Chapter 8#
Chapter 8#
Zhao Xing’s head was spinning, and his mind was no longer clear. When he heard someone shouting, he instinctively turned his head to look, only to see Suge had somehow collapsed to the ground. His seventh subordinate was kneeling beside him, feeling his carotid artery, his face pale.
Dead just like that?
Zhao Xing was quite surprised.
He shook his head, forcing himself to stay alert, and staggered to his feet.
After standing up, Zhao Xing realized he was still holding Luo Mingshan in his arms.
Luo Mingshan’s fingers trembled slightly as they touched the wound on Zhao Xing’s neck. His pale face was splattered with blood, and his expression was uglier than ever before.
Zhao Xing casually wiped his hand across his neck, and sure enough, it came away covered in blood.
Seeing the person in his arms so scared that even his body was trembling, Zhao Xing felt a mischievous urge. He smeared the blood from his hand onto Luo Mingshan’s face, looked into those eyes misted with tears, and said with a low, dark laugh, “What, scared?”
Luo Mingshan’s eyelashes fluttered slightly. His voice was hoarse as he struggled to speak, “…Brother Xing, you’re hurt again.”
“It’s nothing, I—” Zhao Xing’s voice abruptly cut off.
Because he suddenly remembered how he got this wound on his neck!
Damn!
This was him taking a hit for that idiot Luo Mingshan!
Zhao Xing’s face immediately turned ugly.
Had his brain been full of water just now?!
If his brain wasn’t broken, how could he have done something so stupid?!
He, Zhao Xing, must be the single biggest fool in the entire world!
Zhao Xing shoved Luo Mingshan away irritably, giving him a look of disgust while cursing, “Damn it, you’re always in the way. Because of you, I got hurt…”
Just as he finished speaking, a wave of prison guards swarmed in. They carried Suge away on a stretcher and took everyone involved in the altercation away for questioning.
Perhaps the AI monitoring the cameras detected that the incident was over, because the e-cards of the people present began beeping with deductions one after another.
“Qian Peng, deduct 20 points, balance 78.5 Repentance Points.”
“Li Fei, deduct 20 points, balance 77.9 Repentance Points.”
…
“Su Dong’an, deduct 30 points, balance 168.4 Repentance Points.”
Su Dong’an was the one who had just hit Zhao Xing with a stool. He was also surnamed Su, and the balance in his card was higher than the others. Zhao Xing wondered if he had some connection with Suge.
Zhao Xing narrowed his eyes.
Just then, the e-card on Suge’s stretcher let out a ding.
“Suge, deduct 80 points, balance 2954 Repentance Points.”
He had used a knife, and even though there was no blood drawn, it was still a penalty starting from 50 points. That was within Zhao Xing’s expectations. But that balance…
Zhao Xing clicked his tongue in amazement. Adding up the money he had transferred to himself and the money he’d given to his men, Suge must have recharged at least forty million.
Big spender, big spender…
Then it was Zhao Xing’s turn.
“Ding—”
“Zhao Xing, deduct 240 points, balance 133.7 Repentance Points.”
One person, one fight, one against eight, losing 240 points.
The cafeteria suddenly became noisy. The looks directed at Zhao Xing were complicated.
Even the few prison guards leading the way gave him an extra glance.
Zhao Xing lowered his head and started counting on his fingers.
After all this commotion, he had made a net gain of 60 points, but his head had been hit and his neck was injured.
Adding and subtracting, basically no profit.
Zhao Xing frowned.
And besides…
Zhao Xing looked at Suge being carried away on the stretcher.
This guy had died for no apparent reason. Zhao Xing wondered if it would be pinned on him. If he ended up being blamed for a death, he would have taken a huge loss.
Out of everyone, only Luo Mingshan wasn’t deducted any points, though his face was smeared with Zhao Xing’s blood.
A young guard nearby looked at his bloodstained yet still stunningly beautiful face, and couldn’t help softening his voice. “Luo Mingshan, are you injured? If it’s serious, you can apply for medical treatment first.”
Luo Mingshan shook his head. He turned to look at Zhao Xing, his voice low. “Zhao Xing is injured. It’s serious. He needs treatment.”
The guard hesitated.
Luo Mingshan hadn’t been deducted points, meaning he hadn’t been involved in the brawl. Even if he was taken away, he’d be released after a few questions. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to let him go for treatment first. But Zhao Xing was clearly the central figure in this fight…
Zhao Xing let out a derisive snort, his voice lazy. “Officer, our Luo Luo’s e-card didn’t even beep. How do you know his name? You sure pay a lot of attention to him.”
The young guard’s face immediately flushed bright red.
He swore he had no improper intentions toward Luo Mingshan.
It was just…
Luo Mingshan’s face was so beautiful it didn’t look real. Even the biggest celebrities nowadays would seem like mere mortals compared to him.
The moment he had arrived in prison, he had not only drawn the attention of many inmates, but also had quite a few guards talking about him behind his back.
Once the reason for his incarceration was discovered, it stirred up even more pity and sympathy among the guards.
This was something many guards knew tacitly, but having Zhao Xing say it so brazenly was still somewhat embarrassing.
Sure enough, the team leader walking ahead had a face as black as the bottom of a pot. He shot the young guard a cold look and said in a deep voice, “Silence.”
Zhao Xing shrugged and shut his mouth.
He shoved his hands in his pockets and followed the line with a lazy gait.
.
The nine people were locked in nine small rooms, waiting to be summoned.
After waiting about half an hour, Zhao Xing was called.
He followed the escorting guard to another iron room. This place was a bit similar to the room he’d been in during the assignment process—also had a guard, an iron chair, and a robot.
The guard interrogating him was the team leader from before, around forty years old, looking dignified and stern. There was even something familiar about him.
Zhao Xing narrated the entire process calmly and objectively, emphasizing that he hadn’t made any attacking moves after hitting the ground, so he had no idea how Suge had died.
The team leader flipped through the files in front of him and said nothing.
Zhao Xing leaned forward slightly and couldn’t help asking, “So how exactly did Suge die?”
Team leader: “Sudden cardiac arrest.”
Zhao Xing let out a sigh of relief and silently marveled at his good luck.
But just to be safe, he still asked, “It has nothing to do with us, right?”
The team leader frowned, recalling the images from the surveillance footage.
Many of the guards had analyzed that Suge was already showing symptoms of an attack before Luo Mingshan made his move. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have been possible for Luo Mingshan to so lightly block Suge’s desperate strike.
But Guan Pengcheng felt something was off.
The surveillance hadn’t captured Luo Mingshan’s expression, but it had captured Suge’s very clearly.
When Luo Mingshan grabbed his wrist and he let go of the dagger, the emotion in his eyes was strange—like… extreme terror.
But Luo Mingshan had only grabbed his wrist to stop him from attacking, and had done nothing to harm him from start to finish.
And the doctor’s diagnosis was clear.
The cause of death was indeed sudden cardiac arrest, unrelated to anyone else.
Guan Pengcheng snapped back to reality and said to Zhao Xing, “Suge’s sudden cardiac arrest was related to an excessive emotional fluctuation. After our discussion, we’ve unanimously decided to deduct another 50 Repentance Points from you.”
Zhao Xing cursed under his breath.
The e-card on him promptly issued a notification.
“Zhao Xing, deduct 50 points, balance 83.7 Repentance Points.”
“Zhao Xing,” the team leader behind the glass wall spoke again, “Did you plan this from the start? You knew Suge wouldn’t let Luo Mingshan off, but fighting them would cost a lot of Repentance Points. So you deliberately offered them a deal for 300 Repentance Points at the beginning, the better to protect Luo Mingshan, right?”
Zhao Xing: “…”
Zhao Xing got goosebumps from this interpretation.
He let out a derisive snort, contempt all over his face. “What the hell? I really did want to sell Luo Mingshan, but I changed my mind later because I thought 300 was too little… If I’d known all this effort would only net me 10 points and get me injured, I definitely wouldn’t have thought 300 was too little anymore.”
The team leader gave Zhao Xing a complicated look.
Zhao Xing felt a little smug inside.
He felt he was getting closer and closer to being “Top Tier Scum 101.”
That’s right, he, Zhao Xing, was trash, was scum. Hurry up and send him away!
“Ding.”
“Lie.”
The iron chair and the robot spoke in succession.
Zhao Xing’s arrogant, ruthless, cold smile froze on his face.
The only saving grace was that there was no electric current here.
The team leader, however, didn’t seem surprised by this result at all.
He sighed. “Zhao Xing, don’t you recognize me anymore?”
Zhao Xing paused for a moment and tentatively said, “You do look a bit familiar.”
“My surname is Guan. When you were kids, you called me Uncle Guan.”
Uncle Guan…
Zhao Xing remembered.
After he and Luo Mingshan encountered the pedophile, Zhao Xing had been severely injured, drawing the attention of the prison guards.
Zhao Xing had taken the opportunity to spill the whole story.
Because it involved a male criminal, the person who had handled the case with Zhao Xing was this Captain Guan.
In the end, that male criminal received the punishment he deserved. He was deducted a huge number of Repentance Points, locked in the electric shock room, and eventually didn’t make it, dying there.
Zhao Xing still remembered that after it was over, Officer Guan had patted his head and said to him, “You were very brave. You protected your brother. Well done. You’re amazing.”
Zhao Xing: “…Uncle Guan.”
He twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking of Grandpa Zhou from the guard room.
Grandpa Zhou used to like him a lot too, but now he couldn’t even bear to look at him. The disappointment and disgust in his eyes were on the verge of overflowing.
Zhao Xing looked at Guan Pengcheng and gave a very nonchalant smile. “Uncle Guan, you didn’t expect to run into me again and find me turned into such a criminal, did you?”
Guan Pengcheng looked at Zhao Xing and corrected him. “You’re not a criminal. You’re only a pre-criminal. As long as you reform and pass the ideological assessment, you can leave.”
Zhao Xing laughed. “I can’t reform anymore, Uncle Guan. You’ve got the wrong person. I was never a good guy to begin with. Don’t forget, I was sent to the Problem Children Treatment Center at seven for attempted murder.”
“I’ve always felt there was more to that incident. I believe you…”
The air seemed to freeze.
The sound of air from the vents, the hum of electronic equipment, the footsteps in the hallway outside… It all seemed to disappear.
Zhao Xing couldn’t even hear his own breathing. It was as if something had isolated him in that moment. The world fell silent, and his ears could only pick up one sound—the sound of Guan Pengcheng’s voice.
He stared at Guan Pengcheng’s lips and heard him say—
“I believe you didn’t push Luo Mingshan on purpose.”
…
All the noisy sounds of the world came rushing back in that instant.
Zhao Xing closed his eyes, curling his lips into a mocking laugh.
Ah.
What was he expecting just now?
How boring.
Sitting in the lie detector chair, Zhao Xing suddenly had an idea.
This kind of chair couldn’t be used on children, but he was an adult now. What would happen if he told the truth here and now?
As long as he spoke the truth.
Luo Mingshan’s cowardice and lies would be exposed for all to see.
Zhao Xing’s heart suddenly beat very fast. He gripped the armrests of the electric chair, his lips moving as he looked at Guan Pengcheng. “I…”
He stopped.
“Can I leave now?” Zhao Xing lowered his eyes.
Guan Pengcheng was startled. “You can.”
Zhao Xing stood up, lowered his head, and curled his lips into a contemptuous arc.
Forget it.
The case was closed. Why bring it up again?
Would speaking the truth erase that one year he had spent “being educated”?
Would speaking the truth perfectly replicate his past suffering onto Luo Mingshan?
No.
The wish for “everyone to believe I’m innocent” belonged to a seven-year-old Zhao Xing.
Not to a nineteen-year-old Zhao Xing.
The nineteen-year-old Zhao Xing just wanted to live as he pleased, to become worse and more arrogant, a villain everyone would avoid.
And then be selected to go “topside.”
As for Luo Mingshan…
Zhao Xing would be the only one to know Luo Mingshan’s baseness.
Zhao Xing alone would mete out the punishment Luo Mingshan deserved.
Letting someone else punish him—how could that be as satisfying as doing it himself?
…
Zhao Xing’s mind suddenly flashed back to the tearful look in Luo Mingshan’s eyes from not long ago.
When Luo Mingshan thought he was about to be sold, his whole little face turned white. But the corners of his eyes were red, his eyelashes were wet, and his beautiful eyes shimmered with tears as if behind a pane of glass.
…Irresistibly captivating.
Zhao Xing touched the wound on his neck and narrowed his eyes.
Ah.
He had gotten hurt today because of Luo Mingshan.
Time to go collect some interest, wasn’t it?
.
As soon as Zhao Xing walked out the door, he saw Luo Mingshan standing at the end of the hallway, his back to him.
Beside him was the young guard they’d met today, chatting with him.
The young guard said, “That Zhao Xing… he’s so vicious. In all my time here, this is the first time I’ve seen someone get deducted over two hundred points at once. Aren’t you afraid of him?”
Zhao Xing smirked smugly.
Yeah, vicious, right? Scary, right? Completely hopeless, right?
Seemed like his reputation was already established. At least in this young guard’s mind, he should be number one.
Seeing that Luo Mingshan didn’t respond, the young guard wasn’t embarrassed at all. He answered his own question. “Right, you’re his wife. Why would you be afraid of him?”
Zhao Xing: “???”
The young guard mused thoughtfully, “My colleagues all say that although that Zhao Xing looks fierce, he still got into a fight to protect his wife. So he’s not beyond redemption. He’s ten thousand times better than that Suge, who commits arson, murder, and all kinds of evil…”
Zhao Xing: “????”
Damn it, he’s pissed!!!