Revenge

Ethan's fingers shook as he looked at the bank notification. The numbers seemed to dance before his eyes: ¥10,002,145.15. It was a life-changing amount that made his throat dry.

One million yuan per point.

His mind raced with possibilities. He could buy his parents that lakeside villa his father always joked about. He could even fund an entire research wing at the leukemia hospital. Honestly, he could buy every limited edition gaming console ever released and still have money left over to...

The thought faded as his thumb hovered over the exchange button. A cold realization settled in his stomach. If I die in the next Apocalypse, this money would still be there for them.

The sudden sound of someone clearing their throat broke his concentration.

The Mark Approaches.

Lin Yingge descended the marble staircase of the spa with the smooth grace of a panther. Each step echoed through the quiet lobby. The afternoon light caught the diamonds on her wrists, scattering colorful patterns across the walls.

"Who requested me?" Her voice was warm like a winter wind, yet sharp enough to pierce the air.

Ethan stood up smoothly, the Terminus Shard swaying from its crimson cord. Up close, he noticed the careful upkeep behind her beauty: the subtle fillers in her cheeks, the precision of her brow lift. A work of art.

"Mrs. Lin," he said, adding just the right amount of nervousness to his tone. "A delivery from Mayor Lü."

As he extended the blade, his movement intentionally awkward, the tip grazed her outstretched finger. A single drop of red formed against her perfectly manicured nail.

"Aiya!" Her exclamation echoed through the spa like a gunshot.

Ethan leaned in close enough to catch her jasmine perfume, now slightly bitter from shock. "The dead remember what you did," he whispered, feeling satisfaction as her pupils widened to dark pools.

By the time her bodyguards rushed in, he was already disappearing into the afternoon crowd, the Shard pulsing hungrily against his chest.

Nightfall, Mayor's Residence

Lin Yingge tossed in her silk sheets, the hospital's all-clear notice crumpled on her nightstand. Moonlight sliced through the curtains, casting jagged stripes across her restless form.

That boy's words, that look in his eyes...

She unlocked her phone with trembling fingers, navigating through three layers of encryption to the app marked "Gardening Tips." The video loaded with a soft chime.

"Please! I'll do anything! Just let me—" 

THUD. CRACK. SCREAMS.

The footage showed every detail in crystal clarity. The girl's left eye swelled shut after the third blow. Her fingernails tore against the concrete floor. Most haunting were those final moments when she realized no mercy would come.

Lin Yingge traced a finger over the frozen image of the corpse, the girl's remaining eye staring blankly at the camera. A slow smile curved her lips. Worth every scream.

Then—

"You killed me..."

The whisper slithered from the shadows, so close she felt the ghost of breath against her ear.

Lin Yingge bolted upright, her silk nightgown clinging to her suddenly clammy skin. "Who's there?!" she demanded, her fingers scrabbling for the panic button beneath her nightstand.

The French windows exploded inward with unnatural force. No wind preceded it, just a sudden, violent invasion of cold air that smelled faintly of copper and rotting flowers. It carried a voice that shouldn't exist:

"Hello, stepmother." 

The Reckoning

A hand emerged from the darkness. It wasn't a ghostly figure; it was flesh stripped to the muscle, dripping thick blood that sizzled on the Persian rug.

Lin Yingge's scream caught in her throat as those fingers wrapped around her neck with terrifying strength. She clawed at the hand, her manicured nails scraping against exposed tendons, but the grip only tightened.

The bedroom walls vanished, replaced by dripping stone and the unmistakable smell of a dungeon long used for dark purposes. Rusted tools appeared from the shadows:

- Bone saws with teeth still stuck with fibers 

- Hot pokers glowing red in unseen fires 

- A stretching rack with leather restraints marked by the shapes of countless victims 

"Recognize these?" Chen Wan'er's ghostly form took shape from the darkness. Her face was a distorted version of human features—one side caved in from repeated blows, while the other still showed hints of the beauty that had once angered her stepmother. "You picked them out yourself."

As the phantom chamber doors slammed shut, Lin Yingge's last clear thought was that the girl's remaining eye looked just as it had in the video—wide with fear, yet burning with something worse.

Understanding.

By dawn, when the maid came to draw the curtains, all that was left was a bloodstain so deep that no amount of scrubbing would ever remove it, along with a faint scent of jasmine mixed with rot.

Three Days Later

[System Alert]

» Hidden Quest Complete: +200 Points

» Current Total: 268P

Ethan exhaled slowly as the notification faded. Somewhere beyond the tangible world, justice had been served.