Chapter 50: Judgment

Xiahou Ming didn’t say a word and walked toward the figure sitting on the jumping box.
“Boom… boom… boom…”
Her footsteps set off waves of dull echoes in the empty warehouse, startling a few dozing pigeons on the beams, which flapped their wings and flew toward the broken roof.
She walked slowly, which gave her enough time to see the other person’s full appearance.
She saw that Lin Xiaomei was topless, and the sweat-soaked school uniform T-shirt was casually thrown aside.
She saw that her still-developing, slightly immature girl’s body was covered with fresh scratches from falling from the tree.
She saw that the corner of her mouth was also broken, and a thin trace of blood slid down her chin and dripped onto her exposed collarbone.
She fell even harder than I did.
There was no ripple in Xiahou Ming’s heart.
She didn’t even care about the other person’s naked body.
Her figure blocked the glaring backlight.
Lin Xiaomei’s world suddenly darkened.
But the smile on her face became clearer because of this sudden shadow.
“You jumped down too.”
She closed her eyes.
Xiahou Ming reached out and gently pinched Lin Xiaomei’s chin, forcing her to raise her head slightly and face her.
Her fingertips could clearly feel the slightly trembling muscles under the other person’s skin and the abnormally fast pulse.
Her gaze finally fell on the bloodstain that had already solidified at the corner of Lin Xiaomei’s mouth.
This is not Yu Yuhui’s blood.
This was the price she paid for waiting for me.
Bang!
The dull sound of flesh colliding.
Lin Xiaomei was knocked to the ground from the jumping box by this powerful punch.
She slowly raised her head, and the other corner of her mouth also cracked, with a warm, bright red liquid slowly flowing out.
But on her face, there was no pain, no anger, only a kind of… satisfaction of getting what she wanted.
She looked at Xiahou Ming, who was looking down at her and breathing heavily with anger, and smiled.
“…You’re back.”
Xiahou Ming squatted down and grabbed Lin Xiaomei’s dusty hair.
“I’m asking you.”
Her voice was cold, as if squeezed out from between her teeth.
“Who allowed you to… touch her?”
Lin Xiaomei looked at her eyes burning with anger, and the sick smile on her face became even brighter.
“Her?”
“Is it the taciturn person who only knows how to hide behind others? Or is it the weird person who only knows how to play tricks?”
Lin Xiaomei gasped because of the severe pain in her scalp, but her eyes became more excited.
“What? Only you are allowed to play, but I’m not allowed to touch?”
Xiahou Ming picked Lin Xiaomei up from the ground and forced her to look at her.
“To be honest,” she stared at Lin Xiaomei’s slightly dilated pupils, “no matter what you did to Wen Xuelan, I don’t feel angry.”
“Because I’m the same asshole.”
She paused, grabbed the other person’s hand, and tightened it suddenly.
“But… who told you to touch Yu Yuhui!?”
Bang!
Because of this heavy punch, Lin Xiaomei’s head hit the jumping box behind her heavily, making a dull sound.
A stream of warm liquid flowed out of her nasal cavity.
But she didn’t cry out in pain.
She just slowly raised her head and let the blood from her nose slide down her philtrum and drip onto her lips.
Then she smiled.
It was a sad smile mixed with blood, tears, pain, and satisfaction.
“I see…”
She stuck out her tongue and gently licked the salty blood on her lips.
“You really have become her dog.”
This sentence completely ignited Xiahou Ming’s last bit of rationality.
Bang!
Her fist hit Lin Xiaomei’s face hard again.
In her mind, she recalled the scene of Lin Xiaomei smoking for the first time and choking to the point of tears streaming down her face.
She grabbed Lin Xiaomei by the collar.
In front of her was Lin Xiaomei’s face, distorted by pain and excitement.
In her mind, she saw Lin Xiaomei’s face smiling at her in the sunset.
Bang!
Another punch.
Lin Xiaomei laughed even more happily, and her tears and nosebleed mixed together, making her whole face look embarrassed and weird.
“But it’s okay.”
She gasped and moaned.
“It’s okay.”
Bang!
Xiahou Ming’s fist fell again.
“Even if you become a girl.”
Bang!
“Even if my strength isn’t as good as before.”
Bang!
“Even if… you really are willing to be a toy for that freak.”
She stretched out her trembling hand and gently stroked Xiahou Ming’s fist, which was clenched again and stained with her blood.
“I’m still willing to be your dog.”
She looked into Xiahou Ming’s eyes, which were filled with pity, enthusiasm, and an unfathomable, humble love.
“You were…”
“You’ve been suppressed by them for a long time, right…?”
“I know…”
“It doesn’t matter…”
“Do what you want to do…”
“Do what you dare not do to them…”
“Put away all the unhappiness…”
“Take it all out on me.”
Xiahou Ming’s fist stopped in mid-air.
At that moment, her sanity returned to this body that had long been out of control.
She looked at her hands stained with other people’s blood, and then looked at the naked girl on the ground who was smiling happily at her.
Fear.
A fear deep within herself instantly gripped her heart.
“It’s me…”
Xiahou Ming’s voice was hoarse.
“It was me… who made you what you are now…”
The smile on Lin Xiaomei’s face froze slightly.
She looked at Xiahou Ming’s eyes, which were no longer burning with anger but were filled with pain and fatigue.
“We all…”
Xiahou Ming reached out her hand and used her fingertips stained with Lin Xiaomei’s blood to gently wipe away a tear mark on Lin Xiaomei’s cheek.
“…can’t go back.”
Lin Xiaomei looked at her, seeing the bottomless despair on her face that was exactly the same as her own.
She suddenly laughed.
It was a smile that came from the heart, extremely brilliant, and even innocent.
She struggled to get up from the ground.
Under Xiahou Ming’s somewhat surprised gaze, she opened her arms and used all her strength to hug Xiahou Ming tightly.
She unreservedly pressed her bruised, naked, blood- and dirt-stained body against Xiahou Ming’s equally dusty body.
She buried her head in Xiahou Ming’s neck, like a wounded wild dog that had finally found its home.
She could feel that Xiahou Ming’s body, after being stiff at first, slowly relaxed.
Xiahou Ming did not push her away.
There was no response to the hug.
She just stood quietly on the ruins filled with their shared sinful memories, allowing the girl who was twisted by her own hands to hug her.
Xiahou Ming could feel warm liquid dripping from Lin Xiaomei’s face onto her body.
She could no longer tell whether it was tears or blood.
Then she heard a muffled voice coming from the crook of her neck.
The sound was like a dream talk, and also like a prayer.
“…I love you…”