24: Chapter 24: Even the childhood sweetheart betrayed him; the divine doctor suffered a complete mental breakdown.
That cheap plastic hair clip traced an insignificant parabola in mid-air.
With a "snap."
It landed precisely in a trash can in the corner of the Starry Sky Restaurant, mixing with the stinking leftovers.
That was a promise Ye Chen had once made to her.
Now, along with him as a person, it had been completely abandoned by Lin Waner.
...
Two days later.
Jiangzhong City Maximum Security Prison.
In the visitation room, the lights were dim, and the air was filled with the scent of disinfectant and despair.
Like a soulless walking corpse, Ye Chen, wearing heavy handcuffs and shackles, was roughly pressed onto an iron chair by a prison guard.
His Taoist robe had turned into rags covered in filth and scabs, and his hair was as messy as a bird's nest.
The wound on his lower back was still throbbing with pain, but what hurt more was his heart, which had already been crushed.
"Ye Chen, you have a visitor."
The prison guard coldly knocked on the thick bulletproof glass.
Ye Chen's dull eyes suddenly erupted with an unusual glow!
It's Lin Waner!
It must be his kind, pure, and loyal childhood sweetheart, Lin Waner!
Apart from her, no one else in this world would care whether he lived or died.
She was the last glimmer of light in this dark, sunless hell.
She was also his only pillar of support for staying alive!
"Lin Waner! Lin Waner, you're here!"
Ye Chen trembled with excitement, his hands slamming against the bulletproof glass as he shouted like a madman.
The door to the visitation room was pushed open.
The sound of high heels clicking on the concrete floor was crisp and pleasant.
A woman walked slowly to the glass window.
The wild joy on Ye Chen's face froze completely the moment he saw who it was.
He widened his eyes, his lips trembling, as if he had seen some incredibly unbelievable monster.
The woman before him was indeed Lin Waner.
But, it was not the Lin Waner he knew.
She was wearing a Chanel haute couture suit, with an extremely exquisite cut that clearly came from the hands of a world-class master.
Her long hair, which used to be tied in a ponytail, had been meticulously permed into big waves, emitting a charming fragrance.
What was even more glaring was her fair neck.
She was wearing the "Heart of the Ocean" diamond necklace, which was as big as a pigeon's egg and shimmering with brilliant light!
That dazzling light almost blinded Ye Chen's eyes!
Is this... is this still that ordinary campus beauty who couldn't even afford to eat because she was raising bail money for him, kneeling everywhere to beg for help?!
This was clearly a high-and-mighty noble lady kept by a top tycoon!
"Lin... Lin Waner?"
Ye Chen couldn't believe his eyes; he tremblingly picked up the telephone receiver in front of him.
On the other side of the glass.
Lin Waner also picked up the receiver.
She looked at the man opposite her, covered in filth and as disheveled as a beggar, with not a shred of pity in her eyes.
Only indifference.
A kind of indifference that had seen through reality, extremely rational.
"Ye Chen."
Her voice was very calm, yet it felt like a cold, sharp knife, stabbing straight into Ye Chen's heart.
"I'm here to say goodbye to you."
"Goodbye?" Ye Chen's mind went blank. "Lin Waner, what are you saying? Is someone forcing you? Is it that animal Qin Yuan?!"
He was like a wild beast trapped in a cage, letting out a desperate roar.
"Don't be afraid! When I get out, I will definitely kill him and save you!"
"Enough!"
Lin Waner frowned, her tone revealing a hint of impatience.
"Ye Chen, are you still dreaming?"
"Get out? What are you going to get out with? You've been sentenced to life imprisonment!"
Her face, which once always wore a sweet smile, was now as cold as ice.
"Do you know that because of you, my dad was almost hacked to death by loan sharks? I was almost sold to an old man as a concubine?"
"Besides causing trouble and talking big, what else can you do?"
"You keep saying you'll protect me, but where are you? You're in prison!"
Ye Chen was rendered speechless by this rapid-fire questioning.
He opened his mouth, but found he couldn't say any words of rebuttal.
That's right.
His medical skills and martial arts, which he was so proud of, simply couldn't protect the woman he loved in the face of this cruel reality.
"Lin Waner... I'm sorry... I didn't know..."
Ye Chen painfully covered his face, tears mixing with dirt and grime as they flowed down.
"But it doesn't matter anymore."
Lin Waner looked at him, and the corners of her mouth suddenly curled into an extremely complex smile.
"Thanks to all these things you caused, I've seen reality clearly."
"And it also allowed me to meet Young Master Qin."
Boom!
The two words "Young Master Qin" were like a ten-thousand-ton Thor's hammer, slamming fiercely onto the crown of Ye Chen's head!
He suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, staring at Lin Waner like an evil ghost.
"You... what did you say?!"
"I said, I am already with Qin Yuan."
Lin Waner touched the diamond necklace on her neck without any hesitation.
"Young Master Qin not only helped my family pay off all our debts, but also gave me wealth that I couldn't spend in several lifetimes."
"He is gentle, powerful, and can give me all the sense of security I want."
"And you, Ye Chen, you can't."
"Don't say such things again! You've been deceived by him! That animal is just playing with you!"
Ye Chen frantically slammed against the glass, the chains rattling loudly, his finger joints even bloodied from the impact.
"Deceived me?"
Lin Waner laughed, a somewhat mocking laugh.
"Even if it is deception, I am willing."
"Even being a dog by his side is ten thousand times better than following a loser like you, living in fear in the slums!"
"Ye Chen, we are finished. In the future, don't come looking for me again."
"Young Master Qin is still waiting for me outside, I have to go."
Having said that, Lin Waner hung up the phone without hesitation.
She didn't look at Ye Chen again, turned around, and walked out of the visitation room in her high heels without looking back.
Leaving behind only a resolute, elegant, and luxurious silhouette.
That was the final straw that broke the camel's back.
"No... no!!!"
"Lin Waner! Come back! Come back!!!"
Ye Chen pressed himself desperately against the glass, watching with his own eyes as that silhouette disappeared outside the door.
His world, at this moment, completely collapsed.
The medical clinic he relied on for survival was sealed off.
His most trusted brother backstabbed him.
His greatest cheat, his master, was extracted and suppressed.
Now, even the last pure land in his heart, that white moonlight he swore to protect with his life.
Had also, for the sake of money, voluntarily climbed into his nemesis's bed!
"Gurgle... gurgle..."
A strange sound suddenly erupted from Ye Chen's throat.
It was like a broken bellows being pulled, or like a vengeful ghost weeping blood.
He stared fixedly at the door that had already closed, his eyes widened to the extreme, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets.
Extreme anger, humiliation, despair, and unwillingness were violently colliding and squeezing within his chest!
"Qin... Qin Yuan..."
He gritted his teeth, uttering this nightmarish name.
The next second.
"Pfft—!"
A mouthful of black blood, mixed with fragments of internal organs, sprayed out from his mouth like a fountain!
It all splattered onto the bulletproof glass, a shocking sight.
Ye Chen's body convulsed violently, his eyes rolling back, like a dehydrated dead fish.
"The prisoner is having an emergency! Call the prison doctor quickly!"
The panicked shouts of the prison guards rang out.
But Ye Chen could no longer hear them.
His mental defenses, under this comprehensive, despair-inducing dimensionality reduction attack, finally shattered completely.
He became a cripple with blurred consciousness.
Just outside the visitation room.
Qin Yuan was leaning against the door of his bulletproof Maybach, watching Lin Waner walk out.
He stubbed out the cigar in his hand, a cruel smile curling at the corners of his mouth, and instructed the bodyguard captain beside him.
"The show is over. Go make arrangements; tomorrow, I want to personally take a trip into this prison."