There is a saying, 'There is no more painful punishment than not to be punished.'
However, Ru had never followed these words.
She had learned in life to give back tenfold of what she owes. And take back hundredfold of what others owe you!
If one is willing to commit a sin, they should never forget the punishment that will find them in some way. Ru had always been the kind of person who would pass like thunder and move like the wind[1].[1]
She was always the one to summon the wind and rain[2].[2] But even with that nature of hers, she never had to face the heavy rainstorm and strong gale[3].[3] Perhaps this was the reason why she seemed like a crane among a flock of chicken[4].[4]
Truth be told, Ru felt nothing when she sliced up that woman with her own hands. In fact, it looked like she was really satisfied with what she did. True to her words, she exacted the punishment exactly like she wanted to. The gory scene was nauseating, the shrilly screams would make one's heart shake with fear until they slowly died down with the person. The blood dripped down like a continuous stream.
Even the intestines were out of the body and were scattered around without care.
In this bloody scene, Ru was leaning against the wall watching the skeleton of that inhumane creature corrode away. A cigarette was held between her lips and puffs of white smoke were making her face blurry. Her whole body was again soaked in fresh blood. One could only see her green eyes that still held a twinkle that was never overshadowed by anything.
Even within this nauseating place, the exotic beauty of her eyes was as striking as always. Her face was 80 percent plain clouds and light winds[5] [5] and 20 percent self-satisfied. She looked so serene with that curl of her lips that one could see the reflection of her happiness in her eyes. It was really surprising how she was able to leisurely smoke with so many dead bodies lying around her.
Finally, after she was done appreciating the art of work she had done, she stood up to leave. First, she went around the whole den as if looking for something. And when she finally found it, she carried it along to find the control room and hacked into the system.
[Self Destruction mode is on! You have ten minutes to leave the premises.]
When the system's mechanical voice rang around, she still didn't care. In fact, she stuck around to see the surveillance screens and after she made sure that everyone had gone down the mountain, only then did she turned around with the 'thing she carried' and ran out.
*BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!*
Continuous blasts rang in the air and the ground shook. Instinctively everyone at the foot of the mountain craned their necks to look up because of the shockwaves.
"Master!"
Wu Dishi who was worried about Ru's safety was about to run over when Rong spoke up, "Your master is safe."
Xia Haoran nodded his head along, "Don't worry! My brother just loves to blow things up. It has been a hobby. This much can't do anything to her."
Xiao Zhiyuan who had been silently trembling as he sat on a boulder with Zhang Han holding his hand to support him, shivered even more. His eyes flashed with something incomprehensible.
"My little bunny still seems very proud of me," Ru's amused voice could be heard from a distance.
And as she walked out from behind the dense trees, Xia Haoran ran over to her. "Ruru!" He wanted to hug her but seeing that she was carrying a dead body, he couldn't do so. He looked at the young face of the girl who laid lifeless in her arms and asked, "Who is she?"
Ru laid down Lilith's body on the ground carefully as if afraid to wake her up from her sleep. Looking with a rare tenderness in her eyes, she answered, "She was your brother's redemption. Now, she is your brother's curse for life."
Xia Haoran frowned at her words, not knowing what she meant. He looked at Rong who shook his head to stop him from asking any further. He could see that Ru was behaving differently when she looked at that lifeless girl.
He might not really know who Lily was but he could see that she was someone important to Ru. And he wasn't wrong either. When Ru had decided to save Lilith back then, she truly thought she could bring a change. If only she was able to save that one life, it might free her from her heart's demons.
But when she confirmed from Zhang Han that Lily was dead, she lost all sense. If she couldn't even save that one innocent girl, what right did she have to wear the facade of an angel?
Xiao Zhiren had once called her a fallen angel. Now, she could only sneer at that reminder. A fallen angel is called a fallen angel because they are stripped of their purity and fall to disgrace. A fallen angel can only become the angel of darkness and death. At the end of the day, she was still representing darkness and death. What right did she have to pull someone else into her dark world?
She only looked up when she felt someone crouching down beside Lily's body. Her eyelids lifted slightly and her eyes fell on Zhang Han who was staring at Lily's face with longing, heartache, and devastation. She really didn't know what he was feeling right now but she could tell how his young heart and soul were being churned up with this incident.
Standing up from the ground, she looked at Wu Dishi and ordered, "Let's go. We have a funeral to arrange."
Wu Dishi once looked at Lily's body and then at his master before nodding his head. He turned around to give orders before he walked back to Ru to say, "Master, this blast will catch the attention of..."
Ru raised her hand to stop him. "Don't worry about that. I'll handle the consequences."
Wu Dishi again nodded and started leading the teams back towards their rides to get out of this godforsaken place. It was time to say farewell to this place.
It was time to say farewell to Lily.
And it was time to say farewell to... Her eyes shifted around until they settled on Xiao Zhiren's figure who was now sitting beside his brother with a heavy look on his face. However, from the looks of it, she could tell he had a clear mind now.
She looked thankfully at her brother knowing very well he must have helped to stabilize Xiao Zhiren's mental state.
[1] ''To pass like thunder and move like the wind': Idiom; meaning to be expeditious and efficient.
[2] 'Summon the wind and rain': stir up trouble
[3] 'Heavy rainstorm and strong gale': to find oneself in a difficult or dangerous situation
[4] 'Crane among a flock of chicken': stands out from the crowd
[5] 'plain clouds and light winds': calm, tranquil, serene
[1] Idiom; meaning to be expeditious and efficient.
[2] stir up trouble
[3] to find oneself in a difficult or dangerous situation