The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 355 Black Crack
Lu Dandan stared blankly at Zhong Kui and murmured, "You are the result of the dream, you are Zhong Xiaoyu who has fallen into darkness."

"Heh." Zhong Kui sneered, "Since you know, then I might as well tell you, I don't like others going against my will." As she spoke, she softened her tone, enunciating each word clearly, "I want you to answer me honestly, what information about Zhong Xiaoyu have you deliberately concealed?"

Lu Dandan was stunned by his aura: "You're right, I've always known." As she spoke, she trembled involuntarily, as if she had broken through an invisible wall in her heart. "Professor Zhong said that he embarked on the path of psychology research because both of his parents were mentally ill. From a young age, he aspired to rewrite his destiny through his own efforts, taking it upon himself to cure human mental illnesses. You and I both know that mental illnesses can be hereditary. And I've heard that Professor Zhong's father brutally murdered his mother during a relapse. He once said that this caused him incurable pain. However, Xiaoyu is too perfect; I can't imagine that this nightmare continuing in her life."

“But I noticed something amiss.” Zhong Kui showed no intention of letting her off the hook.

“Yes, the best proof is the book she insisted on writing. Her obsession and fanaticism for scholarship have reached a pathological level. Actually, I reminded Professor Zhong, but I don’t understand why someone as professional as him would completely ignore my concerns. I think it’s probably his love for Xiaoyu that makes it impossible for him to face this cruel reality,” Lü Dandan said. “Xiaoyu is his pride.”

Upon hearing this, Qi Fei couldn't help but recall the photo of the crime scene once again. Zhong Xiaoyu's eyes lingered in his mind—brutal and cold-blooded, not the expression of a human being with flesh and blood.

A cold wind blew by, and the frost-covered wild grass swayed heavily, making a sound similar to the waves on the western coast.

"It's truly wonderful, a demon disguised as an angel, who has fooled you all." Zhong Kui suddenly laughed, her voice echoing across Crescent Moon Mountain, sounding particularly eerie amidst the cold rustling of the grass and trees. "You all know that personality can only be split or merged; there's no such thing as creation out of thin air. Zhong Xiaoyu is just a human, not God. If I am darkness, if I am evil, then that's something she's always had."

Her laughter was so shrill that it startled the birds and animals that were hibernating nearby, and several crows took flight.

Suddenly, Wu Shanqiu screamed from the side.

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw a snake slither past her feet, followed by several more, as if they too had been startled awake from hibernation. They all crawled out of a hole about the size of a fist, which appeared to be a drainpipe left over from the original house, now serving as a hibernation habitat for snakes.

As noon approached, the dark clouds in the sky gradually dissipated, and sunlight shone on the ruins, faintly reflecting light from the water pipe from which the snake had crawled out.

Wu Shanqiu, who was closest to the object, looked curiously and suddenly exclaimed, "There's something here!" As she spoke, she put on gloves and reached in to retrieve it. When she pulled it out, everyone except Lü Dandan was astonished—it was a glass bead.

It's probably because the snake hibernated in the water pipe that it polished the surface of the glass bead so that it could reflect sunlight.

In the sunlight, Wu Shanqiu, wearing white gloves, held up the glass bead. A black crack on it, like an old scar, silently told the story of its descent into the abyss.

"In the end, we still can't get around the Xi River," Qi Fei said, gazing at the glass bead.

Upon seeing the glass bead, Zhong Kui suddenly clutched her head in anguish.

It was as if the bead was a spark that detonated a bomb in her brain.

"So much blood, so much blood..." she murmured repeatedly, tears streaming down her face. For a moment, it was impossible to tell whether she was Zhong Kui or Zhong Xiaoyu.

She suddenly rushed forward and snatched the glass bead from Wu Shanqiu's hand, holding it in her palm like a witch holding a crystal ball, sobbing uncontrollably: "Dad, Mom, sisters, I'm sorry, it's all my willfulness that has ruined you! I don't deserve to live, I don't deserve..." "Zhong Xiaoyu, calm down!" she shouted, the voice was Zhong Kui's, "Tell me what happened, let the guilty be punished."

The chaotic emotions from before gradually subsided, and Zhong Kui opened her eyes halfway, as if she were possessed by a sorceress.

Seeing this sudden change in emotion, Lü Dandan tried to intervene, but Jiang Tianyi stopped her and whispered in her ear, "Trust her."

A moment later, Zhong Kui began to mutter to herself, "Let's go back to this place ten years ago. The collapsed walls have been rebuilt, the weeds have receded, the garden is full of flowers, and our family has returned. You've gone back to that day, tell me what happened..."

"It was a day for our whole family to reunite. My sisters were on winter vacation, and Mom said we should all have a nice meal. But I wasn't happy. Because my unannounced romance had ended without a trace. I had made all the preparations to tell them that I was in love. The person was my patient, who is now my student. I healed him, taught him, and fell in love with him. I wanted to tell them that I had found my soulmate, a passionate love that I dared not even dream of."

However, this love was too intense, so intense that it burned away our senses and threatened to melt us.

He said he wanted to possess me completely and wouldn't allow anyone to share my love.

He told me to leave Baicheng with him and go to a place where there are no people, a place where it's just the two of us.

I can't do it, because my beloved family is here, my dad, my mom, and my sisters.

I can't abandon them, I can't bear to see them sad.

I could see the disappointment in his eyes, a disappointment that sank to the bottom like a stone thrown into a lake, leaving only ripples of sorrow.

He hid it too well. The so-called treatment never worked. On the contrary, it taught him how to deceive me with even deeper disguises, packaging himself as a normal person.

That day was a day for my family to reunite. My father, mother, and sisters chatted and laughed in the sun-drenched house. In the garden, the gardener was working diligently.

What an ordinary day this is.

My mother said she didn't know when, but the gardener had sneaked into our house. The small door to the kitchen was ajar.

This is a very safe neighborhood, and no one notices that the gardener is different from before.

He was younger, quieter, and more dangerous. He was my patient, my student, and my lost lover. His name was Xi He.

He said: "My dear Dr. Zhong, I've prepared a grand feast for you, and it's about to begin..."