Chapter 22

The incident happened suddenly and the possibility of perfect dodge was very slim.

Pei Huai raised his hand to block the blade, causing it to deviate from its original trajectory, leaving a bloody mark on the back of his hand. It wasn't deep.

The opponent hadn't expected him to counterattack head-on, and hesitantly retreated half a step. Pei Huai didn't hesitate, and with his five fingers together, he struck the wrist bone with a knife, and the knife fell to the ground with a clang.

She gripped the back of his neck with one hand, pushed her knees into his spine, lowered her weight, and straddled the man's back. With a swipe of her boot, she kicked the knife away and, in one smooth motion, turned on the light.

The first thing that caught my eye was a man in a blue uniform, fully equipped with a hat, gloves, and insulated shoes. Judging from his attire, he was a maintenance worker.

Pei Huai took off his hat and observed him closely, seeming a little surprised: the attacker looked surprisingly young, a college student, with features that could barely be considered delicate. Suddenly, he remembered that the property management had recently dispatched a maintenance worker to inspect the voice-activated lights on this floor.

He had not met this man many times, so he did not have a deep impression of him.

"Who are you?" Pei Huai bent one of his fingers to 90 degrees, keeping the bone on the edge of dislocation.

"I gave up all my job opportunities just to be close to you—but you threw away all the gifts I gave you, all of them!" The man didn't hear Pei Huai's ultimatum clearly. He twisted his body like crazy, his eyes bloodshot. "Why did you treat me like this? Why, why did you bring another man home? You never did this before!"

"You're not qualified to ask questions." With a click, Pei Huai broke off half of his index finger without blinking, and spoke clearly, "Answer me. How did you find this place?"

The other person's vision went black in pain, and he gasped several times. "...hiss, huh, brother, you probably don't know, but there are quite a few local groups related to you nearby, and there are albums full of photos. To find you, I specially saved them in a folder, and didn't miss a single one. With a little analysis, I can quickly confirm your coordinates. If I ask a few more people, the range will be..."

"Okay."

The lukewarm response was like a bucket of cold water poured over his head. The attacker's heart ached, and his physical resistance reached a peak in an instant. He twisted his upper body, his waist and legs trembling violently, and in his struggle, several severed fingers blurred into a blur of blood and flesh.

Pei Huai said nothing. He dislocated his arm in two moves and began to search him from head to toe.

When her hand moved to his waistband, a strange joy suddenly blossomed on that ferocious face. "I've been watching you, always, always... Brother, you're so handsome, just like the nimble and graceful snow leopards in documentaries. Every inch of your fur is beautiful and glowing, and there's not a single ligament or muscle that's superfluous. Especially... when you look down at people, I have wet dreams every night."

He was breathing heavily, his eyes filled with crazy and twisted fascination.

"Before, on the way home from school, those second-grade students stole my wallet and phone. They pointed at my lock screen and asked me who I was. I said you were dating me. But no one believed me, brother. How could they question our relationship—"

Pei Huai searched his right pocket and pulled out a brush hook. He ran his fingertips over the raised surface, realizing it could easily pick a pin lock. Pei Huai raised his hand and slapped him, then grabbed his hair and slammed him against the corner of the bench several times.

"Where are you from?"

A cold question.

The man simply nudged the mucous membrane with his tongue. Blood streamed from his forehead, but his face was flushed like a drunk. "I took it from the workshop. The guards here didn't even notice it when they checked. Brother, doesn't this prove our fate? Doesn't it prove that I'm more suitable for you than that guy?"

Pei Huai didn't say a word, just grabbed the back of his collar and dragged him downstairs. His hoarse roar echoed in the stairwell.

"That man actually dared to tell me not to get close to you. He even lied and said you were dating. How could you possibly be?" He kicked his legs in vain under Pei Huai's arms. "How could you possibly be dating someone like that?"

Pei Huai relaxed his brows slightly in agreement.

The mouth continued to spout, "Isn't he ashamed to be standing next to you? How dare he call himself your boyfriend? He doesn't even take a piss and look at himself. He's just a toad wanting to eat swan meat all day long."

The intruder was later restrained on a chair in the back room of the security office.

Pei Huai briefly described the situation to prevent the security guard from calling the police. He explained that his company had a specific procedure for handling the situation. The young security guard had been on the job for less than two weeks, and this was his first time seeing such a large-scale incident. The combination of a stalker and a knife-wielding attacker frightened him, and he was then led away by Pei Huai's words.

As for the security blunder, he couldn't shirk his responsibility, but if the tenant could really make a small mistake, that would be exactly what he wanted.

Nearly half an hour after contacting the Bangkok hotel, Xiang Mingqi was brought downstairs by the head of the legal department. Without even changing his coat, he rushed into the security room, his face filled with unconcealable anxiety.

"Brother, are you hurt? Does it hurt anywhere?" He was almost out of control, causing his subsequent series of actions to be somewhat unreasonable.

He strode forward and grabbed Pei Huai's wrist and brought him close.

One glance wasn't enough; he had to carefully check every seam and every tendon several times.

Pei Huai's eyes half-closed, suddenly aware of his immense strength, the pain in his wrist. He feared it would take some effort to break free. Unfortunately, the latter had no time to consider his thoughts, holding up his other hand. His gaze traced the gaps between his fingers, and the next second, he felt the wound on the back of his hand suddenly hurt.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

"Can I go inside and take a look?" Xiang Mingqi let go of his hand and gave his senior a stiff smile.

"No need." Pei Huai's phone beeped twice, and he lowered his head to check the text message from the legal department. "The company will handle it."

"He hurt your hand."

"It's not a big deal."

"—he hurt your hand."

"I said..."

"But he fucking hurt your hand!" The sudden curse was both angry and intimidating, and the surroundings fell silent for a moment. Pei Huai had no choice but to look up at him.

Facing a harmless smiling face.

Xiang Mingqi was still smiling, but this smile made people feel uneasy from the bottom of their hearts: "I'm sorry, I said bad words. Just let me in for a minute, please, brother."

"Don't cause trouble." Pei Huai had originally wanted to chase him away, so he waved his hand in agreement. After the latter walked in with a smile on his face, Pei Huai went to check the details with the security guard again.

He always cares about the gift that person gave him.

"He always brings me a bouquet of flowers. Didn't you notice that during security?"

"Flower? How big is it?"

"A typical bouquet size."

"I've never seen him take any. The tool bag he carries is limited in space, so there's no way such a large bouquet could fit. I did catch a glimpse of him before, and every time he came, he always brought a love letter," the guard said, scratching his cheek. "Anyway, I used to think he was quite pitiful. He was bullied in college and didn't even finish his studies. I never thought he was this kind of person."

"etc."

"Um?"

"You said he gave it to me..." Pei Huai faintly smelled something wrong, "It wasn't flowers?"

As if to confirm his suspicions, a sudden crash of something heavy came from the inner room, as if something had hit the wall and shattered into pieces. Then, there was the wail of the back door being smashed apart.

***

As darkness swept across the coastline, a crescent-shaped coastal path had yet to take shape. Construction had recently begun along the coast, with plans to complete a north-south bridge by the end of the year. A "Do Not Enter" sign still hung at the entrance to the construction site.

Therefore, this road is rarely traveled.

Chen Ping ran as fast as he could, desperately heading east—he wanted to shake off the figure behind him. But no matter how fast he sped up or how he turned, he couldn't shake off the stubborn shadow.

"What the hell are you trying to do?!" Chen Ping was exhausted from running, gasping for breath. The fishy smell in his throat made him lose the courage to continue. He turned around and saw that the other party had also slowed down as if in amusement.

He knew this man. This man was the one who opened the door and looked down at him condescendingly when he bent down to put the envelope in. He even picked up the letter on the ground and read it word by word, tearing it up while asking, "What do you want from my brother?"

Under the street light, Xiang Mingqi just stared at him mockingly.

"It's you who's been obstructing me. It's you who's preventing him from receiving my love. It's all you who's been obstructing me." Chen Ping was frightened by him and took a few steps back like a frightened bird. "What do you want now?"

"I did that before." Xiang Mingqi stroked his chin and tilted his head, as if thinking. "Why, you don't accept it?"

"So is it wrong for me to go find him myself?"

"There's really nothing wrong with that—you thought I'd say that?" Xiang Mingqi put one hand in his trouser pocket and stood lazily. "Originally, you were wandering in front of the door like a scoundrel, licking the ashes on the ground when you were hungry. This really has nothing to do with me."

He walked closer, and closer, until the half-lit, half-dark figure reached the intersection of light and shadow. The upper half of his face was immersed in deep shadow, and his eyes were so dark that there was no light at all.

"But you want to kill him." Xiang Mingqi rushed over, his voice almost a growl, "You actually want to kill him?" He reached out and grabbed Chen Ping's hair, kicked him down, and hummed a song as he crushed his bloody face to the ground, "Coward, you dare not provoke me, but you only want to attack him."

"That's all because of you—"

Xiang Mingqi sneered and snapped his fingers, leaning closer: "If you want to compete for favor, then compete for it. There's no need to use such tricks, right?"

"Let go, cough, cough, let go!"

"Do you want me to dig out your eyes? When my brother and I are kissing, dating, and sleeping together, I will kindly place you by the bed." He grabbed Chen Ping's collar and held him in front of him, whispering the rest of the sentence, "I will let you watch us forever, forever, forever."

"you!"

"I love him." Xiang Mingqi grabbed his neck, his fingers slowly tightened, the love in his eyes was so passionate that it was about to burn, "I love him. For his favor, I can do anything. So-"

"How dare you let him get hurt."

The author has something to say:

[1] The legal department of the Bangkok Hotel is a physical enforcement department, you know.