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What a beautiful scene it was, but Ding Zhen subconsciously shrank back, as if deliberately trying to avoid the other person.

Wu Qiong breathed a slight sigh of relief when she found that the other person's body temperature was basically normal. At the same time, she noticed that he was avoiding her, and a pang of sadness welled up in her heart. She believed that she was not an unpleasant woman, so why was this man always unwilling to accept her closeness? Even such heartfelt concern made him avoid her at all costs?

Fortunately, over the years, she had grown accustomed to such scenes. She no longer wanted to ask for much; as long as she could stay by this man's side and silently admire his work and achievements, she would be content.

Wu Qiong let out a silent sigh and turned to leave. But suddenly she stopped, stunned, her gaze fixed on Ding Zhen's face.

It was midday, the sun at its strongest, streaming directly through the window and casting a dazzling halo around Ding Zhen, who sat by the window. At the corner of Ding Zhen's eye, something crystalline shimmered faintly in the sunlight.

Wu Qiong felt a pang in her heart. As a woman, she naturally knew what those shimmering emotions were. She just couldn't understand why such an emotion had suddenly appeared on Ding Zhen's face. For years, she had believed that this man's heart held no room for any other emotions besides his passion for work. She even suspected that his flesh and blood body contained a machine-like heart, rendering him incapable of any feelings or desires; even the hottest blood flowing through his veins couldn't melt him.

Yet even this person was shedding tears. Why? Wu Qiong couldn't help but wonder, with a mixture of worry and intense longing: Could it be for me?

Wu Qiong hesitated for a moment, then finally mustered the courage to ask, "Professor Ding, what's wrong?" The "you" she used became "you" (in Chinese). From the moment she saw Ding Zhen's tears, the invisible barrier between them seemed to have dissipated considerably.

"You should leave..." Ding Zhen's tears hadn't yet dried, but a bitter smile appeared on his lips. "...You can't help me here."

But the more he said that, the stronger a certain emotion became in Wu Qiong's heart. It was the first time she had seen this man show such helplessness and sadness in front of her. This must be his truest self, right? His heart wasn't a machine; it was even more fragile than a normal person's. It was just that a strong outer shell covered his heart, making it impossible for others to get close.

Now that outer shell has finally been broken, this is the perfect time to get close to the other person. People are more receptive to emotions from others when they are most vulnerable, regardless of gender.

So Wu Qiong took a step closer. She ran her soft fingers over the other person's eyes and whispered, "Maybe I can't really help you, but at least I can stay with you. I know you need me—even though you never say it."

Ding Zhen closed his eyes, but couldn't stop more tears from rolling down Wu Qiong's fingers. Those tears seemed to strike the woman's heart, moving her even more. She suddenly leaned down and kissed the corner of his eye deeply with her lips. A bitter and astringent taste spread in her mouth, but a sweet feeling welled up in her heart instead.

Because the man finally stopped refusing her.

Yes, Ding Zhen not only didn't refuse, he even tilted his head back to meet her. Those warm, moist lips gave him a familiar yet strange feeling. He gently inhaled the fragrance emanating from the woman's skin, and a desire that had been suppressed for many years slowly began to sprout anew.

It was humanity's most primal desire, yet it had been cruelly imprisoned in his heart for so many years. He could only numb himself with frantic work, using an icy barrier to isolate that desire from the real world.

He has feelings too, and he wants to love, but he doesn't dare. He's afraid those feelings will ruin him, and even more so, ruin others.

But today, once that seemingly hard shell was peeled away, his defenses collapsed completely. Because he no longer needed to consider the consequences.

Nothing will have any consequences for him anymore.

Wu Qiong keenly sensed the change deep within Ding Zhen's heart. She responded with an even more passionate kiss. From the corners of their eyes to their cheeks, from their cheeks to their lips, cool tears soaked their skin, but could not extinguish the burgeoning, fiery passion between them.

It's unclear when it started, but Ding Zhen's tears stopped, while Wu Qiong's tears began to fall again. They were inexplicable tears, whether from joy or from an overwhelming outpouring of sorrow.

"You love me, you clearly love me..." she murmured through tears, "But why did you do this to me? Why?"

Ding Zhen couldn't answer. He simply opened his arms and gently embraced the woman's body. Wu Qiong also knelt down on the ground, burying her entire upper body in Ding Zhen's chest, and burst into unrestrained sobs.

Ding Zhen lowered his head, his nose nestled against the woman's neck, remaining silent. After so many years, he finally held a woman in his arms. And she was indeed the woman he loved most, the woman he often saw even in his dreams.

He only dared to embrace her in his dreams, but now that feeling from his dream has become reality.

The woman's slender and beautiful back rose and fell slightly as she cried, while her breasts pressed against Ding Zhen's legs. Even through the tight sweater, he could clearly feel their fullness and softness.

Driven by primal desires suppressed for years, a surge of heat slowly gathered between Ding Zhen's legs. Wu Qiong quickly noticed the change in him; she stopped crying and looked up at Ding Zhen with her tear-filled eyes.

Ding Zhen's breathing became rapid. He suddenly wrapped his arms around her neck and kissed her full lips passionately. At the same time, his other hand slipped inside her clothes and took over her soft, yielding breasts.

Wu Qiong let out a soft, sweet moan, responding eagerly to his advances, her hand caressing between his legs. The heat within him grew stronger and stronger, seemingly unstoppable. So Wu Qiong gently loosened Ding Zhen's belt, releasing her fiery passion.

Ding Zhen felt the woman's soft palm touching his most sensitive spot, and he couldn't help but groan softly. At the same time, he heard Wu Qiong ask in a soft, panting voice in his ear, "Do you like me?"

Ding Zhen was too exhausted to answer; he simply nodded silently.

“You like me, you like me…” Wu Qiong revealed a drunken, infatuated look. “Then take me away, I am yours.”

As she spoke, she took off her tight sweater and then reached behind her back to unhook her bra. As the bra fell away, her beautiful body was fully revealed to Ding Zhen.

Ding Zhen felt a blinding white light before his eyes. He froze, the white scene striking his heart like an electric current, bringing a heart-wrenching pain, and at the same time opening a floodgate of humiliation deep in his memory.

He couldn't say how many years ago it was; he only remembered that he was in middle school at the time. That afternoon, he returned home early due to illness, and when he opened the door, he was greeted by almost the same white expanse.

A snow-white woman's body was pinned down by a dark-skinned man. The stark contrast between the black and white left him with a cruel impression that he could never forget.

The woman was his mother, but the man was not his father—his father never came home this early.

His memory seemed to cut off before that expanse of white. He couldn't recall what happened next; his last impression was his mother's panicked cries: "Get out! Get out now!"

When the shout rang in his ears again, his surging passion cooled instantly; all his passion vanished, and pain and humiliation consumed his emotions.

Wu Qiong noticed Ding Zhen's lethargy. She was taken aback for a moment, then showed an expression of surprise and disappointment: "What's wrong with you?"

Ding Zhen was speechless. He felt as if he had been naked and abandoned in the heart of the city, and the dignity he had upheld for many years had vanished in an instant.

That is a man's most basic dignity, which must never be violated. He is willing to pay any price to defend that dignity.

He could go ten long years without getting close to any woman because he had suffered the deep pain of his dignity being humiliated.

"So you're not a man after all." He would never forget those words the girl had said to him, nor the smug yet contemptuous expression on her face. On that cold, snowy night ten years ago, that expression was like a sharp awl, easily shattering his proud facade. Then, extreme humiliation caused his blood to rush from his lower body to his head, brewing a terrifying rage capable of destroying everything. He hated that snow-white body, as if it were the epitome of the ugliest thing in the world, reflecting the indelible marks of his humiliation, marks he would never forget.

He lunged at the body, gripping her throat tightly with both hands, venting his pent-up frustration and anger. Only when the girl's tears, snot, and even feces and urine streamed down her face did he finally snap out of his frenzy. But it was too late. The woman with the snow-white body was slowly turning into a cold corpse, and he had to desperately try to cover up his impulsive crime…

From then on, he dared not approach any woman, not even a devoted admirer like Wu Qiong. He wrapped himself in a thick, hard shell, protecting his dignity, and also protecting that bloody secret from ten years ago.

However, fate was determined not to let him go. When that secret was revealed, the fortress in his heart crumbled in the atmosphere of despair. Thus, the desires he had suppressed for many years were reignited, but tragically, these desires ultimately threw him into that familiar and awkward predicament.

What else could he say? All he could do was close his eyes in front of his lover, like a pitiful ostrich burying its head in the sand.

Wu Qiong, of course, had no idea about the complex emotional world Ding Zhen was experiencing. She only thought that the changes in his body were because she wasn't good enough, and this thought made her incredibly sad, turning her previous joy into tears that threatened to spill over.

"Don't you like me anymore?" she asked anxiously.

"Yes, I don't like you!" Ding Zhen screamed hysterically, as if grasping at a straw. "I hate you! Get out of here, I don't want to see you at all!"

Wu Qiong's face turned deathly pale. She stared intently at Ding Zhen, as if trying to see right through him. Ding Zhen, however, lowered his head, avoiding her gaze.

"I don't believe you." Wu Qiong raised her chin, defiantly bringing her face closer. "If you like me, why did you lie to me?"

Before Ding Zhen could answer, Wu Qiong suddenly leaned down and did something Ding Zhen could never have imagined—she gently opened her lips and took his limp penis into her mouth.

Ding Zhen felt a warm current flow back into his body, overwhelming and irresistible. In that instant, his mind went blank; all the past, all the sins and humiliations, vanished. He was like a newborn infant, tightly enveloped by naked and pure love and desire, and no one could hurt him anymore.

Wu Qiong breathed heavily, feeling the other man swell and grow larger inside her. She knew she had completely controlled this man, and she even believed he would never leave her again.

...

That tender moment lasted for an unknown length of time; even after the passion subsided, they remained tightly embracing, reluctant to part. It wasn't until the phone rang in the outer room that they were pulled back to reality from their world of two lovers.

Wu Qiong stood up weakly: "I have to answer the phone." The frenzy she had shown earlier had slowly faded with the afterglow, and the woman now exuded a charming and adorable shyness.

Ding Zhen nodded, watching the woman gracefully walk away, her snow-white body radiating a holy and beautiful light.

A moment later, Wu Qiong finished her phone call and returned to the inner room.

"Who is it?" Perhaps the passion he had just experienced had exhausted Ding Zhen's strength, for he seemed to have to use all his strength to barely squeeze out those two words.

"It's the school security office, asking if you're here. When I asked them what they wanted, they wouldn't say," Wu Qiong replied casually. Clearly, she wasn't taking the call to heart. Perhaps her thoughts were still lingering on that pleasant memory.

A complex look flashed in Ding Zhen's eyes, a mixture of sadness, pain, and despair. This contrasted sharply with the lingering happiness on his face, but the woman, busy getting dressed, didn't notice.

"Take the boxed lunch and heat it up, I'm hungry," Ding Zhen said after a moment, trying to sound calm.

"Okay." Wu Qiong smiled playfully. "I really thought you were made of iron, that you had no desires and could go without food or drink."

Ding Zhen said nothing more; he simply stared intently at the woman, his expression a mixture of greed and reluctance.

Wu Qiong clearly misunderstood Ding Zhen's feelings, and her face flushed. Somewhat awkwardly, she picked up her lunchbox and walked outside.

"I'll be back in a bit." These were her last words to Ding Zhen.

About fifteen minutes later, Wu Qiong walked back from the direction of the cafeteria towards the energy-saving building where the Environmental Engineering Department was located. She carried her steaming hot lunchbox, her mood as warm and gentle as if she were basking in the sunshine. However, when she turned a corner and approached the building, a strange scene before her eyes made her freeze in place: a large number of police officers and police cars had gathered around the building, almost completely surrounding the energy-saving structure.

"What happened?" Wu Qiong walked into the crowd of onlookers on the periphery and asked, puzzled.

"I'm not quite sure either. It seems like the police came to arrest someone, or it seems like someone upstairs is trying to commit suicide." The speaker was a young man, who, judging from his clothes, was probably a security guard at the plaza parking lot. Seeing Wu Qiong's blank stare, he stretched out his arm and pointed upwards: "Look, on the eighth floor, do you see anyone there?"

Wu Qiong looked in the direction the young man was pointing and sure enough, there was a figure standing on the windowsill of a room on the eighth floor. He was at the very edge of the windowsill, and a gust of wind could blow him off.

Wu Qiong exclaimed in surprise, knocking the lunchbox in her hand to the ground. The young man next to her quickly dodged, asking in astonishment, "What happened to you?"

Wu Qiong had no time to explain to him. She frantically squeezed through the crowd and rushed towards the building's entrance. Two police officers quickly grabbed her and stopped her: "Sorry, entry and exit to the building is currently prohibited."

"No, let me in! I'm his secretary! I'm his secretary!" Wu Qiong shouted incoherently, her eyes fixed on the man on the eighth-floor window sill, her face pale.

The man was Ding Zhen. He saw Wu Qiong at that moment, and a smile finally appeared on his wooden face.

He was still standing here, perhaps waiting for this woman. Even though he had only caught a glimpse of her from afar, he was already content.

Perhaps the only regret is why I didn't meet her ten years ago? Otherwise, many things would have been different.

Ding Zhen dared not delve deeper into this hypothesis, for it would cause him excruciating pain in his heart and lungs.

No matter how wonderful or exciting it was, it was all too late.

He looked up again at the dazzling sun in the sky. The blinding light created a chaotic yet magnificent display of colors before his eyes, as if opening a door to another world.

"Goodbye," he murmured softly, as if speaking to himself, yet also to the whole world. Then, with a light leap, he jumped out of the window.

In the final moments of his life, almost all his senses were shut down, except for the woman's heart-wrenching cries that kept echoing in his ears.

No~~

He longed to linger a moment longer at the shout, but he had no chance left.

With a heavy thud as Ding Zhen landed, Wu Qiong's body went limp and collapsed. The police officers nearby quickly helped her out of the circle, providing first aid while waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

Several other people gathered towards the spot where Ding Zhen had fallen. Leading them was none other than Detective Captain Luo Fei. As he crouched down to verify Ding Zhen's identity, he instructed Yin Jian and the others behind him: "Secure all entrances and exits of the building, and thoroughly search inside and out."

"Yes!" Yin Jian led the large police force to carry out Luo Fei's orders. At this moment, a middle-aged man in plainclothes slowly knelt before Ding Zhen's corpse. He stared at the shattered face for a long time, his expression somewhat bewildered. After a moment, he actually reached out and pinched the corpse's philtrum.

"Old Huang, what are you doing?" Luo Fei noticed the man's unusual behavior and quickly whispered a warning.

The man was Huang Jieyuan, who had been relentlessly pursuing the 112 case for ten years. His emotions were out of control; he not only ignored Luo Fei's reprimands but also used his other hand to grab Ding Zhen's collar.

"Wake up! Get up!" he roared in a suppressed voice.

Luo Fei frowned and winked at the officers behind him: "Go and pull him away quickly."

Two young police officers grabbed Huang Jieyuan's arms from either side and forcibly pulled him away from Ding Zhen's body. Huang Jieyuan struggled wildly, shouting, "What are you doing? Let me go?!"

Luo Fei raised his voice and shouted, "Old Huang, please calm down!"

This sound was like a wake-up call, finally bringing Huang Jieyuan back to his senses. His movements and expression gradually calmed down, but at the same time, two streams of tears rolled down his face.

“I just want to ask him—” After a long silence, he said in a hoarse voice, “—ask him why he wouldn’t even wait for me for a day after I waited for him for ten years? Why doesn’t he dare to talk to me face to face and make things clear?”

Luo Fei sighed silently. He walked up to Huang Jieyuan and gently patted him on the shoulder. He wanted to say something, but ultimately said nothing.

In the following hours, the police searched every corner of the Energy Conservation Building and reviewed all the surveillance footage, but found no trace of Eumendies. It seemed that he had never been in the building at all.

Luo Fei believed that Eumendies must have already "come" through some unknown means; otherwise, it would be inexplicable why Ding Zhen would climb to the eighth-floor windowsill before confronting the police. It's important to understand that although Luo Fei and his team's analysis of the 112 massacre ultimately identified Ding Zhen as a prime suspect, the police lacked concrete evidence of his involvement. Under these circumstances, Ding Zhen's unexpected act of suicide suggests that he must have experienced something before the police arrived, an experience that drove him to an irreversible state of despair.