Red lights flashed simultaneously from all four corners of the room as a piercing alarm blared like a scene straight out of a B-list disaster movie. My eyes widened in horror, my breathing coming in short, ragged gasps.

“What is this?”

Feng Yan remained leaned against the doorway, his face cloaked in shadows, his voice devoid of all warmth.

“You want me dead that badly? Fine. Then we die together.”

He gestured toward a metallic silver box mounted on the wall, where bright red digital numbers were madly ticking down.

“This room was built to protect people. Today, it’s taking on a new job: murder. In one hour, the bomb goes off.”

My face drained of all color. I stammered his name, trembling. “Feng Yan…”

“Don’t worry,” he said, his composure downright infuriating. “I’ll see you in Hell.”

Panicking, I rushed forward to grab the hem of his jacket, but he coldly dodged my touch. Driven into absolute desperation, I blurted out, “Feng Yan, we have a baby…”

He merely cast a icy, indifferent glance my way, his eyes terrifyingly hollow. Stepping back into the hallway, he snapped the key in the lock right before my eyes.

The sound of shattering metal chilled me far more than the ticking countdown. The heavy door slammed shut, severing me from his solitary figure.

There was zero cell service inside. I stumbled around the room searching for an exit, but the space was sealed shut like a sardine can designed by Satan himself. No windows, no cracks—even a cockroach would give up in despair. To make matters infinitely worse, the steady rhythm of the countdown began echoing off the walls: Tick… Tick… Tick…

I really hadn’t expected Feng Yan to pull a stunt this massive. This was the literal definition of waiting around to die.

I lost track of time, but eventually, violent vibrations rumbled down from the ground above. It sounded like a massive explosion had just rocked the floor above us. A few moments later, Cheng Quagga’s voice cut through the basement, shouting over the alarm.

“Su Tri Du!”

I threw myself against the door, screaming at the top of my lungs, “I’m in here!”

“Where’s the key?!”

“Feng Yan broke it! And there’s a bomb in here—get out of here, run!”

“A bomb?!” Quagga’s voice trembled so violently I thought she was about to burst into tears on the spot.

Heavy thuds slammed against the door. I fired off questions in a panic. “Where’s Feng Yan?”

“He ran off!” she shrieked. “I blew up your backyard and saw him butcher Su Jing’an’s men before tossing their bodies into the fire! Tri Du, his tail is horrifying! It’s almost two stories tall—one swipe of that thing blew away the entire squad!”

I choked on my breath for a second before letting out a tearful, incredulous laugh. “Are you describing a reptile version of Godzilla?”

Quagga was in no mood for jokes. Her voice cracked. “How much time is left?”

“Five minutes.”

Dead silence fell over the other side of the door. I could easily picture her clutching her head, her sanity crumbling like a stale cracker.

“I don’t know how to pick a lock! And I don’t know how to disarm a bomb!” she sobbed.

I let out a long sigh, trying to sound calm to comfort my friend. “If Feng Yan set his mind on locking someone in, even professional safecrackers would just stand around scratching their heads. Just run. I’m leaving my cats, dogs, fish, and birds to you. The charity foundation, too.”

I paused, sniffling softly. “Besides, human life is just the larval stage of the soul anyway. Consider this me ‘maturing’ into a ghost.”

“I swear to God, I can’t with you right now!” Quagga sobbed and swore all at once.

“Three minutes left,” I reminded her.

“I don’t want to lose you!”

“What are you crying for?! We’re all gonna end up in the underworld sooner or later anyway. I’m going down there broke, so make sure you burn plenty of hell bank notes for me. Otherwise, when your turn comes, we’re both gonna end up sleeping under a bridge in the afterlife!”

Quagga burst into a chaotic mix of crying and laughing. “Fine! I’ll burn you a whole harem of hot guys!”

“You really are my soulmate!” I snapped back to full alertness.

“Two minutes!” Her panicked footsteps retreated down the hall, her scream echoing back: “Su Tri Du! Don’t you dare forget me when you’re a ghost!”

As her footsteps faded into the distance, the room fell back into the cold, rhythmic hum of the countdown. A sudden sting pricked the back of my nose. Damn it all, Feng Yan. I actually loved you. Did you really have to be this heartless? I’d rather you just bit me to death in one go than leave me sitting here dying of sheer terror.

I curled up on the floor, closing my eyes tight. Looking back… if the System had never shown up, if I had never met Feng Yan… I probably would have been forced into a marriage with some rich old creep by now. At least in this tangled web of lies, Feng Yan had genuinely loved me at some point. It was just that his love language resembled a survival horror movie.

I waited and waited, but no explosion came. Just as I started questioning whether the bomb was some cheap knockoff bargain buy—Click.

The silver box popped open. A vibrant, velvety red rose bloomed from within.

Then, the box began playing a soft English love song—recorded in Feng Yan’s own deep, resonant voice. Goosebumps erupted across my skin. Hearing a snake demon sing a love ballad was vastly more terrifying than an actual bomb going off.

I cautiously shuffled forward. Inside the box, alongside the rose, sat a necklace adorned with a gemstone named “Priceless Angel.” Beside it lay two thick stacks of letters addressed to the same recipient: Su Tri Du.

I pulled out a random letter. The heading read: [Happy 200th Birthday].

I blinked, thoroughly stunned. Two hundred years old?

As I read the very first sentence, my mind went completely numb.

Dried teardrops stained the paper. Reading those words, a sharp, searing pain stabbed through my heart. You idiot… none of this was your fault. Why do you always take all the blame on yourself?

Ancient, buried memories suddenly surged back like a breaking dam.

Many, many centuries ago, I was the one who picked Feng Yan up and brought him home. Back then, he was just a tiny, dying snake. I had been deathly afraid of snakes since early childhood and initially tried to run away, but the little creature suddenly opened its mouth and spoke: “I am a dragon.”

I was only ten years old at the time, naive enough to believe him instantly. My father had sold me off to bandits for three measures of grain, but I managed to escape into the mountains, where I stumbled upon this “fake dragon.” A girl and a snake, leaning on each other to survive.

Later, my younger brother fell ill with a strange disease, his entire body covered in festering sores. I begged Feng Yan to save him. He bit my brother once, and by the next day, the boy was completely cured. That was the moment the Su clan first set their greedy eyes on us.

Back then, I wanted to learn woodcarving but couldn’t afford a knife. Feng Yan loved calligraphy, but only owned a single, frayed brush. We were so dirt-poor that we had to take turns eating porridge.

It was right around that time that my father reappeared, feigning deep remorse. He handed me a small pouch of coins. I took every last cent of that money, combined it with the earnings from selling my only carving knife, and bought Feng Yan the finest set of writing brushes and inkstones.

The moment I returned home, however, I fell horribly ill. Festering sores erupted across my skin, racking me with unbearable pain.

Panic-stricken, Feng Yan sold the pigsty he had built with his own two hands to buy me a new set of carving knives. Then, he bit me, transferring his blood into my veins—just as he had done to save my brother.

What he didn’t know was that the drink my father had given me was a specialized poison designed to slaughter demons. There was no cure.

The more blood he poured into me, the deeper the poison seeped into us both…