The clothes were drenched in fresh blood, presenting a glaring scarlet.

A cruelly large hole had been opened in Feng Yuhuai's chest, threads bursting apart, revealing an anxious and throbbing heart inside.

The heart seemed to be imprinted with a strange tattoo on its surface, resembling a dim, nearly lifeless cloth doll lying on it.

The cloth doll weakly sucked the blood from the heart, and Feng Yuhuai's face visibly aged; her skin lost its luster, wrinkles around her eyes deepened, as if time had accelerated her life's journey in an instant.

She could feel the injured [Puppet Mother•Clone] greedily sucking her life force without restraint, like a parasite ravenously extracting the host's essence, instilling her with extreme terror.

The threads in her chest, once tightly woven fibers, now lay broken, writhing feebly, trying to reconnect.

They were like worms trying in vain to find their other half in the soil, struggling to stick back together.

"Hungry, the Puppet Mother is hungry!"

A weak girl's voice spilled from Feng Yuhuai's lips, so light that it resembled a feather landing.

She couldn't even spare the strength to pay attention to [Zheng Hang]. Driven by the instinct to survive, she turned around, burying her head deep into Cang Qingsen's still-warm corpse, as if it held the warmth and solace she craved.

[Puppet Mother] always picked and chose only fresh life, but the brutal truth proved that when hunger reaches its peak, even cold leftovers release an enticing aroma.

An eerie sucking sound echoed in the air.

Cang Qingsen's corpse gradually shriveled as if its essence of life was drained, while Feng Yuhuai's chest secretly grew full again, life's power surging within her once more.

Her cheeks, those dried by the absence of water, were replenished by the blood's moisture. Yet, although the crow's feet at her eyes faded gradually, they couldn't completely disappear, leaving a faint trace, an imprint of the forever-missing part of her lifespan.

"What an ugly way to eat."

[Zheng Hang] gently adjusted the eyeglasses on his nose, then gracefully stooped down with a gentleman's air, slowly taking out a tissue from his pocket, handing it toward Feng Yuhuai.

His voice was filled with human warmth, softly uttering: "Look at the mess you made on your face while eating, wipe your mouth."

Feng Yuhuai's neck twisted stiffly, the one remaining eye showing the stupor after a full meal.

Clearly, when she offered her flesh, undergoing a semi-fusion transformation with the cloth doll, it seemed as though half a piece of cotton filled her mind, which now seemed somewhat inadequate.

Startled, Feng Yuhuai's fear instinctively urged her to react instantly, her arm tracing an arc in mid-air, ready to attack.

However, before she could complete her move, a bone-chilling coolness shot through her brow, where a finger bone, hard as iron, was gently resting.

[Zheng Hang] gave a sinister smile, mimicking a gunshot sound with his mouth, advising: "Yuhuai, have you already forgotten what I taught you? To those masters who can control their own destiny, one should offer genuine gratitude and obedience."

Feng Yuhuai felt the sinister chill emanating from her brow, her mind, overheated with murderous intent, quickly cooling down.

She cautiously accepted the tissue from [Zheng Hang], gently wiping away the blood stains on her face.

She took a deep breath, her voice extremely suppressed: "I don't even know you at all, why do you keep calling my name over and over, who are you?"

[Zheng Hang] pursed his lips slightly, and then every word that followed deeply shocked and horrified Feng Yuhuai's soul.

He said, "I told you I'd visit at night, how could you forget?"

Something clicked in Feng Yuhuai's mind, and she exclaimed in shock: "That text message, it was you?!!"

[Zheng Hang] smirked: "How can you say you don't know me? Aren't your every act and deed an imitation of me? Isn't this due to your profound infatuation, a love so deep you can't extricate yourself?"

Feng Yuhuai's scalp tingled as if struck by an icy electric current, almost splitting open. Her mouth formed an O, her voice trembling: "You, you, are you the [Mask]?"

[Zheng Hang] didn't answer, yet his appearance changed terrifyingly in an instant.

His skin seemed to be torn off by invisible fingers, revealing a layer of ghastly white bone beneath, those bones fitting seamlessly over his face like a bizarre mask, exuding a terrifying aura that chilled Feng Yuhuai to the core.

Through the sinister white-bone mask, the voice at Feng Yuhuai's ear suddenly turned cold and biting, as if stripped of all human warmth and kindness, leaving only an icy echo:

"Every mimic of yours is a silent confession to me, Yuhuai. Do you hold an unspeakable affection for me?"

Feng Yuhuai's heart gave a thud, plummeting, as if she partly understood, and partly didn't.

So, this is why you suddenly appeared, spouting tender words while almost beating me to death—what an absurd view of love this is.

"[Mask] must be a complete lunatic, and it seems he misunderstood, so is he confessing to me now, or forcing me to confess to him?"

Feng Yuhuai's mind was abnormally confused; her shallow romantic experience was insufficient to alleviate this sudden, suffocating confession attack.

"Or perhaps, I'd better not explain, just maintain this beautiful misunderstanding, for safety's sake?"

Feng Yuhuai gazed up at the featureless face of [Mask], forcing a false smile: "Sorry I didn't recognize you earlier, yes, you guessed it, I really like you!"

[Mask] emitted a peculiar yet profound laugh, sounding like the call of a night owl, particularly eerie atop the silent building.

His fingertip lightly glided across Feng Yuhuai's brow, bringing a softness that unsettled her, then he slowly reached into her pocket, pulling out her cell phone.

His movements were slow and elegant, yet accompanied by an inscrutable madness.

Feng Yuhuai watched [Mask] warily, a stiff smile plastered on her face, not daring to move.

She couldn't gauge [Mask]'s thoughts, but she was relatively certain that [Mask] was a madman with a mindset vastly different from ordinary people, an extremely dangerous madman—most frustratingly, one she had picked by imitating in the first place.

"So, my best approach is to enact a stance of admiration, not to provoke him, like he said, to fully obey his twisted love," Feng Yuhuai pondered.

Then, she saw [Mask] opening her phone's camera, pointing it at them both, his voice drifting out eerily: "This is a moment worth remembering, smile!"

Feng Yuhuai compliantly leaned her head towards [Mask], forcing a smile full of affection.

Feng Yuhuai's tea-drinking demeanor went online, as she mused: "Since the die is cast and rejection is impossible, might as well enjoy it—perhaps I can turn misfortune into fortune, using [Mask] to tackle that person for me?!!"

[Mask] cast a sideways glance at Feng Yuhuai, a hint of surprise in his eyes, secretly thinking: "My foolish Imoto, who really gave you the courage, huh, I hope you maintain such a carefree attitude when you find yourself stuck in a pit in the future!"

With a soft click, the flash went off instantly, perfectly capturing a close-up shot of [Mask] and Feng Yuhuai cheek-to-cheek.

[Mask]'s fingers lightly skimmed the phone screen, simply editing the photo before sending it as a multimedia message to [Zheng Hang]'s phone number.

Then he stood up, returning the phone to Feng Yuhuai, waving his hand as he prepared to leave: "From now on, your life belongs to me. If anyone asks, remember my name—I am [Zheng Hang]!"

Feng Yuhuai stood there dumbfounded, watching [Mask] walk away elegantly, hesitating before shouting: "Wait, if someone sends harassing messages or bullies me, can you find him and kill him for me?"

[Mask] paused, turning back to stare coldly, his voice low and magnetically metallic, deeply hinting: "On the darkest day of your future life, I will surely appear!"

The air echoed with a deeply moving love promise, yet the white-framed [Mask] was already gone, the endless night alone enveloping the silent floors…

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