The cold moonlight seeped through the dust-covered stained glass, illuminating the dilapidated Yuan residence.
A woman laid face-up on the table, her blood dripping from her hands after enduring countless tortures.
"Bang!"
A gunshot rang out, and Yuan Fa ended her life.
He spread his arms wide, basking in the dazzling stained glass light, presenting the corpse to Yuan Luoyi in a sacrificial manner. He devotedly bent down, touching Yuan Luoyi's hand with his forehead, whispering like reciting a scripture.
"This woman was filthy, ignorant, and spat upon you."
"So I killed her. Her blood will cleanse her of her sins. Now, can you forgive me?"
"The pain has never ceased. My prized rationality has been shattered. I've become a mere killing machine, a walking corpse. I beg you to grant me death and end all of this."
Yuan Luoyi sat in the armchair, hugging a white rabbit doll.
Watching her deranged Second Brother, she trembled in sadness, unsure how to alleviate his pain.
The true culprit resembled her and used this to get close to her brothers, killing them.
Second Brother became obsessed with the belief that Yuan Luoyi came to kill him, but his sins were too grave, and his sister did not wish to release him.
After returning from the cemetery, Yuan Fa dragged two people, a man and a woman, from the basement of the Yuan residence. They were emaciated and terrified.
Originally, Yuan Fa intended to starve them, but he changed his mind. To atone to his sister, he toyed with them like a predator with its prey, repeatedly giving them hope for survival, only to cruelly extinguish it.
Now, the first person was dead, and Yuan Fa's eyes held a sickly anticipation as he offered the loaded gun to Yuan Luoyi, who did not accept it.
Another death wish unfulfilled.
Dejected, he lowered his eyes, his long lashes casting a small shadow on his handsome face. After a soft sigh, he twirled gracefully and gazed coldly at the man.
"I hope your death will please my sister."
The middle-aged man struggled to his feet, attempting to flee, but collapsed from lack of strength. He flailed in the blood and dust, eyes wide with terror as Yuan Fa approached.
He shouted at Yuan Luoyi, "I'm innocent! I wasn't involved in any of that. Tell him not to kill..."
"Smack!"
The sound of shattering bones echoed as the man screamed. Yuan Fa flicked his cane, splattering a gruesome arc of blood.
"Don't speak anymore. My sister has a transparent soul and eyes that will cry. She'll grow soft, be deceived, and be hurt by the likes of you. So..."
With deft movements, a silver blade appeared in Yuan Fa's palm. He tilted his head slightly, his disheveled bangs shifting as he moved, his gaze sinister and his smile bloodthirsty.
"As her brother, I should be the one to silence you."
The man dragged his broken leg, clawing at the ground as he crawled into the corner, howling.
"He's insane! Doesn't he want to die? Kill him quickly!"
"Monsters! The entire Yuan family are monster scourges!"
"Idiot, kill him!"
Facing the oncoming blade, the man began to sob for himself.
He had once held a lofty position, solemnly swearing to be a humble servant of the people. How had he fallen so low?
It was just deleting some surveillance footage, using his authority. Was that a crime?
No, it wasn't.
He hadn't directly participated in killing Yuan Luoyi and didn't know what footage he had deleted...
Before doing it, he had paid fifty thousand yuan to consult a top criminal defense lawyer, who assured him that no law could convict him.
Just like before, even if caught, it would be considered a mere dereliction of duty, resulting in a reprimand, and he could continue in his lofty position.
A servant also needed to eat. His wife and children had to live in a luxurious seaside hot spring villa.
And those wrongly imprisoned were just useless paupers. As a graduate from an elite school, he had always been a brilliant servant, using ingenious methods to eliminate trash.
Ah... how pitiful he was, having not spent all his money or held his grandchild, yet an innocent man now facing death at this madman's hands.
In despair, the man looked at Yuan Luoyi. This lunatic had found a young girl resembling his sister from somewhere - large eyes, exquisitely beautiful, pure, an unblemished angel. Surely, she was a good child who would love her family selflessly.
In his pitiful state, he would surely move her to pity.
With his full acting skills, he struggled to reach out his soiled hand to Yuan Luoyi, pleading bitterly, "Please, save me!"
Yuan Luoyi hastily closed her eyes and covered her ears as the enraged Yuan Fa plunged his blade into the man's throat.
"Ungh..."
The man could not even scream, his windpipe severed.
Blood splattered Yuan Fa's pale cheeks as he coldly watched the man's dying throes, grinding him into the dirt, "You have no right to speak to my sister. Let me send you to hell to atone!"
As the man's breath ceased, the evening breeze blew in, stirring dust and rustling the beaded curtains, like cries from the valley or laments of time.
It was noisy, yet eerily quiet.
After the killing, Yuan Fa turned to Yuan Luoyi. Even now, covered in blood and often raging murderously, unable to control himself, his gaze still softened when looking at his sister.
He wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve and scoffed, "Perhaps I have no right to speak to you either. I've never been a good brother. I often made you cry without understanding why."
"Understanding normal emotions is truly difficult for me."
"Yuan Yong was right. We are cold, poisonous snakes, selfishly confining you to our side, greedily leeching your warmth, depriving you of the chance to befriend normal people."
"You were just a child, yet you always sat alone in the garden, a desolate look on your face."
"You led us into the light, but we pushed you into darkness."
"Had you never come to the Yuan family, never met us, you would have remained a happy, joyful girl."
He approached Yuan Luoyi and devotedly knelt, taking her small hand and placing the gun in it.
He gazed at her for a long while before softly laughing, cheerfully saying, "Let this end!"
They were so close that Yuan Luoyi could see her reflection in his eyes, still an 11-year-old while her Second Brother was utterly broken.
She remembered some things from the past when she had first understood the concept of "death" - she thought people just disappeared.
"Ah! My dear sister, why are you crying again? You're going to drive me insane with all this noise!"
"Be...because the little bird died..."
"Ah, so it was because of that bird. When alive, it was a bundle of living protein. Dead, it's a bundle of dead protein. No amount of crying will make it fly again."
Yuan Luoyi cried even louder.
"Stop, stop! Leave me be! I'm not cut out for raising children!"
The deafening wails would bring him misfortune - their mother would beat him to death.
The young Yuan Fa held one hand behind his back and the other extended in a theatrical, gentlemanly invitation.
"Second Brother has a secret to tell you. I know magic. Would you like to see?"
