SES Chapter 167 Part 2

Mu Dai took a blanket from the back seat and covered herself. “I’ll just take a short nap.”

But once she closed her eyes, her eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and she couldn’t open them again. Her body swayed slightly with the movement of the car. Even her dreams swayed, as if covered by a layer of fog.

She saw Tasha giggling, with more than ten little braids sticking out of her head.

She saw Luo Ren under the moonlight, his brows slightly furrowed, the reflection of the campfire flickering in his eyes.

She saw the dancer, happily holding a diamond necklace, while behind her, a slender shadow slowly reached toward the knife on the table…

When she suddenly woke up, she found the driver’s seat empty, and the car had already stopped.

Mu Dai sat up in confusion and rubbed her eyes. It was still dark. Looking around, she saw the car was parked on a small hillside. Ahead, Luo Ren stood at the top of the slope, upright as a pine, completely motionless.

Mu Dai opened the car door and walked toward him. Only when she got close did she see that, far below the slope, were winding railway tracks, and farther still, a tiny, faintly lit platform.

She looked up at Luo Ren. His gaze was fixed on the night that was just about to break into dawn. His hair was damp with dew, and she had no idea how long he had been standing there.

Mu Dai was a little worried. “Luo Ren?”

He didn’t look at her. He seemed to be murmuring to himself: “We put a lot of effort into sending Tasha to the dock. We planned a lot. Some people created diversions, some people spread confusion…”

Mu Dai grew nervous. “Luo Ren?”

He finally lowered his head to look at her, a faint misery in his smile. “But do you know what Leopard did?”

Mu Dai stared at him blankly.

“She bought Tasha back. She told me that in this world, as long as the price is right, no deal can’t be made.”

Bought her back?

Mu Dai’s scalp prickled, like an electric current passed through it.

“Can you help me with something?”

“Tell me.”

“Turn your body around.”

Mu Dai turned around. This was the top of the slope, and the view was open. The night was slowly dissolving. Mist coiled around the valley. That small platform glowed with a lonely light, so close it felt like she could touch it with a finger.

Luo Ren wrapped his arms around her from behind. The embrace was so tight it felt airtight. His weight pressed down on her shoulders and back. For a brief moment, Mu Dai felt like she could barely stand.

She gritted her teeth and stood there. She tilted her head slightly, but Luo Ren whispered, “Don’t move. Don’t look at me.”

Mu Dai nodded instinctively.

He had found out in a bar. The old-fashioned phone hanging from a pillar suddenly started ringing nonstop. The bartender went to answer, holding the receiver in his hand as he scanned the bar, until his gaze finally landed on Luo Ren.

Luo Ren took the call.

On the other end, Leopard laughed. “I always knew someone was working against me. Turns out it was you.”

He recognized Leopard’s voice. In front of his eyes flashed that dazzling drink like a nebula, that pearl-like rose, and finally froze on the blood dripping from under the bed.

Through the receiver came Tasha’s struggling, crying voice: “Daddy, Daddy, save me.”

Blood rushed to Luo Ren’s head. He asked, “What do you want?”

“I heard you used to fight underground?”

Leopard demanded that Luo Ren fight a black-market bout in her venue. She bet on him surviving for thirty minutes. If he made her win, she would return Tasha to him. If she lost, she would also “return” Tasha — in another form.

Luo Ren agreed.

Years later, stepping once more onto a blood-stained boxing ring, the circular arena roared with cheers. He saw Leopard seated in the golden seats, surrounded by bodyguards — slender, wearing a black British-style outfit, an elegant vintage hat with half a veil.

Just like that night in the bar, completely out of place with the boxing ring.

The organizer shouted wildly into the loudspeaker: “Next, welcome our challenger — the boxing king, Hugh Man!”

The cheers exploded. A familiar scene. A man walked out from the other tunnel — Thai, 90 kilograms, dark skin, his bare upper body piled with muscle, like solid iron.

Luo Ren turned to look at Leopard in the stands. She had investigated him, arranged this cruel fate, to show him what she was capable of.

Luo Ren laughed loudly.

Fist to flesh. Another battle with Hugh Man. He couldn’t remember how many times he hit the ground, how many times he got back up. His eyes were bloodshot. Through the haze of blood, he saw Hugh Man’s bruised face. They fought until the world spun. Blow after blow landed on his head. In the end, he didn’t even feel pain — only the dull thudding in his skull, like someone bouncing a rubber ball.

In the end, he swayed unsteadily on the stage. His ears rang as he heard the whole crowd counting down: “Ten, nine, eight, seven…”

He lasted thirty minutes. He made her win.

Luo Ren collapsed to the ground. Two of Leopard’s bodyguards came, one on each side, and dragged him to see Leopard. When they reached the floor below, a crazed guest who looked drugged up bumped into them hard.

It was Yuris, who had sneaked in. In the chaos of that collision, he slipped a dagger into Luo Ren’s hand.

Luo Ren remained calm, hiding the blade’s edge up his sleeve.

When he reached her, everything went as expected. With a sudden lunge, the sharp edge pressed against Leopard’s neck, drawing first blood.

A thin line of blood trailed across her pale neck.

Luo Ren sneered. “I never take threats from anyone.”

Leopard said, “You’ll regret it.”

Luo Ren laughed loudly, about to say something else, when a gunshot rang out. A burst of blood exploded before his eyes. The Leopard in his arms went limp, the top of her skull blown apart in a mess of blood and flesh.

Caught completely off guard, frozen stiff, Luo Ren stood still for a long moment before slowly turning around.

He saw Leopard — tall and slender, wearing a silver high-slit evening gown, a diamond necklace, her long black hair pinned up, a freshly vivid rose pinned at her temple.

Her right arm was raised, holding a gun. Smoke curled faintly from the muzzle. She was still in a shooting stance.

Around her was a crowd of pot-bellied men, rich and powerful. A waiter in a white suit and white gloves held a tray, with a cocktail topped with pale blue flames — a B-52.

Leopard took the glass, drank it in one go, and smiled sweetly to the crowd. “A bet is a bet. I won. I told you long ago, he wouldn’t be that obedient. He was sure to make a move.”

Another waiter came with a tray. He collected golden chips from the crowd one by one. The chips clattered into the tray in a dazzling shower of gold.

She was playing a game.

A cold gun barrel pressed against the back of Luo Ren’s head. More and more bodyguards poured in. Someone viciously kicked the back of his knees. Yuris, buried in the crowd, was sweating anxiously. Leopard said, “No, no, no. Let him go. I still want him to receive the gift I’m giving him.”

When the boxing arena emptied and fell silent, Luo Ren had no awareness of it. He only knew that, in the end, Yuris held him under the arms and helped him up, saying, “Luo, let’s go back.”

…

Leopard’s “gift” arrived two days later: a huge wooden crate, almost two cubic meters, carried in by several locals and placed in the open space in front of the cabin. In a crack at one corner of the box was stuck a trembling, gold-flecked rose.

More than ten people gathered around.

Luo Ren sat on the porch and didn’t move.

Yuris cursed, “Damn it!”

After cursing, he shouldered his gun and walked over, smashing the butt hard against the wooden crate. The boards didn’t break, but furious barking came from inside.

Aoki’s face changed. He dragged an axe from a side room, signaled Yuris to move aside, and brought the axe down hard, splitting the wooden crate open.

Inside was a locked iron cage.

Inside the cage was a snarling, enormous mastiff.

Luo Ren still didn’t move. Yuris raised his gun and fired wildly into the cage. Bullets struck the lock with loud metallic clangs. The mastiff’s frenzied barking turned into whimpering howls, until finally, there was no sound at all.

Aoki gripped a knife and opened the cage door. His blade rose and fell — blood splattered everywhere.

After that, the people gathered slowly dispersed. Luo Ren lifted his head and looked at Aoki, whose face was as pale as paper, walking toward him step by step.

Aoki opened his tightly clenched fist.

In his palm was a blood-stained, rainbow-colored plastic hair clip.

…

Mu Dai felt that Luo Ren couldn’t stand it anymore. The weight that had been pressing on her shoulders and back began to slide downward. She ignored his earlier words — “don’t look back” — and turned around to try to hold him. “Luo Xiaodao?”

Luo Ren knelt to the ground, clinging tightly to her waist.

Mu Dai also knelt, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and neck, gently resting her head against the top of his. She could feel the violent tremors he was forcing down.

The night finally dispersed. Dawn began to spread outward. The light at the platform went out at some unknown point. A distant horn sounded. Turning her head, Mu Dai saw a long green train rattling through the valley, clattering toward them.

“Luo Xiaodao, it’s dawn.”