Go all out

Chapter 23: Does My Mom Want to Kill Me?

In that instant, a flood of resentment overwhelmed me. Why had the rope snapped? Why was I about to die before I even got to see my mom? Why had my parents abandoned me? All these “whys” made me close my eyes as tears streamed down my face. Haha, am I about to die? Fine. I’d already died the moment my birth mother abandoned me in the snow in front of Nineteen. Living nineteen extra years has been enough. Just as I was coming to terms with it, in a daze, I suddenly felt my body grow light, as if I’d been caught by a big, furry hand. I tried to open my eyes, but my mind went blank, and I passed out. Phew! It felt like I’d had a very, very long dream. In it, there was a woman whose face I couldn’t make out clearly, gently smoothing my hair. There was a hint of unmistakable doting in her eyes that left me staring at her blankly, unable to look away… It was a long-lost sense of maternal love. I don’t know how much time had passed when I suddenly jolted awake—only to see a woman’s face. She was looking at me, and I was looking at her, and then my eyes instantly welled up with tears. “Mom…” The moment she heard me call her, she immediately looked away. She stood up and turned her back to me. Frantic, I scrambled out of bed. “Mom, why aren’t you talking to me?” “Don’t call me that,” the woman sighed. “Why? You gave me life—why can’t I call you that?” For a moment, my heart felt like it was being squeezed. I walked up to the woman and looked at her intently. “Mom.” She was so young, with an extraordinary presence, yet the tenderness in her eyes couldn’t hide a single trace of something else. The moment I saw my mom’s face, all my previous suspicions that she had killed someone vanished completely. I shook my head. That gentle, refined demeanor was innate; I couldn’t believe my mom would have killed four people! She stared at me blankly, her face utterly calm. “I killed four people from your village.” “No, I don’t believe you did it, Mom!” I shook my head frantically. “Why don’t you believe me? I’m a wolf—wolves are meant to kill. Besides, I enjoy killing and eating human hearts.” She shook her head calmly, without a hint of denial. My heart ached. Why wouldn’t my mom deny it? Why did she admit it so bluntly? “Don’t believe me? Well, how about I kill someone right now to prove it to you?” My mom suddenly smiled. She walked slowly toward me, radiating a chill from head to toe. Her voice grew even colder, like a block of ice, and I instinctively took a step back. My mom gave me a piercing look. “Still doubting me?” “If you kill me, I’ll believe you.” I looked at my mom calmly. I’d taken a step back earlier, not because I was afraid—after all, she gave me life, so what was there to fear if she took it back? It was just that I couldn’t believe her voice had suddenly changed like that. My mother furrowed her brow and stared at me with a cold, piercing gaze. “Kill you? If I hadn’t sworn that oath all those years ago, do you think I wouldn’t want to kill you?” My eyes stung with tears as I sensed a wave of murderous intent. “That rat demon must have said the same thing about me, right? She didn’t lie to you—I’ve always wanted to kill you, because your heart must taste delicious.” I slumped to the floor, staring at her blankly, suddenly feeling as though my mom were a complete stranger. “Remember this: don’t ever come looking for me again. This is the last time I’ll let you off!” As soon as she finished speaking, a wisp of white smoke rose from her body, and a huge, furry wolf materialized before me. She turned to glance at me, then leaped forward with her massive frame and vanished outside the cave in an instant. I stood frozen in place, at a loss. I didn’t know what I was thinking, but my heart ached so much that my eyes remained wet with tears. I had never imagined that when I saw my mom, she would tell me not to call her—and besides… Sigh. “Xiaotian, Xiaotian…” Tian Zhan’s hoarse voice rang out from outside. I wiped the tears from the corners of my eyes and rushed out, only to see him down below the mountain, looking for me in a complete state of disarray. My heart swelled with emotion. “Tian Zhan, I’m here.” Tian Zhan’s whole body jerked, and he whipped his head around. His eyes instantly reddened as he rushed over and threw his arms around me. “I knew you were still alive! I knew my brother was still alive!” Tian Zhan held me close and laughed heartily. My expression was mixed. Brothers are for life. I silently vowed to myself that if Tian Zhan ever faced any trouble in the future, I would go through fire and water for him! “By the way, how did the rope break just now?” I finally remembered that. Tian Zhan immediately looked furious. “A man in black suddenly appeared just now. He moved so fast—I didn’t even have time to react—and he cut the rope and made a clean getaway.” “A man in black?” I was taken aback. How could a man in black have appeared here? Had he been following us the whole way? And to have slipped past Tian Zhan’s watchful eyes—that was simply unbelievable. “Who is this man in black? Why does he want me dead?” I couldn’t help but ask. Tian Zhan’s eyes flickered. He glanced around the cave where my mom was staying, snorted coldly, shook his head, and said, “He wasn’t after your life!” “Not me? What do you mean?” I was confused. If he wasn’t after my life, then why did he cut my rope? Tian Zhan didn’t answer me directly. Instead, he took a few more glances around my mother’s cave, his expression shifting several times. He remained silent, and I didn’t disturb him. A few minutes later, Tian Zhan suddenly asked me, “Did you see your mom just now?” “Yeah.” I nodded. “So what did she say?” “She did it. She admitted it herself.” A bitter taste filled my heart. Why did it have to be like this? “She confessed? Well, that’s interesting—very interesting.” Tian Zhan suddenly smiled faintly as he walked over to me. “All right, let’s head back for now.” “So how do you plan to handle this?” I didn’t move, but asked the question that concerned me most. “You mean your mom?” Tian Zhan looked taken aback. “Yes, she killed people—four of them, in fact,” I said calmly. “So you want me to kill her?” Tian Zhan gave me a deep look and chuckled softly. “No, I’d never want to kill her,” I shook my head. “Then what do you mean?” “If your organization insists on pursuing this, I’ll die in my mom’s place. She gave me life, and I’ll give it back to her,” I said earnestly. Tian Zhan rolled his eyes at me. “Get lost, you jerk. We were sworn brothers back then—we swore to die on the same year, month, and day. If you die, am I supposed to commit suicide with you?” I couldn’t bring myself to laugh. “Let’s go back and talk about it first. Once I’ve thoroughly investigated this matter, I’ll do exactly as you wish in the end!” Tian Zhan said, patting me on the shoulder. “Mm-hmm,” I nodded. Tian Zhan walked out, but I lingered, unable to tear myself away from my mom’s place. I didn’t know why my mom—who had always secretly slipped me wild chicken and rabbit since I was a kid—would suddenly want to kill me. But in my heart, she was still my mom, and always would be. I followed Tian Zhan out of the cave and only then realized that we could actually make our way up by skirting the base of the cliff. It was tiring, but much safer. When we reached the spot that had served as the backdrop for that old photo, Tian Zhan stopped, took a few pictures with his phone, and recorded a short video of the surrounding area, which he seemed to send to someone almost immediately. It seems Tian Zhan trusts this person a lot. We should have some results within the next few days. This big tree and that massive boulder do have a bit of a “death scene” vibe to them—after all, since we took that photo here, three of the four people in the picture have already died… We kept walking, and by noon, Tian Zhan and I finally made our way down the mountain, exhausted. Once back at the shop, I immediately opened the door to start doing business. If no one showed up this afternoon, how would I be able to pay the master’s medical bills tomorrow? I whipped up a few simple dishes in the backyard. After Tian Zhan and I ate, just as we were getting ready to really get down to business, my phone suddenly rang. I pulled it out and saw it was the hospital again. I hesitated to answer—I was afraid of hearing bad news. But I had no choice—I had to answer. A minute later, I hung up and said I was going to the hospital. Tianzhan naturally offered to come with me, so I quickly closed the shop and took a taxi with him to the hospital. We soon arrived at the door to Master’s hospital room. Through the glass in the middle, I watched him still hooked up to an IV, and my heart ached. Tian Zhan was also looking at my master lying inside. “Did your security guards make a mistake? My master went missing last night?” I said, almost in disbelief. Could it be that the person who injected drugs into my master’s IV last time had secretly taken him away last night? The doctor beside me said, “They probably didn’t make a mistake. The nurse who had been watching over your master all day yesterday suddenly fell asleep for some unknown reason. She told me she thought she heard a noise, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t wake up. I thought she might just be exhausted from work, but the nurse was very certain about it. So I checked the surveillance footage, and sure enough, there was a person wearing black coming out of your master’s room!” Tianzhan and I exchanged glances. My heart skipped a beat, and I blurted out, “A person in black?” Could it be that the person in black who cut my rope had snuck back in during the night, intending to harm my master? “I think you should call the police. This is a serious matter. If anything happens, our hospital won’t be held responsible,” the doctor said gravely. I was torn, but Tianzhan spoke up: “No need to call the police. We’ll handle this ourselves.” “All right, then. Just don’t come after our hospital if anything goes wrong.” The doctor nodded and walked away. Just as I was feeling confused, Tian Zhan suddenly unlocked the ward door and walked inside. He stared at my master for a long time, then walked around his hospital bed several times. A few minutes later, he came back out, his expression carrying a hint of something indescribably strange. “Let me ask you something. When you went up the mountain with your master that day, did he say anything to you? Or did he act strangely in any way?” Tian Zhan asked me suddenly, gently closing the door behind him. “Strange behavior? …I don’t think so…” I shook my head. “Think carefully! I know that fortune-tellers aren’t supposed to read their own fortunes, but your master is so skilled—there must have been something unusual.” “Oh, right. Before my master left, someone came to him for a reading, but he had me do it instead. He said he might not be back next week,” I blurted out. “So you’re saying your master already knew he’d be injured? And that he wouldn’t die?” A sharp gleam flashed in Tian Zhan’s eyes. “Huh?” I was taken aback. What did Tian Zhan mean by that? Why would he say something like that? The number one taboo for us fortune-tellers is that we must never read our own fortunes. Knowing one’s own future can inadvertently disrupt the higher powers’ plans for each person and invite divine retribution—at best, it brings misfortune involving bloodshed; at worst, one dies without a proper burial! “Are you saying it’s possible your master made an exception and cast a fortune for himself before he went up the mountain with you?” Tian Zhan looked at me calmly. “Impossible! My master knows the consequences—he wouldn’t gamble with his own life.” I shook my head firmly. This taboo was something my master had drilled into me on my very first day of learning divination—something I was told to remember forever. How could he possibly have forgotten it himself? “It’s fine. I was just asking out of curiosity.” Tian Zhan shook his head. He said nothing more, but his face betrayed a look of deep contemplation. After spending some time at the hospital, Tian Zhan and I took a ride home. But halfway there, his phone suddenly rang. It seemed he’d received a message; his expression turned grim, then he let out a cold smile. He said a brief word to me and, to my surprise, got off the car all by himself right in the middle of the journey. I was completely baffled. What was going on with Tian Zhan?