Monster - Chapter 19
Chapter 19: Leave Her Alone
When Lin Sandie awoke, the sky was already bright. Streaks of white light pierced through the gaps of the crudely built wooden hut, accompanied by the chirping of birds from outside.
The back of her head, where Lin Youceng had struck her with a stick, throbbed with pain. Lin Sandie struggled to open her eyes, only to find her mouth sealed with clear tape. Lin Youceng had been cautious, wrapping several layers around her mouth. A good deal of her hair was stuck to her face, bound together by the tape, which made her chin feel numb and itchy the moment she regained consciousness. Her hands and feet were also bound with clear tape.
Her glasses, which she always wore, were nowhere to be seen. Lin Sandie was propped up in a corner of the hut.
Although the sun was shining outside, the hut was cold and damp from a recent rain. The floor had been haphazardly covered with dry straw, but the rain had long since ruined its effect. In the corner where Lin Sandie leaned, she could see puddles of water on the exposed patches of dirt.
Her dark trousers and black coat were splattered with mud. The spot she was sitting on was damp and cold, causing goosebumps to prickle her skin involuntarily.
Ignoring her own disheveled state, Lin Sandie silently scanned her surroundings. Lin Youceng was not there. The contents of her backpack had been dumped all over the floor. Her dark gray leather wallet lay open, and through the exposed inner flap, she could see that her ID and bank cards were still there, but the thousand-odd yuan in cash was gone.
Tissues, keys, lipstick, foundation, pepper spray—everything from her bag had been tossed out.
In that split-second imagining before she had carried out her plan, Lin Sandie had thought she would be somewhat panicked in a situation like this. But for some reason, she felt very calm now. Her heartbeat was steady, even calmer than when she watched a horror movie.
It wasn't that Lin Sandie was so overconfident that she thought she absolutely wouldn't die. She just felt that even if Lin Youceng wanted to kill her the way he had killed their parents, she wouldn't be afraid. It would be a way to completely escape Yan Ting's control.
Of course, given the chance, Lin Sandie had no desire to casually hand her life over to someone else.
After surveying the room, Lin Sandie spotted her glasses—the ones that kept her from seeing the monsters' true faces—tossed in another corner of the hut. She took a deep breath through her nose, then bent and straightened her knees, inching her bound ankles bit by bit toward the glasses.
Although the distance wasn't great, her restricted movement made it a time-consuming effort. By the time she reached the glasses, her breathing was heavy, and beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. Her disheveled hair nearly covered her eyes.
Her wrists were also bound with tape. When she reached the edge of the glasses, she twisted her body, hooked them with her fingers, folded the open temples, and carefully placed them on a small, protruding stone. Then she turned on her side and tried to scoop the glasses, which were incredibly important to her, into the pocket of her coat.
After several attempts, Lin Sandie was covered in filth. The dry straw on the floor was in complete disarray from her arduous crawling.
She was drenched in sweat by the time she finally managed to get the glasses into her large coat pocket.
Sitting up straight, Lin Sandie tried to breathe through her nose, steadying the heart that was pounding from the exertion.
Having retrieved her glasses, Lin Sandie felt even more composed. She began to calculate the time that had passed since she "disappeared" last night.
She and Lin Youceng had arrived at this orchard hut around midnight. It looked like it was still morning, but it had definitely been more than four hours. Given Yan Ting's pathological need for control, being unable to reach her for four consecutive hours was something she would never tolerate.
As for Lin Youceng, after seeing the cash taken from her wallet, Lin Sandie put herself in his shoes. Logically, Lin Youceng would have to return to this hut to force her bank card PIN out of her. After all, the thousand or so yuan he had wasn't nearly enough for him to escape.
Confident in this assessment, Lin Sandie breathed heavily and stared blankly at the hut's wooden door, waiting for Lin Youceng to return, push it open, and demand her PIN.
She would most likely tell him the PIN. But would Lin Youceng silence her afterward?
Being silenced had its upside. She could escape Yan Ting's control.
What method did Lin Youceng use to kill Mom and Dad?
She was supposed to visit her late mother's grave today, but it seemed there was no time for that now...
A chaotic jumble of thoughts with no anchor swirled in Lin Sandie's mind. At this moment, she wasn't even sure if she wanted to die or not.
But the script did not unfold as Lin Sandie had imagined. The people who pushed open the hut door were not her brother, Lin Youceng, but two township police officers.
When they saw Lin Sandie, they let out a long sigh of relief. One spoke into his walkie-talkie, "Lin Sandie has been found. No sign of Lin Youceng for now!"
The other officer hurried forward, squatting down to first remove the tape from the mud-caked Lin Sandie's face.
"Miss Lin, are you all right? Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, just a little thirsty..." Lin Sandie replied, her voice dry and hoarse. "My brother suddenly knocked me out."
"You shouldn't have just gone with Lin Youceng like that! What were you thinking?" The officer who had reported their status came over to untie her wrists and ankles. Less considerate of her feelings than Zhang Fan, he spoke in a reprimanding tone. "Are all you city people this careless?"
Lin Sandie fell silent. She tried to stand with the help of one of the officers, but her body was completely drained of strength. The moment he let go, she couldn't help but collapse softly.
"Your brother is a wanted fugitive now. We have evidence to suspect he's the one who killed Lin Zhenshuo and Wang Xia."
Helping her up again, the officer who had scolded her now looked a little worried and handed her a bottle of mineral water. "Are you hurt anywhere?"
"No, I'm fine." Lin Sandie let out a soft breath and took the water, but she couldn't muster the strength to twist it open.
The officer immediately opened it for her. He watched as she tilted her head back and drank half the bottle before nodding, her face pale. "Thank you."
The other officer gathered Lin Sandie's scattered belongings back into her bag, asking, "Do you know where Lin Youceng went? What did he take?"
"I didn't see him take anything, but the thousand-plus yuan in my wallet seems to be gone."
A piercing pain still radiated from the back of her head. Lin Sandie had to brace her hands on her knees and bend over for a long while before she could slowly straighten up. She took the repacked backpack and left the orchard hut with the two officers.
The hut was situated in a banana grove, which was why the light fell so unobstructedly upon it. The bananas weren't fully ripe yet, but some were already turning yellow. Just as Lin Sandie stepped out of the hut, she saw a monster in a sharp suit walking toward them from a short distance away, following behind Zhang Fan and several other officers.
Lin Sandie hadn't felt the "my life is in danger" terror of a kidnapping victim, and now that she was rescued, she felt no joy at seeing the light of day again.
Enduring the sharp pain in her head, Lin Sandie lowered her head, pulled the gold-rimmed glasses from her coat pocket, and placed them solemnly on the bridge of her nose. Through the lenses, she saw the man in the suit's appearance.
Yang Dongyang, a well-known lawyer hired by Yan Ting. Lin Sandie had seen him at the company several times before.
Of course Yan Ting wouldn't come to find her personally, nor would she appear in public with her.
"Miss Lin, are you feeling unwell anywhere?" Yang Dongyang stepped forward, asking this question first.
"The back of my head hurts."
"I've already arranged for an ambulance. Please go to the hospital for a check-up first. I will handle all related matters here," Yang Dongyang said, not questioning why Lin Sandie would follow her brother into a forest without putting up any resistance. He was simply all business.
"Sandie, do you know where Lin Youceng went?" Zhang Fan rushed over, looking at Lin Sandie with concern.
"I don't think Miss Lin is in a suitable condition to be questioned right now," Yang Dongyang said forcefully, shielding Lin Sandie as he addressed Zhang Fan.
"No, it's nothing. Uncle Zhang, I don't know where Lin Youceng went either," Lin Sandie exhaled, a tightness in her chest. "Last night, right after I... after Lin Youceng and I got here, he knocked me out. I only woke up about half an hour ago. He was gone."
"Okay, I understand." Zhang Fan glanced at Yang Dongyang, who was eyeing him like a tiger, and swallowed. Seeing that Lin Sandie's face was as white as a sheet of paper, he decided to hold off on questioning for now.
The case they were facing wasn't complicated. Once they found Lin Youceng, everything would be over.
In the ambulance arranged by Yang Dongyang, Lin Sandie was silent the entire way, until he handed her a phone with an active call.
Lin Sandie glanced at the screen, which displayed "President Yan," and took it.
"San San, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Did you send people to find me?" Lin Sandie leaned against the car window, watching the scenery recede outside as she asked the obvious question.
"Yes. You have no idea, I was terrified when I suddenly couldn't reach you last night."
"I'm sorry. Last night, I was suddenly... I was..." At this point, Lin Sandie's voice choked with a sob.
In a single day, she had lost all her immediate family. While playing along with Lin Youceng, she had actually considered just letting him kill her to end it all.
"My parents were... by my brother..." Lin Sandie covered her face, tears streaming through her fingers. She couldn't form a complete sentence, just kept crying.
This silenced Yan Ting on the other end of the line. She didn't ask any more questions until Lin Sandie gradually calmed down. Then she said softly, "Yang Dongyang will help handle everything. Go to the hospital for a check-up and get some rest."
Only then did Lin Sandie hang up and toss the phone aside. The sorrow on her face gradually faded, leaving only a pair of eyes still misty with tears to show she had just been crying.
Shrinking back into her seat, Lin Sandie said nothing more, staring expressionlessly at the scenery outside, no longer interacting with anyone.
The brilliant spring sunlight shone on her hunched back. It should have been a bright and cheerful scene, but when Yang Dongyang picked up the phone and saw Lin Sandie like this, he couldn't help but feel that she was like a child in a deep, dark shadow.
She was huddled in a corner, trembling as a dark figure approached her. Unable to do anything, she could only hug herself, pull her knees to her chest, and watch, shivering.
In his heart, however, Yang Dongyang also felt that for a country bumpkin like her to have latched onto Yan Ting, this posture was the most logical one.
Author's Notes
Lin Sandie is quite conflicted. She doesn't actually want to die, but sometimes feels that living is too hard.
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