Chapter 987 We’ve Met Before

"And what am I like?" I asked, looking at him. He averted his gaze, looking up at the pitch-black sky. The night sky in Tully City was indeed clearer and more beautiful than in Lake City. Though not filled with stars, a few could still be seen scattered across the sky. "Someone who distinguishes right from wrong clearly and is even capable of feigning love," he spoke softly as if muttering to himself. He spoke matter-of-factly, like he was bitterly stating a fact. My heart twitched in pain, surprised at his words. He looked up at the stars, his clearly defined jawline emanating loneliness and solitude. He... had always known that those days in the bamboo house were an act. A sour taste filled my mouth as I took a breath. "Then, do you hate me?" After a few seconds of silence in the air, he finally spoke softly, "I don't know. But for someone like me to have been loved, even if it was a pretense… I guess I'm fortunate, aren't I?" I did not know how to respond. I felt a blockage in my throat. His voice came again, "Yvette, I also know I shouldn't still be alive and appearing before you, but... I'm sorry, I..." "Lucas!" I interrupted, holding back the bitterness in my heart. "You never owed me, nor have you ever wronged me, so there’s no need to apologize." From the beginning to the end, whatever he owed me, he had repaid. Now, it was I who owed him so much. The chill in the wind seemed to intensify. His voice was tinged with bitterness as he said, "Whether you believe it or not, when I pulled Kenneth and jumped off the cliff, I did not expect to survive. But it seems fate had other plans. The wild beasts only tore off one of my legs, and I was brought back home by a hunter in the mountains. But living is just a burden to others now that I’m disabled and have nothing." As he said this, he suddenly laughed. "So, I dragged my disabled body down the mountain." Looking at his pale face, I hesitated, not knowing what to say. He seemed not to expect a response from me. After a pause, he slowly continued, "It's actually very difficult to get out of the deep mountains at the border, especially for a cripple like me. But I was prepared to die in the mountains, so I had no concerns. Perhaps it was fate that I wasn't meant to die just yet, and incredibly, I managed to make it down the mountain, even though it took me a full three months." He seemed not to dwell on the hardships of descending the mountain, merely offering a bitter smile. To say I was unmoved as I looked at him would be a lie. I was human, not wood. I sighed softly and asked, "How did you get addicted to drugs?" Given his personality and temperament, even death would not have made him touch those substances unless he had another reason. "Pain relief," he uttered softly. It took me a moment to understand, belatedly remembering his leg. He continued in a low voice, "When the hunter brought me back, my leg had already been taken by wild animals. To stop the bleeding, he used whatever medicine he could find in the mountains on me, but after all, he was just a hunter, not a healer. So, he used opium to alleviate my pain. Later, when I was descending the mountain alone, although there weren't many opium poppies, there were still some. I was close to death and didn't want to suffer too much before dying, so I made a lot of opium poppy painkillers the way the hunter taught me. I consumed a lot of those substances. Eventually, as my wounds gradually healed, I found myself unable to quit." "Then those needle marks..." "I did them myself," he said, his voice still calm. "After sneaking into Tully City, I didn't want to touch those substances anymore, but eventually… I guess I was too naive to think I could quit. It was too hard, so I found someone to get me some high-purity heroin." I frowned. "That stuff is expensive. Where did you get the money?" It was not surprising to me that he found people in Tully City who were dealing. What surprised me was that he could afford it. Even if he traveled from the border to Tully City, sneaking in with the refugees, those substances were expensive, and he had no money. How did he get the money? He looked at me and then took a deep breath. "Yvette, have you forgotten what I used to do?" It took me a few seconds to remember, then it hit me. He was someone who had made a name for himself in Hartfield. How could he not know how to get his hands on such things? Obtaining food might be difficult for him, but getting these harmful substances was almost effortless with his intellect. The wind outside grew colder, and even the blanket could not offer warmth anymore. I looked at him and took a breath. "When did you come to Tully City?" "I've been here for a long time. We've met before," he said, looking up. His sharp nose was a bit red, perhaps due to the cold. I frowned at this. "We did?"