Strange girls always appear around my childhood friend. I know they're trying to "conquer" him. But none of them ever succeeded. Until Sarah showed up. She was different from all the other girls. She would praise his clean, efficient method of dissecting butterflies. She would agree with his most shocking, terrifying thoughts. She bragged to me triumphantly, believing she was the savior who would redeem this dark, brooding boy. But she never noticed that the look in his eyes when he watched her... Was exactly the same as when he watched those butterflies. 1 My childhood friend, Silas Vane, is a psychopath. When we first met, he was six years old. He looked like an exquisite porcelain doll, harmless and sweet. His smile was sugary, like marshmallow fluff. I let my guard down and took the chocolate bar he offered. The moment I peeled back the wrapper, a swarm of red fire ants crawled out. I looked up. Silas was smiling sweetly at me. I calmly picked the chocolate up from the ground and tossed it into the trash can. After washing my hands, I slowly turned to him and said, "Thanks for the welcome gift. I hated it. Don't do it again." Silas stopped smiling. His pitch-black eyes stared straight at me. I saw right through him. "Surprised I'm not scared?" I smiled slightly. "That trick was amateur. Not nearly as interesting as the surprise my mom got me." For my fifth birthday, Mom gave me two beautiful butterfly knives. I practiced for a year before sharpening them. After I showed Silas my knife skills, he walked away with a tight face. I rested my chin on my hand and thought, He probably won't be back. 2 A week later, I received a huge bouquet of flowers. Little Silas smiled angelically. "I picked these from my backyard. Hope you like them." The roses were vibrant, still dewy from the morning. I smiled back. "Thanks." The second he left, I threw the flowers into the trash. A moment later, scorpions, centipedes, spiders, and caterpillars crawled out of the roses. I stood up, dusted myself off, and went home. The next day after school, a snake appeared in my room. I grabbed the snake by its head and tossed it into the Vane family's backyard. 3 From then on, all sorts of weird things started popping up in my house. I knew it was that little psycho. Every time, I returned the favor. 4 Until one day, Silas invited me to his house. His room had an entire wall filled with butterfly specimens. Silas's voice came from behind me. "Isn't it beautiful?" "Beautiful things in this world are fleeting, but there's always a way to make them eternal." "Specimens preserve the beauty of butterflies forever, keeping them in their most stunning moment." I took a sip of my milk and said flatly, "But they lost their freedom." "What does that matter?" Little Silas laughed, his voice full of childish innocence. "As long as they can stay with me forever." "Don't you think so, Jo?" I didn't answer him. I closed my eyes and collapsed to the floor. After a long silence, a delighted laugh rang through the air. "Now, you're mine too." He hummed a happy tune, took a syringe from a drawer, and crouched beside me. The next second, I flipped over, pinned him down, and snatched the syringe. I pressed the needle against Silas's neck, looking down at him. "You want to turn me into a specimen too?" "Don't you want to be with me forever, Jo?" He blinked, not feeling a shred of guilt. I hauled him up, slammed him against the wall, and beat him up. Only after dunking his head into the bathtub for the third time did I let go. I said coldly, "Don't cross my line, little psycho." Silas pushed his wet hair back, revealing a pair of beautiful eyes that shone with terrifying brightness. He actually started laughing happily. "Jo, I like you so much." "I don't want a specimen anymore. I want a living Jo." "Let's be friends forever, okay? We'll even die together." "Get lost. I'm not dying." 5 Since then, I've been stuck with this little psycho. But over the years, I noticed something amusing. Strange girls would always appear around Silas, stay for a while, and then disappear. Later, I found out they were trying to "conquer" him. Like a game. But no one ever succeeded. Except for Sarah. She stayed by Silas's side the longest. Maybe because she was the most unique of them all. 6 That day, I walked past the flowerbed and saw Silas chatting with Sarah, a polite smile on his face. I listened for a bit. It was the same script he used on everyone. Feeling bored, I turned to leave, but then I heard Sarah say: "It's not your fault, Silas. You are a good person. Blame Jo and your parents. It's all their fault." Me: "?" What did I do? Sarah's eyes filled with tears, her expression a mix of sympathy and heartache. "I came too late. If I had appeared sooner, I would have protected you. I wouldn't have let Jo hurt you." "If I had a cold childhood friend like Jo and parents who ignored me, I'd be twisted too." "I understand you, Silas. Let me be with you." I couldn't help but laugh out loud. Silas needing protection. That was the best joke I'd heard all year. Sarah noticed me and shrieked, "Why are you hiding there eavesdropping?!" I kindly warned her, "Silas isn't a good person. You'd better stay away from him." But Sarah acted like she was facing a great enemy, shielding Silas behind her and glaring at me warily. "You're trying to steal Silas, aren't you? Jo, keep dreaming! Silas told me everything. You've been giving him the cold shoulder for years, causing his psychological distortion. Now that I'm here to protect him, I will never hand Silas over to you!" "I know what you're planning. You're trying to drive a wedge between us, hoping I'll doubt him and leave. But I'm not weak. I will not only save Silas, I will make him better." Disappointment and condemnation filled Sarah's eyes. "Jo, you really don't deserve to be his childhood friend. Please let Silas go. Since none of you care about him, from now on, I will be his salvation." I thought she was baffling, so I turned and left. 7 The girls who appeared before Sarah usually forced themselves to stay for a few days before vanishing without a trace. But Sarah was different. She praised Silas's technique with the butterflies. She validated his horrifying ideas. When she saw the things Silas kept in the basement, her eyes lit up as she said, "Silas, you're so special." Even Silas found it strange and asked why she wasn't scared. Sarah actually claimed he was forced to be twisted by us, so being different was normal. Hilarious. Silas's parents loved each other deeply. They were open-minded and raised Silas with a hands-off approach. As for me "cold-shouldering" him? Complete nonsense. Silas was just born sick. I don't know what Kool-Aid Sarah drank to convince herself Silas had a tragic childhood and needed saving. She probably didn't notice that the way Silas looked at her... was the same way he looked at those butterflies. 8 The results of the joint exams came out. I habitually looked at the first line, but my name wasn't there. First place: Sarah. My rank had dropped to below 800. Impossible. I went to the office and requested to see the original exam paper. My homeroom teacher helped me log in, comforting me, "Must be a scanning error or a miscalculation. With your grades, we can definitely fix it." The dean nodded. "Right. If we don't fix it, our school loses its top student." But when we saw the original scan, we all fell silent. The answer sheet was largely blank, with only a few lines of scribbles. Yet, the candidate information was definitely mine. The teacher frowned, hesitating. "Jo, what happened?" Staring at the handwriting on the screen—identical to mine—I thought of Sarah's first-place score. I knew what happened. But I couldn't explain it. Who would believe that Sarah somehow magically swapped my answer sheet?
? Continue the story here ?? ? Download the "MotoNovel" app ? search for "387626", and watch the full series ✨! #MotoNovel