The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 25

Worship – 10

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"Zoom in and take a look." Gu Yanta fixed his gaze on the pair of eyes on the screen, also feeling a sense of déjà vu.

"This is already the maximum zoom, the surveillance cameras in this neighbourhood are just this quality," Chen Chen enlarged the image to its maximum resolution, though it remained somewhat blurry.

Since the eyes were the key detail... Gu Yanta suddenly had a flash of inspiration. The pair of eyes in the image slowly overlapped with a scene from his memory. "This... why does this feel like the little girl who survived twenty years ago?"

"Ah... it really does..."

"It does seem a bit..."

Hearing this, everyone had a moment of clarity and nodded in agreement.

Chen Chen slapped his thigh and quickly pulled up the file of the surviving girl from twenty years ago. An old photograph of a young girl appeared on the large screen, accompanied by her registered adult identity photograph.

"Is this... is this the same person?" Chen Chen stared at the two photos, which looked vastly different, feeling puzzled. "She's only in her twenties now, isn't she?"

The girl in the photo had a sweet and pretty face, her eyes brimming with cleverness, and a pair of adorable dimples that made her look lovely and charming. In contrast, the adult photograph depicted a blank expression and vacant eyes, making her appear more than ten years older than her actual age. However, the upturned eyes and faint lines at the corners of her eyes remained unchanged.

Lu Zheng stared at the photo of the young girl on the screen, and suddenly, he felt a pain in his head, as if his mind was struck by lightning! A rush of disjointed images flashed through his head like sparks.

In his memories, he only knew that he had fallen seriously ill at the age of seven and spent a long time in the hospital. Thinking back now, all he could recall were the smells of disinfectant and masked people in white coats moving around. After being discharged, he went straight to boarding school, and his memories from before his illness were almost entirely blank. He had tried to recall them but couldn't remember anything. His older brother always said he was too young to retain those memories, and he had always believed it. He thought that maybe everyone was like this, since memories from early childhood were often vague and fleeting.

Yet, at this moment, the lost memories of his childhood came flooding back like a tidal wave. The dishes cooked by his grandmother, the faces of his playmates, and the little moments of his childhood life, all of it resurfaced vividly before him...

He remembered how he had spent one long summer after another at his grandmother's old house, how he had walked hand-in-hand with his grandmother along the ginkgo-lined streets in autumn countless times, and how he had looked forward to winter because it meant his father might visit him during the New Year.

The spring of his seventh year came earlier than usual, with greenery budding on the branches sooner than expected. It was another bright, sunny day. After lunch, the girl next door invited him to pick strawberries together. The strawberry patch was just a few minutes' walk from his grandmother's house. Lu Zheng still remembered his grandmother's words before he left the house: "Xiao Bao, come home early, we'll have your favourite steamed fish tonight."

"Ai, got it, goodbye, Grandma!"

That's right, back then, it seemed everyone used to call him Xiao Bao.

The spring afternoon sun felt warm and comforting on his skin. The girl next door held his hand, skipping along as they made their way to the strawberry field. The field was part of a newly developed family-friendly park, and many children spent their holidays there enjoying the experience of picking fruit. Parents, feeling reassured, would relax and chat just outside the park.

The two of them had been playing for quite a while and even started to feel a bit tired. Suddenly, the little girl ran over and said, "Xiao Bao, should we go to the new section over there? The caretaker uncle said there are not only strawberries but also lots of small animals to see, let's go have a look, okay?" The young girl's eyes were big and bright, and her sweet dimples deepened with her smile.

"But, my grandma told me to come home early," Xiao Lu Zheng hesitated, glancing at the sun sinking closer to the horizon.

"It's fine, I'm here with you. Besides, it's not far, and the caretaker uncle said he has a tricycle that can take us there. We'll just have a quick look and come back, okay? There are lots of cute bunnies there!" The young girl tugged on Xiao Lu Zheng's arm and gazed at him pleadingly.

"Then... alright, but just a quick look, and then we'll come back!" Xiao Lu Zheng nodded. The caretaker, who wore a mask and gloves, had eyes full of smiles. Feeling at ease, Xiao Lu Zheng climbed onto the tricycle.

When he woke up, Xiao Lu Zheng had no idea how long he had been unconscious. He could not remember what happened after he got on the tricycle. He could feel the warmth of the young girl's breath close by, and his hands and feet were tightly bound, he couldn't move. It was pitch black, and the air smelled damp and musty. He looked up to find himself in a large, empty space. The windows on both sides were taller than a normal house, and there was a skylight at the top, barely letting in any light. From what he could make out, it seemed to be a warehouse.

He nudged the girl beside him with his elbow. Slowly, she stirred awake, only to scream in horror. "Why are we here?! Ah... my ankle... it hurts so much!"

With his hands and feet tied, Xiao Lu Zheng could only make a soft "shh" sound to quiet her, and he looked at the young girl's ankles. As his eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, he noticed a dark stain spreading across the hem of her pale yellow pants.

"Your foot's injured, I see something dark near the bottom of your pants, it's probably blood. Does it hurt a lot? Can you bear it?" Xiao Lu Zheng asked the young girl.

The young girl's face was pale, and her eyes brimmed with tears. "I can bear it. Xiao Bao, do you think we've met a bad guy? What should we do now?"

Xiao Lu Zheng nodded. "Don't be afraid, the bad guys aren't here right now, so we can think of a way to escape. Let's lean back to back and untie each other's hands first."

The two began fumbling in the darkness, feeling for the knots binding each other's wrists. Just then, the warehouse door opened with a creak. A man wearing a mask appeared in front of the two children.

It was the caretaker! Xiao Lu Zheng recognised those kind-looking eyes.

"Yo, you're awake, little darlings." The man pulled a pair of gloves from his pocket and put them on. "Don't worry, Uncle won't hurt you, Uncle just wants to play a little game with you. Do you know how to play rock-paper-scissors? How about this, if you win, Uncle will send you home, how does that sound?"

The young girl was trembling and sobbing in fear. Xiao Lu Zheng secretly squeezed her hand, signalling her to choose rock. The man walked over and cut the ropes binding their hands.

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

"Rock, paper, scissors!"

After several rounds, the two children kept throwing rock. Their clear, childish voices echoed in the empty room, making the atmosphere even more eerie. Suddenly, there was a sharp clang! The man hurled the knife he had been toying with onto the ground with force, and his sinister voice cut through the silence, "Little darlings, play the game properly, don't try to fool me! If you keep playing tricks, neither of you will be leaving here."

The young girl's body visibly trembled at his words. Her face grew even paler, and beads of sweat trickled down her cheeks, glinting faintly in the moonlight. Xiao Lu Zheng saw her bite her lip tightly and take a deep breath.

"Rock, paper, scissors!" 

Xiao Lu Zheng was stunned to see the young girl extend five fingers. Across from him, the young girl had her eyes tightly shut, as if she didn't dare to meet his shocked gaze.

"Ha ha ha ha ha... as expected, women are born to betray!" The man threw his head back, laughing. "Young man, you can leave now. When you grow up, you must be careful of women!"

The young girl stared at the man in disbelief. "Uncle, didn't you say the winner gets to go home?"

The man picked up the knife from the ground, his eyes gleaming with malice. "Yes, but Uncle never said whose home they're going back to!"

"Ah! Help!" The young girl let out a piercing scream, desperately trying to free her legs from the ropes.

The sudden turn of events left the young Lu Zheng overwhelmed, frozen in place, unable to move.

"Do you think you can run away?" The man sneered as he approached, step by step. In the darkness, the knife glinted with a chilling brightness.

Just then, a loud clang echoed from outside. It sounded like a steel pipe striking a tree. In the quiet environment, the noise was all the more jarring! The man froze, his movements halting.

Clang!

Clang!!!

Two more sharp, crisp sounds followed in quick succession, closer than before. Someone was approaching the warehouse.

"Fuck... How is there someone here in the middle of nowhere?" The man cursed angrily, his expression turning to panic. He quickly grabbed something from the ground and hurled it at Xiao Lu Zheng's head. A buzzing sound filled Xiao Lu Zheng's ears, and he lost consciousness...

"Consultant Lu, what's wrong with you? Consultant Lu!" Lu Zheng was jolted from his thoughts by someone shaking him vigorously.

He had been lost in thought, with his head down, massaging his temples constantly. Looking up, he met Gu Yanta's anxious gaze.

"I just remembered something," The sudden memory caused Lu Zheng to be a little overwhelmed, but the calm mindset he had cultivated over the years enabled him to face any changes with composure. If his younger self had managed to ease the trauma through amnesia, then as an adult, he was certain he wouldn't be defeated by this painful memory! Lu Zheng adjusted his emotions to the greatest extent possible in a short period of time, trying to steady the fluctuations in his voice so that no one could detect the turmoil he had just experienced in his heart. "But don't be surprised by what I'm about to say."

"What's wrong?" Gu Yanta noticed that something was wrong with him and asked with concern.

"Hasn't everyone always wondered why the tenth case back then only ever had records of one victim, even though it clearly involved two?" Lu Zheng met Gu Yanta's warm and attentive eyes. "The truth is, the other survivor has always been here."

He drew a deep breath and said slowly, deliberately, "That survivor is me." 

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: December 16, 2024 by Angel

Edited: January 14, 2025 by Angel