Part 3
In front of Cheng Xun, Qi En couldn’t put the “earphone” back on.
He put it in his pocket.
At this time, he pressed the power button on his phone and checked the notification page.
No messages had been sent.
It seemed Dai Mu also knew the situation and didn’t send messages rashly.
Cheng Xun suddenly asked, “What time is it?”
“Ten o’clock.”
“Come, I’ll take you to buy earphones.”
“?”
Qi En didn’t go with him.
Cheng Xun asked again, “Not going?”
“You drank too much. You should go home quickly.”
“I didn’t drink too much. My alcohol tolerance isn’t this low.”
He didn’t drink too much, but he took a lot of drugs.
Qi En: “I’m going home too.”
Cheng Xun: “Your home is in Zone B, which is a bit far from here. How do you plan to get back?”
Qi En: “Taxi…”
Cheng Xun: “Shall I drive you back?”
Qi En hurriedly refused, “You drank alcohol, you can’t drive drunk. That’s very dangerous.”
If Cheng Xun drove drunk and had an accident alone, fine, but Qi En was in his car too. Qi En didn’t want to die with him. If he died, who would get the one billion?
“Is this your first time in Zone S?”
“Yes, how did you know…”
“I didn’t know. I asked you.”
“…” Cunning.
“Why run so far for a part-time job? There are plenty of places hiring in Zone B too, like the golf course last time.”
“I just happened to see Zone S hiring, so I came, and to look around…”
Talking to Cheng Xun was so tiring for Qi En.
Out of ten sentences, nine were lies.
“So you haven’t looked around yet, and you’re going back?” Cheng Xun said. “That’s a bit of a pity.”
“Can’t help it.” Qi En wanted to escape as soon as possible.
“Stay here for the night. I’ll take you around.”
“No need, I want to go back…”
“But didn’t you say you wanted to visit Zone S casually?”
“…” Qi En had dug a hole for himself.
Why was Cheng Xun’s mind still so clear after drinking alcohol and taking drugs?
Qi En suspected something was wrong with the drug’s efficacy.
Could it be expired medicine?
Cheng Xun walked in front, not fast, occasionally looking back to see if Qi En had kept up.
But obviously, Cheng Xun needed looking after more; he stumbled when walking.
Qi En shook the knife out of his sleeve again. Relying on the fact that Cheng Xun couldn’t see his movements from the front, he swished and gestured, imagining chopping Cheng Xun into eight pieces.
Thinking while shivering.
He wasn’t afraid, but cold from the wind.
Although there wasn’t much wind blowing here.
How about now?
The bustling metropolis not far away seemed unrelated to this place; the noise outside couldn’t infect this half-built, abandoned construction site.
Qi En held his breath and quickly followed up.
Recalling the killing moves he learned in class, he aimed at the fatal spot on Cheng Xun’s lower back and stabbed hard.
The accident happened right at this moment.
Cheng Xun suddenly stopped. Qi En’s grasp of distance and strength was thrown into chaos. Coupled with stepping on Cheng Xun’s shoe and landing on an irregular large stone, he twisted his ankle and lunged forward. His hand lost strength, the dagger fell out, and the tip slid across the side of Cheng Xun’s suit.
It didn’t cut flesh, but slashed open a button on the suit.
Fortunately, the lining was also black.
With a clatter, the dagger fell in front of Cheng Xun.
Worried Cheng Xun would see it, Qi En grabbed Cheng Xun’s clothes hard.
Combined with his posture of lunging onto the other’s back, it looked like he was hugging Cheng Xun from behind.
Cheng Xun’s attention was indeed diverted to Qi En.
He raised his hand, supporting Qi En’s hand.
“Why hug me all of a sudden?”
It would have been fine if he hadn’t said it, but Cheng Xun asked directly.
Qi En was extremely embarrassed and denied it immediately, “I didn’t hug you.”
“Then what are you doing now…?”
“I didn’t.”
Qi En let go of him, about to stand properly.
Then he heard Cheng Xun ask, “Did you drop something? I seem to have heard a sound.”
“N-no.” Qi En grabbed Cheng Xun’s arm at once. “Didn’t you say you wanted to take me around? Let’s go now. It’ll be very late soon, and I have to work tomorrow.”
Cheng Xun held his hand in return. “It’s hard to walk here. There are lots of steel bars and nails on the ground. Be careful not to fall.” His tone was natural, and Qi En held back the urge to shake off his hand.
But, did holding hands require interlacing fingers?
Cheng Xun didn’t hold tight, but due to the difference in their hand sizes, Qi En’s knuckles were stuck a bit white.
Whether from nervousness or fear, his palm trembled slightly and sweated a little.
Qi En was a little disgusted with himself.
“Um, we don’t need to hold hands like this.”
“Like what?” Cheng Xun seemed not to understand what Qi En was saying.
Qi En had to wiggle his fingers and say it again: “Holding hands like this is a bit weird. Just hold normally, like that.”
He actually didn’t ask to let go, but to change the posture and continue holding.
Was he naive and defenseless, or saying it on purpose?
But Cheng Xun didn’t say a word on the surface, as if he hadn’t heard Qi En.
Qi En called him again: “Hey…”
But his voice got smaller and smaller.
Cheng Xun suddenly turned around. The lights of the urban skyscrapers outlined his silhouette. “Can I ask you a question?”
“…Yes.”
“Why did you quit your job in Zone B and come to Zone S for part-time work? Did that friend encourage you again?”
What did he mean by quitting the job in Zone B? Did he mean the streamer job?
Oh right, the One Billion still didn’t know what he did.
Qi En answered carefully, “Yes.” But “encourage” wasn’t a very nice word; “suggest” would be better.
But Qi En didn’t dare “suggest” Cheng Xun change his phrasing.
“That friend of yours isn’t a good person.”
“Hm?” Qi En was a bit confused.
“Don’t play with him in the future.”
Qi En touched the button on his chest, tapping it gently with his index finger twice, as if comforting Dai Mu who was watching from the camera.
Qi En: “He isn’t a bad person. You look more like a bad person than him.”
Cheng Xun ignored the second half of Qi En’s sentence. “If he isn’t a bad person, how could he take you to a place like a club and not come out to pick you up personally, making you go in to find him yourself? If he isn’t a bad person, how could he leave you alone at the golf course and leave first? If he isn’t a bad person, how could he make you ‘quit’ your previous job and introduce you to unstable part-time work? If he isn’t a bad person—”
“How could he call you alone to a strange city without arranging a hotel for you?”
Did the One Billion really take the drugs? Why was his thinking still so clear?
Qi En was dazed by this long paragraph, unable to react at all.
Fortunately, Cheng Xun didn’t force him to answer, but continued to pull him outside.
Qi En was glad Cheng Xun didn’t pursue the questioning, but he was also worried Cheng Xun had sensed something.
But he didn’t dare ask.
He could only follow Cheng Xun silently.
In the dim room, there was only the glow of computer screens.
Multiple screens illuminated the pale face in front of the desk.
Only his lips were bitten to a bloody color.
Dai Mu squatted on the computer chair, watching the dim footage on the screen.
Another screen showed Qi En’s current location.
He monitored several screens at once, wishing he could grow a few more pairs of eyes.
The direction they were moving seemed to be toward Cheng Xun’s company.
Dai Mu breathed a sigh of relief, but not much.
A smaller screen showed Qi En’s Miro video, which was currently paused.
Dai Mu turned off the communicator, then continued playing the video.
He had just used this video to bluff through, making Cheng Xun think Qi En was listening to music.
But the video was short. Fortunately, Cheng Xun took off the earpiece just as the video was about to end.
Otherwise, the secret would have been exposed.
Dai Mu bit his finger, watching Qi En’s dance video while thinking of a solution.
Finally, he dialed a number from his list.
But the other party didn’t pick up.
Dai Mu clicked his tongue softly. He didn’t call again but typed a message.
: Do me a favor. Didn’t you want that batch of new goods from the organization last time? I’ll help you get it.
“Is it about your En-En-chan again?”
Dai Mu was startled. He gripped the edge of the table, spun the chair around, and looked back.
The room was very dark; he could only vaguely see a figure leaning against the door.
The person he wanted to see least had appeared.
“Since you were here, why speak up only now? When did you arrive?”
“When that man said you were a bad person.”
Dai Mu cursed under his breath. “I don’t want to talk so much with you. Go bring him back for me. Ask for whatever you want.”
“Anything?”
“Yes.” Dai Mu sensed a trap but didn’t want to care about it now. He could always renege later if needed.
“Your En-En-chan is in Zone S right now?”
“Mn.” Dai Mu looked at the computer.
At this moment, Qi En’s location was at the IFC in Zone S.
The man’s mocking voice came from the darkness, “You seem overly nervous? They went to the IFC; what bad thing could happen?”
“Go or not? If you don’t go, I’ll find someone else.”
“Wait, you’re so nervous, is there inside information?”
Dai Mu’s face changed.
The man continued:
“How did Qi En suddenly get involved with you? Either you met offline, or he became a hitman under you? That’s why you asked me to help get a custom gun last time. Am I right?”
“That man looks familiar. I stayed at the golf course for a while last time, and the one interacting with Qi En seemed to be that man too.”
“He’s Cheng Xun, right? Could he be Qi En’s assassination target?”
Dai Mu lowered his eyes, turned his back, and continued looking at the computer.
But his mind wasn’t fully on it anymore.
Fortunately, S didn’t guess that Cheng Xun was the Rank One on the bounty list.
True, a normal person wouldn’t associate a new member with the Rank One.
“You’re going to tattle again?” Dai Mu asked.
S laughed. “How long have you been abusing your power for personal gain? You were like this when I first met you. If I told the President that you bypassed organization procedures to contact and deploy a hitman privately, how would you be punished?”
“Your mom’s lung disease is in the late stages, right? Can she handle the pain of having the breathing tube pulled out again?” Dai Mu’s voice was very faint, as if he cared about nothing.
“…”
“If you know what to do, then go. Zone S, IFC Center. You’ve been there many times.”
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