Chapter 2#
Chapter 2#
“Hmm? Why isn’t Luoluo sweetheart talking? Scared, are you?”
The handsome youth’s voice was low and magnetic, pleasant to the ear, like a lover’s murmur, but on his face was a malicious grin of the worst kind.
Like a big cat that had just caught its prey.
Smug and willful, holding the intention to toy with someone to death, with undisguised delight and malice in his eyes.
—Just as cute as when they were kids.
Only back then, this big cat would always pull Luo Mingshan’s hand to go torment enemies together.
But now his enemy had become Luo Mingshan himself.
Luo Mingshan struggled to open his eyes. His bright pupils, under the light, looked like shattered stars, or perhaps shimmering with tears. His lashes trembled, his lips pale and stained with blood, while his cheeks were flushed red from difficulty breathing.
Zhao Xing tightened his grip inch by inch.
The young man’s face grew redder, but his breathing weakened. His neck arched back, and his clear eyes unconsciously took on a plea and pain, unaware that this very look only stirred a stronger desire to humiliate and abuse.
Even the breathing of the surrounding men grew heavy.
But everyone knew—it couldn’t go on. He would really die.
After all, this beautiful youth seemed so fragile, like the transparent, delicate wings of a dragonfly—one gentle squeeze, and he would shatter.
Zhang Sheng, who had first confronted the youth, finally snapped out of it and stepped forward to stop Zhao Xing.
But before he could speak, Zhao Xing let go, releasing the youth.
The boy gasped for air like someone who had nearly drowned. His face burned red like fire, his chest heaved violently, torn between pain and fear, trembling all over, yet he made no sound.
He seemed to have fallen into a quiet, despairing atmosphere that was utterly out of place with everyone else.
But the next moment, the scene was brutally shattered.
Zhao Xing, showing no gentleness, hauled him up and threw him into the room.
Then he casually grabbed a towel hanging inside, wiped his hands clean, pulled back his suitcase, and looked at Zhang Sheng, who was blocking the door. “I still have some old business to settle with him. Please come another time.”
His tone was even polite, but the fierce, decisive way he had just hit someone and the lingering hostility between his brows made it clear he was no pushover.
“Ding—”
“Zhao Xing, deduct 15 points. Remaining repentance value: 115.”
One hundred and fifteen repentance points!
Gasps sounded all around.
How rich was that! No wonder he was so arrogant!
Zhao Xing’s gaze slowly swept over Zhang Sheng’s lackeys.
Though he said nothing, Zhang Sheng instinctively felt that this guy was simply calculating how many repentance points it would cost to beat up their group.
Zhang Sheng wisely stepped back.
Zhao Xing nodded at him, then slammed the door shut with a bang.
“Brother Zhang? We’re not going to get him? He snatched our sister-in-law!”
“You idiot!” Another guy smacked him on the back of the head and whispered, “That guy’s clearly trained, not to mention he’s got so many repentance points…”
God, how could someone come in with over a hundred repentance points?! He had been saving for so long and only had 9.3 points—one fight might land him in the repentance room.
“Wait and see. That guy might not be an enemy.” Zhang Sheng squinted, speaking darkly.
“Yeah, yeah, boss is right. That guy’s obviously got old grudges with our sister-in-law. Maybe after he’s done tormenting him, she’ll come begging us for protection, hehe…”
.
Ignoring the buzzing flies outside, Zhao Xing threw away the towel, pulled a chair over, and sat down, looking at Luo Mingshan.
Zhao Xing hadn’t held back much when he’d been hitting earlier. He hadn’t beaten the guy to death, but he’d definitely been venting his anger.
Now that his anger was spent, he had calmed down a little.
“Remember me?” Zhao Xing lowered his head, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.
To care for the mental health of smokers, each person was allowed to carry three cigarettes.
Zhao Xing had planned to save them, but he hadn’t expected to be so agitated right after arriving that he wanted to smoke them all.
“Ah-Xing gege…” Luo Mingshan lowered his eyes and called out softly.
Ah-Xing gege, Ah-Xing gege.
Zhao Xing let out a sneer.
Back then, Zhao Xing was the child king among the children of criminals in most of the prison. Almost all the kids followed him around, calling him Zhao-ge, Zhao-ge.
Only Luo Mingshan called him “Ah-Xing gege.” Little Luoluo was fair and tiny, like a ball of dough, his voice soft and sticky. Each “Ah-Xing gege” made Zhao Xing’s heart feel warm and fuzzy, and he, like an idiot, treated him like a real little brother.
But what happened later?
Zhao Xing closed his eyes in the haze of smoke, and voices echoed in his mind.
“Luoluo, be good, don’t be afraid. Tell Auntie, who pushed you?”
“Ah-Xing gege.”
…
“Zhao Xing, why did you push him down the stairs? Over a hundred steps! If that kid wasn’t lucky, he would have died! You almost killed someone, do you understand?”
“I didn’t! It wasn’t me! I didn’t push him!”
“Smack!”
Along with the slap came his mother’s disappointed voice:
“Incorrigible! Luo Mingshan is only five years old. Would he lie? Zhao Xing, why don’t you even have the courage to admit your mistakes?”
…
“I am an Earthling, I am a higher life form. I should possess a soul as bright as the sun. I should remember the Earth’s mission. I must not harm fellow humans. I repent.”
Twelve years ago.
Luo Mingshan was five; Zhao Xing was seven.
His mother had behaved well, had her sentence reduced by a year, and was released early.
The day before she left, Luo Mingshan tumbled down the stairs, bleeding profusely, fracturing multiple bones. He barely survived, and when he woke up, he pointed at Zhao Xing in front of everyone, accusing him of pushing.
Because of this incident, Zhao Xing’s mother was charged with negligence in guardianship, allowing her child to attempt murder, and her sentence was increased by a year.
During that year, she didn’t have to work with other inmates. She only had to educate her child to “return to the right path.”
.
Zhao Xing always remembered.
In the specially provided “children’s education room,” his mother held an electric shock ruler, leaning against the wall and crying.
Her voice was despairing and pained.
“…It’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have given birth to you. They all say that children born in prison will grow up to be social scum and will come back to prison. And that’s exactly what happened.”
.
“…And that’s exactly what happened.”
Zhao Xing curled his lips.
Like now. He and Luo Mingshan really had come back to prison.
.
“Luoluo,” Zhao Xing crushed out his cigarette and turned to him. “Did I really push you back then?”
Luo Mingshan trembled, his voice nearly breaking: “Ah-Xing gege…”
“Don’t fucking call me that. Makes me want to puke.” Zhao Xing cut him off.
Luo Mingshan’s lips moved, and he called out with some difficulty: “Brother Zhao.”
Zhao Xing looked him in the eyes and asked again: “Did I push you?”
The world grew quiet.
There were no windows here, no wind.
Just the breathing of two people, one after the other.
Beyond that, stillness.
“…Brother Zhao, I’m sorry.”
The stillness was suddenly broken.
Luo Mingshan’s face was deathly pale, tears streaming down his cheeks one after another, falling to the ground. He said softly:
“Liang… Liang Xiaopang said you were leaving, and after you left, no one would protect me anymore. If… if I didn’t do what he said, he would kill me…”
Liang Xiaopang was an eight-year-old kid, fat and strong, stupid and mean, but he had never beaten Zhao Xing in a fight.
Zhao Xing crushed the cigarette butt in his palm. The scalding heat barely kept him from losing his mind.
Zhao Xing spoke one last time: “So, did I push you?”
“No.” Luo Mingshan lowered his head and said, word by word, the belated truth: “Ah-Xing gege didn’t push me. I rolled down on purpose myself.”
“Bang!”
His sanity collapsed again.
Zhao Xing stood up and kicked the iron table over with a loud crash.
Zhao Xing went berserk, grabbing Luo Mingshan by the collar, dragging him over, and slamming his head against the wall.
…So it wasn’t me who pushed him.
Zhao Xing almost wanted to laugh.
A year of “education.”
Three hundred and sixty-five days of “repentance.”
Countless “Mom, I was wrong.”
Innumerable “problem child behavioral correction treatments.”
By the end, even Zhao Xing himself couldn’t tell whether he had pushed the kid or not.
Had I really pushed him? Did I forget after doing it?
After all, Mom said I’m a bad kid.
Seven-year-old Zhao Xing nearly thought his head would explode over these questions.
But now Luo Mingshan says—
“Ah-Xing gege didn’t push me.”
…What a big joke.
.
“Drip!”
Zhou Ming swiped his card and entered the dorm. The moment he opened the door, he froze.
Dorm 1502 was already in shambles. Tables and chairs were knocked over, decorations and daily necessities swept across the floor.
And Zhao Xing, who had just kicked him to the ground a while ago, was now viciously grabbing someone’s smooth, shiny hair and slamming that person’s head against the wall.
Crimson blood seeped through Zhao Xing’s fingers. The attacker lifted his gaze to the door, his eyes full of murderous intent, chilling to the bone.
Zhou Ming’s heart stopped for a moment. Then, with the fastest speed of his life, he slammed the door shut with a bang and fled far from the scene.
Holy shit.
How unlucky was he to share a dorm with that fiend?!
That violent psycho had started bullying his new roommate the second he arrived. Would Zhou Ming be the next one beaten bloody?!
Zhou Ming was about to cry.
At a loss, he panicked and grabbed a passerby to ask, “Dude, do you know how to change dorms?”
.
After Zhou Ming left, Zhao Xing stopped beating Luo Mingshan.
First, because he hadn’t slept for over twenty hours, was a bit sleepy, and also tired from the beating.
Second, because the repentance points he had spent on Luo Mingshan today exceeded his budget.
The act of smashing Luo Mingshan’s head had been faithfully recorded by the dorm’s surveillance, and the AI calculated and deducted another 20 repentance points from Zhao Xing.
Rookie mistake. He should have done it in the bathroom earlier.
After Zhao Xing stopped, Luo Mingshan passed out.
He slid limply down the wall to the floor, unconscious. His silky black hair draped over him, making his pale, bloodstained face look both hopeless and decadently beautiful.
Almost anyone seeing this scene would be stunned and filled with pity.
But Zhao Xing was just annoyed that he was blocking the way.
Frowning, Zhao Xing kicked him into a corner, opened his suitcase, and went to the bathroom to wash up.
After a quick wash, exhausted and sleepy, Zhao Xing yawned and headed to his bed.
His bed was number 4. The bedding was made, but it didn’t look very clean, and it smelled a bit moldy.
In stark contrast was bed number 3 opposite him. The bedding looked clean and fluffy, as if it had just been aired in the Sun Plaza.
Zhao Xing walked over to bed 3 and took a look. Sure enough, the nameplate on it read “Luo Mingshan.”
Zhao Xing shamelessly took over his bed and fell into a deep sleep amid the clean scent of soap.
.
Zhao Xing was woken up.
Half-asleep, he seemed to hear Luo Mingshan arguing with someone in a low voice.
“…Zhang Sheng, please leave. This isn’t your dorm.”
“I used repentance points to swap dorms with that Zhou guy in your dorm. You can’t kick me out… Wait, did that bastard Zhao hit you again? Look at your head… That Zhao Xing really isn’t human. How could he do that? Come here, let Brother Zhang rub it for you…”
“Get lost! Don’t touch me!” Luo Mingshan was suppressing his fear, his voice trembling at the end.
“Fuck your mother! That Zhao Xing beats you like that and you don’t make a sound, but when I touch you, you act like a chaste martyr holding up glass?!”
“You… what are you? How dare you compare yourself to Ah-Xing gege?” Luo Mingshan said through gritted teeth.
“Fuck! I’m going to take you right now if it kills me!”
With a furious shout, chairs and tables clattered to the ground one after another, followed by the sounds of grappling and shattering glass.
The commotion was too loud.
Zhao Xing couldn’t pretend to sleep any longer. If he kept sleeping, he wouldn’t just be sleeping—he’d be joining the dead.
“What’s all this noise?”
Zhao Xing sat up from the bed, his voice carrying the laziness and hoarseness of just waking up.
He looked at the two arguing, his gaze indifferent but somehow intimidating enough to make Zhang Sheng pause.
Luo Mingshan seized the moment to pull his wrist free from Zhang Sheng’s grip and scurried over to Zhao Xing’s bedside in a panic.
His expression was flustered, his clear eyes darting like a frightened deer seeking shelter.
“Ah-Xing… Brother Zhao.” He called out hesitantly.
Zhao Xing almost laughed out loud: “You want me to help you?”
Luo Mingshan said nothing, but his lashes fluttered, and his feet seemed rooted to the spot by Zhao Xing’s bed.
A few strands of long hair stuck messily to his porcelain-white cheeks, making him look even more pitiful and endearing.
Zhao Xing reached out, his fingertips brushing over the blood-soaked gauze on Luo Mingshan’s head, then traced down the bruised wound on his forehead.
Compared to Luo Mingshan’s delicate, smooth skin, Zhao Xing’s fingers, with their slight calluses, felt quite rough. The callused fingers pressed and rubbed against the wound repeatedly, not too hard, not too light, causing an involuntary shudder.
Zhao Xing chuckled.
“Baby, how can you be so naive? I beat you like this, and you still haven’t learned? You actually thought I would protect you like I did when we were kids?”