Within the guest room of the Yuan residence, people were filled with terror and unease, as Yuan Yong could burst in at any moment, and they would all die here.
Everyone was frantically rummaging through the room, desperately searching for suitable objects to use as weapons.
Yuan Yong was a terrifying killing machine, unmatched by anyone, but they could not just sit and await their deaths. By resisting, there was a chance they might survive.
Two people simultaneously discovered clothing rods and began fighting over them, neither willing to let go, as in this room, a clothing rod was considered a decent weapon for self-defense.
Amidst the clamor and shouting, only Yuan Luoyi stood motionless, seeming deep in thought.
A young man glanced disapprovingly at Yuan Luoyi and muttered under his breath.
"So unsociable, just like her..."
"Shh! Don't say that, this young girl is our lifeline now. If you say too much, she might not cooperate with us!"
Suddenly, Yuan Luoyi felt an intense gaze upon her and turned to see a short-haired girl staring at her intently. The girl looked deeply saddened, her eyes red and watery, as if she was about to cry.
The short-haired girl approached Yuan Luoyi and stared intently at her face. "You two really do look alike, little one. How did you end up captured here?"
Yuan Luoyi did not respond.
The short-haired girl continued unprompted, "Never mind, I don't know how I got captured either. When I woke up, I was already here."
"As soon as I saw my high school classmates, I understood - it was retribution."
"They were all scions of prestigious families, while my parents were ordinary working-class people. I really shouldn't have provoked them, but they told me to bully Yuan Luoyi, and I did it."
"I hid her pens, spilled coffee on her assignments - just little things like that."
"But I never expected that after Yuan Luoyi dropped out, I would become the second person to be collectively isolated... Experiencing the same thing that happened to her made me realize how painful a continuous stream of small incidents can be..."
"Eventually, I dropped out too. My parents had such high hopes for me since I ranked in the top 100 in the province on the entrance exam. Now I can only drift from odd job to odd job to make a living... Truly a failed life."
The short-haired girl, Zhang Xunyin, took out a silver fork from her pocket and handed it to Yuan Luoyi. "Take this. It might help you defend yourself when the time comes."
Yuan Luoyi shook her head, refusing to take it.
She had seen fragments of memories from her high school days. Zhang Xunyin had made things difficult for her a few times, but Yuan Luoyi could also see that she had been forced to do those things.
"Just take it!" Zhang Xunyin insisted, grabbing Yuan Luoyi's hand and forcing the fork into it before turning and walking away.
She rejoined a small group of girls.
A rich girl berated her, "Why did you give it to her and not me?"
Zhang Xunyin replied, "You already have a broom. She has nothing and is too small to get any defensive weapons."
More girls were enraged and surrounded Zhang Xunyin, berating her.
"You're as stupid as you were in high school!"
"That psycho thinks of her as a sister. He won't harm her at all!"
"When he comes in later, we'll need to grab her as a human shield..."
The girls suddenly fell silent, needing to maintain their image of being good people, or else Yuan Luoyi might try to escape.
"Boom!"
After a tremendous crash followed by the ground shaking slightly, countless cracks appeared in the ceiling, and large chunks of debris began falling.
People screamed in panic.
"He's here!"
The gym teacher shouted, "He's trying to break through the ceiling! Get away from here!"
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The thunderous sounds continued incessantly, like some machine pounding down at full force. The ceiling kept cracking and crumbling.
Seeing that it wouldn't hold much longer, everyone rushed to the door, frantically moving the objects they had used to barricade it.
Finally, the doorway was clear. A rich girl slapped Zhang Xunyin aside and was the first to open the door and bolt out.
However, what greeted her was a piercing, icy gleam as a sharp blade instantly ended her life.
Blood sprayed out, and after a brief moment of shock, people saw who was standing outside the door - Yuan Yong, like the grim reaper incarnate.
"Ahhh!"
People scattered and fled, their resistance utterly futile against Yuan Yong's rampage.
Yuan Yong, consumed by fury and holding twin blades, had become a true killing machine.
These vile insects had taken his sister!
He could not tolerate this.
The pain had eroded his sanity, leaving only a merciless killer who pursued, slashed, and stepped over corpses, endlessly repeating his previous actions.
A man was cut down but struggled and crawled on the ground, wailing, "Don't kill me! I really didn't do anything!"
Yuan Yong laughed, his mocking tone laced with bone-chilling coldness.
Didn't do anything?
After his sister's death, this man had specifically posted a video to gain views.
"Hey everyone, I'm Yuan Luoyi's high school classmate. She was just sick! Good thing she's dead now, or she would've been a major disaster in the future!"
"Crack!"
Yuan Yong's fury drove his blade down, cleaving through a brilliant spray of red, the color reminiscent of the sunset over his sister's gravestone.
Every detail from that day kept flashing through Yuan Yong's mind.
He stood before his sister's grave, gaze sweeping over the malicious graffiti spray-painted on the headstone, while the fresh flowers he had placed there lay trampled in the mud.
After Yuan Luoyi's death, the Yuan family fell into decline, and overnight, countless classmates emerged, reveling online like flies, endlessly basking in the likes and shares.
"This case definitely wasn't a wrongful conviction. I was her classmate, and she was always a loner in school."
"I'm an insider who can tell you the details of this case. She was a fake heiress who got kicked out and held a grudge, so she went back and killed her foster mother."
"Though, she was pretty good-looking. Word is, she was quite the player behind the scenes."
"Her brothers still insist she was innocent and want the case retried. The whole family is sick, and they owe everyone an apology!"
"They even dare to hold memorials for a murderer! Her grave shouldn't even exist!"
So when Yuan Yong saw the desecrated gravestone, the last remnants of his sanity shattered.
He was enraged, grief-stricken, like a bloodied, wailing beast willing to spend his last breath on vengeance.
Everyone was guilty, and everyone had to die!
The endless crimson storm of blood came with the sword's blade, and amidst the screams and wails, Yuan Yong severed the evil of those men.
That child was the gentlest person.
Why would anyone cruelly harm her like that?
He loved her smile, never tiring of gazing upon it, like a small flower blooming in early spring, or like the warm sun on the branches in the depths of winter.
So, every night he heard Yuan Luoyi crying, he would sneak to her window.
"Don't cry anymore, shall I tell you a story?"
