Alone, Beautifully – Chapter 148

by Little Panda

Just Like the First Meeting (5)

Clean up the bad man.

Footsteps got closer to the door.

Xu Jiao’s attention was all on receiving the system’s memory. The process of receiving memory takes just a moment, but understanding it takes more time. She only briefly recalled, and the thoughts in her mind were all those disgusting, sickening things.

A key was inserted into the door lock, someone pressed the door handle—

Right after, the solid dark wooden door made a slight sound, and a tall figure appeared behind the door that was already open. Xu Jiao’s eyes met Xu Hankai’s.

The man was obviously startled by this death stare.

In the past, when he went out, Xu Jiao would always be in a corner at home, either watching the little train or playing with building blocks. When she heard the door open, she would get a bit startled and throw the things in her hands, but nothing much more. This was because the child never paid attention to people around her and rarely responded. So, until now, Xu Hankai only just noticed that Xu Jiao’s eyes were surprisingly so dark, her gaze lifeless and, at first glance, a bit creepy.

The smile on his face instinctively stiffened.

His heart also skipped a beat reflexively.

Before the door was even closed, his gentle voice had already reached inside: “Jiaojiao, Daddy is back.”

Xu Jiao did not move at all.

Xu Hankai’s steps seemed to be fixed in place, and after a while, he didn’t know what came to his mind, so he moved aside a little. Fortunately, Xu Jiao did not follow his movement and shift her gaze; she continued looking in the original direction, lost in thought. Seeing her like this, Xu Hankai instinctively felt a sense of relief in his heart.

She startled him.

That dead child’s gaze just now was like a ghost’s, making cold sweat drip down his back. He almost thought that the things he had done before were discovered, but then he recalled and felt it was unlikely. (In Chinese culture, referring to someone as “dead child” can imply frustration or disappointment, often used by adults when a child behaves in an unexpected or troubling way.)

The doctor’s words from last time still echoed in his ears, and the diagnosis report was still in the drawer of the room. This dead child’s illness could only get worse, developing towards madness, and hoping for a cure was simply wishful thinking.

He closed the door outside the living room.

With the soft closing sound, the air between the hallway and the room suddenly became still, creating an inexplicably strange atmosphere that gave a sense of fear, as if being confined.

But Xu Jiao was not afraid at all.

She even had the leisure to maintain her wooden figure posture, staring at the door of the house, sorting out her memories—

Xu Hankai had always been very secretive.

Because of the trust in him, there had never been any cameras installed at home. Plus, Xu Jiao’s mother was worried about personal information leaking in these times, so she was also against installing cameras at home, and this matter was never put on the agenda.

But Xu Jiao’s mother was not without precautions at the beginning.

When she was young, there was a nanny at home. To some extent, the nanny and Xu Hankai were watching each other.

Xu Hankai sensed this wariness. He had a very nice-looking face, but inside he was sensitive and suspicious, thinking that women in the world were not good. He believed the only thing he lacked compared to these so-called successful women was power. Moreover, he thought women were foolish, and as long as he beckoned, there was no woman he couldn’t win over.

Sure enough, as long as he showed a little of his caring and attentive side, Xu Jiao’s mother, who bore the burden of a child like Xu Jiao and faced great work pressure, started to rely on him.

At that time, he simply disliked the child, seeing her as a burden. He had seen the effort Xu Jiao’s mother put into her and believed that as long as Xu Jiao was there, this woman couldn’t have his own child. How could that be allowed?

He started to tamper with the things the nanny prepared for Xu Jiao.

First, it was a new baby outfit.

A needle was hidden inside.

After Xu Jiao wore it, she cried loudly. The nanny didn’t understand why and could only hold and comfort her. By the time Xu Jiao’s mother noticed, there were already some blood spots on the back of Xu Jiao’s neck. Upon hearing the news, Xu Jiao’s mother scolded the nanny and, because it was a new outfit, went to the store to argue. However, the store didn’t admit there was a problem with their product, and the nanny didn’t admit to being careless in checking. In the end, Xu Jiao’s mother, frustrated, dismissed the nanny and got a new one.

With the second nanny, while taking care of Xu Jiao, Xu Hankai secretly mixed hot water into the formula Xu Jiao drank. At that time, the nanny had taken Xu Jiao out and thought that she had already tested the temperature in the thermos before leaving, so she fed the child directly. Who knew that halfway through, the cup was knocked over, scalding Xu Jiao’s hand.

Her loud crying could be heard throughout the whole park.

After several nannies failed to take good care of the child, Xu Jiao’s mother was somewhat annoyed. Xu Hankai had previously only watched from the sidelines and didn’t really get involved in taking care of the child. One night, when Xu Jiao’s mother couldn’t sleep and was quietly upset because the child was crying, he suddenly suggested:

“Why don’t I take care of Jiaojiao?”

“Those nannies are outsiders after all. How can they possibly take good care of the child? If you’re not at ease, I can be supervised. You see the results in half a month. If it’s good, you don’t need to hire a nanny. Leave the child to me. This way, you can save some money, and your work pressure won’t be so high.”

Xu Jiao’s mother was moved by his considerate words and, with some doubt, let him try. She found that he took care of the child even better than she did. After all, there was one time when she was holding the child, and because of Xu Jiao’s sudden movement, her arm didn’t have enough strength, causing Xu Jiao to fall to the ground.

That was the time Xu Jiao’s mother regretted the most.

But the good times didn’t last long. Not long after Xu Hankai took over caring for the child, Xu Jiao was diagnosed with signs of autism. Although she was at the age to speak, she didn’t want to talk and would suddenly become irritable, showing tendencies to harm herself.

Because of this, Xu Jiao’s mother covered all the table corners in the house and added a layer of sponge-like material to the walls. This could absorb sound and prevent Xu Jiao from suddenly hitting the wall.

Even the toys were carefully selected.

But even after replacing all the tables in the house with plastic toy tables, which inconvenienced Xu Jiao’s mother and Xu Hankai during meals, their efforts still fell short. Xu Jiao would suddenly scream, unwilling to tolerate any change in her surroundings, becoming extremely sensitive otherwise. She also refused to go out and couldn’t meet strangers.

Because of this, Xu Jiao’s mother reduced her social activities as much as possible. Even when she had to engage in them, she would keep these interactions outside the home. As soon as she returned home, she would patiently sit beside Xu Jiao and talk with her for a while.

However…

Later, Xu Jiao couldn’t even tolerate having family members sit next to her.

Xu Jiao’s mother was heartbroken.

She didn’t know that all of this was caused by Xu Hankai.

This man’s methods became more cruel each time.

He initially expressed the world’s malice to Xu Jiao with words. He often used the patience, detail, and gentle voice as instructed by the doctor. While Xu Jiao was immersed in her own world, he would sit beside her for an entire afternoon. Then, he would softly say in a storytelling tone:

“Xu Jiao, why aren’t you dead yet?”

“Do you know how stupid that woman is? To give birth to an idiot like you and not just strangle you at birth, but instead go through the trouble of keeping you alive in this world? You are your mother’s burden, a nuisance, a load, trash.”

“Oh, you probably don’t understand words like that about that woman, right? Let me tell you, your mom is a whore.”

“Guess when she’ll discover my true face? She’s so stupid that she doesn’t mind any good-looking man, especially bad ones, and she’s so stingy with someone like me who tirelessly takes care of her family’s trash. What do you think, if you die, would she be so heartbroken that she’d follow you and leave all her property to me?”

Children are most sensitive to emotions.

Even if Xu Jiao couldn’t understand the content of Xu Hankai’s words, she could still fully feel the malice in his smiling tone. Xu Hankai not only insulted her himself but also mixed her mother’s voice with unpleasant insults from TV dramas using electronic synthesis, playing them on his phone for Xu Jiao to hear now and then. This made her reject even her mother’s voice.

But no one knew the reason.

Everyone just thought that this sensitive, mute-like autistic child was getting worse.

But even this did not satisfy Xu Hankai.

Releasing his malice towards Xu Jiao and her family through words wasn’t enough for him. Faced with such an easily overwhelmed, screaming child with a pretty face, he couldn’t hide the darkness inside him.

When Xu Jiao hit her head on the floor due to her condition, he would smile with great joy, clapping as if he were enjoying a performance. But he rarely allowed himself to enjoy it fully. To prevent Xu Jiao’s mother from noticing anything, after hearing a few thuds, he would grab Xu Jiao’s hair and drag her to the wall, forcefully banging her head against it, saying slowly:

“What a pity, that b*tch changed all the walls in the house.”

“There’s no sound at all like this; it’s boring. But you never disappoint me. Scream louder, sweetheart. That’s what motivates me to continue.”

Only when Xu Jiao’s screams grew hoarse would he reluctantly stop, then ask as if talking to himself: “What do you think? A strong child like you wouldn’t easily have a concussion just because of your dad’s slip-up, right? You wouldn’t, would you?”

After each such indulgence, he would calm down for a while.

He would stop using his hands.

But when he did resort to violence again, each time was more ruthless than the last. He liked to use words to force the child to run away, leading her to the bookshelf, watching as Xu Jiao knocked it down while he caught it in time, only to hear the heavy books fall one by one onto the child:

“One, two, three… oh, only six books this time. That’s not good, Jiaojiao. Daddy won’t be happy like this.”

He would also secretly put flavors Xu Jiao hated most into her food, like bitter or spicy tastes, enjoying building his happiness on the child’s suffering.

As Xu Jiao’s condition gradually worsened—

Ye Zhen appeared.

She lived at the end of the hallway, and her bedroom window faced the direction of Xu Jiao’s family’s window. Through a very small gap, she could see the scene outside. She accidentally witnessed Xu Hankai’s violence.

She wanted to save that child.

At this time, Xu Jiao’s mother, because of Xu Jiao’s worsening condition, temporarily took a break from work to stay at home with her. She tried everything to get the child to be close to her, but nothing worked. Finally, following advice, she bought a small animal to keep Xu Jiao company.

She bought Xu Jiao a puppy.

It was around this time that Ye Zhen visited.

Since Xu Jiao’s mother’s business happened to deal with some of Ye Zhen’s family’s enterprises, her attitude towards Ye Zhen was quite good. However, when she first realized that Ye Zhen was a neighbor and had come to visit, she showed a somewhat troubled expression.

At that time, Xu Jiao naturally resisted Ye Zhen’s approach.

However, Ye Zhen never offended her.

She always carefully approached Xu Jiao, maintaining a distance that was close enough for Xu Jiao to accept but not too far, speaking to her with a friendly smile. Xu Jiao’s mother noticed that Xu Jiao did not reject Ye Zhen’s voice.

But just like before, Xu Jiao remained motionless.

Because Xu Jiao’s mother was also at home, Xu Hankai couldn’t act as recklessly as before. He could only watch as Xu Jiao went through a period of stability. During this time, Ye Zhen’s relationship with Xu Jiao warmed up one-sidedly, and later she was even able to take Xu Jiao out for short periods. As long as the puppy was with them, Xu Jiao could stay at Ye Zhen’s home for a while without making a fuss.

Ye Zhen was not foolish.

Revealing Xu Hankai’s true nature rashly, as a girl just turned twenty, she was no match for an adult man. With someone as twisted as Xu Hankai, no one knew what he might do.

She could only be as kind as possible to Xu Jiao within her means.

But the good times ended quickly.

Xu Hankai extended his cruelty to the animal.

One night, he opened the balcony door and threw Xu Jiao’s puppy from the building, watching as the dog died on the roadside.

When Ye Zhen learned of this news, she visited Xu’s family, her eyes wary of Xu Hankai. Yet, she never found evidence of his crimes. She could only find excuses to take Xu Jiao to her own home as much as possible, to prevent him from harming her again.

Xu Jiao’s mother, however, remained unaware of the truth.

She saw Xu Jiao gradually getting better and began to think about returning to work, as she had a very strong career ambition. From her past failed marriage, she understood that only by becoming stronger herself could she protect those she wanted to protect.

Later.

In the first week of Xu Jiao’s mother returning to work—

Ye Zhen happened to visit Xu’s home. She heard some small noises inside the door, knowing the house had good soundproofing. She could only keep knocking on the door, warning Xu Hankai. Xu Hankai, mindful of neighborly relations and not having yet taken all of Xu Jiao’s mother’s money, naturally acted very well, opening the door to invite her in.

Ye Zhen warned him to be honest and well-behaved, or she would expose his actions to the world.

Panicking, Xu Hankai, driven by his repressed twisted nature, was provoked by her words. He raised his hand to strangle her, pinning her by the window, warning her to behave. Ye Zhen, unwilling to be controlled by him, reached for an empty clay pot by the window and struck his head with it. In pain and anger, Xu Hankai pushed her out.

“What should I feed you today, little b*tch? Hmm?”

Xu Hankai, in a very good mood, went back into the room to change his clothes, throwing all the evidence of his affairs into the washing machine. He came out feeling good, using his usual gentle voice to say the most venomous words.

Xu Jiao slowly turned to look at him.

Xu Hankai’s heart skipped a beat for a second.

Could it be that Xu Jiao could understand his words now?

Xu Jiao looked at him calmly—

A few seconds later.

A soft “thud” sounded as his head hit the carpet near the table.

Xu Hankai lay there motionless, as if he had fainted.

A voice from the system echoed in Xu Jiao’s mind: “Huh? The spiritual energy in this world is very weak. How did you do it?”

Xu Jiao raised her hand and slowly yawned, deciding to check the kitchen for something to reward herself with. Meanwhile, she leisurely answered the system in her mind: “It’s not about me having spiritual energy. It’s just unfortunate for the living beings around.” (In Chinese culture, there is a belief that all living things are interconnected and can be affected by shifts in spiritual energy or life force.)

As she spoke, she casually glanced back at the balcony to see the spider plant leaves that had fallen from someone’s home. They were once vibrant green but had now turned a nutrient-deprived yellow.

The system asked again: “Did you use spiritual energy to make him dream? Isn’t that letting him off too easily?”

Xu Jiao hadn’t heard such an emotionally charged statement from the system in a long time. She smiled at the words, “Is that so?”

Xu Hankai still didn’t know what had happened.

He stood there, realizing Xu Jiao just looked at him without any other action. For a moment, he couldn’t hold back and slapped the child on the head. Then, amidst the girl’s loud crying, he happily dragged her by the hair to the dining table.

He made Xu Jiao a bowl of rice mixed with bitter melon, and while listening to her cries, he picked up a spoon and stuffed spoonfuls into Xu Jiao’s mouth until her cries were silenced. Then he smiled: “Good girl, Daddy likes you best when you’re not talking.”

After that, he cheerfully picked up the fish from the bowl and put it in his mouth, chewing a few times before swallowing the delicious fish. However, his throat suddenly experienced sharp pain!

Xu Hankai, like a dying fish, desperately opened his mouth wide, trying to breathe, reaching to clear whatever was in his throat, only to helplessly find blood-mixed saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it hard with the back of his hand, got up in a panic, grabbed his keys, and ran towards the hospital.

Speeding all the way to the hospital, Xu Hankai was about to head to the emergency room when he ran into nurses and family members rushing past him with a critically ill patient on a stretcher. He was bumped, and the irritation and pain made him look like a trapped beast.

Hastily turning to look, he saw that the person on the stretcher was heavily bandaged, with their face obscured, and the bandages were soaked with blood. Unable to speak, Xu Hankai felt a bit relieved:

Just a dying ghost.

And an ugly dying ghost at that. If he were that poor soul, he’d rather commit suicide on the spot—what’s the point of living as a rescued cripple?

Thinking this way, he registered and directly rushed into the emergency room, brazenly cutting in line. The doctor, seeing the blood at the corner of his mouth and realizing the seriousness of his condition, said nothing and just let him lie on the hospital bed, then used instruments to check his mouth and remove the fish bone.

He breathed a sigh of relief, took the medicine, and headed home. As he walked out of the hospital, he deliberately brushed the dust off his clothes, thinking that he must avoid such an unlucky place next time.

At the same time, thinking of Xu Jiao at home, whom he had forced to eat the bitter melon rice earlier, a cruel smile appeared on his face.

He knew exactly what method to use to cheer himself up.

With this in mind, Xu Hankai stepped on the gas pedal, but ended up crashing into another vehicle. By a stroke of bad luck, the windshield shattered completely, and something fell on it. Almost unconscious because of the airbag, he felt things crackling and falling on his face, and then he was overwhelmed by terrifying pain.

This time, Xu Hankai was brought into the hospital lying down.

When he opened his eyes, his face was full of pain. Terrified, he raised his hand to touch it, but heard the doctor next to him say, “Don’t move. Your wound has just been bandaged. A glass shard almost pierced your eyeball, luckily—”

“But there are several deep wounds on your face, with torn muscles. You might need to consider cosmetic surgery to fully restore your original appearance. Alright, just focus on healing. Where are your family members?”

Xu Hankai: “…”

He fearfully touched the bandages on his face.

What does it mean that the wounds are quite deep, causing muscle tears? What does he look like now?

Without this face, would any rich women still be interested in him?

In fear, he spoke out, “Doctor, doctor, please check me again… help me… my face…”

His voice was hoarse.

But the doctor, after patiently calming him down, had to attend to other patients and couldn’t stay long, leaving him in his terror. His pleas, cries, and despair slowly turned into hysterical hatred.

“Quack doctors, it must be you who are incompetent! You are trying to ruin me, you don’t want me to get better at all!”

“Trash hospital!”

He angrily cursed for a long time. The doctors and nurses gradually became more formal and detached. His family didn’t have time to visit him and even asked him for money instead. The rich women, upon hearing that his face was injured, broke off contact with him. The only person who still cared was Mother Xu, but she had to stay with Xu Jiao and could only order meals for him over the phone and hire a caregiver.

Xu Hankai saw Mother Xu as his lifeline.

As long as this woman was willing to give him money, he could continue to survive. He slowly calmed down, waiting for the bandages on his face to be removed. Meanwhile, a patient with an injury to a private area was admitted to the bed next to him. From the doctor’s occasional words, he inferred something.

Thinking about how the man in the next bed couldn’t even function in that area, he strangely felt comforted. One time, when no one else was around and the family members had left, he spoke up:

“Man, you’re too pitiful—”

“Can’t even be a man. If I were you, I’d just switch and be a woman. After all, that’s better than being a eunuch.”

The person in the next bed cursed him angrily.

Laughing, he exchanged insults about each other’s parents with the other person. Just then, his caregiver returned, intending to help him to the bathroom. As he got out of bed and looked for his shoes, he accidentally knocked over the freshly filled kettle. The wooden stopper inexplicably fell off, and the scalding hot water poured over his waist and abdomen!

A wave of intense pain shot up from below, and he widened his eyes, screaming from his throat:

“Ahhhhh!”

His privates!

His family lineage’s lifeline!!!

“It’s not a dream; it’s a sea of evil.”

The system suddenly spoke again in Xu Jiao’s mind.

Xu Jiao knew it had a way to see everything in this world, so she didn’t hide anything from it. Humming a song, she cracked an egg, made a bowl of egg fried rice, and softly responded, “Yes.”

In the first world, Kunlun created this illusion to deal with malicious people. As long as someone harbored evil thoughts or spoke evil words within it, the illusion would retaliate, projecting those bad things back onto them.

Xu Jiao glanced at Xu Hankai, who was lying unconscious outside, and sincerely prayed for him: “I hope he can be a bit kinder.”

System: “…I thought you were joking.”

Xu Jiao shrugged, carefully scooping the fragrant egg fried rice out of the pan. Then she climbed down from the high stool and, while carrying her egg fried rice out the door, changed her prayer for Xu Hankai:

“Then I hope his pain nerves aren’t too sensitive, after all, judging by how he treated me before, he seems not to fear pain much.”

If someone truly feared pain, how could they inflict such hellish suffering on others?

If Xu Hankai isn’t very afraid of pain, then the illusion’s harm to him would be lessened. After all, the illusion is extremely realistic, especially one like this that resembles celestial magic. The experiences within it must be extremely lifelike, and if the person entering feels too immersed in the pain, the reflection of that pain in reality will be greater.

This is also why the illusion can kill people.

It creates hallucinations in a person’s mind, making them believe they are dead. Once the brain, the vital command center, is successfully fooled into accepting the fact of death, it shuts down. When the person in the illusion returns to reality, the same death occurs because they believe the illusion killed them, but in truth, they are killed by their own senses and brain.

Xu Jiao sat on a chair, feeding herself spoonfuls and filling her stomach.

Meanwhile, she smiled at Xu Hankai, who seemed to be sleeping, and said, “Keep going, you can do it.”

Being defeated so easily would be so boring, wouldn’t it?

Everything is just beginning.

Twenty minutes later.

Xu Hankai opened his eyes to see the ceiling of the living room.

He moved his fingertips, intending to get up, but discovered that his throat was in severe pain, preventing him from speaking. At the same time, the pain gradually spread to his cheeks, and his waist and abdomen were filled with intense pain, accompanied by an unbearable itch as if scalded by boiling water, making him wish he could peel off his skin.

He opened his mouth but could only make sounds: “Huh… huh…”

Help!

Help! Someone save him!

At that moment, Xu Jiao walked in front of him. She watched as knife-like cuts gradually appeared on the man’s face, with bright red color blooming from the wounds and dripping onto the floor. Meanwhile, there was wetness below him, spreading a pungent smell.

Xu Hankai desperately wanted to speak, calling for Jiaojiao, asking her to get someone, to call 120, to save him!

More sounds came from his throat, but only blood came out in gushes.

Xu Jiao just stared at him, her eyes calm, with no change in expression.

Xu Hankai was in such pain that he was delirious, without the strength to even raise his hand to hit her. Just when Xu Jiao thought he might die from the pain, suddenly, there was a knock on the living room door.

Ye Zhen recalled seeing Xu Hankai returning home through the peephole and couldn’t help but feel worried.

She stepped out of her door, feeling a bit guilty as she leaned against Xu Jiao’s front door, trying to hear any noise. However, there was nothing—no sounds of arguing or crying and screaming.

After patiently waiting for twenty minutes, she became restless, afraid she might miss something important, and hurriedly knocked on the door.

Regardless of whether it would reveal her identity, she couldn’t bear the thought of Xu Jiao being harmed!

The door opened quickly—

A child stood at the doorway, blinking black eyes at her.

Their eyes met, and both were a bit stunned.

Xu Jiao noticed the nervousness in her eyes that couldn’t be hidden, and a hint of doubt slowly rose in her heart.