The Perpetrator
Run!
It was an hour’s drive from the airport to home. Lin Sifei said goodbye to Li Jing and ran to the back of the car, turning into a cat to rest.
This way, she could cuddle with Luo Ke for an extra hour.
When they arrived home, Lin Sifei got dressed again and stepped out of the car.
She opened the front door and, upon entering, saw Luo Ke standing by the dining table, arranging the plates. “You must be hungry. Come and eat.”
Lin Sifei walked over and sat down in a chair. “What a feast.”
“I specifically called Auntie Wu back just now.”
Lin Sifei picked up her chopsticks, ready to eat, but Luo Ke swiftly grabbed both of her paws. “Go wash your hands.”
“I know, I know.” Lin Sifei trotted over to wash her hands.
Sitting at the table, Lin Sifei watched Luo Ke place food on her plate. Her eyes shifted, and she opened her mouth wide. “You feed me.”
Luo Ke let out a soft chuckle, picked up some food with her chopsticks, and fed it to her. “Ah—”
Lin Sifei ate the food, then picked up some green vegetables to feed her. Luo Ke’s brow furrowed slightly; she didn’t like green vegetables.
“No picky eating,” Lin Sifei emphasized, word by word.
Luo Ke sighed helplessly and ate the greens. Lin Sifei smiled, immediately giving her a piece of her favorite braised pork belly.
Luo Ke gave her a helpless look. It was the classic hit with a stick, then give a red date1, and she even took the stick with her heart willing and feelings content.2
Lin Sifei ate the food in her bowl, occasionally looking up to steal a glance at her.
After a few times, Luo Ke looked at her. “What is it? Is there something you want to tell me?”
“Isn’t it you who has something to tell me?” Lin Sifei put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth. “Didn’t you say you had a gift for me?”
Luo Ke looked at her, amused. “It’s just a gift. Why are you so impatient?”
“Isn’t it because it’s from you?” Lin Sifei pouted. Seeing her get up, she quickly followed.
Luo Ke walked to the sofa and picked up a black bag that was sitting on it.
Lin Sifei looked at the cloth bag in confusion. Is this… clothing?
Just as she was thinking, Luo Ke opened the bag and pulled out something black from inside.
Lin Sifei was even more puzzled.
Luo Ke smiled and unfolded the fabric in her hands. “Look, a state-of-the-art bulletproof vest. It’s very thin, and the impact it can withstand is also very high.”
She flipped over the shoulder of the vest. “There’s a tracker here. It’s detachable, so you can carry it with you, making it easy to find your location. Li Jing and I both have the display. And this is an alarm button. If you press it with your finger, it will send an alert to our displays.”
Lin Sifei stood to the side with a sullen face, watching her passionately introduce the various functions of the bulletproof vest in her hands.
She reached out and poked Luo Ke’s waist.
Luo Ke turned around in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“So this is the gift you were talking about.” She reached out and thumped the vest. “It’s so ugly.”
Seeing her disdainful expression, Luo Ke was a bit flustered, as if her hands and feet had no place to be put3. “Then should I find a designer to sew something pretty on the outside? This is mainly for practicality.”
“How is this practical? It’s not like I’m filming in some forest of guns and rain of bullets4.” Lin Sifei flung her hand and sat down on the sofa.
Luo Ke placed the bulletproof vest on the coffee table and sat down beside her. She reached out, took Lin Sifei’s hand, and lowered her head, taking a deep breath. “Lately, I keep having the same nightmare, over and over. I dream that something happens to you.”
“Something happens to me?” Lin Sifei frowned. “You’re probably just too worried about me. It’s only a dream.”
“No.” Luo Ke’s grip on her hand tightened. “Before, I could tell myself it was just a dream. But after meeting you, dreams are no longer just dreams. We can meet in our dreams. I have a feeling that those dreams are trying to tell me something.”
Lin Sifei bit her lower lip. Could it really be a precognitive dream?5 After all, transmigrating into a book had already happened, so having a precognitive dream wasn’t such a big deal.
She squeezed Luo Ke’s hand back. “You don’t have to worry too much. I’ll be careful. You’ve arranged so many bodyguards for me now, what is there to be afraid of?”
“I’m scared… I’m scared…” Luo Ke looked at her. “I’m scared that those things can’t be changed.”
Lin Sifei looked into her eyes, which reflected her own face.
She smiled and reached up to caress her face. She understood what Luo Ke was worried about. Just as she had previously worried that the plot of the book was unchangeable, Luo Ke was now worried that her precognitive dreams were unchangeable.
But Lin Sifei didn’t believe it couldn’t be changed. The very foundation of this world could be altered, so the fate of an outsider like her should be even easier to change.
She leaned in and kissed Luo Ke on the lips. “I’ll wear it properly. Of course I have to wear the clothes my President Luo prepared for me.”
Although Luo Ke was worried about her, Lin Sifei went to film as usual.
That night, Luo Ke told her the specific details of the dream, and it turned out to involve relatives of the Luo family. Lin Sifei immediately recalled what Li Jing had said. After telling Luo Ke, she actually felt a little more at ease.
“No matter what happens during filming, you must stay with Li Jing.”
With Luo Ke’s admonition in mind, Lin Sifei wore the bulletproof vest to the set. Fortunately, the scenes in the drama were set in late autumn, and her character wore a jacket, so it wasn’t very noticeable.
No matter how thin the vest was, it was still hot. Lin Sifei was constantly sweating, and the makeup artist had to touch up her makeup several times.
“It’s not even that hot today. How come Sifei is sweating so much? Did you not rest well? Are you feeling a bit weak?”
“No, no, I’m just feeling a little restless today, so I’m sweating more,” Lin Sifei said with a smile, brushing it off.
A group of people were chatting and laughing. Not far away, the set crew was preparing props. There was a falling scene coming up, and for safety, Director Chen insisted on using a wire harness6. Anyway, he wasn’t short on money now, so he could afford to be lavish.
Once the wire harness was ready, Lin Sifei had the props master help her put it on. The moment he touched her, he could feel there was another layer underneath. He gave Lin Sifei a strange look.
Lin Sifei flashed an innocent and harmless smile, and the props master didn’t ask any more questions. It’s her private business, after all, and an extra layer would make it harder to get injured.
Lin Sifei gradually walked onto the platform. She was already used to wire-work and felt no discomfort. On the contrary, everyone else thought it was her first time and stood by, giving her instructions, worried she might get hurt.
She nodded at each of them, stretched her arms and legs, and looked toward Director Chen.
Director Chen raised his hand, signaling for the others to clear the area.
She was the only one left on the platform. Lin Sifei took a deep breath, composed herself, and acted out an accidental fall.
An actor’s fall had to convey terror while maintaining a sense of aesthetic control over their expression.
The platform wasn’t very high, and there were mats below. Lin Sifei was very relaxed, feeling the pull of the wire harness on her waist. Suddenly, she felt the harness go slack, and her entire body plunged downward.
“Huh?” Lin Sifei was still in a daze.
With a thump, Lin Sifei landed heavily on the mats.
“Are you okay?”
“Miss Lin, are you all right?”
The fall hurt a little, but she wasn’t really injured. She pushed herself up. A crowd of people had gathered around her. She smiled and waved her hand. “I’m fine.”
She was helped to her feet and twisted her waist. “See? Not a scratch. This place isn’t that high.”
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Li Jing!” a voice called from above.
Lin Sifei and Li Jing both looked up. Standing above was one of the new bodyguards, holding the steel wire from the harness. “There are cut marks on this.”
Li Jing’s brow furrowed. She rushed up, taking three steps as two7, and inspected the wire. She shouted down, “Take Miss Lin to the lounge first. Everyone else, please don’t move around. We need to call the police and investigate. We hope for your cooperation.”
Hearing that the wire had been cut, everyone grew a little panicked.
Director Chen’s expression wasn’t good either. Not only would this affect the filming schedule, but news of such an incident getting out would cause who knows what kind of scandal.
Lin Sifei’s face was also grim as she was escorted forward by the bodyguards.
Because of what had just happened, a large crowd had gathered, and it took some time for them to disperse.
“AH!” a woman not far away suddenly screamed.
Everyone’s attention was drawn over, and even the bodyguards immediately looked over with vigilance.
Almost simultaneously, a cold glint of light flashed as a knife slashed toward Lin Sifei.
Lin Sifei’s eyes widened in terror. The bodyguard beside her reacted instantly, delivering a roundhouse kick to the assailant’s side and sending the person flying.
The fruit knife flipped twice in the air before clattering to the ground.
Lin Sifei instinctively reached out to cover her stomach. When she moved her hand away, she found a slit cut through her clothes, revealing the bulletproof vest underneath.
Lin Sifei let out a long sigh of relief. Her fingers touched the vest, and remembering Luo Ke’s worried face, she smiled with the feeling of having life remaining after a calamity.8
“After him!”
Lin Sifei looked over at the sound. The person who had just been kicked had surprisingly scrambled up and started running. That kick had been so heavy, yet it didn’t seem to affect his speed at all.
Two of the bodyguards beside her split off to give chase.
“Miss Lin, let’s go to the lounge first.”
Lin Sifei nodded and trotted to the door of the lounge.
“Xiao Xiao!” Luo Ke strode up to her. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” Lin Sifei smiled and hugged her. “Why did you come here?”
“I was uneasy. I just felt like I couldn’t rest easy without seeing you.”
Lin Sifei smiled and smoothed her brow, not letting her frown. “I’m perfectly fine. The bodyguards you arranged and the bulletproof vest—they all came in handy.”
Luo Ke managed a smile. “Let’s go into the lounge first, in case someone else tries to rush you.”
Lin Sifei nodded and followed her through the door. The bodyguards checked the room, and only after confirming no one was hiding did they step outside.
No longer needing to restrain herself, Lin Sifei threw herself into Luo Ke’s arms. “That was terrifying.”
Luo Ke patted her on the back. “Thank goodness you’re okay. Once we catch the person, I’m going to find out who’s behind this.”
“You already suspect the Luo family, don’t you?”
Luo Ke glanced at her and nodded. “But I don’t have any evidence yet.”
“Once they catch that guy, he’ll definitely confess. The person behind him won’t be able to get away.” Lin Sifei made a fist and punched angrily at the air.
Luo Ke, however, wasn’t as optimistic. The person who hired him must have paid him. If he got caught and took the blame, he would still get the money. If he confessed, not only would he lose the money, but he would also face retaliation.
The choice was clear at a single glance.9
“What’s that smell?” Lin Sifei’s nose twitched a couple of times.
After becoming a cat, her sense of smell had become much sharper. Even in human form, she was more sensitive than ordinary people. This smell was a bit familiar, but also slightly off, a strange mixture.
She couldn’t help but sneeze and rub her nose.
“A smell?” Luo Ke looked around but didn’t see anything that could be causing her sensitivity.
“It smells weird.” Lin Sifei felt a little uneasy. “Luo Ke, I think we should get out of here.”
Luo Ke looked at her, frowned, and nodded.
She put an arm around her and walked quickly toward the door. As she pressed the handle, Luo Ke suddenly smelled gunpowder. Her pupils contracted.
“Xiao Xiao, RUN!”
Lin Sifei was still in a daze when Luo Ke’s entire body lunged at her.
She was completely enveloped in Luo Ke’s embrace, unable to see anything. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but Luo Ke was pressing her head down too forcefully.
Boom! The sound was accompanied by a wave of heat that swept over them.
Lin Sifei shut her eyes in terror and clung tightly to Luo Ke. She felt herself and Luo Ke being lifted into the air before crashing to the ground.
She was completely stunned. She could feel the heavy weight of Luo Ke’s body pressing down on her. Luo Ke never pressed on her like this, afraid of making her uncomfortable.
Lin Sifei opened her mouth, struggling to take a breath. She held onto Luo Ke. “Luo Ke! Luo Ke!”
There was no response.
Lin Sifei kept calling her name, tears streaming down from the corners of her eyes.
“LUO KE!”
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