The rain poured relentlessly, thunder booming overhead.
A panic-stricken Ye Yuwei was violently thrown to the ground by Wu Jingxiang, who gripped her wrist tightly.
The biting cold rain and the unbearable pain coursing through her body nearly caused her to lose consciousness.
"Wu Jingxiang… I'm begging you, please don't hurt me, I'm begging you…" Ye Yuwei seemed to suddenly realize something, her last trace of composure shattered as she pleaded desperately.
Boom!
A lightning bolt cleaved the sky, almost tearing it apart.
Under the blinding flash of lightning, Wu Jingxiang's face appeared ghastly, like a vision from a nightmare.
"Haha! Begging me now? You finally know how to beg me?" Wu Jingxiang's voice was cold as ice. "Before, I gave you my heart, begged you to come with me, yet you heartlessly rejected me. Did you not think this day would come?"
Boundless hatred consumed Wu Jingxiang, a seething rage that longed to tear the person before him into shreds.
But now was not the time. He would take her, ensuring she could neither live nor die for the rest of her life!
His androgynous, strikingly beautiful face, resembling flawless porcelain, was twisted with bright red eyes and a hideous malice.
He extended his hand, grabbed her hair, and dragged her across the rain-soaked ground.
Paying no heed to the streaks of blood smeared across the coarse surface.
"Ye Yuwei, since you don't like me and dared to betray me, I'll make sure you pay the price."
His voice was sharp, like a venomous snake, piercing through the storm and digging into her ears, gnawing at her soul.
"I didn't betray you! It's all in your head. You can't separate reality from delusion…"
Ye Yuwei tried to struggle but was too weak. "Please, let me go. Take me to a doctor; I'm really not okay…"
"Not okay? Don't worry. I won't let you leave so easily," Wu Jingxiang spat, his hatred for the woman burning so deeply it felt insatiable.
He dragged her to a basement. Inside the oppressive room stood a roaring furnace.
At its center, molten hot coals glowed, heating a mask of iron until it burned red.
"Haha! See that? I made it just for you."
Wu Jingxiang's eyes burned with unmasked cruelty and viciousness.
"No, no, I don't want to…"
"Don't want it? Haha!" Wu Jingxiang grabbed her throat tightly, his smile poisonous like a serpent's. "No one rejects me. Those who've tried have already been reduced to ashes, and you won't be an exception!"
Ye Yuwei's face turned white as paper, her tear-filled eyes blurred with despair.
His words utterly destroyed the last defenses of her mind.
This deeply disturbed man wanted to take her away and live some twisted version of life together.
Now, all she could do was stall for time and pray that her friend would bring someone to save her.
"Wu Jingxiang, please, give me another chance. Let me think about it, okay?"
"I'm not ungrateful. Without you, I wouldn't have made it through the elections. It's just… it's just hard for me to accept your feelings!"
Saying words so false even she felt sick, Ye Yuwei's heart gripped with fear.
Hearing her words, Wu Jingxiang hesitated for a moment. Just then, piercing sirens rang out through the torrential rain outside.
"Damn it!"
Wu Jingxiang didn't hesitate and grabbed Ye Yuwei's arm, stumbling and crashing as he dragged her outside.
The blinding headlights pierced the curtain of rain.
Wu Jingxiang stomped madly on the gas pedal, oblivious to the fact the car might lose control at any moment.
Behind him, a police car chased in close pursuit.
Tied up in the passenger seat, Ye Yuwei's fading consciousness was suddenly jolted by violent shaking.
Then her entire body felt as if it had been struck by a massive hammer, her inner organs twisting and churning.
When everything finally stopped, her vision was awash in a sea of red.
"Ye Yuwei! Ye Yuwei…"
A panicked and guilt-ridden Li Jiaqi, ignoring her own safety, pulled Ye Yuwei from the wreckage of the severely mangled car.
She hated herself for not arriving sooner, and for failing to stop what had happened.
"Jiaqi… Jiaqi, save me… save me…"
Unable to hold on any longer, Ye Yuwei collapsed into unconsciousness, her world spinning violently.
...
Five years ago.
Starlight Entertainment's girl group rehearsal theater.
While the "fans" in the audience waved their multicolored glow sticks and shouted enthusiastically in sync with the little idols on stage.
Ye Yuwei, performing on stage, suddenly staggered back with an ashen face.
Her action dumbfounded everyone, both on and off stage, for this was mid-performance!
What was she doing?
What happened to her?
Half an hour later, a tormented Ye Yuwei was rushed to the hospital.
"Doctor, how is my friend?"
A worried Li Jiaqi, who had hurried over, anxiously grabbed the doctor coming out of her friend's hospital room.
The doctor looked at her with a peculiar expression and said, "Your friend's clothes were smeared with caustic chemicals, which caused her to suffer burns."
"What?" Li Jiaqi's eyes widened in disbelief.
"I've treated her wounds, but there will still be significant scarring."
"Scars?"
"Yes. You should comfort her, and your company's operations team has already left."
Li Jiaqi, feeling a mix of emotions, walked into the hospital room.
"Jiaqi, am I dying?" Ye Yuwei forced a bleak smile at her friend.
"No! The doctor treated your wounds, you'll be okay."
Li Jiaqi walked over and gripped her friend's hand tightly, trying to offer her comfort.
"Yuwei, the doctor mentioned the 'operations team' has already left. What is the company saying?"
"What else could they say? The company just wants to sweep this under the rug and doesn't care about me at all."
Li Jiaqi had guessed as much, but she still couldn't help feeling disappointed and angry.
"They also told me not to leak any information, saying this fainting episode was just anemia."
"You've suffered something like this, and they still act this way. It's outrageous!"
"What can I do? I'm just a rookie no one cares about. They won't bother with me."
"Yuwei, do you know who did this?"
"Who else could it be? Those people the company is protecting."
Li Jiaqi listened to Ye Yuwei and gathered whom she meant.
To the company, rookies like them were mere ants, while the big-name members were the treasures.
"Yuwei, rest for a few days. I'll stay here to take care of you."
"Okay." Ye Yuwei smiled gratefully.
The night was heavy and oppressive.
When Li Jiaqi woke up again, she was horrified to find Ye Yuwei gone.
A deep sense of foreboding gripped her heart.
"Yuwei, Yuwei… where are you?"
Li Jiaqi shook uncontrollably with panic.
But she couldn't yell in the hospital, unsure if her premonitions were correct.
A cold wind blew through a slightly open window, causing a chill to run down her spine.
"The rooftop. She's on the rooftop."
Throwing all caution aside, Li Jiaqi ran desperately to the elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.
When the anguished girl arrived, she saw her friend sitting on the edge of the building.
The thin clothes and her hair swayed gently in the evening breeze.
The city lights illuminated her face, a hauntingly beautiful sight.
"Yuwei, don't do anything foolish. You're only 20 years old."
"Jiaqi, look at the distant lights, how beautiful they are. If a life could merge into such prosperity, wouldn't it become a shining star?"
"Yuwei, what are you saying? Please, come down now, I beg you…"
Li Jiaqi felt herself breaking apart, tears streaming down her face as she begged her friend.
In the group, there were already many young idols who hurt themselves because of depression.
Like Zhou Shuyue, who left them—an eternal pain in the hearts of all the little idols in the group.
"Jiaqi, I won't jump. Falling would only make me hideous."
Pale-faced, Ye Yuwei sat quietly and smiled, as tears silently slid down her cheeks.
Unable to bear it any longer, Li Jiaqi rushed forward desperately.
"Yuwei, Yuwei, you scared me so much. You mustn't give up on yourself!"
"Jiaqi… I, I truly feel like I can't go on anymore…"
"Yuwei, don't do anything foolish. Even if you take that step, what difference will it make?"
Li Jiaqi tightly hugged her friend, her eyes full of fear and heartbreak.
"Jiaqi, I know… but…"
"Yuwei, if we don't want to be crushed underfoot like mud, then let's fight back!" Tears shimmered in Li Jiaqi's eyes as she said, "Yuwei, you're my only friend, my only support. You'll walk this road with me, won't you?"
Looking at Li Jiaqi, Ye Yuwei felt her heart wrenched deeply.
"Jiaqi…"
Hearing Ye Yuwei's gut-wrenching sobs, only then did Li Jiaqi's heart ease completely.
She couldn't imagine what she would do if she lost her only friend.