Chapter 14#
Chapter 14#
Zhao Xing crumpled the note in his hand, veins bulging on the back of his fist. “Zhou Ming, what time is it now?”
Zhou Ming: “Seven… seven fifty-eight. I just found the note and came running to find you! What do we do, Brother Zhao?!”
“I’m going now.”
Zhao Xing immediately strode toward the Seventh Academy on his long legs, with Luo Mingshan and Zhou Ming hurrying behind.
But no matter how fast Zhao Xing ran, by the time he reached the Ninth Passage of the Seventh Academy, it was already 8:06.
The Ninth Passage was the abandoned underground floor of the Seventh Academy, pitch-black inside, without lights or surveillance—a place where anything could be done without anyone knowing.
Zhao Xing turned on his flashlight and headed in, but footsteps echoed behind him.
He looked back to see Luo Mingshan had followed, while Zhou Ming had been left far behind.
“You and Zhou Ming stay here,” Zhao Xing said, a cruel glint flashing in his eyes, his voice dark. “When I call you, then come down. I’ll give you extra practice on the flying kick today.”
After settling Luo Mingshan, Zhao Xing went down without looking back.
In just a few breaths, he reached the first basement level.
The corridor here was still pitch-black, filled with the smell of damp and mold. Only the second abandoned classroom on the left let a sliver of light through the crack in the door.
Zhao Xing didn’t hesitate. He walked straight up and kicked the door open with a bang.
The old, rusted iron door couldn’t withstand the force of his kick. It crashed down with a roar, raising a cloud of dust.
Zhao Xing waved the dust away and saw clearly the situation inside the room.
The room was crammed with ten people, every one of them a burly young man over 1.8 meters tall. There wasn’t a single child.
The ten men had been gathered in a circle, discussing something. When they saw Zhao Xing enter, they panicked for a moment but quickly steadied themselves.
However, what surprised Zhao Xing was that there was a familiar face among them.
It was Su Ge’s main lackey, who had died. He also seemed to be surnamed Su, but Zhao Xing couldn’t remember his exact name.
“Su Ge’s number one lackey? So you’re the one causing trouble.” Zhao Xing squinted.
“My name is Su Dong’an,” the man said, his eyes bloodshot and his voice rough.
Zhao Xing: “Oh, I know you. You’re the one who hit me with the stool.”
That hit had been vicious. Zhao Xing thought he’d have a scar on his neck. But maybe because Luo Mingshan reminded him to apply ointment every day, after a month, there wasn’t a trace left.
Even though Su Dong’an’s hit had hurt him for a long time, Zhao Xing never thought of taking revenge. After all, the man was just following his master’s orders.
With Su Ge dead, the matter was settled.
Zhao Xing’s eyes turned cold. “But I really didn’t expect that I’d leave you alone, and you’d come looking for me.”
Su Dong’an suddenly let out a sinister laugh. He pushed past the person in front of him and stepped forward, revealing his full face.
And also revealing the hideous, ten-centimeter-long wound on his neck, stitched with black thread.
Su Dong’an raised his voice, his expression twisting with malice. “You didn’t touch me? Then how did I get this wound on my neck? The day after I hit you, someone slit my throat in the bathroom! Dare to say it wasn’t you?!”
Thinking back to that moment made Su Dong’an’s blood run cold.
That day, he had just entered the bathroom when someone covered his face with a black cloth, pinned him against the wall, and slit his throat. The attacker left immediately—the whole thing took less than ten seconds.
But strangely, despite losing so much blood and having such a long, deep wound that should have been life-threatening, he never passed out. He only felt pain—endless, boundless pain.
Zhao Xing looked at the wound on his neck.
Slit the next day?
And right where he had been injured… That was quite a coincidence.
But…
“It has nothing to do with me.” Zhao Xing gave him a cold glance, then casually surveyed the group and the room, his tone becoming more relaxed. “So, is that why you came after me?”
“You—” Once again, Su Dong’an was enraged by Zhao Xing’s dismissive tone. His whole face flushed red, but before he could say another word, a companion beside him stopped him. The companion whispered a few words in Su Dong’an’s ear, and Su Dong’an gradually calmed down.
He glared at Zhao Xing hatefully. “Of course not. We’re finishing you off today for our Master Su.”
“Su Ge?” Zhao Xing raised an eyebrow.
Su Dong’an sneered. “Looks like you still don’t know who you’ve messed with. You killed Master Su, and you think you can walk away scot-free? Dream on.”
Zhao Xing: “I killed him?! Are you kidding? Didn’t he die of a heart attack?”
“Ha! If you and your wife hadn’t pulled that honey trap, how could Master Su have been pissed to death?!”
Zhao Xing: “…”
Now the whole world was convinced he and Luo Mingshan had set up a honey trap, wasn’t it?!
Su Dong’an: “Zhao Xing, do you know who these people are? They’re elites of the Su family—not even close to those six useless guys you beat down before. Today, we’ll make sure you never leave here alive!”
“Oh, so they’re family dogs.” Zhao Xing was getting impatient. “Doggies, you’ve been yapping away all this time, but not a single sentence hit the point. Where’s my person? Is this your first time kidnapping? Why haven’t you brought out the hostage?”
Su Dong’an was visibly stunned. He exchanged glances with the person next to him.
In an instant, it seemed like they exchanged some signal, and their whole demeanor relaxed.
Su Dong’an even pulled over a chair and sat down. “Right, if you hadn’t mentioned it, we almost forgot about our trump card.”
He looked into Zhao Xing’s eyes. “Your person is naturally in another room. One of our brothers is guarding him there. If you want to save him, you’ll have to pay a price. First, transfer all the balance on your card to this one.”
He tossed Zhao Xing an electronic card with a zero balance.
Zhao Xing clearly saw that all the men’s expressions had relaxed.
He felt something was off. “I need to see him first.”
Su Dong’an exchanged a few glances with him before saying to the person next to him, “Fine. Go to that room and cut off a finger. Let this Zhao guy see the goods first.”
The man didn’t hesitate. He turned to leave.
“Wait.” Zhao Xing closed his eyes, took a deep breath, lowered his head, and transferred all the repentance points left on his card.
Su Dong’an looked at the number on the card and sneered. “That’s all? We’ve been watching you strut around these past couple of days, thought you were loaded. Turns out you’re nothing.”
Su Dong’an’s expression grew more relaxed. He pulled out a pair of handcuffs from behind him—no idea where he’d gotten them—and threw them to Zhao Xing. “Know how to put them on? If not, I can have someone help you.”
Zhao Xing held the handcuffs without moving.
He definitely couldn’t put those on.
He had just given away his repentance points. If he put on the handcuffs now, the next step would probably be kneeling on the ground and getting stabbed.
By then, if he died, the kidnapped kid probably wouldn’t be safe either.
But if he took down this whole group right now and then went to find the kidnapped kid, there might still be a chance.
However, what if they had some special way to communicate with the guy guarding the kid?
Zhao Xing fell into thought, caught in a dilemma.
As he pondered, fine beads of sweat began to form on his forehead. He felt his heart tightening.
Even his brows were shrouded in irritability and viciousness.
He suddenly regretted dragging those kids into this mess just to earn repentance points.
Even if he didn’t get any repentance points, so what? He could still cause trouble, still make a name for himself, still get selected to go aboveground. At worst, he’d get a few electric shocks.
His body was tough, and he’d been shocked often since childhood. Those few “preparatory criminal”-level shocks probably wouldn’t kill him.
If he could get out of here with the kidnapped kid safe and sound… If he could…
“What’s the matter? Chicken?”
Su Dong’an let out an ambiguous laugh. “You know, your wife looks like a fairy, and the brother guarding him is a real pervert. If you dawdle any longer, who knows what might happen.”
Zhao Xing’s hand, which had been fiddling with the handcuffs, stopped.
His heart skipped a beat, but his face remained calm. “My wife?”
“Yeah. But you don’t seem to care much about your wife. After class this morning, we caught her, and you never came to the academy to look for her all afternoon. And you were even late just now…”
“Damn it.” Zhao Xing burst out laughing.
He finally understood. He finally understood all the weirdness he’d felt since entering.
Why they hadn’t mentioned the hostage at all before he spoke up.
Why they all looked so relieved after he brought up the hostage.
It turned out these guys hadn’t caught any hostage at all—they were bluffing with empty hands!
The missing kid had nothing to do with them. They might not even know about his connection with those kids.
Actually, in the past few days, there had been cases of kids coming back late, but most of the time it was because they were playing after delivering letters, or they went to the factory to find their fathers who were working overtime.
This time, they had panicked for no reason upon seeing the note.
Zhao Xing suddenly threw the handcuffs in his hand at a man’s face, then launched a flying kick straight at Su Dong’an’s face!
His movements were clean, and his voice carried a sense of relieved laughter mixed with rising viciousness.
“My wife is waiting for me right outside!”
As soon as he finished shouting, Zhao Xing’s movements froze.
Pfft. Luo Mingshan was not his wife!