Bai Qingzhen turned her head and said to Shen Yue, "I'll hold him off here. You go outside and call for help."
The girl bit her lip, her fair and delicate face still bearing tear stains. She clutched Bai Qingzhen's clothes uneasily, not running away immediately. Instead, she asked, "Won't that be very dangerous for you?"
She was still worried about her at this point.
Bai Qingzhen's heart was a complex mix of emotions, but time was of the essence, leaving no room for unnecessary words. She feigned a relaxed demeanor.
"If we both stayed here, it would be even more dangerous. If you really care about me, then hurry and run outside to get someone to help. Every second you waste here makes me more vulnerable."
Shen Yue clenched her fingers, her eyes reddened as if she might burst into tears at any moment.
"Then wait for me."
After saying this, as if still not entirely at ease, she added again, "I'll be back soon."
Bai Qingzhen urged, "Go quickly!"
Shen Yue cast one last glance at her, then turned and ran.
Watching the girl leave, the man who had been hesitant to approach was enraged. He lunged forward, but there was someone courting death, constantly getting in his way.
He grabbed a brick and, in a fit of anger, threw it.
Shen Yue ran desperately forward. There were few people along the road.
Shen Yue's stamina was not good to begin with, and every passing second felt urgent.
Later, Shen Yue managed to flag down a car by the roadside. By a mere hair's breadth, Shen Yue was almost struck by the vehicle.
A middle-aged man got out of the car, muttering curses. However, upon seeing the girl's face, his expression froze for a moment.
"Please, save her..."
After calling the police, she rushed back in a hurry.
Because she had run too fast, Shen Yue's heart pounded violently. But when she saw the scene in the alley, her heart seemed to stop for a second.
There was red everywhere.
The man held a red brick, smashing it down onto Bai Qingzhen's head. Her face was already obscured by blood, unrecognizable.
A strong smell of blood reached her nostrils, blood covering the ground, staining her clothes.
Bright red blood gushed out. The man was stopped, and the girl, in a daze, walked over. She knelt down, her trembling hand reaching out to touch, and instantly, blood stained her fingertips, staining her clothes.
Outside the hospital's emergency room, there was silence. The girl squatted on the ground, her clothes splattered with blood, her school uniform stained red.
The corridor lights were piercingly cold, the strong smell of disinfectant exuding an ill omen, and the stark white walls felt desolate and chilling.
The girl nervously wiped the blood from her hands, but the stains were already dry, impossible to completely remove no matter how hard she scrubbed.
Hurried footsteps echoed down the silent corridor.
Shen Yue felt a shadow fall over her. After a moment of disorientation, she looked up and saw Song Yan, tall and imposing, standing before her.
He wore a black trench coat, his expression cold and unreadable. His thin lips were pressed tightly together, clearly suppressing a violent emotion.
"Why are you here?"
Song Yan's expression was calm as he looked down at her.
When Shen Yue saw Song Yan, a light flickered in her hollow eyes. But upon seeing his reaction, her gaze gradually dimmed.
Upon noticing the vast amount of blood on the girl's clothes, Song Yan's calm face took on a grim expression. He clenched his fists tightly, veins bulging on the back of his hands.
"Why is Qingzhen in the emergency room, and you are still standing here, unharmed?"
His words, cold and piercing, were like sharp swords.
His gaze, fierce and icy, bore down on the girl from above, his demeanor overwhelmingly aggressive.
Receiving no answer after a long pause, Song Yan roughly pulled the girl up from the ground and pressed her hard against the wall, his fingers forcefully pinching her cheeks. His eyes, cold and burning with dark fire, seemed capable of killing someone.
He growled, "Speak! Why aren't you speaking!"
"How can you be fine? You jinx! If anything happens to Qingzhen, you won't get away with it either!"
The two were so close that their noses almost touched. She looked at Song Yan in confusion, his dark eyes now seeming to hold something incredibly heavy and terrifying, sunk deep within, chilling her to the bone.
Her cheeks were pinched so hard that tears welled up in her eyes, and her heart felt cold.
Looking at the man before her, she felt an overwhelming sense of unfamiliarity.
His expression was so strange, his gaze so alien.
It was a complete departure from how he was in her childhood.
But strangely, although she hadn't felt this much pain before, why did her heart ache so much now?
Song Yan gazed at her intently, his expression so terrifying it was as if he wanted to flay her alive. The disgust in his eyes was palpable, along with hatred.
Shen Yue finally understood clearly that he was not joking.
It seemed he truly wished it were her lying in the emergency room.
At this moment, Shen Yue realized that the "little Yan Gege" from the past was long gone, replaced by Song Yan, who loved Bai Qingzhen.
Shen Yue's heart ached intensely; she hadn't felt such pain in such a long time that even breathing became difficult.
Her complexion was pale and sickly, her eyes slightly red, her eyelashes dark.
"What do you want to do to me?"
Her voice was soft, like a feather.
"Do you want me to pay with my life?"
Song Yan's pupils trembled slightly, even his hands shaking.
"Do you want me to die?"
The girl continued to ask, her tone one of simple inquiry, showing no fluctuation even when mentioning death.
Song Yan looked at her calm, deep eyes, trembling with anger. "You'd better pray Qingzhen is alright!"
The girl gave a slight smile, her appearance exceedingly cold. "It would be better if she died."
The atmosphere seemed to freeze for a moment, taut as if ready to erupt at any second.
"Say that again." Song Yan's eyes were like a dark, oppressive storm about to engulf and destroy everything.
He simply couldn't believe the girl could utter such malicious words. Bai Qingzhen was still in the emergency room, yet Shen Yue stood outside, perfectly fine. Song Yan could guess what had happened, and he had learned some details on his way here.
Not only was Shen Yue not grateful, but she even wished Bai Qingzhen dead.
The frenzied rage made Song Yan's expression somewhat ferocious. He looked at the girl's jade-like face and found it incredibly ironic and offensive.
It was disgusting, truly disgusting.
Yet, before this moment, he had felt a despicable desire and... love for Shen Yue.
In this instant, he felt he had become disgusting himself.