Chapter 149
In the end, all three temporarily agreed to keep the bug at Shen Shuyu’s house.
It was getting late, and the two prepared to go home. Before leaving, Shen Xili remembered something and took a set of keys out of his pocket.
It was the keychain Shen Shuyu had given him before he brought the bug over.
“Returning it to you.”
Shen Shuyu reached out to take the keys, then heard Shen Xili ask, “By the way, I remember I gave you a keychain before. Why aren’t you using it?”
If Shen Xili hadn’t mentioned it, Shen Shuyu would have forgotten about it. He said, “I’m not used to attaching things. It’s in my room. Should I return it to you?”
Shen Xili chuckled lightly. “Who takes back a gift they’ve given? Alright, I’m off.”
Shen Shuyu shrugged lightly. If he didn’t want it, fine.
Wen Jiafei fell a step behind as he exited the door. Shen Shuyu couldn’t help but let out an “Hey.” Wen Jiafei stopped to look at him.
Shen Shuyu scratched the side of his neck. “You… you be careful.”
Wen Jiafei hummed in acknowledgement, then followed Shen Xili to leave.
Shen Xili waited for him for a moment. Seeing him come out and noticing his slow pace, he asked, “Need a hand?”
He didn’t know exactly how badly Wen Jiafei was hurt, but seeing how Shen Shuyu had been supporting him earlier, it must be quite serious.
Shen Xili was just about to raise his hand when he heard Wen Jiafei say coldly, “No need.”
Shen Xili raised an eyebrow slightly. “Fine. If you feel unwell, tell me. Thank you for today.”
Wen Jiafei didn’t speak again. Shen Xili was used to Wen Jiafei’s mute personality. He pressed the elevator button, and the two walked in.
Only the two of them were in the elevator. Wen Jiafei looked up slightly at the surveillance camera; it remained quiet.
Only after they walked out of the residential complex gate did Wen Jiafei glance at Shen Xili. Walking slowly, he spoke up, “Now it’s just the two of us.”
Shen Xili hummed. “What is it?”
Wen Jiafei said, “Who exactly are you?”
Shen Xili stopped walking and turned sideways to look at Wen Jiafei. When their eyes met, Shen Xili sensed killing intent in Wen Jiafei’s eyes.
He smiled. “You just helped me, and now you want to kill me? Wen Jiafei, your face changes really fast.”
“I didn’t help you,” Wen Jiafei said indifferently. “I helped Shen Shuyu.”
Shen Xili sighed. “Isn’t it the same thing?”
He continued, “I am Shen Xili, your neighbor, your schoolmate. What other identity could I have?”
Wen Jiafei looked at him with a sharp gaze. “When fighting Zhong, although he restrained himself well, when faced with the prospect of losing, he still unconsciously used his most familiar attack and defense methods.”
Although black boxing arenas were still boxing, there weren’t that many rules on a black boxing stage. As long as it was exciting and attractive, the audience would cheer even if the fighters went from boxing to brawling.
Wen Jiafei had actually been thinking about it ever since the fight ended. He found Zhong’s moves very familiar but couldn’t place them until just now, when they left Shen Shuyu’s house. The conversation between Shen Xili and Shen Shuyu jogged his memory. In the Survival Battle, Shen Xili had used them too. Although he mostly used what the school teachers taught, in moments of crisis, he would still use the fighting style he was most familiar with.
Especially in the wheel battle of the final level, when he fought Yan Qing, he had used moves almost identical to Zhong’s.
Wen Jiafei looked at Shen Xili. “I don’t know what you told Shen Shuyu, but he counts as having helped you a lot. Yet you aren’t willing to tell him the truth.”
The parasite in Shen Xili’s body, Zhong’s Mother Bug, and Zhong’s intense desire to kill Shen Xili.
All of this conflicted somewhat with what Shen Xili had told Shen Shuyu. Just some small conflicts while wandering? Was it necessary to chase him all the way to Amor to kill him over nothing?
Shen Xili pursed his lips. Wen Jiafei said, “You say you don’t want to drag me and him into this conflict, but you know very well that Shen Shuyu and I are already pawns in the game.”
Amor’s winter was cold. Shen Xili sighed, exhaling a puff of white mist. He said, “Yes.”
This conflict wasn’t about whether he wanted to or not. From the moment Shen Shuyu and Wen Jiafei intervened, they could no longer escape.
Zhong took the money and dragged his exhausted body home. Only after locking the door did he sit on the cold stool and take out the money he had been clutching to his chest all the way.
The brown paper bag was warm from his body heat. Zhong counted the money again. His material desires were very low; getting by was enough. So, most of his money went into raising all sorts of bugs.
One underground match earned him as much as two months’ salary in the organization. Zhong raised his hand to touch the spots where he had been pummeled.
Painful, but he was long accustomed to it.
Zhong took a deep breath and put the money away. Now that he had money, he needed to move to a place with heating first. Although he might not stay for more than two days, due to the cold weather, the mortality rate of his darlings had risen to sixty percent. If this continued, the ones he had painstakingly cultivated would surely all die.
Zhong sighed and took the Mother Bug out of his pocket. He had been restless throughout the boxing match today, especially during the second half; his heart had been panicked.
He pursed his lips. Just wait two more days. Once he brought the item back to the organization, he wouldn’t have to run around like this anymore.
Thinking this, Zhong pulled back the black cloth. He was contemplating how to get what he wanted from Shen Xili. Should he torture him first, wear him down completely before questioning him? Or question him first and then slowly torture him?
He hadn’t even chosen an answer from these two options when the expression on his face froze instantly.
He shot up from his seat. Where was his bug???
The glass bottle was empty; there was nothing inside. Not only that, Zhong realized just now that the glass bottle in his hand was different too!
He stared at the glass bottle in his hand with exasperation, then slammed his palm heavily onto the hard table. The glass bottle shattered into shards beneath his hand.
“Shen… Xi… Li!” Zhong gritted his teeth as he pronounced the name. No wonder he had been restless all night—it was that cheap bone Shen Xili playing tricks!
He would definitely make the child bug bite Shen Xili to death!
Shen Shuyu fell into darkness again. He opened his eyes wearily. Having experienced this once before, he wasn’t too confused this time. Instead, he walked step by step towards the light.
What scene was it this time?
Shen Shuyu walked into the halo of light, but the blinding brightness made it impossible to keep his eyes open. He raised his hand to cover his eyes, taking a good while to adapt to the high-intensity light here.
“I’m asking you, where did you come from?”
A vicious voice reached his ears. The voice was distant but clear. Shen Shuyu blinked and walked toward the sound. As he got closer, the voices became more numerous and chaotic, no longer just that single vicious voice.
Shen Shuyu looked left and right. He was standing in a place resembling a dungeon. In this interstellar era, did dungeons still exist?
Although it was a dungeon, it wasn’t gloomy at all. Instead, the lights in some rooms were turned on very brightly, dazzlingly so.
Shen Shuyu felt extremely uncomfortable just looking at them.
He took a deep breath. The air smelled terrible. Frowning, he walked deeper inside, looking for the voice he had heard initially.
Shen Shuyu reached a room in the deepest part of the dungeon. The lights here were bright too. Although the main door was shut tight, there was a small window welded shut with iron bars on the door. Through the gaps in the window, he could see what was happening inside.
Shen Shuyu endured the discomfort and looked in. He saw a person in filthy, tattered clothes hanging there. His appearance was no longer discernible because every part of his body was flayed open, his face covered in blood.
He seemed to be on the verge of unconsciousness, but the interrogator wouldn’t give him the chance to pass out. A basin of cold water was splashed over him from head to toe. He struggled awake, looking weakly at the two people in the room.
The interrogator was big and burly, looking fiendish. He held a whip in his right hand and used the handle to lift the boy’s chin. “Good looking, but surprisingly a tough nut to crack. Kid, don’t you know that in our Star Thief territory, people like you either get beaten to death by us or played to death by us? Hahahahaha.”
When the person inside had his face lifted, Shen Shuyu couldn’t help but widen his eyes. That person was none other than Shen Xili as a child!
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