208: Chapter 208 Three Days

Zhu Li slowly loosened her fingers, which had turned white from gripping so tightly, and gently placed her phone on the sofa.

Then, she slowly raised her hand and wiped away all the tear stains from her face.

Her gaze shifted from hollow, fearful, and broken to gradually becoming firm, cold, and ruthless.

In the end, only a bottomless chill and a desperate resolve remained.

Liu Ziqiang, you are the one forcing me to my death.

Since you refuse to let me go, since you insist on driving me into a corner, then we shall go to hell together.

Three days.

Liu Ziqiang had given her three days to prepare a hundred thousand yuan.

She couldn't produce it, and she would never give him any more money anyway.

Therefore, she could only choose another path.

A path from which there was no turning back.

Zhu Li took a deep breath, her chest filled with icy despair and the courage of someone with nothing left to lose.

She slowly stood up from the sofa, straightening her back that had long been bent under pressure. Looking at the pitch-black night outside the window, there was no emotion in her eyes, only a deathly still determination.

She had made up her mind.

She would kill Liu Ziqiang.

Only if he died could she live.

Only if he died could she escape this nightmare.

Only if he died could she protect her own happiness.

The night outside grew thicker, shrouding the entire apartment in an infinite darkness.

Zhu Li stood under the light, her figure frail yet exceptionally steady, like a cold statue.

From this moment on, the gentle, kind, simple, and weak Zhu Li—the one who was full of goodwill toward the world—was completely dead.

What survived was only a soul driven to the brink, focused entirely on seeking revenge and liberation, wanting only to end the nightmare.

In her mind, she had already begun frantically calculating every step, every detail, and every method to make Liu Ziqiang disappear forever.

End it all.

In exactly three days.

Having reached a dead end, she had no other choice.

...

Meanwhile,

Inside an old rented room in the suburban-urban fringe of Zhongzhou City.

The air was thick with the murky scent of low-quality liquor, peanuts, and cigarette butts.

The walls were mottled and yellowed, and a few dusty mineral water bottles were piled in the corner.

A dilapidated wooden board bed took up most of the room's space. On the only table sat half a bag of bulk peanuts, a small dish of pickles, and a bottle of cheap liquor that was more than half empty.

Liu Ziqiang sat with his legs crossed on a creaking plastic stool, a cigarette nearly burnt to the filter between his fingers. His face was flushed with a glow of triumph as he drank alone, feeling quite smug.

He had just looked at the screenshot of the text message Zhu Li sent over and over again, his grin almost reaching his ears.

One hundred thousand yuan.

As long as he waited three more days, this hundred thousand would safely land in his pocket.

Thinking of this, Liu Ziqiang picked up the white porcelain bowl in front of him and gulped down a large mouthful of pungent liquor.

A burning sensation of pleasure traveled down his throat, and his entire body felt light, as if he had lost several pounds of weight.

He let out a satisfied alcoholic burp, reached out to grab a few peanuts and tossed them into his mouth. They crunched loudly as his mind filled with thoughts of the cash he was about to get; the more he thought about it, the more pleased he became.

He had lived a pathetic and frustrated life. In over fifty years, he had never been as happy as he had been this past year.

Before, he was just a taxi driver at the bottom of the social ladder.

He would leave before dawn every day and drag his exhausted body home at midnight. He ran his legs ragged and talked until his throat was sore, yet the money he earned in a month was barely enough to keep him fed.

Exposed to the elements, swallowing his pride, and having to take abuse from difficult passengers—he had spent his whole life bowing and scraping for a few pieces of silver, never once holding his head high as a man.

But now, things were different.

He didn't have to do anything. No driving, no physical labor, no looking at others' faces. He only needed to move his fingers and send a few threatening texts, and someone would obediently deliver money to his door.

This money came too easily, too pleasantly; it was far too addictive.

Liu Ziqiang poured himself another bowl of wine, his murky eyes flickering with a greedy and satisfied light.

He stared at the ceiling as his thoughts slowly drifted back over his life.

The frustrations, regrets, pain, and his only obsession.

His son, Liu Zihao.

Liu Zihao was the child of him and his first wife, and his only biological son in this life.

When Liu Zihao was ten years old, the boy's mother was killed on the spot by an out-of-control truck while crossing the street, leaving the father and son to depend on each other.

During those years, Liu Ziqiang acted as both father and mother, driving his taxi desperately to make money. He kept all the best things for his son, willing to tear out his own heart for Liu Zihao.

He truly loved this son—loved him to his core, loved him enough to sacrifice everything.

When Liu Zihao was ten, relatives and friends advised him to find another woman. Firstly, so someone could take care of the house, and secondly, to help look after the child.

Through an introduction, he met his current wife. She was an honest and duty-bound woman willing to live a life with him, and he felt inclined to remarry.

But he never expected Liu Zihao's reaction to be so intense.

A mere ten-year-old child had a temper as stubborn as a mule. He threw tantrums, smashed things, went on hunger strikes, and knelt on the ground clutching his father's legs while wailing.

He said that if his father dared to remarry, he would never acknowledge him as a father again.

The child felt that his father remarrying meant he was being abandoned and that it was a betrayal of his deceased mother.

During that period, the household was in total chaos.

Liu Ziqiang felt for his son and almost gave up the idea of remarrying several times.

But in the end, he still went against his son's strong opposition and married his current wife.

From that day on, Liu Zihao changed completely.

He became silent, rebellious, and irritable. He treated Liu Ziqiang with cold defiance; no matter what he did or said, it was wrong in his son's eyes.

The relationship between father and son hit rock bottom. They wouldn't even say three sentences a day, and whenever they did speak, it turned into an argument.

By the time Liu Zihao finished middle school, he refused to study any further and spent all his time loitering in society.

He hung out with a group of shady thugs, smoking, drinking, fighting, and frequenting internet cafes, becoming the quintessential 'bad boy' in the eyes of the neighbors.

Liu Ziqiang had scolded him, beaten him, pleaded with him, and cried, exhausting every method, but Liu Zihao continued his ways regardless, even becoming worse.

When he was eighteen, Liu Zihao simply packed his bags and left home, leaving behind a bone-chilling sentence before he departed.

“Don't you love your new wife? Then live your life with her. Don't acknowledge me as your son, and I don't have a father like you.”

...