The principle that three strikes are the limit can be applied to just about any situation.
The first time, when forced to choose between Ren Yao and Lu Pei, Yuan Que had chosen to help Lu Pei conceal the truth.
The second time, just before bringing down his blade to kill Lu Pei, Yuan Que had acted completely out of character by asking whether he had any last words.
The third time was now. Yuan Que could easily have walked away without another thought yet he had stopped at the staircase and turned around.
The instant Yuan Que looked back, Lu Pei knew that he had already become an exception.
Meanwhile, as Yuan Que gazed at the smiling face of the surface dweller before him, he felt a subtle sense of danger. A cold, prickling sensation crept along the back of his neck.
He ended his brief pause and instinctively quickened his pace.
“Yuan Que, wait for me!”
Lu Pei hurried after him, quickening his steps to catch up. Fortunately, there wasn’t much distance between them.
Lu Pei asked, “What did they say to you?”
Yuan Que replied, “You have no right to know.”
It seemed to be something related to work.
Thinking back to the one sided beating Yuan Que had suffered earlier, as well as the ease with which Zhou Zu had ordered him to eliminate Lu Pei, Lu Pei became increasingly certain that the work Yuan Que did for them consisted mostly of dirty jobs.
Yuan Que was one of Zhou Zu’s direct subordinates, assigned to the mining site. He wasn’t entirely under Brother Mammoth’s authority. His actual superior, Zhou Zu, didn’t visit the mine very often, which explained why the other underlings had dared to pick on Yuan Que in the first place.
Lu Pei asked, “Have you considered changing jobs?”
Yuan Que answered, “No.”
“Because you can never repay the debt you owe them?”
“What are you trying to say?”
“Why don’t you leave this place and come live outside with me? Just the two of us.”
This was the second time Lu Pei had brought up the idea.
The first time, he had proposed it under circumstances in which death was all but inevitable. As a result, his words had sounded entirely like a joke.
But now, he had effortlessly resolved the situation that had placed him under that supposed death sentence and despite everything that had changed, he was saying the exact same thing again.
Yuan Que could no longer dismiss the possibility that Lu Pei was at least somewhat serious.
Yuan Que asked, “Why me?”
“From the very first moment I saw you, I knew you were different from everyone else here.” Lu Pei answered honestly. “You’re incredibly capable and you’re very strong. I want you to protect me.”
“Work for the military?” Yuan Que let out a cold sneer. “I’m not interested.”
“That military insignia? I borrowed it from someone.” Lu Pei admitted it without the slightest concern. “I’ve never served in the military. I’m not some major general’s communications officer.”
Yuan Que’s brows immediately drew together.
The surface dweller had even managed to deceive Zhou Zu.
He wasn’t particularly surprised. From the very beginning, he had seen through the surface dweller’s honeyed words and clever rhetoric. Lu Pei was good at using carefully polished language to mislead others, so it was only natural that he would lie as well. There was nothing unexpected about it.
“Are you going to report me?” Lu Pei noticed his expression turn serious. “Because if you do, I’m finished.”
Yuan Que replied, “That has nothing to do with me.”
“Great! Looks like Brother Zu’s favor isn’t more important than the heavens themselves after all.”
Yuan Que fell silent.
“How much does he pay you?” Lu Pei asked. I’ll have to find an opportunity to squeeze some money out of Lu Xun. “I’ll pay you twice as much.”
Although Lu Pei didn’t think Yuan Que was the sort of person who cared much about money, offering a higher salary was the most basic way to demonstrate sincerity when trying to poach someone from another employer yet when Yuan Que heard his offer, his expression became difficult to describe, tinged with unmistakable mockery.
“You’re nothing but an endless stream of lies, surface dweller.”
“I tell the truth sometimes, too.”
“I don’t want any of your hypocritical promises.”
“Hmm…”
Lu Pei crushed the plastic cup in his hand and tossed it into the trash can. Following through with the motion of throwing it away, he clasped his hands behind his back, then began walking backward in front of Yuan Que, keeping his face turned toward him.
“Then how about I offer you the sincerity of someone who never stops telling lies? Would you be willing to accept that?”
Yuan Que was momentarily stunned.
For that brief instant, he looked almost like an innocent child, his expression so bewildered that it was nearly naive.
Then, in a voice twice as cold as before, with absolutely no room for negotiation, he answered without hesitation, “I don’t believe you.”
…….
Yuan Que quickened his pace and left Lu Pei behind. The two returned to the dormitory one after the other.
The moment Lu Pei stepped through the entrance, he caused quite a commotion.
Old Wu exclaimed, “Ruby?!!”
Anthony slapped down a pair of queens. “Ru… Huh?! Ruby?!!!”
“Holy shit!!” You Rulan was so startled that the cards fell right out of his hands. “Ruby, you actually came back alive?!”
The group immediately put down their cards and examined Lu Pei’s condition, confirming that he was, without a doubt, a living person.
“You… weren’t you summoned by Brother Mammoth?” Old Wu asked.
Lu Pei replied, “I went there and came back. What’s the problem?”
Anthony stammered, “Then… did you really push Ren Yao down the mountain?”
“Yeah but that’s a long story.”
You Rulan immediately urged him on. “Then make it short! Come on, tell us!”
Lu Pei said, “You’ll have to pay to hear the story.”
You Rulan protested, “What gives you the right to charge us?!”
Lu Pei pointed toward the mattress and sleeping mat propped upright against the window. With an expressionless face, he said, “You thought I wouldn’t make it back alive, so you were planning to reclaim my mattress and sell it again, weren’t you?”
“Oh, come on! I was just helping you air out your mattress. The sun was good today.” You Rulan wasn’t the least bit embarrassed at being exposed. Instead, he eagerly put Lu Pei’s mattress back in place. “Look at you, you don’t even have a pillow to sleep on! I’ll give you a new one! I’ll bring it up for you in a bit.”
Lu Pei gave a disdainful snort but graciously accepted the offer of a pillow. As You Rulan finished arranging the mattress and started spreading the sleeping mat over it, Lu Pei hurriedly stopped him. “Don’t touch my bedsheet! I’ll do it myself!”
Unlike Yuan Que, who would simply collapse onto his bed and fall asleep in his clothes, sometimes without even taking off his shoes, Lu Pei treated his sleeping mat as though it were a bedsheet. He wiped it down every night before going to sleep and only climbed into bed after taking a shower. He also made a point of hanging up his outer clothes and trousers, never allowing them to touch the surface of the mat.
Surface dwellers were just so delicate.
Yuan Que watched from the side, coldly observing Lu Pei’s excessive fussiness.
“What exactly happened? Come on, tell us about it!” You Rulan pressed.
“You want to hear a story?” Lu Pei picked up the popular science book beside his pillow and held it up. “How about I tell you about this instead?”
After Lu Pei had dodged the question twice, You Rulan finally stopped asking. He merely grinned and said, “Sure!”
“These few chapters mainly talk about snow.”
The moment Lu Pei began speaking, Yuan Que was immediately drawn into his storytelling. Leaning against the wardrobe, he listened silently without making a sound.
In the warm and sunny main city of the Sunlight District on the surface, artificial snowfall took place every year on December 31. It was an extravagant experience that obviously couldn’t be recreated in the underground district. All they could do was rely on Lu Pei’s descriptions to imagine what snow looked like and what it smelled like.
“When I was in school… the schools in the surface district had a kind of 5D reading device.” Lu Pei spoke with a hint of nostalgia. “When the text reached a word like ‘flower,’ the device’s nozzles would release the scent of flowers and when it came to something like ‘snow,’ it would emit a simulated scent of ice and snow. It was cool and refreshing.”
“Kids from the surface really do have it good.” You Rulan savored the thought, then asked, “Want to go take a shower?”
Lu Pei answered, “Let’s go.”
You Rulan said, “Meet you at the staircase.”
Lu Pei closed the book, then noticed Yuan Que’s expression.
It seemed that Yuan Que liked the stories he told.
With that thought in mind, Lu Pei opened the book again, found page 235 and pushed it toward Yuan Que. “This was my favorite section when I was a kid. I read it over and over again.”
The section described a little experiment called Antarctic Bubbles. By blowing bubbles in Antarctica, one could watch frost crystals gradually form across the surface of the soapy water. Lu Pei was convinced that Yuan Que would like it, too.
Yuan Que remained unmoved.
“I’m going to take a shower first,” Lu Pei said.
Only after Lu Pei had left the room did Yuan Que look toward the book. He reached out and straightened the page.
He didn’t recognize many written characters, so the title of the section looked like this to him: South Wood Bag Bag.
What did that even mean? An advertisement for a bag shop?
Yuan Que had grown irritated at the sight of written words over the past few days. He was just about to put the book aside when something suddenly occurred to him. He glanced toward the doorway first, making sure there was no sign of that particular person returning unexpectedly.
Then he lowered his head and quickly sniffed the illustration of the icy bubbles on the page.
There was absolutely nothing cool or refreshing about it. All he could smell was ink and dust.
The surface dweller was spouting nonsense again.
…….
Starting the following day, Lu Pei began enjoying the good life at the mining site.
Letting him off had been Zhou Zu’s decision and no matter how dissatisfied Brother Mammoth was, he couldn’t go against it. Besides, the young man had military connections. He couldn’t afford to offend him.
Brother Mammoth offered no explanation and decided to let the matter die down on its own. His underlings had no choice but to probe indirectly, asking, “Then… is Ruby one of our people from now on?”
“…You could say that,” Brother Mammoth replied. “Don’t give him a hard time.”
The underling sucked in a sharp breath.
Those four words, don’t give him a hard time, carried a terrifying amount of weight.
Lu Pei had nearly killed Brother Mammoth’s lover yet he could still be considered one of their own. Brother Mammoth had even warned them not to make trouble for him. Taking into account Zhou Zu’s visit the previous day, the underlings quickly pieced together what they considered a perfectly reasonable explanation.
Lu Pei was Brother Zu’s trusted subordinate. He was someone they absolutely could not lay a finger on. As for his beating Ren Yao, that must have been an order from Brother Zu himself, deliberately intended to teach Ren Yao a lesson.
The people who had been present in the office that day were all involved in the matter. Brother Mammoth said nothing, Yuan Que remained taciturn as always and Lu Pei was more than happy to let the misunderstanding continue.
Together, the three of them inadvertently helped the rumor spread. Overnight, Ruby Francis became the mining site’s very own YOU KNOW WHO.
But in truth, Lu Pei had only one thing on his mind.
“Can I ask Brother Mammoth’s cook to prepare special meals just for me, too?”
“No problem! Of course there’s no problem! I’ll arrange it immediately!” one of the underlings replied with an eager smile.
And just like that, Lu Pei began enjoying the luxury of ordering whatever he wanted in the cafeteria. Hand pulled noodles for breakfast, lamb chops and salad for lunch and three dishes plus a soup for dinner.
He was always dragging Yuan Que along to eat with him. This was the one thing Yuan Que would absolutely never refuse. Growing teenagers got hungry far too easily, after all and the cafeteria’s regular meals contained neither enough meat nor enough food to fill their stomachs.
“If you come away with me,” Lu Pei would say, seizing every opportunity to recruit him, “as long as I can get my hands on good food, I’ll never let you go without even a single bite. The benefits will definitely be much better than what you’re getting here…”
Yuan Que, however, had excellent table manners. He never indulged in pointless conversation with Lu Pei. He simply chewed, ate and refused to respond, leaving Lu Pei’s attempts to entice him with better prospects completely unanswered.
He was like a stray cat or dog that was perfectly happy to freeload off someone else’s food but wouldn’t even let them touch it. Completely heartless.
“Ugh, he’s ignoring me again,” Lu Pei lamented gloomily.
One of the underlings sitting nearby, who had been listening with his ears perked up, immediately leaned over with an ingratiating smile.
“Brother Ruby, are you getting bored? How about going to Red Light Street tonight to find some entertainment?”
Lu Pei replied, “I’ll pass.”
Another underling named Jeno leaned over. “Brother Ruby, want to see a magic trick?”
“What kind?”
“Look at him showing off again!”
“Brother Ruby, let Jeno show you what he’s got!”
The other underlings sitting nearby began egging him on.
Yuan Que lowered his eyelids. He was already familiar with the trick that was about to follow. It was a crude, boring little performance.
With such a clumsy technique, there was no way a surface dweller would be impressed.
Jeno first showed Lu Pei both sides of his empty hands, then casually wiggled four fingers. Suddenly, he flipped his palm over and five playing cards appeared.
Lu Pei exclaimed, “Wow!”
Jeno flipped his palm over again. There were another five cards in his right hand.
Lu Pei responded, “Whoa!”
Next, Jeno covered his mouth with both hands and began pulling an endless string of playing cards of different suits out of his mouth.
Lu Pei praised him enthusiastically. “That’s amazing! How did you do that?”
Yuan Que: “…”
He turned toward the surface dweller, his expression tinged with disbelief.
Yet Lu Pei was praising Jeno in such a warm, enthusiastic tone that he sounded as though he genuinely admired the performance. At the same time, however, his other hand was busy picking the strips of onion out of his plate. Compared with the crude magic trick, he was clearly much more concerned about his next bite of black pepper spaghetti.
Yuan Que’s mood turned strangely sour.
As expected, not a single word that came out of the surface dweller’s mouth was true.
After finishing his meal, he hurriedly left without paying any further attention to Lu Pei, who remained surrounded by the others.
Yuan Que was going to take a shower. He was accustomed to bathing in cold water when there were fewer people around, regardless of the temperature.
He first returned to the dormitory to collect his change of clothes. As it happened, someone carrying a gift box walked in at that moment.
It was Zuo Feng.
The underlings were always quick to read the wind and adjust their sails. As Ren Yao’s follower, Zuo Feng had previously offended Lu Pei, so he naturally needed to seize the opportunity to curry favor with him.
Zuo Feng asked, “Which bed belongs to Ruby?”
Yuan Que replied, “The one on your left.”
The passage between the four mattresses was narrow. After thinking for a moment, Zuo Feng decided that, to avoid any misunderstanding about the gift being intended for someone else, he would place the box at the foot of Lu Pei’s bed, directly on his sleeping mat.
The bottom of the gift box had not even touched the surface of Lu Pei’s mat when Yuan Que suddenly spoke.
“Don’t put it on the bed.”
Zuo Feng: “?”
Zuo Feng asked, “Why?”
Yuan Que suddenly fell silent.