Monster - Chapter 42
Chapter 42: Our Mother
Waking from a dream, one doesn't know the exhaustion within it. After another three days in the hospital, the pain had subsided enough that Lin Sandie no longer needed painkillers for long stretches. As a result, she was lucid for much longer than before.
She remembered having a strange dream, but her memory of it was quite limited. Yet whenever she woke up, her mind would be filled with odd directives. For instance, upon waking recently, she had an immediate urge to research information on healthy child development, which was truly bizarre.
Lin Sandie had no plans to marry, let alone have children, yet because of a dream she couldn't recall, she had somehow committed a vast amount of information about child-rearing to memory.
Besides child development, other inexplicable instructions would pop into her head, like looking up crop growth cycles or the planting conditions for rice. Among them was a strange term, Aztec, but unfortunately, her search for it yielded nothing.
During these three days, Yan Ting had visited her once more, only to be met with the same cold reception. Lin Sandie hadn't dialed the number on the back of the photograph, either. However, after finalizing a certain plan, she took out her returned phone this morning and made a call to Lou.
"Who is this?" The call connected quickly, and a delicate, soft voice came from the other end. Lin Sandie suddenly felt her ear itch and pulled the phone away to rub it.
"Not interested in real estate, insurance, credit cards, or a new data plan…" Lou's somewhat unique voice continued from the other side.
"This is Lin Sandie." For some reason, Lin Sandie felt a little nervous as she said this.
The voice on the other end paused for several seconds before a low chuckle came through. "Lin Sandie~~ What can I do for you?"
"Lou."
"That's me," Lou replied instantly, her tone certain.
Lin Sandie raised a hand to her face and realized, for some unknown reason, that it was burning hot. She hung up, her heart pounding erratically.
She had done what she intended to do. Her phone was being monitored by Yan Ting. All she had to do was let Yan Ting find Lou using the number she'd left behind and take care of her. That way, Lin Sandie could sever all ties with Lou.
Her hand moved down from her face, and Lin Sandie discovered her neck was also burning. It was something she couldn't control. She was setting a trap for another version of herself—a person who shared her exact face. Would that person's mother look like her own? If her mother knew, would she blame her?
Lin Sandie tried to console herself, struggling to suppress the inexplicable heat and shame welling up inside her.
"Ring, ring, ring—" Her phone suddenly rang, startling her. She picked it up. It was the number she had come to know by heart over the past few days.
"Lin Sandie, why did you hang up on me?" Lou's peculiar accent came through the phone again, her voice still laced with a smile.
"…Someone will be coming to cause trouble for you soon," Lin Sandie warned solemnly after swallowing. "You'd better prepare yourself."
"Are you coming? I can give you my address."
"…" Lin Sandie couldn't tell if she was being serious or joking.
"I live alone," Lou added earnestly.
"I'm injured. I can't travel far for the time being," Lin Sandie replied, politely declining the invitation.
"I know. I saw the video of you fighting someone. It was great!"
"Thanks." Yan Ting was half-responsible for her having to offer that certificate of honor, but Lou was at least forty percent to blame. She was the spark. If she hadn't so brazenly appeared on the radar of Yan Ting's people, Lin Sandie wouldn't be in such a passive position.
Even if Lin Sandie didn't know all the shady details, she knew Lou must have done plenty of things that made Yan Ting's people want her dead.
"But I think you should get more systematic training. You still have a lot of openings," Lou said, attempting to delve deeper into Lin Sandie's fighting skills.
"The reason I fought a stranger is because they think what you did is related to me. They suspect me. This performance was called a 'certificate of honor.' I won, which means I'm one of them now. I don't know what other challenges are waiting for me," Lin Sandie said, indirectly condemning Lou for implicating her.
"Cool! I want to offer a certificate of honor, too!"
"…" The vein on Lin Sandie's temple throbbed, and the wounds on her body began to ache intensely.
"How did you get into a fight like that? Can you tell me? I'm really curious."
Lin Sandie hesitated for a moment before recounting everything, from being taken from her hometown and locked in a villa to being blindfolded and brought to a venue. Even knowing she was being monitored, Lin Sandie now felt a sense of reckless abandon.
"A large part of this is because of you," Lin Sandie said, no longer being subtle.
"But aren't you getting your revenge on me now, Lin Sandie?" Lou continued. Her mind was as clear as a mirror; she knew that Lin Sandie's call was putting her in danger.
"If you knew what I was going to do, why did you leave your phone number on the photo?" Lin Sandie fell silent for a moment before asking.
"Because I'm very interested in you. Meeting someone else in the world who looks exactly like you is a very low-probability event. Even though I've been to all sorts of places, the probability is still very, very, very small," Lou emphasized.
"Mm," Lin Sandie agreed quietly. She lowered her gaze to the thin white blanket covering her. "That's why I kept your photo. I'm curious about you, too."
"Then why are you still doing things that could harm me?" Lou's voice sounded reproachful.
"Those are two different things to me. Being curious about you doesn't mean I can forgive you for turning my life into a complete mess." Lin Sandie had learned from Xing Meilu that ever since Lou killed Cheng Lina, the Inspectorate had been watching her. Then came Yan Ting, and then the people around her. The vortex had started with the murder case involving the honey-trapper who pretended to be a lesbian.
If it weren't for this whole mess, Lin Sandie would have already turned Yan Ting into flower fertilizer without anyone knowing. She had been planning it for two years, and now everything was ruined.
"What did I do? I just did a few insignificant little things. Besides, what's so important about that life you were living like a waste?"
Lin Sandie was speechless, and angered by Lou's bluntness.
She had been living in Yan Ting's shadow, indeed like a waste, but that didn't mean she could accept someone else saying it.
"In any case, you're getting what you deserve," Lin Sandie said, her brow furrowed.
"Lin Sandie!" Lou's voice on the other end of the line suddenly turned ice-cold and emotionless, thick with palpable killing intent. "Do you know who I am? Do you know what kind of people I've killed?"
"…" Lin Sandie remained silent as a chill rose from her heart, goosebumps prickling her skin.
"How many times do you think I've gotten close to you?" Lou's cold voice continued.
"Do you think your Little Police Flower could do anything to me if I killed her? Or do you think I can't kill Yan Ting?"
Lin Sandie still didn't answer. The once-relaxed atmosphere had become heavy, viscous, and dangerous, as if blood might be spilled at any moment.
"Hahahaha~~~~" Just as Lin Sandie was contemplating how to appease this dangerous individual, Lou's bell-like laughter rang out, shattering the heavy atmosphere. "Lin Sandie! Did I scare you just now?"
"…" Lin Sandie clenched her fists, using immense willpower to maintain her composure.
"I scared you at least a little bit, right?" Lou's cheerful voice continued to pour from the phone.
"What exactly did you do, Lou, for those people to suspect me so unreasonably?" Lin Sandie took a deep breath.
"I kidnapped an old lady named Xu Siqian. She has a super powerful item on her, @#¥#¥%@…" Halfway through her sentence, the sound of flapping wings came from the other end, obscuring the rest of her words, followed by an indignant caw.
"I can't tell you what I was about to say just yet." After a moment, Lou's slightly apologetic voice came through. "You know, you're being monitored right now."
"I'm hanging up," Lin Sandie said.
"But I still want to talk to you."
"About what?"
"I don't know. About your mother. About Bai Xuan." Lou's voice became lively again.
Lin Sandie froze. She hadn't expected Lou to bring up Bai Xuan.
Sensing her hesitation, Lou continued, "I wasn't entirely sure at first, but after talking to you today and seeing how unfazed you are by my existence, I knew. Bai Xuan must have told you something before she died, right? About the origins of people like us."
"Lin Sandie, what did Bai Xuan say about me?"
"She… said she knew an annoying person who looked exactly like me." Lin Sandie repeated the last words of her former subordinate. Bai Xuan had been stabbed unexpectedly by Yan Ting, but by a twist of fate, Lin Sandie had been by her side in her final moments. She knew Bai Xuan was from another world and had been investigating something.
"Willful, a jerk, petty, vain, and extremely vindictive. You held a grudge for a whole month just because she broke one of your rabbit toys." Whether it was for revenge or a genuine recounting of Bai Xuan's last words, Lin Sandie spoke without reservation.
"…" This time, it was Lou's turn to be silent for a long time. "I was partners with Bai Xuan once. She was a good person."
"I'm very sorry about what happened to her," Lin Sandie replied sincerely. After all, she was partly responsible for Bai Xuan being killed by Yan Ting.
"There's no need to apologize. These are necessary risks. It seems you know quite a bit. It's impressive you've managed to remain yourself all this time."
"I just want to live a quiet life."
"Lin Sandie, is your mother still alive?"
"My mother passed away when I was five."
"Then we're quite similar. My mother also seems to have died when I was five. The place where I lived was hit by smallpox, and everyone in my tribe died except for me."
"Do you remember what your mother looked like?" Smallpox? Lin Sandie found that strange. That virus should have been eradicated for decades.
"Of course not."
"Maybe I'll show you a photo of my mom sometime." When speaking of her mother, Zhao Zhi, Lin Sandie's usually cold eyes would soften with a rare gentleness.
The other end of the line went silent. After a long moment, Lou's smiling voice rang in Lin Sandie's ear. "Okay, Lin Sandie! I'll forgive you for setting me up this time~"
I'm not showing you my mother's photo to get your forgiveness, nor am I trying to bribe you. Besides, you're the one who ruined my life first.
Lin Sandie couldn't help but argue back in her mind.
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