What?! I Became the Zombie Beauty in the Villain’s Arms – CH145-147

Chapter 145| Chapter 146 | Chapter 147

Chapter 145: The Cunning Rabbit Has Three Burrows

Boss Tang shuddered immediately, a strained, flattering smile freezing on his face. “How could that be? Look at me, running my mouth. I definitely didn’t mean it like that just now. I was just speaking casually.”

The others quickly chimed in. “Yeah, there’s been a lot of commotion up there lately. Base Three was just destroyed, and now they’ve already found a connection between the black market and Base Six. Base Six wasn’t even established that long ago! It’s incredibly bad luck. Who knows who leaked the intel?”

“There are a lot of lackeys in the bases. If they really want to know something, they’ll always find a way,” Boss Tang sighed. “But as long as they don’t cut off my brothers’ livelihoods, the rest doesn’t matter.”

He chuckled, trying to lighten the mood. “If they want to find the black market, they have to actually be able to track us down first.”

The black market could change its location at a moment’s notice. It was no exaggeration to say that a cunning rabbit has three burrows. If the authorities wanted to catch them, they were dreaming. At the first sign of crisis, the market would simply pack up and vanish. They would discard some unnecessary personnel or goods to keep the hounds busy, and once the authorities were satisfied with their bust, they would stop pestering them.

After Tang finished speaking, silence fell over the room. No one reacted.

Several men didn’t even dare to look at the man sitting at the head of the table. Boss Tang, having received no response for an agonizingly long time, gradually lost his bravado. He asked cautiously, “Mr. Duan… do you still want to review the cash flow for the upcoming months? Please don’t take what I said to heart. I was just cursing those bastards from Franlun. I absolutely did not doubt you.”

The man’s fingertips rested lightly against the flat of a blade, the cold gleam of the metal clearly visible. He didn’t dwell on Tang’s slip of the tongue, merely fiddling idly with the dagger.

Boss Tang felt a chill of genuine terror as he recalled the time Duan Xiaolin had first arrived at the black market. He had taken a fancy to a particular “commodity” and used unimaginably cruel methods to secure it. In this man’s eyes, the black market’s so-called punishments and rules were mere window dressing; his own methods were far more terrifying and skilled than those of the market’s veteran executioners.

After a few suffocating seconds of silence, the man spoke slowly. “Continue.”

“Yes, sir.”

The people in the private box finally breathed a collective sigh of relief. They knew Mr. Duan’s temperament well, so they hadn’t allowed anyone inside to disturb him. Even their most favored women and top-tier escorts were relegated to standing guard outside the door, forbidden to approach.

Meanwhile, Pei Xiqing paced around the attic courtyard.

As she walked, she asked Shadow, “Brother Wang Yue, how many floors does the tallest building here have? These structures don’t look like they could be built overnight. How did the black market move all these materials to the bottom of a cave without anyone noticing?”

Shadow coughed awkwardly. “Ahem.”

“What’s wrong?”

He shook his head, lowering his voice. “Nothing. I’m just… not used to being called that name yet.”

“It’s been a long time since anyone has called you that, huh?”

“Yes.”

At that moment, Pei Xiqing was leaning against the ornate wooden railing, looking down at the bustling street below. From this observation deck, she could see almost the entirety of the sprawling black market. It was a place where extreme prosperity and rotting decay existed simultaneously. Not many people were allowed up here. Due to various security restrictions, the vast majority of guests were confined to eating and trading in the lobby and streets below. It suited her fine; she preferred the quiet.

Shadow answered her earlier question. “The tallest building here is only about five or six stories high. Although the cavern ceiling is nearly a hundred meters up, the air near the top is toxic. It’s filled with dust and poisonous gases emitted by some of the subterranean rocks. Because of that, none of the buildings in the black market exceed six stories.”

“As for how it was built, that has to do with the people backing the market.”

Pei Xiqing looked at him. “What do you mean?”

“Many of the investors secretly funding the black market are powerful, high-ranking figures from the various official bases. They have plenty of covert channels to transport building supplies down here.”

“Understood.” Pei Xiqing nodded.

Just then, the little follower sent by Boss Tang hurried over, lugging a thick, heavy ledger that weighed several pounds. Panting heavily, he managed to speak. “Mrs. Duan, these… these are the personnel entry and exit registration logs for our black market over the past month. We used to keep electronic files, but a while ago—cough, cough—the base inspections got too strict, and hackers kept trying to breach our system. So, the boss ordered us to wipe the servers completely. These physical logs are actually much more detailed than the electronic versions ever were! Mrs. Duan, just tell me exactly who you’re looking for, and I’ll dig them out for you!”

Pei Xiqing took one of the heavy books and flipped through it casually.

The handwritten records were indeed incredibly detailed. They included age, background, real names, stated purpose for visiting the black market, and even the names and locations of their designated trading partners.

But there were a lot of entries. It was going to take some time.

Fortunately, the daily influx of new people into the black market wasn’t overwhelmingly massive. She filtered out the entries that were either too early or too recent, narrowing the timeframe down to the last five days. Within that window, roughly a hundred new people had entered the market.

She further excluded the elderly, children, and anyone traveling alone. The other members of the S1 squad would definitely enter the market individually to avoid drawing attention. However, Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting would undoubtedly travel together using fake names.

That left only five couples out of the hundred people.

There was no need to worry. As long as these five couples were still in the black market, they would eventually expose themselves.

Shadow immediately understood her deduction and memorized the short list of names. “I’ll make the arrangements.”

“Don’t be too obvious about it,” she warned.

“Understood.”

The little follower was also dismissed, leaving Pei Xiqing to sit alone in the attic. With no one around, the area felt unnaturally quiet.

After a while, a waiter from the restaurant arrived, carrying a tray loaded with several signature dishes and drinks. After setting the food down respectfully, he bowed and left.

Before Pei Xiqing could even process the spread, four or five gourmet Western dishes were arrayed in front of her. The steak placed nearest to her looked incredibly appetizing, but she had absolutely no desire to eat any meat from the black market. Knowing what she knew, she couldn’t be certain they weren’t serving something horrific under a false name.

Having learned her lesson at the cannibal restaurant, she only took two small sips of the fine wine in her glass.

She hadn’t intended to eat, but she suddenly felt a pair of eyes fixed intently on her.

Pei Xiqing turned her head sharply.

The person watching her immediately flinched, tucking their head tightly against their chest and refusing to look up, clearly trying to dodge her gaze.

She raised a brow slightly, leaned back in her chair, took another sip of wine, and glanced back in that direction.

The waiter, noticing her attention shifting, hurried back over. “Madam, is there anything I can help you with? Please, just say the word.”

Pei Xiqing pointed subtly. “Who is that person kneeling on the floor by the stairs over there?”

Chapter 146: Being Targeted by My Sister

The waiter glanced over and replied, “That’s one of our hired floor cleaners. They’re responsible for cleaning the establishment and providing shoe-shining services for our guests. Usually, people who do this kind of work have voluntarily sold themselves into servitude on the black market just to survive.”

Pei Xiqing recalled that when she and Duan Xiaolin had walked up the stairs earlier, that girl had been the one kneeling at his feet, kowtowing continuously against the wooden steps.

Even from a distance, she could clearly see the dark stains of dried blood on the woman’s forehead.

“I see. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, ma’am,” the waiter said, bowing before he hurried away.

Pei Xiqing sat in her chair, staring blankly for a while. Once again, she felt that secretive gaze fixed on her.

She pretended not to notice. She cut a small piece of steak with her fork, stared at it for a long time, and ultimately couldn’t bring herself to eat it.

She let out a soft sigh. Suddenly, a sharp, piercing shriek rang in her ears.

Looking up, she saw the commotion was coming from the woman who had been kneeling on the stairs.

A middle-aged man with a heavy beer belly had grabbed the girl by the hair and was viciously dragging her down the steps.

The woman fell heavily to the ground, fresh blood oozing from the scabs on her forehead. Terrified, she trembled violently, sobbing and screaming, “Help! Help me!”

“Damn it! You stinky bitch!” the man roared. “I paid a fortune for you, and you actually dared to sneak out and wipe other men’s feet here?! Do you have a death wish?!”

“I was wrong! I’m sorry, I was wrong!” she cried. “I just really need the money! You bought me but you never gave me a single coin, and you confiscated all my belongings! My mother is still lying sick in a slum outside the market! I really need the money!”

“Hmph! You’ve already sold yourself to me, why the hell would you need money? You should consider yourself lucky I bought you! If I hadn’t, you would’ve been sold to a brothel and raped to death!”

“Walk!” The man with the beer belly yanked her hair, forcing her forward. “Get out of here! If I catch you sneaking out again, I’ll break both your legs!”

“No! I don’t want to go! I was just about to get paid! Please!”

The man suddenly burst into a cruel, mocking laugh.

He slowly squatted down and stared at her.

“Boss,” he called out loudly.

The floor manager hurried over. “Boss, what seems to be the problem?”

“Clear this section of the floor for me.”

As he spoke, the man stood up and gestured for his armed subordinates to step forward. He pulled up a chair and sat down casually.

The surrounding guests scattered like frightened birds.

The man raised his hand and ordered, “Pin this bitch over the bench, pull down her pants, and beat her!”

Sitting up in the attic, Pei Xiqing thought she had misheard him. She thought he was just making a sick joke.

How could a grown woman be stripped and publicly spanked like that?

But in the black market, there seemed to be no distinction between men and women—only between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the powerless. Several burly ability users stepped forward, easily pinning the screaming woman face-down over a wooden bench. They yanked down her pants and mercilessly began beating her with heavy wooden sticks.

In just a few strikes, the woman’s skin was torn open and bleeding.

The surrounding guests didn’t look away in disgust. Instead, they grew increasingly excited as they watched the brutal display. Some even looked as if they couldn’t wait to take over the sticks and join in the fun themselves.

“Are you going to listen to me now?! Huh?! Speak!” the man demanded, watching the beating with a sick grin. “Are you going to try and run again?! Let’s see how far you get with broken legs!”

Pei Xiqing frowned, unable to stomach the sight any longer. She pushed her plate away, completely losing whatever small appetite she had left.

Just then, the door to the VIP room across the courtyard opened.

Duan Xiaolin and the black market bosses filed out. He walked at the back of the group, tall and slender. His calm, overwhelming aura was no less impressive than the burly crime lords around him, making him extremely conspicuous in the crowd.

He took the last drag of his cigarette, crushed it out in an ashtray, and immediately spotted Pei Xiqing sitting across the courtyard. He shot her a questioning look.

Pei Xiqing caught his gaze, gave a small nod, and then subtly pointed toward the horrific scene playing out on the first floor.

Duan Xiaolin didn’t even bother to spare a glance at the commotion below. He simply walked straight toward her, pulled out the chair next to hers, and sat down.

He touched the edge of her plate. “It’s cold. You didn’t like it? Should I order you two different dishes?”

“I don’t dare eat it,” Pei Xiqing muttered. “I’m terrified it might be something… unclean. It would take a long time to pump my stomach later.”

“It’s real steak, genuine beef, and reasonably priced.” He laughed softly. “This is one of the very few places in the entire black market where you can safely eat the food, which is why the prices are so astronomically high.”

Pei Xiqing still had absolutely no appetite. But it was true that she hadn’t eaten a proper meal in a long time, and her empty stomach was beginning to cramp uncomfortably.

Duan Xiaolin signaled a waiter and ordered two fresh, hot dishes for her.

Below them, the woman’s piteous cries and the rhythmic thud of the sticks continued.

“I lived in the black market for six months,” Duan Xiaolin said nonchalantly, not even looking down. “Anyone who broke the rules here, regardless of gender, was stripped naked and publicly punished. Don’t worry, they won’t beat her to death.”

Those heavy sticks looked terrifying, but the enforcers wielding them knew exactly how much force to apply. They could torture a person in a hundred different ways, leaving them covered in agonizing scars without ever inflicting a fatal blow. After all, a “commodity” whose value hadn’t been fully exploited wouldn’t be allowed to die easily.

“I’ve never encountered a situation like this before…” she murmured, feeling sick to her stomach. She felt like everyone in this place was completely unhinged.

The man chuckled. “You might be seeing a lot of this over the next few days. In a sense, it’s not just the black market; this kind of brutality happens all the time in the official bases too, to both men and women alike.”

“What do you mean?”

There was something dark and intriguing in his gaze. Pei Xiqing suddenly had a bad feeling.

“Xia Jingyu. Do you still remember her?”

“I remember.” She was the female general of Base One, and the daughter of the Grand Marshal. It seemed she had some sort of complicated history with Duan Xiaolin. Shadow had even mentioned that Xia Jingyu had once secretly worn Duan Xiaolin’s clothes.

Speaking of her, Pei Xiqing was genuinely puzzled. “Why do I feel like I haven’t seen her in a long time? Did she evacuate back to headquarters?”

Duan Xiaolin didn’t answer directly. He simply said, “The Marshal’s daughter is just a normal person with normal, human desires.”

“Please elaborate.”

“Qiu Chao has a connection with her. She has always been aggressively pursuing him.”

“What happened?”

“Qiu Chao actively avoids her,” he said slowly, taking a sip of his tea. “Before she set her sights on Qiu Chao, Xia Jingyu secretly kept several male favorites in her private quarters. They were all outstanding, elite soldiers… but none of them have been seen since.”

Pei Xiqing felt as if she had just stumbled upon a shocking, scandalous conspiracy.

What the hell is this…?

People like Qiu Chao looked boyish, innocent, and energetic—just like eager little puppies. It made perfect sense that he would be targeted by an older, powerful “sister” figure. But she had never expected Xia Jingyu to be that kind of sister.

Before Duan Xiaolin told her this, she had naively assumed the two of them were just ordinary colleagues. She hadn’t seen much interaction between them in the novel… She really never expected that Qiu Chao was desperately fighting to avoid becoming her latest plaything.

Pei Xiqing rubbed her temples. “…”

For a moment, she genuinely didn’t know what to say.

The apocalypse was truly chaotic. Men were wildly promiscuous, and women were too. Anyone would abuse their position to satisfy their desires as long as they had the power to get away with it.

Sure enough, the brutal farce below took a sickening turn a short while later.

The man with the beer belly suddenly ordered his men to stop. He walked over, pulled the bleeding, sobbing woman into his arms, and began whispering to her. Suddenly, the two of them began to act intimately right there on the floor. The brutal punishment faded away as the woman clung to the man who had just ordered her beaten.

Everything returned to a sickening, twisted peace.

Pei Xiqing subconsciously glanced at Duan Xiaolin.

The man was calmly cutting the fresh steak that had just been served to her. Noticing her gaze, his eyelids fluttered up.

“Hmm?” His voice was low and slightly hoarse from the cigarettes.

Every time he had a social event or had to deal with exhausting people—whether it was the hypocritical, old pedants back at the base or the beastly crime lords in the black market—he chain-smoked to relieve the pressure. But recently, he would just sit on the sofa, stare at her quietly for a long time, and then go outside to smoke by himself.

Pei Xiqing took her fork, viciously stabbed a piece of the steak, and took an angry bite.

Duan Xiaolin watched her. “You look like you have something to say.”

Pei Xiqing didn’t even look up, aggressively chewing the steak as if she were chewing on him. “So, those twisted methods of yours… were they also conclusions you gained from experimenting on your past lovers? Is that why you use them so effortlessly on me?”

Chapter 147: I’m Afraid My Brother Can’t Bear It

The man beside her chuckled. He pushed the plate of delicious, premium steak toward her and said with a half-smile, “When it comes to tricks and tactics, why do I get the feeling that someone here knows a lot more about them than I do?”

“Really?” Pei Xiqing countered. “Mr. Duan is considered an old hand at this, isn’t he?”

She still had lingering fears from that terrifying night at Base Three.

Even for someone with an open mind, seeing a man standing calmly in a courtyard holding a pile of freezing metal chains—items that could easily be classified as torture instruments—would send a chill down anyone’s spine.

Not to mention, this man was completely relentless in bed.

Pei Xiqing took a sip of water to moisten her throat before continuing. “I’m talking about your problem. Please don’t try to change the subject and put it back on me.”

Besides, the romantic dynamic between her and Duan Xiaolin was entirely consensual. As long as both parties were willing, she felt there was absolutely no problem with it. Regardless of whether someone was male or female, there was no need to feel ashamed of natural desires—unless, of course, they were as purely perverse as Duan Xiaolin.

She shot the man a furtive, playful look, stabbing a small piece of steak with her fork and offering it to his lips.

The man opened his mouth and ate it from her fork. “It doesn’t matter if someone is a novice or highly experienced,” he murmured. “What matters is who they’re dealing with.”

“So, Brother Duan is admitting that he’s experimented on a lot of people in the black market?” She winked at him with a hint of cunning.

“You have to be ruthless to survive the black market. I can use whatever brutal methods I want on other people without worrying if they can handle it. But when it comes to using certain… tactics on you in bed, I have to consider it very carefully.” The man looked at her leisurely, his eyes dark. “Who is it that always begs to back out halfway through?”

“I just know when to quit while I’m ahead,” she defended herself.

“That makes sense. Then don’t hold back next time.” He leaned in slightly. “I hope you can let it all out. Don’t suppress yourself.”

She was stunned for a moment before the corners of her lips curled up into a challenging smirk.

“Are you sure?”

“What bad idea are you cooking up now?”

Pei Xiqing deliberately dragged her words out. “I’m just afraid… my brother won’t be able to bear it.”

Hearing this, Duan Xiaolin slowly turned his gaze fully onto her.

His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly.

“If it’s you… then it’s certainly possible.”

Pei Xiqing had originally just wanted to tease him, but she was unexpectedly caught off guard by his extremely serious, dark tone.

Not only did she fail to get the flustered reaction she wanted, but she had actually dug her own grave. She silently cursed this beastly man in her heart.

A man capable of showing even a sliver of genuine affection could easily make a woman cry. But as serious and solemn as this man was outside the bedroom, he was an absolute beast inside it.

She was no longer naive enough to challenge him lightly.

Duan Xiaolin likely knew exactly what she was thinking, so he didn’t tease her any further. He silently poured her some more water. “Eat slowly.”

After they finished their main course, a waiter hurried over with two exquisite desserts, bowing respectfully. “These are a special compliment from Boss Tang.”

Speaking of Boss Tang, Pei Xiqing waited until the waiter was out of earshot before asking, “That Boss Tang doesn’t look like a good person at all. How deep does your cooperation with him go?”

She knew that in this world, whether cooperation was genuine or fake, profit-driven exchanges were absolutely necessary to survive. She wasn’t worried about Duan Xiaolin suffering a loss at the hands of people like Tang. But she still felt deeply uncomfortable remembering how Boss Tang and his cronies had trampled on the dignity and lives of those women downstairs with such arrogant, casual cruelty.

“The cooperative hospital project is still ongoing. He recently invested a massive sum of capital into it, but our direct transactions are strictly limited to those specific projects.”

“What exactly is his status in the black market?”

“He’s essentially one of the high-ranking managers of the black market’s outer ring.”

“Understood.”

She was still a little curious. “Is he a truly important figure? If you help him like this, what will happen to the other side?”

It wasn’t safe to say ‘Franlun’ out loud here, so she winked at him to convey her meaning.

Duan Xiaolin understood immediately. He explained softly, “Many things cannot be achieved perfectly on both ends. I can only manage the balance as best I can.”

Did that mean that to secure crucial supplies or intel from the black market, one had to pay a heavy, bloody price?

But for a project like the ‘hospital’ he mentioned, the price involved seemed a bit too terrifying.

She hadn’t heard their private conversation in the VIP room, nor did she know what specifically was discussed. But since it wasn’t related to the public hospital front, she could guess that it likely involved something far darker—like human organ trafficking or illicit experimental data.

Duan Xiaolin’s dealings in the underworld required hope, reliance, and the willingness to pay an agonizing price.

Thinking of this, she suddenly lost her appetite for the sweets. She pushed the dessert plates over to the man.

The desserts were made in a delicate Hong Kong style and looked incredibly appetizing. But it seemed he actually wasn’t very fond of sweets. He didn’t say a word, just stared at the plates.

Pei Xiqing propped her chin on her hands and watched him with a smile, silently insisting until he finally picked up a fork and tasted it.

The taste was quite good. Being able to eat fresh pastries in the apocalypse was an unimaginable luxury for the vast majority of people, herself included.

While they ate, she told him about the shortlist of five couples she and Shadow had narrowed down from the entry logs.

The man nodded. “Shadow will take care of the surveillance. It shouldn’t be long before they reveal their true colors.”

“Yes.”

Xiao Yue and Pei Yanting had deliberately disguised themselves as a couple to sneak into the black market. They definitely came here with a specific, urgent purpose. It was highly likely related to Xiao Yue’s failing condition. If they wanted him to survive his escalating dual-ability backlash, they had to find a specific, high-tier medicine. Therefore, they would inevitably expose themselves sooner or later. The rest was just a matter of waiting.

After finishing their tea, the two of them headed downstairs.

The bloody mess in the first-floor lobby had been quickly scrubbed away, and new guests had begun arriving to eat or book rooms for the night. Most of these guests wore heavy hats and masks, wrapping themselves tightly in cloaks. It was obvious at a glance that eighty percent of them were heavily armed outsiders.

Leaving the restaurant behind, Duan Xiaolin led her across the cavern toward a relatively quiet, secluded street.

This area was vastly different from the chaotic, bustling market they had just navigated. Strict identification checks were required by armed guards just to enter the street. The desperate people who came to the black market to sell themselves weren’t even qualified to set foot on the pavement here.

The street was lined with traditional private courtyard residences. Because they were deep underground, the area was perpetually illuminated by the eerie, dim red glow of paper lanterns, 24 hours a day. Without a clock, it was impossible to tell what time it was on the surface.

The street was completely silent, with only the red lanterns swaying gently in the artificial breeze.

Duan Xiaolin pushed open a heavy wooden gate and led her into one of the private residences.

It was a traditional courtyard home, but the courtyard itself was desolate. There was nothing inside except a small stone pond filled with stagnant water and a dusty wooden table sitting beneath a dead tree. The lotus flowers in the pond had long since withered and rotted away.

The twisted, dead branches of the tree stretched toward the tiled eaves. Everything sold or built in the black market seemed to have lost its spiritual energy, leaving behind only hollow, dead shells.

The yard wasn’t very large, but in a place like the black market—where a single inch of land could cost a hundred human lives—owning a private residence like this was the ultimate, unattainable dream for most.

Pei Xiqing casually pushed open the door to the main bedroom.

She had expected the room to be covered in a thick layer of dust, but to her surprise, the interior was actually quite clean.

“Is this where you stayed before?” she asked.

“Mm.”

“Which room did you sleep in?”

The man walked up behind her. “This one.”

Pei Xiqing walked inside without overthinking it.

The decoration was quite retro. The shadows cast by the intricate window grilles looked like strange, shifting patterns on the floor. Several red lanterns hung under the eaves outside, looking like monsters keeping their eyes open in the dark. It possessed a very distinct, eerie black market style.

She rubbed her sore neck, feeling a deep wave of exhaustion washing over her. She asked the man where the bathroom was, grabbed some fresh clothes from her bag, and went to take a hot shower.

Half an hour later, she emerged from the bathroom, still rubbing her aching neck. Turning around, she saw the man standing by the window, talking quietly on a secure comms device.

Noticing her approach, the man waved her over. He naturally reached out to touch her wet hair, gesturing for her to sit on the edge of the bed.

Pei Xiqing sat down obediently. She felt the comforting, rising heat from his large palm as he gently carded his fingers through her hair. A surge of his supernatural energy slowly swept through the damp strands, bringing a wave of soothing, warm air. She closed her eyes, feeling incredibly comfortable and drowsy.

She could only hear snippets of his intermittent conversation with the person on the other end of the line, discussing some sort of “goods.”

“The transaction is tomorrow.”

“Mm.”

“I will prepare exactly what you asked for.”

She opened her eyes, mildly curious.

What transaction tomorrow?

Duan Xiaolin didn’t explain, simply continuing to use his supernatural ability to gently dry her hair.

Gradually, she felt herself melting into the comfort. Once her hair was almost completely dry, she leaned heavily against the man, practically falling asleep against his side. Hearing that he was still engaged in his secure call, she moved slowly, kicking off her shoes and sliding under the covers.

The man stood beside the bed, staring down at her quietly. Behind his silver-rimmed glasses, his dark eyes were cold and piercing.

He was always a bit cold, but compared to his usual, detached indifference, the calm expression he wore right now hid a much darker, heavier undertone.

Pei Xiqing was wearing a loose, long-sleeved shirt and soft pants. Normally, there was nothing unusual about her sleepwear. But as she settled into the bed, she felt distinctly uncomfortable under his intense, unblinking stare.

She coughed lightly, pulled the quilt up to her chin, turned her back to the man, and squeezed her eyes shut, pretending to sleep.

A few minutes later, the low murmur of his voice stopped. He had ended the call.

Then, the sound of running water echoed from the bathroom.

She hugged the quilt tightly to her chest, her heart pounding uncontrollably in the quiet room.

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