I looked straight into the camera and, word by deliberate word, posed my question to the coward lurking behind the screen.
"Mr. Lin Jingxuan. You've been watching from the shadows long enough. Care to join the conversation?"
The torrent of comments flooding the live stream came to a sudden, eerie halt.
Everyone held their breath, waiting for the other protagonist to make his entrance.
One second passed. Two. Ten…
On the other end, there was only dead silence.
Lin Jingxuan's profile picture remained dark and silent, like a tombstone afraid of the light.
He didn't dare respond.
The chat exploded once more, but this time, it wasn't just onlookers enjoying the drama. It was a tidal wave of mockery and contempt.
"Lost your nerve? Where's all that energy you had spamming the chat earlier?"
"LMAO, the main man shows up and he doesn't dare say a peep."
"Is this the 'true love' you all were talking about? Every man for himself when disaster strikes."
A smirk touched my lips. It was just as I'd expected.
I addressed the camera one last time. "The show is over, everyone. Good night."
Then I ended the stream.
The world went quiet.
For the next three days, the online storm raged, growing more intense with each passing hour. The names Zhou Wanqing and Lin Jingxuan became synonymous with the year's biggest joke and public disgrace.
I paid it no mind.
After the flames of vengeance had burned out, all that was left was ash. I went about my work calmly, as if none of it had ever concerned me.
That was until the afternoon of the fourth day, when a call came from an unknown number.
"Am I speaking with Mr. Lu Mingqian? This is the Municipal Police Department." The voice on the other end was calm, official. "We've discovered a woman's body under the Dongjiang Bridge. Based on the identification we found on her, we believe she may be your… ex-wife, Zhou Wanqing. We need you to come in and make an identification."
I gripped the phone, my mind going blank for a moment.
"Alright."
The single word was all I said before hanging up.
The room was silent.
So silent I could hear the wind moaning as it swept past the high-rises outside.
The boiling hatred that had coiled in my chest for so long suddenly vanished. It was like a balloon being popped, a silent, soundless deflation.
I realized then that when you hate someone to the absolute extreme, their actual disappearance from the world doesn't bring satisfaction. It only leaves behind a vast, gaping void.
I went to identify Zhou Wanqing's body.
She had been in the water for too long, bloated and unrecognizable, but I knew it was her the moment I saw the bracelet on her wrist. The one I had given her, the one she never took off.
What was she thinking, standing on the edge of that bridge?
Was it regret? Resentment? Or had she finally woken from her dream of vanity, only to find she had nothing left but despair?
I didn't know. And I no longer wanted to.
I handled her funeral arrangements. A small headstone, no photograph, just a name.
It was the last shred of dignity I could offer her.
As for Lin Jingxuan, he vanished completely.
I used some of my connections to look for him, but it was as if he had evaporated into thin air. No one at his company had seen him, his rented apartment was empty, and even his family couldn't reach him.
Some said he'd skipped town to escape loan sharks; others whispered he couldn't handle the humiliation and had gone into hiding.
Whatever the reason, he was gone from my world for good.
Good riddance.
A coward who didn't even have the courage to face the consequences wasn't worth another moment of my thoughts.
Time is the best healer, and the best catalyst.
Mr. Zhao made good on his promise. After I helped him secure control of the company, he gave me a new position: Vice President.
I moved out of the home filled with so many bitter memories and bought a spacious, high-floor apartment in the most exclusive residential building in the city center.
At night, I would stand before the massive floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at the glittering expanse of the city, at the rivers of traffic flowing below.
A notification pinged on my phone—a massive dividend had been deposited.
My bank account balance now had a string of zeroes I once would have had to count several times to be sure.
I had gotten everything I wanted.
Money, status, and… the satisfaction of revenge.
I looked at my own blurry reflection in the glass: a man both familiar and strange. Dressed in a tailored suit, his eyes were calm, but his lips held no trace of a smile.
Had I won?
It seemed so.
But why did the taste of victory feel so hollow, so bland? It was like a magnificent fireworks display that, after its most brilliant moment, leaves behind only endless darkness and cold ash.
I picked up my phone and dialed Mr. Zhao.
"Mr. Zhao, that project you mentioned before… I think we can begin."
A void needs to be filled.
Since my revenge was complete, it was time to start a new hunt, to begin my new life.