After Failing to Reverse the Plot, I Made My Escape - Chapter 10

He endured the waves of pain radiating through his body as he walked toward the underground garage. The address Chang Tingzhi had left for him was quite far away. This was a villa district, and it was a considerable distance just to reach the estate’s exit. In his current condition, if he tried to walk out, he would likely collapse on the ground within half an hour.

Yu Fuqiu stumbled into the underground garage. He flicked on the lights and searched for a long time, but he could not find the car he was supposed to drive.

“Uncle Wu, have you been to the underground garage?”

Yu Fuqiu was not wearing much, and the garage was freezing. He shivered violently, his teeth chattering.

“Fuqiu,” Uncle Wu’s voice came through amidst a lot of background noise. “As for the garage, Mr. Chang went there this morning. I haven’t been down there.”

“Chang…” Yu Fuqiu’s voice faltered. The fingers gripping the phone curled inward slightly.

“If you need anything, you can call him at this number.”

Yu Fuqiu hung up. He soon received a message from Uncle Wu with the contact details.

Yu Fuqiu did not call that number immediately. Instead, he opened his pinned contacts. A thought he was most reluctant to face surfaced in his mind. He took a deep breath, and with trembling fingers, he dialed the number he knew by heart.

The familiar ringtone did not sound. Instead, a cold, female automated voice spoke: “We’re sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service.”

For a full minute, the cold voice repeated that sentence.

Yu Fuqiu’s breathing stopped.

This number had stayed with Chang Tingzhi for fifteen years. Ever since Yu Fuqiu had picked him up, Chang Tingzhi had insisted on having a phone number. He said it was the only way he could stay in contact with Yu Fuqiu.

At the time, Yu Fuqiu did not understand why a middle schooler needed a private number. He did not agree at first, simply assuming the boy wanted a phone to use data and play games.

That was until one day, he received a call from Chang Tingzhi’s homeroom teacher. The teacher asked him why, even though the parent-teacher conference had ended, he still had not picked Chang Tingzhi up.

A parent-teacher conference?

“Chang Tingzhi’s father, even if this is just one meeting, you never show up for these events. Little Tingzhi just sits there alone. It makes it easy for him to become withdrawn and unsociable. Is your work really that busy? Chang Tingzhi would not even give me your number. I had to find it in the parent records. You…”

“Te… Teacher!” Yu Fuqiu stammered. “Ting… Tingzhi, where is he now?”

“He is still at school.”

“I am sorry. It is my fault. I will not let it happen again.”

He did not have time to wait for the elevator. Gripping his phone, he ran straight down the stairs. He ran so fast that he tripped on the final step. His pants tore open at the hem, and his ankle twisted at a bizarre angle, but Yu Fuqiu did not care.

His heart hammered wildly in his chest. His mind was filled with the image of Chang Tingzhi’s lonely figure.

Chang Tingzhi was the “Protagonist-Gong” of this book. To create a “beautiful, tragic, and strong” character, the author had scripted that Chang Tingzhi was kidnapped at birth and sold to a frontier region.

That area was flooded with drugs. Every village made its fortune through them, or even through selling blood. Eight or nine out of ten people in those villages had AIDS, but they did not care about that; they only cared about making money.

Chang Tingzhi grew up in such an environment. Perhaps because his foster parents saw how handsome he was, they never let him touch the drugs so they could sell him for a high price. When he was seven, he was sold to a circus. That circus used “human physical deformities” as a gimmick to attract curious spectators.

At age ten, Chang Tingzhi was meant to have his limbs forcibly severed for a performance. He escaped, and in a rain-drenched alley, he met his god.

Yu Fuqiu knew Chang Tingzhi’s background. When he saw the wounded boy lying on the ground, a thought he had never had before took hold. His emotions, which had been numbed by medication and electric shocks for so long, suddenly stirred to life.

He held the boy in his arms and told him, “I will always be here.”

But now…

He had left Chang Tingzhi all alone at school.

Would Chang Tingzhi be disappointed in him?

Sitting alone in an empty classroom, watching every other student being picked up by their parents—how sad must he be?

A piercing pain dug into his bones. He ran to the school with everything he had.

When he arrived, the main gates were closed. Only a small side door remained open. Panting, he limped toward the entrance.

Then, he saw a scene that made his heart stop, a vision he would never be able to forget for the rest of his life.

At the massive, deserted school gate, amidst the brilliant but fading light of the dusk, a small figure in a blue school uniform was standing there, all alone.

It was Chang Tingzhi.

Chang Tingzhi did not cry or throw a fit. He just stood there quietly and persistently, his hands tightly gripping his backpack straps. He looked up slightly, his beautiful, dark eyes watching the corner at the end of the street without blinking.

That was the road that led to their home.

Every time a vehicle rounded that corner, the figure would subconsciously straighten up, a tiny light flickering in his eyes. But once he saw that it was not the person he was waiting for, that light would quickly dim. He pursed his lips and stubbornly kept his head turned toward that corner, watching it again and again.

The setting sun pulled his shadow very, very long across the cold ground, making him look so solitary and helpless.

Yu Fuqiu’s footsteps froze instantly. He felt pinned to the spot. A massive, invisible wave of panic swept over him like a tide. His throat felt blocked, and he could not make a sound.

This was not just a character in a novel.

For the first time in his life, Yu Fuqiu saw it clearly.

This was a living child standing before him, a child he had brought home and raised for three years, through elementary and into middle school.

He practically stumbled, using every ounce of strength he had to take one step after another toward that lonely figure.

“Tingzhi…”

His voice was hoarse, like the sound of rustling autumn leaves.

Chang Tingzhi turned around quietly. His narrow eyes looked at the newcomer coldly. Only after he recognized who it was did he let his guard down.

“I am sorry. I am late.”

“The teacher called me. I am sorry. I did not know today was the parent-teacher conference. I am sorry I came to pick you up so late.”

Fourteen-year-old Chang Tingzhi looked up at Yu Fuqiu, who was half a head taller than him. He looked at him intensely, as if trying to carve Yu Fuqiu into his very marrow. The expression on his face, however, felt strangely unfamiliar to Yu Fuqiu.

Then, Chang Tingzhi let go of his bag straps and buried his head in Yu Fuqiu’s chest, greedily inhaling his scent. “I could not find my way home.”

Because of the nature of his work, Yu Fuqiu had to move around constantly, and Chang Tingzhi had to transfer schools frequently. This was his first day at the new school; he did not recognize the way back.

Or perhaps, he did not know where his home was.

“I thought you did not want me either,” Chang Tingzhi murmured, hugging Yu Fuqiu even tighter. “The family before was like that too. They left me in a corner. I searched for a long, long time, but I could not find the way home.”

“I thought… I thought…”

Yu Fuqiu felt warm liquid dripping onto his neck. The child’s body was shaking, and his breathing was nearly erratic. “I am sorry. I will never leave you.”

“Even if the world collapses, I will not leave you.”

Yu Fuqiu placed a gentle kiss on his hair to comfort the crying child in his arms.

I will stay with you until the plot begins. Then, you will find your own happiness.

If I am not too greedy…

It should be okay if I am just a little bit greedy, right?

“I could not contact you, so I—”

Chang Tingzhi’s words were cut short as Yu Fuqiu hugged him tightly. He could feel Yu Fuqiu’s pain and guilt.

Tears fell from Yu Fuqiu’s eyes. His lips moved: “I will not leave again. I will never leave again.”

The body in his arms was trembling. Yu Fuqiu thought Chang Tingzhi was crying, so he held him even closer, planting soft kisses on his forehead.

He did not see Chang Tingzhi tilt his head. The eyes that should have been crying were open wide with an eerie intensity. A twisted smile spread across his lips, and his face was filled with a morbid sense of pleasure and fanaticism.

Indeed.

What his foster father said was right.

Only by using any means necessary can you grasp the things you want and keep them by your side.

It does not matter if the other person likes you or not.

Just pretend to be the version of yourself they like and keep them by your side.

If he is not obedient…

Chang Tingzhi narrowed his eyes.

He hated the way others looked at his “Dad.”

With greed and desire.

This was clearly his possession. Why did so many people dare to covet it?

It was all because “Dad” was too beautiful.

He was always going out and seducing others.

Ah, those eyes were so disgusting, so disgusting, so disgusting.

He really wanted to gouge out the eyes that looked at “Dad” and take them to the circus to use as balls for the juggling acts.

Dad, you must be obedient.

You must be very obedient.

Chang Tingzhi wrapped his arms around Yu Fuqiu’s waist. As his hands circled that slender waist, his eyes gradually darkened.

This kind of body can only be mine.

You can only be my exclusive, beautiful little slave.

Chang Tingzhi let out a faint sobbing sound from his throat, rubbing his head against Yu Fuqiu’s shoulder, while the smile on his lips continued to grow.

“Then you must stay by my side forever.”

“Adults have to keep their word.”

“Dad.”