Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Ye Wei felt that women had to know the big picture and when to up their stakes. “If you are not free, it’s fine. I’ll go by myself then.”
Mo Jue suddenly looked up and his cold gaze swept past her. He forced two words through his teeth. “You dare?!”
“Why not?!” Ye Wei coldly harrumphed and rightfully enjoyed the feast Mo Jue prepared for her. Like the wind that was not content settling down, she did not like to remain in the same place for long.
While she really wanted to go, there were many things she had yet to clarify. It was also not as though she had to go out. She just did not want to see a glum Mo Jue.
“If you dare to entertain that thought, I’ll poison you and cripple you!” Mo Jue threatened, not caring about Ye Wei’s aghast look. He calmly tucked in despite Ye Wei’s intense glare.
“You sure are vicious.” Ye Wei seemed slightly afraid. She asked instead, “Don’t you get bored from staying at home all day?”
“No!” Mo Ye decisively replied. If she were around, he would not be bored and would instead feel extremely content. He had never enjoyed the atmosphere before, and he preferred to stay at home even more nowadays. Mo Ye delayed traveling to Colombia to settle some urgent affairs and would rather call the shots from behind the scenes. He enjoyed his life now, the calm and serenity, and he did not feel bored at all.
“What a weirdo.” Ye Wei judged him.
Mo Jue took at her and asked, “What did Lianling tell you?”
“What are you afraid of me telling her?” Ye Wei asked in return.
Mo Jue was slightly displeased. “Wei Wei, do you have to talk to me like this?”
Hadn’t they had enough of guarding against each other, being extremely careful toward one another and probing others? She seemed to have become the Ye Wei of before since last night, and gone was the Ye Wei who trembled in fear at the sight of him.
“You are asking me and not allowing me to ask anything in return?” Ye Wei raised her eyebrows and coldly smiled. “Please do not always blame me, and please reflect on your attitude.”
“What’s with me?” Mo Jue felt that he had always been normal and did not go overboard. As she had gone out with Meng Lianling for quite a while, he was afraid that the wise-cracking her would unintentionally learn something from Meng Lianling.
He was uneasy the whole day, and that was the price for freedom. He did not like it but could not stop it either. Had he known this would happen, he should have bugged her.
The control freak in him intensified. He could not allow her to hide the slightest thing from him.
If she was not used to such a person, Ye Wei would have flown into a rage and slammed the entire plate of red braised pork onto his face. His self-justification overlooked his domineering side and desire for control, and he did not allow people to talk back. Buddy, chauvinism is a thing of the past.
“When I head out, you have to ask me who I’m making friends with. Do I look like I am part of you? Did I ask you in return?” Ye Wei rebutted as Mo Jue stared at her angrily. Ye Wei stared back angrily.
Like two childish children, both of them insisted on their stand. Ye Wei eventually felt like an idiot and gave up competing with him. She decided to bury her head and eat without talking to him.
Mo Jue, whether he had heeded her words or not, quietly ate. The dining table was eerily silent for a moment.
All of a sudden, Ye Wei put down her bowl angrily. “Mo Jue, if you are getting jumpy and paranoid again, you might as well break my legs and lock me in the room.”
She was in an extremely good mood the whole day and wanted to ask him something. His attitude completely ruined her good mood and she flew into a rage.
Mo Jue looked up and his seeming smile had a few hints of viciousness. “Do you think that I have not given it a thought?”
F***! Ye Wei was utterly enraged.
She suddenly stood up and stormed up the stairs.
Mo Jue looked at her back and coldly harrumphed. She certainly wanted to have her own way! He continued eating. Ye Wei knew how to provoke him, and he, likewise, knew how to provoke her.
The dinner was slightly longer than usual, and Mo Jue’s gaze sank when he saw her bowl relatively untouched. When she came back, she was obviously extremely hungry and stopped eating after a few mouthfuls.
Very well!
Mo Jue broke into an extremely sinister smile. After he had his fill, there was still a lot of food left on the table. As Mo Jue happened to be free today, he specially looked up what Ye Wei loved to eat in the afternoon and spent two hours researching the recipe as he did not know how to cook many dishes. Ye Wei saw the table of food and praised them for their taste. She did not know that he had overcooked several servings of red braised pork and fish before he had something he was pleased with.
And she did not appreciate all that in the end?
She only had a few mouthfuls of food. Mo Jue gritted his teeth and became unhappier as he thought of it. He was the godfather of the Mafia, yet he spent a whole afternoon looking up the recipe and cooking for her just so that what he prepared would be nicer. He had clearly spent a lot of effort. If he were not willing to yield to her, he would have called to ask. Even though his attitude was not correct, she should not have flared up and wasted the table of food.
After Mo Jue had his fill, he dumped all of the remaining delicacies he prepared into the rubbish bin, along with the remaining rice in the cooker. Mo Jue’s anger did not subside, and he felt that he was extremely childish as he looked at the food in the rubbish bin. Mo Jue viciously kicked the countertop and then went up the stairs.
The two of them treated each other as though they were invisible. Mo Jue took a shower in the study room and then looked up a few recent transactions before contacting Silver Face. Ye Wei showered and read magazines on the bed.
Nightlife on the island was boring in the extremely large mansion without a television. Apart from the computer in Mo Jue’s study room, there were no computers elsewhere in the mansion. Ye Wei, apart from reading, had no other forms of entertainment.
She was bored and went out. As she just quarreled with him, she was unable to put down her face and look for him. But if Ye Wei were doing it out of her own wish, her face was something she could put down.
She hence knocked on the door of Mo Jue’s study room.
She felt that she was becoming neurotic. She was clearly at home but required several levels of identification to enter the study room. She knocked on the door, knowing well that she would not be able to enter if it was not opened from inside. Thankfully, Gorgeous Mo Jue was merciful enough and opened the door for her.
There were several famous paintings on the walls of the study room that were aptly placed to give a sense of space and elegance. There was a large screen on the wall, and Ye Wei’s killer instincts allowed her to quickly realize there were at least three surveillance cameras in the room, along with two others that were hidden. The study room was huge. There were three huge tables, four computers, a master control unit, and a lot of modern equipment. There was an extremely large bookshelf at the northeast corner of the room that was filled with books. There was a bonsai at the corner too. Observing the surroundings was Ye Wei’s first instinct, and she felt, after observing the room, that she was in a miniaturized National Intelligence Agency.
Mo Jue, who was sitting at the table, flatly asked, “What is it?”
“Give me a computer!”
“Such as?”
“I am bored and want to go online, watch television, and IM. Can’t I?”
“You do not even have friends, so who are you talking to?”
“Then, can I watch television? Can I play video games?”
Mo Jue plainly said, “I do not have any computers to spare.”
“Hey, that can’t be the case, right? You have so many computers here, no?”
“These computers contain precious information. How am I going to recover them if I lost them?” Mo Jue denied her once again.
Ye Wei gritted her teeth. She finally understood what it meant to yield to the master of the house. She feigned a smile and said, “Gorgeous Mo Jue, could I ask you to give me a computer tomorrow, please?”
“Are you bored?”
“Duh!”
“There is a gymnasium on the fourth floor, along with a martial academy and shooting range…” Mo Jue said. Ye Wei held her breath and almost smashed him on the head out of anger.
Ye Wei smiled but surface-deep. “Okay, then. I’ll not pester you anymore tonight. Gorgeous Mo Jue, please prepare a computer for me tomorrow, and do not tell me that you do not have a computer for me.”
Mo Jue nodded. When Ye Wei left, she slammed the door of the study room so hard the door shuddered and almost broke. Mo Jue’s face changed once she left.
Computers…
Ye Wei’s computer skills were stronger than other people, but it was no match for him. He would have no issue monitoring her computer, and given that her memory was like a blank slate, she might not remember how to access the terrorist organization’s computers or ask for help. Besides, he would be monitoring her and would clearly know what she would be up to.
But… Ye Wei was, after all, Ye Wei. Although she was without her memory, she could make out occasional fragments of them in her mind and look herself on the internet…
And definitely lie to him.
Mo Jue slightly squinted and pounded his fist on the study table. How could she think of such harmful techno-wizardry? Mo Jue rubbed his eyebrows out of helplessness. As he had much to see tonight, he could kiss his sleep goodbye.
Ye Wei was innocent and really wanted a computer to relieve her of her boredom. If not, she would become bored from reading as she was not an avid reader. Her innocence created complications for Mo Jue.
Mo Jue tried to look up information about Ye Wei in his database, and there were thousands of search results about her. The First Terrorist Organization would have its own dossier on her, but Ye Wei was unable to access it. When he searched for Ye Wei on the internet, there were millions of messages. There were too many people called Ye Wei in the world, and her information was hidden underneath many other Ye Weis. If one did not scrutinize every search result, they simply would not notice her.
When he entered ‘killer Ye Wei’ into the search engine, she was the top search result. Most of these were news related to counter-terrorism efforts that paywalled the layman as it was extremely niche information.
However, a name would often follow Ye Wei’s name: Eleven.
Mo Jue looked at the screen glumly. “What a pain in the ass!”
After Ye Wei left the study room, she really went up to the fourth floor. As the night was still young, she was unable to sleep. The fourth floor was the top floor of the mansion, and it had a small gym, a huge martial academy, and a shooting range. It was completely equipped.
She had no interest in going to the gym. The martial academy had four different spaces that catered to judo, underworld fighting, martial arts, and swordplay. Ye Wei was extremely familiar with it, and it was not as boring as when she saw the equipment in the gym.
She took a random rapier and began fencing. The rapier in her hand seemed to gain a life of its own. As she fenced, she did not hurt herself. Ye Wei did not know what she was capable of, but she felt that she was not weak as she could be a killer in the past. Since she had no competition, she did not know whether her speed and strength were sufficiently top-notch. As she fenced, she took a liking to it.
Ye Wei and Eleven did not typically like weaponry. If one gave her a sword, she would be proficient at it, but she did not typically like rapiers. Ye Wei dabbled in swordplay because Rong Yan liked it. She got bored living in the castle and fenced alongside Rong Yan. She developed her fencing skills quickly enough to defeat Rong Yan in three days, and Rong Yan called her a genius. As long as a weapon ended up in Ye Wei’s hands, she would become extremely proficient at it.
She put the sword aside and took a look around the top floor. Not finding anything she liked, she eventually stopped by the shooting range.
There was a locked cabinet outside the shooting range that contained guns and ammunition for the range. Human-shaped targets were used on the range, but they were different from the regular targets. They had three red lines as their bull’s-eye instead. Ye Wei squinted. The master of the house seemed extremely confident in his marksmanship.
Ye Wei tucked her lips and felt her blood course through her.
It was a desire to prove her existence that burned and boiled in the depths of her heart.
She looked at the cabinets next to her and realized they were regularly locked and not hard to open. Ye Wei opened four cabinets. There were pistols, rifles, and revolvers. Those were the only firearms available at the range. The other cabinet contained gun parts.
Ye Wei initially took a silver pistol but suddenly put it down and took out all the gun parts in the cabinet. She scattered the parts and expertly picked and assembled the parts on the table. Ye Wei completed assembling the gun in a moment and checked the bullets in the gun. She then fired at the human-shaped target.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
She fired seven bullets in succession quickly. Ye Wei pressed the button next to her and the human-shaped target slid toward her along a steel tube. Ye Wei whistled and said, “Damn, I’m good!”
There was only one bullet hole on the human-shaped target, and it was in the center of the bull’s-eye! Ye Wei initially thought she would only hit the target once. She became more confident after shooting all seven bullets through the center of the bullseye.
This was self-confidence.
As her fighting spirit was buoyed, she pressed a button and there was another human-shaped target. The design of the range was excellent. The changing of the targets was automated and saved her a lot of trouble. Ye Wei took a small-caliber rifle and moved the target even further from her. As she handled the gun, the long-awaited familiarity sent her blood coursing. Ye Wei fired nineteen shots. All of a sudden, a cold female voice rang in her head. ‘Haha, Wei Wei, you’re missing the target. Old Witch will teach you a lesson.’
The sound could not be an illusion. Ye Wei’s hands paused and she fired her last round. Many images flashed through her head, and she suddenly bit her lip. Images of a small island, two girls testing their mettle, two little girls shooting…
One of them missed the target whilst the other laughed. The girl who missed the target cried loudly. The other girl said, “Wei Wei, you are ugly.”
The other girl, trembling, learned to shoot in fear as she had to hit the apple on the counter. There were many other young boys and girls behind her that seemed to be mocking her. A middle-aged American woman stood next to her and looked at her coldly. She said, “No food for you if you miss the target.”
She cried and fired.
She missed her target, and the American woman’s face became even colder. She broke into tears.
A girl rushed over, held her hand, and calmly taught her how to posture herself and aim. The other girl pulled the trigger with her hand, and the apple fell.
The image changed to a twelve-thirteen-year-old teenage girl fighting against somebody in a dirty sewer. The sewers were dark, and the images flashed through quickly. She was fighting an obese man in a uniform.
Suddenly, one of the teenage girls broke the man’s shades and jabbed it into his throat. The teenage girl recoiled in fear and had a look of terror on her face. The other teenage girl came to hug her. ‘Wei Wei, don’t be afraid, I’m here.’
The image changed to two fifteen to sixteen-year-old teenage girls traveling the world. Their faces were clearly high-spirited and smart.
She recognized one of the teenage girls in the image as herself although the faces changed each time. Who was the other person?
They killed together, roamed the world together, danced together, swam together, hugged each other, and smiled. All these images were so beautiful and she smiled as though a charm emanated from within her. Was that her past self?
As Ye Wei tried to recall something, her head ached. The more she tried to recall it, the more the pain stabbed at her and caused her to kneel in discomfort.
The last image of a woman clutching a snake and waving it at her in the middle of the forest flashed through. ‘Wei Wei, I’ve found it.’
She broke into a smile and was about to speak…
Ye Wei suddenly heard hurried steps up the floor. She flung her head and stood up. She supported herself against the window and wiped the sweat off her face. When she put down her hand, Mo Jue was before her.
He, seemingly surprised, looked at her steely.
Ye Wei smiled and asked, “What are you doing?”
Mo Jue looked at her and asked back, “What are you doing?”
“Shooting.” Ye Wei smiled and pressed a button. The human-shaped target slid across. She was thankful that she was a killer and had a keen hearing. She was able to conceal herself the moment she heard Mo Jue’s soft steps.
For some reason or other, she subconsciously did not want Mo Jue to discover that something was amiss with her and how she would naturally react.
She turned her head and tried to recall the images from just now but they became blurred. Ye Wei was shocked as the images she recalled were extremely clear. Whether she was a girl or a teenager, she had an extremely clear image of herself before her. When she tried to recall it, she could not recall anything.
She could only recall those few sentences clearly.
As the target was before her, she could afford to think anymore. There were four bullet holes on the target, and one of them was within the third and outermost circle. Ye Wei heaved a sigh of relief and smiled as she said to Mo Jue, “It seems that my marksmanship isn’t too bad.”
Mo Jue nodded and said, “You are a sharpshooter.”
“That explains it.” Ye Wei casually put down the gun and looked at him with raised eyebrows. “What brings you up here?”
“I heard gunshots…” He did not continue and turned to look at the cabinet. Ye Wei shrugged her shoulders. “I’m sorry.”
“All is fine!” Mo Jue said. “Do you still want to practice? I’ll join you!”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll compete against you some other day.” Ye Wei smiled and kept the gun. When Mo Jue took the assembled gun, Ye Wei plainly said, “I assembled it.”
“I know!” He saw that this was the most powerful handgun that could be assembled from the parts. While the parts used were not the best of each, they blended perfectly.
She was indeed an exceptional surprise. Some things were already hard-wired into her.
Unless she died, those could not be erased from her.
Mo Jue helped her with packing up and unintentionally touched her back. He realized that her back was wet.
“What’s going on? You’re sweating crazily. Is it very tedious?”
“Not really. The weather has been on the warmer side.” Ye Wei went down the stairs. Mo Jue quietly followed her. Warm? It was already the end of spring, and given that the islands were in a perpetual spring, the temperatures at night were really low.
Ye Wei returned to her room and changed into her sleepwear. Mo Jue returned to his study room.
Ye Wei tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. Ye Wei thought about the images that flashed through her mind and tried hard to recall them as she curled herself in a blanket. However, Ye Wei could not recall anything. She tapped her head in frustration, anger, and disdain as she forced herself to think about it. Ye Wei did that to no avail and lifted the blanket in frustration and screamed. “Ahh!!”
When she finished screaming, she saw Mo Jue looking at her coolly.
“What is this madness of yours?”
Ye Wei quickly responded and played dead by rolling on the bed several times. “I can’t sleep!” she yapped.
Mo Jue quietly crawled onto the bed and hugged her. “Sleep!”
It was already past midnight. She had been turning and tossing for a long time.
As Ye Wei could not sleep, she fidgeted next to Mo Jue. Mo Jue pinned her legs with his legs and asked, “What are you doing?”
“I can’t sleep!”
“If you can’t sleep, do something else!”
“Such as?”
Mo Jue, without saying a word, pulled Ye Wei’s face over and leaned down. He viciously kissed her and undid the buttons on her sleepwear. Ye Wei, who was in a daze from his kissing, regained her senses and pushed him away.
“Let’s sleep, let’s sleep. I can finally fall asleep.”
Mo Jue coldly harrumphed and did not have his way with her. He still hugged her to sleep.
Ye Wei really did not dare to move and could only snuggle beside him. She, in her heart, asked Mo Jue once too many as she was not ready for something unwholesome.
The sun shone. Ye Wei was reading in the living room. Mo Ye suddenly grabbed her, and he seemed extremely terrible. His angry face was brimming with murderous intent. Ye Wei could not stand his arrogance and how he seemed above all. She was about to hit him.
Mo Ye suddenly grabbed her wrist. “Ye Wei, I should advise you not to tempt me into injuring you. If you do, I will not hesitate.”
“Let me go!”
“Follow me!” Mo Ye ordered deeply as he yanked her out. Ye Wei, in rage, grabbed at Mo Ye, who deftly avoided it. A fragrance came at her, and she collapsed into Big Boss Mo’s embrace.
When she woke up, she could not tell where she was. There were many doctors in white robes who had blurred faces to her. They did not seem the most sincere. She could only see Mo Ye’s face clearly.
It’s extremely cold!
“Where am I?” She tried to see where she was, but her eyes were covered with a layer of fog. Ye Wei was slightly flustered. “Damn it, Mo Ye, what the f*** are you up to?”
Mo Ye remained silent and then grabbed her hand. He flatly said, “I’ll bring you to see somebody.”
Ye Wei did not know what he was up to and tried to break free. As though her body was filled with lead, she had no energy to raise her heavy arm. He yanked her arm downward, and she called out Mo Jue’s name in panic.
Big Boss Mo led Ye Wei down the stairs to the basement and then viciously threw her aside. Ye Wei knocked against the glass door.
“You f***ing son of a b****!” Ye Wei raged and swore. Her body knocked against the glass door and she frowned from the pain. Big Boss Mo simply looked on coldly.
“Look clearly. Who the hell is inside?”
Ye Wei stared at him in rage, and she heard soft cries of pain. Big Boss Mo coldly said, “You tell her that she is not to resist anymore. She will obediently allow me to use her. If that doesn’t happen, I’ll kill her before your eyes!”
Ye Wei wanted to slap Mo Ye’s cold face. That damn idiot!
The voice inside became louder. Ye Wei, not bothering about Mo Ye, looked in. There were several pools of blood inside, and the lady inside was almost leaning against the mirror. Ye Wei saw a person curled up and trembling on the glass floor. Ye Wei could tell from the long hair and silhouette that the person was a woman who had a deeper and hoarse voice that caused her heart to ache.
Ye Wei’s pupils shrunk and she turned to look at Mo Ye. Mo Ye coldly looked at her and ordered. “Speak to her!”
“Who is she?”
Mo Ye coldly smiled.
Ye Wei suddenly turned around. The person inside seemed to have heard the voices from outside. She slowly turned around, her scorned look squarely filled Ye Wei’s eyes.
Her eyes were wide open…
“Wei Wei…” Eleven crawled up. As she did not have the strength to prop herself up, she fell. Ye Wei was in pain and opened her mouth. She wanted to say something, but her words were lodged in her throat.
“Wei Wei…” Eleven reached out her bruised and blood-stained hands as though she wanted Ye Wei to support her. Ye Wei, however, was petrified and could not move. She looked into Eleven’s eyes.
Pain, happiness, sadness filled that moment… She felt as though somebody had her throat in a stranglehold. Cold laughter came from behind whilst Eleven’s desperate pleas for help were before her. Ye Wei discovered that people would sometimes freeze from time to time.
She looked at her and crawled toward her. She left a bloody mark on the mirror surface. Ye Wei reached out to the hand on the door, and she suddenly shuddered while slamming her hand against the glass door. She was unsure of how she felt, but she definitely felt like smashing this door and embracing her.
She must not do this. She knew her, and they should not… be this… heart-wrenching.
“Wei Wei…”
The hoarse, surprised, and desperate calls of ‘Wei Wei’ entered her ears, making her heart ache. She wanted to show her some response and call her name, but she could nary say a thing and could only slam the glass door. Although her hand was bleeding, she did not feel a thing.
She managed to crawl to the glass door, wounded, and propped herself up and tapped against the glass door gently. Ye Wei realized that she did not cry, but her eyes were bloodshot. She saw elation amidst the desperation in her eyes.
“Wei Wei, why… aren’t you talking?”
Say something, damn it! Say it! Ye Wei tried to say something but realized that she could not say a word. She panicked and was in pain, her eyes reddening.
“Wei Wei, do you know me? I… Do I look hideous enough that you do not know me?” She sounded extremely low but her voice was clear.
She wanted to say that it was not scary at all. She was merely thinner but as beautiful.
Ye Wei made a sad cry that was hoarse. Her tears trickled onto the ground. She had no idea why she was crying…
But her tears, like a broken string of pearls, did not stop falling.
She was covered in tears!
“Wei Wei… don’t cry!” The woman inside gently smiled. While she was not good-looking and had lost a lot of weight, she smiled as she wanted to comfort Ye Wei and did not want Ye Wei to cry even harder.
Who was she?
Who exactly was she?
“Wei Wei, why aren’t you responding to me? “Her eyes slowly turned from elation to desperation as she saw Ye Wei crying nonstop and tapping against the glass door. Her eyes were open wide, but her gaze was hollow. “Why aren’t you responding?”
‘Why?’
The words which became louder around Ye Wei’s ears carried a destructiveness that caused Ye Wei to scream louder. Her mouth merely opened, but she could not say a thing.
“Wei Wei, even you are abandoning me now?” She had a weird look on her face and seemingly had lost all feelings.
Ye Wei shook her head furiously…
“Eleven!”