"The path is your own choice, don’t blame others."
From behind Han Xi, Lu Jinghan’s chilling voice suddenly emerged, his eyes like dark storm clouds gathering before a hurricane at sea.
Han Yaxin is now utterly fearless; after all, she has no desire to live: "I told you I only want Han Xi and Han Siyu here. It’d be best for others not to show up, or this little girl can forget about surviving."
Saying this, Han Yaxin moved even closer to the rooftop railing. Song Mengmeng was already sobbing weakly, but her tear-stained eyes were filled with immense fear.
Han Xi was so frightened her heart almost jumped out of her chest. She anxiously glanced at Lu Jinghan, "Jing Han, please leave first, okay? She’s very unstable right now, and I’m worried Meng Meng is really in danger."
"I’d be even less at ease leaving you alone here. We just need to stall for time; the police sniper will be here soon."
When Lu Jinghan had just arrived, he called the armed police force, asking them to send someone over.
"No, that will scare Meng Meng. She’s so young, it might leave a psychological scar."
Han Xi was already feeling very guilty. If it weren’t for her, Song Mengmeng wouldn’t be in danger. Han Yaxin was clearly targeting her, and if any more trauma was caused to the little one, she feared she would never forgive herself.
Zhong Li and Gu Nanxi had also pushed open the door and come up. The elevator was agonizingly slow, so they had climbed the stairs.
Zhong Li, short of breath, stopped beside Han Xi, her long hair disheveled by the cold wind, "What will it take for you to release that child?"
Han Yaxin wore a faint, ambiguous smile, her red lips opening and closing, her voice seeping out like it was wrapped in shards of ice: "I want both of you to accompany me to the grave."
Zhong Li took careful steps forward in her high heels, "I’ll accompany you to the grave. Let the child and Xiao Xi go."
"Stay right there, don’t move."
Han Yaxin’s bloodshot eyes pointed at Zhong Li accusingly, then she burst into sudden, unprovoked laughter, eerie as a specter: "I want the both of you. If this little girl wants to live, you better obediently jump from here."
In her shrill voice was an indisputable resolve; she had no intention of leaving here alive today. She had enough of a life worse than death.
Just as Han Xi was about to speak, Zhang Min and Han Guanghong rushed from the staircase below. Seeing the scene before her, Zhang Min lost her composure, "Silly child, what do you think you’re doing?"
It was Lu Jinghan who had informed Han Guanghong. He hoped the two could persuade Han Yaxin to release Meng Meng; he didn’t want to resort to shooting unless absolutely necessary.
"What am I doing? How can you even ask?"
Han Yaxin, slightly dazed, shook her head, her heart suddenly aching beyond measure: "I get beaten by that old man every day, tortured every day. I said I wanted to leave him, but what did you say? Are you really my mother?"
Han Yaxin screamed hysterically, the veins bulging on her face out of anger.
Han Guanghong turned his gloomy face toward Zhang Min, "Why didn’t I know about any of this? What exactly did you tell the child?"
"If it weren’t for your uselessness, would Yaxin have to suffer with that old man?" Zhang Min shouted, like a shrew from the marketplace.