Pristine Darkness - Chapter 131

‘Luo Lang’ stared at her without speaking.

Jian Yao felt as if her heart was aflame with many fiery threads. Yes, yes, he had Luo Lang’s face, he had Luo Lang’s eyes. But his posture when smoking was totally different from Luo Lang’s, and the light that flashed in his eyes was entirely too sly. Since the profiles of the butterfly killer and the masked killer were in no way the same, then there was absolutely no possibility of them being the same person.

More precisely, there was no possibility of them being the same . . . personality.

The questions that Bo Jinyan had asked Wen Rong in that small building about masked killer no. 3 could be assumed to have been confirmed at this moment!

He had asked: What secret is ’he’ hiding?

Why was ‘he’ so timid, and yet so crazy?

Why was ‘he’ rebelling against the entire world, why was he endlessly searching for his true self?

What on earth was it that had imprisoned ‘his’ spirit for such a long time?

Which caused him to persistently and strenuously pursue emotions, pursue affection, pursue his true self.

. . . . .

Because ‘he’ is not a complete person at all, he is Luo Lang’s second personality! He was born incompletely, fragmentary! He also similarly experienced the extermination of the Jian family, and was crushed under the immense weight of the fetters of morality, thus suffering severe psychological trauma and becoming, from then onwards, psychologically abnormal. However, unlike Luo Lang who became a ‘punisher’, he became a notorious killer. The crimes he committed in America were precisely during the period when Luo Lang was there for his studies and work! It is even more likely that the emergence of this personality was due to the Jian family murders. Because he could not bear the huge psychological pressure, Luo Lang split into two personalities. One of them bore all the burdens of morality, while the other cast off all the restrictions of morality and lived indulging his desires through the crazed killing of people . . .

Jian Yao was badly shaken by her conjectures, but her instinct told her that this indeed could be the life and the hard facts of the man in front of her. She was also conscious that, if this personality before her was really Luo Lang, she might still have a chance of survival. However, if he was the real masked killer, he had already totally forfeited the innate sense of right and wrong as well as basic human emotion, and he would definitely not let her go.

Jian Yao raised her head and gazed at him, as if peering into his soul. Of course, he was extremely intelligent and appeared to have sensed something. At the same time, he also seemed to have become impatient with concealing his true self. One corner of his mouth lifted up as he laughed and said, “You are indeed worthy to be the woman whose every move Luo Lang has been focussed on for half his lifetime! You saw through the act I put on for you in a matter of minutes. You are truly intelligent.”

Even though she had already deduced as much, to hear him admit it with his own mouth caused Jian Yao to tremble.

Therefore, it really was a split personality.

The first personality, the butterfly killer.

The second personality, the masked killer.

The two personalities alternated appearances, and were even opponents. One slaughtered others for the sake of good, the other banished others for the sake of evil. When Luo Lang was gravely injured after jumping off the cliff, the alternate personality did not appear for a long time, thus leaving masked killers no. 1 and no. 2 to fight the battle on their own. In this final act of ‘The Alluring Love’* which he personally directed, all of them designated Jian Yao as the heroine.

*T/N As mentioned previously in Ch 126, this refers to the love of a woman who is so beautiful that many people are captivated by her, and who therefore may cause the downfall of cities (e.g. Helen of Troy). The reference to the masked killers ‘staging a show’ is interesting as there is a famous Chinese novel of that name written by Eileen Chang, which has been adapted into a film as well as a television series.

He flicked the ash off his cigarette and said resolutely, “Jenny, I’m very happy to meet you. I’m Derrick.”

Jian Yao was speechless. Truly, he had an entirely different temperament from Luo Lang.

Derrick walked forward until he was right in front of her. He was taller than she was by a head, so he looked down at her and exhaled cigarette smoke into her face. Jian Yao frowned as she avoided it. Derrick looked pensive. With eyes as black as ink, he said, “Indeed, a unique woman.”

Jian Yao asked coldly, “Derrick, where is Luo Lang?”

Derrick was silent for a heartbeat before answering, “Haven’t you already killed him? From the moment you refused to forgive him, he was already dead in this body. Only I remain.”

The cabin was very quiet. Due to its speed, the boat was constantly undulating with the waves. The lamp quietly illuminated the two of them.

Derrick turned his head and slowly inhaled his cigarette smoke. Jian Yao sat on the bed and dug her fingers into the edge of the wooden frame.

A long-buried suspicion suddenly flashed across her mind. She asked, “Before the cosplay murder, I received a text message telling me not to go to the animation park. Was that sent by Luo Lang?”

Derrick made a noise of assent as he inhaled the smoke deeply. “He noticed something, but was not very sure.”

Jian Yao was quiet for a while. Then, she asked, “Derrick, what do you want from me?”

Derrick stubbed out his cigarette and sat down next to her. As he gazed in the direction of the cabin door, he said, “I want to replace him and live with you from now on.” He took her hand and caressed her fingers with the palm of his hand, saying, “Jenny, I want you. The woman whom both the genius detective and the butterfly killer love at the same time has always fascinated me. I can’t resist.”

Jian Yao remained still, and did not pull back her hand straightaway, but she knew that she could never equal him as an opponent. She looked at his profile in the lamplight, stubborn and angular. Very manly, just like Luo Lang, but there was a touch more wilfulness in his slightly pursed lips.

He stood up and said, “Sleep well. I’ll wake you when we arrive.” He walked to the door before halting to say, “I will treat you very well. In this, I won’t lose to any other man.”

He locked the cabin door from the outside.

——

Bo Jinyan stood at the dock.

The rain poured down in sheets, thoroughly drenching him. But he simply stood there quietly, like a solitary black tree. His deep black eyes, bright and clear, were fixed on the explosions on the mountainside.

A world in chaos was before him. Many people were charging out of the small town, police officers, civilians, even gangsters. The police were capturing and arresting the gangsters while protecting the civilians. All were escaping this world on the verge of collapsing. With his naked eyes, he could see a powerful flood in the distance, like wild beasts, surging forward and engulfing the buildings and trees.

Behind him, all the police boats had arrived and occupied the dock fully. Some were just leaving, bringing the gang leaders into custody, while others were transporting injured civilians to the nearest hospital. Even more people were boarding the boats.

He stood at the boundary of land and water, faced with a choice.

The night was vast, and the mass of people heaved with movement. Should he return to the mountain and search for Jian Yao in every potentially fatal location? Or should he turn around and search for her along the escape route by water?

Bo Jinyan shut his eyes. He forced himself to empty his mind of all distracting thoughts and roiling emotions, so that the only things that appeared in his mind were the killer’s silhouette and Jian Yao’s image.

He did not conceal himself in Buddha’s Hand. Then, this past year, he must have acted some other role.

He single-handedly engineered the crimes in America and against Fu Ziyu.

He longed for love, a despairing, intense, sincere love. He, or his fellows, enacted a series of love stories and lives which featured lovers having to leave the place they called home against their wills, or in which lovers had to part forever.

Even Wen Rong and Qiu Sijin were thus.

Now, everyone was dead, he had detonated all of Buddha’s Hand’s weapons and ammunition, setting off an unprecedented, immense landslide, finally bringing about the predicted disaster and destroying all of Buddha’s Hand with enough power to eliminate the entire town.

Now, he was . . .

Bo Jinyan opened his eyes.

No, he would not be here now, and neither would Jian Yao. He would not allow Jian Yao to die in such a chaotic situation, in a place no one knew about. That would have no meaning, and would not offer him any pleasure.

He would take her away.

Just imagine: when the explosions go off and the entire sky is stained blood red. Turmoil and chaos, the land flooded with victims of the disaster*. Only him, bringing the woman far away. On the boat, when he looks back, all the affairs of the human world will be in the background. This would then forge a genuine, alluring, all-encompassing love. An alluring love that was solitary, where the lovers were forced to leave home and wander from place to place, which pitted them against the whole world, would start from that day onwards. He could no longer resist, he himself would become the male lead in the story, and Jian Yao would be the new alternative. Moreover,crafty and egotistical, he would use this as a pretext to escape.

*T/N 兵荒马乱 (bing huan ma luan) – lit. soldiers mutiny and troops rebel; fig. turmoil and chaos of war; 哀鸿遍野 (ai hong bian ye) – lit. plaintive whine of geese; fig. land swarming with disaster victims, starving people fill the land.

The principal docks in the vicinity of the town had all been secured by the police. However, behind the town, or in the mountains, there were sure to be secret waterways which he could use to make his getaway by boat. They just needed to question some of the long-time residents to locate them.

Bo Jinyan felt a faint ache in his chest. He turned to the leader of the armed force and said, “Get me a boat right now! I am going to rescue my wife!”