The Rise of the White Lotus Chapter 285 – Hehe, did you miss me?

Two days later…

The day of Lexi’s class last product showcase finally arrived. Since the school was an international affiliate of a prestigious company in the same line, their last showcase was akin to a tradeshow; having businessmen and women to attend the event and even prospective investors to these new entrepreneurs.

Since Lexi and Nico were part of one team, they shared the same booth as each of their team members’ final product was displayed upfront.

Different types of skincare and cosmetics were displayed. Of course, since it was their last product showcase, each student had the permission to present their own formulations under the same category they picked such as creams, essential oils, serums, facial wash, and many more.

“Nico, your serum is really good.” Trying out the serum by dropping a single drop on the back of her hand, Lexi nodded as she smeared the serum and then sniffed its scent.

“It’s easy… I just added a rosehip and hyaluronic acid for a better result.” Nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders, Nico Zhuang actually doesn’t care if he could pass or not. He didn’t even care if someone would offer a partnership or buy his formulations because he was just there because he needed to protect Lexi— nothing more nothing less.

“Anyway, you’re under the category of facial wash right? I need to wash my hands.” Diverting her attention, Nico Zhuang looked for her display product and picked it up.

“You need to wash your hands, seriously?” Casting Nico Zhuang a ‘are you insulting me’ expression, Lexi arched her brows. Yet, Nico Zhuang was still able to drop a few drops of facial wash on his palms.

“Testing.” He raised his brows as he made a bubble on his hand. Despite the fact that Lexi and Nico Zhuang had this bodyguard slash classmate slash teammates relationship, Nico Zhuang still decided to set aside his bodyguard mode so as to not raise any suspicions around them.

“Good day to you, guys and girls!” Just then, Stella Du along with her lackeys approached their booth with a boastful sneer.

“I see, Mr. Zhuang is testing the facial wash for hands— pfft! Is it better use for hands instead of the face?” Ignoring the displeased front of Lexi’s other teammates just seeing her presence, Stella Du heartily laughed as she indirectly mocked the product of Lexi. Her lackeys behind her also giggled as if what she said was truly funny.

“Ms. Du, my hands are more important than my face so I only use trusted products since I use it to make my products as well.” Nico Zhuang only shook his head sideways as he went inside their booth and rinsed his hands in the sink.

“Huh,” Scoffing her displeasure for Nico Zhuang’s response just to defend her, Stella Du raised her brows as she thrusted her chin up while staring at Lexi who was unbothered since her arrival.

“Miss Yang, I really admire your skills! Not only are you good and have a good foundation for formulating products but also, manipulating people to speak for you!” This time, Stella Du’s remarks were unrestrained and rather loud that caught the attention of other people nearby.

“Huh?” At a loss, Lexi tilted her head to the side as she, for some reason, could not understand Stella Du’s yapping. She heard her speak her nonsense blabber earlier yet, Lexi didn’t pay attention to it as she regarded it as a waste of time and to save her brain cells from dying just trying to comprehend this unreasonable girl.

“Huh, whatever!” Oddly enough, Stella Du chose not to pick on Lexi anymore as she was rather in a good mood— waiting for a good show later. “Let’s go, ladies! We’ll have a good deal later.” Stella Du remarked as she turned her back against the confused group before she headed on her way with her lackeys.

“That Stella Du is indeed a miserable young miss!”

“Ill-mannered girl, tsk.”

“Tch, just because her family had been in this line of business for a long time— she thinks she’s better than anyone.”

“Don’t worry, Miss Yang. We had tried your product and it’s way better than that unreasonable brat.” One after another, Lexi’s group-mates spouted their dissatisfaction towards Stella Du and one meek lady cheered Lexi who was still under a huge question mark on what was happening.

“Ah? But, I am not competing with her.” Blinking her eyes numerous times, Lexi scanned her groupmate’s faces with a puzzled look plastered across her face.

She could not understand the hype as Lexi has another agenda which was establishing her own company and her products to prospect business partners. After all, she could not afford a grand launching anymore as she was low on cash. Hence, this would be the perfect chance to be her launch instead because she knew that investors and businessmen that were interested in the beauty industry would soon fill the venue.

*****

[Heavenly realm]

“No, no, Churu don’t leave me…” Lexi’s desperate pleas were the last words she heard. Even before opening her eyes as her soul returned to her original body, she could feel the torment in her heart… a much graver pain than her everyday angst.

“Welcome back, Alvah… or should I still call you Churu?” A gentle, a thousand times more soothing and harmonizing than Lillian Yang’s gentle voice reached her ear.

Without opening her eyes, the woman lying on a marble rectangular table slightly raised her scarred hand and slid it in the air a little— opening a space and then slid her hand inside before slowly retracting it with a pack of facial masks.

Magically, the packaging instantly vanished and only the facial mask itself was left on her much too scarred hand. She then placed it on her face but this time, she didn’t have to cut the mask to fit her small figure like back when she was a dumpling because the facial mask could perfectly fit her human-like facial build.

“Now it feels better…” She spoke under her breath before slowly opening her eyes to welcome the blinding light in this empty white space.

“How—” Just before the ethereal beauty that no one on earth could par with her blemish-free skin, long lashes, fleek brows, pointy nose, blonde curly hair, and a pair of blue orbs, she halted midway due to the sudden assault caused by the violent demon.

“Hehe, did you miss me?” Lifting the woman by her neck, her long clothing slid down, revealing bigger scars that touched every part of her skin. There seemed to not be any part left untouched as her scars could be seen on every part of her exposed skin including the gaps in between her fingers, her neck, even the tip of her toes were scarred.

An unfathomable blood desire then flashed across Alvah’s pair of silver eyes. Within a second, she snapped the woman’s neck with a devious smirk beneath the facial mask.