Chapter 4
Jesse, determined to help, internally complained about taking on such a big problem, not even moving to untie the children. The untied strangers turned and ran, with only one or two remembering to say thank you.
However, the children clustered around the girl, seemingly acquainted with her, didn't know to leave first. Instead, they gathered together and, imitating the girl's example, untied the other children as well. Anyway, didn't I hear that Noble had a sister? Could he be so persistent because his sister was kidnapped?
When the remaining children were free and scattered, Jesse turned and left, determined not to cause any trouble. However, the girl caught up with him. She asked, "Did you lead those people away?"
She didn't know what was happening outside. Jesse hesitated and said, "No. A man named Noble led her away."
"That's our boss!" said one of the followers behind the girl, who had many freckles on his face.
"I knew the boss would come to save us!" This is another follower.
"Hmm...it's better if we don't wait here," the girl muttered to herself. "Ah, brother—um, Noble, did you say where we'd meet later?"
"He didn't say." Jesse complained in his heart: There are so many people following him, maybe he has been beaten to the point of being on the verge of death.
/
It was hard to tell whether this was what he truly expected or if he was simply cursing Noble out of dislike for him. In short, Noble finally came back alive, and his injuries didn't even look as severe as Jesse's. This made him feel even more unbalanced.
Injuries meant they'd fought. Minor injuries meant Noble hadn't lost. He couldn't help but accept the fact: This Noble was, perhaps, a bit stronger than him.
This was indeed a bit of a blow to the self-esteem of a teenager who was at the peak of his career in Little Asia, was at the age of being the only one who could think of himself, and was indeed talented.
But Noble did have a good sister. She was smart and kind, and if she hadn't said things like, "Your injury is too serious, let me take you back to get bandaged," or "We really appreciate you," and other such friendly gestures, which were extremely rare in Little Asia, Jesse would definitely not have gone with them.
When Noble came back, this friendliness seemed to be made just for him. She shouted "Brother" and rushed forward. Noble opened his arms in a hug gesture, but the girl cautiously stopped two steps away from him, walked around him, and carefully identified whether there were any wounds.
Noble opened his arms and let her look. His face was expressionless, he just looked inside. When he saw Jesse, he paused noticeably. He didn't wink or make any exaggerated gestures, but Jesse could see from that glance: Why are you confused here?
After being confused, Noble looked away again and looked at the excited children next to him, and nodded as if to say hello.
The girl - or Xiaohua, had previously briefly introduced herself and several children next to her. They were a group of minors with Noble as the core. The children in the group were basically around 15 years old. Normally, the older children would go out to find food, and these children would usually stay at home. Several human traffickers targeted them and took them all away when there were only children at home.
"Home." That's what these kids call the place where they are.
/
Before Noble sat down on the sofa, Jesse had a vague premonition of what he would do next.
The small room contained only a three-seater sofa and a few scattered chairs. Most of those chairs creaked and even had loose legs. Therefore, when Jesse sat down, he chose the only seat that looked reasonably comfortable—the sofa—without hesitation. Xiaohua didn't say anything to stop him, even though the children behind her couldn't hide their quizzical expressions.
Xiaohua and Noble are both people with distinct personalities. Jesse can see that this sofa might be Noble's seat. However, from what he can feel, Noble... doesn't seem like the kind of person who cares about these things. Or, Noble may not care about many things. And based on what Jesse has heard about "Noble", Noble is probably a very soft-hearted person.
But would the people he was protecting really be grateful? Curiosity led him to test it out. The other children's expressions were quite amusing.
But it was not until this moment that Jesse realized the chain of consequences of his tentative action. It was known that this was a comfortable seat and there was more than enough space for two people on the sofa. So would Noble choose to sit on the broken chair and sway in the wind, or sit with Jesse?
Therefore, Noble just frowned, and after receiving a subtle look from Xiaohua, he chose to sit next to Jesse.
Xiaohua's eyes meant something: He came in to untie the rope for us. Do you know him? Did you agree to come together to rescue us? Where did you meet him? Why haven't I heard of him? What's he like? Be polite to him and don't act like a fool!
Noble thought Xiaohua meant: Don’t fight here!
He thought he'd gotten Xiaohua's message, and so he felt quite pleased with himself. Even his expression towards the "monkey" improved (though Jesse didn't notice). He didn't care that Jesse was sitting in his usual seat. He didn't think the seat was that important, especially since there was plenty of room left! So, he nonchalantly sat down on the empty seat.
Jesse was originally sitting in the middle, so when Noble sat down, their shoulders inevitably touched. Noble didn't move yet, and Jesse tried to move to the side with the smallest movement, as if avoiding a virus.
Noble glanced at his suddenly expanded territory, visibly confused.
Jesse tried not to guess what this guy was thinking; he had a feeling the answer wouldn't be what he wanted.
Xiaohua sighed softly and asked, "Are you hurting anywhere?"
He thought for a moment, then clenched his fist and showed it to Xiaohua.
Jesse realized that this was the punch Noble had thrown at the beginning, when he had lost control of his punch and had to throw it on the concrete floor in order to avoid hitting him.
This means that after fighting so many people, the most serious injury Noble suffered was still caused by his own accidental injury.
...What a disgusting monster.
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