Zhao Yimin was not stupid. Seeing that although the man’s tone was lazy and casual, the vicious coldness in those eyes was enough to make one tremble with fear, he instantly realized that the line “I don’t fight, I just collect bodies” was absolutely not a joke meant to scare people casually.
Lingcheng was a place where the days were too short and the nights too long. Beneath the chaos hid far too many desperadoes and boundless sins, so much so that even gods and Buddhas would keep their distance.
When little devils encountered the King of Hell, getting beaten a few times was considered light punishment. If one lost their life by accident, even their parents would not be able to scrape together a mourning hall to cry in.
The rain fell steadily, drip by drip.
Xu Fangfei had none of the elegance of ancient poets. To her, those sounds did not resemble pearls falling onto a jade plate. Instead, they sounded more like death-knelling notes. The air of the rainy night was stifling, mixed with the smell of sweat and blood, pressing in until it was almost impossible to breathe.
Against the wall opposite, Zhao Yimin’s former arrogance was thoroughly extinguished, gone without a trace.
He trembled and shrank back. The knotted muscles on his body turned soft and weak as he begged repeatedly toward the man in front of him. “I’m sorry, I know I was wrong, brother. I really know I was wrong. I’m fucking filthy. I’m fucking a beast. I’m fucking worse than an animal. Just treat me like a fart and let me go, blast me away and let me go!”
The young man looked down coldly at the pleading Zhao Yimin. When he spoke, his tone was very flat. “Did they take anything from you?”
Xu Fangfei did not react in time.
The man waited a few seconds. When there was no response from behind him, he raised his brows slightly and turned his head to the side.
The streetlight was dim and heavy. Raindrops soaked a few strands of black hair at the man’s forehead and slid down along the lines of his features, leaving several trails of water on that handsome yet wild face.
Two dark eyes cast their gaze, indifferent and unrestrained. For the first time that night, they landed on the girl in a school uniform.
A few steps away, Xu Fangfei was also looking at him.
When her eyes suddenly met his, her chest jolted, and she felt an inexplicable panic.
Not daring to meet his gaze, Xu Fangfei lowered her eyes in a hurry. Only then did she belatedly realize that his earlier question had been directed at her.
Xu Fangfei was terrified. She bit her lip and shook her head to indicate no.
The young man then withdrew his gaze and tossed five words at the half-dead Zhao Yimin. “Apologize to her.”
At the brink of life and death, Zhao Yimin no longer cared about pride or face. Ignoring the fact that his group of lackeys was watching helplessly, he scrambled up, pressed his palms together, and bowed toward Xu Fangfei several times like someone worshipping a Bodhisattva in a temple. He said as he bowed, “Classmate, I’m sorry. I was wrong. I’ll never dare to have designs on you again. I’m sorry, I’m sorry… Please be magnanimous and spare a nobody like me. Let me off. Please let me off!”
Xu Fangfei did not want to look at that disgusting face at all. She turned her head away in revulsion.
A moment later, the young man asked calmly, “Do you want me to help you call the police?”
Hearing this, Xu Fangfei thought about it and still shook her head.
This Zhao Yimin fought, caused trouble, and bullied classmates. There was nothing he had not done. Going to the police station was like going home for him. He was a minor, sheltered by the Juvenile Protection Law. Each time he went in, at most, he would receive verbal education and be detained for a few days. There was no real meaning to it.
If the police were alerted, she would definitely be called in to cooperate and give a statement. If her mother and grandfather found out, it would only make them worry.
Hearing this, Zhao Yimin endured the pain and forced out a flattering smile, speaking ingratiatingly. “Brother, since she said she won’t call the police to arrest me, then can I…”
“Get lost.”
“Y-yes, yes! I’ll get lost right away!”
As if granted amnesty, Zhao Yimin covered his still-bleeding forehead and turned to run. The few small-time lackeys behind him also hurriedly fled after him.
The sound of footsteps faded into the distance until it disappeared.
Before long, the alley returned to deathly silence. The night rain washed down the blood from where Zhao Yimin had smashed his head against the wall. Bloodwater and rainwater mixed together into a single stream and flowed along the downward slope into the foul gutter beside it.
Xu Fangfei braced her hand against the wall behind her and tried to stand up from the ground. However, the moment she put strength into her leg, a piercing pain shot through her ankle.
It seemed she had twisted it.
Caught off guard, Xu Fangfei’s slender body swayed in pain, and she almost fell.
In the blink of an eye, a force lightly supported her.
Xu Fangfei froze and shifted her gaze slightly to look over. The hand gripping her wrist had very fair skin and long, well-defined finger bones. Each fingernail was neatly trimmed and clean. On the back of the hand, an old bullet scar could be faintly seen.
The touch was strong, carrying a hint of roughness, forming a stark contrast with the smooth delicacy of her skin.
Like the thin calluses on a man’s palm.
As if guided by some unseen force, the image of the bloodstains on the door handle of 3206 surfaced in Xu Fangfei’s mind.
Her heart tightened sharply. The skin he touched burned as if on fire. She moved her shoulder slightly to avoid his hand and shifted her gaze away. With her head lowered, the word “thank you” stuck in her throat, and no matter how long she tried, she could not force it out.
She could not speak, but a few lightly tossed words came from above her head instead, carrying a trace of barely perceptible interest. “You’re Xu Fangfei?”
Xu Fangfei: “……”
Xu Fangfei lifted her head in shock, her eyes unable to hide their surprise and wariness.
At such close distance, she realized just how tall he really was. She was over one meter sixty tall, already not short among southern girls, yet the top of her head only reached his chest.
After hesitating for a while, Xu Fangfei gathered her courage and asked in return, “How do you know my name?”
After confirming it, the man lifted his arm and casually tossed something to her.
Xu Fangfei instinctively caught it against her chest. When she looked down at it in her hands, she was even more shocked. It was her missing campus card.
It had actually been picked up by the person from 3206.
She frowned slightly. Before she had time to think through how this had happened, she heard the man from 3206 speak again, his tone flat. “Are you a local from Lingcheng?”
Xu Fangfei did not know why he was asking this, nor did she dare to lie to him. She could only nod hesitantly.
“If you’re a Lingcheng local, then you should understand the rules.”
After saying this, Xu Fangfei frowned and saw 3206 bend down in the rain and move a little closer to her. Then he hooked his lips and actually revealed a lazy yet gloomy, teasing smile. His words mixed with the sound of raindrops, buried into the gray night, yet drilled clearly into her ears.
“Hear nothing and treat it as unheard. See nothing and treat it as unseen. Don’t say what shouldn’t be said. Don’t meddle in what shouldn’t be meddled with. Little brat, be good and remember this rule firmly.”
*
Xu Fangfei quickly understood that 3206’s appearance in this alley tonight was neither a coincidence nor an act of kindness to return her campus card.
His purpose was to warn her to keep her mouth shut and not tell anyone about what she had seen that day, the bloodstains.
Facing 3206’s enlarged face at such close distance, Xu Fangfei fell silent for two seconds. She did not speak. She merely leaned back and took two steps aside, quietly widening the distance between them.
To be honest with herself, 3206 was truly good-looking. It was the kind of face born for rosemary-scented nights and deep darkness, with contours that were both heroic and bandit-like, paired, by unfortunate coincidence, with a pair of amorous, soul-stealing eyes. He was destined to enjoy tenderness and equally destined to be wild and untamable. His gaze was light and unrestrained, yet not obscene, not the kind that repulsed people.
But for reasons she could not explain, he frightened her.
This feeling was completely different from the disgust and fear she felt when facing Zhao Yimin and his group.
Even the most ordinary glance, the smallest movement, or even if he said nothing and did nothing at all, just standing there alone was enough to make one feel shaken to the core.
Xu Fangfei did not want to have anything to do with 3206. She turned around and left on her own, one hand gripping the strap of her backpack tightly on her shoulder, the other bracing against the mottled wall of the alley, limping away step by step.
The entire way, she never once looked back.
She did not know where 3206 went afterward, nor did she care about his destination. She only quickened her pace, wanting to get home as soon as possible.
Just then, several tall men walked out from No. 9 Courtyard on Xiwang Street.
Xu Fangfei had her head lowered, her thoughts in a mess. Not paying attention, she almost collided head-on with one of them.
“Hey!” The man, sporting a head of glaring yellow-dyed hair, jumped up and let out an exaggerated shout, teasing her. “Little sister, watch where you’re going. You almost stepped on me. What, got your eye on big brother and trying to strike up a conversation?”
Xu Fangfei was extremely embarrassed and hurried to apologize. “Sorry, sorry.”
A fat man beside him saw how fair and pretty Xu Fangfei was. His shifty eyes instantly went wide as he stared her up and down repeatedly, practically drooling.
Xu Fangfei tried to go around the yellow-haired man and move forward, but another man with a nose ring blocked her path.
She began to panic. Just as she was about to say something, she saw all of their gazes suddenly shift in unison toward something behind her.
Immediately after, their expressions subtly changed. Their faces turned respectful, all showing deep apprehension. One scratched his head, another looked up at the sky, and obediently, they made way for her.
Enduring the pain in her ankle, Xu Fangfei hurried forward.
Only after she entered the entrance of her building did she dare to quietly press against the doorframe and secretly look in the direction they had been watching. With just one glance, her gaze changed.
It was that man.
His face was expressionless, his gaze cold. He had been following behind her silently all along.
Was he… protecting her?
Xu Fangfei’s expression tightened slightly. She hesitated for a moment, but in the end, she pressed her lips together, swallowed the words “thank you” back down, withdrew her gaze, and turned away.
*
“Brother Ye.”
The group greeted respectfully. A man in a jacket pulled out a cigarette and eagerly handed it over.
Zheng Xiye took the cigarette and casually put it in his mouth. The man with the nose ring immediately held up a lighter and lit it for him.
“Boss, where did you go?” the fat man asked with a fawning grin. “The brothers have been waiting for you for ages.”
Someone chimed in, laughing. “Did you go have some fun? Who doesn’t know Young Master Jiang can’t live a day without women. Brother Ye lives with him, listening to that dry-fire passion every day. Any man would be driven crazy.”
Bursts of laughter rang out.
Zheng Xiye did not respond. He bit down on the cigarette and walked straight toward Unit Two, Building Three.
Behind him, the men continued talking. One of them laughed lewdly. “Didn’t expect this shithole to have hidden treasures. Tsk, that little girl just now was pretty good. Wearing a school uniform, only in her teens, tender as hell. If there were a chance…”
Before he could finish speaking, Zheng Xiye’s steps came to an abrupt stop.
The few men following behind did not know why, but they also stopped and fell silent at the same time.
Zheng Xiye’s face was expressionless. In his mind appeared the image of the girl curled up against the wall earlier. Slender and delicate, her face snow-white, like a small gardenia in full summer bloom, growing amid chaos and shadowed fog.
A moment later, he turned his head. The fingers holding the cigarette tapped lightly in the air once. He spoke to them in a lazy tone that nonetheless sent a chill through everyone present.
“Take it easy. Don’t fucking bring trouble to me.”