Monster - Chapter 24
Chapter 24: Certificate of Honor
It's easy to lose track of time when you're locked in a dark room.
Lin Sandie sat on the folding chair, replaying every detail of what she had done recently. It wasn't until she saw an orange glow seep through the frosted glass of the small window that she realized she must have been locked up for three or four hours.
During that time, no one had come to see her, let alone bring her any food.
Now completely calm, Lin Sandie rose from the folding chair she had occupied for so long and once again carefully surveyed the room. Aside from a bed, a chair, and a plastic bucket for waste, there was nothing else—not even a visible security camera.
Whether there was hidden surveillance was something Lin Sandie couldn't tell.
She walked over to the small window and examined its structure.
It was a horizontal pivot window, fixed at the center and opened by rotating it. But this type of window could usually be opened from the inside. To prevent anyone locked in here from escaping, her captors had added a cabinet hasp below the window, locking the movable sash to the frame. Lin Sandie saw a stainless steel padlock hanging from the hasp.
To be captured by unknown people and taken to a strange place—wanting to escape was a perfectly logical course of action.
Lin Sandie told herself this as she took off her glasses, wondering if she could use them to pick the large lock on the window.
After a moment's hesitation, she put them back on her nose.
She didn't know if dismantling her glasses would even work on the lock. If it didn't, the glasses she cherished would be ruined. According to the promise from Zhou Ren and his father, these glasses, which allowed her to not see the monsters, would last for another eight months or so.
Taking another close look at the hasp and padlock, Lin Sandie noticed that the Phillips head screws holding the hasp in place were slightly rusted. She tried to wrench the lock, but it had no effect. Despite the rust, the hasp was still fastened securely.
Having not eaten for over seven hours, Lin Sandie was no person of divine strength.
She let out a breath, released the lock, and thought while brushing the rust from her hands.
After a moment of contemplation, she raised her hands and untied the band holding her hair.
After being attacked by Lin Youceng, she had spent two days in the county hospital near the village with no chance to wash her hair, so she had asked a nurse for a rubber band.
It was the simple kind, wrapped in black thread with a bundle of white elastic bands inside. Lin Sandie tore off the outer black thread, revealing the white rubber bands. She wound them tightly, circle by circle, around her right thumb. This would greatly increase the friction between her finger and the Phillips head screw.
Pressing her rubber-band-wrapped thumb onto one of the screws, Lin Sandie began to turn it, little by little.
If I can escape from here and want to avoid being caught for a while, I should find Xing Meilu first.
Reporting to the police is also a logical action. It won't make anyone suspect I'm connected to Glory Road…
As Lin Sandie turned the screw, she planned her next move. An image of the good-looking, not-too-tall police inspector appeared in her mind. For now, she was the only person who made Lin Sandie feel safe.
Just as Lin Sandie removed the first screw and was about to start on the second, the door to the room was suddenly thrown open.
"Well, well, a prison break?" a flirtatious and charming female voice called out. Lin Sandie turned to see a woman in a silver-white qipao embroidered with a light purple phoenix. Draped over her shoulders was a flawless white mink fur stole.
The woman was over thirty, but her skin still looked supple enough to break with a touch. Her beauty was different from Yan Ting's sharp allure; it was soft, hazy.
But they both radiated the same dangerous aura. Her phoenix eyes were smiling at Lin Sandie, seemingly unconcerned by her "prison break."
Behind this woman stood two thugs in black suits.
This stranger, who had appeared out of nowhere, looked like a socialite from another era, another world.
Lin Sandie didn't know her background, so she didn't speak first.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Kang Yi. I'm a few years older than you, so you can call me Sister Yi," the woman said, casually sitting down on the folding chair by the door. "If you manage to survive, that is."
Kang Yi's voice was sweet and captivating, like a fine wine that leaves a lasting impression.
"Did you bring me here?" Lin Sandie's voice was calm and clear.
"Do you know why you were brought here?"
"I don't." Lin Sandie's brow furrowed. "What you're doing is illegal."
"You're very calm. How many times have you rehearsed a scene like this in your head?" Kang Yi asked with amusement.
Lin Sandie was silent. She had indeed mentally rehearsed countless scenarios she might face, so she knew how to maintain her composure.
She had spent a full seven years with Yan Ting, who had mutated into a terrifying monster and was intensely jealous. She knew very well how to regulate her emotions and make her reactions fit the situation she was facing.
Kang Yi suddenly stood up and walked over to Lin Sandie, wrapping an arm around her waist. Just as Lin Sandie tried to break free, she was pulled back forcefully.
The strength she displayed, so unlike that of an ordinary woman, sent a layer of goosebumps across Lin Sandie's skin.
This woman named Kang Yi was definitely no less monstrous than Yan Ting.
"So you're President Yan's woman?" Kang Yi looked Lin Sandie in the eye. The latter could clearly see her own reflection in those beautiful phoenix eyes, and she could smell the woman's strong perfume.
Lin Sandie's lips moved slightly. She wanted to say that Yan Ting was her girlfriend, but in the end, she said nothing at all.
"I'm very curious, are you the top, or the bottom?" Kang Yi asked, a playful smile on her face.
"That's none of your business." Lin Sandie lowered her head slightly and answered in a soft voice, but her gaze immediately fell on Kang Yi's proud chest. A blush crept up her cheeks involuntarily, and she quickly looked away.
Like this, Lin Sandie looked like a weak, helpless woman, embarrassed and at a loss.
"Tell me~" Seeing Lin Sandie's shy, blushing face, the smile on Kang Yi's lips spread to her eyes.
Lin Sandie's lips were pressed tightly together. She didn't answer Kang Yi's question, but Yan Ting's playful warning involuntarily came to mind: San San, I'm the one who trained you to be the perfect top. You'd better not go looking at other women…
"There's a female killer who looks exactly like you. She's done a lot of things that have made people unhappy." Seeing that Lin Sandie wasn't responding to her teasing, her restraint as genuine as her appearance, Kang Yi lost interest and changed the subject.
What does that have to do with me? Lin Sandie wanted to say, but her cautious nature made her wait quietly for Kang Yi to finish.
"We can't be one hundred percent certain that you're not involved in her activities." Kang Yi, who was quite a bit taller than Lin Sandie, suddenly reached out, lifted Lin Sandie's chin, and with a slight movement of her thumb, turned her face to the side.
The flesh of Lin Sandie's cheek was pressed by her thumb, forcing her to turn her head. Kang Yi could see clearly that there was also a small black mole below the left corner of Lin Sandie's mouth, in the exact same spot as that troublemaker named Lou.
Before Lin Sandie could react and struggle, Kang Yi's hand had already left her chin and her slender waist.
Returning to the folding chair, Kang Yi crossed her left leg over her right in an elegant pose. Her voice was like a gentle stream, neither rushed nor slow. "Because you two look really, exactly alike."
"…I don't have any sisters." Lin Sandie's fine eyebrows knitted together. She felt a wave of exhaustion and absurdity.
In less than a week, she had endured her father and stepmother being murdered by her mutated brother, and now a criminal who looked just like her had suddenly appeared. She suspected she had become fate's favorite punching bag.
"I don't think you can call it sisters. It should be twins." At a signal from Kang Yi, one of the men standing behind her handed a photograph to Lin Sandie.
Lin Sandie took the photo and looked down at it, feeling as if she had been struck by lightning.
The woman in the photo was dancing on a dance floor. She looked a little younger than herself, full of youthful energy. She was wearing a loose white tank top and a pair of tight black jeans, lost in her dance. The half of her beautiful face that was visible was identical to her own, right down to the small black mole below the corner of her mouth, which was in the exact same spot.
But that wasn't her. The woman in the photo was definitely not her.
"This person… is not me." The hand holding the photo trembled slightly, but she quickly steadied it. She flipped the photo over; there was no text on the back.
"We know it's not you." A smile played on Kang Yi's lips. "You can keep the photo. In my personal opinion, I think the woman in the picture is a bit more interesting than you."
"But as I just said, the people above can't be one hundred percent certain that you're not involved in her activities."
Lin Sandie's breathing, which had been steady, became somewhat ragged. She stared at Kang Yi without a word. Smart as she was, she already knew she was about to face some kind of unfair judgment.
"You really know how to control yourself." Kang Yi leaned back slightly, a pleased smile on her captivating, bewitching face. The aura she exuded was no weaker than Yan Ting's, making anyone standing before her feel an involuntary sense of pressure, even while she was sitting. "I wonder what you'll be like when you're no longer so restrained. I'll have to get a ticket to see your performance then."
"How do you want me to prove my innocence?" Lin Sandie asked.
"By joining us, of course," Kang Yi said with a light laugh. "Offer a certificate of honor, participate in a performance."
"What certificate of honor? What performance?"
"Participate in a fight with your life as the stake, witnessed by all."
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