Crimson Instinct

Time: 6:00 PM. Six hours and thirty minutes left.

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*Bai Li*

And once again, Zhang Chao was screaming like a mad man. "What do you mean?"

I sensed him resist beside him and heard the sound of him trying to break the door.

I smiled. "It's no use. No matter how much you scream or yell, nobody is going to hear it."

Then I heard the sound is another engine revving up from a distance in front of us. Zhang Chao's death ticket had arrived.

I heard Zhang Xiulan say, "Can you hear that, 'Dad'?"

The sarcasm in her voice was all too clear.

His voice shook as he spoke, "W-why is a truck here? What are you going to do!?"

I said, "As we said, you will know how it feels like to be crushed. Just like you did to Zhang Qiuyue. The difference is that she didn't feel the pain, but you will. Every second of it. We will make sure of it."

"Come, Daddy. Let's go for a ride~"

"You two are crazy! You want to murder me! How dare you! I will kill you all! My guards will catch you, and then I will kill you all!"

Clearly, he wasn't reasoning anymore.

Our plan was simple and straightforward. Zhu Yusheng was driving the truck. He would accelerate and pick up speed as he rushes towards our car. Zhang Xiulan and I will get out, leaving him in the car, and Zhu Yusheng would crash the truck onto it.

I heard Zhang Chao breathing heavily and gasping and still fruitlessly trying to resist.

"No! You cannot kill me!"

I said, "Let's leave Zhang Xiulan and let him enjoy his last moments in peace."

"Sure~~ Sayonara Zhang Chao. This is your end."

We got out of the car and locked the doors.

"No! Come back! Let me out of here!" I heard him banging his hands on the windows.

"Yusheng," her voice cold and emotionless, "Do it."

"Roger."

The sound of that truck speeding up became louder and louder. 

"Let me out! The truck! It's coming! Xiulan, please! Forgive me! I beg you. Please forgive me and let me go! I will do whatever you say but don't kill me. I am your father." He cried.

I sensed the truck coming closer and closer. 

"Xiulan, please-"

*CRASH*

A loud crash resounded in this abandoned place. I heard the car moving backward, and the windows break into pieces. 

"Ahhh!!"

Then I heard the truck reverse in the opposite direction as the sound was getting distant, but it again sped up.

*CRASH*

With the truck's mass and speed, I could guess that the car would have overturned by now. I faintly smelt petrol in the air. The tank must have split open.

I asked, "How are you feeling?"

There was silence for a long time.

"He is all bloody, Bai Li. He is a mess from head to toe. His eyes seemed to pop out of his sockets as the truck is hitting the car. He is being crushed. He is coughing up blood. He is trying to get out. But now the car is overturned. Gravity isn't helping him."

I said nothing.

"Is this what Mom had to go through?"

Her voice was quiet.

"Strange question, isn't it? She was dead. Yet, I feel it must have been so painful. Bai Li, tell me. Is he feeling even half of that pain right now?"

I smiled. "You bet he is. He is being broken like a kite. He is crushed from all sides of the car. I guess one or two organs might even pop out at any moment."

She softly chuckled. But I knew she must be crying right now. I didn't hear her sobs, but I knew she was shedding tears. Silently. Mourning Zhang Qiuyue's death.

"Bai Li…"

"Hm?"

"Mom wanted me to be a good person. The last thing she wanted me to be was a cold-blooded killer. But, I just killed my biological father. Do you think she would be sad to see from heaven what I have become?"

I said, "No."

"Really?"

"I mean it. Zhang Qiuyue must be very happy right now."

"Why?"

"Because you killed the man who tortured you for all those years. You know, Zhang Xiulan. Zhang Qiuyue wasn't just his wife. She was your mother too. You think you avenged her murder, but you know what she must be thinking from heaven?"

"What?"

"She is happy right now, not because you avenged her death. But you also avenged yourself and the horrible treatment you had to go through those years. She must not be thinking as a wife. As a mother, she must be happy because her daughter bore that pain, came out of it, and became strong enough to kill him. For her, you took revenge for all the pain he gave YOU."

She said nothing.

"My dad used to say, 'Mothers are strange creatures.' He said to me one day when I was young. He asked Mom, who would she choose if she had to save between him and me one day? Just a hypothetical question."

"What did she say?"

I smiled. "She said she would choose me in a heartbeat. Not because she didn't love Dad. But because she said that as parents who are older than me, they had lived much more than me. They have seen the world much more than me. They have experienced it more than me. But I haven't. So, I deserve to live longer."

I raised my hand and felt my way towards her shoulder. "Mothers always think about their children first. So, she is not disappointed in you. She is proud of you. And I don't think she was hurt by what Zhang Chao did to her. You feel hurt when you love the person who hurt you. I don't think she ever loved him. She lived with him only for the sake of her daughters."

"You are a fine woman who made the culprit pay for what he did to his own daughter. That is what your mother must be thinking. So, hold your head high, Zhang Xiulan."

*BOOM*

There was a blast, and I heard the car catch on to the fire. The sound of fire crackled in the air, and the last of Zhang Chao's screams got burned into it.