TBWE Chapter 15

Bath

The long thunderstorm continued.

Xi Chu embraced Chu Li and walked forward. The air rippled like water waves, and with a blink of an eye, a door appeared before them.

The carved door plate looked familiar.

This was the small duplex that Chu Li had bought after moving out of her family home. From university until she lost her sight, she had always lived here.

A wisp of black mist invaded the door lock, and the locked door silently swung open.

Xi Chu put away his umbrella, placing it in the umbrella stand by the entrance, and led her through the doorway, pressing the light switch by the door.

Bright, soft light filled the warmly decorated entrance area and living room. A cute cat tumbler on the shoe cabinet nodded and swayed.

Chu Li had been caught in the rain before getting in the car. During the drive, Chu Song had turned on the air conditioning, and her wet clothes and hair clung to her body, the cold dampness seeming to seep into her bones.

The smell of rainwater mixed with the metallic scent of blood was nauseating.

She didn’t even have the strength to vomit. Her nerves had been repeatedly tormented, her head felt dizzy and heavy, and her thinking was sluggish. She stared blankly as Xi Chu changed into new slippers, then bent down and half-knelt to remove her wet house slippers, replacing them with bunny-ear slippers.

“You’ll live here from now on.”

“…Why?”

Xi Chu lifted her up in his arms, walking upstairs with steady steps, sighing. “The villa has been soiled. Li Li probably wouldn’t want to see it in that state.”

Soiled…

Chu Li thought of the four people left at the villa to deal with him, and her stomach cramped.

“Are they… all dead?”

Xi Chu pushed open the bathroom door with his foot, placing her on the spacious vanity counter, his hands braced on either side of Chu Li. Light filtered through the slightly damp hair on his forehead, casting intersecting shadows.

For a moment, the shadows seemed to writhe, as if countless dark, sticky, restless things were hidden beneath his pale skin.

“One got away. Is Li Li happy?”

This position completely trapped Chu Li in front of him. She could clearly smell the heavy metallic scent of blood on him.

The moving shadows received their command and turned on the hot water.

The bathroom quickly filled with steam.

Cold fingers slid down along Chu Li’s neck, stopping at the first button of her pajamas, slowly unfastening it.

When she didn’t go out, she usually wore pajamas at home. To gain trust, she had deliberately not changed clothes before taking action tonight. The silk long-sleeved pajamas, soaked by rain, clung coldly to her skin.

The first button opened, revealing a small patch of snow-white skin and her collarbone.

“Don’t touch me!” Chu Li slapped his hand away in terror, clutching her collar and retreating until her back hit the mirror on the wall.

“Li Li.” Xi Chu smiled slightly, his expression as gentle as always, but his pupils behind the lenses were dark and deep. “I’m in a very bad mood. Be good, okay?”

He had already understood one principle: excessive indulgence only nurtures ambitions to escape. Appropriate firmness was necessary.

“You’ve caught a chill. Washing yourself will worsen your cold.” He grasped Chu Li’s wrists with one hand, ignoring her struggles, easily prying her fingers apart.

The second button, the third… The silk pajamas left her skin as Xi Chu’s hand moved behind her, unfastening the metal clasps along her slender spine.

Xi Chu’s pupils were occupied by the snow-white expanse, like waves, like silk.

An inch below her heart was a dark red mark, like a birthmark, strikingly visible against the white.

His Adam’s apple rolled gently as an almost scorching hunger reached its peak at this moment.

Slap! Chu Li raised her hand to cover herself, her eyes red and trembling, using all her strength to deliver a slap.

Xi Chu’s head turned to one side, his gold-rimmed glasses crashed against the bathroom door, the temple breaking in two.

After that slap, her palm lost all sensation, numb as if it didn’t exist.

He slowly straightened his head, his gaze like thick swamp water, pulling up the hand that had just slapped him and bringing it to his lips.

His crimson tongue licked inch by inch across the numb, stinging palm and between her fingers, leaving cold, wet traces.

“…Get away! Get away!”

The scene before her exceeded Chu Li’s psychological endurance. She desperately tried to pull her hand back, kicking frantically forward like a madwoman.

His tongue reluctantly sucked at her fingertips one more time.

Splash—

Chu Li’s vision blurred as she fell into warm water, the water reaching her collarbone.

Xi Chu removed his suit jacket and vest, casually throwing them on the floor. His white shirt underneath was almost completely stained red, clinging to his chest and abdomen.

The water in the bathtub rippled, the level rising, gradually tinged with red.

His dark pupils were unusually clear in the steam.

Chu Li curled up in the corner of the bathtub, her wet black hair sticking to her pale face and back. Tears of fear rolled down as she nearly collapsed. “Get out… get out!”

“I’m helping you.” Xi Chu pulled off his tie, unbuttoned several buttons, revealing the slowly fading crimson patterns on his neck and the wounds caused by the dagger.

From the torn flesh extended many thin black tentacles, the flesh continuously regenerating, recontaining them beneath the human skin.

Chu Li couldn’t describe what she saw in words, much less imagine what was hidden beneath that human skin.

Xi Chu squeezed a pump of shampoo into his palm, the citrus scent making her nose ache. When his foam-covered hands began rubbing her long hair, she violently swatted them away, using hands and feet to crawl out.

The bathtub splashed with huge waves of water.

What pulled Chu Li back was a shadow, something between corporeal and incorporeal. It wrapped around her waist, slowly shedding its disguise to reveal its true form.

It was a black tentacle as thick as a wrist, with a cold, wet texture and fine, shallow ridges on the inside.

They excitedly kissed the warm skin, but suddenly went still.

Xi Chu stared at a red dot on the snow-white nape of her neck, his expression becoming terrifyingly fierce in an instant.

His fingertip pressed on it, rubbing forcefully.

The area around the red dot quickly reddened, but it remained as firmly rooted as if it had grown from the flesh.

Chu Li breathed rapidly, her soul seeming to drift far away, leaving only her shell behind, instinctively trying to avoid him.

Xi Chu’s expression returned to calm as he gripped her shoulders, lowering his eyes to lick the water droplets from her eyelashes, his gaze dark and viscous. “Li Li, right now I just want to help you wash clean.”

The implication was obvious—if she continued to struggle, perhaps it wouldn’t stop at just bathing.

Chu Li froze.

The tentacles turned back into shadows, silently melting into the darkness.

His fingers threaded through her long hair, working up more lather, gently massaging her tense scalp.

Warm water flowed from roots to ends, foam floating on the surface, quickly washed away by newly added warm water.

After shampoo came body wash, evenly applied to his palms, cleaning every inch of skin.

Chu Li hung her head, staring at the water’s surface in silent confusion.

The water level gradually dropped. A large bath towel wrapped around her as Xi Chu carried her out of the bathroom in his arms.

Ignoring that terrifying gaze, his movements were meticulous and gentle. Drying, changing into new pajamas, blow-drying her hair, then applying camellia-scented hair care oil.

Xi Chu took time to go downstairs and cook a bowl of ginger water for Chu Li.

“I’m going to shower. Remember to drink it all.”

The bathroom door closed, blocking out the steam. She held the bowl, thinking about throwing it out, but in the end silently drank it all.

She didn’t want to get sick.

Being sick meant weakness, being at others’ mercy.

This was her room. She knew all the layout and where everything was placed.

Chu Li quietly opened the vanity drawer, grasped a delicate pair of small scissors, got into bed, and wrapped herself tightly in the blanket, trying to gain some thin sense of security.

Mentally and physically exhausted to the extreme, but unable to sleep.

Tears dampened her hair and pillow. She gripped the small scissors tightly, constantly listening for sounds from the bathroom.

What had just happened was already at the limit of what she could endure.

If this monster had even more disgusting ideas, she couldn’t convince herself to accept them calmly.

The bathroom door opened again. Footsteps approached from far to near, stopping beside the bed. After the lights went out, the mattress sank down.

Chu Li’s heart almost leaped out of her chest. Sweat soaked the scissor handles, making them so slippery she could barely hold them.

She felt Xi Chu lean down close and pull down the blanket covering her head.

Soft tissues pressed against her wet eyelashes. He lowered his head, using wet tissues to wipe away all traces of tears, then drying with dry tissues.

Xi Chu lay down on his side, embracing her from behind, picking the wet small scissors from her palm and casually tossing them onto the nightstand.

“Don’t bring sharp objects to bed. You could get hurt.”

The faint citrus fragrance intertwined.

Chu Li’s heart dropped heavily back into her chest. Her body, tense from excessive strain, felt numb and sore after relaxing.

He considerately massaged her stiff muscles, his fingertips pressing the sore, numb arms with just the right pressure.

“Good night, Li Li.”

A moist, warm kiss fell by her ear, just like always.

Chu Li stared blankly at the bedroom in the darkness, every corner seeming to have shadows that rose and fell like tides.

They were overwhelming, everywhere.

Chu Li blinked her dry eyes, and a tear rolled down.

“…Why me?”

She had thought about this question countless times.

Of all the thousands of people in the world, why her specifically.

The massaging motion paused for a moment, then quickly resumed, stroke by stroke, with infinite patience.

Xi Chu sighed softly. “Because Li Li doesn’t keep her word.”