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Lin Xun smoked a cigarette in the stairwell.

He stood quietly for a while longer until the black Maybach downstairs exited the parking lot and drove out of sight before heading back to the private room.

Inside, the atmosphere was suffocatingly tense. The few lackeys guarding near the door kept their heads bowed, not daring to breathe loudly.

Scorpion stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window with his hands in his pockets, the glass reflecting his dark, overcast face.

Although he had squeezed out a sum of compensation, looking at the long-term gains, his losses and troubles were far beyond what this money could settle. Moreover, during the negotiation just now, he had actually been completely manipulated by a kid in his early twenties. If word got out, how could he ever show his face in the Lower District again?

He simply couldn’t swallow this humiliation.

Scorpion dismissed the rest of the crew, keeping only his second-in-command, Ao Yi, in the room.

Lin Xun stood motionless by the door. Instead, when Scorpion looked over, he took a step forward. He usually handled debt collection and field tasks very efficiently, so Scorpion preferred assigning missions to him.

This time, however, Scorpion waved a hand at him: “Your arm hasn’t healed yet, so it’s inconvenient. You sit this one out.”

Lin Xun had no choice but to step outside.

The private room was well-soundproofed; standing at the door, one couldn’t hear a single word of the conversation inside.

After a moment’s thought, Lin Xun went downstairs, endured the pain to tear off the splint on his left arm, and tossed it into the trash can. Biting down on a cigarette, he flexed his numb, aching left hand while waiting in the bushes beside the parking lot.

Before long, Ao Yi hurried out and got into a car.

Lin Xun extinguished his cigarette, put on his helmet, and followed at a distance on his secondhand Harley.

Ao Yi possessed some vigilance, but not much. After trailing him in secret for two days, Lin Xun had figured out his plan.

Given Huo Tingxiao’s status and the level of security around him, looking for trouble with him was no easy feat. A welcome banquet was scheduled for the weekend—a homecoming party hosted specifically for Huo Tingxiao by the Alliance Chamber of Commerce Chairman—which he was certain to attend.

This was a golden opportunity to get close to him.

Furthermore, private parties carried a low level of security, leaving plenty of loopholes to exploit.

Lin Xun wanted to warn Huo Tingxiao to stay safe, but he had no way of contacting the man.

Grit-toothed, he paid a visit to the Huo family’s Huansheng Building. However, meeting the CEO required an appointment a week in advance; stuttering and red-faced, he couldn’t squeeze out a single word.

Fearing that leaving a note would be brushed off as a prank, he decided to try his luck in the garage, hoping he might run into Huo Tingxiao’s vehicle. Instead, the first thing to arrive was security.

—Someone had recognized him by his silver-gray hair.

Before Lin Xun could type out an explanation, he was thrown out of the building and placed on the security department’s blacklist. If he ever approached again, the facial recognition surveillance system would automatically trigger an alarm to alert security personnel.

Lin Xun’s lips turned pale with anger.

……

In the blink of an eye, the weekend arrived. Hearing Ao Yi vow to Scorpion that he would definitely catch Huo Tingxiao off guard and draw blood, Lin Xun could no longer sit still.

The welcome party was held at the Peninsula Hotel in the Upper District. Located on an artificial island in the middle of a lake, surrounded by water with scenic views, the hotel was a famous photo-worthy landmark in the Upper District. Reaching the island required taking a boat from the shore, which took five minutes. The ferry terminal dedicated to shuttling guests had put up a sign early that weekend morning: Private Event, Closed to Visitors.

The terminal was crowded and chaotic, so Lin Xun chose to wait at the Fenglin Intersection one stop prior—a mandatory path for anyone taking a boat to the island.

Terrified of missing Huo Tingxiao, he waited from early morning, paying close attention to every luxury car that passed by. Around four in the afternoon, a white Bentley with the license plate UN111111 drove through the intersection, and Lin Xun instantly snapped to attention.

He put on his helmet and gave chase on his motorcycle.

Passing the Bentley quickly from the left side, Lin Xun glanced back to confirm—the driver was indeed Huo Tingxiao’s assistant, whom he had seen that day.

He slammed hard on the brakes and jerked the handlebars violently.

The tires shrieked against the asphalt road, and the motorcycle flipped onto its side, sliding several meters and spraying a trail of sparks. Lin Xun rolled several times before collapsing on the tarmac, a pain so sharp it felt as though his internal organs had shifted; for a moment, the dull interior of his helmet echoed only with his heavy, labored breathing.

A few seconds later, as his head cleared slightly, he tilted his head and saw the Bentley parked five meters behind him.

He exhaled a very light, slow breath.

Ding Jun opened the door and stepped out of the car. Seeing the rider in front had crashed, he wanted to call the police and an ambulance, only to see the helmeted man drag himself up with sheer willpower and wave a hand at him.

Then, the man limped toward the back door of the car.

“Hey! What are you doing!”

Ding Jun grabbed at him vigilantly. Lin Xun tried to dodge, but a sharp pain in his knee sent him stumbling forward, his palm instinctively pressing hard against the car window.

With a loud thud, the commotion sounded almost like a provocation.

Lin Xun immediately raised both hands, taking a step back to signal he was harmless.

Ding Jun reached out to grab him again, but at that moment, the car window rolled down a fraction, and Huo Tingxiao looked over with a level gaze.

It was a scrutinizing look packed with overwhelming pressure.

Lin Xun hurriedly turned sideways, pointing in the direction of the Peninsula Hotel, then crossed his arms and shook his head solemnly at the man.

Fearing his gesture wasn’t clear enough, he pulled a pre-written card from his coat pocket, intending to hand it over.

Only after glancing inside the car did Ding Jun let him pass.

Grasping the edges of the card with both hands, Lin Xun presented it toward the car window. Because he hadn’t taken off his helmet, the dark-tinted visor of his helmet clearly reflected Huo Tingxiao’s handsome face as he drew near.

He unconsciously held his breath.

Huo Tingxiao was slow to take it, so he cautiously pushed the card forward another two centimeters.

The man still didn’t budge.

Lin Xun raised his gaze hesitatingly.

Huo Tingxiao was staring straight at him.

From the looks of it, unless he offered a sufficient reason, he wasn’t going to reach out his hand.

In truth, Lin Xun could easily have tossed the card through the car window and walked away, but he couldn’t bring himself to do anything offensive to Huo Tingxiao.

The hand suspended in midair trembled imperceptibly before slowly pulling back.

He took off his helmet, revealing a pale face.

Because he hadn’t slept well while keeping watch these past few days, the dark circles under his eyes were heavy, and his lips lacked color. His long hair stuck messily and damply to his forehead and the side of his neck—he must look hideous right now. He lowered his head even further, handing the card over once more, revealing the side with writing to Huo Tingxiao.

Huo Tingxiao looked at him for a few seconds before finally taking it this time.

Lin Xun let out a sigh of relief, drawing back his hand to press down on the helmet tucked against his waist, and gave a polite nod toward the inside of the car. Without looking at Huo Tingxiao again, he turned to lift the nearly falling-apart Harley, quickly leaving the scene.

In the back seat of the car, Fu Xingchen, who had been sitting quietly beside him, tilted his head to glance at the card in Huo Tingxiao’s hand.

On it, two lines of large characters were written with a black ink pen: The banquet is dangerous. Scorpion is seeking revenge. Do not go.

The handwriting was neat and clear, stroke by stroke.

As if fearing it wasn’t obvious enough, the words “Do not go” had been traced over again and again with the pen, made bold and heavy for extreme emphasis.

Fu Xingchen glanced out the window with curiosity. “Did he just defect?”

“You know him?” Huo Tingxiao looked at him sideways.

“I’ve seen him once or twice. He hits hard in a fight and is quite famous around the Lower District, though it’s a bit of a shame,” Fu Xingchen said with a smile.

“A shame about what?”

“A shame he’s a mute.”

Fu Xingchen’s gaze fell back onto the card. “You met with Scorpion a few days ago, so you must have seen him then. What on earth happened that day for him to actually risk coming out to warn you about this?”

Huo Tingxiao picked up the card and glanced over both sides.

There was half a fresh, bloody thumbprint near the edge of the card. He wiped it away before speaking in an unhurried manner: “No impression.”

His cold, indifferent, and nonchalant voice transmitted through the messy noise straight into Lin Xun’s listening earbud.

Lin Xun was sitting on the curb, using a bottle of mineral water to rinse the scraped skin on his knees. Upon hearing those words, his hand trembled slightly, though he quickly steadied it.

His left arm was aching and sore; the unremoved stitches over the old injury on his elbow had torn open during the crash and were now oozing blood.

He pressed down on the wound, pulling away a loose thread from the stitches.

That relatively unfamiliar male voice sounded through the earbud once more. He heard the man ask Huo Tingxiao: “Either way, he’s passed the message to you. Are you going to take the favor?”

Lin Xun lightened his breathing.

Following a burst of rustling noise, a sharp electronic screech suddenly exploded inside his ear—the ultra-thin micro bug hidden in the card’s inner layer had been snapped in half.

With ringing echoing in his ears, his eardrum throbbed with a pain as if it had been pierced through.

Lin Xun immediately snatched off the earbud and waited several minutes before feeling slightly better.

He wiped his face awkwardly, put his helmet back on, mounted his motorcycle, and rode off toward the island’s dock.

In the western sky, the evening glow burned in vivid hues.

[1]

【Author’s Note】

Fu Xingchen gives a whole long analysis, finally asking “are you going to take the favor (qíng)?”

What Huo Tingxiao hears: affection/love (qíng).

Lin Xun: 0.0

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References[+]

【Author’s Note】

Fu Xingchen gives a whole long analysis, finally asking “are you going to take the favor (qíng)?”

What Huo Tingxiao hears: affection/love (qíng).

Lin Xun: 0.0

Secretly infatuated chapter 2