The Beautiful Cannon Fodder Becomes The Heartthrob of the Dating Show - Chapter 33

Chapter 33: A Doll Without Breath

“I’m sorry, the number you have dialed is currently unavailable…”

Listening to the cold automated voice from his phone, an inexplicable surge of anxiety and unease welled up in Huo Yan’s heart, and the expression on his face gradually vanished.

“Xiao Yan, we are family after all. For the past ten years, your second aunt and I have treated you like our own flesh and blood. I won’t go so far as to say our kindness is as heavy as a mountain, but we’ve never treated you any worse than we treat Yun’er. No matter why you moved out this time, if there are difficulties, let’s lay them out and solve them together, okay? Your aunt and I are very worried about you…”

In front of him, the annoying voice continued to drone on incessantly.

Huo Yan’s face suddenly went cold. “Solve them together? So that I can hand Tingfang over to you with both hands?”

Huo’s Second Uncle’s voice came to an abrupt halt.

Huo Yan gripped his phone tightly, his sharp gaze piercing through Second Uncle. The words he spoke were no longer polite: “I still call you ‘Second Uncle’ today only because you are my father’s younger brother. I don’t want him to be disappointed, so many years after his death, by a brother who constantly covets his son’s property. But how can your skin be so thick? I have already moved out silently—why do you keep shamelessly forcing yourself upon me time and time again? Do you truly believe I have a good temper?”

Perhaps because too much time had passed, no one remembered that Huo Yan’s original temper wasn’t actually that good. Before the age of eighteen, he was cold and arrogant; he had severe mysophobia, disliked contact with others, and disdained social niceties. He lived in solitude, like a snow lotus on a high mountain—visible but unreachable. On the day of his eighteenth birthday, his parents died in a car accident, and he had to shoulder his father’s company alone. He abandoned his cold arrogance, endured his mysophobia to interact with people, and learned the hollow pleasantries he once despised, eventually becoming the gentle and humble business genius everyone saw.

These hidden fragments of his past were now fully ignited. The man seemed to have reverted to the cold, arrogant youth of his past.

“Starting from when I was twenty, you picked infertile Omegas for me. Once I have no heir, Huo Yun can logically take over Tingfang. Second Uncle and Aunt, your ‘kindness’ is indeed as heavy as a mountain.”

Huo Yan didn’t bother to control his volume. The gazes of the people around them shifted instantly.

The faces of the second uncle and aunt turned pale.

Huo Yan continued: “The other day at Jinghui Garden, I didn’t show up as scheduled, causing your subsequent arrangements to fail. You must have been very disappointed, weren’t you? Are you still in touch with Miss Sun? Do you need me to push her contact information to you?”

The man’s tall silhouette stood against the sunlight, an invisible pressure making it hard for the couple to breathe. They both took a step back, horror reflecting in each other’s eyes.

How does this monster know? Why does he know our plan?

“Wondering why I know your plan?” Huo Yan took a step toward them, his handsome face as cold as frost. His magnetic, deep voice dropped to a low whisper, like a demon murmuring in their ears: “Did you forget? I am a monster. There is nothing a monster doesn’t know, only things a monster doesn’t want to know.”

“Also, do not provoke a monster!”

The couple sucked in a breath, their bodies beginning to tremble. Yes, they had always known Huo Yan was a monster. How did they ever dare to plot against one? How could they have been naive enough to think they could succeed?

Monster, Huo Yan is a monster… We are facing a monster…

“Buzz— buzz—” A sudden incoming call broke the terrifying and suffocating atmosphere.

Huo Yan’s cold gaze slowly swept over the horrified couple as he warned: “Stay away from him.”

The couple jerked violently. He didn’t need to explain for them to know exactly who “he” was.

The man’s thin lips uttered one final word: “Get out!”

The couple felt as if they had been granted a divine pardon. They scrambled away, looking as though they wouldn’t dare approach him again for a long time.

“Buzz— buzz—”

Huo Yan withdrew his gaze. When he looked down and saw the familiar name of the caller, the frost in his eyes melted away instantly. He answered the phone: “Chu-bao…”

“Hello, am I speaking with ‘Yan-gege’?” The voice from the other end was completely foreign.

Huo Yan’s voice dropped sharply. “Who are you?”

The voice replied: “Hello, sir, this is the People’s Hospital. The owner of this phone has been in a car accident and is currently being resuscitated in the emergency room. Please come over as soon as possible…”

Huo Yan’s ears went deaf for a moment. Gripping the phone, he stood frozen in place, unable to react. The stranger’s voice continued on the line, but he felt as though he had been transported back ten years to his eighteenth birthday.

That day, he had just finished class. Before he even left the classroom, he received a call from the People’s Hospital.

“Hello, is this Huo Yan? Your parents have been in a car accident at XX Bridge. They are currently being resuscitated in the emergency room. Please come over as soon as possible…”

The notification was almost identical.

“Sir? Sir, are you still there?” The stranger’s voice on the other end grew slightly louder.

Huo Yan opened his mouth, his voice dry and trembling: “I’ll be right there.”

Just as he hung up, Huo Yan’s legs buckled. Secretary Shen, who had been following closely, reached out quickly to support him. “Boss?”

Huo Yan closed his eyes. “Go to the People’s Hospital.”

He didn’t notice that his hands were shaking or that his face was terrifyingly pale.

Secretary Shen looked at him with concern, opened his mouth to speak, but ultimately said nothing.

The black Maybach sped through red lights all the way to the People’s Hospital.

Huo Yan had calmed down by now—at least on the surface.

Someone was already waiting for him at the hospital. After confirming his identity, the doctor who had called led him to the area outside the resuscitation room.

“Mr. Huo, please rest assured, we will do our utmost to save him…”

Huo Yan couldn’t quite hear what the doctor was saying. He stared blankly at the red light above the resuscitation room, his eyes bloodshot.

Ten years ago, he had stood in this exact spot. His parents were inside being resuscitated. Less than half an hour later, they were wheeled out by a group of people, and the doctor announced to the family that the resuscitation had failed and the patients were deceased…

Even now, Huo Yan could not forget the doctor’s slightly weary voice, which had sounded exceptionally cold to his ears.

When his parents died, Huo Yan didn’t shed a single tear. Many people called him cold-blooded and heartless, but no one knew that he was simply lost at the time—the dazed confusion of suddenly losing both parents.

Until the funeral was over, he remained immersed in his own world. Later, when the lawyer announced the inheritance, he slowly snapped out of that state. Tingfang was the legacy his parents left behind; he had to carry it.

History proved he had succeeded. He managed Tingfang perfectly. After all these years, he had recovered from his parents’ sudden passing. Yet, it seemed Heaven couldn’t stand to see him doing well.

Surrounding him with the second uncle’s family was one thing, but now, after finally finding someone who treated him with a sincere heart…

He was left with only the boy now, so why…

Drip— A single tear slid down the corner of Huo Yan’s eye without him realizing it.

Secretary Shen arrived after finishing the paperwork just in time to see this scene, his pupils shrinking violently.

“Boss…”

Huo Yan didn’t move.

Secretary Shen’s chest felt tight. He silently handed over a handkerchief, his voice very soft: “Young Master Xu is a good person; Heaven will surely protect him. He will be fine.”

Huo Yan’s eyes moved. His husky voice sounded like he was comforting himself as much as answering: “Yes. He is so good, how could Heaven have the heart…”

Suddenly, the red light above the resuscitation room flickered and went out.

Huo Yan’s voice stopped abruptly. His clenched fists trembled slightly as his eyes fixed on the closed doors.

A moment later, the doors were opened from the inside.

Several doctors walked out in silence, followed by nurses pushing a bed. The atmosphere was oppressive.

Huo Yan’s gaze passed the doctors and landed on the bed behind them.

The person on the bed was covered with a white sheet.

Huo Yan closed his eyes. His hand trembled as he slowly lifted the sheet, and a familiar face came into view.

The boy’s eyes were tightly shut. The gorgeous tear mole beneath his eye looked like a withered rose that had lost its original luster. His beautiful, bloodless face was devoid of life, like a doll that had stopped breathing. He would never smile at him again, never call him ‘Yan-gege’, and never open those sparkling eyes to look at him expectantly…

Huo Yan slowly bowed his back, pressing his handsome face against the boy’s. Hot tears flowed silently in a steady stream. The doctor’s voice was announcing the time of death, but his whole world seemed to be muted. There was only the boy who would never breathe again.

Seeing this, the doctor stopped speaking.

Secretary Shen’s eyes also turned red. He was the person who had stayed by Huo Yan’s side the longest over the past ten years; no one knew Huo Yan’s highs and lows better than he did. Seeing Huo Yan fall in love had made him happier than anyone, but now…

How could Heaven be so cruel?

Secretary Shen couldn’t help but turn away to wipe his tears in secret.

“Chu-bao—!”

Father and Mother Xu arrived late. Upon seeing their son lying lifeless on the cold bed, their usually elegant and calm demeanor vanished.

Mother Xu’s heart-wrenching wails echoed through the hospital, while Father Xu stood beside her, weeping silently.

Three days later, Huo Yan watched with his own eyes as Xu Jingchu’s body was pushed into the cremation furnace. When it was over, a staff member handed him a white urn containing the ashes of his beloved Omega.

Mother Xu was held by Father Xu. The couple had lost a significant amount of weight over the past few days, and they looked exhausted.

Huo Yan seemed to have cried all his tears away at the hospital. Now, as he held the urn, his eyes were bloodshot but tearless. This once clean-cut and handsome man was now covered in stubble, still wearing the same clothes from three days ago.

Father Xu held Mother Xu with one hand and silently patted Huo Yan’s shoulder with the other.

They had seen the man’s suffering over the past few days. The sudden death of their son was a massive blow to them all.

Huo Yan hadn’t spoken much lately. His voice was very hoarse: “Chu-bao is my Omega. From now on, you are my parents.”

Mother Xu looked up at him with red eyes, but before she could speak, tears fell again.

Just then, two police officers walked toward them.

“Hello, are you the parents of Xu Jingchu?”

Father Xu nodded. “We are.”

The officer said: “It’s like this. Following our police investigation, your son Xu Jingchu’s car accident was not an accident. It was a case of premeditated murder.”