Chapter 5: The Ticket to Hell

The air seemed to freeze utterly the moment that sentence was spoken.

For the first time, Jiang Yi’s fathomless eyes held a pure blankness that lasted several seconds. It was as if he had just heard a joke so absurd, so far beyond his comprehension, that it stunned him.

Then that brief emptiness was replaced by a sharper, colder mockery.

“Take you with me?” He repeated her words, a cruel curve tugging at the corner of his mouth, though the smile never reached his eyes. “Xuyuan, did a door slam on your brain?”

His gaze scrutinized her like a monster, sliding from her reddened eyes down to her tightly pressed, bloodless lips, clenched in nervous tension.

“To take you where?” He stepped forward, his tall frame casting an oppressive shadow that engulfed her completely. “To watch me be trampled like a dog? Or do you want to scream yourself hoarse on the sidelines, cheering me on so they get angrier and hit harder?”

Each word was like a poisoned blade, piercing Xuyuan’s heart deeply.

She knew every word was true. Her appearance, her interference, her clumsy and flawed performance—he saw it all as a humiliating farce.

But she could not back down.

If she did, the tragedy of tonight would unfold just as expected.

Xuyuan took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the rising fear and grievance in her heart. She lifted her head to meet his fiery gaze.

This time, she neither wept nor begged.

She spoke in a tone that was almost cold and businesslike, enunciating each word carefully: “Jiang Yi, our agreement clearly states in black and white that before the ‘Starlight Cup’ competition ends, we are partners. I have the right to protect my investment.”

“Investment?” Jiang Yi sounded as if he had just heard an even more ridiculous joke.

“Yes, investment.” Xuyuan’s eyes were firmer than ever. “That 100,000 yuan prize, I want thirty percent—that’s 30,000 yuan. That 30,000 yuan means a lot to me.”

She stared directly into his eyes, disguising herself as a thoroughly self-interested capitalist blinded by money.

“I don’t care if you’re going to a deadly trap tonight, or if you’re going to fight to the death. I only know that if your hands, or your face, get hurt and cause us to drop out or affect the final work, then my 30,000 yuan will be wasted.”

She paused, lowering her voice to a colder tone.

“I don’t care about your dignity, nor your life or death. I only care about my money.” She pointed at her heart, her expression unreadable. “So tonight, I have to go with you. I must ensure that my ‘investment’ remains intact.”

The entire control room fell into a deathly silence after she finished speaking.

—

Jiang Yi’s eyes, burning with fury, gradually cooled. Replacing the anger was a deeper, more complex scrutiny.

He had seen all sorts of people—those who flattered him during his glory, those who kicked him when he was down, and even those like Lin Feifei, who helped out of pure kindness.

But he had never encountered anyone like Xuyuan.

She was a walking contradiction. One moment, she was crying out in fear like a frightened rabbit; the next, she switched to a cold, ruthless, profit-driven merchant’s face.

Despite the tears still lingering in her eyes and the bone-deep fear, she wrapped herself in the coldest words.

What kind of person was she?

“Are you not afraid?”

After a long silence, he finally spoke, his voice hoarse.

Xuyuan’s heart skipped a beat, but her face remained cold and hard. “Afraid of what? A few spoiled brats?” She tugged at the corner of her mouth, a contemptuous smile flickering. “I said it—I only care about my money. Anyone who dares touch my money, I’ll fight to the death with them.”

She was lying again.

She was terrified. Not of those brats, but of the bloody future she had already glimpsed.

Jiang Yi stared at her, as if trying to find a crack in her façade of strength.

But he failed.

Xuyuan was like an elite actress, tightly hiding all fear and panic beneath that indifferent mask.

Time ticked by, second by second.

She felt her hands, pressed tightly against her pants, soaked through with cold sweat.

Just as she was about to collapse, Jiang Yi suddenly stepped back, breaking the suffocating closeness between them.

“Fine.”

He forced the word out from his throat.

Xuyuan almost thought she misheard.

—

She looked up and saw Jiang Yi’s gaze—one she had never seen before—filled with extreme complexity. In that look, there was disgust, suspicion, mockery, and even a hint of madness born from self-destruction that he himself had not noticed.

“You want to watch? Then I’ll take you.”

He spoke slowly, each word like shards of ice. “I want you to see with your own eyes just how worthless and broken the ‘investment’ you chose really is.”

“I want you to see what kind of life I’m living.”

“And when the time comes, don’t come crying and begging to quit.”

His words were like a contract, but more like a curse.

He was not agreeing to her request; he was sending her an invitation from hell. He intended to tear open all his wounds and expose the ugliest, most shameful pus right before her eyes, using this almost self-destructive method to force her away, to punish her for meddling.

Xuyuan’s heart sank sharply.

She knew this might be a worse outcome than outright rejection.

But she had no way back.

“Agreed.”

Her voice was calm, as if speaking of something unrelated to herself.

Jiang Yi gave her one last deep look, said nothing further, and turned, walking straight toward the door.

His silhouette was upright and proud, yet carried a heartbreaking resolution as if abandoned by the whole world.

Xuyuan followed behind him, step by step, out of the cold and oppressive underground control room.

The moment she stepped into the sunlight again, the dazzling brightness made her blink instinctively. Though it was a warm afternoon, she felt chilled to the bone, as if a cold wind seeped through her very marrow.

She stared at that silent, hard back ahead, her heart gripped tightly by an invisible hand, aching so much she could barely breathe.

She knew that with a string of lies, she had just bought herself—and him—a one-way ticket to hell.

And tonight at eight o’clock was when the gates of hell would open.