Rose Hotel 26

"They must be joking, right? How could you possibly die?" Li Xing choked out, his voice heavy with agony. "You clearly promised me that once we finished things here, we would go live in the big city together."

"I'm sorry, Li Xing, I lied to you. I can't go back with you," Su Yuye said as tears streamed down uncontrollably. She wiped her face with a hand, trying hard not to look at Li Xing, terrified that one more glance would make her utter yet another lie that even she couldn't believe.

"Then all my efforts..." Li Xing sobbed, unable to finish his sentence. "What on earth have I been striving for?"

In a situation like this, only Lin Hui could still laugh. "Ha! None of you get it, none of you get what you want, absolutely nothing! Ha! Good! Excellent!!"

She clapped and laughed wildly, tears soon mixing with her laughter. "Nobody gets the love they want, how wonderful, just wonderful!"

Acting like a madwoman, the older woman anxiously wiped away her tears. "Huihui, what is wrong with you?! Stop trying to scare your mother."

Her words successfully made Lin Hui quiet down. Lin Hui stared at her with pitch-black eyes, squeezing out the most grotesque, exaggerated smile through her tear-stained face. "Mother, if you truly care about me so much, why don't you come keep me company?"

The older woman froze. "..."

A mocking smirk touched the corner of Lin Hui's mouth. "See? Mother, you only care with your words. When it actually comes down to action, you're scared."

She glanced sideways at Kang Fu, then collapsed onto the ground with a madness that suggested she wanted to drag everyone down into the abyss with her. "All of you are the same. You speak of love so righteously, but what is the reality?"

"The barrier won't vanish. I've changed my mind; I won't kill you outright. I'm going to trap you all until you starve, I'm going to make you die through endless torment!"

Hatred burned in her eyes. "Entanglement, resentment—we are all meant to stay together forever and torture one another. Yes, good or bad, every single one of you must stay by my side."

Her gaze grew increasingly brilliant; she should have figured this out long ago.

"Huihui," the older woman called out submissively, her voice trembling, momentarily unable to believe that such words could come from her obedient Huihui.

However, Lin Hui refused to listen to another half-syllable.

Grief surfaced on the older woman's face. Her gaze swept across the faces of everyone on the rooftop.

Su Yuye was looking at her with worry, Li Xing was glaring at her with bitter hatred, and Kang Fu cast a displeased, frowning glance her way. Not a single person here had any affection for her.

Her gaze shifted to Su Man. Su Man did not avert her eyes; instead, she met her stare unflinchingly. Such deep, fathomless eyes made the older woman feel an ungrounded sense of guilt, as if every wretched part of her soul had been laid bare and dissected in that instant.

She felt like a ludicrous clown.

Even though Su Man hadn't uttered a single word to her, the answer suddenly bloomed within the depths of her heart.

She had been wrong—wrong from the very beginning. Now was the time for her to pay the price for that mistake.

She broke free from Su Yuye's support and walked straight up to Su Man.

"Miss Su, could I borrow your dagger for a moment?"

Her voice aged a decade in an instant, laden with utter weariness.

In a flash, everyone's attention converged on her and Su Man.

Lin Hui looked over as well, though she still believed her mother was merely putting on an act for her benefit.

Su Man stared at the older woman for two full seconds before speaking. "If you want to borrow my dagger to end your own life, I can give you a push. You might be afraid of pain and hesitate to do it yourself."

"Having committed so many wrongdoings, wanting to wipe the slate clean with a single death... is actually quite a neat solution."

Su Man lowered her gaze to the dagger, lost in thought.

The older woman remained silent, her eyes locked fiercely onto the blade Su Man held.

The next second, she lunged forward with lightning speed, grabbing the dagger. With a ferocious expression, she raised it to plunge it into Kang Fu.

Startled out of his wits, Kang Fu fell backward onto the ground.

Yet the anticipated injury never materialized, for the dagger was held with absolute steadiness in Su Man's grasp. Instead, the older woman, in her desperate haste, had grabbed the sharp edge of the blade. Blood instantly stained her hand, dripping steadily down the metal.

Su Man flicked the blade with her finger, forcing the older woman to release her grip in pain.

Su Man looked at her and said, "I'm afraid this road is closed."

"You knew all along that I was going to make a move against him?" The older woman offered a helpless, bitter smile. "I really tried my best."

"I originally thought that before I died, I could help fulfill one of Huihui's wishes."

"Miss Su, you are far too clever; Huihui was no match for you."

"I was merely hoping to leave Mr. Kang behind to keep her company..."

Cold sweat beaded on Kang Fu's forehead. That was a truly sinister scheme; he had nearly fallen right into her trap.

"I didn't know from the very beginning. It's just that your facial expressions were far too clumsy." While claiming she wanted to borrow the dagger, her eyes kept drifting toward Kang Fu. There was simply no way to feign ignorance even if she had wanted to.

"Elder, you ultimately chose to compound your mistakes, showing not a single trace of remorse."

She had given her a chance.

"I am a mother." The older woman smiled helplessly. "It seems my journey ends today."

She looked over at Lin Hui. "Huihui, Mother doesn't lie. Mother is coming to keep you company now."

With those words, without looking at anyone else, she plunged headfirst toward the edge of the rooftop.

Su Man made no move to stop her, for she had already discerned what Lin Hui's deepest, most entrenched obsession truly was.

It was neither Kang Fu nor the so-called romance. At the threshold of death, the attachment she could not let go of above all else was her mother.

Her supposed love affair with Kang Fu was merely a self-deceptive facade—a facade that had fooled not only herself, but everyone else as well.

If her mother were to die here right now and stay by her side, perhaps the knot in Lin Hui's heart would finally untangle.

Su Man chose not to intervene, but that did not mean others felt the same way.

With reddened eyes, Su Yuye lunged forward to block the older woman's path. "Mom, no!"

Watching from behind, Su Man was not surprised by this turn of events. As she had remarked earlier, someone like Su Yuye would forever remain trapped within the moral cage of filial piety, never tasting true freedom.

"Yuye, let me pass! Let Mom die! Consider this my penance to you, I am nothing but a sinner!" Though elderly, the older woman possessed surprising strength. Su Yuye could not hold her back, and in the ensuing struggle, Su Yuye was accidentally pushed off the edge of the rooftop.

"Yuye!" cried out Li Xing, who had remained quiet until now. With astonishing speed, he hurled himself over the edge after her.

It all transpired in the blink of an eye, far too fast for anyone to prevent.

The dull thud of a heavy object striking the ground echoed below. Su Man stepped quickly to the edge and peered down.

Li Xing was dead.

He hadn't fallen all the way to the ground on the first floor; instead, his body had been impaled directly upon the protective iron railings.

Su Man recalled their first conversation here, when Su Yuye had warned her to be careful not to fall and get impaled on those very iron spikes.

Now, Li Xing was skewered upon them, blood pooling thickly on the pavement below.

Su Yuye, miraculously unharmed, hovered suspended in mid-air, her mind absolute blank as she stared at the hedgehog-like corpse of Li Xing impaled beneath her.