Fire-elemental energy could help him break through, but he was afraid Qin Wang would interfere.
So he wanted Qiao Xi to help hold Qin Wang back.
Li Chuan wasn’t weak by any means, and this guy in front of her might not even be a match for him.
At least Qiao Xi didn’t have much confidence in him.
“Do you have a sure shot at taking down Li Chuan?”
“Of course!”
That confident?
Qiao Xi raised an eyebrow. “How sure?”
The young man held up one hand. “Following my plan, at least fifty percent chance of killing him.”
Qiao Xi: …
What difference was there between fifty percent and walking to your death?
Qiao Xi couldn’t tell if he was bluffing.
But she didn’t outright refuse either.
She only said she needed to think it over.
The young man peeled open a candy and popped it into his mouth, his cheek bulging with the shape of the candy as he looked at her. “Then I’ll wait for you to decide. Same time tomorrow night, I’ll come find you.”
This guy had an innocent, naive look about him—it was hard to connect him with a man-eating monster just by appearance.
But not only did he eat people, he also skinned them.
Thinking of the Blood Corpse hanging under the big tree, Qiao Xi felt a chill run down her spine. She waved him off. “Go now, and be careful not to get spotted.”
“Oh, right,” the young man jumped down from the windowsill, then seemed to remember something and looked up at her. “My name is Xu Nuo.”
Xu Nuo?
“Yeah.”
The next morning, Qin Wang went to Jian’an Base again.
He said it was to pick up samples.
But when he came back, he hadn’t gotten the samples—he’d brought back a person instead.
Qiao Xi leaned against the doorframe, looking at Li Chuan with a half-smile. “We meet again.”
Her tone was clearly mocking, her expression seeming to ask, “How come you followed him here again?”
Facing her sarcasm, Li Chuan acted differently than usual. He didn’t show any irritation, nor did he respond. He just kept his head down and organized his backpack.
Treating Qiao Xi like air.
Qiao Xi sneered inwardly. She’d been looking for him, and here he was, delivering himself right to her door.
Qin Wang noticed Qiao Xi’s displeasure and was about to explain, but Qiao Xi had already turned and gone upstairs.
The samples they needed would take another two days to prepare, and coincidentally, their supplies were just about running low.
Qin Wang and Li Chuan agreed to go out and gather supplies tomorrow.
That night.
Qiao Xi’s window was tapped again.
She pulled open the curtain and saw Xu Nuo crouching outside like a dog, eyes bright as he looked at her.
“Sister, I’ll take you to see something fun.”
“What?”
“You’ll know when you see it.”
Xu Nuo beckoned for her to climb out the window.
Qiao Xi frowned. Wasn’t he supposed to be here to discuss their deal tonight?
Where was he taking her now?
And sneaking out the window in the middle of the night was really weird.
Qiao Xi stood on the windowsill, thinking silently.
Xu Nuo led the way. They descended to the second-floor exterior wall and walked a few more steps before Xu Nuo turned, winked at her, and pointed at a window ahead.
Based on the location, that should be Xia Manman’s room.
The window wasn’t closed. Qiao Xi leaned in to listen.
After a few seconds, she seemed to hear whimpering sounds.
Like someone crying, or gasping for breath…
To hear more clearly, she shuffled forward a few more steps.
Closer to the window, the sounds became clearer.
Moans and groans of an intimate nature drifted out of the window, accompanied by the creaking of bed boards rocking back and forth.
Judging by the commotion, things were getting pretty intense.
Xu Nuo was peeking through a gap in the curtains. Qiao Xi nudged him, signaling for him to move aside.
He looked reluctant, but he shuffled over anyway.
As Qiao Xi pinched the corner of the curtain, a thought suddenly flashed through her mind. The woman inside was undoubtedly Xia Manman, but who was the man?
Chen Zhiang or Li Chuan?
Or maybe… Qin Wang?
At that thought, Qiao Xi suddenly felt a nervousness she’d never experienced before.
While she was spacing out, a man’s voice sounded from inside. “Have you slept with Qin Wang?”
The man’s tone carried a hint of disdain and contempt.
Qiao Xi immediately recognized who it was.
She quietly lifted a corner to peek inside.
Clothes were strewn messily on the floor. On the bed, Xia Manman lay with her back to Li Chuan, her face buried in the pillow, panting as she replied, “Why bring him up all of a sudden?”
Li Chuan suddenly stopped moving.
Xia Manman turned back in confusion. “What’s wrong?”
“Answer my question.” Li Chuan’s voice was low.
Xia Manman didn’t respond.
“Are you going to say it or not?”
He suddenly thrust hard.
Xia Manman let out a whimper. “Easy…”
“Did you or didn’t you?”
“No, not once. Never.”
Li Chuan’s expression turned mocking. So she really was a piece of trash nobody wanted.
The faint sense of vanity he’d felt at cuckolding Qin Wang vanished completely in that moment.
The encounter ended faster than Qiao Xi had expected.
She’d been crouching there for less than ten minutes, and Li Chuan was already getting dressed.
Fast man.
She was about to pull back with a curl of her lip when she suddenly heard Li Chuan say something else.
“Put this in whatever Qin Wang eats.”
Qiao Xi immediately went on alert and looked back inside.
She saw Li Chuan holding a small bottle of clear liquid, impossible to tell what it was.
Xia Manman wrapped herself in the blanket and leaned against the headboard, staring at the thing in his hand with confusion. “What is this?”
“Don’t worry about it. Just do what I say.”
Qiao Xi watched Xia Manman take the bottle from his hand.
If she guessed correctly, whatever was in that bottle probably couldn’t kill Qin Wang directly—it would more likely strip him of his abilities.
It seemed Li Chuan couldn’t hold back any longer and was making his move against him.
Qiao Xi was just thinking about how to warn Qin Wang when she suddenly felt something brushing against her calf.
Looking down, she saw a slender hand.
That bastard Xu Nuo had hazy eyes and flushed cheeks.
He looked completely immersed in the ambiguous atmosphere from just moments ago.
Qiao Xi wanted to hit him, but as she raised her hand, she realized the commotion would alert the people inside.
So she kicked him instead.
The kick wasn’t hard—it was meant to snap him back to his senses.
But unexpectedly, the guy reacted too slowly and was kicked straight off the stairs.
A dull thud echoed out.
Li Chuan, who had been about to head out, immediately stopped in his tracks.
Realizing they’d been exposed, Qiao Xi abandoned any concern for Xu Nuo below and immediately grabbed the window ledge above, nimbly flipping herself up.
The moment she left, the curtain was yanked open.
Standing on the third-floor window ledge, Qiao Xi could still see the back of Li Chuan’s dark head—the two of them no more than two meters apart.
He was looking down below.
Xu Nuo was already gone from downstairs—that dog of a man had run off fast enough.
But there was no telling when he might turn his head and look up.
Qiao Xi’s entire body was tense as she fumbled behind her, trying to open the window without making too much noise.
A few seconds felt unbearably long. Finally, she managed to slip her fingers into the window gap and pry it open.
Li Chuan looked around but found nothing unusual.
His gaze landed on the window ledge, and something suddenly occurred to him. He leaned forward, tilting his head to look upward.
Qiao Xi had already gotten one foot through the window by then.
Just as Li Chuan was about to spot her, an arm wrapped around her waist and yanked her inside.
When Li Chuan looked over, he only saw the swaying curtain. No one was there.
He furrowed his brow. Where did they go?
Qiao Xi hadn’t even steadied herself after landing when she felt the world spin around her.
A few seconds later, the room tilted sideways in her vision, and beneath her was a soft bed.
Qin Wang pressed down on her, his upper body bare, his voice hoarse with just-woken sleepiness.
“What were you doing out there?”
“Stealing a man?”
Qiao Xi let out a hiss, squirming beneath him. “This question… can I answer it a little later?”
“Why?”
“I haven’t figured out what excuse to fob you off with yet.”
“Qiao Xi, you’re fucking asking for it!”