But she was wrong again.
Tang Rui never imagined that it was Xiaoru who added fuel to the fire of her past and turned it into rumors, spreading them through this office building.
Clearly, their graduation photo was still on that desk. Clearly, she was supposed to be her best friend.
"Did you see that? This is my good friend, Xiaoru."
Tang Rui suddenly looked at Wen Xishu and said with a bitter and self-mocking tone:
"Whatever she wanted, I never fought her for it. If she wanted to be the center of attention, I was content to be a dim firefly. If she wanted to be the focus of the crowd, I would retreat into the shadows."
"Because many years ago, when I was at my loneliest, she handed me the microphone, and I thought... that was the turning point of my life."
"I used to trust her a lot; her smile was very healing for me. I never considered whether there was malice behind that smile."
"I even told her about my experiences, just like I’m telling you now. But I could never have imagined that she would maliciously spread rumors about me."
"Just because the boss didn’t accept her invitation, just because I was appreciated by the boss... she thought it was I who took her happiness away."
"To make people hate me, she twisted my past, saying that all the suffering I experienced was something I sought out myself!"
Tang Rui was almost gritting her teeth as she said these words.
She had worked hard to live, taking many years to cover up the scars of the past.
It was as if she had finally turned into a normal bird that could blend into the forest.
But at the moment when her life was about to turn a new page, her best friend reopened her wounds in an even more vicious way, reminding her...
She was just a parrot; she had never left the parrot cage.
Wen Xishu sighed softly, finally understanding why Wenren Mirror was so regretful.
This girl, who had never been loved from beginning to end, indeed longed to be loved.
But Wenren Mirror thought too simply; he actually believed that a good lover could make up for the lack of family and friendship.
"I can’t stay here. The rumors about me are increasing, getting more and more vile. They even say I’ve had an abortion and slept with many different people."
"Am I a terrible person? I’ve thought about this more than once."
After saying this, Tang Rui remained silent for a long time, her voice gradually lowering:
"I thought I wasn’t, but I suddenly realized I am. Only if I’m such a rotten person will they leave me alone."
"If I try to defend myself, they will only intensify their torment."
"I started drinking heavily, I started getting tattoos, I also changed my appearance, starting to become the person they wanted me to be."
"This way, everything started making sense; their story... finally became complete."
Yes, their story was finally complete.
That girl, just like in the rumors, was fundamentally a bitch; she drank heavily, got tattoos, hit the clubs, indulged in all sorts of bad behaviors, fitting the stereotypes everyone believed in.
All the rumors about her aligned perfectly with her current actions. All the concocted stories and malice reasonably became labels stuck to her.
Wen Xishu couldn’t help but think, fortunately, Wenren Mirror did not anchor this story in reality.
Meeting the most perfect person in the world in a completely shattered world... that would indeed be wonderful.
But that person would disappear.
Perhaps Wenren Mirror realized this, realizing how cruel his actions had been—
In boundless darkness, you light a fire. Others think it’s a lamp, that flying toward the light would lead to the lamp’s owner guiding them out of the darkness.
But you only lit the fire and then left.
That’s what Wenren Mirror did; in seven days’ time, he loved a girl, made her feel happiness, and then completely disappeared. He thought love could overcome everything, that being loved would heal past misfortunes.
The lifelong pain of others seemed like little troubles that could be solved by just loving once.
What arrogance.
"Thank goodness, Wenren Mirror did not anchor this story; your tragedy is not yet set in stone."
The past cannot be changed, but the future can be reckless.
Perhaps it was because of the alcohol, but Wen Xishu now really wanted to take Tang Rui and do something crazy.
He looked at the date and was somewhat surprised to find that the date was close to when Jack in Mo’en City "evolved."
He suddenly thought, maybe it’s not just Mo’en City, but the entire human world, that at some moment will collapse.
The end of the world is arriving, everywhere.
So the countdown to the collapse of all rules and the loss of human order has begun.
Wen Xishu didn’t know how to heal a person, but he knew how to find happiness, especially... finding happiness through revenge.
Only he hadn’t obtained the final piece of information yet.
He already knew what the three items in the three scenes corresponded to. Going back to Deceit Tower, he could clear the three scenes quickly.
But there were four doors in total, and the last door corresponded to the last item.
He was a little impatient, wanting to take this already broken girl and do some crazy things.
"Continue?"
"Continue!"
The dice fell, showing one and four. Five points. Tang Rui smiled indifferently and drank another glass of wine.
She started to get drunk.
Her consciousness began to blur, and the people around seemed to be influenced by some force, each recalling some sad past events.
"Ask, ask about everything... I’ll tell you everything. After all... everything is almost over."