"Are you alright?" Wang Qi stood up, seemingly wanting to check on him, but Jiang Cheng waved him off.

"I'm going to check on Wang Fugui," Jiang Cheng said, getting up to leave.

In the hallway, Jiang Cheng stood for a long while, trying to steady his emotions. The shadow he cast on the wall was much taller than him, creating a sense of disharmony.

A line of blood-red words appeared crookedly on the wall, still trembling: "I told you... you and I are the same."

"She's just using you."

"Women's words are never to be trusted; they will only betray you in the end."

"I am, and you will be no exception."

...

Similar blood-red words crawled all over the wall. The shadow swayed constantly, as if mocking him, its surface rippling with an eerie black sheen.

A pair of bloodshot eyes, hidden deep within the ripples, stared at Jiang Cheng, as if trying to pierce his body and see something deeper.

Jiang Cheng leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. Lin Wan'er's face shattered in his mind, then pieced itself back together.

That face was filled with cracks.

There was no going back...

He could accept betrayal from anyone, including Fatty and Pi Ruan. It wouldn't matter much if they were Deep Red. But Lin Wan'er... was different.

He couldn't accept that the person who had once brought him light had been deceiving him all along.

...

"A heart free of women, a blade divinely empowered."

A line of blood-red words appeared on the wall at just the right moment, like an encouragement, or perhaps a temptation.

"Don't try to control me; I have my own judgment," Jiang Cheng said, staring at the shadow on the wall. Then, he quickened his pace and pushed open the door to the next room.

The shadow remained on the wall, and the instant Jiang Cheng's figure disappeared, the blood-red words vanished as well. It was just an old, moldy wall.

Everything that had happened before seemed like an illusion.

Staring at the closed door, an indescribable emotion filled the shadow's eyes, as if it had moved one step closer to what it desired.

"Jiang-ge." Huai Yi stood up quickly when he saw Jiang Cheng enter. "Please talk to Fugui-ge; he seems..."

Realizing he had said too much, Huai Yi quickly lowered his voice and said in a tone only Jiang Cheng could hear, "Fugui-ge seems to be having some mental problems. Ever since I came in, he hasn't paid any attention to me. He's just been sitting there, muttering to himself."

"I got closer and heard him say something about it being impossible, how could he be Deep Red, number 10... just those few phrases over and over." As Huai Yi spoke, he kept turning to check Fatty's reaction, appearing quite nervous.

"Jiang-ge, do you think Wang Qi did something to Fugui-ge, something that triggered him, or..." Huai Yi paused, swallowed, and said, "Do you Deep Red have some kind of internal reward and punishment system? Like, if you don't perform well this month, your ranking goes down or something."

"Fugui-ge dropped from number 6 to number 10. Was the fall too great, and he just couldn't handle it, so he snapped?"

"You should talk to him, tell him it's okay if he doesn't make it this month, he can try again next month. He shouldn't be so hard on himself," Huai Yi pleaded. "It's not worth it."

"You go back first; I'll talk to him," Jiang Cheng said, patting Huai Yi on the shoulder.

"Go back..." The thought of being in the same room with Wang Qi, that freak, made Huai Yi uncomfortable all over, but he figured if something really happened, he would just scream loudly.

Jiang-ge and Fugui-ge were right next door, they wouldn't ignore him.

With that in mind, Huai Yi felt more confident. He assured Jiang Cheng that he would keep an eye on Wang Qi.

Just before leaving, Huai Yi seemed to notice something. He stared at Jiang Cheng's eyes, frowning, and asked, "Jiang-ge, what's wrong with your eyes?"

Just now, when Jiang Cheng turned his head, Huai Yi had vaguely seen a black shadow in Jiang Cheng's pupils.

The shadow was even darker than the color of Jiang Cheng's pupils, but in the blink of an eye, it disappeared when Huai Yi looked closely.

After Huai Yi left, Jiang Cheng sat next to Fatty. "Fatty," he said, his voice becoming hoarse without him realizing it.

Hearing Jiang Cheng's voice close by, Fatty seemed to perk up a little. "Doctor, that Wang Qi... he said he knew me, and he gave me this."

Fatty raised his wrist, and on it was a black safety buckle (平安扣 - ping'an kou).

It looked like the kind worn around the neck, and the quality was poor. It was clearly a cheap trinket, only good for fooling kids.

Staring at the safety buckle on his wrist, Fatty's expression softened, as if recalling the past. "I... I don't know Wang Qi, I have no memory of him at all, but I remember this safety buckle! This is it, I'm sure of it!" He became excited. "It's the one I bought a long time ago for my younger brother!"

Jiang Cheng tried to reassure him. "This safety buckle is very common; could you be mistaken?"

"Impossible! Doctor, this is it! I'm absolutely sure!" Fatty grabbed Jiang Cheng's hand, held the safety buckle up to Jiang Cheng's face, and said breathlessly, "Have you seen it, Doctor? Look here." Fatty pointed with the tip of his finger to a spot on the safety buckle.

Jiang Cheng noticed a few inconspicuous flaws there.

"When I bought it, the owner told me that this pattern was very rare, it's seven stars, doesn't it look like the Big Dipper?" Fatty seemed fixated on this point, pulling Jiang Cheng's hand with great force, turning it red.

"It symbolizes that good fortune will shine in the future, that it will protect him and keep him safe..." Fatty seemed possessed, talking to himself. Jiang Cheng didn't say a word.

"Fatty," Jiang Cheng said, patting him on the shoulder. "Calm down. Things aren't clear yet..."

"Things are very clear, Doctor," Fatty said. "Let's not deceive ourselves anymore."

A drop of tear landed on the back of Jiang Cheng's hand, scalding hot.

"Doctor," Fatty's voice came. Jiang Cheng stopped instinctively.

"Actually, it really doesn't matter if I'm Deep Red or not. I don't care. But do you know, my younger brothers and sisters, they're dead..."

"I can't wait for them anymore; they'll never come back..."

Fatty clutched the safety buckle on his wrist, tears falling to the ground. From behind, his broad shoulders were shaking.

After a moment, Jiang Cheng said, "Lin Wan'er... do you have any memory of her?"

"Boss Lin." Fatty sobbed, "How could I possibly know anything about her?"

After a pause, Jiang Cheng said, "She's also connected to Deep Red. Wang Qi said that she created Deep Red, that it's all connected to her."

Slowly, Fatty's swollen, red eyes changed. The way he looked at Jiang Cheng's face also carried an unspeakable emotion. "So all her behavior has been fake, all an act?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, Fatty stopped abruptly. He noticed that the light in Jiang Cheng's eyes had already gone out.