After closing the door, Li Jiayu pressed her ear against it, confirming the man had gone, before clutching her heaving chest and sighing in relief.
She hid the handgun away. As she turned around, her eyes were suddenly seized by something inside the room—her pupils trembled.
"This is..."
On the desk lay a square slip of paper, inscribed with four words: "To Li Jiayu."
She sharply looked toward the pitch-black window. Other than the half-open window, she found nothing unusual.
If someone had secretly broken in, she should have been able to detect it. But then how had this slip of paper appeared?
Puzzled, she picked up the paper and unfolded it to read.
Suddenly, her whole body shuddered. Her gaze turned icy in an instant—and along with it, her entire aura became unfathomable.
Written inside were:
"Professor Li Jiayu, if you do not wish the truth—that you are the Anomalous source of recent human mutations on campus—to be exposed, please come to the abandoned factory on Longxi Road, East District, tomorrow at 6 PM for a discussion.
Surely you do not wish to lose your current life and reputation?
Remember—you must come alone."
...
The next day, windless and sunless, the weather was gloomy.
Early autumn's desolation arrived, driving away most of the summer heat.
Li Jiayu, dressed in a crisp teacher's uniform, carrying a large briefcase—her soft black hair tied in a high spiral bun, a pair of heavy black-rimmed glasses obscuring her charm—arrived at a vast factory complex.
It was very desolate here. Most of the factory buildings had been demolished. The concrete roads were pitted and cratered, covered in crushed stones. In the corners, several badly damaged trucks were parked, stained with moss and rotten mud, filthy—looking like they hadn't been touched in years.
The dilapidated, desolate abandoned factory grounds. The alluring, mature, coldly feminine uniform-clad beauty. Together, they composed a starkly contrasting yet eye-catching tableau.
Such a pity that no one was there to see it.
Li Jiayu raised the watch on her wrist and saw the hour hand pointing precisely at 6.
"I'm here."
Li Jiayu spoke softly, her voice carrying a mature charm.
At the same time, her gaze swept vigilantly toward every hidden corner around.
"Very good. You came without any tails. I knew the school lockdown couldn't stop you."
Abruptly, a clear male voice with a touch of magnetism rang out.
A man in a white dress shirt walked into Li Jiayu's field of view.
The newcomer had a handsome, clean-cut face with faint stubble, a tall and upright figure, and well-developed muscles—none other than Lin Binbin.
The man's clear eyes were calm as a lake's surface. His expression was natural, as if reuniting with an old friend after many years apart.
"Who are you?"
Seeing the other's face, a trace of confusion surfaced on Li Jiayu's features. Her memory held no recollection of this person.
Hearing this, Lin Binbin's lips curved into a cold sneer.
"Heh. Professor Li truly is one whose noble station makes her forgetful. Can the sins you once committed really be treated as though they never happened? No wonder heaven has cast misfortune upon you!" Lin Binbin's tone abruptly turned icy.
"As for that slander on the note—no one would believe it even if you told them. If you'll just sincerely apologize, I can choose to forgive you," Li Jiayu replied sharply.
At the same time, her hand quietly undid the clasp of her briefcase. Inside the bag was the handgun You Rui had given her.
Li Jiayu's small movements naturally did not escape Lin Binbin's notice, but he still kept speaking:
"Ten years ago. The Art Academy. The cross-year party at the East Suburb Villa."
"Ten years ago, you personally pushed me down into hell, trapping me in everyone's ridicule and curses, ruined my reputation, and even my family was..."
Lin Binbin gritted his teeth, each word squeezed out through clenched jaws.
"You are..."
Li Jiayu's lips suddenly trembled. She forgot to breathe. Her voice quavered: "Lin... Lin Binbin?"
"That's right—it's me." Lin Binbin took another step forward.
"Ten years. How many decades does a person have? I endured ten years without a single ray of light. The most precious time of this life—all squandered, all buried by your false accusation!"
"A-Are you here for revenge?" Li Jiayu stepped back, her face somewhat pale. The hand gripping the gun inside her bag tightened.
"Indeed."
Lin Binbin nodded slightly. "Originally, your crimes didn't warrant death. But your existence has become the source of Anomalous contamination on campus."
"You could have turned yourself in to the authorities. You chose not to. Therefore..."
"I intend to kill you. It can also count as a meritorious deed—preventing innocent people from being contaminated by you and undergoing mutation."
Facing Lin Binbin—who was slowly approaching, murder intent gleaming in his eyes—Li Jiayu's expression strangely recovered its calm. She said frankly: "To think it was an ordinary person like you who discovered my secret..."
She took a deep breath and said slowly: "Fine. Do it."
"Actually, ten years ago, after achieving my goal, I didn't feel the fulfillment I imagined. Instead, I began to question the meaning of everything I had done."
"All these years, I've been living in regret."
"But because of a single misguided thought, because of my cowardice, nothing can be undone anymore."
"I'm sorry..."
Hearing these words, Lin Binbin's footsteps halted. Then he sneered coldly: "Whether you regret it is irrelevant to me. Because your fate is already sealed."
Li Jiayu released the briefcase from her hand and let it fall to the ground. Then she closed her eyes, awaiting the arrival of her destiny.
Her calm tone carried a trace of sorrow as she said: "Kill me. It would be better for you, and better for everyone."
Lin Binbin did not reply. A murderous aura suffused the air around him. Without relaxing his vigilance, he continued approaching Li Jiayu, drawing a dagger from behind his waist.
Watching from concealment in the shadows, Bai Jie felt his brain short-circuit.
Just like that—offering her neck to the blade?
Shouldn't there be a fight first, then, like Zheng Yueling, some kind of beautiful maiden... uh, beautiful mature-woman transformation or something?
Wait, something's definitely wrong—someone's coming!
Bai Jie's mind stirred. His gaze swept beyond the factory.
Just as the cold gleam of the dagger closed in on Li Jiayu—and she still offered no resistance—
a furious bellow suddenly erupted within the empty factory:
"Stop!"
However, Lin Binbin's deadly strike did not pause in the slightest. Carrying a faint whistle of torn wind, it continued thrusting toward Li Jiayu.
But in that instant, Li Jiayu's eyes snapped open! No longer was there calm acceptance of death in them—instead, a trace of panic surfaced.
Whoosh—only her jade body's afterimage remained in place. The dagger had merely pierced the air where Li Jiayu had been a moment before.
Three meters away, Li Jiayu reappeared. Then her gaze shifted, stunned, toward the figure from whom that roar had sounded.
She cried out sharply: "You Rui?!"
"Why are you here?!"
They saw You Rui sprinting toward them, simultaneously drawing a handgun from behind his back and aiming it at Lin Binbin, who was about to continue his attack.
Lin Binbin had no choice but to stop, regarding the suddenly appearing man with hostility.
You Rui held up his gun, staring unblinkingly at Lin Binbin while moving to Li Jiayu's side:
"You left the school without permission—how could I not be worried about you? It's a good thing I also seemed to have arrived just in time."
Then he added: "I found your location through the gun I gave you."
Li Jiayu sharply turned her gaze to her bag. "That gun... was fitted with a tracker by you?!"
"That's right..."
"You were tracking me?!"
"I-I was just worried about your safety..."
The tall Inspector You, faced with Li Jiayu's questioning, actually sounded somewhat aggrieved.