I Refuse to Log Off - Chapter 2

“Red is my lucky color. I hope it brings you good luck.”

Before I left, Lin Shuying insisted on wrapping the red scarf around my neck.

“Good luck on your blind date! I hope you meet Mr. Right.”

More like, *I hope you hurry to hell and meet the King of the Underworld.*

Her sister had been wearing a red scarf on the day she was killed. Lin Shuying knew red scarves were the serial killer’s fetish, so she put one on me deliberately.

I did not refuse. I smiled and thanked her. “Thanks for the good wishes.”

Oh, I would have a smooth and satisfying time taking that psychopath offline.

An hour later, I walked out of a convenience store and saw a black BYD Qin roll slowly to the curb. The driver’s window came down. A man in a black outdoor jacket and baseball cap leaned toward it and surveyed the street.

His gaze soon locked on me.

Found him—the deranged serial killer who had murdered seven people in five years.

He got out and waved with a smile. “Where are you headed, gorgeous? Need a ride?”

I beamed at him. “What perfect timing. I was just about to call a car. Xintiandi, please.”

Not long after getting in, I drank a bottle of warm milk the driver offered me and fell asleep.

Or pretended to. I had not swallowed a drop. I poured it all into my glove.

The car crawled through traffic for half an hour before stopping in an apartment complex’s garage. He carried me up the stairs to his lair.

He felt his way into a room, laid me on a bed, then went to turn on the light.

The room had no windows. It had probably been converted from a storage closet. The air reeked of disinfectant, bleach, and the sharp bite of formalin.

So this was where he did it.

This was where he murdered young women who should have had bright futures.

And his reason? Their red scarves reminded him of the one his mother had worn on the day she left. In his mind, every woman in a red scarf would abandon her husband and child just as she had.

The truth was that his father had abused her for years. Her son never understood her, either. She left because she could not endure it anymore.

Humming, he stripped off his clothes, sat beside me, and reached for my face.

His voice twisted with a sick excitement. “I can tell you women don’t care about your families. But that’s all right. Once I cut off your legs, you won’t be able to leave. Right?”

“Wrong.”

His eyes flew wide. I opened mine, seized his wrist, and grinned. “This will stop happening when scum like you and your father are extinct.”

As I spoke, I sat up and smashed my forehead into his face. Blood gushed from his nose. Bracing one hand against the bed, I followed with a side kick that sent him flying.

*Bang!*

The back of his head and his spine slammed against the wall before he bounced onto the floor. The excitement on his face vanished, replaced by panic and pain.

“Who… who are you?”

“I’m your daddy!”

On second thought, no. Who wanted to be the father of human garbage?

I corrected myself. “I’m the one taking you offline.”

Before the words had left my mouth, I charged and introduced him to my fists and feet.

“Didn’t you want to cut off my legs? Get up and try!”

He wanted to, but I had struck first and struck hard. He could no longer stand, much less fight back. Before long, he passed out.

Still unsatisfied, I fetched a bucket of cold water, splashed him awake, and beat him again.

Once he was arrested, the worst he could get was the death penalty. Before that happened, I wanted to vent some anger on behalf of all the women he had killed.

I twisted both his arms behind him and planted a foot on his back. Slowly, inexorably, I applied pressure until bones cracked and his screams turned shrill.

Fortunately, he had soundproofed the room. We would not be waking the neighbors in the middle of the night.

“The night is young. Let’s take our time.”

In the original plot, those were the words he had spoken to Zhou Mingyue.