Monster - Chapter 18
Chapter 18: Respective Malice
Distraught, Lin Sandie found a random hotel. As soon as she entered the room, she fell straight onto the bed, which carried a damp smell. This was the only hotel in the small village, and few people ever stayed here, so it was considered decent enough that the bedding was clean.
Lin Sandie lay motionless for a long time. She took out her phone, feeling she should find someone to talk to at a time like this. But after scrolling through her contacts, she realized that over the past few years, under Yan Ting's control, she no longer had anyone she could talk to.
The hand holding the phone dropped limply onto the bed. Lin Sandie's vacant eyes stared at the ceiling.
It was almost 7 p.m. The aroma of cooking drifted in through the open hotel room window. Lin Sandie turned her head to look at the sky outside, where an inky blue layer still floated. She could faintly hear the chatter of the villagers.
"Knock, knock." Just then, there was a knock on her door.
Lin Sandie let out a long breath, trying to ease the tightness in her chest, but it had no effect. She got up and opened the door. The hotel owner, a woman who knew her father and stepmother, was standing outside.
"Xiao Die, want to come downstairs for dinner? Auntie Ye made braised fish," the owner said with a concerned smile. Lin Sandie peered over her glasses; the woman was still human, not mutated into a monster.
"Thank you, Auntie Ye. You go ahead and eat. I'm not very hungry. I still have things in my car I need to get." Lin Sandie adjusted her glasses.
"Oh, alright. Do you need me to find someone to help you?"
"No, that's okay. Please, go eat." Lin Sandie forced a smile, closed the door to her room, and left with only her phone.
The roads where the hotel was located were narrow, inaccessible to cars. The parking lot was in an open area five or six hundred meters away. Lin Sandie wound her way through streets lined with townhouses, walked to the open lot, and prepared to sleep in her car that night.
Staying at the hotel was too lively. The vibrant conversations that constantly reached her ears were just the daily trifles of the villagers, but when Lin Sandie heard them, she was always afraid they would suddenly approach her. Whether to show concern or to gossip, Lin Sandie didn't want to face any of it. She didn't want anyone near her right now. She just wanted to be in a quiet world where she was the only one.
At this time, only Lin Sandie's red sedan was parked in the lot. She opened the car door, sat in the back seat, and then curled up on it. This place was far from the bustle of people, and the car's soundproofing was excellent. For a moment, the only sound was her own breathing.
Curled up on the back seat, Lin Sandie faced outward, knees bent, lying on her side with her arm as a pillow, her eyes fixed on the leather of the black driver's seatback. The gold-rimmed glasses that had been perched on her nose were now askew from her position. Lin Sandie didn't reach up to straighten them, lost in her own thoughts.
She remained in this position until the moon was high in the sky. Bright moonlight pierced through the car window. The sudden ringing of her phone startled Lin Sandie, who had drowsily fallen asleep.
It was Yan Ting calling.
She glanced at the time on her phone: 11:20 p.m.
"San San, what are you doing~?" Yan Ting's cheerful voice came through the phone.
"In the car. Something happened at home." Lin Sandie slowly sat up, her voice a little hoarse.
"What happened?" Hearing the listlessness in Lin Sandie's voice, Yan Ting's tone immediately shifted from cheerful to tense.
Lin Sandie didn't hide anything, telling Yan Ting everything that had happened since she returned. After listening, Yan Ting immediately said she would send people to handle it and would also come to pick Lin Sandie up.
Because their relationship was kept secret, they had long ago agreed that Yan Ting would be the one to initiate contact; Lin Sandie was not to contact Yan Ting. But today, despite encountering something so serious, Lin Sandie had actually stuck to this rule. This made Yan Ting both a little dissatisfied and feel sorry for Lin Sandie, and her words carried a hint of reproach.
This was perhaps a way of expressing "I care about you a lot," but hearing Yan Ting's reproach still made Lin Sandie feel a wave of irritation. She took off her glasses and pressed the back of her bent index finger firmly against her aching brow.
Smack! The rear side window was suddenly struck. Lin Sandie turned her head and saw a deathly pale face. The face had no features, only a mouth full of illusory sharp teeth opening and closing. Black, lightning-shaped cracks covering the face expanded and contracted with the movement of the mouthparts, looking especially terrifying in the moonlight.
The moment she saw this face, a scream began to form in Lin Sandie's throat, but only a short "Ah!" escaped. She hung up on Yan Ting and quickly put on her glasses.
As she put on the glasses, the terrifying face outside the car immediately transformed into her younger brother, Lin Youceng. He was handsome, with the unique frailty of a young man. He was now anxiously banging on Lin Sandie's car window, repeatedly shouting, "Sis! Open the door!"
Lin Sandie stared blankly at her anxious brother. Just then, her phone started ringing again with a call from Yan Ting.
The muffled shouts from outside the window and the piercing ringtone from inside the car combined to disrupt Lin Sandie's thoughts.
Tossing her phone onto the floor mat in the back, Lin Sandie took a deep breath, her expression instantly turning anxious. She opened the car door and got out.
"Sis, sis, do you have any food?" As soon as Lin Sandie got out, Lin Youceng grabbed her arm and asked agitatedly.
"I bought some cookies and snacks on my way home. They're in the trunk." Feeling the hand gripping her was ice-cold, Lin Sandie pulled her arm free from Lin Youceng's grasp and looked at him for a good while before heading to the trunk at his urging.
"I want to eat!" Hearing Lin Sandie say she had food, Lin Youceng was so moved his voice choked up.
Opening the trunk, Lin Sandie took out the gifts she had originally intended for her father and stepmother. Among them was a box of cookies, as well as the bottled water she always kept in the car.
Lin Youceng snatched the box of cookies like a starving wolf. He haphazardly tore off the paper packaging, opened the tin, and began stuffing several cookies into his mouth at once.
Lin Sandie stood to the side, silently watching Lin Youceng devour the food. She took out a bottle of mineral water.
She had been with Yan Ting for seven years, and the latter had been a monster for at least four or five of them. Lin Sandie knew that when dealing with someone who had turned into a monster, it was best to comply with their wishes at first and then slowly exert influence. So she didn't immediately ask Lin Youceng what he had done to their parents.
When Lin Youceng had eaten most of it, Lin Sandie handed him the opened bottle of water.
Lin Youceng didn't stand on ceremony, taking the water and downing the 500ml bottle in one go.
"How long has it been since you've eaten?" Lin Sandie asked.
"Two days. I only ate a few bananas." Lin Youceng's eating pace slowed down. He finished the water, tossed the empty bottle into Lin Sandie's trunk, and continued eating from the cookie tin he was holding.
"Youceng, what on earth happened?" Lin Sandie asked seriously.
Hearing Lin Sandie's question, Lin Youceng's hand paused mid-cookie. His eyes, as clear as Lin Sandie's, looked at his sister. In the moonlight, his long eyelashes cast a faint shadow, as if hiding a murderous intent.
"Sis, why are you sleeping in the car?" Lin Youceng asked in return.
"I went home, and the police were there. Mom and Dad… something seems to have happened to them." As she said this, Lin Sandie's voice choked, and her eyes quickly reddened.
"I'm so glad you're okay…" Lin Sandie hugged Lin Youceng, her voice thick with emotion. She held him tightly, burying her face in his shoulder.
Lin Youceng felt his sister's hands trembling as she held him. The gloom in his eyes dissipated. He held up the cookie tin and gently rested his chin on his sister's shoulder. "Sis, I… I don't know how to say it. Dad and Mom, they… they…"
Lin Youceng's eyes quickly filled with tears. His voice became hoarse and raspy. The cookie tin fell from his hands. He suddenly burst into tears, clinging tightly to Lin Sandie.
"I don't know what happened. I came home and saw Dad and Mom were… were dead. But I didn't see anyone else. I was so scared, so I hid," Lin Youceng said between sobs, as if clutching a life-saving straw.
"Where did you hide?" Lin Sandie let go of Lin Youceng and saw the seventeen-year-old boy's face was a mess from crying. She wasn't much better off. Having not cried for a long time, her eyes ached terribly.
"In the cabin at the orchard Uncle Xu used to contract," Lin Youceng told her truthfully. "My phone died, and I was too scared to go buy food. I've been eating bananas from the orchard for the past two days."
"Are you stupid? Why did you run away? Running away just makes people suspicious, you know?" Lin Sandie's eyes were red-rimmed. She slapped Lin Youceng's arm reproachfully. "Let's go to the police station. They'll catch the killer."
Lin Youceng said nothing, then suddenly started crying again.
"What's wrong?" Lin Sandie asked softly, seeing his state.
"Sis, I'm scared. I… I only dared to sneak out to find you after I heard people say you were back. I… I…" Lin Youceng cried until his eyes were swollen.
Lin Sandie had no choice but to hug him again. She was eight years older than her brother and was often willing to take care of him.
"It's okay. I'll handle it," Lin Sandie said, gently patting Lin Youceng's head.
Lin Youceng just kept crying.
"How about I go with you to the orchard? Do you still have things there? First thing tomorrow, we'll go to the police station together."
"My backpack is in the orchard cabin. My dead phone is there too."
"Let's go. I'll go with you to get your things back first." Lin Sandie took Lin Youceng's hand and pointed questioningly in one direction. "This way?"
"This way." Lin Youceng pointed in the correct direction. Then he added, "Can we bring some more food? I'm still a little hungry."
"Okay. For ready-to-eat food, I just bought cookies and chocolate." Lin Sandie bent down to get the chocolate from the car, while Lin Youceng squatted down and picked up the cookies he had just scattered on the ground.
Since the orchard was in a place inaccessible by car, the two of them headed into the mountains carrying some food.
As Lin Sandie had expected, after she and Lin Youceng entered the small wooden cabin in the orchard, Lin Youceng, who was walking behind her, immediately knocked her unconscious.
This brother of hers was never very smart. But even if he were smarter, it would be useless now. Lin Sandie had just gambled with her own life to pull him onto the opposite side of Yan Ting.
A person who had become a monster, a person who had murdered his parents—in Lin Sandie's heart, he could no longer be called one of her own kind.
Lin Sandie knew this sudden course of action was risky. She might very well end up another one of Lin Youceng's victims. But when she realized she was truly all alone in this world, she felt that death wasn't so hard to accept. She just didn't want to die a meaningless death.
No one in this world could understand better than Lin Sandie just how scorchingly Yan Ting's rage and jealousy would burn toward this monster named Lin Youceng when she discovered Lin Sandie was missing.
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