The Lie

His head felt as if it were splitting, the pain causing pea-sized sweat to bead on his forehead. He clutched his head, trying hard to recall, wanting to know who Hua Jian really was.

As if guided by fate, he felt that Hua Luan was Hua Jian, and Hua Jian was Hua Luan.

He thought again, why did he have such terrifying and strange nightmares?

In his dreams, Hua Luan—or rather, Hua Jian—was madly in love with him. But at the processing factory, he had clearly met Hua Jian for the first time, so why did Hua Jian change his name and call himself Hua Luan?

Hua Jian knew him, loved him, and also hated him, yet he didn't remember Hua Jian. He had lost an extremely important segment of his memory.

The memory where Hua Jian said he had betrayed him.

Why did he betray Hua Luan? Was there a misunderstanding between him and Hua Jian?

He tried hard to find his lost memory, but his thoughts scattered wildly. In his mind, a bloody scene suddenly flashed.

A bloody person was nailed to a cross, nails piercing through his hands and feet, suspending him in mid-air. Blood flowed down his chest, dripping into the fire beneath the cross, causing the flames to flare up...

He lowered his eyes, his black hair hanging down, almost covering half his face. His entire body exuded a bizarre aura, like a demon crawling out of the abyss of hell.

When Shang Xing realized it, he found that the "bloody person" had raised his head. A pair of blood-red pupils stared straight at him through the messy black hair. That feeling was like being watched by countless red snakes preparing to strike!

His will crumbled in this instant. He heard the "bloody person" calling...

"Xing... Xing..."

He finally saw the face of the "bloody person" clearly—it was Hua Jian.

Traces of panic and a fierce feeling of suffocation hit him. He clutched his chest, breathing with difficulty.

He finally remembered.

He had indeed betrayed Hua Jian, more than once. But he couldn't remember clearly what had happened during his first betrayal, only remembering the second.

After the first betrayal, Hua Jian had imprisoned him in Gethsemane Garden, injecting a paralyzing drug into his legs. When going out, he assigned a male servant to take care of him. To leave, he had seduced the male servant and instigated him to assassinate Hua Jian. This was the second betrayal in Hua Jian's eyes.

After the second betrayal, Hua Jian had ruined his face and legs. As for what happened after that, he had still forgotten.

The things that happened in his dreams were almost identical to his second betrayal.

Hua Jian had come to the processing factory and even changed his name to meet him again, precisely to make him remember those betrayals, wanting him to suffer and feel fear.

No, Hua Jian's purpose wasn't necessarily just to make him suffer in fear.

He knew Hua Jian loved him, loved him to the extreme. Because of his past betrayals, a bone-deep hatred had been born. He even suspected that the male servant's appearance was a test by Hua Jian, who ultimately discovered he had indeed betrayed him again, and naturally severed his legs.

Hua Jian was a madman. His true purpose was to make him stay by his side wholeheartedly.

Hua Jian wanted him to love him.

But did he love Hua Jian? Rather than love, he felt much more resistance and fear toward Hua Jian.

He sat up from the bed and saw the familiar decor in the room, realizing he was in the dormitory of the processing factory.

It was already morning, and the faint sound of birds chirping came from outside the window. He got out of bed, assessing his surroundings, confirming he was at the processing factory.

"Creak." The door was pushed open, and Hua Jian walked in: "How did you sleep last night?"

Shang Xing immediately thought of the long, realistic nightmare, along with the blood-red cleaver and his severed legs. He kept backing away, instinctively resisting Hua Jian.

Hua Jian glanced at him indifferently: "You should be glad you didn't die." Hua Jian spoke lightly, closed the door, and sat on the edge of the bed.

If Shang Xing remembered correctly, that was the spot he had just been sitting on, still holding his warmth.

"Come here." Hua Jian reached out his hand.

His tone was very calm, but Shang Xing somehow felt a threat.

Seeing Shang Xing remain motionless, Hua Jian's gaze swept over Shang Xing's legs: "Do you want another injection?"

As soon as those words were spoken, Shang Xing looked at Hua Jian warily, his body slowly approaching the edge of the bed.

Once he was a meter away from the bed, Hua Jian stood up. He extended his hand to Shang Xing and said with a smile, "Let me hold you."

Shang Xing stared at Hua Jian, his face full of wariness.

Hua Jian seemed to have anticipated this. He raised his brow slightly and extended his hand to him again. Inexplicably, Shang Xing drew closer to Hua Jian. By the time his consciousness reacted, he was already lying on Hua Jian's lap, held in Hua Jian's embrace.

Hua Jian couldn't help but smile: "I still prefer your submissive look."

He wrapped his arms around Shang Xing's knees, holding his entire body in his embrace: "Don't be afraid of me, I don't want to hurt you either."

He spoke as if saying: *Don't be afraid of me, don't betray me, and I will love you well.*

Shang Xing felt himself enveloped. Hua Jian's embrace was very warm, carrying a fragrant floral scent, giving him the illusion of falling into spring.

He looked up, meeting Hua Jian's eyes. They were still those shockingly red carnelian eyes. In his dream, these eyes had been a mix of love and bone-deep hatred, but at this moment, there was only love.

It was as if, if he said he was willing to stay by Hua Jian's side forever, said he loved Hua Jian wholeheartedly, even if it was a lie, Hua Jian would completely believe it.

Perhaps, what Hua Jian wanted was just a lie that would make him willingly fall into depravity.

"Deceive me, use me, I will give you everything of mine, as long as you love me." Even if that "I love you" was a lie.

In reality, once Shang Xing betrayed Hua Jian, Hua Jian would go mad again, ruining his face, severing his legs, and building an indestructible cage to turn him into a canary.

But now, Hua Jian wrapped his arms around his waist, burying his face in the crook of his neck. He heard Hua Jian's extremely low voice: "I love you." He could barely hear it.

In his dream, Hua Jian's pathological confession of "I love you, I love you, I love you..." still echoed in his ears.

He actually felt that Hua Jian loved him humbly.

Hua Jian was crazy yet humble, forming such a contradictory and chaotic entity—loving him yet wanting to hurt him, clearly hating him yet still humbly loving him.

Hua Jian loved him, and also hated him.

Hua Jian suddenly raised his hand, covering his eyes, preventing him from looking at him: "You remembered, didn't you?"

He replied, "Not completely."

After a long while, Hua Jian said, "Don't betray me again, okay?"

He opened his mouth, but closed it again.

He still wanted to leave Hua Jian, because he didn't love Hua Jian. If they clashed head-on, he would surely suffer miserably. The only way to leave was to lie.

"Okay," he said.

After telling this lie, fear suddenly welled up in his heart. He was afraid Hua Jian would expose his lie.

Hearing this, Hua Jian hugged him tightly again, almost embedding him into his own body. Because of this, he could clearly feel Hua Jian trembling.

He suddenly had a thought: if he was afraid of his lie being exposed, was Hua Jian also afraid of the lie being shattered?

They were living in a lie of "loving each other" that would shatter at a single touch.