My Strange Monster Husband - Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Shen Zhijin was missing.

Two months ago, I was hospitalized with a high fever after catching a cold.

He chose to take care of his White Moonlight, who was also sick and quarreling with her husband in a different hospital.

No matter how good my temper was or how much I loved him, I couldn’t maintain my gentle and sophisticated facade after I recovered and returned home. We had a massive argument.

I pointed at his chest, my words sharp and cutting:

“Shen Zhijin, I really don’t understand you.

“What does a quarrel between another couple have to do with you?

“What? You abandon your sick wife just to rush over and comfort Jiang Fu, who treats you like a dog? Are you trying to take advantage of the situation to break them up and play the homewrecker just to rekindle your old flame?!”

Shen Zhijin took a step back, tugging at his tie impatiently. He looked at me with a frown, his voice cold. “Are you done?”

“No!”

The young man’s expression was indifferent and disdainful.

It was as if I was the one being unreasonable.

My voice trembled with anger as I fought back tears, unable to stop myself from shouting my accusations: “I am the wife listed on your marriage certificate! This is emotional infidelity!”

“Enough! Wen Lan!”

Shen Zhijin interrupted me loudly:

“I don’t love you at all!

“Don’t you understand that yet?!”

Slap!

The crisp sound of a palm striking skin echoed heavily.

Shen Zhijin’s head jerked to the side, a bright red handprint forming on his face.

My palm stung with a burning pain.

The air froze in an oppressive, suffocating silence.

It lasted until a dull roll of thunder suddenly rumbled through the dark clouds.

Realizing what I had just done, I snapped back to my senses. My fingertips twitched as I reached out to check his face.

The young man swatted my hand away. He pressed his tongue against the inside of his stinging cheek, his gaze terrifyingly cold.

Shen Zhijin didn’t look at me again. He strode past me, slammed the door hard, and vanished into the rainy night.

Outside the window, thunder rolled as the rain intensified.

This confrontation had drained all my energy.

My strength failed me, and I slumped down beside the sofa.

My phone popped up with a red alert for a rainstorm.

On the lock screen, the wedding photo I had set as my wallpaper showed Shen Zhijin with a cold, expressionless face.

I suddenly felt that this marriage was meaningless.

I was tired.

After that day, I moved out of the villa.

I never contacted Shen Zhijin again.

I found a nice neighborhood to live in.

Until the police called me.

They said Shen Zhijin was missing.

He hadn’t been to the office for a long time.

His assistant, Xiao Jiang, couldn’t reach him and chose to report it to the police.

Inside the police station.

I told the officer what had happened that day.

The officer across from me looked serious:

“You’re certain that after October 2nd-

“You never saw your husband again?”

I clasped my hands in front of me and said with absolute certainty:

“Yes, officer.

“I’m sure I haven’t seen him.”

Shen Zhijin and I grew up together in an orphanage.

As his partner, I was the primary suspect in his disappearance.

By the time the questioning was over, it was already late at night.

Dark clouds swirled over the city, and a few drops of rain began to fall.

As I left the station, I passed a police officer on duty and heard him whispering instructions to his family over the phone: “Be good, stay indoors as much as possible lately. This is already the sixth disappearance this month…”

I tightened my grip on my phone.

The parts I couldn’t hear clearly left me feeling instinctively uneasy.

I began to wonder if a serial killer was at work.

Even though Shen Zhijin was a piece of work, I didn’t actually want him to die. I was preparing to have a lawyer draft a divorce agreement so we could part ways on decent terms.

After returning home, I was physically and mentally exhausted.

I collapsed onto the sofa and fell asleep immediately.

It wasn’t a comfortable sleep.

In a daze, I had a dream.

In the dream, I was lost in an eerie white mist. I kept walking forward until I reached a surging riverbank where Shen Zhijin’s car was parked.

I tried to bang on the car door.

The window rolled down slowly, but there was no one in the driver’s seat.

The sky grew dark, and waves crashed against the embankment one after another.

I stood on the empty road.

Just as the ink-black night was about to swallow me whole…

A crisp, loud knocking sound suddenly rang out.

I jolted awake from the nightmare, drenched in sweat.

I checked my phone; it was one in the morning.

With a parched throat, I poured myself a glass of water.

Knock, knock-

The knocking sounded again.

There really was someone outside the door; it wasn’t my dream.

They tapped lightly on the door, unhurried, extremely rhythmic, and full of patience.

Outside the window, lightning flashed and thunder roared. The gale-force wind drove the torrential rain down, and pea-sized raindrops clattered against the glass.

Who could it be this late?

My breath hitched, and my heart jumped into my throat.

I was afraid it might be some criminal.

With my screen stayed on the emergency call page for ‘110’, I gripped my phone tightly. I crept toward the door, crouching low, and peeked through the peephole.

Oh. It was just a missing acquaintance.