the mask of a gambler, walking alone in this chaotic and murky world. No one will see my true face again, nor will anyone hear my inner thoughts!
...
Seeing that my expression was consistently icy, Leng Meng's gaze flickered slightly.
She knew that I would no longer trust her, nor anyone else from her team.
Looking at my cold, merciless face, and my increasingly pale complexion washed by the rain, Leng Meng gradually fell silent.
"Give Yu Shuang a message for me."
Seeing Leng Meng's emotions gradually calm down, I said in a deep voice, "Tell her I know she saved me, and I, Chen Xiang, will forever be 'deeply grateful' for her words and actions!"
"Thank her! Truly... thank her."
"But from this moment on, you are you, and I am just me!"
"If there's no necessity, I hope we will have no further intersection."
After speaking, I quickened my pace.
Not long after I had walked away...
"Chen Xiang!" Leng Meng suddenly mustered her courage and shouted behind me, "No one has ever stepped forward for me without fully understanding or knowing me! You are the first!"
"Although it was just a lie, but..."
"I, I, I... I like you!!!"
"Thank you!" I replied, waving my hand without looking back, "I don't deserve it!"
"Why!?" Leng Meng cried out, as if collapsing, "Why do you dislike me so much?"
"Why won't you tell me the truth? Why don't you believe me, believe that I can handle the issues between you and Sister Shuang."
Hearing this, I chuckled, shook my head, and replied with my back to Leng Meng, "It's not necessary."
Before my words had even finished, I quickened my pace and disappeared into the vast expanse of rain.
This time, Leng Meng did not choose to chase after me.
Because she knew that the trust they had painstakingly built had now completely collapsed and shattered.
"Chen Xiang, let me help you!!!"
Leng Meng's final, stubborn cry, mixed with the patter of the thunderstorm, reached my ears.
But I still did not stop!