"Wow, is that... is that a person?"

"Oh my god, how can he run so fast? That's exaggerated, isn't it?"

On the midnight streets, there were still night owls who hadn't returned home, and they were suddenly frightened when they saw Lin Chuan sprint past them. This was the first time in their lives they had seen such incredible speed that it almost left them speechless.

Regrettably, despite his frantic running, he ultimately failed to catch up with the person he loved. Lin Chuan raced all the way to the banks of the East River. The road was pitch-black, devoid of people, and that white Mercedes was nowhere to be found. Lin Chuan was left completely drained and despairing.

What was lost seemed not just a lover, but more like his heart itself.

Lin Chuan felt a gaping emptiness in his chest, as if it had been hollowed out. He was disappointed, frustrated, and desperate...

"No!!" Standing by the chilly riverside, Lin Chuan let out an unwilling roar.

A few pedestrians hurrying along the roadside were startled by Lin Chuan's loud outburst, as if a thunderclap had exploded out of nowhere, making them tremble in fear and look toward Lin Chuan by the river with trepidation and nervousness.

"Could this guy be crazy?"

"Who knows!"

"Let's stay away from him."

"Right, right, these days if you get hurt by a lunatic, you can only suffer in silence."

The passers-by all detoured, preferring to take a longer route than to get close to Lin Chuan. They moved away with expressions of terror on their faces.

Lin Chuan sat dejectedly on the curb, silent, with a blank mind, almost on the verge of collapse. His legs were shivering from the muscle spasms caused by the sudden burst of exertion, compounded by Lin Chuan's excessive strain, and the aftermath was immediate. He couldn't stand up at all at this moment and was forced to sit on the curb, his hands also trembling due to severe physical depletion.

He clumsily took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and attempted to draw one out.

However, due to the severe shaking of his hands, he couldn't grip it properly, and it dropped to the ground. Lin Chuan tried to pick it up, only to realize after several attempts that no matter how hard he tried, his quivering hands were unable to lift the cigarette from the ground.

Aftereffects!

This was not just a consequence of his furious sprint, but also a trembling disorder resulting from an injury that had affected Lin Chuan's body. Clenching his teeth, Lin Chuan held his right wrist with his left hand and mustered all his strength to suppress the violent trembling of his right hand. Only then was he able to struggle to pick up the cigarette from the ground.

Lin Chuan put it in his mouth, and lighting it was yet another struggle.

With a flick...

He took a deep drag from the cigarette, his eyes showing a hint of icy coldness. In that moment, Lin Chuan felt a sense of devastating sorrow.

Sitting by the roadside, in the middle of the night, Lin Chuan seemed like an abandoned child, wandering alone on the midnight streets. Homeless, aimlessly drifting. A cigarette was his only solace.

Lin Chuan didn't know what meaning was left in his life now that he had lost Tang Yumeng.

In Lin Chuan's life, there had been two disappointments. One was when he was ousted from the Dark Soldier squad; the other was today.

If the first time was helplessness, fate, then this time Lin Chuan felt so much more unwilling to accept it. Leaning on the flower bed by the roadside, Lin Chuan seriously pondered that all of this must be Bai Yifan's conspiracy, surely he and Fang Yuan had colluded to deliberately tear him and Tang Yumeng apart.

Thinking back now, it all seemed calculated. Right after he had escorted Tang Yumeng back to the City Committee compound, Fang Yuan appeared, which was clearly a premeditated act. She must have been tailing him and then led him to the bar, where they drank two bottles of Charming Blue, and taking advantage of the alcohol, she began to seduce him, deliberately throwing herself at him. And just then, Bai Yifan, who had a key to Fang Yuan's house, brought Tang Yumeng along to 'catch the adulterers'.

At this moment, Lin Chuan's mind was exceptionally clear, and he connected all the scenes and fragments in his head. Sadly, it was obviously too late to realize this.

Bai Yifan, this sly bastard, had struck him where it hurt the most, and had plunged him into an abyss so deep that he had almost no chance of turning things around. After this incident, having seen Lin Chuan and a bare-chested Fang Yuan embraced together, Tang Yumeng would probably never give him another chance. There was already conflict when she caught him kissing Fang Yuan before. If that time could have been explained away as a misunderstanding, perhaps it could have been resolved, but what about this time? How could this be explained?

Was it that they got carried away while drunk? Or was this Bai Yifan and Fang Yuan setting him up? It seemed quite unrealistic; not to say that Tang Yumeng wouldn't believe it, even Lin Chuan himself might not. Could there really be a woman throwing herself at a man for no reason whatsoever?

Lin Chuan sat on the road curb for a very long time.

Actually, Tang Yumeng was suffering too. When she saw Lin Chuan and Fang Yuan embracing and entwined, she felt as if her heart had shattered. Sitting in Bai Yifan's Mercedes, Tang Yumeng remained silent, staring blankly ahead, letting her tears flow freely.

It turns out that the saying is true: there isn't a single good man; if you can rely on a man, pigs can climb trees.

"Xiao Yu, don't be sad," Bai Yifan spoke comforting words: "Lin Chuan doesn't deserve your tears, understand?"

Tang Yumeng said nothing, still not speaking a word.

Bai Yifan sighed and said, "I'm worried about you going back like this. Why don't we do this? I'll take you to my place first!"

Tang Yumeng still remained silent.

Bai Yifan seeing her silence, drove straight back. However, upon arriving at the doorstep, Tang Yumeng still had a dazed expression with tears streaming down incessantly. Bai Yifan hurriedly spoke, "Xiao Yu, you really shouldn't be like this, for someone like him, is he even worth it?"

"I want to go home," Tang Yumeng finally said.

"I'm not at ease with you going back alone," Bai Yifan quickly shook his head.

"Take me back," Tang Yumeng's tone was extraordinarily firm.

Bai Yifan was stunned for a moment, then responded, "But I... I'm worried about you being alone."

"Go back!" Tang Yumeng insisted firmly: "If you don't take me, I will walk back by myself."

"Alright, alright," Bai Yifan promptly nodded and said, "I'll take you back. I'm also not at ease with you going alone."

Having no other choice, Bai Yifan immediately made a U-turn and drove Tang Yumeng straight towards the City Committee compound.

After arriving at the City Committee compound, Tang Yumeng got out of the car. Throughout the journey, her eyes had never dried of tears, they were constantly wet, and at first, they flowed down like pearls off a broken string. Later, it was just the rims of her eyes that remained moist.

"Xiao Yu, are you alright?" Bai Yifan asked anxiously.

"I'm fine," Tang Yumeng shook her head and after looking at Bai Yifan, she continued, "Though I'm not sure of your intentions today, still, I thank you for letting me see Lin Chuan's true nature."

"Ah..." Bai Yifan was taken aback for a moment.

"Although I'm sad and impulsive now, I am very clear about everything you've done," Tang Yumeng glanced at Bai Yifan and said, "Alright then, I'm going up. You should head back early too!"

After speaking, Tang Yumeng turned and went upstairs.

"Xiao Yu, let me walk you up!" Bai Yifan hurriedly followed.

Tang Yumeng did not refuse and allowed Bai Yifan to come after her. Bai Yifan said cheerfully, "I'm worried about you being alone, so... I'll just walk you upstairs."

Tang Yumeng did not speak. After going upstairs and opening the door, Dark Soldier opened the room door with a vigilant look at Bai Yifan.

"Miss, you're back?" Dark Soldier fetched Tang Yumeng a pair of slippers.

Tang Yumeng nodded and then turned to Bai Yifan, "You can go back now, there's someone at home, you don't need to worry."

"Ah... alright," Bai Yifan immediately nodded and said, "Since someone is at home, then I'm relieved. Well then, you should get to bed early, I... I should be going back too."

"Hmm!" Tang Yumeng immediately nodded.

Subsequently, Bai Yifan quickly turned and left. He hadn't expected that a maid was already in Tang Yumeng's home. This made Bai Yifan a bit upset; after coming all this way, he didn't even enter the home. Bai Yifan knew that the most vulnerable time for a woman is after a heartbreak, and only during this vulnerability could he have the chance to get close to her, to enter her heart. But now it seemed, he had miscalculated.

"Miss, what happened?" Dark Soldier noticed that something seemed off with Tang Yumeng's mood.

"It's nothing." Tang Yumeng shook her head.

"Then you..." Dark Soldier looked at Tang Yumeng, puzzled.

Tang Yumeng went inside and then said, "Go get a bottle of red wine from the wine cabinet for me."

"Okay." Dark Soldier nodded, quickly went over, took out a bottle of red wine, opened it for Tang Yumeng, and poured a half glass in a tall wine glass. She handed it over to Tang Yumeng and said, "Miss, here is the wine you asked for."

Barefooted, Tang Yumeng stood on the microcrystalline jade floor, holding a glass of red wine in one hand, leaning against the floor-to-ceiling window. She stared blankly at the neon lights outside the window. Dark Soldier remained by her side the entire time.

After a long while, Tang Yumeng suddenly asked, "Dark Soldier, why do you think the men in this world are so unreliable?"

"Miss, you... you couldn't have had some misunderstanding with Lin Chuan, right?" Dark Soldier asked, puzzled.

"No, this is no misunderstanding!" Tang Yumeng shook her head, then continued, "It's definitely not a misunderstanding, but something I saw with my own eyes."

"Miss, what did you see?" Dark Soldier quickly asked.

"I saw Lin Chuan sleeping with another woman," Tang Yumeng's eyes narrowed, her inner anger evident. She bit her lip, took a deep breath, and then gulped down all the wine in the glass.

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