Crimson Instinct

*Xin Lei*

Zhang Ning yelled. "No! You cannot do this! I know you are lying!"

Bai Li ignored her and continued. "Once I realized the truth, I knew what we had to do. Kill Zhang Chao first. Then you would have no one to help you and no place to hide. Once he was cut off, dealing with you was easy. He had to die anyway. He just died first. That's all."

I pouted and typed. "Wish I would have been there. I wanted to witness it too."

Zhang Xiulan chuckled. "Well, we all can witness her end. But Zhang Chao's death was indeed satisfying. Mom would be so happy in heaven."

"SHUT UP XIULAN! SHUT THE FUCK UP!"

"Why are you getting so riled up, elder sister? Do you feel bad for him? I don't think so because you never loved him either."

Bai Li said, "Now before you take off for hell, let me also make it very clear that I never liked you. I never had any feelings for you, and who would after knowing your true colors? I saved you all those times because it was my duty as a soldier who once served the country. Nothing more and nothing less. What you interpreted from that is none of my concern."

"Lies! Lies! Lies! All lies! It's this Xin Lei! She is brainwashing you! You don't love her. You love me! Only I deserve to be at your side! Bai Li is mine!"

"Arf!" Cocoa almost seemed ready to attack, but Bai Li stopped. "It's okay, buddy. Stand."

And Cocoa obeyed.

She almost got up, but Zhang Xiulan slapped and kicked her again, and she collapsed.

I widened my eyes. She was snarling at us, and a crazy madness darkened her gaze.

Why wasn't she still giving up? This was crazy. 

Bai Li said the same things as I did, yet she doesn't want to believe him either! What more of a confession you want!?

Zhang Xiulan raised her foot and smashed it on her cheek.

Ah, that would be so painful~

"AHHHH…"

She coughed some more blood and gritted her teeth.

"Your place is on the ground, elder sister. Until now, you only watched others die, standing at your high pedestal and enjoying the show. Now kiss the dirt and let me introduce you to your new place."

I sneered at Zhang Ning and typed. "Your minions have already died. Now, it's your turn. All those innocent people with whose emotions you played and used their vulnerability to drag them here to kill them cruelly...it's time to avenge them now. This is your end."

Bai Li said, "I would really like to kill you, but I don't want you to feel happy that you died by my hands who you... liked? Ugh...even thinking about your feelings for me makes me puke."

I patted his shoulder, feeling sorry for him.

I typed. "And I think Zhang Xiulan deserves to have the final kill. It is her right to end you more than any of us present here."

Bai Li nodded. "No doubt about it."

Zhang Xiulan clutched her hair and pulled her face, "Hmm...how should I kill you? Oof, there are too many options. Strangle you? Shoot you? Burn you by acid? Stab you? So difficult indeed."

She smiled. "But I have an idea. Zhang Chao died the same way he killed Mom the second time. So, you will die the same way you killed Mom the first time. But, I will be nice and slow in slashing your throat so that you enjoy every second of it. I mean, what is more fun than seeing your own blood? Don't you like to see the crimson blood, elder sister~"

Zhang Xiulan took the dagger and pointed its tip at her neck.

"Oooo, your flesh is so soft. It went straight into it."

She began to slide the dagger, and a thin cut formed on her neck.

Finally... finally this was the end. Everything that started with Fu Meili's disappearance was now meeting its end with her death.

Zhang Ning glared at all of us, and then she suddenly giggled. Even in her pale condition, it seemed as if she was enjoying all this.

Zhang Xiulan stopped.

"Hahaha…Kill me?...Hahaha…"

Cocoa growled at her. "Grrr…"

Why is she laughing? Doesn't she understand her situation?

"Do you think that this will be the end?" Zhang Ning laughed like a psycho, and it made me shudder.

Why do I feel that she has a trick up her sleeve? But it's impossible. She is all alone and helpless. The IB and the Army surrounded this building. What can she do now?

"Hahaha...So sad...sure I will die but...do you think that you are going to get out alive from here?" She giggled again.

We said nothing but something in her tone felt seriously wrong. 

What is this…what is this bad feeling I am getting?

No... nothing can go wrong at this stage...

"Haha, look at your faces, hahaha. You.." she coughed, "you look so funny...just the expression I wanted to see hehehe…Now I feel so satisfied."

Bai Li asked, "What is so funny?"

"This whole situation. That we all are going to die together~~ My sister, my love and my rival...all will perish with me…Hahaha!"

"You are the only one who is going to die, Zhang Ning."

"You wish, but sadly, it isn't true. Can you hear it? The sound of your death coming near?

We were still confused, and I was going to ask when Bai Li said, "What is that sound?"

Sound?

I concentrated, and then I heard it. The sound was so faint and low that it couldn't be heard unless you were really searching for it.

It was a ticking sound…

I froze.

Zhang Xiulan seemed to realize too, and she looked at us, seemingly alarmed.

"Tik tok, tik tok, tik tok...Major Bai Li, you must have recognized the sound, right? After all, you must have heard it countless times in your army career~"

I looked at Bai Li, aghast. It couldn't be...

A bomb?

Zhang Ning crazily laughed. "You guessed it right! Bomb! Boom! This place is going to blow up in just three minutes. I will die for sure by your hands but so will you all by the bomb! Hahaha!"