I Deduce the Female Lead Likes Me [Transmigration into a book] - Chapter 16: Schizophrenia
When Kou Shuang was abducted and pulled into the van, there was a moment of panic, and then she saw Lux.
Lux was still smiling, but his smile was completely different from the day of her interview, filled with danger, as if he had finally shed his disguise.
Lux first turned to Sun Jiawen and said: “Didn’t I tell you just to bring us the paintings? Why did you bring an extra person?” Then he looked at Kou Shuang and said: “Shuangshuang, long time no see.”
Sun Jiawen glared at Kou Shuang, saying: “Kill… kill her! Lu Renjia likes her!”
“…” Kou Shuang felt a little helpless and could only continue to emphasize: “Lu Renjia loves you; he just admitted it himself.”
Sun Jiawen’s expression became confused and conflicted, seemingly struggling with whether Kou Shuang was telling the truth.
This was what she wanted to hear.
Lux turned to Kou Shuang, a flash of murderous intent in his eyes, and said: “I told you long ago this girl couldn’t be kept! Shuangshuang, tell me, was it you who called the police?”
Kou Shuang felt very wronged. In this particular matter, she was also a victim. “It wasn’t me; that man with sunglasses discovered it himself.”
“We even wanted to pull you into our group before. It’s one thing if you’re not interested, but you can’t betray your boss and colleagues like this, can you?” Lux narrowed his eyes, his tone very dangerous.
Old Chun, who was driving in the front, coughed, seemingly disapprovingly, scolding Lux: “Wei Zi! Control yourself! Isn’t one case on your hands enough?!”
Lux looked at his hands, squeezed them, and said: “My hands are already ruined. What’s the difference between one case and two cases? I can’t paint anymore anyway.”
“It’s different now!” Old Chun retorted.
Kou Shuang sat in her seat, clearly aware of the dangerous situation, but strangely, she wasn’t nervous. She listened to the two discussing whether to kill her, but suddenly noticed other details.
“Pull me into your group? When did you pull me into your group?”
After seeing the fake painting that afternoon, she had no further contact with Old Chun or Lux. How could there be talk of pulling her into their group?
As soon as the words left her mouth, Kou Shuang understood.
Ah… I didn’t contact Old Chun and Lux, but Sun Jiawen contacted me.
Kou Shuang looked at Sun Jiawen and said: “That time you called me, was it about this? I was taking a shower and didn’t answer.”
Sun Jiawen looked at Kou Shuang with vigilance, saying nothing.
It was Old Chun who turned back, glanced at Kou Shuang, and said: “Kou Shuang is quite clever. I was actually quite fond of you.”
Kou Shuang saw Old Chun’s eyes in the rearview mirror. They were the eyes of an old hand, usually narrowed, showing no emotion, and coupled with a Maitreya Buddha-like curve at the corners of his mouth, they were quite deceiving, leaving people nowhere to guess. Kou Shuang had been fooled by these eyes before, leading her to believe that everyone in this gallery was good.
But at this moment, the old hand tore off his disguise, tearing away the sweet yet malicious true and false, and said to Kou Shuang: “You found out that day backstage, didn’t you? You said nothing, and you hid it quite well. If you hadn’t told Lux that Ah Jia was your boyfriend, I wouldn’t have even thought to check the surveillance. How could someone like Lu Renjia possibly be anyone’s boyfriend?”
“Lu Renjia is my boyfriend…” Sun Jiawen murmured.
Kou Shuang looked at Sun Jiawen and saw her muttering with a kind of poisoned fanaticism: “Ah Jia is the best man in the world; everyone loves him. I understand Kou Shuang; Kou Shuang is so pitiful…”
This word “pitiful” sounded genuinely heartfelt, tinged with a little regret, and seasoned with a bit of showing off and superiority, making it sound particularly distinct.
Kou Shuang felt that Sun Jiawen was the pitiful one, but in this situation, she couldn’t say anything, only nodding submissively. Lux said impatiently: “Why tell her so much? She has a boundless future and isn’t one of us. In my opinion, just kill her. Anyway, the police have already started investigating us.”
Old Chun glanced at Lux, sighed, and said: “Wei Zi, that time was an accident, but if you lay a hand on her now, it will truly become intentional. We are artists, even if we make dirty money, we cannot defile our souls.”
Lux roared: “I was the one who killed back then! Not you! I was the one who couldn’t paint anymore! What right do you have?!”
Lux pulled out a large wrench from who-knows-where, weighed it in his hand, and said: “I’m going to kill her today! A National University graduate, an art student with limitless prospects, huh?!”
The last sentence carried a destructive hatred that made Kou Shuang feel truly scared. She winced, thinking: Am I really going to die here?
If I die in the book, what will happen to me? Will I transmigrate to another dimension, or return to reality and experience sudden death and suffocation?
Who knew that the next second, Sun Jiawen half-blocked Kou Shuang, saying: “You can’t kill her.”
Her tone was calm, her emotions well-controlled, yet she seemed even more abnormal.
This is… a new personality again?
Even Lux noticed this abnormality. He asked Sun Jiawen with a smirk: “Just now you were so jealous, saying you wanted me to get rid of your love rival, and now you’re protecting her… What right do you have to protect others? Ultimately, you’re just a helper.”
Sun Jiawen said: “And you’re just a university dropout with third-rate painting skills. You say I’m jealous, but you’re no better. She just has a bit more talent and cleaner hands, don’t you think?”
“Shut up!” Old Chun suddenly barked at them: “Are you two going to keep this up?! Both of you, shut up!”
Lux narrowed his eyes, pointing twice at Sun Jiawen, conveying a threat and a warning not to do it again.
Sun Jiawen, however, sat down next to Kou Shuang’s seat, very close.
Sun Jiawen turned her head to look out the window, her eyes somewhat indifferent and sleepy. Kou Shuang became interested in this side of Sun Jiawen and said: “Are you very sleepy?”
Sun Jiawen turned to look at Kou Shuang, smiled with half her mouth, and said: “I might be the most sober person in this car, and also the most confused person in the world.”
Kou Shuang glanced at Lux and saw him staring intently at her, listening to her conversation with Sun Jiawen.
Kou Shuang said: “Am I really going to die?”
Sun Jiawen said: “I wouldn’t know. It just depends on whether you’re sober enough.”
What is that? Kou Shuang frowned. Even with a different personality, the original Sun Jiawen was still eccentric.
“Are you scared? You really might die, you know,” Sun Jiawen nudged her chin towards Lux and asked Kou Shuang.
Kou Shuang shook her head.
She really wasn’t scared. Even though Lux’s gaze was so sinister, she truly wasn’t afraid.
Fearlessness came from indifference. Kou Shuang had no sense of belonging to this world, this body, or this identity. It was like playing a video game; you might feel a thrill, but you wouldn’t be truly afraid.
Lux was only capable of this much. But for Sun Jiawen, her curiosity was genuine.
She had never seen schizophrenia before; it was much more interesting than a desperate criminal.
Sun Jiawen blew a breath at her and said: “Then let me ask you a few questions. Are you real…?”
“Aren’t you real?” Kou Shuang felt even stranger. Was this a nihilistic soul?
Lux looked at them menacingly, then suddenly spoke, asking: “Did you tip off that rich man?”
“No.”
“Who was it then?”
Kou Shuang glanced at Sun Jiawen and said nothing.
She herself found it incredibly strange that the man with sunglasses suddenly called the police. Now that she thought about it, it must have been Sun Jiawen’s substandard forgery technique that led to it being discovered so quickly. Plus the subsequent paint peeling incident… it probably had something to do with Sun Jiawen, the direct practitioner, right?
Old Chun glanced at Sun Jiawen in the rearview mirror and said: “That rich man found out from Old Lu. It was Sun Jiawen’s poor technique.”
Lux snorted coldly and said: “If my hands weren’t ruined, none of this would have happened.”
“Was it you who called the police? The day after you and your friend explored the gallery at night, the police showed up. Luckily, Sun Jiawen was in the city then and moved all the fake paintings overnight, so the police didn’t get more evidence.”
So it really was them who alerted the enemy that day… Kou Shuang’s heart sank.
“So you’re back now to get the paintings from Sun Jiawen? You’re not going to take her and run for your lives. Unfortunately, Sun Jiawen not only got in the car herself but also brought me.”
Kou Shuang glanced at Sun Jiawen. Sun Jiawen said lazily: “I had something to ask you. She’s the one who brought you into the car; don’t look at me.”
This was an admission of her dual personality, but Old Chun and Lux seemed accustomed to it.
“Clever,” Old Chun praised, then sighed deeply: “Honestly, I’m in a dilemma. If I kill you, not only will Lux have another life on his hands, but it will also be hard for us to escape. But if I don’t kill you, you could turn around and sell us out.”
Upon hearing this, Kou Shuang immediately straightened her back and declared: “I will absolutely keep my mouth shut and not say anything about your business!”
“Unfortunately, you’re not one of us,” Old Chun looked back at Kou Shuang: “In your phone, there’s probably a lot of good stuff. It’s still glowing brightly.”
Hearing this, Lux glanced at Kou Shuang’s phone and snatched it away. Kou Shuang’s hand felt empty, and her heart felt empty too.
“Ha? Recording?” Lux looked at Kou Shuang with a half-smile and said: “As expected, you’re clever. I almost regret not pulling you into our group earlier. Now that our positions are completely opposite, I can only kill you.”
There were four people in the van. Three of them were criminals, one of whom had even taken a life. Only Kou Shuang was completely innocent. And at this moment, being innocent itself was a sin.
Lux looked at Kou Shuang provocatively, while speaking into a microphone: “My name is Wu Luwei, and my accomplice’s name is Zhang Chunsheng. We’ve been forging and selling fakes for over ten years. I even killed someone in Taiwan, a guy named Li Qiang. Come and catch us if you dare, hahahahaha…”
Old Chun said: “Watch your words.” But he didn’t stop him after all.
Hearing Lux say this, Kou Shuang knew things were bad. If they were hiding something, it meant she still had a glimmer of hope. But if they were acting so recklessly, they definitely intended to silence her.
Lux threw the phone on the ground and ground it with his heel. The screen went black, then shattered.
Lux’s expression was especially obnoxious. He even brought his face close to Kou Shuang’s and asked: “Do you want me to pay for it?”
Kou Shuang felt some anger and some fear, but it wasn’t truly visceral.
She was distracted.
She thought: If I really die, will I restart from a save point? Or will I return to my own world, or simply turn to dust?
Lux was a little surprised to see Kou Shuang not being so “invested” in her fear.
This young lady is so calm and composed. Does she have some trump card I don’t know about?
Lux reached out, grabbed Kou Shuang’s collar, and said sternly: “Cry! Why don’t you cry?! Why aren’t you afraid?!”
Kou Shuang glanced at him and said: “Sorry, I haven’t studied acting; I can’t cry.”
“What are you thinking about? Why aren’t you scared?!” Lux’s face was contorted with rage. Kou Shuang’s lack of fear meant he couldn’t extract a sense of security from it. He panicked. “Do you think someone will save you? You’re dreaming!”
Lux’s saliva sprayed onto Kou Shuang’s face, making Kou Shuang feel disgusted. Even though this body wasn’t hers, she still felt uncomfortable. Fishing for poop with a pinched nose and gloves, wasn’t it still fishing for poop?
The disgust brought back some of Kou Shuang’s empathy, as if her soul had finally merged with her body.
Kou Shuang frowned, waved Lux’s hand away, and said: “Get lost.”
Kou Shuang sat on the low seat, and Lux was half-standing. She should have been at a disadvantage, but from her indifferent gaze, Lux perceived something he couldn’t comprehend.
It was like indifference, like power. Or perhaps… power born from indifference.
“Lux, stop messing around,” Old Chun said.
Lux was still feeling a little scared. He lifted the wrench in his hand and swung it towards Kou Shuang.
But Sun Jiawen stopped him.
Sun Jiawen gripped the wrench with both hands and said: “If you’re going to kill her, not now. I still have questions to ask.”
Lux paused, then pushed Sun Jiawen aside.
The wrench heavily struck Kou Shuang’s head, and a violent, dull pain shot through her.
Then, Kou Shuang lost consciousness.