Chapter 9: A Dying Little Puppy
When Lin Yuan regained consciousness, his whole body ached.
A bright white light shone down from above his head, stinging his eyes so much he couldn’t open them.
Not only could he not open his eyes, but his hands and feet were also hogtied, and a rag was stuffed in his mouth.
He was firmly bound to a chair.
There were voices speaking in his ear.
“Subordinates are all useless. Watching for so long and still couldn’t get him. I had to personally abduct him!”
It was the voice of the gentle man who had just brought him here.
Immediately after, footsteps circled around him.
Another rough male voice sounded very pleased: “Not bad, a Pure Yin Body. Excellent material for refining ghosts!”
“Master, when do we start refining? I can’t wait!”
“Tonight, the Hour of You is the auspicious time. Once the Hour of You arrives, I will open the altar and perform the ritual!”
Lin Yuan’s head buzzed.
All the blood drained from his face.
He had been ambushed!
He was indeed of a Pure Yin constitution, but he never expected to be targeted by evil cultivators with ulterior motives!
He expected it even less that kidnapping someone in broad daylight in a bustling city would be so easy.
He blamed himself for having no guard up at all.
He struggled, trying to break free.
But it was futile.
He tried moving his fingers.
Fortunately, his fingers could move.
“Yo, the handsome boy is awake!”
The speaker was that gentle man.
Lin Yuan’s mouth was stuffed, so he could only emit low “wu wu” sounds.
The man pushed the bright incandescent lamp above his head to the side.
The light dimmed a bit.
Lin Yuan blinked his eyes hard and could finally see things clearly.
This looked like a basement.
The surroundings were empty, with a few wine racks piled in the corner. Dark and damp, with no windows.
Standing in front of him, besides that refined-looking human trafficker, was a man in his fifties with a goatee.
“Wu wu—” Lin Yuan wanted to speak.
The gentle man reached out and pulled the rag from his mouth.
“What do you want to do?” he shouted. “Untie me quickly! Do you hear me? Untie me!”
The man huffed a laugh and reached out to touch his face.
“Little baby, don’t scream. If you scream again, my heart will ache! You’re so good-looking; I can hardly bear to kill you!”
As he spoke, he raised his wrist to check his watch.
“Master, there’s still half an hour until the Hour of You. Can I taste him first?”
The Goatee Master immediately shook his head. “Absolutely not! For three two-hour periods before opening the altar, he cannot be tainted by filthy energy!”
The man shook his head, looking regretful. “A pity for such a beautiful little beauty! To think he was enjoyed first by that bastard Shen Yanzhou!”
“If only we had brought him back last night. I could have tasted what kind of flavor a stunner capable of moving the heart of that emotionless monster and being brought home has!”
Hearing the name Shen Yanzhou so suddenly, Lin Yuan’s brain was a bit chaotic.
He didn’t expect them to be related to Shen Yanzhou.
He suddenly realized a problem. “Last night, the ones who poisoned me with Yin poison were you guys?”
The Goatee nodded. “That’s right. We originally wanted you to die from the poison, so it would be easier to take your soul intact. Unexpectedly, you actually neutralized the poison yourself!”
Lin Yuan stared daggers at the two people in front of him and spat fiercely on the ground.
“You two bastards, doing such wicked things against nature, aren’t you afraid of retribution?”
The gentle man didn’t get angry; instead, he laughed. “Little baby has quite a temper! Death is at hand; curse if you want!”
Lin Yuan pressed his lips tight and fell silent.
His fingers secretly pinched a spell to form a seal, summoning nearby wandering spirits.
The surrounding temperature dropped suddenly, whipping up a sinister wind.
The next second, the gentle man’s body lurched violently to the side.
“Ah!” he cried out.
The Goatee was also bumped by something, nearly falling over.
But after all, his cultivation was profound; he realized instantly that something unclean had come to cause trouble.
He grabbed a coin sword, muttered something under his breath, then sliced his finger on the blade.
He raised the sword and waved it around.
Moments later, the surroundings returned to calm.
Lin Yuan was stunned.
He had overlooked the fatal detail that the Goatee knew magic arts.
The Goatee put away the coin sword and stared coldly at Lin Yuan.
“Kid, those ghostly things appearing out of nowhere just now—did you summon them?”
Lin Yuan gritted his teeth fiercely. “Yes, so what?”
As he spoke, his fingers moved to form a seal again.
If one wave didn’t work, then bring another!
The gentle man at the side turned hostile. He grabbed a baseball bat from the corner and swung it ruthlessly onto Lin Yuan’s back.
“Fucking little bastard! Daring to use dirty tricks on me!”
Lin Yuan instantly trembled with pain.
He bit his lip hard, cold sweat seeping from his forehead, and looked up to glare fiercely at the man in front of him.
The corner of the man’s mouth twitched. “Kid, your bones are quite hard! I’ll show you hard!”
Cursing, he swung the bat again, smashing heavily onto Lin Yuan’s stomach.
Once, twice.
“Pfft—” A mouthful of fresh blood sprayed out.
Lin Yuan felt as if his internal organs had been shattered.
He clenched his teeth tightly, letting the taste of blood fill his mouth.
His eyes were red, but he didn’t make a sound.
“Little brat can really take a beating!” the man said, raising the baseball bat high, preparing to continue the lesson.
Just then, with a loud BANG, the door in the distance was kicked open with great force.
The next second, a tall, slender black figure rushed in with a gust of wind.
Before the man could see clearly, the newcomer landed a heavy kick on him.
The man howled, flying backward along with the baseball bat in his hand.
The moment Lin Yuan saw Shen Yanzhou clearly, for some reason, the tears that had been pooling in his eyes rolled down his cheeks.
Shen Yanzhou glanced at him, then looked at the blood on the ground, his handsome brows knitting tightly.
At this time, five or six burly bodyguards in black also rushed in.
They subdued the Goatee nearby with ease.
Shen Yanzhou walked slowly to the corner, looking down coldly at the man curled up in a ball on the ground.
On his sharp, handsome face, a deep, wild rage was currently brewing.
“Shen Yanhui, you dare touch my person?” His voice seemed condensed from ice.
Shen Yanhui, lying on the ground, was already scared witless.
He never expected Shen Yanzhou to find this place so quickly and catch him red-handed.
“Yanzhou, l-listen to my explanation…” Shen Yanhui’s face was ashen; he seemed to smell the scent of death.
But before he could finish, Shen Yanzhou’s spotless black leather shoe kicked him viciously in the stomach.
followed by a second kick, a third kick…
“Ah—”
“Ow—”
“Help—”
Shen Yanhui let out wails of heart-wrenching pain.
Soon there was no movement; he had passed out.
Shen Yanzhou struggled to suppress the fury in his chest and stopped his movements.
He turned back and walked to Lin Yuan.
At this moment, Lin Yuan’s thin body was trembling ceaselessly.
His lips quivered slightly, seeming to want to speak, but in the end, he said nothing.
Shen Yanzhou didn’t speak either, his handsome face cold as frost.
He reached out a hand toward a bodyguard, who hurriedly handed over a sharp short knife.
Shen Yanzhou leaned over and cut the ropes binding Lin Yuan.
Because the rope at his ankles was tied too tightly, the rough fibers of the hemp rope had dug into the flesh.
Shen Yanzhou squatted down, carefully cutting the rope open and gently removing it from his ankles.
Despite this, the stinging pain was inevitable.
Lin Yuan’s calf twitched slightly.
Shen Yanzhou looked up, staring at his face. “Did I hurt you?”
Lin Yuan’s face was wet with undried tears, like a pear blossom bathed in rain. A streak of bright red blood at the corner of his mouth made him look especially pitiable.
He didn’t answer.
Shen Yanzhou didn’t ask again. He scooped the person up into a bridal carry.
Lin Yuan didn’t struggle.
Having been tied up for who knows how long, his blood circulation was poor. After taking three hits from the bat, his body was limp, and moving was difficult.
Most importantly, he felt that Shen Yanzhou’s embrace was very warm.
And inexplicably, it made him feel a trace of safety.
Shen Yanzhou carried him and strode toward the door.
At the same time, he ordered, “Take those two away. Lock them up and interrogate them to death!”
“Yes!”
Stepping onto the dim marble stairs, Shen Yanzhou looked down at the person in his arms.
His small face was pale, covered in tear tracks, his jaw smeared with blood, blooming into a dark red patch.
His curly hair, usually soft, was also messy.
His eyes were lightly closed; the whole person looked like a dying little puppy. Soft and delicate, making one unable to suppress a feeling of pity.
Shen Yanzhou, however, looked gloomy, lecturing with a cold voice: “Lin Yuan, you’ve got some nerve! Tonight, new debts and old debts, we will settle them properly!”
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