Lin Xun had already won five consecutive matches against four men and one beast. His stamina was severely depleted, and he had sustained numerous injuries.
Under these circumstances, his opening odds for the final match were exceptionally high. Most of the audience bet that he would undoubtedly lose, and some were even eager to see him beaten to death.
Yet Huo Tingxiao had said he would take him away.
Although he wasn’t clear about the reason—nor was he certain whether leaving midway meant the man had changed his mind—since Huo Tingxiao had said it, he would follow him without hesitation.
Therefore, he had to live.
Not only live, but win! He had to use this match to prove his worth, to prove he wasn’t a useless wreck who could only passively take a beating and needed saving.
Lin Xun dragged himself up from the pool of blood.
Every muscle and joint in his body ached; the sharper the pain, the more thrilled he became. Every nerve inside him was mobilized by adrenaline, clamoring to counterattack, clamoring to win!
At this moment, his self-preservation instincts were completely abandoned.
He neither dodged nor avoided any of the punches and kicks his enemies landed on him.
When his dagger was knocked away, he struck back with his bare fists; when one of his opponents picked up the dagger and slashed at him, he completely ignored it. Relying on a wild, fierce willingness to risk everything, he forced open a breach in the encirclement, seizing a narrow sliver of opportunity for himself.
He was fighting with bloodshot eyes. The hostility and ruthlessness bred from years of hustling on the streets were transmitted with stark clarity to the monitors by the high-definition cameras.
Manager Cheng of the club couldn’t help but applaud.
“Mr. Huo, see, I told you that you were overthinking it. With Lin Xun’s strength, handling these few people is more than enough.”
Saying that, he glanced at his side, half-joking and half-testing the waters, “If you ask me, having another match wouldn’t be a problem either.”
Huo Tingxiao was staring fixedly at the live match on the monitor. Upon hearing this, he sneered coldly, “Do you want to step up Manager Cheng?”
Manager Cheng gave a dry chuckle, wanting to make a joke to gloss over it, when a prolonged whistle echoed through the entire venue—the match was over.
On the monitor, Lin Xun lay flat on his back in a pool of blood with a dagger embedded in his shoulder, his chest heaving violently. The referee crouched down and raised his right arm to indicate victory.
“He won!”
After this single match, the club made a fortune.
Flushed with excitement, Manager Cheng laughed out loud, “Lin Xun really is top-tier material. To tell you the truth, if you hadn’t come to demand him in person, I definitely wouldn’t let him go, Mr. Huo.”
Huo Tingxiao didn’t take his favor, saying directly, “Hand over the document.”
Coming out of the monitoring room, crossing a chaotic hallway, and turning right, the medical room sat at the very end.
Though called a medical room, it was actually just a small single room partitioned off for the injured to rest and receive basic wound treatment.
When Huo Tingxiao pushed open the door to the medical room, Lin Xun was sitting on a stretcher bed, staring blankly down at a business card.
He was bare-chested, his chest and abdomen covered in dark bruises, with two pieces of gauze applied to his left shoulder, through which blood was faintly seeping out.
Seeing Huo Tingxiao, Lin Xun got off the bed immediately, awkwardly raising his hand to fix his hair, making sure the ends of his hair could cover the tattoo on his neck.
Huo Tingxiao walked over, took the business card from his hand, glanced at it, and asked, “Huo Cheng. Do you know him?”
Lin Xun shook his head.
In reality, he didn’t know how this business card ended up being stuffed into his hands either. It was probably tossed onto the stretcher alongside those flowers, stuffed dolls, and banknotes when he was carried off the ring.
“Since you don’t know him, should I throw it away for you?”
Huo Tingxiao thoughtfully asked for Lin Xun’s opinion.
Naturally, Lin Xun didn’t care and nodded obediently.
He shifted over to the medicine desk, grabbed a pen and paper, and bent over to write down a sentence before handing it to Huo Tingxiao to see.
He had written: I won.
Huo Tingxiao asked instead, “Why did you have to win?” He had told Lin Xun to finish that night’s match, but he hadn’t demanded that he must emerge victorious.
Lin Xun froze for a moment, then wrote seriously on the paper stroke by stroke: Wanted to prove that I am very strong.
As he bent over to write, Huo Tingxiao’s gaze naturally rested on his back.
Lin Xun’s shoulder blades stretched thin skin over them due to his posture, and the distinct joints of his spine extended downward, with thin yet resilient muscle lines tapering at his waist.
Lin Xun had dimples of Venus, except the area near them was currently covered in a daunting, dark blood stasis.
Huo Tingxiao’s gaze darkened slightly.
Having written that single line, Lin Xun felt a bit embarrassed after waiting for a response that was slow in coming. His penmanship turned unsteady and scrawled messily: Do you regret it?
Huo Tingxiao raised an eyebrow: “Regret what?”
Lin Xun crossed things out and scribbled, ultimately writing: You left mid-match
Huo Tingxiao didn’t answer directly, but instead handed him a document. Lin Xun looked closely; it was the liability waiver he had signed with Manager Cheng on the day he arrived at the Blackstone Club—essentially a “life-or-death contract” or a “deed of indenture.”
Huo Tingxiao said: “Don’t sign things like this so casually in the future.”
So he had gone to retrieve the agreement. Lin Xun’s mood brightened for a moment, only to sink again shortly after. He wrote on the paper: You don’t need to help me because of Scorpion. It has nothing to do with you
Before he could finish writing, Huo Tingxiao held down his pen and said: “You’re injured, so stop writing.”
Lin Xun still gently brushed his hand aside, adding a line after his previous sentence, “Wanted to prove that I am very strong”: I have the ability to protect you.
The moment he finished writing, he felt a bit of regret.
The two had exchanged blows in the stairwell that day, so this claim of “protection” seemed somewhat arrogant on his part.
Embarrassed, he tightened his grip on the penholder.
Huo Tingxiao stared at him intently for a few seconds and let out a soft chuckle: “Let’s leave first.”
Lin Xun tugged at his hem, then released it quickly. He pointed to the other end of the corridor and held up five fingers, wanting Huo Tingxiao to wait five minutes for him.
His phone, wallet, and clothes were still in the breakroom.
Huo Tingxiao said: “Go ahead. I’ll wait for you at the entrance.”
Returning to the breakroom, Lin Xun first wrung out a wet towel with one hand to wipe clean everywhere he could reach, then washed his hair twice with clean water before changing into fresh clothes.
He didn’t have many belongings; the most important ones were nothing more than a photograph and a watch.
Fearing he would keep Huo Tingxiao waiting,he raced against the clock, arriving at the exit in exactly five minutes.
At the club entrance, Huo Tingxiao was leaning against a black MPV, chatting with two young men dressed in casual attire.
Lin Xun had a slight impression of those two; he had seen them last time at the Peninsula Hotel, so they were likely close friends of Huo Tingxiao. In front of them, Huo Tingxiao’s posture could be described as relaxed, a gentle smile hovering on his face.
Lin Xun paused at the doorway, unsure whether he should walk over and interrupt them.
At that moment, Huo Tingxiao glanced over and hooked his finger at him.
Seeing this, Fu Xingchen and Duan Yang beside him stopped talking and looked toward him in unison.
Clutching his backpack tightly, Lin Xun limped over. Before he could decide how to greet them, Duan Yang enthusiastically stepped forward to meet him.
“We meet again! Do you still remember me?”
With one hand grabbing Lin Xun’s wrist and the other poking his own chest, he laughed: “The person who accidentally bumped into you at the Peninsula Hotel last time was me!”
Lin Xun nodded, clearly a bit overwhelmed by this kind of instant familiarity.
Huo Tingxiao opened the car door and patted Duan Yang on the shoulder, “Let’s go. This isn’t the place to chat.”
Duan Yang uttered an “Oh,” released Lin Xun’s hand, and got into the vehicle.
To keep a low profile, Huo Tingxiao, Fu Xingchen, and Duan Yang had arrived in a single vehicle, and he had instructed Ding Jun to select an MPV with an inconspicuous exterior.
The interior, however, had nothing to do with low-profile. The back space was exceptionally spacious, fitted with four individual first-class captain seats facing each other, with a mini-bar set up in the center.
Fu Xingchen walked around to the other side, getting into the car to sit face-to-face with Duan Yang.
Lin Xun intended to reach for the passenger door, but Huo Tingxiao lightly supported his lower back: “Get in.”
Lin Xun felt a wave of heat wash over his face. He sat down in the seat backing the front passenger side, placing his backpack with his clothes beside his feet.
His back was straight as a board, hands resting on his knees, and his hair was still damp, hanging in strands over his eyes and neck—making him look rather adorably flustered.
Huo Tingxiao found a clean handkerchief and handed it to him, saying: “Dry your hair.”
Lin Xun quickly accepted it.
Once the car smoothly merged onto the highway, Duan Yang leaned halfway forward again, excitedly pulling Lin Xun into a recap of that night’s match.
Since Lin Xun was unable to speak, the interior of the vehicle was temporarily filled with only Duan Yang’s ceaseless rambling, making even Fu Xingchen feel parched on his behalf.
“Take a break first and drink some water.”
Fu Xingchen pulled two bottles of mineral water from the mini-bar, handing them to Duan Yang and Lin Xun respectively.
Lin Xun accepted with both hands, nodding slightly to express his gratitude to Fu Xingchen. As he drew back his gaze, he shot a secretive glance across from him.
Huo Tingxiao was lounging with his legs crossed, resting his chin on one hand, quietly watching him.
Lin Xun hurriedly averted his eyes, unscrewed the bottle cap, and took a small sip. A few seconds later, unable to help himself, he cast a side glance back—only to collide straight with Huo Tingxiao’s eyes once again!
Not daring to steal another glance, he focused entirely on the tips of Huo Tingxiao’s shoes.
Although the space inside the car was sufficiently spacious—sitting face-to-face didn’t feel cramped in the slightest—Huo Tingxiao had long legs, placing the tips of his shoes very close to Lin Xun’s ankles.
A stretch of road in Downtown was less than smooth, so that gleaming black leather shoe, along with the ankle wrapped in a black sock beneath the suit pant leg, swayed gently before Lin Xun’s eyes with the movement of the car.
Lin Xun didn’t dare move carelessly. After watching for a while, somehow, his mouth felt a little dry.
He silently unscrewed the cap and drank nearly half the bottle of water.
Duan Yang stayed quiet for a short while, but seeing the familiar streetscape outside the car window, he couldn’t stand the silence any longer. He tapped the armrest of Lin Xun’s seat and asked, “Do you have relatives or friends here in Uptown? What are your plans next?”
Lin Xun froze for a moment.
He had assumed that when Huo Tingxiao told him to “leave with me,” it meant having him stay by his side as a bodyguard or an enforcer. Could it be… that wasn’t the case?
Thinking carefully about it, Huo Tingxiao indeed had not explicitly mentioned any arrangements for him.
Perhaps there were no arrangements at all; helping him leave the Blackstone Club and depart Downtown was already the absolute height of Huo Tingxiao’s kindness.
Recalling his self-flattering claim to “protect you,” Lin Xun’s face turned a pale mixture of blue and white, his grip tightening around the water bottle involuntarily.
At that moment, Huo Tingxiao suddenly spoke up: “He’s staying at my place.”
All three people in the car turned to look at him in unison.
The car made a turn into the next street, and the tip of Huo Tingxiao’s shoe swayed gently with the motion, unintentionally brushing past Lin Xun’s shin bone under the cover of the night.
He looked across at him, speaking in a feather-light tone.
“I need protection.”
[1]
【Author’s Note】
Duan Yang (stroking his chin): Makes sense.
Fu Xingchen (side-eyeing): …Flirt.
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References[+]
【Author’s Note】
Duan Yang (stroking his chin): Makes sense.
Fu Xingchen (side-eyeing): …Flirt.
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