Chapter 269 Prologue: Lone Snake
"Sign it, niece," said Uncle Lucas.
Velvet stared out the car window in a daze.
Two hours ago, the sky was clear, but now it was pitch black, with not a ray of light in sight. The weather forecast said the coldest front in five years would make landfall today, with torrential rain expected for three days starting tonight. Many businesses closed early, students left school early, and even taxis stopped running. Everyone was rushing home, and the delivery drivers, still making deliveries, pulled their hats down and hurried away, clutching their takeout boxes.
Velvet was still sitting in the car, having just attended her father's funeral.
Halfway back home, Uncle Lucas impatiently stopped the car and placed a contract he had prepared in front of her. Men in suits were waiting around the Cadillac, forming an impassable wall with their pistols and daggers.
"Father wouldn't do this," Velvet thought. "Father never resorted to such ostentatious tactics. He was patient with everything. When he wanted something, he would talk about it, and he never asked for something that didn't belong to him."
But Lucas is not such a man, he is stupid, short-sighted, and relies on brute force to solve problems. He is used to being a domineering thug. Now he wants to be a domineering boss. The only man who can stop him lies in a coffin with a fist-sized blood hole in his chest.
"Don't be hard on yourself. This isn't something you should be carrying." Lucas smiled. "Aliens, arms, blood alliances... business... you don't really want to deal with these. They're like a giant, bloody monster. If you get too close, they'll crush you to pieces from the inside out."
"I'll help you with this," Lucas said. "Tell me, sign, and you'll be free. I promise your life will be just as good as it was before."
The contract was branded with a blood-red crest, recording the various terms governing the transfer of the family's rights. No country's laws would recognize the signature of an eleven-year-old, but the Blood Alliance would recognize this contract. There were no laws, only force and blood.
“No,” Velvet said.
Lucas sighed dramatically. He pulled out a beautiful pistol, a 1986 Beretta M92F with a modified, white ivory handle. It was a tried-and-tested gun, chambered for 18 rounds and capable of reliably hitting an enemy's vital points from 50 meters away.
Velvet knew this weapon well; it was her father's favorite. Many times, his father would rub the handle with his thumb while telling her stories about his service in the Marines. Retired officers were forbidden from taking their service pistols out of the military, but her father always found a way. As he told his stories, his snake, the woman with the light eyebrows, would chuckle beside him.
Now his snake was dead, and Lucas held his beloved gun, pointed at his daughter.
"Little niece," Lucas waved the gun, "don't push me too hard."
Velvet just stubbornly repeated, "No."
Lucas sighed again. To outsiders, it was an unbelievable scene: he was a gangster killer with blood on his hands, and sitting next to him was just a little girl in a black dress. But he had no other choice. The secret of the head of the family could only ever be known by one person, and that secret had been passed on to Velvet. Even if he could effectively control all the family wealth, without knowing the secret, he would never be recognized as the "head of the family" by the Blood Alliance.
Lucas suddenly smiled, a smile like a thick python's tongue. He grabbed the contract and slowly tore it into pieces.
"You know what, Velvet?" His eyes were filled with a vindictive pleasure. "Actually, I don't care about the Blood Alliance at all. Being away from the aliens is what I want most. Let the noble alliance worry about it. This worldly money is enough for me."
"So whether you tell me or not, it doesn't mean anything to me." Lucas was delighted. He put the muzzle of the gun to the girl's forehead. "I just want to see the despair on your face when you know the truth."
Did she look desperate now? Perhaps she thought she was hiding it well, but Lucas's eyes had already revealed her fear and sorrow. Velvet was unaware of reality; there was no mirror before her. With a last shred of pride, she raised her head, staring directly at the muzzle of the gun and the gloomy sky beyond.
The girl's pupils suddenly contracted, and Lucas sneered and turned on the safety. At this time, there was a knock on the window.
What news disturbed him at this moment?
Lucas turned his head and saw that it wasn't one of his men outside the window. Instead, a delivery man in a baseball cap was leaning over to knock on the window, a pizza box tucked under his arm.
He asked through the window, "Excuse me, sir, is this the pizza you ordered?"
“What?” Lucas clicked his tongue irritably. “I didn’t—”
Lucas froze. The car was completely guarded by his men, not even a fly could get in. Why was this damn courier here? There was no reason for him to be anywhere near this car!
At this moment, the courier knocked on the window again, his knuckles piercing the bulletproof glass as easily as through a piece of paper. The entire glass surface shattered instantly, and the hand pushed through the countless fragments, strangling Lucas and smashing his Adam's apple against the broken window!
"ah--!!!"
Lucas howled, the sudden trauma making his cry sound like a ridiculous duck. He couldn't see the courier's face clearly, his head was stuck on the edge of the car window, and the glass shards were forced to pierce his throat.
Through his restricted vision, he saw the men in suits falling to the ground. In just a few minutes, all his men were killed. He didn't even hear a sound!
“You… dare…”
He was speechless, his mouth filled with blood and pain. He pulled out his gun, trying to threaten the man, but Velvet gripped the barrel tightly, preventing him from moving. The courier lashed out at his wrist, causing the gun to release, allowing Velvet to grab it.
The courier pressed down on his head and pulled, his strength reminding Lucas of a biblical giant. The Cadillac's door was ripped open, and the remaining glass, like a rusty paper cutter, slowly cut open Lucas's throat.
The courier let go, and Velvet looked up hastily. Lucas lay on the ground like a bug, blood oozing from his bright red wound, washed away by the rain that finally arrived.
Lucas is dead.
The courier climbed into the car and closed the door. The latch had been damaged from his earlier violent opening, and no matter how hard he tried, he wouldn't tighten. With a relentless spirit, he tried three or four more times until, with a thud, the door finally closed successfully.
Velvet thought he had embedded the door into the car body.
"It's a really good car." The courier said with satisfaction, not knowing what was so good about it.
He expertly started the engine, and the windshield wipers swung, turning the road ahead into a vast expanse of white. Starting at 80 mph, the strong wind blew rain into the car, splattering it along with shards of glass onto Velvet's black dress.
"Do you want pizza?" he asked again.
Without even touching the steering wheel, he opened the takeout box with one hand. Inside was a 12-inch pizza, roughly cut into six slices. He grabbed a slice and handed it to Velvet.
“Try it, it’s delicious.”
She took the pizza, which was too big for her. The crust was piled high with cheese, potatoes, bacon, and a generous smear of mayonnaise. It was cheap, American-style fast food, the kind Italians despised. She lifted it up with both hands and took a small bite. Surprisingly, it was still warm in the cold, the semi-melted cheese flowing down into her stomach, warming it.
“It’s delicious,” Velvet said. “Thank you.”
"I bought this because I knew it was delicious." The delivery man seemed very proud. "Of course that idiot didn't order takeout, because this is my dinner!"
Velvet laughed. It took her a moment to realize she was crying. Tears streamed down her cheeks, melting into her dress, stained by the wind and rain. The courier took off his cap and tossed it onto the backseat. He reached out as if to shield Velvet from the rain, but the raindrops continued to dance through the small gaps between his fingers.
It was then that Velvet realized that he was actually a very young man, with black hair messy in the wind and a relaxed smile on his particularly childish face.
No, he was more than young; he looked like a kid just like me. It was only because he was wearing a baggy delivery jacket that people mistakenly thought he was a small young man.
"...Do you have a driver's license?" she asked mysteriously.
"Do you need to take a 'speaking photo' test before you speak?" The boy looked sideways at her.
"No, but..."
"No, but." The boy whistled. "A person's ability is proven through actions, not external things."
His English was strange, each word sung with a different accent, as if he'd plucked words from different people to form a sentence. He slowed down as he spoke, and the wind and rain that pounded into the car lessened. He stopped at a red light and ate his second slice of pizza. Velvet was surprised that he was still obeying traffic rules.
"It's raining so hard, it's not safe to be outside alone." The courier said while eating, "Where do you live? I'll take you back."
“I don’t have a home anymore,” Velvet said.
"Of course there is. Home is where the family is." The courier smiled.
"The last of my family died three days ago."
The courier gasped. The traffic light turned green, and he remained motionless, his hand on the steering wheel. The truck behind him honked its horn furiously.
“Please find a place to drop me off,” Velvet said. “Thank you very much. I’ll take you there.”
The courier reached out to wipe her face. Velvet was stunned for a moment before realizing that he was wiping her tears.
"Little kid, please don't be so funny. Throwing out a little girl whose family has been torn apart would probably make my old man freak out like a zombie." The courier sighed. "You have a house, right? With such a nice car, you shouldn't be completely without a place to stay, right?"
"The house is full of Lucas's people—"
The sudden acceleration of the car pinned her to the seat. The traffic light was about to change, and the Cadillac sprinted out at the last second, leaving the red light to the truck behind. The truck driver in the rearview mirror was so angry that he stuck his head out and cursed. The courier blew a loud whistle.
"It's a shame to help someone so hard that I'll just have to wait until the Buddha is gone. I'm in trouble today," he said. "I'll take you to your room and help you get the others out. After that, you can have a good sleep and I'll go back to my house. Okay?"
Velvet stared at him blankly, tears streaming down her face once again. He patted the girl's head with a sad face, "Boss, please, I'm being so kind, can you please stop crying?"
“Yeah.” Velvet wiped her tears vigorously, “Okay.”
"That's good, what's your name?"
“Vilbert,” she said. “Vilbert Velus.”
"It's a nice name." The boy said, "My name is Chu Hengkong, and I'm a courier. If you need any deliveries in the future, you can look for me."
It was only much later that she realized that Chu Hengkong had no home, not even a single family member. But he acted so confidently, as if he had countless people supporting him from behind.
This boy, who was not much older than her, sat beside her, drove her car, and promised to help her solve her problem. She had no basis for this, but she was sure that the promise would be fulfilled because he was so powerful.
Because he can do anything.
·
June of the 3001st year of the Candlelight Calendar, a dust-free land.
The secretary put down her umbrella and brushed the rain away from her skirt. It was raining again today. Ever since the wilderness breakthrough, the rainy season had become more frequent, making one worry about the world beyond.
The boss stood by the French window, cane in hand, watching the rain. The secretary stood by the door, keeping quiet. Having worked with the boss for a long time, I knew her habits well. She loved silence and didn't allow anyone to interrupt her while she was thinking. She remembered everything clearly, and only she instructed others to do things, not needing to be reminded of what to do.
而在雨天，这种敏感的寂静会变得格外明显。只有这个时候她会长久地驻足于雨幕前，什么也不做，静静地望着雨水。许多人说这是因为老板这样可怕的人也需要时间休息，可女秘书不这样想。
她总觉得老板的身边一直都有另一个人，那个人看不见摸不着，像是回忆中的梦境般存在着。雨天时老板格外安静，是因为只在这时候那个人的存在会变得清晰，仿佛就站在老板的身旁陪她一起看雨。
老板转身，女秘书递来一份清单：“您的材料准备好了。领袖评估后认为您的设计实在过于复杂，升变时长可能会长达一个月以上，这是极具风险的……”
“开始升变。”薇尔贝特·维卢斯说。
(本章完)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
