207: Chapter 207 A Crazy Decision

Julie felt a chill run through her entire body, as if she had fallen into an ice cellar; the last sliver of hope in her heart was completely shattered.

The thing she feared most, worried about most, and dared not face most had finally happened.

Liu Ziqiang had banked on the fact that she wouldn't dare make a scene.

He banked on her fear of losing everything she currently had.

He banked on her weakness and tendency to compromise, which gave him the audacity to show up at her door so brazenly to blackmail her.

"You... what exactly do you want?"

Julie's voice carried a heavy sob, terrified to the extreme; tears welled in her eyes, ready to fall at any moment.

"It's simple,"

Liu Ziqiang spread his hands, his tone matter-of-fact, as if he were demanding something that rightfully belonged to him.

"I've been a bit short on cash lately. Give me twenty thousand yuan to spend."

"As long as you give me the money obediently, I'll disappear quietly. I won't disturb your good life, and I won't interfere with your wedding."

He paused, his gaze instantly turning sinister and fierce, the threat in his tone completely undisguised.

"Otherwise, I'll send all those photos from back then to your boyfriend, Zhang Haonan. I'll let him see what his beloved fiancée was really like back in the day."

"I'll also post the photos online and send them to your company. I'll make sure your reputation is utterly ruined in Zhongzhou. You can forget about getting married; you won't be able to hold your head up for the rest of your life!"

The naked threat was like a cold blade pressed firmly against Julie's throat, making even breathing painful.

She loved Zhang Haonan too much.

She loved him to her very core, to the point where she would give up everything.

She couldn't lose Zhang Haonan; she couldn't lose this hard-won relationship.

She couldn't let the upcoming wedding turn into a massive joke.

She couldn't let the light she had struggled so hard to grasp be extinguished once again.

And she certainly couldn't let her most shameful, most humiliating past be exposed nakedly before her lover, friends, and colleagues.

She had fought so hard to crawl back from hell to the human world, finally possessing a happy and stable life; she absolutely could not be beaten back into that dark, sunless abyss.

Under Liu Ziqiang's relentless pressure, Julie completely compromised.

She transferred the twenty thousand yuan directly to Liu Ziqiang, only praying that he would take the money and vanish, never appearing before her again or disturbing her life.

Back then, she was naive and foolish, thinking that as long as she gave him the money, this matter would end completely.

She thought Liu Ziqiang would keep his promise and let her go.

But she didn't know that human greed is a bottomless pit that can never be filled.

Once you start, there is no end; once you compromise once, there will be countless times where things escalate.

After Liu Ziqiang got the twenty thousand yuan, he instantly tasted the sweetness of it.

Realizing that Julie didn't dare resist, report it to the police, or speak out, he became like an inescapable plaster, sticking firmly to Julie and refusing to let go.

He asked Julie for money every few days, starting from twenty thousand and slowly increasing to thirty thousand, then fifty thousand; the amounts grew larger and the frequency higher.

Julie didn't dare tell Zhang Haonan or let him discover her secret, so she could only secretly use her salary, bonuses, and year-end pay.

She even secretly sold the valuable jewelry Zhang Haonan had given her—necklaces, bracelets, diamond rings—satisfying Liu Ziqiang's extortion time and again, retreating and compromising repeatedly.

What made Julie most desperate was that Liu Ziqiang had even used illegal means to find her Hometown address.

He then used her family to threaten her.

"I'm telling you, don't think about running or changing your phone number to hide from me. I know where your Hometown is, and I know where your parents live."

"If you dare to run or refuse to give me money, I'll go straight to your parents and tell them all about your scandals. I'll make them lose face right along with you!"

This sentence completely cut off all of Julie's escape routes.

She couldn't involve her parents; she couldn't let her elderly parents be pointed at because of her shameful past, nor could she let them be heartbroken because of her.

She didn't dare run, hide, resist, or call the police; she could only be like a lamb to the slaughter, allowing Liu Ziqiang to butcher, squeeze, and extort her.

In just one short year, Julie had been extorted by Liu Ziqiang for a total of over three hundred thousand yuan.

That was almost all the savings from her three years of work, the money from selling all her jewelry, and the entire fortune she had amassed through frugal living and penny-pinching.

To scrape together the money, she didn't dare buy new clothes, makeup, or go out to dinner with friends.

She lived every day cautiously and on edge, terrified that Zhang Haonan would notice even the slightest flaw.

Every day was spent in fear and anxiety.

She thought her compromises and concessions would buy her a sliver of peace, that Liu Ziqiang would one day be satisfied, and that this nightmare would end sooner.

But now, Liu Ziqiang had sent another text, asking for one hundred thousand yuan.

One hundred thousand.

She couldn't produce it anymore.

Over three hundred thousand had already drained her entire net worth and she had sold everything that could be sold.

Her Bank card only had a few thousand yuan left for living expenses; she couldn't squeeze out another cent to fill Liu Ziqiang's bottomless pit.

The apartment was terrifyingly quiet, so quiet that Julie could hear the sound of her own heartbeat—rapid, panicked, and desperate.

The light from the floor lamp was still soft, but it couldn't penetrate the boundless darkness in her heart.

She curled up on the sofa, her body cold; her tears had run dry, leaving only a numb despair as she stared blankly ahead without a trace of light.

When would it end?

What exactly would it take for this demon to let her go?

She had already retreated to the edge of the cliff; she had nothing left and was at the end of her rope.

If she didn't give the money, Liu Ziqiang would expose her photos, tell Zhang Haonan, and ruin her wedding, her life, all her happiness, and her only light.

The light she had struggled so hard to grasp was about to be extinguished again.

The hell she had struggled so hard to escape was about to pull her back.

Immense despair and fear, like a dark tide, completely submerged Julie, making it hard for her to breathe, preventing her from seeing any hope, and causing her courage to keep living to nearly vanish.

She looked up, her hollow eyes staring at the white ceiling; there was no emotion in them, only a dead silence.

Resist? She didn't dare.

Run away? She couldn't.

Give money? She had none.

She was forced into a corner, with no room to retreat, no way to avoid it, and nowhere to go.

At that moment, a terrifying, crazy, and resolute thought, like a poisonous vine, frantically sprouted, spread, and entwined in her heart, tightly constricting it.

Kill him.

Only if Liu Ziqiang died could all of this end.

Only if Liu Ziqiang died would the photos in his hands never be exposed, and his threats would disappear completely.

Only then could she truly escape this nightmare, preserve her happiness, survive, and embrace the light once more.

This thought had flashed through her mind before when she was being extorted, threatened, and pushed to the point of collapse.

Back then, she was still afraid and hesitant, not daring to cross the line of morality and law, feeling that murder was too terrible and too crazy.

But now, the repeated pressure, the repeated extortion, and the repeated despair had completely crushed her, utterly shattering all her weakness and hesitation.

She had no way out.

Julie slowly closed her eyes, tears sliding from the corners of her eyes once more; the trembling of her shoulders gradually subsided, replaced by a death-like calm.

It was a ruthlessness and resolve that only arises when despair reaches its absolute limit.

...