After Tao Jiayu left the gym, she couldn’t resist Yang Kai’s persistent pursuit and agreed to date him.
Although Yang Kai was usually carefree and irresponsible, he was genuinely attentive to Tao Jiayu, and eventually, she let her guard down and became intimate with him.
To his surprise, Tao Jiayu, who seemed bold and flirtatious, was still a virgin.
Afterward, he regretted it! If he had known she was untouched, he could have offered her to Young Master Zhao Hai, which would have surely secured his rise to success!
Later, by chance, Yang Kai took Tao Jiayu out and met Zhao Hai once.
At that time, Zhao Hai showed interest in Tao Jiayu. Yang Kai’s eyes lit up, and he deliberately tried to push her toward Zhao Hai.
If Tao Jiayu hadn’t escaped quickly, she might have been taken away by Zhao Hai that day.
Afterward, the two had a huge argument. Later, Tao Jiayu discovered she was pregnant.
When Yang Kai found out, he became incredibly attentive to her, no longer wasting his days as he used to.
He even took care of her mother’s hospital bills and other expenses.
Perhaps this was a wayward man turning over a new leaf, preparing to take on the responsibilities of a father.
It was at this time that Tao Jiayu truly began to accept Yang Kai.
But the good times didn’t last. One day, while Tao Jiayu was working at the hotel, she took a break after cleaning a room and glanced at her phone.
She happened to see a news report showing Yang Kai and others being arrested.
Having already given up her unrealistic dreams and prepared to live a simple life, she now directed her hatred toward Chu Tian.
For some reason, she impulsively dialed the number Zhao Hai had given her.
Her intention was to ask Zhao Hai to help save Yang Kai and to use him to get revenge on Chu Tian.
Unfortunately, this decision pushed her into an abyss of no return.
That night, Zhao Hai told Tao Jiayu to meet him at [の] Pavilion, a Japanese-style hot spring bathhouse.
On her way there, Tao Jiayu had mentally prepared herself.
She knew that meeting Zhao Hai would come at a cost.
She even dressed up carefully, determined to do whatever it took to save Yang Kai.
When she met Zhao Hai, he indeed showed enthusiasm toward her.
When she asked for his help, he agreed readily, saying it was a small matter!
But at that moment, a strange old man appeared by his side.
This man, in a place like [の] Pavilion, was completely shrouded in a black robe.
Tao Jiayu judged him to be an old man based on his figure and voice.
The old man glanced at Tao Jiayu and whispered something in Zhao Hai’s ear. Immediately, Zhao Hai’s demeanor toward her changed drastically.
He looked at her with disgust, turned around, and left the room with everyone else.
Left alone with the old man, Tao Jiayu was at a loss and prepared to leave.
That’s when the unexpected happened.
“Young lady, the child in your womb, not yet a month old, is the perfect material for refining my water-attribute ghost infant gu. And the water quality here is quite good, so…”
With a wave of the old man’s hand, she felt her body lose control.
Bound by a strange force, she was dragged into the hot spring pool.
Her entire body felt as if it were crushed by a thousand-pound boulder, sinking into the shallow pool.
Lying underwater, she struggled, suffocating as hot spring water flooded her lungs.
Strangely, she remained fully conscious, unable to pass out.
The old man crouched by the pool, his hands constantly moving.
Strands of black gas surged into the water, weaving into chains.
Later, she learned that the black gas was composed of countless gu insects.
The black gas burrowed into her body through her abdomen.
She could see with her own eyes as her belly began to swell, the child inside growing rapidly.
Finally, excruciating pain tore through her lower body.
The intense pain finally caused her to lose consciousness.
In the moment before she blacked out, she hated…
She hated Chu Tian, hated Yang Kai, hated Zhao Hai, hated this strange old man, hated her father for committing suicide and leaving behind so many debts.
She hated her mother, lying in a hospital bed, becoming her burden.
She hated the child in her womb…
She didn’t know how much time had passed when she suddenly heard voices:
“Boss, there are too many bodyguards here. If we go in like this, we’ll probably get caught before we can record anything.”
“Yeah, Boss, why don’t we call Chu Tian? He’s skilled.”
“No need to call Chu Tian! I say, since we stumbled upon this, we should just tell Old Six directly. You three insisted on coming along. If Yao Junjie finds out, I don’t know how we’ll explain this to him!”
“What’s there to explain? Just record a video and send it to him, tell him to stay away from that scum girl!”
“Exactly. Last time I saw her get into that Japanese guy’s car, I told Old Six, but he didn’t believe me. This time, we have to get evidence!”
The four people speaking were Yan Pengkun, Guo Ga, and two others.
They were hiding in the very room where Tao Jiayu had been harmed, a room that hadn’t seen guests in a long time.
The four of them were crouched by the door, peering into the hallway, their target being the private room across from them.
Chu Tian’s name was mentioned twice in their conversation, which became the trigger for Tao Jiayu’s awakening.
Endless resentment surged in her heart.
“Baka…”
An angry shout came from the hallway, indicating that Yan Pengkun and the others had been discovered.
At the same time, Tao Jiayu burst out of the water.
She lunged toward the outside…
…
Chu Tian, Zhao Lei, and the other three sat in a taxi.
No one spoke. Chu Tian was thinking about what had happened that day.
Though Tao Jiayu’s death wasn’t directly caused by him, through her story, he realized it was still connected to him.
In the end, after she massacred everyone in [の] Pavilion, her resentment somehow dissipated on its own.
The first group she attacked was Yan Pengkun and his three companions. At that time, half of the ghost gu in her body was transferred into them.
But because Tao Jiayu had just awakened and wasn’t familiar with her abilities, the gu in their bodies wasn’t fatal.
Those who came after weren’t so lucky. In her frenzy, Tao Jiayu killed everyone in [の] Pavilion that night.
When she regained her senses and realized she had killed so many people, she was filled with regret.
Recalling the conversation she overheard while unconscious, she knew Yan Pengkun was Chu Tian’s classmate.
She found the unconscious Yan Pengkun, Guo Ga, and the other two.
She discovered that if she withdrew the ghost gu from their bodies, they would turn into dried corpses like the others.
So, she sent Yan Pengkun and the others back to the school, initially thinking Chu Tian would be in the dormitory.
At this point, she had come to terms with many things and realized that, among all the people she knew, Chu Tian was the only one she could trust.
But when she followed the four back to the school, she found that Chu Tian wasn’t there.