Chapter 16: “A good show always has to wait for the audience to arrive.”

“…And then I’ll save you.”

Jiang Jiaojiao’s murmur dissolved into the night wind. Her white figure quickly melted into the narrow path leading upstream along the cliff.

The scene cut back to the forest clearing.

Bang!

Another solid punch slammed into Bai Linlin’s right cheek.

Her head snapped hard to the opposite side. Now her right ear rang too. Both cheeks swelled symmetrically, burning with fiery pain.

“Ah!”

Bai Linlin’s scream carried a sobbing edge.

That sound acted like a stimulant on Lin Zhizhi.

She gazed at Bai Linlin’s twisted, pained little face—at the swollen red skin and tear-filled eyes—took a deep breath, and a near-euphoric flush spread across her cheeks. Her body even trembled slightly.

“So… so good!”

Lin Zhizhi licked her lips, eyes blazing with mania.

“This exact feeling! Fear, pain, utter helplessness… it’s all written on your face!”

“A million times more fun than beating those whimpering weaklings!”

Bai Linlin’s mind was crammed with pain, fear, and a mountain of question marks.

Damn it—what the hell does this crazy woman even want?!

And what she said earlier—“Jiang Jiaojiao said we’re in love”? What kind of nonsense is that!

Just then, through the narrow slits of her swollen eyelids, she glimpsed a figure slowly emerging from the shadows between the trees.

Long black hair. Pale cheeks. An expressionless face.

Xi Ran.

Bai Linlin’s entire body went rigid. Even the pain in her face was momentarily forgotten. Her blood seemed to freeze instantly.

It’s over, over, over… double over!

Out of the tiger’s den (Xi Ran), into the wolf’s lair (Lin Zhizhi), and now the tiger and wolf were about to team up? Was this the grand feast?

With her as the main course on the chopping board?

Beaten physically by Lin Zhizhi, then handed over to Xi Ran for mental and physical annihilation? Was today her execution day?

Ruan Yuan! Where’s the promised protection?! Your Linlin is facing two psychos at once!

Lin Zhizhi also noticed the direction of Bai Linlin’s terrified gaze.

She paused mid-punch, turned around, and saw Xi Ran standing a few meters away under a tree.

Contrary to what Bai Linlin expected, Lin Zhizhi showed no tension or retreat whatsoever. Instead, her lips split into a provocative grin, as though she’d just spotted bonus entertainment.

“Oh? Look who it is.”

Lin Zhizhi shook out her slightly reddened punching wrist, tone flippant.

“Our dear ‘victim’ Xi Ran classmate? What, you want in too? Get in line.”

She jerked her chin toward Xi Ran, eyes arrogant.

“Last time at the cliff, you got a cheap shot in. That was just me being careless. This time’s different.”

Lin Zhizhi pointed at the suspended Bai Linlin, then at herself, and flipped Xi Ran an extremely insulting gesture.

“You’d better stay right there and watch obediently.”

“Watch how I play with Bai Linlin.” She deliberately emphasized the three syllables, smile vicious.

“Otherwise…”

She cracked her knuckles with a soft pop.

“I’ll take care of you next. Got. It?”

The night wind rustled through the trees, leaves whispering.

Xi Ran stood motionless, listening to Lin Zhizhi’s rapid-fire taunts. Her face remained utterly blank.

She said nothing.

Her pitch-black eyes simply drifted—from Lin Zhizhi’s arrogant face, slowly down to the suspended Bai Linlin: cheeks swollen from beating, eyes full of despair.

Her gaze lingered for several seconds on Bai Linlin’s rope-bound body and the clearly battered face.

Then her eyes returned to Lin Zhizhi.

Still silent.

But this silence felt far more unsettling than any heated retort—both to Lin Zhizhi’s irritation and to Bai Linlin’s growing dread.

Xi Ran was too calm. Abnormally calm.

Lin Zhizhi clicked her tongue in annoyance, interpreting the silence as submission. Her interest swung back to Bai Linlin.

She turned around just in time to catch the look of absolute, “the heavens want me dead” despair on Bai Linlin’s face after Xi Ran’s appearance.

That expression clearly delighted her immensely.

“Look how scared you are,”

Lin Zhizhi poked Bai Linlin’s swollen, painful cheek with malicious force, drawing a sharp cry of pain.

“Even more fun. So you’re really terrified of her, huh? Then I have to take extra good ‘care’ of you—right in front of her.”

With that, Lin Zhizhi reached into a small waist pouch she carried, rummaged briefly, and pulled something out.

Bai Linlin squinted through her swollen eyes to see.

It was… a metal knuckle duster?

But not quite ordinary.

Standard knuckle dusters had simple rings over the fingers. This one, at each knuckle protrusion,

had short, razor-sharp, glinting triangular spikes welded on—like tiny tiger fangs attached to a fist!

Bai Linlin’s pupils shrank to pinpoints.

Lin Zhizhi, you absolute lunatic! Are you insane?! Hitting someone with that thing—you’re going to punch holes in my face! People die from that! They really die!

“Mmph…! No! Lin Zhizhi! Calm down!”

Bai Linlin ignored the pain in her face and screamed hoarsely, voice cracking from sheer terror.

“You’ll kill someone! You just want fun, right? There’s no need for this!”

Lin Zhizhi slowly slipped the terrifying “tiger-claw” knuckle duster onto her right hand, adjusting it carefully. Cold metal gleamed between her fingers.

She flexed her wrist, admiring the sharp spikes under the moonlight, her face twisting into a smile of cruelty mixed with eager anticipation.

“Don’t worry, ‘Bai Linlin.’”

She stepped closer, the spiked fist clenching lightly.

“I know my limits. I’ve played plenty of ‘games’—I know exactly where to hit to kill, and where to hit so it just… hurts a lot, or leaves a fun little souvenir.”

She stopped right in front of Bai Linlin. The spiked right hand slowly rose until the razor tips hovered barely touching the swollen skin of Bai Linlin’s cheek.

“It’ll probably just… ruin you a tiny bit,”

Lin Zhizhi whispered like a devil.

“A little disfigurement? Some scars? Might even give you more character.”

Bai Linlin’s blood seemed to freeze solid. Her eyes locked on the deadly weapon inches from her face. Breathing stopped.

“After all…”

Lin Zhizhi suddenly paused, tilting her head to listen to the wind in the trees. Her smile deepened.

“The real star of the show—that ‘gentle and kind’ Jiang Jiaojiao—hasn’t even arrived yet.”

“A good performance needs the audience in their seats to really shine, don’t you think?”