Deceitful Game

Chapter 28 Chang Ning

"Hahahaha..."

Upon hearing this, the synthesized voice let out a terrifying laugh.

Soon, a sliding sound was heard. Accompanied by microphone static and the sound of a button being pressed, an unfamiliar voice rang out.

"—Correct, Teacher Gu."

That was indeed a young boy's voice: "Long time no see."

"Do you remember me? I'm Chang Ning."

But it's bigger than Mingbo imagined; it's definitely an adult.

His voice was very calm and obedient, with no trace of his previous madness. Judging from his tone alone, he even gave the impression of a "good boy" or a "good student".

All I can say is... some people wear masks, but in reality, they've taken them off.

"May peace and tranquility prevail forever..."

Mingpo was silent for a moment, then said, "I'm sorry, the teacher doesn't remember you."

Unexpectedly, the other party did not react.

On the contrary, it was taken for granted: "After all, I'm a loser."

"I already sensed it when you repeatedly forced my head into the water."

"I will always cherish the time I spent in the training camp, just as I will always love Ke'er. But I know that we are not on the same path..."

"I have no talent, I'm a loser. My exam scores are bad, I can't get into a good university; I can't make the provincial team either, I can't pass the special admissions exam. In the end, I was applying to both sides, and I didn't get selected from either."

"—So," Mingpo asked casually as she shot an arrow, "you hate me? Because I kept you training, leaving you unable to focus on either?"

"...No, that's not it. Actually, I..."

The other person was organizing their thoughts and speaking haltingly.

After losing the voice changer, his voice became noticeably weak and timid.

And then—

"Okay."

Suddenly, Mingpo nodded and said cheerfully, "I understand."

He placed his right hand on the table, took out the knife, and gripped it tightly with his left hand, exerting force suddenly.

He chopped off his little finger with a single stroke!

"--ah?!"

This scene clearly shocked the other party.

He was stunned for a moment before he realized—wasn't the question-and-answer game over yet?

He thought it was all over when his true colors were revealed!

This bloody scene clearly frightened the other party.

Even the wedding march stopped abruptly, and the balloons ceased their descent.

"That's quite thoughtful..."

Beads of sweat trickled down Mingpo's forehead, and a grimace of pain spread across his face: "You didn't kick me while I was down? Looks like... if I were in mortal danger ahead, you'd secretly let me go, right?"

"After all, your goal was for me to make a choice here—and in your view, I've already made a choice? Oh, sorry. Teacher forgot… It's your turn to ask, isn't it?"

"...I do have a question to ask."

The voice remained silent for a while before ignoring Gu Tao's crazy actions and continuing.

At this moment, the wedding march continued to play, and the balloons gradually fell.

Having recovered somewhat, Mingpo continued to draw his bow and nock his arrow.

At that moment, the bleeding from the right little finger, which had been flowing continuously, also stopped.

It was only because the other party was shocked by Mingpo's actions that he would have noticed that the right arm, which was originally pierced by barbed wire, had now basically recovered.

He simply continued, "Do you believe in fate, teacher?"

What do you think?

Mingpo countered with a question.

"I think you believe it, and so do I."

The melancholy boy remained silent for a long while before saying, "Ke'er might die later... by committing suicide due to depression."

Mingpo did not reply.

The other person continued, "I don't know if you believe it... but I actually came back from the future."

"Just two years later, Kerr committed suicide. Not by cutting her wrists, nor by jumping off a building... but by jumping into the swimming pool where we had our training camp back then."

"Her suicide note said that she could no longer bear the pressure—her birth mother abandoned her, her stepmother abused her, and her biological father turned a blind eye to it all, only caring about his own career, only telling her to be tolerant, only telling her to train hard, but he was ultimately her only family."

"Until the day she was selected for the provincial team... she didn't sleep all night and came back to share the good news. But he got drunk and beat her up."

He said slowly, "I'm not her boyfriend, we weren't dating. But the last phone call she made before she committed suicide was to me."

"I heard her crying... I listened to her talk for a long time. I rode my bike as fast as I could at midnight... but I still couldn't catch up."

"I heard her sobbing, I heard her struggling, I heard her calling for help. I heard her die. The phone was very waterproof; it didn't lose connection even when it was submerged."

"I missed it."

Chang Ning reiterated this point.

I don't know if I'm talking to myself or to Mingpo.

"So... I want to change the past."

"Make that man repent, or let him die. That way, history can be changed."

"If you had said so earlier, wouldn't it have been fine?"

As Mingpo spoke, the last arrow fell.

All six balloons on the left were shot down, while five balloons on the right were shot down.

As all the balloons exploded, flames gradually broke out in the black sand on the right.

Even if only one balloon lands, death is inevitable.

Mingpo glanced at Cai Jingyi and asked, "She's your daughter. What are you thinking?"

Covered in grease and emitting a pungent smell, Cai Jingyi showed no reaction. Or rather, she was pretending not to react... but the subtle movements of her fingertips, which she herself couldn't perceive, proved that she had heard.

"Is that so..."

Mingpo sighed, "Then I think I understand."

The wedding march ended, and the door opened.

Mingpo stepped forward and picked up the only magnetic card from the scattered balloon debris.

It was more like a greeting card than a magnetic card. It was the kind of postcard that students sometimes bought to give to classmates as birthday gifts.

[Changning: Happy Birthday!]

[—Gu Ke'er]

Only these two lines of text were written above.

In Mingpo's opinion, this was a slightly insincere handwritten greeting card. There were no other wishes, no drawings, and no personal stamp. It was one of the simplest birthday cards ever... and it felt somewhat routine.

But clearly, this is perhaps the most important of all the birthday gifts Chang Ning has ever received.

Of course, it may also be the only one.

Cai Jingyi suddenly raised her head, looking at Mingpo with expectant eyes, and kept making mumbling sounds to hint at something.

It seems she hopes he can help her untie herself.

"At this point, you reacted again."

Mingpo smiled and said, "Then I guess I know how you got divorced."

As he spoke, he put his left hand around Cai Jingyi's head.

At that moment, he suddenly exerted force with his right hand and thrust the knife diagonally upwards into Cai Jingyi's throat!

"Don't be afraid, sweetie."

Mingpo said softly, "It will be over soon."

He held her like that, restraining her struggles, until she gradually stopped breathing.

Chang Ning showed no surprise at Mingpo's sudden killing of his ex-wife.

It seems he had anticipated this scene... or perhaps, he wanted to see it.

This proves that Cai Jingyi did indeed escape.

Faced with shared debts, she abandoned her daughter and ran away, never contacting them again. Therefore, she had no reaction to Ke'er's death—because in her heart, her daughter Gu Ke'er was already dead.

"So, are you satisfied now?"

Mingpo raised her head and slowly said, "Let me see you."

After a brief silence, the door at the end of the passage opened.

That was an elevator.

Mingpo walked over and found that besides the card reader, there were only two buttons.

"Up" or "down".

"Go up, and you can leave this place. Go down, and you'll see me. This card can only be used once. What will you choose?"

Chang Ning's calm voice rang out.

After his voice stopped changing, he seemed to lose that excited, adolescent feeling and instead became somewhat nervous.

"Is there even a need to ask?"

Mingpo said with a smile, "You still owe me three kowtows."

"...If only you were really Teacher Gu."

The other person sighed, "If only her father were really that powerful..."

It seems that after venting, they calmed down.

"You're not going to pretend anymore? That's fine."

Mingpo said slowly, "Then I don't need to pretend anymore."

As the elevator descended, the lights gradually dimmed and turned blood red, flickering and becoming unstable.

The disguise of "Gu Tao" on Ming Po gradually fell away, revealing a face that was taller, stronger, more handsome, and younger than Gu Tao's.

"Junior, listen to my advice..."

Chang Ning's voice seemed weary, yet also concealed an almost uncontrollable madness, gradually filling with hysterical sobs: "A game of deception... let's just stop while we're ahead. Really..."

"That won't do."

Mingpo smiled and said, "You're a loser. I can't really listen to your opinions."

As he spoke, the elevator doors opened.

"Really? Really!"

At this moment, the other person's voice gradually filled with madness and hysteria: "Then I understand... you're the same kind of person as him! No wonder you came here—"

Mingpo looked up and saw the other person's face.

His body was as ferocious and enormous as the Hulk, covered with marks of cutting and stitching, completely different from the boy's voice—he had the appearance of Frankenstein's monster.

Head, arms, chest muscles, abdominal muscles, thighs, hands.

Every body once belonged to a different person.

"Your existence is a curse! You'll only kill more people!"

He shouted, "Then let me punish you!"