Night of the Haunting Delivery

Here's the story rewritten in English, focusing on clarity and engaging language:

My name is Ye Zhao, a 20-year-old, hardworking food delivery driver.

One day, just as I was about to finish my shift, waiting for an order at a BBQ restaurant in the early hours of the morning, I got a new delivery. This one delivery would plunge me into a night of sheer terror.

The customer claimed they found a human hand in their order. "You're murderers!" they screamed.

The restaurant owner retorted, "It has nothing to do with me! The delivery driver must have done something!"

I defended myself, "I only deliver; I never opened your food!"

No matter how much we argued, the customer stuck to a bizarre demand: "Come pick up this order! And it has to be you, specifically!"

The Ill-Fated Delivery

It was 2 AM at Jiang Ji BBQ. Exhausted from a day of deliveries, all I wanted was to go home and sleep. Just as I was about to log off, Little Li, a fellow driver, stopped me.

"I'm feeling dizzy and nauseous, probably a fever. Could you please take this order for me, Brother Ye?" he pleaded, his lips pale and sweat beading on his forehead. Seeing his genuine distress, I agreed to take the transfer. He thanked me profusely, then struggled onto his scooter and rode home.

I grabbed the order, got on my e-bike, and cut through the biting autumn wind. Huff! Puff! I just needed to finish this quickly and then I could finally rest.

The delivery address was Apartment 1101 on the 11th floor of Building 1, Donghu Community. I knocked for a long time with no answer and called, but no one picked up. After waiting a few minutes, I reluctantly left the order by the door. I took a photo on the app, sent it to the customer, marked it "delivered," and left.

As soon as I got home and sat down, my delivery app started buzzing with non-stop messages. The customer and the restaurant owner were in a group chat with me, already in a heated argument.

Customer: I haven't even signed for it, how is it showing as delivered?

Customer: What if I hadn't seen it? Would it just hang outside all night?! @DeliveryDriver

Customer: Is this how you do service? Such a perfunctory attitude, aren't you going to do something about it? @RestaurantOwner

RestaurantOwner: That's not my business. The delivery driver works for the platform, not our restaurant.

Customer: I found the food was opened. Did you tamper with it?

RestaurantOwner: No way! I have photos of the order when it left, proving the packaging was intact. We also have kitchen surveillance.

I sighed and joined the chat.

Me: Brother, that's how I received it. This was my last order for the day, so I rushed it to you.

Customer: You guys are disgusting. It's the middle of the night, do you know how hard it is for me to get something to eat?

RestaurantOwner: I heard delivery drivers often secretly eat customers' food. Just a little bit here and there saves them a meal. He must have eaten some of yours!

I quickly denied it. "Don't you dare slander me! I know where your restaurant is. It was like that when I picked it up!"

RestaurantOwner: What, are you threatening to come to my store and retaliate?

My head was buzzing. I repeatedly tried to explain in the group chat that I hadn't eaten the customer's food.

Customer: Fine, just make me a new one and send it over!

RestaurantOwner: That's not my problem. Besides, I'm about to close. Can you send me a photo of the food you received?

The customer sent a photo of the food packaging to the group. A strip of torn tape was wrapped around the white plastic bag, which had faint mud stains. Someone had clearly tried to wipe it off, but hastily.

The owner, as if he'd found a treasure, immediately sent a photo of the order leaving the restaurant.

RestaurantOwner: Sir, look closely at the photo. The food was clean and tidy when it left. Yours has stains. Also, the sealing tape on our bags has our restaurant name printed on it; the one you received doesn't. If you don't believe me, check the photos other customers posted in our review section.

The customer was furious. "What is going on here? If you don't admit it, I'm complaining!" @DeliveryDriver

Cold sweat beaded on my brow. I felt guilty.

Me: Alright, I was hit by a car at the intersection in front of your community today. A small accident. I'm sorry, brother, I'm so sorry!

Customer: Are you sure you fell? You had an accident and didn't call the police?

Me: Yeah, I might have had low blood sugar and accidentally hit the curb.

The restaurant owner seemed to revel in my misfortune. "See? I told you it had nothing to do with us. Delivering food late at night isn't easy, little brother. Why be so stubborn?"

I was getting irritated. "Besides 'it's not my business,' what else can you say? My injuries aren't serious. I was afraid of a late delivery, so I quickly picked up my bike and left. The food got a little scuffed, and the tape tore. Luckily, there was no soup to spill. I was afraid you'd notice, so I just used some spare tape to re-seal it. I'm sorry!"

RestaurantOwner: Oh! So you have spare tape? Looks like opening customers' food isn't your first time. A repeat offender, are we?

I explained seriously, "Stop gloating, alright? If your packaging wasn't so flimsy, would I be in this situation? Sometimes, when you have a lot of deliveries, bumps and scrapes are unavoidable. If there's slight damage, we handle it ourselves. I didn't want to eat your food, and I don't have an appetite this late at night anyway."

Customer: I don't care. This is your work error, why should I bear the consequences? Come back and take the food, then get a new one from the restaurant!

Me: I've already clocked out and gone home... Just make a new one, why do I have to take this one back?

RestaurantOwner: No, I mean, this isn't my business. Why should I make a new meal just because the delivery driver damaged it? Besides, it's so late, and my kitchen is already cleaned up. It's not right, is it?!

Customer: If you don't make a new one, I'll complain about both of you!

I was fed up. It wasn't even my order; Little Li insisted on transferring it to me. What rotten luck, this is insane! I replied defiantly, "Complain all you want. Consider today's work a total loss!"

The customer was utterly enraged and continued to argue back and forth with the owner. I held my breath and didn't reply. A few minutes later, the group finally fell silent. I breathed a sigh of relief, ready to get ready for bed.

Just as I found my change of clothes, the delivery app pinged again. The customer had sent a message in the group. The notification showed it was an image.

Are you kidding me? Didn't I just tell you to complain if you want?

Impatiently, I picked up my phone, planning to shut it off after seeing the message. I was dead tired after a full day of deliveries. Even if they docked a month's salary, I wasn't going to get involved with them anymore.

However, as soon as the image loaded, my scalp tingled.

In a common disposable plastic food container, among a pile of grilled sausages, chicken, and beef, was a cylindrical object. It had three joints and was much thicker than a chicken foot. What was most chilling was the fingernail attached to it, with a visible half-moon.

This was... a human fingernail!

The customer immediately sent another message, sending me into an icy abyss: "You're murderers!"

A Gruesome Discovery

RestaurantOwner: What is that? Don't talk nonsense!

Customer: I found a human finger in your food! Don't tell me your chef accidentally chopped it in!

RestaurantOwner: Didn't I just prove to you that the delivery driver opened the food during delivery? Why don't you ask him if it's his finger?

Customer: Are you f***ing kidding me?! Who would put their own finger in a delivery order?! I don't care, make me a new one and send it over!

RestaurantOwner: Please calm down. Anyone would be upset if this happened to them, I understand. Although my restaurant is small, it's been around for decades. Finding a human hand in the food is pure nonsense!

Customer: Then I'm calling the police. Let the police come and see what kind of meat this is!

RestaurantOwner: No, don't! The food delivery industry is so competitive right now. If word gets out that someone found a human hand, we'll go out of business immediately.

The owner sent a photo of his own hands. "See? All ten of my fingers are still here. This can't be my finger!"

I couldn't pretend to be cool anymore. I quickly took a timed photo of my own hands too. "Don't try to shift the blame! I also only have ten fingers. Is this my finger?!"

The customer immediately sent another photo. This time, the finger in the food container was even clearer. It was bloody and mixed with a few sausages. If you didn't look closely, you might mistake it for undercooked beef mixed with chicken.

The customer was enraged again. "Holy crap! I found four more fingers."

RestaurantOwner: Impossible! Is there some misunderstanding?

Customer: See for yourself! Are these human fingers or not?! This is disgusting, you heartless merchants. You don't want to take responsibility, right? Then call the police! I'm complaining about you on the platform right now, and you can forget about ever running a business again!

RestaurantOwner: No, please, it can't be our problem. Do you want to see the kitchen surveillance video?

Customer: Are you clearly trying not to admit it? Or should I post this to the platform to complain?

RestaurantOwner: Don't be impulsive, brother! I'll make it for you, isn't that enough? I'll make you a new one right now!

Customer: Hurry up, I'm starving. And you? @DeliveryDriver Where are you? Hurry up and take this disgusting delivery back!

I was furious. "The restaurant's food is the problem, just refund the money and be done with it! Why do I have to pick it up? Is my time not valuable?"

RestaurantOwner: Oh, no need to return it. I'll refund you and make a new one, isn't that okay?

Customer: No! You caused this situation. I'm so disgusted I can't sleep. Come take it away immediately!

I exploded. "You've been picking fights since the beginning! I'm not dealing with you, old man. Consider today's orders a waste of time. I can't pick it up, you two figure it out yourselves!"

Then I threw my phone aside and began to mentally prepare myself. Seeing the phone screen flicker, I knew the customer was probably cursing my ancestors in the group chat. That damned Little Li, getting sick at the worst possible time. He just had to pick tonight to dump such a huge problem on me.

Seeing that I wasn't replying, the restaurant owner started playing peacemaker.

RestaurantOwner: Alright, I'll remake one and send it to you @Customer. And I'll send you a red envelope out of my own pocket. Can we just forget about tonight, okay? @DeliveryDriver

Customer: I called the number on the app, and this bastard won't pick up!

RestaurantOwner: Calm down. How about I personally deliver it to you?

Customer: You coming won't help, he has to come!

RestaurantOwner: Let it go. Most riders come from humble backgrounds; many start working after middle school. You don't seem like an unreasonable person, why bother with them?

Customer: Don't act all righteous here. One of you two must have committed murder!

After a struggle, I reluctantly changed into my uniform and headed towards the customer's community. Although it looked bloody, what if it was just a prop the customer was using to extort us? After all this back and forth, I wasn't that sleepy anymore. But my body was utterly exhausted, almost beyond its limits.

I wondered if this strange customer would even open the door for me. I glanced at the group chat; they were still going at it. As soon as I entered the elevator, I replied in the group chat: "Fine, I'm out of luck, I admit defeat."

I quickly reached the 11th floor, and the elevator doors opened. While replying to the message, I skillfully turned left. I knocked for a long time, but there was no sound. I sent another message, explaining why I hadn't answered the phone: "I was riding, didn't hear it."

The customer replied instantly: "You're here?"

I replied impatiently, "Yes, in the time it took you two to argue, I got here. I've been knocking forever, no answer."

Customer: Stop f***ing knocking, I'm coming up now.

I grabbed the doorknob and gently pushed. The door opened a crack. It wasn't even closed? I was even more annoyed. I looked down and replied, "Coming up? Your door isn't even locked!!!"

After sending the message, I slowly pushed the door open. The scene that met my eyes almost made me drop my phone. Behind the door of 1101 was a spacious living room, and the floor was covered in blood.

A Horrific Awakening

Had the customer been murdered? I controlled my trembling fingers, typing "the floor is covered in blood," but before I could send it, a sharp pain shot through my head, my eyes went black, and I lost consciousness.

I don't know how long I was out, but I slowly came to. My wrists and ankles were burning from the ropes; I was tied to a chair with my hands behind my back! On another chair not far from me, someone else was also tied up. His head was slumped, his hair covering his eyes, so I couldn't see his face from my angle. From the way his head lolled, he was clearly unconscious. One of his hands was constantly dripping blood, merging with the large pool of blood on the floor. As soon as I realized what I was seeing, I almost screamed.

That hand had no fingers! Only a palm with five ragged openings, gushing blood like a bloody Doraemon hand.

"Awake?"

It was then I noticed a young man sitting on the sofa directly opposite the two chairs. He was thin, probably in his early thirties. Dressed in a shirt and trousers, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, he was looking at me indifferently. He looked like a refined white-collar worker, but probably not high-ranking. Some people carry the weariness of a difficult life on their faces, no matter how they dress or how much money they make.

He was typing on my phone; I couldn't tell what he was doing.

I managed to speak, "I... you... who are you?"

He immediately frowned, his calm expression vanishing. He stood up and walked towards me. "You bastard! Did you take the money?"

I was confused. "What money? No... I came to pick up the food..."

"Don't play dumb with me!" The man stood over me, looking down. His small eyes behind the glasses glinted with a cold light.

"No, big brother. Didn't you call me to pick up the food? What money? Do I look like I have money?"

The man scrutinized me, seemingly trying to determine if I was lying.

"Big brother, you can't tie me up like this. That BBQ restaurant owner is still waiting for me to take the food back to him!"

The man remained silent.

I continued to struggle. "If I don't go back, he'll definitely call the police! You don't want trouble, do you? I promise... about tonight... I... I don't know anything... I won't say anything, I promise!"

The man scoffed, then shoved my phone screen in my face, showing me the chat history he'd just sent. I was utterly devastated. He had used my account to reply to the restaurant owner: "The customer's a good person, we've talked it over, everything's fine now."

RestaurantOwner: ???

Then the man used his own account to reply too.

Customer: I won't give you a bad review, everything's fine.

RestaurantOwner: You made me mess around all night, and I even specially restarted the kitchen to make a new one, and you two...?

RestaurantOwner: Forget it, forget it, as long as everything's fine, I'm off work.

After that, the group was silent. The restaurant owner probably cursed us out and left the chat. I usually don't set a lock screen password on my phone for convenience and to save time when taking orders. I never expected it to become a tool against me. Damn it!

The man seemed to sense my thoughts and looked a little smug. "Regret not setting a lock screen password? No need for extra trouble, even if you did, I could open it. This is what I do for a living."

"..."

"Tell me again, everything about delivering that last order tonight!"

"???"

Is this guy crazy? Is he a madman who likes to torture people? Does he specifically target hardworking delivery drivers like us?

Seeing my hesitation, the man gestured with his chin towards the unconscious man tied to the other chair. "What? Do you want to end up like him?"

"No, no, no, I'll talk, I'll talk!" The Doraemon-like hand next to me, devoid of fingers, truly unnerved me. I began to recount my delivery experience from earlier that night in detail.

The man with glasses listened carefully, then pondered for a moment before asking me a question. "Are you sure you fell by yourself?"

I was a little confused. "Yes, it was dark and windy, and there was no one on the street. I was in a hurry and hit the curb..."

"No other people on the street? Or cars?"

"Yes," I was full of questions. "At that hour, there was no one on the street... as for cars, maybe two or three passed by, but they were all in a hurry. What's wrong? If you don't believe me, check the road surveillance?"

The man took two steps back and gave me a sideways glance. "Nothing..." Then he walked into the kitchen and started making a phone call, seemingly trying to avoid me.

It was late at night, and the digital clock on the wall showed 03:45. Although the man with glasses deliberately lowered his voice, in the dead silence, I could still hear most of what he said.

"What's going on? Didn't you say it was already put in?"

"Don't try to sugarcoat it. That kid is with me now; I just asked him... he's fine!"

"Your dad's fingers, do you want them or not? I've already crippled one of his hands..."

"Oh, now you admit it?"

"Call the police? You wouldn't dare!!!"

"Yes, proceed as planned!"

"Hello? Hello?"

"Damn it!"

The man stormed out of the kitchen, infuriated, and threw his phone onto the sofa. Then he suddenly turned and looked at me, his eyes filled with malice.

"You! Where are your e-bike keys?"

"?"

"Where? Don't make me say it again!!!"

I swallowed. "In... my left pants pocket..."

The man roughly yanked the keys from my pocket. Just as he was about to leave, he suddenly turned back and punched me in the head. Fortunately, I had anticipated he might knock me out again and was prepared. As he punched, I leaned back, tilting myself and the chair. The force of his punch spun me, causing me to fall backward into the pool of blood on the floor, my back facing the other chair. I squeezed my eyes shut, pretending to be unconscious.

But I'd taken the punch full on. My head hit the floor again, and my body felt like it was about to explode from the pain. I heard the man walk over to the other chair, presumably to check if the other person would wake up. But that person had lost too much blood and was already disoriented; another punch likely wasn't necessary. Soon, I heard the man close the door and leave. I was extremely alert, holding my breath for five minutes before slowly daring to open my eyes.

My Father, The Victim

Slowly struggling to get up, I needed to find a way to untie myself. Suddenly, I felt someone watching me. I held my breath and stiffly turned my neck to look back. Not looking wouldn't have been a problem, but looking almost made me truly pass out.

The fingerless man on the chair beside me had awakened at some point. He was staring at me with blood-red eyes through his messy, curly hair. His face was pale, his lips bloodless. His hands, still tied behind his back, were still dripping blood.

Drip!

Drip!

Drip!

Each sound echoed clearly in my ears. A chill rose from my feet, and the clothes on my back were already soaked. I don't know when it started, but cold sweat was pouring off me.

"Y-y-you, what do you want?"

I scrambled, dragging the chair, moving half a meter away. He was clearly a living person, yet he exuded an aura of perpetual gloom.

"Heheheh!"

Heheheh my ass, he's missing five fingers and he can still laugh?

I sped up my efforts to loosen the ropes, but the man with glasses had tied me too tightly. After a long struggle, I'd only managed to loosen them a tiny bit. I scanned the room's furnishings and finally spotted the bloody fruit knife on the dining table. This must have been the execution weapon the man with glasses used.

"It's useless... when he... comes back... we... we're both going to die..."

Ignoring the fingerless man's mockery, I moved towards the dining table by the kitchen door in an absurd posture, half-dragging the chair sideways.

"Are you... by any chance... named... Ye...?"

I froze, stopping and turning to look at him. "How do you know?"

"Heheheh..."

Anger flared in my heart, courage rising with it. I didn't seem as scared as before; a rush of fury surged through me.

"Stop laughing! Who exactly are you?!"

This direct gaze allowed me to see his face clearly. Messy curly hair, about forty years old. Misty eyes, a broad forehead, and a fairly prominent nose bridge – a very common middle-aged man. His face and arms were bruised and red, appearing quite battered. He had clearly been badly abused by the man with glasses.

"You... have a... birthmark... on your neck..."

I was stunned. Indeed, there was a red heart-shaped birthmark on my neck, near my chin. The origin of my name, my master told me, was already chosen by the person who abandoned me when he found me on the mountain. A note in my swaddling clothes read "Ye Zhao."

My guard went up. "You..."

"I am... your... father... Ye... Sha... cough, cough..."

???

Sitting at home, and a father drops from the sky?

"Who are you trying to fool? Given the uniqueness of this birthmark, anyone who knew about my birth should recognize it..."

Ye Sha spoke unhurriedly, his pale lips moving. It was as if he wasn't weak from injury, but simply spoke in this manner.

"Ah... your... name... I... gave it to you..."

"Zhao Zhao... means... bright..."

"Bright... light..."

I found it laughable. "You threw me away right after I was born, nearly killing me on the mountain, and you call that 'light'?"

Ye Sha showed a paternal expression, one I'd only seen on TV. "I... I had no choice... Back then... I... couldn't afford... to raise you..."

I finally managed to drag myself to the dining table, using my body to ram the table leg and retrieve the fruit knife. Freedom! As I struggled to stand, I realized my entire body was in excruciating pain. Combined with my existing fatigue, my internal organs felt like they were about to fall apart. The areas where the man with glasses had hit me, where I'd fallen and hit the floor, and where I'd dragged myself across the floor, all burned with a feverish heat.

I steadied myself, picked up the fruit knife, and limped towards Ye Sha. A flicker of hope ignited in his eyes, and he looked at me with that father-son affection, full of expectation. But in the next second, I extinguished that hope. I pointed the knife tip at his forehead.

"Tell me! What's the deal with the man with glasses and you?"

The Truth Revealed

Half an hour later, I was at the police station, just five minutes from the apartment complex. The police officer taking my statement briefly treated my wounds and told me to go home and rest. By the time I got home, it was 5:30 AM, and the sky was already beginning to lighten. After washing up, exhausted, I collapsed into bed, putting the incident out of my mind.

Two days later, a newspaper published a story:

On December 20th, Jiang Yang, an engineer at Xing Sha Technology Group in our city, abducted his employer, Ye Sha, due to a dispute over promotion and salary. He harbored a grudge and kidnapped him.

To safely receive the ransom, he carried out a series of baffling maneuvers. Jiang Yang used a false identity to rent the apartment on the 11th floor, directly above his own home, hiding Ye Sha there. This way, if the police came to investigate the crime scene, he could escape from his own apartment downstairs.

After contacting Ye Sha's family, Jiang Yang demanded a million yuan in cash for his release within a week, or he would kill Ye Sha. He instructed the family to prepare the cash and wait at 2 AM at a blind spot intersection near Donghu Community at the specified time for the ransom exchange.

This intersection was a mandatory route for food deliveries. The family planned to lightly hit the delivery driver with their car on the deserted street at 2:30 AM, and during the chaos, swap in a delivery with a bank card. To avoid arousing suspicion from the driver, Jiang Yang had Ye Sha's family order an identical meal during the day, placing a bank card without a password inside.

Ye Sha's wife and adult son arrived at the intersection early that day. They intended that after hitting the driver, one would argue about compensation while the other would secretly swap the labels on the two food orders, placing the one with the bank card into the delivery box.

Unexpectedly, after being hit, the delivery driver, fearing he would be asked for compensation in return, endured the pain, climbed up, and quickly fled the scene. The family, unable to react in time, failed to swap the food.

To avoid a bad review, the delivery driver deliberately concealed the accident when communicating with the restaurant and customer. The driver, in a hurry to finish his shift, delivered the food to the 11th floor, confirmed delivery without knocking, and left.

Upon receiving the food, Jiang Yang found no bank card inside. He suspected the delivery driver had accidentally seen it and kept it. He then erupted in fury on the delivery platform, demanding the driver come back. Unexpectedly, both the restaurant owner and the driver wanted to avoid further trouble, offering only refunds and red envelopes to appease him.

Jiang Yang immediately beat the tied-up Ye Sha, chopped off his fingers, and placed them in the food order. Using the pretext of "possible murder," he threatened the restaurant owner to remake the order and demanded the delivery driver handle the matter in person.

The delivery driver, feeling unwell, refused to come. Jiang Yang became even more convinced that the driver had taken the bank card, but at that moment, he realized his phone, which he'd been using all night, had run out of battery and shut down. In a fit of rage, he forgot to close the door on the 11th floor and rushed back to his own apartment to get a charger.

Unbeknownst to him, the delivery driver, after weighing his options, decided to go to the apartment. He unexpectedly found the door unlocked and discovered the crime scene. Jiang Yang knocked out the driver, then used his phone to appease the restaurant owner on the platform, claiming the matter was resolved.

When the delivery driver woke up, Jiang Yang questioned him. Discovering the driver knew nothing, Jiang Yang realized the family had tricked him. He used an anonymous number to call the family and confront them. The family then admitted they hadn't successfully swapped the items. They explained they had tried to contact him during that time, but they were virtual numbers that went to dead ends when called back.

Enraged and impatient, Jiang Yang grabbed the driver's keys and furiously rode his e-bike towards the intersection. The family, who had failed to swap the items, dared not move and were still waiting at the intersection, feeling extremely anxious. The kidnapper's call had only told them to wait patiently but hadn't revealed the next plan.

The family, still waiting on the deserted street, saw the delivery e-bike hurrying towards the intersection. Based on the e-bike's appearance, they realized it was the same delivery driver from before. They decided to hit him again to swap the ransom and rescue Ye Sha. This way, when the driver returned home and saw the undelivered food in his box, he would proactively contact the customer and redeliver.

However, this time the family couldn't control their force and directly killed the person riding the bike. The frantic Jiang Yang was struck dead on the spot.

Meanwhile, Jiang Hai, the owner of Jiang Ji BBQ, found the whole incident quite strange. After carefully checking the order information, he realized the delivery address was familiar. After cleaning up the kitchen, Jiang Hai took the newly made order to the delivery address, intending to resolve the night's events peacefully. Instead, he witnessed the car accident at the intersection. Shocked, he saw the hit-and-run vehicle flee and immediately called the police. Later, he discovered that the deceased, wearing a delivery driver's helmet, was his own proud younger brother, Jiang Yang, who worked for a large company.

Currently, Ye Sha, who suffered severe blood loss, has been rescued by the police and is receiving treatment in the hospital. His wife and son have been handed over to the court for sentencing on charges of intentional homicide.

My Vengeance

After that, to avoid suspicion, I continued working as a delivery driver for a few months before resigning. I am an abandoned orphan. If my master hadn't kindly adopted me, I might not have survived until today. After my master passed away, I left the temple. Besides various odd jobs, I also worked as a fortune teller.

A week ago, Ye Sha's wife, Chen Li, came to me for a fortune reading. Through the information she provided, I discovered that this person was actually my stepmother. I used this opportunity to ask her many questions, learning the truth about my abandonment years ago. She didn't suspect a thing and told me everything in detail.

That's when I learned that my scumbag father had impregnated my mother out of wedlock. He promised to marry her soon, but after meeting Chen Li, who came from a wealthy family, he decided to abandon his wife and child, intending to marry into the Chen family as a single man. To prevent me, his illegitimate son, from burdening him, I was thrown onto a deserted mountain just three days after I was born. If my master hadn't happened to pass through that remote area while looking for herbs, I would be a corpse today! My mother, due to this incident, was so enraged by his heartlessness that she died before even finishing her confinement period.

Ye Sha, however, told others that this was a heaven-sent opportunity, that he was destined for great wealth, and brazenly married into the Chen family. A few years after their marriage, Chen Li was quite shocked to learn about this, deeply fearing that he would treat her the same way one day. But by then, Ye Sha was the owner of Xing Sha Technology Group, and his eloquent charm was even greater than before. After a few persuasive words, Chen Li let down her guard.

Now, with him kidnapped, Chen Li dared not call the police, but she was genuinely worried about him, so she sought a fortune teller for guidance. Therefore, I offered my advice: tell her to do nothing, or call the police, and let nature take its course.

Who knew Chen Li was truly devoted to Ye Sha? She had been thoroughly manipulated by this "phoenix man" for years and was willing to do anything to ensure his safety. I was helpless. Chen Li's family ultimately followed the kidnapper's demands: pay the money and don't call the police.

I knew Jiang Yang had a backup plan. His food delivery order had to come from a restaurant he trusted. If any weakness was exposed at the restaurant and the family came looking, that person would help him cover it up. Therefore, his brother, Jiang Hai, became a part of the plan.

Three days after Chen Li came to me for a fortune reading, I became a delivery driver in the area near Jiang Ji BBQ. Even if Little Li hadn't gotten sick and left early that day, I would have found a way to get him to transfer the last order to me. I also knew that if he didn't get the money, Jiang Yang would definitely harm Ye Sha, which is why I kept delaying and refused to go to the apartment.

It's just a shame Chen Li was so blind, ending up with such a wasteful man. If she had just let go, the enraged Jiang Yang would have certainly "entertained" Ye Sha thoroughly, and the outcome would have been more aligned with my expectations.

In life, each of our destinies is intricately intertwined with others. Who knows if we are merely disposable pawns in someone else's meticulous plan? If you were the delivery driver in this game, who's to say you wouldn't be the one who died in the end? Or, if I hadn't resisted the urge to kill Ye Sha, I might be sharing a cell with Chen Li's family today.

Who can say they haven't encountered inexplicable troublemakers or incredibly bizarre and frustrating situations in their lives? Taking a step back doesn't always lead to smooth sailing, but at least it can help you protect yourself.

Other people are the abyss. I am not one to gaze into the abyss.

I am the abyss.