The dimly lit basement.
The damp air mixed with a pungent smell of blood, filling the entire space.
More than a dozen bloodied and mangled people were bound by their hands, hanging in mid-air, their toes barely touching the ground.
Many of them had already stopped breathing, and the rest were on their last legs.
This scene, like an underground purgatory, caused Shi Wan's pupils to shrink in shock.
She knew Fu Tingchen was ruthless and cruel.
But knowing it was one thing, and seeing it with her own eyes was another.
"Mmm... mmm."
"Mmm, mmm."
Seeing Fu Tingchen walk in, the remaining people couldn't help but tremble, letting out soft whimpers.
Shi Wan could clearly see the deep-seated fear in their eyes, fear that went right to the bone.
Yang Yi stepped forward.
"Mr. Fu—"
"Kill them all."
Fu Tingchen's thin lips parted slightly, his long, narrow eyes like bloodthirsty whirlpools, devoid of any warmth.
"Get a new batch."
"Yes."
Yang Yi nodded and signaled to his subordinates.
Immediately, more than a dozen mercenaries stepped forward and swiftly plunged daggers into the hearts of the people who were hanging.
Then, they dragged the bodies away.
The scene was brutal, but everyone present remained composed.
Except for Shi Wan.
Of course, she wasn't sympathizing with the culprits who had harmed her; it was just that she was seeing such a scene for the first time.
Previously, Fu Tingchen would never have let her see this bloody and brutal side of him.
Not long after, another dozen or so people were brought in.
"Ask once,"
Fu Tingchen lit a cigar with his beautiful, slender hands, the gray-white smoke obscuring his handsome, yet utterly cold, face.
"If they don't talk, just cut off their tongues and limbs and throw them into the Snake Pit."
His voice was calm, but it held a suffocating, violent killing intent.
Hearing this, the people brought in had their pupils contract, and their bodies trembled uncontrollably.
Yang Yi understood.
"Speak, who exactly is behind you?"
Shi Wan stood beside Fu Tingchen, watching him deal with one group of people after another.
Until she heard a familiar name.
— Shen Guanghua.
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Fu Tingchen returned to the room.
What?
The person who hired assassins to kill her was her uncle?!
Shi Wan, in a daze, was forced to follow him back, her face full of disbelief.
Her uncle was the only relative she had in this world, so why would he do this?
She wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't heard it with her own ears from those assassins.
While Shi Wan was deep in thought, Fu Tingchen locked himself in the bathroom, showering again and again.
Only when he was sure there wasn't a trace of blood left did he put on his pajamas and lie down beside Shi Wan's body.
"Wan Wan, don't be afraid,"
He put his arm around Shi Wan's waist, and, as he always did, buried his head in her neck, murmuring.
"Two days, at most two days, wait for me."
Two days?
Shi Wan's soul frowned upon hearing this.
She had a feeling that what Fu Tingchen wanted to do wasn't as simple as helping her get revenge.
The day after Shi Wan died.
Fu Tingchen picked countless white roses and piled them around Shi Wan, the corners of his mouth curving into a despairing smile.
White roses were Shi Wan's favorite flowers, and the only flowers that grew in the Fu Manor.
The hundreds upon thousands of them before her were picked by Fu Tingchen one by one that morning.
Shi Wan looked at the crisscrossing scars on Fu Tingchen's slender fingers, and her heart inexplicably ached again.
She sighed.
"Why bother with all this?"
Before the words had even faded, Fu Tingchen's voice rang out.
"As long as Wanwan likes it, I'm willing to do anything."
Could Fu Tingchen hear her?
Shi Wan was startled, instinctively covering her mouth.
She waved her hand in front of Fu Tingchen, confirming he couldn't see her before slowly lowering it.
Fu Tingchen kissed Shi Wan's completely cold lips, then lifted his foot and left the room.
Of course, Shi Wan's soul followed Fu Tingchen to the basement.
A middle-aged man was nailed to a pillar, his originally refined face now completely disfigured.
He looked at Fu Tingchen as he walked in, as if seeing a messenger of death from hell, despair and panic reaching their peak.
"Mr. Fu, why are you arresting me?"
Even though it was a question, he spoke as if he were begging.
Shi Wan's soul stood before Shen Guanghua.
Looking at the panic and fear in his eyes, her own eyes were filled with disappointment and mockery.
They were family, and she knew Shen Guanghua.
If he hadn't done anything, he wouldn't be like this.
Shi Wan's face was filled with sorrow.
It was truly laughable.
The person she respected as family had hired someone to kill her.
The person she desperately wanted to escape from was actually helping her seek revenge.
She was wrong, from beginning to end.
"What are you doing?"
Fu Tingchen reached out and grabbed Shen Guanghua by the neck, his expression ferocious and wild.
"My Wan Wan, I wouldn't even hurt a hair on her head."
His handsome face was filled with a murderous aura, his eyes bloodshot, like a raging beast.
"Shen Guanghua, you dare to kill her, you actually dare to kill her?!"
Fu Tingchen's grip tightened, and the killing intent around him grew more terrifying. Shen Guanghua quickly stopped breathing.
"Starting with you, I will make your entire Shen Clan pay for Wan Wan's life!!"
Shi Wan looked at the man before her, who was now obsessed and gloomy. She felt no disgust, only heartache.
She walked in front of Fu Tingchen and reached out, gently caressing his furrowed brow.
"Fu Tingchen, I'm sorry."
Fu Tingchen seemed to sense something. His trembling hands paused, and his gaze instantly locked onto the location of Shi Wan's soul.
But the next moment, she laughed at herself.
Shi Wan followed Fu Tingchen in a daze, back to the study, working until late into the night.
But she didn't pay attention to what he was doing.
It wasn't until the early hours of the morning that Fu Tingchen returned to the bedroom.
He held Shi Wan's completely stiff corpse, embracing it once more as he slept.
Shi Wan was on the sofa in the room, quietly watching this scene.
Another night passed.
The room was piled high with more white roses, like a garden.
Shi Wan's body lay peacefully among them.
There wasn't a trace of horror, but rather a quiet beauty.
But something was different.
The bedroom, which originally only Fu Tingchen could enter, now had quite a few people inside.
Judging by their attire, there were monks, Taoist priests, and even Thais covered in tattoos.