Symbiosis - Chapter 1

In the third year of Xie Zhao’s captivity, he stabbed me through the heart with a fruit knife.

The knuckles of his knife hand had gone white. He couldn’t stop trembling.

But however badly he shook, he never let go.

He even pushed the blade a little deeper, as though afraid I wasn’t dying fast enough.

I lowered my eyes to the wound in my chest, where blood kept welling out.

For a moment, I couldn’t tell whether the pain or the disbelief was stronger.

Honestly, I had never thought Xie Zhao would kill me.

Not because I imagined he couldn’t bear to.

I wasn’t that full of myself.

It was simply that, in practical terms, he shouldn’t have been capable of attacking me.

Three years earlier, before locking him in this basement, I had not only poisoned him mute but broken both his legs.

He had been so easy to deceive then.

In a place like Jinque Bay, a filthy tangle of people from every walk of life, you really ought to know better than to accept food or drinks from just anyone.

But because I was the one who gave him that glass of water, he drank it without a second thought.

For three years, he hadn’t been able to speak or walk.

He spent his days in chains, shut away where no daylight reached him, enduring the pain of his illnesses, injuries, and aching bones.

He resisted at first. Later, he became very obedient.

I thought he had long since given up hope of escaping.

The knife sticking out of my chest was brutal proof that I had underestimated him.

He had never stopped trying to escape.

And he had never stopped wanting to kill me.

I didn’t know how or where he’d got the knife.

Now I had neither the time nor the strength to find out.

The wound hurt until it grew numb and cold. More and more blood poured out.

My vision darkened. I could barely make out his face.

I knew I wasn’t a good person.

I had brought this on myself. I didn’t blame Xie Zhao at all.

But before my consciousness faded, I couldn’t help feeling a little regret.

When I came in to bring him water, he had approached me of his own accord for the first time in three years. He pressed his hands to my shoulders and lowered his eyes, as though he wanted to kiss me.

I was overwhelmed. For one foolish instant, I even wondered if he had started to like me a little.

Only now did I understand.

He came close so he could find the best angle to drive the knife into me.

He had almost kissed me then.

Almost. But he hadn’t.

What a shame.

I was going to die. I would never have another chance to kiss him.

“Xie Zhao…” Shameless as I was, the first thing I said in my final words was, “Will you kiss me?”

“Just once.”

“I’m dying.”

“…Please?”

He couldn’t speak. In all likelihood, he didn’t want to speak to me anyway.

That was fine. I didn’t need to hear his answer.

I knew it would be no.

He was probably wondering why I was taking so long to die, and whether he should stab me again.

He hated me to the marrow. He wanted to strip my skin, tear out my tendons, shatter my bones and suck out the marrow.

He might not even leave my corpse in one piece.

Fortunately, I had always believed in one principle:

If you want something, fight for it. If that doesn’t work, take it by force.

Whatever happens, get it.

So I gritted my teeth and summoned the last of my strength. Ignoring the knife that sank deeper as I moved, I leaned forward, caught his sleeve—

And kissed him with a mouth full of blood.

It was a sorrowful kiss. The taste of blood filled my mouth.

Afterward, I couldn’t hold myself up any longer.

I staggered back a step and collapsed into the blood on the floor.

In that instant, all the pain began to fade.

My consciousness finally slipped beyond my control, sinking into an endless blackness.