DINGDONG.
"Your China Construction Bank savings card ending in 1250 has received an income of 1,000,000,000.00 yuan..."
The text message alert sounded as a long string of numbers filled the phone screen.
Su Xuan already owned an ultra-five-star hotel and a car worth a hundred million yuan, so his mood hardly fluctuated upon seeing a billion yuan credited to his account. In fact, his aura remained somewhat melancholic.
That young lady seems a bit off!
Su Xuan looked up at Ye Qianqian's apartment building, a slight frown creasing his brow. Having delivered so many packages, he had met countless people and had grown adept at reading them.
Ye Qianqian's voice had sounded deeply sorrowful just now, and she had been extremely cautious when she asked who he was. Although she acted normal after opening the door, even a little lively, her beautiful large eyes betrayed an undeniable despair—a world-weary despair.
The package she received seemed to be...
Su Xuan recalled the item description on the package and said in a grave voice, "A utility knife!"
Some deliveries didn't conceal the type of item, allowing the delivery person to see it directly. Furthermore, the System had classified this seemingly ordinary delivery as a Super Delivery.
She isn't planning on taking her own life, is she?
Piecing all the clues together, Su Xuan felt a vague sense of unease. Immediately, he turned and ran back into the building, heading straight for Ye Qianqian's apartment.
THUMP!
THUMP!
THUMP!
Ye Qianqian's apartment door was shut tight and wouldn't open to his knocking.
"Ye Qianqian!" he shouted, thinking fast. "Open the door! The signature you gave was unclear. You need to sign it again!"
If Ye Qianqian hadn't yet gone through with it, she would surely open the door upon hearing his excuse.
DRIP-DROP!
DRIP-DROP!
Time slipped away like sand through an hourglass, but the door remained closed. There was still no sound from inside the apartment.
A sense of dread washed over Su Xuan, further confirming his suspicions.
Every second counted. Su Xuan backed up a few steps, his head turning towards the corridor window.
The 23rd floor. You could see the clouds floating past outside the window. It was frighteningly high.
Su Xuan stood by the corridor window, took a deep breath, and climbed out.
That's right. He was going to enter Ye Qianqian's apartment from the outside of the high-rise.
He grasped the crevices of the building's exterior and stepped on the protruding ledges, inching his way towards Ye Qianqian's balcony. He glanced down, and everything on the ground had shrunk to a tiny size, bringing on a spell of dizziness.
Whew!
So scary!
"Everyone, look! Something's happening!"
"Someone's climbing on the twenty-something floor!"
"Look at his clothes! He looks like a delivery guy!"
Several elderly people who were strolling downstairs suddenly spotted Su Xuan's figure. They craned their necks and pointed up at him, chattering amongst themselves.
"Why is he climbing on the outside?"
"Isn't he afraid of falling to his death?"
"Oh, you think he got caught having an affair?"
"That has to be it!"
"He was fooling around with someone's wife, her husband came home unexpectedly, and he had to hide outside the building..."
The crowd's imagination knew no bounds, and they quickly concocted a plausible explanation for Su Xuan's actions.
Suddenly, Su Xuan's foot slipped, and his body plunged downwards! It was because of the recent rain; the ledge he'd stepped on was coated in a layer of slick, green moss.
"He's going to fall to his death!"
"Everyone, stop looking!"
"Get back! You don't want to get splattered with blood!"
The onlookers shouted in alarm, scrambling backward. An elderly woman quickly covered her granddaughter's eyes, her voice trembling.
"Don't look!"
"Don't look!"
SNAP!
After falling more than a meter, Su Xuan luckily managed to grab onto the pipe of an outdoor air conditioning unit with just one hand.
The wind howled at this altitude. He hung there like a spider suspended in midair, swaying precariously. The scene made the onlookers hold their breath. They didn't want Su Xuan to die, at least not in their own apartment complex.
My strength... How did I get so strong?
In the howling wind, Su Xuan's forehead was beaded with cold sweat, but a look of amazement sparked in his eyes. In the past, his upper body strength had been so poor he couldn't even do many pull-ups. But now, as he held onto the air conditioning pipe with one hand, it not only felt easy, but it seemed he had strength to spare.
"Ding! The host's physique is enhanced with every reward received!" the System answered his unspoken question right on cue. "This provides the host with extraordinary self-preservation abilities, to protect himself and the rewards he has obtained!"
You're actually... pretty damn reliable!
Su Xuan's confidence surged. With a forceful tug of his arm, his body shot upward. Like a nimble ape, he climbed back to the spot where he had fallen. Then, he continued to move with the same simian grace, and after a few more effortless movements, he safely reached Ye Qianqian's balcony.
"Holy shit, that's incredible!"
"He's just like Spider-Man from the movies!"
"Exactly! It's astonishing. This delivery guy must have trained in kung fu!"
Su Xuan's amazing agility once again astounded the spectators. Many of them even captured the thrilling and perilous scene on their phones.
"This kid's skills... they remind me of my glorious days!" an old man remarked with admiration. He was dressed in an old army coat and green rubber shoes, carrying a bag full of vegetables, and happened to witness the scene as he passed by.
When he was young, he had defended the nation's borders, relying on his own exceptional skills to escape death time and time again. He didn't believe for a second that Su Xuan was caught fooling around with a woman. After all, Su Xuan had fallen and then climbed right back up. Clearly, there was more to the story.
Heh, another tough challenge for me!
Su Xuan perched outside Ye Qianqian's balcony and pursed his lips. The balcony window was shut tight. He pushed against it, but not a single pane would budge.
TAP! TAP!
Su Xuan tapped the window with his finger. The glass was not only thick but was also double-glazed for noise reduction.
My strength should be enough to shatter the double-glazed window with one punch, right?
Su Xuan took a deep breath, gripped a gap in the balcony with one hand, and clenched his other hand into a tight fist, smashing it toward the glass.
CRASH!
The double-glazed window shattered on impact.
A look of joy flashed across Su Xuan's face as he flipped over the railing and into Ye Qianqian's home.
The apartment was clean and quiet. Too quiet.
"Ye Qianqian, are you in here?"
Su Xuan searched two rooms but found no trace of her. Finally, he found her in the bathroom.
The sight that greeted him made him involuntarily narrow his eyes.
Ye Qianqian lay quietly in the bathtub, her long hair floating on the water's surface like a tragically beautiful flower blooming in silence—a blood-red flower. The water in the tub was a shocking, vivid crimson.
She really did it...
Su Xuan strode to the bathtub, lifted the drenched Ye Qianqian into his arms, and saw a deep gash on her wrist.
What in the world could have happened to make a beautiful young girl, in the prime of her youth, want to end her own precious life?
"Hold on!"
Su Xuan carried Ye Qianqian out of the bathroom. However, he didn't immediately take her downstairs to the hospital. Instead, he gently placed her on the living room sofa, then went into the kitchen and found a roll of plastic wrap. He used it to tightly bind the wound on her wrist.
Then, he ripped off the dripping-wet cartoon pajamas she was still wearing.
The stunning sight of her body was suddenly laid bare before his eyes...