Chapter 37
Pei Huai was not in a hurry to answer his question, and naturally had no intention of listening.
He hadn't even spared the other a glance since the shadow had taken over the room.
No matter what, as long as the story was unilaterally constructed, no one could be blamed. He knew this very well.
A story, told by different people, would be embellished to varying degrees. Of course, he didn't believe it completely—those who could survive on the streets were definitely not that simple.
The more tear-jerking a story is, the more it often means the person knows how to leverage their strengths. Sympathy is something that minors like Yan Xu are most likely to gain.
He might be able to fool many people with this trick, but he couldn't fool Pei Huai. Because these low-brow tactics were all tricks he had seen before. Obviously, the other party also realized this little fallacy. He smiled a little shyly and said, "Aren't you surprised? I didn't mean to hurt these little creatures."
And silence was all he got.
"Don't worry, I can see that. We are kindred spirits in some ways."
Pei Huai, however, was not even moved by him.
The boy continued, "Anesthesia will affect the results, so I need some obedient living creatures that can cooperate with the experiment. Beating them until they are unable to resist is my only option."
He spread his hands, hunched his back against the iron gate, and pulled his hood over his brow. "Since you also come from the streets, I'm sure you understand, right? It's all about survival."
"so what?"
This rhetorical question came as a surprise.
"So you don't believe me anymore?" Yan Xu frowned and bent his right knee forward, a posture that could prevent a surprise attack at any time. "Those stories I told you before."
"...I don't care how tragic your past was." His clenched fingers relaxed as they stared at each other, allowing the claw knife from his sleeve to swing to the second joint of his index finger. He then grasped the blade with four fingers, squeezing it into his palm. He lowered his eyes and said, "You've violated my client's interests. This is reality."
Yan Xu burst out laughing.
He was surprised by the other party's calmness. He had thought this story could contain Pei Huai, but now he thought that it was this story that exposed him.
He wasn't lying, and since he was underage, his words could fool many people. But he didn't expect that some people wouldn't sympathize with him because of his age or his experience.
"If I hand you over to the Dexing family, I think I'll reap a lot of benefits." He studied his face carefully, as if trying to figure out the interests behind the problem. "You threatened Han Shaochen, brought shame to so many people in the family, and disrupted their important business. You sound like you're worth a lot of money."
All he got was a look that was so cold that it was almost frozen.
Pei Huai turned his right foot and faced him, an overwhelming sense of danger rushing towards him. Yan Xu found it difficult to describe this feeling, like the outline of the leader of the pack at the end of a hunt, outlined by the darkness and the full moon.
"You can try." These were the last words he heard.
With one cut, his cheek was covered in blood.
Yan Xu lost control of his body and slammed into a nearby iron cage. The rattling of the latch sent the cat inside scurrying and screaming. He didn't see Pei Huai's movements clearly, but he realized that he was no match for this man.
So at the moment when the second knife was about to cut towards his neck, he took out a stun gun from his pocket, pulled his hand away, and pointed it at the iron cage.
The blue arc of electricity struck down, instantly penetrating the entire cage. The little blue cat convulsed and screamed.
The other cats who were still conscious were also panicked.
Pei Huai subconsciously frowned, but Yan Xu's expression remained unchanged: "Try it? I've been hanging around on the streets since I was fourteen, who are you?"
He smashed the fire alarm with a backhand punch, connecting the brake device to the sprinkler head. The flashing lights came on, and water mist splashed down over a large area.
The former raised his elbow to snatch away a jacket that was hurtling towards his face. With limited vision, he instinctively twisted his wrist and delivered the blow. Fortunately, the knife felt like it had cut into flesh.
Someone groaned in pain, followed by the sound of doors opening and closing. He grabbed again, but naturally, he grabbed nothing.
Pei Huai fixed his loose ponytail. He was so damp that even his clothes were soaked. The front of his collar was soaked, with water running down his collarbone and mermaid line, outlining his slender waist. The narrowing under his ribs made him look wild and unruly, his sexiness surging to the point of full blast.
He pulled off the coat covering his face with his hands, remained silent for a few seconds, and suddenly looked in the direction the boy fled.
-
Yan Xu wiped his bleeding face. He knew that this place might leave a scar.
When they first fought, he hadn't anticipated that his opponent had no intention of sympathizing with him from the start. The story, filled with genuine emotion, failed to shake him in the slightest. It seemed as if every trace of tragedy lay within those dark eyes.
He couldn't imagine what kind of person could be so indifferent.
It was as if all emotions were taken away and it became a barren wasteland.
"What did you do to your brother?"
A voice suddenly appeared a few centimeters behind him. Yan Xu swung his sword back, but it was dodged. This opponent was not a difficult one to deal with. He reacted immediately, at least it was a world of difference from the previous man.
But what surprised him most was that the other party did not pursue him immediately, but just shook his wrist which was numb from the shock.
"I'm talking to you, where are you looking?"
Yan Xu raised his eyes and saw the interested smiling face at the stairs, with the index finger pointing at his face.
"He left a mark on your face, that's great. I want it too." Xiang Mingqi looked at it for a long time, his tone revealing indescribable envy.
After taking a deep breath of air into his lungs, Yan Xu acted as if he was out of breath and used his thumb to wipe away the blood that had flowed to his eyelids.
"—You're that brother's colleague, right?" He blinked his right eye a few times, but couldn't open it completely. "I didn't expect the Dexing family to set an ambush here. That brother, that brother asked me to come find you first. Please go over and help him!"
Xiang Mingqi seemed to be listening to him very carefully and even blinked in response.
"So, brother, is he injured?"
The latter remained noncommittal: "I don't know, when I left..."
——His story was interrupted by a burst of extremely joyful laughter.
Xiang Mingqi held his chin with both hands and laughed uncontrollably: "Wow, are you treating me like a fool now? This won't do. Only my brother can treat me like a fool."
The boy was stunned for a moment.
"Why did you lie?" A smile formed a shallow dimple on Xiang Mingqi's cheeks, and he grinned, "It's a lie so bad that I can't bear to expose it."
Yan Xu frowned, not saying another word. He was considering another possibility that had presented itself to him. The older brother with white hair and a handsome face wasn't easy to deal with. Trying to kidnap him and bring him to the Dexing Family to claim credit would be harder than climbing to heaven. And the one before him might not even be considered a challenge.
He wanted to kidnap this person to ensure that he would not be harmed by the other party.
——Thinking this way, my body began to move.
"Why do you have to provoke him?" Xiang Mingqi raised his hands to avoid the blow and sighed. Strangely, he handled the dagger's attack with ease, yet hesitated to strike at the enemy's vital points. He just kept nagging, "Brother has poor sleep quality. He wakes up at the slightest movement. He's also prone to insomnia. After a while, he might never fall asleep again. But you keep him busy from 8 pm to 3 am. I hate it."
Yan Xu turned and swung his knife, aiming for his forearm. The latter simply raised his elbow to block it. Cotton fluttered from his sleeves.
"He just didn't sleep well for a day or two, so he has dark circles under his eyes." He was still regretting to himself, "It's understandable that my brother doesn't take care of his body at all. I'm really sad—Oh, by the way, are you trying to hold me hostage now? If it were any other time, I might think it's fun and agree to do it."
Unimaginable.
A person who can talk nonsense all the time while turning to avoid the knife, not only jumps to different topics, but also accurately calculates the attacker's true intention.
His composure made Yan Xu feel uneasy. Unfortunately, judging by the current situation, he couldn't just stop.
Because once he showed any intention of retreating or escaping, Xiang Mingqi would rush over, grab his arms, hold his neck or shoulders and throw him to the ground, forcing Yan Xu to fight back - but the situation soon took a turn for the worse.
In the corridor where he had first escaped, the voice-activated lights began to flash, and footsteps, lights, and a shadow appeared alternately. Yan Xu's scalp rang, and he immediately realized what it was.
Without thinking, he slammed his fist against the fire alarm. As the shrill sound continued, the sprinklers began to spray mist again, giving him a chance to escape.
Yan Xu knew that he had wasted too much time on this guy and would not gain anything from it. If he really lured Pei Huai here again, he would be in big trouble tonight.
As he turned around, a hand emerged from the smoke, grabbed his hair and pulled him back with his head.
"cough--!"
"But now." The whisper was without any warmth in his ear, "You made him unhappy, so I am unhappy too."
A subsequent knee kick made Yan Xu scream in pain, and he fell to his knees and retched. The young man, having suffered so much, no longer cared about anything else. He covered his ribs and slashed with his dagger desperately.
"idiot."
At the moment when his upper arm was stretched to the extreme, Yan Xu suddenly felt his wrist being twisted and pulled in a certain direction.
The world was spinning, and only that mocking sneer still echoed in my eardrums: "Before using the knife, at least you have to aim at the right spot—"
The exclamation suddenly choked his throat, and before he could do anything, he felt the soft sensation of the handle piercing his abdomen, followed by a groan of pain and a satisfied laugh.
"That way, my brother will feel sorry for me."
As the blade was pulled out, bringing out blood, Xiang Mingqi felt that his last bit of strength had been drained away. His forehead touched the ground in pain, and he fell down with his back bent.
Before his consciousness completely collapsed, he heard the sound of footsteps around him.
He struggled to move closer out of the corner of his eye, but happened to meet a pair of black eyes with shrunken pupils.
"Brother..." He looked at him, his lips moving pitifully and weakly, "I'm in so much pain."
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