Chapter 133
Missing
At first, Li Yundong didn"t see anything wrong with Su Chan . She had stopped screaming at him and was now sobbing quietly into her hands . Li Yundong reached out with his hand, wanting to pat her head . "What"s the matter—"
His hand stilled when he saw it . Spread across the mattress, under Su Chan"s folded legs, was a thick and bushy fox tail . "Oh my G.o.d . . . " Li Yundong whispered .
Ruan Hongling"s words came rushing into his mind . The girl had mentioned something about Su Chan being a fox spirit earlier, but Li Yundong thought she was just trying to mess with his head back then .
So it"s true . . .
Su Chan was a fox spirit . Wow .
Li Yundong reached out to touch Su Chan . She resisted him and tried to lean back, but Li Yundong managed to pry her hands away from her face after several attempts .
Li Yundong cupped his hand under Su Chan"s chin . "Listen, there"s nothing to be—"
"No!"
A green flash blinded Li Yundong"s eyes . The next thing he knew, he was stumbling backwards and falling off the bed . There was a sharp click followed by a loud thud .
Li Yundong"s eyes went wide as realization hit him . The sliding door…
He sprang to his feet and looked towards the balcony .
What he saw through the open sliding door filled his heart with horror .
"Su Chan! No! Don"t!!"
Li Yundong charged towards the balcony, but he was too late; Su Chan had leaped off the railing before Li Yundong could reach her .
Li Yundong"s clutched the top of the railing with his fingers and peered out into the night . Su Chan"s tail fluttered in the night air as she floated away from the motel with great speed .
"G.o.d d.a.m.n it!"
The railing trembled when Li Yundong slapped it with his palm .
Li Yundong pushed away from the railing and ran towards front door, grabbing his phone, keys, and wallet on the way out .
While waiting for the elevator, Ruan Hongling"s words kept replaying inside his mind: "She"s manipulating you . . . She"ll drain your Yang Qi and leave you to die . . . "
"Shut up, you b.i.t.c.h . . . Shut the h.e.l.l up!" Li Yundong growled, shaking his head harshly . "I"m not going to listen to you . . . "
Su Chan was a good person . A kind person . That would never change no matter what everyone else told him . He"d seen Su Chan"s goodness with his own eyes, d.a.m.n it! Ruan Hongling and the Zhengyi School could go to h.e.l.l .
A loud ding signaled the elevator"s arrival . Li Yundong entered the elevator car and pressed the b.u.t.ton for the ground floor, then began slapping the elevator close b.u.t.ton repeatedly .
Once the doors slid shut, the elevator descended the building in a painfully slow manner . Li Yundong used the time to compose himself and go through a list of possible places that Su Chan might go .
Su Chan"s piggy bank was still in the motel room, so she likely didn"t have any money with her . Which means she can"t take a cab . . .
Li Yundong banged his head against the back of the elevator and huffed out in frustration . So what? Why would she need to take a cab when she could frigging fly?
But at least she can"t check into another motel without cash . . .
d.a.m.n it, how the heck was he supposed to find her? The city was so big . She could be anywhere by now . h.e.l.l, she could"ve gone back into the mountains for all he knew .
Should he lodge a missing persons report? F*ck!
A loud ding jolted him out of his frantic thoughts . He rushed out of the elevator the moment the doors slid open . Outside the motel, he came to a halt . A moment later, he gripped his hair with his hands and started pacing in front of the motel"s entrance—he had no idea where to even start the search .
"Calm down, Li Yundong . . . Calm down . . . " he muttered . "Where would she go . . . Think!"
Li Yundong took a deep breath and went over the facts . Su Chan didn"t know the city very well, so wherever she was heading towards had to be some place she knew . Maybe it was a place that they"d both been to before? The campus? McDonalds? Their old apartment? Li Yundong huffed out a breath and released his hair . But what if she didn"t even have a destination in mind? What if she was just flying around aimlessly? How the f*ck was he supposed to find her then?
To h.e.l.l with it . So what if he didn"t have a clue where she was going . He"d search the entire city if he had to . He owed it so Su Chan to at least try . He ran to the roadside and hailed a cab . "Tiannan University!" he shouted at the cabbie the moment he got in . "Step on it!"
***
"Wait here! I"ll be back!" Li Yundong yelled at the cabbie before he got out of the cab and ran towards the campus gates . He went to the academic building first, where he checked every cla.s.sroom and every lecture hall inside . Then, he went to the library and study lounges, which were packed with students doing their last minute cramming—the finals were still going on . He didn"t find Su Chan in any of those places . He left the academic building and then headed towards the copse of trees on the right . He moved past the copse and came to a halt in front of the gazebo, which was empty except for the pieces of rubble left behind after he had smashed the stone table .
"d.a.m.n it!" Li Yundong muttered, then turned around and headed back towards the gates .
Where are you, Su Chan?
Li Yundong slid back into the cab . "New Hongsheng District!"
The cabbie, bless the man, seemed to have sensed the urgency in Li Yundong"s voice . He pulled away from the curb and drove off quickly . h.e.l.l, the guy even broke the speed limit .
They arrived at New Hongsheng District in record time . Li Yundong thanked the cabbie and told the guy to wait for him in front of the gates—just in case Su Chan wasn"t in their apartment .
Li Yundong unlocked the door of apartment 20A with trembling hands . Darkness greeted him inside . Halfway along the doorway, he stopped, too afraid to keep moving, too afraid to face the possibility that Su Chan might not be here after all .
"Su Chan?!" he yelled .
His voice echoed in the doorway, taunting him with its emptiness . Images flashed across his mind, and at that moment, he remembered . He remembered every moment they had shared: the moments of laughter and joy; the moments of tears and arguments; even normal and routine stuff like b.u.mping into each other in hallways during the mornings, or fighting for food across the dining table .
He missed his princess . He missed Su Chan .
He wanted his little chipmunk back .
Li Yundong"s feet moved on his own . As he walked, shards of broken gla.s.s crunched beneath his shoes . Ten minutes later, he slumped to the floor in the middle of the living room, utterly vanquished .
Tears spilled from his eyes .
"Where are you, you idiot . . . Where the h.e.l.l are you . . . Why did you run? Why?"
The truth was that it really didn"t f*cking matter that Su Chan was a fox spirit . He"d witnessed her kindness, her inherent goodness, her sincerity, and her selflessness . None of those things could be faked . h.e.l.l, she"d been so d.a.m.ned loyal to him . She had faith in him . Him, a pathetic and penniless loser with no real achievements to speak of . She could literally have any man she wanted, yet she picked him .
Regret filled his chest, drowning him . This was all his fault . He should"ve made his feelings clearer, should"ve tried harder to convince her that he really didn"t care what other people called her . In hindsight, the signs of her insecurity were all there . How many times had she expressed her fear of him abandoning her? How many times had she cried when she thought he was leaving her? It was all there . He"d just been too blind to see it, too much of an idiot .
Now she was gone, and he was sitting here crying like a loser .
Li Yundong wiped his tears . There had to be something he was missing, some place he hadn"t looked . Alright . . . think . . . Li Yundong exhaled . Where could she be? Where was the last time they had the most fun toge—
"Holy s.h.i.t…" Li Yundong whispered into the empty room .
Seconds later, he was up on his feet and out the front door .
She had to be there . She must be .