My car had been temporarily commandeered by the woman in red, leaving me with no vehicle. I stood at the bus stop in the residential complex, waiting helplessly. I once again took out my phone and dialed Mi Cai, but the result still left me shaken—her phone remained switched off.
Suddenly, my world slowed down. Amidst the crowd, I crossed through the city lights, looking desperately through the dispersing people. Yet the passing vehicles roared by indifferently. Like a crawling creature, I stretched out all my senses, desperately hoping for one of those spinning wheels to stop for me. But under the shadows of the streetlights, the howling wind pinned me between reality and illusion, watching the familiar world before me turn foreign. I gradually felt my own existence slipping away, leaving only flickering lights and a sewage drain beside me, flowing with filth. The entire world, within my senses, was utterly hopeless… hopeless beyond redemption!
Finally, a beam of light came to a halt beside me. With heavy breathing, I opened the car door, mumbling the word “Zhuomei” over and over again. As the car carried me away through the crisscrossing lights, the entire city seemed to compress into a twisted mass filled with distorted lights and rigid walls. I leaned back against the seat, closed my eyes, and tried to escape from everything here.
When I, confused and suffocating, dialed the woman in red again, the call still went unanswered… my panic spread without restraint.
I couldn’t tell how much time had passed before the taxi finally brought me to Zhuomei Mansion. Before the car had even fully stopped, I opened the door and ran toward Zhuomei.
I stopped. From about fifty meters away in the parking lot, I saw several familiar figures. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but I could see the smiles on their faces—expressions I would never forget in my life.
They got into their cars and drove off in the direction opposite to mine. My nerves felt as if they were tearing apart. Among them, I saw Fang Yuan and Mi Lan, Xiang Chen and the woman named Chu Xinrui, and Mi Zhongde. The direction they were heading, the place they were leaving for, exuded a sense of triumph.
I didn’t want to accept what I had seen as real… I feared that my life would shatter under the weight of human falsehood. But I despairingly realized this was no illusion. What I had cherished was only a step away from being shattered. At this moment, I just needed someone to tell me what had happened today.
Time tore through my pain, inching me closer to the truth. Finally, I saw Chen Jingming walking out from the staff passage of the mall. He spotted me in the crowd and approached with heavy steps.
He stood in front of me for a long time before finally lighting a cigarette and speaking, “The Tianyang Group’s investment plan for Zhuomei was rejected by the board. Replacing Tianyang as Zhuomei’s new investor is a large French investment group. This group was brought in by your friend Xiang Chen. They had long set their sights on the resources and strong distribution network Zhuomei accumulated in the traditional retail sector, hoping to use Zhuomei’s presence in China’s e-commerce field to carve out their share. This was a long-planned move. The CEO lost… and she lost badly… very badly!!”
Chen Jingming swallowed hard, as if aging years in an instant. His days at Zhuomei had ended along with Mi Cai’s fall from power. He had become the most direct casualty of this factional battle.
I didn’t have time to dwell on that. I grabbed his shoulders and asked, “Where is Mi Cai? Where is she? Is she still in the company?”
Chen Jingming shook his head and said, “Zhaoyang, you are the one who destroyed the CEO. Your ignorance ruined everything Mi Cai painstakingly built. I told you long ago that Fang Yuan had ulterior motives. If he had stood by Mi Cai’s side, perhaps this outcome could have been avoided…”
I trembled as I asked, “What… what did he do?”
Chen Jingming stared at me with cold eyes. “At today’s board meeting, Mi Zhongde and his daughter accused Mi Cai of failing to take the company public and of making the wrong decision in bringing in ZH Capital, which plunged Zhuomei into an unprecedented crisis.” He let out a bitter laugh before continuing, “Of course, there were many board members loyal to the late chairman (Mi Zhongxin) who stood firmly behind Mi Cai, but they were outnumbered. That’s when Fang Yuan became the key. Unfortunately, he showed no mercy at all and accused Mi Cai in front of the board! He claimed that Mi Cai’s poor strategy led to Zhuomei’s current crisis. And that Christmas event which changed Zhuomei’s fate—remember that event?—he portrayed it as Mi Lan’s brilliant decision. He said it was Mi Lan who led the event, that Mi Lan saved Zhuomei’s foundation. He accused Mi Cai of having strong personal biases, obstructing the Christmas event, and nearly forcing that ‘hero’ to leave Zhuomei. He called Mi Cai the unforgivable traitor of Zhuomei. Zhaoyang, did you ever imagine this? The Christmas event you helped him create at all costs became the weapon he used to attack Mi Cai, leaving her completely defenseless. Mi Cai was treated so unjustly… the only option left for her was to resign in disgrace!!”
I swayed unsteadily. The two brothers I had trusted most in my life had conspired together to destroy the woman I loved the most… and I was an accomplice. I had caused Mi Cai to lose Zhuomei, and the final legacy left behind by Mi Zhongxin. I was a criminal, unforgivable!
My breath became ragged. I stood there motionless. Chen Jingming looked at me desperately, shook his head, and walked past me toward the parking lot. My world completely froze in suffocating coldness… until my phone rang repeatedly in my pocket, as if offering a glimpse of hope from hell to the human world. But my body remained trapped in hell, unable to breathe.
I took out my phone and answered the call—it was from the woman in red. Her voice was anxious, “Zhaoyang, I couldn’t keep up with Mi Cai after she left Zhuomei. She was driving like a madwoman, and I lost her at an intersection. I still haven’t found her! Maybe you know where she might have gone. Find her quickly! She could get into an accident driving like that!!”
My heart felt as if it had been torn apart again and again. I saw countless scenes in my mind—wherever there was evil laughter, there was real suffering. I could feel Mi Cai’s pain under that sinister laughter. With the last of my reason, I said to the woman in red, “I’m at Zhuomei. Come find me quickly…”
The call was instantly disconnected, while I waited, filled with anxiety and pain, for the woman in red to arrive.
…
It felt like I had walked through hell, but finally, I saw the woman in red arrive. She got out of the car and handed me the keys, saying, “I don’t have time to talk about what happened at Zhuomei’s board meeting. You need to drive and find Mi Cai immediately. I’m going to ask my friends in traffic control to check the real-time road surveillance footage to see which direction she went. We’ll stay in contact.”
I nodded frantically, hurriedly got into the car, and placed my phone on the dashboard, terrified of missing any call. The woman in red also quickly got into another taxi, leaving this place filled with betrayal and guilt before me.
I started the car and instinctively drove toward the old house. I didn’t know where Mi Cai might have gone in her despair, so I could only hope she had gone there.
But aside from the tightly packed buildings, the dim yellow streetlights, and a single wooden horse, I found no trace of Mi Cai’s return. My heart felt trapped in a torment between fire and ice… ready to collapse at any moment under the despair of not finding her.
If she had an accident today, I wouldn’t want to live either… I’d die in this city that never felt like home, die in the illusions of human nature, die in irreversible remorse.
I slammed the accelerator. The engine roared violently. I couldn’t correct my direction quickly enough and knocked over a roadside trash can. Garbage scattered across the place where I had just been. But I didn’t know where to go next, or where Mi Cai might be. I cried out in despair. A decade of brotherhood had become a tool of betrayal. The woman I had tried to protect had lost her soul in this cruel manipulation. Otherwise, how could she, so indifferent by nature, resort to such a dangerous way to vent her pain, tearing herself—and me—apart completely. She would never forgive me! It was my blind trust in Fang Yuan that destroyed the most important thing in her life!
How could I redeem myself? How could I possibly redeem myself?
I had already lost all rationality. On the dark road, I sped through this unrecognizable city, leaving it behind in a frenzy. In the suffocating darkness without a glimpse of light, I weaved between heavy trucks. The car’s speed monitor repeatedly screamed warnings of speeding. Life and death hung by a thread. Gradually, all I could see were passing streetlights flashing by like a funeral procession bidding me farewell. I no longer feared death. Either was acceptable!
The ringing of my phone finally brought me back to my senses. I answered and heard the woman in red’s voice, tense and breathless: “Zhaoyang, Mi Cai entered the highway toward Shanghai at 8:16 PM. She drove about 60 kilometers before disappearing from the road surveillance. I’m afraid she might have had an accident. You need to get there fast… I’ve already contacted the nearby highway traffic police, but they might not be as fast as you!”
My mind blanked briefly before snapping into clarity. I hung up the phone, slammed the accelerator, and sped toward the highway entrance…
On the endless highway stretching out before me, my body was left numb, no longer controlled by my will. My eyes searched desperately for any sign of Mi Cai…
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