Little Miss Witch: Revenge of the Tainted Angel

Li Chuntao remained silent throughout the trip from the country she was currently living to the place where her family was. It was a long journey but there was no hint of tiredness on her face, only her anxiousness could be perceived by other passengers of the craft. 

She shut her eyes and clenched her fists on her lap, praying to all deities that whatever was waiting for her back home wasn't as terrible as she assumed it to be. However, the mere fact that her uncle used his connection abroad to retrieve her in a short time meant that the Li family was in trouble. 

'Ying…' 

Li Chuntao had this feeling that it was about her twin sister. She insisted on giving her uncle a call first but her companions didn't give her any leeway to do so. So Li Chuntao remained silent in the corner, visibly trembling in fear. 

They only gave her a few minutes to change from her work clothes into a pair of pants and a black turtleneck sweater before they left her apartment. 

Every second that passed without her knowing what was happening felt like a ticking bomb waiting to explode. Her own heart pounding painfully inside her chest. She sweated and became pale, then the tremor in her hands began

Li Chuntao felt her head become a little giddy and her stomach nauseous. All she could do was wait until they arrived.

She sucked in a deep breath, her shoulders slumping as she looked outside, seeing how the sky started to lit up as the sun rose from the east. It was dawn when they reached the capital. She was back at home yet, Li Chuntao dreaded finding out the reason for her uncle's summoning. 

Unease blossomed within her that even her usually pokered face couldn't hide it. 

She gasped when the helicopter landed on the rooftop of a private hospital within the capital. Li Chuntao's eyes caught a glimpse of her uncle a few meters away from the helipad. She could hear the blades of the chopper beat the air as it slowly descended on the designated platform. 

With the help of one of her travel companions, Li Chuntao slid out of the chopper and greeted her uncle. She noticed the grim on his face and the tightening of his jaw, indicating that he was also on the verge of something Li Chuntao couldn't perceive. 

"Chuntao," came his same old, baritone tone that Li Chuntao was familiar with. 

"Uncle," she paused, hesitating if she should voice out her confusion, "Why am I brought here?" 

Instead of answering her question, Li Yuren regarded the foreign air force personnel who had retrieved her from her apartment. He was speaking in a foreign language that she could understand, if only her mind wasn't preoccupied with curiosity over the reason for her uncle's summon. 

After conversing with them, Li Yuren wrapped an arm around her shoulder and led her inside the hospital premises. 

"Uncle, please tell me now. Why am I here?" She urged. In her anxiety, she had constructed elaborate rationalizations for why everything should turn out alright, but still, the nagging voice in the back of her mind spoke of nothing but doom ahead. 

Li Chuntao couldn't understand why she felt miserable at all but her confusion and her questions were instantly cleared and answered when her uncle spoke. 

"Ying. She was involved in a multiple-vehicle collision when she and Song Zexi were on the way to the airport for their flight." 

Li Chuntao was shocked. Her face was ashen with disbelief. It now made sense to her why Ying never arrived at her expected time, why never heard from her and Song Zexi. 

She began to cry silently. She didn't want to, didn't want other people to see her weakness. She couldn't help it, though. She felt alone and helpless. Like the time she'd lost her parents and now, she was faced with the possibility of losing her twin sister. 

"How is she?" came her muffled response. She didn't need to look up to know that her Uncle Yuren was also affected by her sister's accident. 

Li Yuren had lost his only sister in a car crash decades ago and now he was facing the same situation all over again and it was his niece this time. 

"How could it possibly happen?" She blurted out. 

Her sister's bodyguards were trained and capable drivers. They knew of the trauma their parents' death left on the twins and were careful when driving on the road. They wouldn't subject Li Xiuying to a dangerous situation unless an external factor caused the accident. 

"The car they drove fell into the river." Li Yuren said after a long silence between them. Only their footsteps could be heard as they descended the stairs together. 

Li Chuntao blanched upon hearing what he said. Everyone in the family knew that Ying couldn't swim!

No matter how many times she and Li Yuren tried to teach Li Xiuying to swim, it was futile. Li Xiuying just couldn't do it and have been afraid to be submerged in water ever since she almost drowned when she was younger. 

As if sensing the thoughts running on her head, Li Yuren spoke again. 

"I'm not sure if she would be able to survive this time…" 

"And her baby?" She questioned. 

"Gone," Li Yuren said as if it hurt him speaking about it.

After all, this wasn't the first time Li Xiuying almost greeted death by drowning. He also had a complicated feeling. If Li Xiuying survives, she would be faced with another nightmare as the child in her womb died. It was nightmare after nightmare all over again. 

Li Chuntao couldn't wait to see her sister any longer and ran in the deserted hallway of the ICU. She stopped a nurse midway to ask for her twin sister's room before she sprints to the direction where she could find her. 

'No… No… Ying! You cannot leave me! You promised me!' she continued to run, ignoring the pitiful looks the nurses and doctors throwing her way. 

She burst inside Li Xiuying's hospital room and what she saw inside made her blood run cold. Li Chuntao felt all her energy sucked out of her body upon seeing Lu Xiuying. 

There, lying on the hospital bed was her twin sister. A tube was stuck down her throat to aid her breathing. 

Li Chuntao forced her legs to move forward until she was standing next to her sister's bed. Only the constant beeping sounds from the machines connected to Li Xiuying could be heard inside the room. She wished in her heart that this was just another dream, that none of these was happening. 

She didn't even notice Zheng Yue who stood from her seat when she burst inside the room. Her uncle arrived shortly after her and consoled his crying wife. 

"Ying…" Li Chuntao held her sister's cold hand. She noticed the dark discoloration on Li Xiuying's fingernails, indicating that she'd been submerged in the water for too long and had suffered asphyxia before she was rescued. 

This was certainly not the reunion she'd been looking forward to.. She certainly didn't expect to see Li Xiuying in a vegetative state. 

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