Chapter 328: Shen Anyu's Performance! Zhong Lingyin's Response!
"Liu Ruyan is my Second Senior Sister, and I am Zhong Lingyin! You've got the wrong person!"
Zhong Lingyin, the famous international superstar whose voice usually captivated millions with its ethereal purity, was now on the verge of tears facing the accomplished fact.
Her voice, usually so controlled and melodious, trembled violently, cracking under the sheer, crushing weight of the revelation.
The luxurious interior of the supercar, which had moments ago felt like a sanctuary of passion and safety, now felt like a suffocating cage of guilt, the leather seats feeling cold against her skin.
"Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan looks a lot like me. You really got the wrong person!"
Zhong Lingyin was so upset she wanted to cry but couldn't find the breath. Her chest heaved with panicked, shallow gasps, as if the air in the car had turned to solid lead.
She looked down at herself, at her disheveled dress—a designer piece now ruined—and the lingering warmth on her skin that didn't belong to her. It belonged to her sister. She had stolen it. She, the beloved idol, was a thief of the worst kind.
"Why is this happening? Why is this happening?"
Zhong Lingyin covered her beautiful, porcelain face with her trembling hands, feeling distressed and sobbing uncontrollably. The tears finally broke free, hot and stinging, sliding through her fingers and dripping onto the expensive upholstery.
She felt dirty. She felt like a sinner who had stumbled into a temple and desecrated the altar. Her mind replayed the last hour in agonizing, high-definition detail—his dominance, her surrender, the way she had melted into him believing he was her destined hero sent by the heavens. She had thought it was fate. But it was a farce. To him, she was just a ghost, a reflection of another woman.
He didn't want me, she thought, her heart shattering into a thousand razor-sharp shards. He wanted Ruyan. He kissed me, held me, and loved me... thinking of her. I was just a substitute. A doll with the same face.
Beside her, Shen Anyu sat in the driver's seat. To the untrained eye, he looked devastated. His handsome face was a mask of shock and dawning horror, mirroring her despair perfectly. His complexion had paled, his eyes wide with a realization that seemed to tear him apart.
However, deep within his eyes, hidden behind the veneer of panic, was a calm, calculating abyss. He watched her breakdown with the precision of a surgeon dissecting a patient.
The "misunderstanding" card had been played perfectly. It was the ultimate exoneration. Now, it was time for the grand finale: The Atonement. A performance that would bind her to him forever.
Shen Anyu, filled with self-reproach and guilt—or at least, a perfect simulation of it—suddenly gritted his teeth. The muscles in his jaw bunched visibly, veins popping on his forehead.
He reached into the center console storage with jerky, desperate movements. His hand emerged gripping a tactical military knife. It was a cold, menacing piece of black steel, serrated at the base, sharp enough to shave with, glinting malevolently in the dim ambient light of the dashboard.
Clack.
He unsheathed it. The sound was loud, harsh, and violent in the quiet car.
He grabbed Zhong Lingyin's trembling hand. His grip was forceful but not painful, demanding her attention, grounding her hysteria with physical sensation. He shoved the cold hilt of the knife into her warm, sweating palm and curled her slender fingers around it, one by one.
"Lingyin, I'm sorry," he rasped, his voice sounding like gravel grinding on glass, thick with tormented emotion. "I will atone for my sins, for the rest of my life."
He leaned forward, pressing the tip of the blade against his own chest, right over his heart. He stared intensely into her tear-filled eyes, his expression one of utter surrender and repentance.
"Stab me once, to make you feel better, and to make me feel better too."
"I have defiled you. I have betrayed Ruyan. I am a beast who couldn't tell the difference between the woman I love and the woman I saved. I have ruined the bond between sisters. I don't deserve to live."
His voice rose with passion, thick with self-loathing. He pressed harder. The tip of the knife pierced his expensive dress shirt, touching the skin beneath. A drop of blood bloomed on the white fabric, shocking and bright red.
If Tian Yunzi and those dead guys from the Netherworld Palace had seen this scene from the afterlife, they would have likely cursed loudly in disbelief.
Are you kidding me?
Even sniper rifle bullets couldn't penetrate Shen Anyu's [Divine Steel Body]. He had tanked explosions that leveled buildings. He could catch bullets with his teeth. Let alone a mere military knife wielded by a weak, trembling pop star? This was theater. Pure, unadulterated performance art designed to manipulate the heart of a naive girl.
But Zhong Lingyin didn't know that.
She stared blankly at the sharp military knife in her hand. The metal was cold against her sweating palm, a heavy weight of judgment. She saw the desperation in Shen Anyu's eyes, the way his chest rose and fell with rapid, ragged breaths. She saw the blood staining his shirt.
She looked at the blade, then at his heart.
He's serious, she thought, panic replacing her grief. He really wants me to kill him. He is suffering just as much as I am.
Her hand shook violently. The thought of piercing his flesh, of seeing his warm blood spill over her hands, terrified her more than anything. This man had just saved her from the Sword Demon. He had stood against an army of assassins for her. He was her savior, even if he was also her ruination.
How could she hurt him?
The military knife in her hand fell weakly.
Clatter.
It hit the floor mat, the sound echoing the collapse of her resolve.
"Brother Shen..." she whispered, her voice hoarse, her throat raw. "Put it away. I can't do it."
She looked at him, her eyes filled with a complicated mix of tragedy and forgiveness.
"Brother Shen, perhaps this is Lingyin's fate," she said sadly, her eyes misty.
"If you hadn't appeared by chance, Lingyin would have already been kidnapped by those bad guys. I would be in a dungeon somewhere, or dead. You gave me my life back."
She turned back to him, her eyes searching his face, seeing only his pain.
"And now, also because of you, Lingyin has had the most important thing taken away from her."
"But... you can't be blamed for this. You didn't do it out of malice. You thought I was her. If anyone is to blame, blame fate, which plays tricks on people."
"Blame the heavens for giving us the same face. Blame me for not speaking up sooner."
At this point, Zhong Lingyin wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand, smearing her makeup slightly. She looked vulnerable, broken, yet strangely dignified. She took a deep, shuddering breath and said in a trembling voice, trying to sound stronger than she felt:
"Let's just say this is Lingyin's thanks for saving her life. A life for a night. It's... it's a fair exchange."
"From now on, we have no more ties. I will bury this memory deep in my heart. I will never speak of it."
"You must treat Second Senior Sister well, or I will never forgive you."
In Zhong Lingyin's heart, all of this was a cruel misunderstanding scripted by the gods.
She and Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan looked extremely similar. It was a genetic prank that had finally stopped being funny.
If it weren't for this resemblance, Shen Anyu wouldn't have saved her, rescuing her from danger while she was surrounded by wolves and tigers. He wouldn't have risked his life against a Grandmaster swordsman.
If it weren't for this resemblance, Shen Anyu wouldn't have directly taken everything from her with such passion and familiarity. The way he touched her, the way he looked at her... it was all meant for Ruyan.
It was all because he mistook her for Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan. His love was loyal; it was just directed at the wrong target.
What more could Zhong Lingyin say? Could she blame a man for loving her sister too much? Could she hate him for being a hero?
By all accounts, she couldn't blame Shen Anyu, who had saved her life, and she felt even more guilty towards Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan.
She imagined Ruyan's face—smiling, trusting. The guilt was acid in her stomach. I slept with her boyfriend. I am the villain here. I am the third party.
At this moment, Zhong Lingyin only hoped that from now on, there would be no more ties, and Shen Anyu would treat Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan well. That was her only penance. To step aside and let them be happy.
As for the grievances, she would bear them alone. She would carry this secret to her grave, living in the shadow of this secret love.
Shen Anyu watched her retreat into her shell of martyrdom. He was somewhat surprised by Zhong Lingyin's words, not expecting this delicate and pitiful woman to possess such resolve.
Most women would scream, slap, or demand compensation. But Zhong Lingyin was willing to sacrifice herself to protect the relationship of her sister and the man who "wronged" her.
It was noble. It was tragic.
And to a villain like Shen Anyu, it was incredibly arousing.
She wants to cut ties? Shen Anyu thought, a dark smile playing on the edges of his mind. Impossible. You are already mine. I don't let go of what I catch.
He didn't want to have no more ties. He wanted the ties to bind her so tightly she could never breathe without him.
Shen Anyu moved. He didn't pull away. Instead, he reached out and placed his hands on Zhong Lingyin's fragrant shoulders. His hands were warm, heavy, grounding. He turned her body to face him, forcing her to look at him.
His gaze was sincere, affectionate, and filled with a magnetic power that made it hard to look away. He channeled the charm of a devil making a pact.
"I am a man," he said, his voice low and rumbling, vibrating through her bones. "I don't run from my mistakes. And I don't abandon the women who belong to me."
"I will handle this matter. I will not harm either you or Ruyan. I will protect you both. And I will give both of you an explanation. Trust me, okay?"
Zhong Lingyin stared at him, confused, her heart skipping a beat. "But... but we can't... Ruyan is my sister..."
Shen Anyu leaned closer, invading her personal space again. His scent—musk, rain, and danger—enveloped her, making her head spin.
"Besides," he whispered, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial, seductive low, "it's just a Senior Sister, it's not real, is it?"
"You aren't blood sisters. You share a master, not a father. You aren't bound by blood, only by title."
"In ancient times, powerful men had many wives. Sisters serving one husband was a beautiful tale of harmony, not a tragedy. Why must we be bound by modern constraints that only bring pain?"
"Think about it. Ruyan is fiery, you are gentle. You complement each other. And I... I have enough love for both. I can protect you both from this dangerous world."
It was sophistry. It was the twisted logic of a scumbag. But delivered with Shen Anyu's charisma, his unwavering confidence, and the lingering aftershocks of their intimacy, it sounded dangerously like a solution. It sounded like a way out of the pain.
Upon hearing this, Zhong Lingyin's starry eyes widened instantly. Her worldview was shaking.
[Ding! Detected destined heroine Zhong Lingyin's favorability +10. Plundered +30,000 Destiny Points.]
[Ding! Detected destined heroine Zhong Lingyin's total favorability 82. Additional plundering +30,000 Destiny Points.]
Shen Anyu almost laughed out loud.
Her favorability increased?
Instead of being disgusted by his harem declaration, she was... relieved? Touched?
Zhong Lingyin's favorability increased? She's truly a polite, good girl. Or perhaps, beneath that innocent exterior, she didn't want to let him go either. The hero who saved her, the man who claimed her—he had imprinted on her heart. She didn't want to be discarded. His declaration meant he valued her enough to fight the world's morality for her.
It was even more impossible to let go of such a good girl. She was malleable, devoted, and hers.
He leaned in to kiss her again, to seal the deal, to wipe away the last of her resistance with passion. His lips brushed hers, promising a future that was forbidden yet irresistible.
Ding-a-ling-ling.
Suddenly, the phone rang.
The sound was sharp, piercing the heavy, romantic atmosphere like a siren. It cut through the tension like a knife.
Zhong Lingyin jumped as if she had been electrocuted. She scrambled to find her purse, her hands shaking uncontrollably.
She pulled out her phone. Her gaze swept across the incoming call number displayed on the screen.
The name flashing on the screen was like a judgment from the heavens.
Her face instantly lost its color, turning as white as a sheet of paper. The blood drained from her lips.
It was a call from Second Senior Sister Liu Ruyan!
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