Chapter 65#

Wandering Photos 11#

Xiao Bai was also startled into a shiver, but his first instinct was to help the fallen person.

“Ah! Are you okay?”

The youth scrambled up from the ground, holding his nose, a streak of blood seeping through his fingers. He’d probably injured his nose, his eyes slightly reddened, with tears of physical pain rolling down one by one.

This pitiful state blunted much of the arrogance that had been leaking from him inside out, making him look more like a kid his age should.

He seemed only a year or two older than Tang Beihe.

But his temper was clearly much worse.

“Don’t touch me!” The youth slapped away Xiao Bai’s outstretched hand, struggling to his feet, ready to bolt again.

“No!” Xiao Bai hastily grabbed his arm. “You can’t leave! Give back the stuff first! Otherwise, otherwise I’ll—”

Xiao Bai looked left and right, racking his brain in panic for a threat, finally blurting out: “Otherwise I’ll call the police!”

The youth let out a loud, dismissive snort.

Fang Xiyu, who had been ignored, had quietly stood up, brushed off the hem of his clothes, glanced at the youth, then turned to Xiao Bai. “He stole something from you?”

Xiao Bai replied that he had stolen something from the tavern owner.

Fang Xiyu recalled the events of the previous two days. “The junk the boss sorted out? That’s what he stole?”

Xiao Bai felt like something was off about that phrasing but couldn’t pinpoint what, so he just nodded. “Yeah.”

The youth’s face flushed red again—this time purely from anger.

“What junk?” He whirled to glare at Fang Xiyu. “Are you mocking me?”

Fang Xiyu took two steps back, waving a hand to disperse the dust in the air. “Not at all. I’m just stating facts. No need to be so sensitive.”

The youth’s expression grew even more furious.

If looks could kill, Fang Xiyu would have been dismembered by now.

But Fang Xiyu didn’t care, still speaking up for Xiao Bai. “If you really like those things, it’s not like you can’t keep them, but just give back the photos inside. Having strangers’ photos is useless to you anyway. Rather than that, why not do a good deed and earn some good karma? They’ll be really grateful to you.”

Xiao Bai finally snapped out of it and nodded vigorously. “Right, right, right, we only want the photos. They’re the only keepsakes left from the boss’s friends! They’re really important! If you just return them, I’ll—I’ll treat you to a meal!”

He thought for a moment, carefully gesturing with his free hand. “I’ll treat you… three meals! A feast!”

The youth was almost amused, staring at him in exasperation.

Not long ago, this guy was threatening to call the cops, and now he was offering to buy him dinner.

He’d seen dumb people, but never this dumb.

Too bad he didn’t consider himself a good person, and he wasn’t swayed by these sugar-coated bullets. Taking advantage of Xiao Bai’s distraction, he abruptly slammed into him, trying to break free and run.

Caught off guard, Xiao Bai took the hit to his chin, nearly biting his own tongue off; tears instantly streamed down.

But he still didn’t let go, wrapping his arms and legs around the youth as if tackling him.

Fang Xiyu couldn’t stand watching anymore. With a chop of his hand to the youth’s neck, the youth, who had been verbally attacking Xiao Bai, went limp, not even getting a chance to turn around and curse, before collapsing softly.

Xiao Bai’s mouth fell open as he caught the unconscious youth in a full embrace, almost landing on the ground himself.

He looked at the youth, then at Fang Xiyu, stammering, “He’s not… he’s not dead, is he?”

Fang Xiyu: “…”

How was this guy’s brain wired?

“Got any rope or something?” Fang Xiyu sighed, instructing Xiao Bai. “Let’s keep him quiet first. Can’t have him running off again.”

Xiao Bai snapped to attention and nodded quickly, then looked around. “I’ll go borrow some from the shop across the street!”

……

On the other side, by the time Tang Beihe finished his daily training and returned, Fang Xiyu hadn’t shown up either.

But he’d only said he’d come if he had time; he was probably tied up with something.

Chu Chenli had swung by for a look but didn’t think much of it. Before heading back, he stopped by the tavern, at Shen Xuanyi’s request, to buy another jar of wine for his father.

When the boss saw him, he brought up Xiao Bai.

Today was Xiao Bai’s day off; he’d deliberately come to say he wanted to help retrieve the lost photo album and was now scouring the streets for clues.

A regular customer, who had gotten familiar with Xiao Bai, walked in and overheard them talking about him. He chimed in that he’d spotted Xiao Bai five blocks away, apparently tying someone up with rope.

Since it might be official business, the customer hadn’t dared to interrupt.

“But the guy he was tying up seemed to be Liang Yuan.” The customer winced. “He was already hard enough to deal with; if he’s awakened some special ability, he’ll be even more arrogant.”

His tone carried a resentful worry, though he deliberately kept his voice low, not daring to speak too loudly.

The boss was taken aback—clearly, he had heard of Liang Yuan’s reputation—but he was more optimistic than the customer.

“If he has awakened, then he’ll be under the base’s management, right? We might not see him again; maybe that’s a good thing.”

“But what if he insists on loafing around even after awakening?” The customer fretted. “Not everyone at the base is too busy to spare time. There are often base personnel in your shop—”

He suddenly remembered Chu Chenli standing nearby, instinctively straightened up, then turned to offer an awkward smile, and explained in a lower voice: “I’m not saying you guys don’t work hard; you need to relax sometimes too.”

The boss helped explain. “Mainly, Liang Yuan is way too overbearing. We’re all afraid he’ll come back.”

Chu Chenli waved his hand to show he didn’t mind, and the two continued talking about Liang Yuan.

For many in the city, Liang Yuan was a major menace.

As for the man himself, he had never personally committed serious crimes like murder or arson, but he had a gaggle of underlings who, at his instigation, had done plenty of bad things.

Things like collecting protection money, loitering outside shops spewing obscenities and insults at customers, or outright grabbing things by force—those were mild. Beating up people they didn’t like in alleys was routine.

And Liang Yuan himself was a tough fighter with connections. One of his older brothers held a high position at the base; another had died saving his teammates, so those teammates all treated Liang Yuan like their own little brother.

But since they were often on long missions, they might not have been fully aware of Liang Yuan’s glorious deeds. Whenever they came back for a brief visit, they’d check on him and repeatedly ask the city administrators to take good care of him.

The administrators, unsure whether those people would unconditionally side with their brother, chose to play it safe and covered things up.

The result was that after multiple complaints from citizens got dismissed with favoritism, Liang Yuan became more and more lawless.

Even worse, other “connected” people started following his example, exploiting loopholes to act like local tyrants over everyone else.

Only a few of these connections’ relatives, upon discovering their misdeeds, would angrily scold them and force them to behave.

But they couldn’t easily meddle with the relatives of their colleagues.

In the end, as long as no major incidents erupted, most people turned a blind eye, barely maintaining a surface-level peace.

The merchants who suffered harassment and bullying could only swallow their teeth and stomach their grievances.

So when they heard Xiao Bai was going up against Liang Yuan, the boss felt both worried and secretly relieved.

Relieved that this menace might finally be gone, worried that after the confrontation, Xiao Bai would be targeted and bullied in retaliation.

After all, Xiao Bai had come to Central Base alone, with no backing.

The boss poured out his worries to Chu Chenli, who realized this could be another source of trouble.

Unable to shake his concern, he asked the customer for the exact address and headed out the door.

The boss, left behind, couldn’t hide his worried expression. The customer leaned against the counter, watching Chu Chenli disappear, then nudged the boss and lowered his voice.

“Hey, hey, is that friend of Xiao Bai’s pretty strong? He doesn’t seem worried at all about offending Liang Yuan’s brother… Could he be… could he be an idiot?”

The customer wondered if he might be stronger than Liang Yuan’s brother, but then thought about his face.

He looked young, not like some ruthless figure.

And he and his friends mostly stuck around the tavern, only coming to buy wine or eat, showing none of the habits of a high-ranking person.

They seemed more like errand runners.

If you were just an errand boy, it was normal not to have contact with the upper echelons.

But those at the top could easily crush someone like that.

The more the customer thought, the more worried he became, even losing interest in his drink. He had to mention it to the boss: “When they come back, you should still warn them. They seem like decent people. I’d hate for them to offend someone without realizing it.”

The boss nodded gravely.

Chu Chenli, blissfully unaware of being considered a poor little thing, arrived near the address the customer had given. He circled a couple of times but saw no sign of Xiao Bai or the others. There were no signs of a struggle either.

Nobody nearby had heard an alarm. But one shopkeeper said he’d seen Xiao Bai not long ago.

The shopkeeper pointed in a direction, saying he’d vaguely seen Xiao Bai heading into an alley, seemingly dragging someone.

If not for spotting the Central Base ID card hanging around Xiao Bai’s neck, he’d have almost called the police.

Chu Chenli thanked the shopkeeper and followed the direction deeper into the alley.

Fortunately, there weren’t many forks. Chu Chenli kept to the narrow middle path, because he noticed drag marks on the moss and weeds.

Following these marks through several twists and turns, he heard faint commotion at the end of the path.

Xiao Bai had barely managed to drag the youth back home.

Thankfully, after some training, he’d had enough strength to make it most of the way. But when the youth woke up, he kept struggling like a fish out of water.

Xiao Bai had to admit Fang Xiyu’s foresight was spot on.

Tied up, the youth could only roll around, but that was impractical in the narrow alley; just when he tried to turn, Xiao Bai would grab the knot and yank him back.

But the one who finally got him talking was Fang Xiyu.

When those hands, from which he couldn’t escape, were placed on his neck… he quickly caved.

No matter how arrogant he usually was, it was based on others voluntarily backing down and the backing of his gang.

Unfortunately, neither advantage was present today.

In front of someone who didn’t follow the “rules,” bowing his head was the only way out—Liang Yuan cherished his own life.

Next time his brother came back…

Liang Yuan daydreamed about future revenge.

“Ow!” A dull pain on his head jolted him back to reality. He whipped around to glare at whoever had hit him. “What did you hit me for?! I brought you guys back; what more do you want?!”

Fang Xiyu looked innocent, spreading his hands to show he hadn’t done anything.

Liang Yuan quickly figured it out and gritted his teeth, looking up at the roof.

The dense crown of a tree beside the house shook, and a head poked out, grinning at him, then quickly ran off.

Before leaving, he threw down an even bigger object.

This time, Liang Yuan was ready; he dodged to the side, and the hard fruit shell hit the ground, splattering into a muddy mess.

Beside him, Xiao Bai gasped sharply, eyes wide, and when he looked back at Liang Yuan, there was even a hint of sympathy in his eyes.

Fang Xiyu lightly tapped his head and reminded him, “Aren’t you here for the photos?”

Xiao Bai snapped out of it and momentarily forgot Liang Yuan’s personal grudges.

Liang Yuan glared at the now-empty tree, almost popping his eyeballs out, until Fang Xiyu patted him on the back, bringing him back.

“Since you’re here anyway, could you do us a favor and help us find it?” Fang Xiyu spoke politely, motioning for Xiao Bai to untie the rope.

Now free, Liang Yuan flexed his wrists and ankles, glanced up at Fang Xiyu’s calm tone and expression, and ultimately didn’t dare turn and run. He pushed open the courtyard gate ahead.

This standalone yard looked somewhat old, but it was quite spacious, with an antique décor that would have been valuable a decade ago.

The large yard was covered in fallen leaves and weeds, clearly unkempt for some time.

“You live alone?” Xiao Bai couldn’t help asking.

Liang Yuan rolled his eyes, unwilling to answer, and jerked his chin toward a corner of the yard, indicating everything was over there; they could dig through it themselves.

Xiao Bai rushed over excitedly, then froze in place.

Behind waist-high weeds, all sorts of junk was piled into a small mountain in the corner. Liang Yuan’s “spoils” from this period were considerable.

Xiao Bai circled the pile a couple of times, finally spotting the corner of the tavern owner’s package through a gap.

But it was wedged in from all sides, with junk pressing down. Afraid of damaging the photos and album, he had to first move the outer items aside one by one.

While sorting, he couldn’t help asking, “You don’t look like you’re short on money, so why do you steal other people’s stuff?”

And most of it didn’t look like things that could be sold for cash.

Many seemed like old items, likely used for decoration at doorways or outside. There were valuable things, like a high-end gaming console, but it wasn’t treated with care, just crammed together with a box of greasy old screws.

Xiao Bai couldn’t help suspecting he had some kind of kleptomania or robbery fetish.

“Is there a psychologist in the city?” Xiao Bai muttered.

Liang Yuan, sharp-eared, turned and shot him a glare, but with Fang Xiyu nearby, he could only glower and tell him to shut up.

Xiao Bai wasn’t intimidated anymore.

As he spoke, he had gradually cleared the top layer. He tried to tug the package’s knot slowly to pull it out, but the hard edges were caught in a wooden frame beside it. Xiao Bai had to bend down to dismantle the wooden frame.

While he was focused on the task, rustling came from atop the wall behind him.

Xiao Bai didn’t notice at first.

Until suddenly a heavy shadow fell over him from above. Looking up, he saw a man at least three times his size—young but with a thuggish face that loomed into view, thoroughly terrifying.

Xiao Bai was so startled his heart nearly stopped. He tripped and fell onto his backside.

Good news: his yank had pulled the package out. Bad news: the sudden giant snatched the package away.

After grabbing it, he smirked triumphantly at Liang Yuan, as if deliberately parading his victory.

Liang Yuan’s face darkened instantly. Xiao Bai scrambled to his feet, trying to jump up and reach the package.

The giant raised it contemptuously, glanced at Xiao Bai, and sneered, “Picked up another lackey? This new one’s an idiot, huh.”

Liang Yuan snorted darkly. “None of your damn business!”

Xiao Bai was about to break down—the thing was right there, snatched away right in front of him; he wanted to cry.

“Can you fight somewhere else? I just want to get the photos back…”

Xiao Bai was almost ready to cling to the giant and wail, begging him to return the contents of the package.

But someone who steals in broad daylight doesn’t know manners or consideration. Seeing Xiao Bai’s distress only amused him. He looked Xiao Bai up and down, mocking him from his looks to his height, apparently enjoying his helpless jumping and fuming.

Xiao Bai’s nerves twitched again and again, his eyes unconsciously sinking.

Fang Xiyu watched with interest. Even a rabbit bites when cornered, especially a heretic who hasn’t fully mastered his ability.

And Xiao Bai was wearing his work badge today, which could to some extent block the monitoring devices.

The giant was still laughing when suddenly his voice caught, as if something had gripped his throat. His face gradually paled.

The next second, he fell face-first, crashing with a bang into the yard.

The pile of junk in the corner took a severe hit. Xiao Bai, right next to it, heard several distinct cracking sounds. Startled awake, he hurriedly shoved the fallen man aside, trying to salvage the junk and the photos.

But after such a heavy impact, only debris remained.

Xiao Bai waved away the dust, coughing, squinting as he searched through the wreckage.

“Are you looking for this?” A familiar voice came from above.

Xiao Bai froze, looked up. “…A Li?”

Chu Chenli stood on the wall, holding the package that had been snatched away.