She probably... wouldn't be that coincidental, would she?
But why did her heart suddenly feel so empty?
"Gu... Gu Sang, it looks like it's going to be stuck here for a while. Shall we get out and take a look?" The girl felt suffocated in the car.
She subconsciously took out her phone and opened WeChat, only to find that the message she sent to Lin Lin an hour ago had not been replied to.
It shouldn't be like this.
Lin Lin always replies instantly!
Seeing the girl's restless expression, Gu Sang thought the traffic jam might last a while, so he nodded: "Okay, let's get out first."
After paying the driver, the two quickly walked to the sidewalk.
In the distance, they saw a crowd gathered around a company building.
Passersby all around were looking up and taking photos with their phones, pointing at the rooftop, but it was unclear what they were photographing.
An uneasy feeling welled up in Gu Sang's heart. Following their gaze upwards, he saw a thin girl standing on the edge of the rooftop, about a dozen stories high.
"Lin Lin..."
"It's Lin Lin!"
The girl next to him called out in a shocked and terrified voice.
Lin Lin?
Gu Sang felt as if his heart had been struck by something.
He immediately grabbed the girl's arm and rushed towards the company building while learning from the girl about Lin Lin's ordeal and her recent abnormal behavior.
By the time Gu Sang and the girl ran to the bottom of the company building,
Several rescue workers in orange uniforms had already cleared the path, inflated the rescue cushion, and two others opened the cordon line.
"Don't look anymore, go to work! Disperse! Don't shout loudly, don't provoke her!"
"Step back, stay at a safe distance!"
"Why are you running in there? Come back!"
The rescue worker turned and saw Gu Sang and the girl in jeans running towards the company.
The girl couldn't control her tears, her body trembling uncontrollably as she tightly held onto Gu Sang.
Her legs were even going weak.
Gu Sang urgently pressed the elevator button and said to the firefighter rushing over, "The person up there is our friend, we're not here to spectate, don't worry."
The elevator doors closed with a ding.
The girl held Gu Sang's hand, her lips trembling as she muttered something inaudible. It was evident that Lin Lin meant a lot to her, and she was worried and scared.
Ding!
They had arrived!
Gu Sang and the girl climbed up one more floor of stairs before reaching the rooftop.
Ten meters away, Lin Lin, dressed in a white dress, with light makeup, and wearing the necklace her friend Ayun had given her for her birthday, stood on the rooftop.
Lin Lin was only in her twenties, but her once lustrous black hair had suffered such trauma that it had shed severely, and she had tied the thinning strands into a bun.
"Lin Lin, what are you doing? Don't scare me like this."
"Didn't you really like Empress? I brought her here. Didn't you two agree to meet for tea today? She's okay now, and you'll be okay too."
"Time can erase everything, right? If something is bothering you, tell me... Lin Lin..."
The girl in jeans had tears streaming down her face as she shook her head and cried, trying to get closer to Lin Lin.
Seeing the worried and frightened expression of her best friend,
A flicker of struggle flashed across Lin Lin's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by anguish, as if something had crushed her will to live.
Leaving her world filled only with torment, pain, nightmares, and depression.
Suddenly—
"Can it really erase everything? Really..." Lin Lin, like a bird with broken wings, forced a smile, teetering precariously on the edge.
She smiled and smiled, then suddenly broke down crying: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Ayun, I'm so sorry..."
Seeing this scene,
The rescue workers on the rooftop immediately shook their heads at Chen Yun, preventing her from getting closer.
They then said in a low voice to the two of them: "You're her friends, right? Don't provoke her, say something to give her hope in life."
"Soothe her emotions, and we'll find an opportunity to rescue her."
Chen Yun and Gu Sang felt a heaviness in their chests.
From their pupils, they could see Lin Lin had already stepped one foot over the edge, clutching a small amplifier tightly in her hand.
She cried out in despair and helplessness, like a falling star.
The ancient people in the live stream felt their hearts being gripped tightly, and all the citizens held their breath, staring at Lin Lin on the screen.
Gu Sang took a step forward, his heart aching as he comforted her: "Lin Lin, it's me, Gu Sang. We had arranged to meet at the cafe today."
"I've left that swamp behind."
"Ayun just told me about your situation. We'll find evidence together to prove your innocence and make him pay for his actions, okay?"
"You can trust me, I can help you, just like you've helped me before."
The girl in jeans, Chen Yun, tightly pursed her lips, her eyes red as she nodded vigorously at Lin Lin.
But she was fine just a few days ago!
The doctor had said Lin Lin's depression had improved, shifting from severe to mild, and that as long as she wasn't provoked again, she wouldn't have suicidal tendencies.
But!
But why had it turned out like this today?
Lin Lin looked at Gu Sang, who was so close to her, her despairing and lifeless face showing relief, as if she had saved her former self.
But alas.
No one could save her anymore.
Lin Lin's slender figure stood on the rooftop, surrounded by a few tense firefighters who were cautiously approaching her, inching closer step by step.
She suddenly stopped crying and rolled up her sleeves, revealing her arms covered in scratch marks.
New ones.
Old ones.
Scabbed ones.
Ones with blood seeping through.
Each one a result of her uncontrollable self-harm during her agonizing nights.
Lin Lin looked at Gu Sang's shocked and pained expression and gave a faint smile, the last gentleness she would share with the world: "It's really good to see you safe and sound. I'm so glad."
"But I'm sorry, I'm in so much pain right now, I can't go on anymore. I thought I could slowly walk towards the light like you, but maybe I'm just not worthy."
"A few nights ago, I received... a phone call."
"When I was with He Linpeng, he treated me decently at first. In less than a year, if you add up everything including bottled water and bus fare, he had spent over a hundred thousand yuan on me. But I reciprocated—I emptied out all my savings to buy him a 100,000 yuan watch as a gift."
"Then one day, he called me from an unknown number and demanded I pay back all the money he had spent on me, over 200,000 yuan in total."
"I had no idea it amounted to that much."
"Maybe he even included hotel costs when I accompanied him on business trips, and expenses for taking his friends out to eat. Basically anything spent by the two of us was counted as mine. He had saved all the electronic receipts, and gave me three days to pay him back. I consulted a lawyer, who said that since He Linpeng had the intention of getting his money back the moment he spent it on me, taking this to court would likely rule in his favor."
