The Drugs
1244 Words
Here is the paragraph-by-paragraph translation with meticulous attention to detail, preserving all original sentences and punctuation structure:
"Sister, do you need help?" The little boy stepped forward, his face reverting to that innocent and harmless expression from before.
Rong Jingning was cracking eggs into the pot. The viscous liquid instantly solidified into white, formed egg shapes upon meeting the boiling water.
The woman tilted her head to glance at the child beside her, smiling as she shook her head: "No need. You can wait in the living room first. Dinner will be ready soon."
The boy didn't speak but moved closer to Rong Jingning, both hands hidden behind his back as if clutching something.
"Okay, sister. By the way, I think I might remember my mother's phone number now. Could you come closer? I'll whisper it to you."
Just as Rong Jingning happened to turn off the stove burner, her eyes flickered at his words. If the number was correct, it would save considerable trouble and let the child return home sooner.
Without overthinking, she bent down to bring her face closer. At that precise moment, the boy suddenly thrust forward the hand he'd kept behind his back to cover the woman's mouth - clutching a medical gauze pad soaked with anesthetic.
Outside the villa, driver Lao Zhang scratched his nearly bald head in frustration.
The architecture of Xiyuan Villas featured uniform European minimalist styling. Combined with the dim evening lighting, Lao Zhang had actually lost track of which specific building he was supposed to reach after running around.
He glanced at the black luxury car belonging to the CEO parked not far away, imagining Lu Chaotan's furious expression. Gritting his teeth, he pressed the doorbell of the villa before him.
He'd rather die than go back to ask the CEO. He preferred searching house by house, even risking being reported for nighttime disturbance, over getting fired by the CEO.
Inside the villa, the instant the gauze touched Rong Jingning's mouth and nose, she reacted immediately. Yet it was already too late - she'd inhaled substantial amounts of anesthetic. The seemingly frail boy possessed abnormal strength comparable to a grown man, no, even greater than an adult! Even Rong Jingning's trained combat skills required significant effort to completely break free from the boy's grip.
"What are you?" Rong Jingning shook her increasingly foggy head, forcing herself to stay alert as she demanded angrily.
The boy raised his face, his lips twisting into a smile utterly incongruous with his age, eyes gleaming with near-obsessive desire: "Sister, you're a kind-hearted good person. I really like you, truly like you... more than those previous two women. And you're smarter than them too..."
Rong Jingning felt her mind explode with a "boom." This boy truly was the perpetrator behind the recent two murder cases!
"It's actually you!" Rong Jingning screamed.
Ignoring her, the boy continued muttering to himself while inching closer until only a few steps separated them: "Sister, I really do like you..."
Now Rong Jingning's dizziness intensified, her vision growing increasingly blurred. A strange, burning restlessness inexplicably surged through her body, making her wish to douse herself with ice water.
She bit down hard on her lower lip until the metallic taste of blood filled her mouth, the pain sharpening her consciousness slightly.
Stealthily glancing at the kitchen's open window, she realized her declining physical strength couldn't sustain prolonged confrontation. She had to find an escape route immediately!
But with the boy closing in and no nearby objects to attack with or create distractions, fleeing seemed difficult.
Just as Rong Jingning wrestled with this dilemma, the doorbell suddenly rang outside.
The boy, whose face had been previously obsessed and crazy, suddenly came to his senses. He looked warily towards the door. But when he turned to look at Rong Jingning again, the woman had already jumped out of the window at the fastest speed.
Outside the villa, the driver, Lao Zhang, rang the doorbell several times in a row, but no one came to answer. He sighed. It seemed that he really remembered wrongly.
He looked up at another villa next to this one. Could it be this one?
Just as he was about to step towards the villa next door, his phone in his pocket suddenly rang.
The call was from Lu Chaotan. He probably wanted to ask why he still hadn't gotten the documents.
Lao Zhang hesitated for a moment but still answered the call bravely: "M, Mr. Lu."
"Zhang Anquan, where are you?"
"Mr. Lu, I'm at the villa door. I've rung the doorbell for a long time, but no one opened the door."
In the car, Lu Chaotan frowned imperceptibly, and the corner of his mouth also lifted into a sarcastic arc. Was this woman, Rong Jingning, having an affair with some man again?
"Got it. I have a spare key here. Come and get it." Lu Chaotan said impatiently. But after thinking about it, he changed his mind. "Forget it. I'll go there directly myself."
Anyway, this woman, Rong Jingning, wasn't at home.
After hanging up the phone, Lu Chaotan opened the car door somewhat unhappily, took long strides, and walked towards the villa not far away.
In the late night, the darkness swallowed the earth, and only the extremely dim street lamps by the roadside cast faint glimmers of light.
Before Lu Chaotan had walked a few steps, he saw a dark figure suddenly appear not far away and dart into the green belt beside the villa. Not long after, another dark figure appeared, seemingly chasing after the previous one.
With Lu Chaotan's personality, he wouldn't normally care about such things. But these two people came from the direction of his villa, and the figures were very strange. The one in front was an adult, while the chaser looked like a child.
He absolutely wouldn't believe that someone would play hide - and - seek in the middle of the night, especially in Xiyuan, a place where the residents were basically of noble status.
Lu Chaotan paused in his steps. After hesitating for a moment, he headed in the direction where the figures had run.
At this time, Rong Jingning was hiding behind an evergreen tree. Her mind was becoming more and more muddled, and her body was getting hotter and hotter. She undid two buttons of her white shirt, which relieved her a little. She forced herself to stay alert and looked at the small but extremely strange figure not far away.
Not far away, the boy's eyes were rolling around, searching everywhere for Rong Jingning's trace. His child - like face was hidden in the darkness, with a touch of strangeness and depth.
"Sister, sister, where are you? Come out. I'll treat you well. I like you so much. Why are you hiding..."
Seeing that the boy was getting closer and closer to the evergreen tree where she was hiding, Rong Jingning nervously clenched her fists. This murderer was more difficult to deal with than she had imagined. Moreover, the d**g he had administered was very powerful. She had only inhaled a little, and she felt that her whole body had little strength. At this moment, it was impossible for her to escape to other places. She could only move her body further into a more concealed place.
At the same time, the boy's gloomy and excited voice rang out again: "Sister, I see you. You can't escape..."
- Writer
