Pretending To Be Affectionate [Transmigration] - Chapter 31

Gu Qing was losing control.

Of the three other people present, Ling Yu was probably the first to notice that something was wrong with her.

Gu Qing stood amid a pool of blood, staring fixedly at the floor. The beautiful surfaces of her eyes swiftly became saturated with the crimson reflected from below.

The lights in the guest room shone down upon her beautiful face.

She was one-quarter foreign, giving her features a deep-set, cold beauty. As she lowered her eyes toward Jiang Wei, she looked like a vampire who had stepped out of the Middle Ages.

In truth, Ling Yu thought Gu Qing was even more terrifying than a vampire.

Her gaze held little apparent emotion as she looked at Jiang Wei.

But the way her eyes traveled up and down his body resembled a surgeon examining a laboratory mouse before dissection.

The sticky madness in Gu Qing’s eyes forced Jiang Wei backward. All the vicious arrogance from before had completely vanished from his face.

As a spoiled rich heir, Jiang Wei had long since ruined his body through years of debauchery and kidney deficiency.

Perhaps because he stood so close and faced Gu Qing’s murderous intent directly, his lips had turned blue with terror.

The vicious scar on his cheek trembled, twisting into the shape of a centipede.

Summoning his courage, he looked at Gu Qing and shouted shakily, “Lunatic… You’re insane…”

The moment he finished speaking, the blade Gu Qing was slowly spinning advanced another fraction.

Jiang Wei’s legs shook. He squeezed them together with all his strength, causing the scalpel already lodged between his thighs to sink another inch deeper.

Pain contorted his features, and Jiang Wei screamed again.

“Attorney Gu, you’re a lawyer! Don’t forget that I’m your client. If my own lawyer harms me… Ha! Your career will be destroyed. The law is impartial.”

Someone like Jiang Wei actually had the nerve to claim that the law was impartial.

Ling Yu nearly laughed.

In fact, she did laugh.

That brazen, out-of-place laughter shattered the terrifying atmosphere inside the enclosed room.

Jiang Wei turned his head, his gaze moving repeatedly between Ling Yu and Gu Qing.

He seemed to belatedly realize why Gu Qing was so furious.

Pointing at Ling Yu, he asked, “I didn’t know you two were close. Did you come here tonight to save her?”

Ling Yu looked over with equal curiosity.

Gu Qing neither nodded nor shook her head. She stood against the light, little emotion visible in her eyes.

The blade continued spinning in her hand, moving faster rather than slowing down. Jiang Wei felt as though no amount of reasoning could reach her.

Even more terrifyingly, Gu Qing’s face remained expressionless while the blade in her hand flashed with a sharp silver light.

Fear almost overflowed from Jiang Wei’s heart. He exhaled sharply, having already forgotten how to stall for time or negotiate indirectly.

“I’m sorry. I apologize.”

He explained rapidly, “I wasn’t the one who ordered Ling Yu brought here. It was my father… You’ve dealt with him before. You know what kind of person he is. If Ling Yu hands over the photographs from the secret room three years ago, I can let both of you leave immediately…”

The words “secret room” seemed to activate the final switch inside Gu Qing.

The blade in her hand pressed directly against his throat.

Jiang Wei’s voice stopped abruptly. He did not even dare to breathe loudly. Looking cautiously at Gu Qing, he pleaded, “You can’t kill me…”

With his life in danger, Jiang Wei’s survival instinct overwhelmed his humiliation. In his panic, he blurted out:

“You can’t kill me! My father has information about a mole planted inside the police force by the higher-ups of Bangkok’s drug operation… Only my father can provide evidence for the case you’ve been investigating all these years.”

Ling Yu was thoroughly confused and instinctively glanced at Gu Qing.

The blood-red hue in Gu Qing’s eyes suddenly stilled. As though persuaded, she loosened the pressure of the blade against Jiang Wei’s neck.

“I heard my father say that Gu Hongwei’s identity as an undercover officer wasn’t exposed because of you. It was because there was a traitor inside the police force…”

On the surface, the Jiang family operated an import-export business in Gangcheng. In reality, Jiang Bochuan had connections with drug smugglers throughout the Pearl River Delta.

The Jiang family’s extensive network across the mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan had not been built solely through their own ability.

It existed because the Jiang family had once served as a legitimate front in the smuggling and trafficking chain connected to Bangkok’s drug syndicate.

Feeling the pressure at his neck lessen, Jiang Wei resumed a negotiating posture.

“Have Ling Yu surrender that evidence and guarantee I’m acquitted without suffering any further harm. Then my father will keep his promise and personally hand over what you want.”

Ling Yu did not understand all the hidden complications, but even someone far slower than her could have pieced together the truth from their fragmented conversation.

Gu Qing had most likely agreed to help Jiang Wei because she had made a deal with Jiang Bochuan.

And perhaps the terms of that deal had never been the money Ling Yu overheard them discussing that day.

It concerned the truth behind her adoptive father’s death.

Ling Yu immediately reviewed the timeline of the female lead’s past that the system had previously provided.

She quickly found a broad summary.

Gu Qing had been kidnapped by an enemy of the Gu family. Her kidnappers eventually attempted to kill her and abandoned her within a Bangkok drug den, where she survived alone for ten years.

Ten years later, narcotics officers raided and dismantled the entire operation. Gu Qing was adopted by Gu Hongwei, an undercover police officer.

Six months later, the remaining drug traffickers found Gu Qing, indirectly exposing Gu Hongwei’s identity as an undercover officer.

Her adoptive father subsequently sacrificed himself to save her.

As the no-romance female lead, Gu Qing had been given an exceptionally tragic background during the novel’s early stages, all so she could gradually grow stronger and crush her enemies.

Ling Yu was an author herself. She roughly understood the original author’s intention.

In short, the character had to be suppressed before she could rise. Her will had to be tormented and her body exhausted.

But plot arrangements that forced a character into a dead end like this no longer made her a beautiful, powerful, tragic heroine.

They were simply driving the female lead insane.

According to the novel’s initial plotline, Gu Qing’s first task was to work hard, become wealthy, repay her adoptive mother’s gambling debts, and shoulder the enormous medical expenses of both her adoptive mother and brother.

Her second task must have been avenging her adoptive father.

No wonder she had agreed to help Jiang Wei.

The only question was how valuable Jiang Bochuan’s information was to Gu Qing—valuable enough to make her abandon her principles.

Ling Yu lowered her eyes, having no time to investigate further.

Gu Qing had already understood the warning hidden in Jiang Wei’s words.

A cold scoff escaped her throat.

The blade in her hand did not retreat. Instead, it pressed deeper into Jiang Wei’s neck.

Jiang Wei hissed in pain and shouted agitatedly, “You’re insane! Do you really think the rest of you will survive if I die?”

“So what?”

Gu Qing did not even spare him another look. She licked her dry lips.

“At least you’ll definitely die first.”

Gu Qing stood concealed within the shadows, her cold, pale skin carrying a bloodthirsty air.

She resembled an elegant, aristocratic vampire. Her long, seaweed-like curls spilled over her shoulders, while her slender white fingers caressed the handle of the blade.

She held the power of life and death with effortless composure.

Ling Yu could clearly tell that Gu Qing was in an abnormal state.

Gu Qing was an exceptionally rational woman.

Her pride would never permit her to reveal her truest murderous impulses before another person. She had always concealed her madness extremely well, meticulously ensuring that she could continue living beneath the sunlight.

Gu Ting had said that even when Gu Qing genuinely went insane, she remained more rational than an ordinary person.

She would never allow herself to break the law, nor had she ever exposed the full extent of her bloodlust to another person.

She remained conscious and rational, forever hovering just within the boundary she had established.

At that moment, Ling Yu suddenly understood that Gu Ting might not have been lying.

Gu Qing possessed an innate arrogance and pride. She controlled herself with almost cruel severity.

Someone like her would never permit herself to lose her reason and go mad in front of other people.

Tonight, Gu Qing should have remained alone in her villa, hiding the bloodlust that made her so different from everyone else while allowing her wounds to heal in isolation.

Yet for some unknown reason, she had suddenly appeared here.

She truly was losing control right now.

Jiang Wei did not understand that, but Ling Yu did.

Gu Qing never left evidence that others could use against her.

Ling Yu did not know why Gu Qing had taken such an enormous risk by coming here tonight. But from the moment she appeared, Ling Yu understood that she owed Gu Qing a considerable debt.

Rubbing her increasingly feverish forehead, Ling Yu abruptly interrupted them.

“Gu Qing.”

Gu Qing’s fingers stopped moving around the blade.

Ling Yu managed to take two steps forward, leaning most of her weight against the wall.

She raised her eyes. A hazy quality had entered her moist gaze, and she deliberately slowed her speech.

“Could you call a car for me?”

The drug Li Juan had given her was an aphrodisiac.

Nearly an hour had passed. As its effects began to take hold, Ling Yu could hear a flirtatious, coquettish note entering her own voice.

Encountering anyone in her present condition would be dangerous.

But Gu Qing was a different matter.

Even if Gu Qing was currently in the middle of an episode, she would not do anything to Ling Yu.

Ling Yu simply was not certain whether the cold and heartless Gu Qing would deign to perform such a minor favor for her.

Gu Qing remained where she was and paused for a moment.

She seemed to be considering something—or perhaps struggling against the uncontrollable madness inside her body.

Ling Yu waited several seconds, rubbing her forehead before calling her again.

“Gu Qing, I don’t feel very well.”

Ling Yu’s voice carried the gentle softness associated with women from Jiangnan. With the drug coursing through her body, each word emerged slowly and delicately, her tone full of alluring charm.

Gu Qing’s silken-straight back stiffened slightly. Her eyes lowered halfway as the murderous intent gradually faded from them.

Just as Ling Yu assumed she would ignore her, Gu Qing straightened and casually tossed the blade onto Jiang Wei.

She clicked her tongue coldly, then crossed the room on her long, slender legs and stopped beside Ling Yu.

Ling Yu was still wearing the snow-dusted gauze evening gown. Its narrow straps outlined her exquisite collarbones.

Her fragrant shoulders were half exposed, and the flush on her cheeks spread all the way down her body.

Her long hair fell along her slender neck, the ends brushing against her chest. Warm yellow light flickered over her, lending her refined and beautiful face an additional, soul-stealing allure.

Gu Qing lowered her gaze.

She neither agreed nor refused. She simply removed her thin windbreaker and threw it to Ling Yu.

After watching Ling Yu drape it around herself, Gu Qing turned away as though no one else was present and took two steps toward the door.

Ling Yu failed to react and remained frozen in place.

After walking two steps, Gu Qing suddenly stopped and looked back.

“Didn’t you ask me to take you home?”

Her gaze traveled up and down Ling Yu’s body as though evaluating something. Then she said seriously:

“I can take you, but I won’t carry you. Sorry, I’m not a lesbian. I don’t carry women.”

Ling Yu was speechless.

[For fuck’s sake.]

008 burst into laughter.

Ling Yu forced herself to move with one hand braced against the wall. Her pace was slow and unsteady, as though she were drunk. Her high heels struck the floor in a chaotic rhythm.

Gu Qing seemed to glance at her again. Irritation appeared in those cold, bloodshot eyes.

Ling Yu assumed she would leave without looking back.

Instead, Gu Qing narrowed her eyes impatiently and returned to her side.

She lifted one of Ling Yu’s arms over her shoulder and helped her walk out.

A refreshing, cool fragrance reached Ling Yu’s nose.

Tilting her head, Ling Yu made no attempt to refuse. She was in poor condition and lacked the energy to continue sparring with Gu Qing.

She rested her head in the hollow of Gu Qing’s neck and shamelessly placed most of her weight on the other woman.

The gesture seemed to provoke Gu Qing’s displeasure. She turned her head and drew a deep, cooling breath.

Only after composing herself did she continue leading Ling Yu away.

As they reached the door, Gu Qing caught sight of the silent Li Juan from the corner of her eye.

Her sharp gaze swept across Li Juan with almost tangible force.

“What did you give her?”

With that piercing gaze bearing down on her, Li Juan shrank back three steps until her back struck the wall. Her lips trembled.

“J-J-Jiang…”

Gu Qing turned her gaze toward Jiang Wei.

A pool of blood had gathered beside his thigh, and a blade still rested against his body. Gu Qing’s unrestrained murderous intent had already left him on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

When he saw her looking at him again, Jiang Wei recoiled in terror.

“Nothing! I didn’t dare do anything to Ling Yu…”

“It was just a little something to liven things up…”

Gu Qing’s icy gaze scraped across Jiang Wei’s face.

When he grew visibly restless with terror, she finally looked away.

Her fingers touched the door as she removed a miniature pinhole camera from her coat pocket.

Raising her head, she addressed Jiang Wei.

“You know what to say about what happened tonight, don’t you?”

Jiang Wei’s eyes abruptly contracted. Suppressing his fear, he barely dared to breathe.

“What?”

Gu Qing gave an ambiguous smile. Looking at the blade on his body, she enunciated each word.

“Do you need me to teach you?”

“I accidentally did it to myself,” Jiang Wei blurted out without thinking.

When Gu Qing’s gaze swept toward him again, his nerves were already too badly frayed to resist.

“How could you lie?” Gu Qing interrupted. “Your girlfriend was clearly throwing a tantrum. She accidentally broke some glass and cut your thigh. Young Master Jiang has always had rather intense tastes and enjoys playing rough. Your leg is injured this badly, yet you don’t even intend to stop the bleeding…”

Jiang Wei nodded as obediently as a grandson.

Only one thought remained in his mind: get this monster out of here as quickly as possible.

Amusement appeared in Ling Yu’s eyes.

Gu Qing had committed an assault yet still remembered to prepare an escape route for herself, threatening her victim with perfect thoroughness.

As expected of Gu Qing.

No one would ever guess she was insane.

Thinking about it now, Ling Yu understood why even a pervert like Jiang Wei was too terrified to raise his head.

The beating Ling Yu had given him years ago had never truly frightened him.

Perhaps only a genuine madwoman like Gu Qing could make a pervert experience the reality of impending death.

Although the scene was terrifying, Ling Yu inexplicably found it extremely satisfying.