The Abused Villain is Always Obsessed with Me - Chapter 5

A crowd gradually gathered at the railing, their expressions varied: some panicked and cried for help, while others watched the spectacle with detached curiosity.

Feng Hechi rushed toward the commotion, taking long strides. His height allowed him to see over the crowd, and he finally spotted the figure who had vanished for most of the day.

Most of the boy’s face was submerged in the water, his soft, jet-black hair floating like seaweed against his pale cheeks. His entire body was sinking toward the riverbed.

He was descending without struggling, his body curled into a fetal position, his eyelashes tightly shut.

He really was found in the river.

The thought flashed through Feng Hechi’s mind like lightning. Without hesitation, he placed his slender fingers on the railing, braced his wrists, and vaulted over the barrier into the water.

“Ah! Another person has fallen in!”

The shore erupted in chaos. As Feng Hechi plunged into the river, the water rushed into his ears, instantly silencing the outside world. Only the dull, throbbing pressure against his eardrums remained.

His eyes widened as he peered through the murky water. The twilight light refracted through the surface, creating shimmering golden patches that blurred the outlines of everything.

There—he saw the sinking figure.

Lu Cang sank quietly, his head tilted slightly upward. His school uniform, bleached pale by the water, billowed in the currents, while strands of jet-black hair draped across half his face like tentacles, obscuring his expression.

Feng Hechi reached out, his fingers slicing through the water like parting waves. His hand firmly gripped Lu Cang’s arm, then tightened, pulling him toward the shore.

The moment they broke the surface, the long-missed air flooded into Feng Hechi’s lungs. He brushed the wet hair from his eyes, hauled himself over the railing through a gap, and laid the limp figure on the ground.

Lu Cang’s eyes remained tightly shut, his body stiff and motionless, showing no signs of life.

“Is he… is he dead?” someone nearby asked in a trembling voice.

Feng Hechi didn’t even glance up. He glanced at Lu Cang lying on the ground and, though barely perceptible, saw the faint rise and fall of his chest.

“He’s still breathing. He won’t die.”

It felt like being submerged in an endless, boundless darkness.

Lu Cang felt his body begin to float. The silence around him was absolute, as if he were trapped in a black cage where not a single ray of light could penetrate.

His head throbbed violently, and muffled voices buzzed in his ears.

“…If it weren’t for your mother, I would have kicked you out long ago.”

It was that man’s voice, dripping with contempt and disgust, enveloping him completely.

“Why are you being so stubborn, Xiao Cang? I’m doing this for your own good…”

His mother’s voice, usually gentle, now carried a heavy undercurrent of disappointment, like vines coiling around his limbs, dragging him deeper into the darkness.

Enough. I don’t want to hear it anymore.

Lu Cang had no strength left, nor any desire to struggle. He let the agonizing sensation pull him downward, plunging him into an even deeper, lightless abyss.

“Still… alive…?”

Suddenly, another voice cut through the darkness—hazy and indistinct, seeming both distant and right beside his ear.

Though the voice felt familiar, it lacked the usual disdain and loathing.

Lu Cang suddenly found strength. He forced his eyes open, straining to see who was speaking.

His upper and lower eyelids felt glued together, resisting all his efforts to open them. Yet his hearing gradually returned, the muffled sounds growing clearer.

Someone was standing beside his bed.

“His temperature hasn’t dropped at all.”

Feng Hechi stared at the mercury thermometer in his hand, the liquid column frozen at 39.3 degrees Celsius.

He exhaled softly, flicked the thermometer to shake it down, and returned it to its case. Then he picked up a towel soaked in ice water from the basin and pressed it against Lu Cang’s forehead.

The boy lay on the bed, wrapped in a blanket that was already considered thick for this season, yet he still trembled uncontrollably. His pale cheeks were flushed crimson, his lips ashen and bloodless, and his eyes remained tightly shut, only his long lashes occasionally fluttering.

Feng Hechi watched him for a moment before rising to retrieve the fever-reducing medication from the side table. He gently crushed the tablet into powder using a mortar and pestle, then mixed it into the warm water he had prepared earlier.

Given Lu Cang’s current condition, swallowing such a large pill would be impossible and could even risk choking. Feng Hechi decided to administer it as a powder dissolved in water.

He tilted Lu Cang’s head slightly upward, holding the teacup in his left hand. With his right hand, he used two fingers to gently pry open Lu Cang’s jaw, applying just enough force to part his lips.

Lu Cang seemed reluctant, his body instinctively flinching away, but Feng Hechi held him firmly in his grasp. He lowered his gaze and slowly poured the medicine from the cup into the boy’s mouth.

A few drops of the liquid trickled down Lu Cang’s lips. Feng Hechi wiped them away with his finger and set the cup back down.

“Let’s wait and see. If his fever doesn’t break within an hour, we’ll have to take him to the hospital.”

Host, you’re very concerned about the target.

Feng Hechi paused his movements. “You know he’s the target too. If he dies, how am I supposed to complete my mission?”

My apologies, Host. I thought you were feeling soft-hearted because you pitied him.

Pity?

Feng Hechi stared at the boy’s paper-white face, pondering briefly. In his current state, Lu Cang did indeed look rather pitiful.

But there was no softness in Feng Hechi’s heart.

To him, the boy before him was merely a guarantee for completing his mission.

Feng Hechi had arrived just in time, pulling Lu Cang from the water immediately after he fell in. Even so, Lu Cang had still choked on several mouthfuls. After returning home, the boy’s weak constitution and the cold water had triggered a high fever, and he hadn’t regained consciousness since.

With these thoughts, Feng Hechi reached out again, pressing the back of his hand against Lu Cang’s burning-red cheek.

It was scalding hot.

He turned and pulled up a chair, settling down not far from the bed.

Are you planning to stay here and watch over him?

“Of course,” Feng Hechi replied lazily, leaning back in his chair with his legs crossed, his gaze fixed on Lu Cang. “If he starts convulsing or showing other symptoms due to the high fever, I’ll react immediately.”

Even though he claims he’s not soft-hearted, he’s taking better care of Lu Cang than anyone else would, the System thought to itself, but dared not voice the thought aloud.

Silence settled over the room once more. The faint chirping of birds returning to their nests drifted through the windowpane, barely audible.

As the last sliver of daylight faded outside, Lu Cang’s fingers twitched at his side.

He slowly opened his eyes, his mind taking a moment to register his surroundings.

The room was dark, and it took him several seconds to adjust to the dimness before he glanced to his side.

A man’s silhouette sat a few meters from the bed, leaning back in his chair with his head tilted slightly toward his shoulder, as if asleep.

Lu Cang pushed himself up into a sitting position. Something suddenly slid off his forehead, and he focused his gaze to see a damp towel, now warmed by his body temperature.

He paused, then turned his head back toward the figure in the chair.

Feng Hechi was taking care of him.

Even in his feverish haze, Lu Cang could still feel waves of heat and chills washing over him, just like when he had a fever years ago.

That time, however, he hadn’t lost consciousness. He had stubbornly dragged himself out to buy fever medicine, which barely improved his condition, only to be angrily scolded by Feng Hechi for being delicate and wasting money.

Lu Cang stared fixedly at the man’s figure.

If he could fall asleep in a chair, he must have been sitting here for a long time.

Lu Cang glanced at the sky outside the window, belatedly recalling that his last clear memory was of being submerged in the icy river.

At that moment, he had completely given up struggling, wanting only to sink forever to the bottom.

But then, a sudden warmth had enveloped his body, which was already numb from the freezing water.

The warmth pressed against his arm, so distinct and intense that it forced Lu Cang to open his eyes.

Through his blurred vision, he saw a hand gripping his arm tightly, pulling him toward the shore.

With the last of his strength, Lu Cang forced his eyes wide open. Just before his eyelids threatened to close against his will, he saw the owner of that hand turn his head.

Slender eyes, sharp brows, and the familiar profile he knew so well.

It was Feng Hechi.

A faint rustling and the sound of fabric rubbing together reached Feng Hechi’s ears. He opened his eyes.

Lu Cang had already woken up and was leaning against the headboard, watching him. The room was pitch-black, and Lu Cang’s position was backlit, making it impossible to discern his expression.

Feng Hechi cleared his throat softly, crossed his arms over his chest, and maintained a neutral expression.

“Fever’s gone?”

Lu Cang paused, then nodded slowly.

Hearing this, Feng Hechi stood up without a word and walked toward the bedroom door.

“You were taking care of me,” the figure sitting on the bed suddenly said from behind, his tone flat and declarative.

Feng Hechi’s footsteps faltered.

But the boy didn’t continue speaking, as if he had only said those words for their own sake.

Feng Hechi remained silent, offering no reply. He opened the bedroom door and stepped out.

The door clicked shut behind him. Lu Cang lowered his gaze, staring at the blanket covering him.

This wasn’t his usual blanket.

The weather was still warm; there was no need for such a thick blanket.

Feng Hechi had specifically taken this blanket out of the closet for him to use.

Lu Cang knew that Feng Hechi’s clothes were always washed by Lu Cang himself. He was well aware that this was Feng Hechi’s blanket, and he remembered how Feng Hechi had once flown into a rage when Lu Cang mistakenly wore one of his shirts.

“Who do you think you are, daring to use my things?”

That scornful rebuke still rang in his ears.

Lu Cang looked up at the window.

He thought he should rip this blanket off and throw it on the floor. After all, it belonged to Feng Hechi, and everything about Feng Hechi disgusted him.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to move.

He was now wearing clean pajamas, wrapped in the thick blanket, its warmth enveloping his entire body.

Lu Cang recalled Feng Hechi’s words from earlier that morning, spoken with a soft laugh.

If it’s only for your teacher, why did you save me from the river?

The fact that Feng Hechi had found him in the river meant he must have been looking for him.

Lu Cang closed his eyes.

His heart, once numb and lifeless, seemed to beat again.