“What do you want?” she asked warily.

“To have a little chat with Miss Zhou.” The housekeeper smiled.

“I have nothing to talk to you about.” As Zhou Yanran spoke, she saw two bodyguards appear behind him and instinctively retreated towards the hall.

The housekeeper’s smile didn’t falter as he advanced, stopping only when he saw the person behind her. He gave a slight nod. Zhou Yanran paused, then spun around. Seeing Yue Linze, her face drained of color.

“Where is Tao Yu?” His gaze locked onto Zhou Yanran.

Zhou Yanran's heart trembled. The thought that this man, even crippled, still looked down on her fueled her resentment. "Why should I tell you?" she challenged. Why should her fiancé face jail and she endure everyone's ridicule while Tao Yu escaped unscathed?

Yue Linze closed in, his handsome face devoid of expression, yet radiating a chilling aura like a demon from hell.

Frozen in place, Zhou Yanran stared at Yue Linze, her eyes reddening. He had been the dream of her entire adolescence, but now he was the villain who had taken everything from her.

“I keep a few sharks at South Island Bay,” Yue Linze said softly, stopping half a meter away.

He was in a wheelchair, much lower than her in her heels, yet Zhou Yanran felt unable to look down on him. Seeing the undisguised mockery in his eyes, she forced a semblance of composure. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Yue Linze’s gaze was hawk-like, but he didn't answer. A cool breeze swept through, and Zhou Yanran began to tremble. Behind her, the butler’s smooth voice broke the silence. “Sharks, you see, are rather fond of live prey.”

A chill ran down Zhou Yanran’s spine. Terror seized her as she looked at Yue Linze. “No, you wouldn’t dare! The Yue estate is swarming with police. You can’t take me anywhere…”

“Miss Zhou underestimates the master’s reach. Do you really think those officers are all genuine?” the housekeeper asked lightly. When she froze, he added with a smile, “Human flesh is a bit too acidic for their palate, but starve them for a few days, and I’m sure they’ll be less discerning.”

As he spoke, the bodyguards moved in. Zhou Yanran screamed, but no one came to her aid. As they dragged her away, her composure finally shattered. “She’s in the freezer!” she choked out. “Tao Yu is in the freezer! There’s an old, unused freezer in the back courtyard. I locked her in there!”

The housekeeper’s expression changed. Yue Linze pushed himself up from his wheelchair, an icy aura surrounding him as he strode towards the back courtyard. The housekeeper hurriedly retrieved a cane from beneath the wheelchair, but Yue Linze, with a slight limp in his right leg, had already disappeared into the night.

The housekeeper paused, then, remembering the woman still in their grasp, his face hardened. “Take her,” he ordered the bodyguards.

Yue Linze walked forward, his face impassive. Those he encountered along the way looked at him with surprise, but his forbidding presence kept them from approaching.

Tao Yu was starting to feel warm, a sign she knew meant she was reaching a critical point of cold, her hypothalamus sending false signals. If she wasn't rescued soon, the hallucinations would accelerate her demise.

While death in this scenario simply meant being ejected from the world, with neither the patient nor her own brainwaves suffering any significant harm, the success of the hypnosis meant she’d experience the agony of dying. It wasn't a pleasant prospect; she’d probably need days of self-therapy afterward.

But such thoughts were useless now. She was experiencing the ebbing of life, and soon, she feared, the ‘heat’ would compel her to shed even her dress.

So painful. Someone, please, end this… Tao Yu hugged herself, fighting the increasing warmth, struggling to keep her clothes on.

Just as despair threatened to consume her, the door burst open. A tall figure emerged from the light. Her vision blurred, but she could see the figure walked with an uneven gait, yet with a determined stride. He quickly scooped her into his arms.