Chapter 38: The Small-Time Star and His Short-Tempered Sugar Daddy (Part XXXVIII)
Xiao Ji had triggered Fang Yinnian’s landmine with a single sentence and didn’t dare speak anymore. He shut his mouth but didn’t leave.
The more Fang Yinnian looked at Xiao Ji, the angrier he got.
If Xiao Ji wouldn’t move, couldn’t he leave himself?
Fang Yinnian stood up, cursing as he kicked over the small stool he had just been sitting on. He wanted to return to his tent, but thinking of that even more infuriating bastard Cheng Nuo inside, he was so angry he lost his head and walked alone deeper into the mountains.
He didn’t know what he wanted to do, nor how to vent this chest full of anger.
He just kept his head down and walked forward relentlessly.
At this time, the program staff were busy wrapping up work. Seeing Fang Yinnian and Xiao Ji talking earlier, they had tactfully stayed away.
No one noticed that Fang Yinnian had left the safe zone alone and walked toward the woods on the other side of the mountain path.
No one from the program team noticed, but someone did.
Cheng Nuo had been observing Fang Yinnian and Xiao Ji’s movements.
Seeing Fang Yinnian leave alone, evil rose from his gut. He immediately felt this was a god-given opportunity.
If Fang Yinnian really refused to see him again after this program ended, finding another way to get to him would take a lot of effort.
Now, in the deep mountains and old forests, without surveillance, evidence would be hard to collect. If he was lucky, he could send Fang Yinnian to see the King of Hell without anyone knowing.
If he was unlucky, the worst outcome would just be mutual destruction.
Either way, with the family vengeance avenged, his life wouldn’t be in vain.
Opportunity knocks but once. Cheng Nuo immediately dug a fruit knife out of his backpack, tucked it into his jacket, and while no one was paying attention, sneakily followed Fang Yinnian’s footsteps.
037 reminded Xiao Ji: [Cheng Nuo is following the Little Phoenix. He brought a knife.]
As Xiao Ji stood up and put away the chair, he said faintly: [I know.]
037 gasped: [This isn’t part of your plan too, is it? You deliberately made Yin Nian angry just now to make him walk away alone? Using him as bait! Are you even human?!]
Xiao Ji sighed: [You have so much drama. Why don’t you go work under the Star Lord of Fate? Wouldn’t it be better to write tribulation scripts? Why be an executioner?]
He swore to the heavens that he really just wanted to coax Fang Yinnian just now. If Fang Yinnian was willing, and he tried a little harder himself, maybe he wouldn’t have to switch missions.
Who could have predicted that Fang Yinnian would leave in a fit of anger, giving Cheng Nuo this chance to loot a burning house?
But it was too late to say anything now. Xiao Ji could only follow Cheng Nuo and Fang Yinnian down the mountain path.
……..
Fang Yinnian walked for a long time.
Although he was prepared to tell Xiao Ji to get lost, he had to admit that all along the way, he was silently hoping Xiao Ji would chase after him.
He fantasized that as soon as he turned around, he would see Xiao Ji appear behind him.
So he dared not stop, and dared not look back, afraid that reality would completely ruin all his hopes.
It wasn’t until a drop of water fell on the tip of his nose that Fang Yinnian stopped. He looked back at the tall, pitch-black trees around him and the empty path he had come from.
Let alone a person, there wasn’t even a ghost’s shadow.
For a moment, Fang Yinnian didn’t know whether to be angry at Xiao Ji’s heartlessness or his own sentimental delusion.
With nowhere to vent his anger, he could only swing his fist and punch the large tree beside him hard.
At the same time, a flash of white light cut through the sky, and a boom of thunder exploded, startling Fang Yinnian.
Immediately after, without warning, heavy rain poured down like a waterfall.
In just ten seconds, Fang Yinnian was soaked to the bone.
The curtain of rain blurred Fang Yinnian’s vision and obscured the road back.
Fang Yinnian felt he must have offended the Tai Sui god this year to be so utterly unlucky. Cursing, he looked around, trying to find a place to shelter from the rain.
He didn’t find a hiding spot, but as he turned his head, he saw a figure standing behind him—soaked by the rain just like him, standing there motionless.
Fang Yinnian narrowed his eyes and recognized the person by their body shape.
He laughed in anger. “Cheng Nuo, what kind of act are you putting on? Running here to scare me.”
Unexpectedly, as soon as his voice fell, Cheng Nuo lunged at him.
When Fang Yinnian saw he was holding a knife and thrusting it straight at his chest, his pupils constricted instantly. It was too late to retreat unscathed.
Just as Fang Yinnian subconsciously moved his arm to protect his vitals, preparing to risk injury to beat this dog of a bastard to death, his vision suddenly went black. The world spun, and he was protected into a cold, solid embrace.
The sound of falling rain masked the sound of the blade piercing flesh.
Fang Yinnian heard nothing. Only when the embrace holding him loosened did he see a familiar long leg lift sharply and kick Cheng Nuo right in the face.
The force was so great it almost sent Cheng Nuo flying.
Xiao Ji strode over to Cheng Nuo and, before Cheng Nuo could try to get up and resist, cleanly dislocated both his arms.
Xiao Ji stood up and faced Fang Yinnian.
Fang Yinnian’s mind went blank from the sudden turn of events. He quickly snapped out of it, and just as he was about to ask Xiao Ji if he was okay, he saw Xiao Ji silently collapse in front of him.
“Xiao Ji!!!”
Terrified, Fang Yinnian hurriedly squatted down to check Xiao Ji’s condition, only to see the fruit knife Cheng Nuo had held just moments ago now stuck in Xiao Ji’s back, right over his heart.
The rain was too heavy.
Fang Yinnian couldn’t tell if the liquid on Xiao Ji’s already soaked black hoodie was rain or blood.
He knelt in front of Xiao Ji, shouting his name, but couldn’t hear his own voice.
He wiped the rain from his face, forced himself to calm down, and reached out with trembling hands to support Xiao Ji, wanting to carry him back immediately.
When the program team arrived, this was the scene they saw.
When Fang Yinnian was pulled up from the ground, his mind was in chaos, feeling as if the scene before him was an absurd nightmare.
It was too unreal.
He couldn’t remember how he pushed everyone aside and forcibly carried Xiao Ji out of the woods, nor could he remember how he got into the program team’s car with Xiao Ji and rushed down the mountain to the hospital.
When his consciousness fully cleared, what he saw was the red light over the emergency room door and the doctors and nurses in white coats coming and going.
Cheng Nuo had been taken away by the police. Taken along with him was Xiao Ji’s phone, which contained evidence of Cheng Nuo’s criminal intent toward Fang Yinnian.
037 knew Xiao Ji was awake.
[Using the ‘bitter meat trick’ to this extent is really scary. The Little Phoenix is terrified.]
Xiao Ji didn’t respond. This was the simplest way.
Originally, to deal with Cheng Nuo, capturing footage of Cheng Nuo seriously injuring Fang Yinnian would have had the same effect.
But Xiao Ji couldn’t watch Fang Yinnian get hurt.
Fang Yinnian would feel pain.
So while protecting Fang Yinnian, he deliberately positioned himself to let Cheng Nuo stab the knife toward his heart.
037 was wrong; Xiao Ji wasn’t using a “bitter meat trick.” He didn’t even think this kind of thing could be exchanged for a person’s sincerity.
He just felt that if he died, he died.
He wasn’t afraid of pain anyway.
If he died, he’d just start a new mission.
That shouldn’t be a big deal, right?
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