Monster - Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Benefactor

When fear reaches a certain threshold, it can make a person numb.

Lin Sandie stared blankly at the woman playing with bubbles in her large, white porcelain bathtub—a bathtub that not even Yan Ting had ever entered, now occupied by a woman she had "just met."

After Lou had slit Yan Ting's carotid artery, both of them had been spattered with blood. In a state of oxygen deprivation and physical weakness, Lin Sandie had been dragged directly into the bathroom by Lou, leading to the current scene.

Unable to take a bath herself due to her wounds, she could only sit to the side, wiping her body with a wet towel, forced to watch the woman who looked exactly like her soak in the tub, using her expensive bubble bath.

"I'm a little bear." Lou piled two mounds of white foam on her head, waving her arms and trying to look cute for Lin Sandie.

"We should be calling the police, not taking a bath," Lin Sandie said, in no mood to appreciate Lou's antics. She raised a hand to knead her aching brow; her head was still throbbing from Yan Ting's brutal strangulation. Noticing that the bubble bath bottle on the edge of the tub was not in its usual spot, Lin Sandie discreetly reached out and moved it back to where she felt it belonged.

"We'll call after my bath. I rushed all this way to save you, so what's wrong with you letting me use your tub?" Lou said, leaning against the edge of the bathtub with righteous indignation.

"..." Lin Sandie was so taken aback she didn't know how to respond.

The foam on her head dissolved, and water droplets slid down Lou's face to her smooth chin and full earlobes. Her beautiful, delicate face was like a lotus emerging from the water, but she was clearly not the type of woman to cultivate a seductive allure. She immediately slapped a large handful of bubbles onto the lower half of her face and, with bright eyes, showed off to Lin Sandie again. "I'm Santa Claus~"

Santa Claus my ass, you're a lunatic! Lin Sandie thought.

"How did you know I was in danger?" Lin Sandie wasn't amused, nor did she have the patience to stay in the bathroom any longer. The stuffy, ambiguously intimate atmosphere was making her head spin. She placed a hand on the edge of the tub to push herself up.

"I've been tracking your movements. I didn't even know you almost died making your Certificate of Honor." Sensing the bubbles in the tub were diminishing, Lou picked up the bottle of milk-scented bubble bath from the edge and poured more in.

"Why do you care so much whether I live or die?" Lin Sandie didn't bother asking how Lou had tracked her—the madwoman had plenty of methods, including that crow that could only be used for surveillance. Instead, she reached out again and adjusted the position of the bubble bath bottle.

"Because you look exactly like me, and I don't want to see another me die," Lou answered with absolute certainty, as if her words were devoid of any personal sentiment.

"..." Lin Sandie stood up straight, enduring the intense physical and mental pain, and sighed softly. "Well, thank you so much for that..."

Before she could finish, Lou suddenly stood up in the tub. The heat radiating from her body made Lin Sandie's breath catch, and she quickly averted her gaze. Lou had already taken the towel from her hand. "Let me dry you off properly."

"No need," Lin Sandie replied swiftly. She was no best friend or dear sister who could be so casual with Lou.

"You're still wet."

Then you shouldn't have dragged me into the bathroom when I was about to pass out! Lin Sandie screamed internally.

"Let me see..." Seeing Lin Sandie keeping her head down, Lou—who had been the receptive partner for so long she lacked any awareness of such things—thought nothing of it. She pinched Lin Sandie's chin, gently tilting up the face of the woman who didn't know where to look. This revealed the dark, purplish bruises on her neck. If Lou had arrived a minute or two later, Lin Sandie might have truly been strangled to death by Yan Ting in her own home.

"Besides choking you, did she hit you anywhere else?" Lou's rain-colored eyes looked at Lin Sandie, then traveled down her neck. Below her collarbone, a hideous scar marred her fair, delicate skin. There were similar scars on her side and forearm. Lou's inspection didn't seem to carry any lecherous gaze, but Lin Sandie still felt incredibly uncomfortable.

She dodged Lou's hand and cleared her throat unnaturally. "No. But do you have any idea what a dangerous thing she is?"

"A Monster? I'm investigating the reason they mutate from humans," Lou said, using the bath towel to dry the water droplets Lin Sandie had missed on her back.

"Then, do you know why I can see them?" Lin Sandie asked, a hint of emotion in her voice.

"I have a theory, hmm... but do you know you're a Legislator?" Lou said, casually tossing the used towel onto the vanity.

"What's that?" Lin Sandie clearly had no idea what a Legislator was. Her eyelid twitched when she saw the towel tossed carelessly on the vanity instead of in the laundry hamper, and she grit her teeth.

"I'll tell you later." Lou sat back down in the tub, stirring the water and filling the bathroom with steam once more.

Lin Sandie felt dizzy. She went to the cabinet to get a clean towel, planning to wrap herself up before leaving.

Just then, Lou asked, "Do you have any ice cream? It seems like it would be delicious to eat while taking a bath."

"No ice cream," Lin Sandie answered stiffly. Such a high-carb food was obviously unsuitable for her former self. "Only yogurt."

"Never mind then. Your face is really red. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. You can tell me about the Legislator later..." Before Lin Sandie could finish her sentence, the world began to spin. She stumbled, catching herself on the vanity.

"Is it too hot in the bathroom?" Seeing Lin Sandie's face flushed crimson, Lou got out of the tub again. She was dripping wet and covered in white foam. She casually picked up the towel she had just used on Lin Sandie and wiped herself with it. She didn't dry off completely, just gave herself a few haphazard swipes before tossing the towel onto the wet bathroom floor.

Lin Sandie felt her world crumbling. Why did this crazy woman insist on doing things that made her so uncomfortable?!

"I'll take you to your room." Ignoring Lin Sandie's thoughts, a stark-naked Lou scooped her up by the waist and carried her out of the bathroom.

"Bastard!" Lin Sandie hung limply in Lou's arms. When she saw Lou's dripping feet stepping on her floor, she finally couldn't help but curse.

But she was so dizzy now that her curses lacked any real force.

"Why are you cursing me? I'm taking you to your room."

Lin Sandie caught sight of the Monster's body lying on the living room floor, still bleeding. The expensive rug she had spent so much money on was now stained with a large patch of blood that would never wash out.

"Asshole!" Lin Sandie continued to rage, her temper flaring.

"Don't waste your energy," Lou comforted her softly.

"Bastard! You, you—put on some house slippers..." Lin Sandie panted, cursing nonstop.

"..." Lou looked down at the weak Lin Sandie in her arms, a mix of emotions welling up inside her. She said with great solemnity, "Let me make this clear. If we're playing house, I'm the mom, and you have to be the dad."

For Lou, her head could be cut off, her blood could be shed, but she would absolutely never be the 1.

"To, to, to hell with your playing house!" It took Lin Sandie a long time to catch her breath before she could continue. "I, I'd rather die!"

After carrying Lin Sandie to her room, the latter was still cursing. It was clear she was truly furious; otherwise, the ever-composed and steady woman would never resort to swearing.

Lou covered the towel-clad Lin Sandie with a thin blanket. With a wealth of experience in being cursed at, she affectionately tapped Lin Sandie's nose with her finger. "Your vocabulary for insults is so limited. If you like cursing, I'll introduce you to a crow next time. He's an expert at it."

"Fuck you!" Miu the crow, who had been ignored for a long time, chimed in with a curse of its own.

Lin Sandie closed her eyes tightly, panting as she said, "Just, just wait... I'll kill you!"

"..." Lou saw the unhealthy flush on Lin Sandie's face and her tightly furrowed brow. The threat she uttered was weak and powerless. Lou swallowed, saying nothing, and simply smiled at her.

Lin Sandie ignored Lou's gaze. Her breathing began to even out, and the dizziness from the lack of oxygen started to subside.

"I'm going to wear your clothes, okay?" Lou went to open Lin Sandie's wardrobe. The latter kept her eyes closed, trying to conserve her strength and recover, no longer wasting energy on trying to drive Lou away.

"What are you going to do next?" Lin Sandie asked, her voice a little hoarse.

"Take an afternoon nap with you, of course," Lou said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"..." Lin Sandie was once again rendered speechless. She turned her face away in anger, refusing to even look at Lou.

However, upon hearing the sounds of Lou rummaging through her things, Lin Sandie quickly swallowed her anger and turned her head back, saying weakly, "The pajamas are in the second cabinet on the left, bottom shelf."

"Oh." Following Lin Sandie's instructions, Lou opened the cabinet, looked around for a moment, and pulled out a loose, dark blue T-shirt. But in doing so, she dislodged the neatly folded clothes, leaving them in a crooked pile. She then casually pushed the messy stack back in, closed the cabinet door, and left a corner of a shirt sticking out.

"You, you..." Seeing this, Lin Sandie's face, which had just begun to calm, flushed red again.

"Me what? I'm your benefactor. Hurry up and thank me~" Lou said shamelessly as she pulled on the shirt. Then, she lifted the covers, preparing to join Lin Sandie for a nap.

"Underwear. You're not wearing any. Clean underwear is in the far-right drawer, at the bottom, in a bag..." Before Lin Sandie could finish her obsessive-compulsive instructions, Lou had already slipped under the covers and lay down.

Suddenly, someone had barged into Lin Sandie's solitary world, turning her neat and orderly life into a complete mess.

Just like after the honey-trap murder, her life had begun to undergo a seismic shift.

And it was all because of the appearance of the woman before her.

"It's fine not to wear any. This shirt is long," Lou replied.

A vein throbbed on Lin Sandie's temple. She rolled out of bed, clutching her painfully aching side, and walked with difficulty to the drawer. She took out a new, clean pair of underwear and threw it at Lou. "Put it on!"

"So uptight..." Lou muttered, pulling the plain underwear under the covers. The blanket rustled up and down a few times, and she had already put them on in the warmth of the bed.

Lin Sandie's breathing, which she had just managed to regulate, became ragged with anger again. She walked back to her side of the bed. As soon as she sat down, she saw Lou batting her eyelashes at her. Lou smiled fawningly, used both hands to pull the blanket up a little higher, and gave her a look that screamed, "I've been waiting for you~"

To make such an expression with a face identical to her own...

Lin Sandie ground her back teeth, took a deep breath, and slowly exhaled.

She had really been muddled by anger. To think she was actually considering getting back into bed to rest... What she should be doing now was changing her clothes and calling the police.

At that moment, Lin Sandie's brain finally started working again.

After Lou came in and cut Yan Ting's throat, she quickly destroyed the surveillance cameras in the house, perhaps prompted by that crow.

That means if Xing Meilu and her team come to investigate, they'll only find evidence that I was nearly killed by Yan Ting, and that Lou suddenly appeared and killed her. I'll just be an innocent victim. So, it's feasible for me to be the one to call the police.

Calling the police will also get Xing Meilu to handle Yan Ting's body. Otherwise, I'd have to spend a lot of time and energy hiding it, and I might slip up and make the Inspectorate think I'm plotting something...

With this in mind, Lin Sandie got up and went to the wardrobe for clothes. She first put on her underwear and a half-length cotton skirt, then grabbed a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt. But her arm was still in a sling. She turned, intending to ask Lou for help, only to see that she had already fallen asleep.

Unsure if Lou was just pretending to be asleep to make her beg, Lin Sandie bit her lip and didn't say anything. She struggled to pull the loose T-shirt over her head, managing to get only one arm through while the other remained bent against her chest. By the time she was done, the pain from her injuries had brought tears to her eyes. She sniffled quietly, then lifted her head, straightened her back, and walked toward the living room to call Xing Meilu.

Hopefully, when they came, they would arrest this utterly detestable woman sleeping in her bed as well.

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