604.
A light in the corridor was out, and Jiang Chongyan stared up at it for a long time before he was sure he was in the right place.
It was here, in this very room, that he had been pushed to his death all those years ago.
His body passed through the door and into the room, which reeked of alcohol.
The academy was wealthy, and all "teachers" had not only common offices but also resting rooms, much like the apartments they lived in. The difference was that these were single rooms.
"Sob..."
A faint crying sound drifted over. Jiang Chongyan walked towards the source of the sound and reached the bedside.
A boy, who looked underage, was stark naked. His body and face bore many marks from being whipped with a leather strap. He was crouching in the corner of the bed, sobbing quietly.
Anger surged through Jiang Chongyan, and the surrounding temperature seemed to drop considerably in an instant.
He pulled the blanket from the man's body and threw it to the boy. Meeting the boy's terrified gaze, he offered a kind smile.
"Get out of here. Nothing happened."
The boy froze for a moment, then wrapped himself in the blanket and stood up, limping as he ran out. The sound of the door closing startled the person on the bed.
He groggily reached out, fumbling around. After searching for a long time without finding his blanket, he finally opened his eyes. In the dim light from the other side, he saw the person standing by the bed.
"Ah! Who are you!"
He frantically pressed the light switch, but no matter how he pressed it, the room remained dark.
"Who are you! Don't come near me!"
Jiang Chongyan had taken on the appearance of his mangled corpse from the fall, scaring the man sober. He climbed out of bed, dodging around the room and shouting.
"Help! Someone! Come quickly! Save me!"
"Don't come near me! I was wrong, let me go!"
"I was wrong! I was wrong..."
"Ah!"
---
Zhu Zhi opened her eyes, watching the screen where two people, separated by death, were reunited. She felt it was something ordinary people couldn't accept.
Knowing from the start that it would lead to heartbreak, why choose to begin?
"You're awake?" Jiang Chongyan fed her a piece of popcorn. Although he had meticulously cleaned his aura, Zhu Zhi could still smell the metallic tang of blood on his hand.
She opened her mouth, received the blood-tinged popcorn, chewed it calmly, and swallowed.
"Is this movie too boring? It's my fault for not choosing better."
It wasn't really about watching a movie, so Zhu Zhi didn't expose his little ruse. "It's okay, I'm just a bit sleepy."
She sat up straight. Jiang Chongyan leaned closer, holding a bubble tea, enjoying the rare warmth and sweetness. The impulse and excitement within him gradually subsided.
The first one.
He would get used to it in the future.
He would become more skilled, find better excuses, and wouldn't leave her like this.
"I am at war with the entire world, and you are all I have left."
"But I don't want you anymore." The girl's face was tear-streaked, her expression helpless and pained. "They told me before that the order in which people appear is very important. The person who gets me drunk can't take me home. I didn't believe them. I got into your car, and we crashed to our deaths together. If I could do it again, I wouldn't have agreed to you that night. How good it would be if we had never met!"
The male and female protagonists in the movie recited tragic lines. It was a moment that should have been deeply moving, and sobs could be heard from the audience in the cinema, yet the two showed no signs of emotion.
They held each other close, seeing no need to be sad for someone else's feelings.
The movie had two endings, happy or sad, depending on whether the male and female protagonists ended up together.
If they were together, even dying together would be considered a comedy. Conversely, even if they lived separately, it would be a tragedy.
The movie fell into the former category. The female protagonist died of illness, and the male lead, suffering from depression, committed suicide to join her not long after.
As they left the cinema, the air was filled with the crying of young couples.
Jiang Chongyan slurped a pearl with a strong pull, and while eating, he asked in confusion, "Why did they break up in the middle? Couldn't they have resolved the misunderstanding?"
He had watched quite intently.
Zhu Zhi tugged at his hair from behind. "If the misunderstanding had been resolved then, how would the next 60 minutes have played out?"
Jiang Chongyan: "..."
Right, it was a movie.
In reality, no one would be this foolish.
Not being able to find someone at the airport was unreasonable; they could have gone to the broadcast room and called out twice, and the person would have appeared. Instead, it was a chase, and the one who wasn't sick ended up getting sick, leading to both of them dying.
Jiang Chongyan's pearl-eating action suddenly paused.
Death?
If they died, they would become ghosts, and then they could be together forever.
That seemed quite good.
Zhu Zhi suddenly felt a chill down her spine and tightened her clothes, wondering why it was getting cold when autumn hadn't even begun.
"Don't watch these kinds of movies anymore."
"Then you can choose next time."
Jiang Chongyan pouted in dissatisfaction. "It's your turn to choose next time!"
Zhu Zhi readily agreed. "Yes, it's my turn next time."
Jiang Chongyan: "..."
The goal had been achieved, so why didn't he feel happy?
It must be because she was too perfunctory.
Hmph!