Eruption

"Beautiful, actually I..."

Despite things having reached this point, Lin Yu still hadn't given up hope.

He struggled to suppress the restless anger in his heart, bottled up all the grievances he'd suffered throughout the day, and forced out the least unpleasant smile he could muster, trying to calmly explain the situation.

But soon, he couldn't utter another word.

After regaining her senses, the woman delivered a forceful slap without hesitation—so powerful that it whipped Lin Yu's head completely sideways against his shoulder.

Feeling the searing pain on his face and the sharp ringing in his ears, Lin Yu froze for a moment.

Then, an overwhelming fury surged within him. Along with this uncontrollable rage came the flood of today’s miserable experiences.

From this stinging slap, to the woman waking up at the perfect moment, to the inescapable fate of their encounter, stepping on a yogurt carton that splattered his new clothes, his phone getting water-damaged, the supermarket cashier’s disdainful glare, not having enough money to pay, getting caught in a downpour the moment he stepped off the bus, suffering a losing streak at the internet café all day...

Each of these misfortunes poured like highly flammable gasoline into the fire of Lin Yu’s anger, magnifying it to its peak, scorching away every last shred of his barely maintained rationality until not even ashes remained.

At the very end, Lin Yu’s mind flashed back to Tang Manman’s tearful confession this morning.

He remembered the genuine impulse he’d felt then.

And the heartache and pain of crushing that impulse with his own hands.

Now!

Right now!!!

A different, even more uncontrollable urge erupted from the depths of his heart.

Its force was staggering—so immense that Lin Yu couldn’t suppress it in the slightest.

And this time, he had no intention of holding back.

After the woman panicked and swung her slap, she frantically turned, reaching for her designer handbag beside her.

But the moment her body moved, a large, vein-protruding hand shot toward her neck.

The next second, that hand clamped like an iron vise around her slender, fragile throat, slamming her entire body back against the car door with terrifying force.

Her slim waist and back collided with the door, producing a dull thud.

The pain on the woman’s face deepened. She instinctively raised her hands to pry away the fingers choking her, but they didn’t budge an inch.

In desperation, she lashed out, aiming for the vulnerable eyes on the man’s enraged face—hoping to seize even a sliver of a chance to escape.

Just as her manicured nails were about to reach those bloodshot, bulging eyes, Lin Yu’s other hand descended like a thunderbolt, delivering a backhanded slap so brutal it nearly knocked her unconscious.

Her delicate fingers, mere inches from success, went limp and dropped helplessly after the blow.

Watching the woman’s coldly beautiful face flush from red to crimson, then from crimson to purple, Lin Yu felt his entire body tremble.

Even he couldn’t tell whether this violent shaking came from fury or exhilaration.

But it didn’t matter anymore.

Seeing her increasingly contorted, agonized expression filled him with an unprecedented sense of satisfaction.

But it wasn’t enough.

Not nearly enough!

Blood roaring in his ears, Lin Yu didn’t loosen his grip—instead, he squeezed even harder...

...

Under the torment of suffocation, the woman quickly regained consciousness from the slap. She began kicking wildly at Lin Yu, her hands clawing desperately at the hand strangling her.

But oxygen-deprived, her strength was pitiful—the sharp stiletto heels scraping against Lin Yu felt like nothing more than feeble scratches, and her pale, delicate hands were powerless.

The bulging veins on Lin Yu’s hand seemed like a horrifying contagion.

Soon, they spread to the woman—her neck, now a deep red, her slightly pointed chin, her scarlet ears, her cheeks, even her forehead, all sprouted grotesque, throbbing veins.

Even as she writhed in pain, Lin Yu didn’t relent. His grip remained an unyielding iron clamp around her throat.

No rush. No rush.

She was still far from death.

Lin Yu’s eyes gleamed with a ruthlessness he’d never known before.

Trained in martial arts, he knew that suffocation wasn’t like blood loss or stab wounds—it wasn’t irreversible.

He just had to release her at the brink of death.

Nothing would go wrong!

At some point, the third female lead’s struggles ceased, replaced by instinctive, spasmodic twitches.

Her once-elegant phoenix eyes now bulged, the whites nearly swallowing her pupils, her face a terrifying shade of deep purple from oxygen deprivation—her once-stunning beauty now a grotesque mask.

When even her convulsions grew sluggish, on the verge of stopping entirely, Lin Yu finally released her.

He exhaled deeply, leisurely straightening up as he watched her clutch her throat, gasping for air like a fish out of water. His expression remained cold, detached.

Only after she’d taken a dozen ragged breaths, her face no longer purple, did he speak in an icy voice:

"You slapped me. I slapped you back."

"We’re even."

With that, Lin Yu turned to leave.

Standing in the dimly lit alley, gazing at the bright main road ahead, even after venting his rage on the third female lead, he still felt unsatisfied.

Today had been nothing but bad luck.

Damn it.

Was he cursed or something?

Lin Yu took a step forward.

Maybe he should go home and consult a fortune-teller...

"Ugh—hk!!"

A wave of excruciating pain tore through his body, violently cutting off his thoughts.

His legs gave out uncontrollably, sending him collapsing onto the damp, filthy pavement.

Muscles spasming, his body numb and unresponsive, Lin Yu’s sluggish mind struggled to process one realization:

A stun gun!

Where the hell did that come from?!

The question formed slowly in his mind.

Then, a flushed, furious face wobbled into view above him.

Ignoring the hatred in her tear-filled eyes, Lin Yu stared at the white object in her hand, a question mark slowly forming in his mind.

?

Wasn’t that just a makeup compact?

The next second, her legs buckled, dropping her to her knees beside him—and that "cosmetic" device was pressed straight against his body.

"Bzzzzzt!"

The crackle of electricity filled the air.

As agony wracked his convulsing muscles and the scent of something burning reached his nose, Lin Yu no longer doubted what it was.

The current surged through his flesh, blood, bones—straight to his brain.

In the final moments before blacking out, an image flickered inexplicably in his mind:

A mischievous little face, and the familiar, earnest voice of a man.

"Xia Yueshan, when facing an adversary, never let your guard down!"

"Zzzzzzzz!!!"

...