Chapter 45#

I stood up, watching him warily.

A-De tilted his head, a crooked grin on his lips. “Don’t be like that, Young Master. We’re old classmates after all, aren’t we?” He raised his chin, laughed for a moment, then looked down at himself, frowning slightly.

“Or is it this appearance of mine that scared the little young master?” He widened his eyes, as if he were serious. “Ah, my apologies. Brother Du recently got me a prosthetic, but I… tsk, can’t get used to it.”

He shook his head, curling his lip.

“What do you want?” I asked him directly.

“Heh.” He let out an odd laugh, pushing the wheelchair forward. He looked at the two large suitcases on the floor and furrowed his brows. “Ah, my mistake. I forgot to bring such an important thing for Brother Du. Lawrence—”

He smacked his own head with his only right hand, then turned and shouted repeatedly: “Lawrence! Are the people outside dealt with? If you’re done, get your ass over here!”

“Lawrence! Lawrence!” He called out hoarsely, his voice grating.

Before long, a man in a sharp suit strode in quickly. He was very tall, with a shaved head; though his features were Western, his skin was dark, his muscles solid, and he seemed fairly young. At first glance, he looked utterly incongruous. The man named Lawrence walked swiftly to A-De’s side, scratched his head, and bowed his head to say in Chinese: “Brother De.”

“Did you get Brother Du onto the helicopter? And what about those big shots’ people—sorted out?” A-De asked impatiently.

Lawrence nodded and said, “All taken care of.” A-De smiled at this, reached out, and patted his chest. “You’ve got a future.”

Lawrence grinned foolishly, like a loyal dog.

“Now, we still have one last thing to do for Brother Du…” A-De slowly turned to face me.

I sensed something wrong. When the man named Lawrence strode toward me, I shoved the table over with all my strength and, taking advantage of the gap, dashed to the door.

But as I reached the hallway, a gunshot rang out from behind me, and a piercing pain shot through my thigh.

“Aaah—!!”

The pain sent me crashing to the floor. At that moment, Lawrence, who had been chasing me, grabbed my arm and twisted it back forcefully. I convulsed in agony and was easily pinned to the ground.

“Lawrence, be careful.” The sound of wheels rolling came from nearby. “He’s our most important bargaining chip. It’ll be troublesome if you accidentally kill him.”

“Oh…” Lawrence sounded a bit regretful as he loosened his grip slightly.

“Alright, have someone bring the stuff from the room, along with this brat. Give me his phone.”

Lawrence acknowledged, then nimbly grabbed me with one hand. He produced a rope from somewhere and bound me, then covered my eyes with a strip of black cloth. A-De let out a few loud, mocking laughs, reached out, and patted my face.

The gunshot wound on my leg left me unable to make any sound beyond gasps and cries of pain. In the darkness, someone yanked me up from the floor and dragged me down the steps. I stumbled as the person in front pulled me along, then I was hauled outside and thrown into a vehicle compartment.

I passed out from the intense pain and the sticky, cloying smell of blood.

But when I came to, I was hanging my head weakly, my hands still bound. On top of that, a coarse rope was wrapped around my legs. The light around me was dim and uncertain. I pressed my lips together and lifted my head with difficulty.

The place was very spacious, like a large warehouse filled with old iron boxes and oil drums. After a brief look around, I lowered my head to glance at myself, my heart sinking slightly. I was now tied to a chair. The wound on my thigh had been hastily bandaged, but it was still seeping blood as I tried to move.

“Young Master.” That dark, gloomy voice came from behind me, and then my hair was suddenly yanked backward.

I looked up at A-De as he held my hair, moving my lips painfully. “You…” He smiled incomprehensibly, let me go, then pushed his wheelchair idly with one hand, saying offhandedly: “Are you wondering why I’ve kidnapped you?”

“Ha.” He laughed, staring off somewhere as if to himself. “Right now, everyone in the underworld knows that Elder Master Ren of the Ren family has offended everyone for the sake of his own nephew—and even neglected his own business here. Do you know that he put out a message on the black market a while back?”

A-De wheeled around to face me, reached out with his remaining right hand, and slapped my face hard.

“Anyone under Brother Du, even the lowest grunt—one thousand US dollars per head, no limit. Anyone with a bit of standing, the bounty doubles. Furthermore, anyone who contacts Brother Du or does business with him right now is crossing Ren Xiaoyun, and they’ll be dealt with by the same rule—unless you return safe and sound to his arms.”

I breathed with difficulty. A-De pinched my chin, drawing me closer, his smile icy.

“Having an uncle like that makes me so jealous… How many times have the two of you, uncle and nephew, slept together? Huh? Heh, seeing Ren Xiaoyun act like he can’t live without you—it just makes me so damn happy. By the way, is he really your uncle? Or is this some rich people’s game—raising you since you were little to warm his bed? Can he even perform in bed? Ha.”

“Shut…” My throat felt like it was on fire. I managed a few garbled syllables before giving up. I could only purse my lips and glare at him.

“Phew…” He let out a breath, as if he too were tired, and said leisurely: “Actually, I don’t really want to do this to you. It’s all for Brother Du’s sake—ha. If your uncle hadn’t been so extreme, Brother Du wouldn’t have had to grab you. But the most important thing is, if Brother Du hadn’t taken a liking to you, this whole thing would have been much easier.”

He looked at me, the corners of his mouth lifting. “I really don’t know what’s so special about you, Young Master, aside from your delicate skin and soft flesh… I’ve followed Brother Du for twenty years, risked my life for him, and I’ve only shared his bed once or twice. It’s really frustrating.”

I stared at him, stunned.

“You… like…”

A-De snorted with laughter, took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, put one in his mouth, lit it, took a deep drag, then turned to me and blew out a puff of smoke.

I turned my head away uncomfortably, but he grabbed my hair again.

“Young Master, let me tell you—if we’re being romantic about this—I lost my limbs blocking a bomb for Brother Du. I’m basically a cripple now. Brother Du wants to escape, and he’s dead set on taking you, this big trouble, with him. I’m a cripple too, so I won’t hold him back. But if he’s taking you, things will definitely be more troublesome. So I might as well do him a favor—return you to Ren Xiaoyun and make the old man happy. Heh…”

He said, “Young Master, after all I’ve done for Brother Du, how could it just be ’like’?”

“But his taste—tsk, ah—I really want to crack open his head and see what’s inside.”

I looked at A-De as he sighed and groaned incessantly, yet there was no trace of emotion in his eyes.

“So…” He turned to me, laughed, and gave my shoulder a hard squeeze. “Young Master, I may have set you up plenty of times, but now we’re about to die together—”

What do you mean…?

My eyes widened. He smiled, leaned close to my ear, and whispered: “Just a timed bomb. Don’t worry. I’ll time it so that you and your third uncle—all of you—won’t be able to escape.” His expression was calm, but his words carried a manic edge.

“…You—”

He burst into loud laughter. Just then, his phone rang. He glanced at it, then answered, his tone cheerful and excited.

“Then bring him in. Yeah, only one person can come in. Tsk, put him on the phone.”

A-De glanced at me. The person on the other end seemed to say something again.

“Third Master, I never thought I, a nobody, would get to speak with such a big shot like you.”

“Ha, alright, alright. How would I dare play tricks on you? Hey… oh, I see… Then fine, I’ll let you hear his voice. Don’t worry, don’t worry… He’s fine, nothing’s wrong.”

I was dizzy from dehydration. A-De said something else, then pressed the phone against my face. He smirked. “Your third uncle is looking for you. Just make a sound. Don’t say anything else, or I’ll…”

I nodded.

The phone was brought to my ear.

The reception wasn’t great—there was a lot of static—but I could still make out his voice.

[……Qiqi, Qiqi—]

I pressed my lips together, opened my mouth with difficulty. The calling on the other end grew more frantic—like a voice on the verge of tears.

It hurt. I felt terrible.

I bit my lip hard. When my mind cleared a little, I forced out a sound.

“…Third Uncle…”

The other end went silent instantly.

“…Third, Third Uncle… Third…”

[……Qiqi! You… don’t be scared, Third Uncle will… you…]

The reception was bad, but I knew what he was trying to say.

I gritted my teeth.

“…Don’t… You must—don’t come—ah!”

A-De struck me hard with the back of his hand. He sneered, then turned to continue his call.

“Ah—Third Master, don’t rush. Nothing’s wrong, he won’t die. But…” He looked at me, his gaze gradually turning cold. “You know, I’m a cripple, a madman. If I get bored waiting, what do you think I’ll do?”

“Ha, quick and decisive, quick and decisive. I’ll be waiting here for you. Don’t worry, Lawrence will personally escort you here.”

With that, he hung up.

I stared at him, my eyes wide. He smiled, walked over, and punched me hard in the stomach with his right hand. I coughed in pain, and heard him say—

“Alright, since we’re going to die together anyway, I’ll let you die knowing the truth.”

“Underneath the chair you’re sitting on, there’s a timed bomb—heh. As soon as your third uncle gets close—”

He pushed his wheelchair back a little and made an exaggerated gesture of detonation.

————————

While we waited, A-De gagged me again. I could barely breathe, so I could only bite down on my lower lip, using the slight pain to try to stay conscious.

A-De’s fingers tapped rhythmically on the armrest of his wheelchair, humming an unknown tune cheerfully, as if he weren’t the one about to face death.

But we didn’t have to wait long. Suddenly, there was a sound up ahead. I tried to open my eyes wide, but I could only vaguely make out a few figures; the rest was blurry.

I heard A-De say casually, “Third Master, it’s really hard for you to come all the way here alone. Exactly fifteen minutes—not a second more. You walk fast.”

A moment of silence, then rapid footsteps, as if someone was about to rush over.

“Hey, hey, hey—don’t rush. Lawrence, did you check him?”

A gruff “Ah” came from up ahead, and A-De seemed to curse in annoyance.

Lawrence took out a palm-sized device and scanned Third Master Ren’s body with extreme caution. A-De said coldly, “Besides being big, his brain is completely useless.”

“Brother De, I scanned him. No abnormal electromagnetic reactions. I searched him earlier—no weapons. I deliberately took a long, winding path when I brought him here, and no one followed.”

“Alright. Go guard the outside. If you see anyone, shoot them on sight. If there’s a crowd… heh.” A-De pulled out a gun from somewhere and pressed it against my temple.

I looked at him out of the corner of my eye and saw a grin on his face.

I gritted my teeth and struggled hard, but the ropes were too tight. There was no way to break free. I could only lift my eyes.

“…Qiqi!”

“Ha.” A-De laughed, finding it amusing. “Qiqi? Hey, Young Master, your childhood name is really nice. Qiqi, Qiqi? How old are you? Ah, ah, you uncle and nephew really know how to have fun. Young Master, so what do you call him? Hmm?” He tapped my face with the barrel of the gun. The cold touch no longer frightened me; what chilled me to the bone was—was he stalling for time, or what?

I stared ahead with wide eyes, only to see Third Master Ren’s face ashen. I heard him say—

“…Let Qiqi go.”

He suddenly threw a medium-sized leather suitcase toward A-De and me.

“Inside, everything… take it all, take it all!”

He took a step forward. “Let Qiqi go…! Let Qiqi go—!”

I watched his unsteady figure and tasted a hint of blood in my mouth.

A-De had been smiling, but his brow gradually furrowed. He tilted his head and sighed, as if talking to himself. “I say, Third Master, I think you’re getting senile in your old age. Look at me—ha, neither human nor ghost. Who do I have to thank for that? Do you think I don’t know what you’re capable of? I’m afraid that if I take this from you, I’ll turn around and lose my life.”

He patted my face and smiled. “How about this—on top of that, let your little Qiqi pay for my two legs. I don’t need the hands anymore; those things just about cover it. Little Qiqi, hurry up and thank your uncle.”

“To cripple both your legs, I’ll need a machine gun…” He muttered, slowly moving the gun barrel down to my legs.

“No!” I heard Third Master Ren’s voice rise as he took a few steps forward.

“Stop right there! Come any closer, and I’ll shoot him dead—!” A-De screeched. Third Master Ren immediately froze and didn’t advance any further, but his eyes were fixed on me.

A-De’s shouting made him cough violently, his head lowered.

After a tense standoff, Third Master Ren finally spoke. “My legs… I’ll give you mine…”

“Don’t hurt Qiqi!”

He looked at us, pounding his chest repeatedly, gasping for breath. “My life—I’ll give it to you! You let Qiqi go!”

Third Uncle.

I wanted to speak, but my mouth was tightly gagged. I could do nothing but watch him.

A-De heard this, shook his head, and laughed. He raised his voice as if in disbelief. “Ah, Third Master, I really… tsk, I’m touched. How can your uncle-nephew bond be this deep? Ren Qiri, you really have some tricks up your sleeve.”

I glared at him with fury. If there’s a kind of anger that can make someone want to kill, it was the hatred boiling inside me at this moment.

“This look is really good. Much better than that pitying expression you had before.” He nodded in approval.

When A-De had had his laugh, he tilted his head and looked at both of us.

“How about this—let’s play a game. It’s very simple. Third Master, you just said you could give your life for this brat. Ah, easy to say, but when it comes down to it, how hard would it be?”

“Third Master, let’s be fair. Guess… how much time is left on the timed bomb behind this chair.”

Third Master Ren’s eyes widened slightly.

A-De glanced behind me, then said to the front, “Tsk, there’s still plenty of time. I miscalculated.”

Third Master Ren looked at him, then back at me.

A-De said, “How about this—if you guess correctly right now—oh, three chances. Hint: more than fifteen minutes, less than twenty-five minutes, in minutes. The answer is based on the moment you answer. I’ll give you more or fewer hints as I see fit. If you guess correctly now, I’ll have Lawrence come in, cut the circuit, and then shoot you. Isn’t that generous?—Of course, if you guess wrong and use up all three chances…”

“Then you uncle and nephew can be lovers in death together.”

“…We’ve stalled long enough. Start now.”

As soon as A-De finished speaking, Third Master Ren blurted out almost immediately: “Twenty minutes.”

A-De looked at it, then shook his head and smiled. “Too little.”

I struggled desperately. This game was utterly pointless. Not to mention whether Third Master Ren could guess correctly or not, the rightness of the answer depended entirely on A-De’s mood. I looked ahead in terror—he was staring straight at me, panting lightly. He paused for a moment, then said the same number again: “Twenty minutes.”

A-De frowned, turned his head to look, and said, “Still too little.”

Third Master Ren wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand and closed his eyes.

Then he looked at me.

“Qiqi…” he said. “Don’t be scared…”

I looked at him, then turned to A-De, making some garbled sounds. A-De curled the corners of his mouth, looking amused. “Never mind, since we’re all going to die anyway, I’ll let the two of you say your last words.”

He used his gun to easily remove the cloth gagging my mouth.

I took a few quick, ragged breaths. My vision was already blurry.

I lifted my head with effort and looked at him.

My mind was blank. I could only stare at him dumbly. Finally, I opened my lips, but before I could speak, Third Master Ren blurted out urgently—

“Twenty minutes!”

A-De paused, turned to look behind me, and then burst out laughing.

“Incredible! Ren Xiaoyun, you’re amazing—! Beautiful!” He laughed exaggeratedly for a few moments. I turned to him urgently and saw him slowly raise his gun.

“Well then…”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

He said softly, and the gun barrel shifted to point at my forehead.

I looked at his contorted face, and for some reason, a sudden sense of relief washed over me.

“Qiqi—!!”

Third Uncle…

A gunshot rang in my ears.

I felt a rush of heat.

I was a little dazed. I opened my eyes.

The gun was still pressed against my forehead. A-De remained in the same position, a stiff smile frozen on his face. His eyes were wide open, and the gun slowly slipped from his hand.

I stared at him blankly as he slowly slumped to the side. Blood poured from the bullet hole in his temple.

Then I shifted my gaze to the side…

It was Du Yijie.

Du Yijie walked in slowly from not far away and threw his gun to the ground.

Third Master Ren didn’t even look at him. He rushed over to me, stumbling and falling, wrapped his arms tightly around my shoulders, and called my name a few times, his voice choked with sobs.

Du Yijie didn’t say anything. He just stood not far from us, looked up at the ceiling, and murmured, “This place is really hidden. It took me a while to find it. If I hadn’t planted something on Lawrence earlier, I really wouldn’t have been able to locate it.”

“Well… my job here is done. I lose this round fair and square.” Du Yijie walked over, but turned to A-De. He reached out and slowly closed A-De’s eyes.

“As for the rest, you handle it yourselves.” He left that like a joke.

Finally, he smiled at us, then picked A-De up by the waist without looking back at us again and walked out.

Third Master Ren seemed not to have noticed him at all. He just kept rubbing my face with both hands. “Qiqi, you… don’t be scared. They’ll be here soon. It’s okay…”

I was still in shock. I looked at him and, after a long moment, slowly nodded.

Third Master Ren gripped my arm tightly. The bomb and the ropes behind my back were connected, so he didn’t dare act rashly.

I stared blankly at him, then at the empty wheelchair, now stained only with blood. It felt like a long time had passed before I finally heard faint noises from outside—

I thought my ears were full of auditory hallucinations. Besides Third Master Ren, there was Bai Junrui’s voice. People rushed in one after another; their faces went pale the moment they learned about the bomb. And Third Master Ren, despite everyone’s pleas, still clung tightly to me.

I suddenly felt like laughing. But instead, I leaned to the side… wondering how much time was left.