Meng Wantian didn’t suspect a thing. She followed him to the car and reached for the passenger door, but the man raised his hand to block her.
“The front seat’s cramped. Sit in the back.”
She paused, then quickly understood—and found herself not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
He was keeping the passenger seat for his wife? So even he could be this attentive and protective of a woman’s little feelings… The Jiang Hezhou from her past life would never have done something like that.
She sighed wistfully to herself. The thought that the man before her was truly not the same person she remembered grew deeper and deeper.
Once the car door closed, the interior became a sealed space. Meng Wantian felt a faint awkwardness. She was about to say something to the driver when he spoke first.
“There’s water in the back. You can have some.”
She wasn’t thirsty at all, but when people are nervous, they fidget. Seeing a few bottles of mineral water beside her, she casually picked one up, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip.
“Mr. Jiang, where are we going?”
His answer was straightforward, without concealment: “To an abandoned building complex on the outskirts of town.”
“Abandoned buildings?” Meng Wantian was utterly surprised. “What are we going there for?”
“I can’t tell you yet. You’ll know when we get there.”
She wanted to ask more, but suddenly felt a wave of dizziness wash over her. Her consciousness grew fainter and fainter, until everything went dark—
When she woke up again, her hands and feet were bound, and she had been tossed onto an old, worn-out sofa.
Panic surged through her. As her memory slowly returned, she realized the last person she had been with was Jiang Hezhou.
She struggled to sit up, but as soon as she moved, a voice came from the stairway: “Awake?”
Jiang Hezhou was dragging a gasoline canister toward her. In his other hand, he seemed to be holding some kind of chain—thin links dangled from his palm. As he drew closer, he didn’t even glance at her. With a calm expression, he opened the canister and began splashing gasoline across the floor.
Only then did Meng Wantian notice the thick smell of gasoline that had been hanging in the air all along. Suddenly terrified, she looked at the man before her, and a chill of fear crept up from the depths of her heart.
“Jiang Hezhou! What are you trying to do?! Untie me!”
He ignored her. After emptying the canister, he walked slowly over to her and pulled out a white-bronze lighter.
The night had already been deep, but tonight the moon was full, casting a thin veil of light over the city. Yet somehow, a dark crimson mist had begun to obscure the moon, and the entire sky took on an eerie, suffocating pressure.
Jiang Hezhou glanced out through the unfinished window frame without glass, then let out a quiet, inexplicable laugh.
“Just as I thought—the information I gathered was right. In this female-oriented world, the female lead is the one the plot values most. Back when I slit my wrist, the sky didn’t turn this ominous.” He looked out at the heavy, red-tinged darkness and curled his lips slightly. “This must be their warning—just like the warning they gave my girl before.”
Meng Wantian was utterly distraught. She vaguely guessed what Jiang Hezhou was planning, but she didn’t understand—she really didn’t.
“Jiang Hezhou, calm down! I said I’d help you, but I never said I’d sacrifice myself! I haven’t lived enough—I don’t want to die!”
“You won’t die.” His gaze was bland as he looked back at her, devoid of any vitality. “They wouldn’t even let me die when I wanted to. There’s no way they’d let you die.”
Just then, the sky outside grew even heavier. The dark crimson fog seemed to press down onto the rooftop of the abandoned building.
Jiang Hezhou walked slowly toward the window, his shoes sticky with gasoline, leaving footprints on the bare floor with each step.
He looked up at the night sky, as if addressing something out there, and spoke in a low voice: “I can understand your principle of maintaining the plot and world order. But I can’t just stand by and watch my beloved die. So—if you won’t let her live, then I’ll have no choice but to drag your female lead down with me.”
He spoke calmly, as if actually conversing with someone. His silhouette stood framed in a concrete window opening, the dark crimson fog pressing down from the high sky beyond.
Meng Wantian watched this scene, her scalp prickling with terror. She felt goosebumps rising on her arms beneath her sleeves, every pore on her body opening in fear.
She swallowed again and again, her voice trembling when she finally spoke: “You… you’re insane…”
Jiang Hezhou smiled. He looked back at her, his gaze still faint. “Shouldn’t I be? They want to take my love away. They want her dead.”
No sooner had he spoken than a thunderclap crashed down from the sky without warning! Then a second, and a third—
Boom! Boom!
Fierce winds whipped up along with the thunder. Meng Wantian, in the open, unfinished building, felt her hair and clothes tossed about wildly. Jiang Hezhou’s short hair was also blown into disarray.
This was too bizarre—everything before her was simply too bizarre.
Meng Wantian was truly frightened; tears had already spilled from her eyes. But she knew begging Jiang Hezhou was useless—because the man… had already lost his mind.
The surrounding conditions had become so eerie, yet Jiang Hezhou showed no fear. He held the lighter in one hand and his phone in the other, checking the time.
Nine o’clock. The phone hadn’t rung. No news from the hospital.
He let out a long sigh, then gave a weary smile and turned to look at Meng Wantian.
“You see? They’re forcing me. I gave them a chance—”
With that, he casually flicked open the lighter. The flint sparked, and a blue-red flame leaped into the air.
The flame illuminated half of Jiang Hezhou’s face, making his curled lips look even more unsettling in the firelight.
Meng Wantian’s heart was now in her throat. She was so terrified she couldn’t even make a sound, trembling as she lay there on her side.
The next second, Jiang Hezhou casually tossed the lighter into the air. He watched the flickering flame arc through the air with a smile, not a trace of fear in his eyes—only a calmness that seemed almost unhinged.
With gasoline saturating the room, the moment the lighter hit the ground, the entire place would erupt into an inferno in an instant!
Meng Wantian’s limbs had gone weak with terror, but she still scrambled to the floor, crying, trying to see if there was any way to escape.
But just then—the lighter, which should have fallen, suddenly froze in midair! Everything around them, which had been whipped by the eerie winds, also stopped completely at the same moment.
Time seemed to have halted in a very tangible way. In the space between them, a massive floating electronic screen appeared.
The screen was rectangular, with lines of text appearing one after another, accompanied by a cold, mechanical system voice—
[Detection: The male lead of this world has achieved self-awareness and has repeatedly challenged the world’s rules. To maintain the healthy development of this world, the World System has resolved to revoke the male lead’s original protagonist halo and luck, while doubling the female lead’s halo.
From this point forward, this world no longer has a male lead. The plotline will be withdrawn. Aside from the female lead’s continued good fortune, all other characters’ fates will be returned to their individual control, with no further forced plot interference.
The original plot system will permanently exit this world. Countdown: 10, 9, 8… 3, 2, 1.]
When the final number faded, the world seemed to snap back to its original state in an instant. The lighter that had been suspended in midair fell to the ground—but the flame had vanished; it was completely dead.
The wind gradually subsided. The eerie dark crimson mist outside dissipated inch by inch. As the bright silver moon reappeared, Jiang Hezhou’s phone finally rang.
“Brother-in-law… my sister… my sister… she’s awake!”
Chen Mian’s trembling voice came through the speaker, his shock unmistakable even without seeing his face.
In that moment, all the emotions Jiang Hezhou had been ruthlessly suppressing deep in his heart for days seemed to explode at once. He collapsed to his knees, powerless.
Trembling, he covered his face with his hands, his stifled sobs seeping through his fingers along with his tears.
Meng Wantian also felt the relief of surviving a catastrophe. She lay there in a pathetic heap, her gaze traveling across the floor to the man. At this moment, she understood more clearly than ever—the man before her truly was not the one she had once known.
Even though they had loved each other in her past life, she had never seen this fragile side of him. And that fragility was clearly born of a profound love.
After a long while, Jiang Hezhou finally steadied himself. He walked over and untied the ropes binding Meng Wantian’s hands and feet.
He didn’t look at her, his gaze low: “You can report me for kidnapping—I’ll cooperate fully. But… I hope you can wait until tomorrow to handle it. Tonight, I just want to see her.”
It had been so long since he’d truly seen his girl—seen her running, jumping, pouting, and speaking to him in that soft, coquettish voice.
Meng Wantian didn’t speak. After a moment, she asked him an unrelated question: “No regrets? After today, you’re just one ordinary person among the masses in this world.”
Jiang Hezhou still didn’t lift his eyes. His voice was deep when he replied: “My only regret is that this day didn’t come sooner. If it had, she wouldn’t have suffered so much.”
Meng Wantian suddenly laughed, and as she laughed, tears streamed down her face. “You really aren’t the Jiang Hezhou I knew anymore.”
He didn’t seem to care much about what she said. After untying all the ropes, he said goodbye quietly.
“I have to go. My love is waiting for me.”
On the way back, Jiang Hezhou drove steadily—neither too fast nor too slow. At every red light, he braked smoothly, not breaking a single traffic rule.
A few windows in the hospital’s inpatient building still glowed with light. After parking, he looked up from a distance. A late-spring breeze brushed against him, and never before had his body and mind felt so light.
He was about to see his baby again. Just thinking about it made every pore on his body tremble with anticipation.
He walked through the lobby and took the elevator to the third floor.
When the doors opened and he stepped into the corridor, he heard a lively commotion coming from the usually quiet ward.
He walked step by step toward Chu Luyu’s room, and the noise grew louder with each step.
“This is incredible! Truly incredible! We’ll take her for a full check-up right away. From what we can see now, her bodily functions appear to be gradually recovering!”
It was the attending doctor’s voice coming from inside the room. Jiang Hezhou stood at the door, looking at the gap left ajar, not daring to push it open for a long time.
Just then, a young nurse from the station hurried over with a chart in hand. When she saw Jiang Hezhou, she didn’t care about the hour or the need for quiet—she called out to him!
“Family member of the patient in Room 3205! Your wife is awake! She’s awake!”
At her shout, everyone inside turned toward the doorway. Jiang Hezhou finally pushed the door open from the outside. Inside, the room was packed with people.
Several doctors and nurses, Chu Fanyin and Chen Mian, and even Zhang Jiting and Ji Chen—who had somehow made it there at this hour—were all present.
Chu Luyu was surrounded by them, sitting up against the bed, a bright light shining down from above. Though her face was still pale, her eyes were already as vibrant and alive as they used to be.
At that moment, their eyes met across the room. Tears instantly welled up in Chu Luyu’s eyes.
Her voice, as if from another lifetime, finally reached Jiang Hezhou’s ears again.
“Jiang Hezhou.”
Hearing her cry out his name, his soul—buried and deadened alongside hers for a month—finally came truly awake.
The corners of his eyes reddened quietly as he looked at her from afar, his voice breaking as he replied: “I’m here—”
(End of Main Story)
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