Chapter 8

Zhao Xing's head was spinning, his mind fuzzy. Hearing people shouting, he turned instinctively to look—and saw Su Ge somehow sprawled on the floor. His seventh subordinate was kneeling beside him, fingers at his carotid artery, face gone white.

He was dead?

Zhao Xing was quite surprised.

He shook his head, barely managed to pull himself together, and staggered to his feet.

Only after standing did Zhao Xing realize he was still holding Luo Mingshan in his arms.

Luo Mingshan's fingertips trembled as they touched the wound on Zhao Xing's neck. Blood had splattered across his deathly pale face, and his expression was uglier than Zhao Xing had ever seen it.

Zhao Xing casually wiped at his neck. Sure enough, his hand came away bloody.

Seeing the person in his arms trembling all over with fright, Zhao Xing felt mischievous again. He smeared his bloody hand across Luo Mingshan's face, looked into those misted-over eyes, and laughed darkly. "What? Scared?"

Luo Mingshan's lashes quivered. In a hoarse voice, he struggled out, "...Brother A-Xing, you're hurt again."

"It's fine, I—" Zhao Xing's voice cut off abruptly.

Because he suddenly remembered how he'd gotten that wound on his neck!

Fuck!

He'd taken that hit for that idiot Luo Mingshan!

Zhao Xing's face immediately darkened.

Had his brain been waterlogged just now?!

If he hadn't lost his mind, how could he have done something that stupid?!

Wasn't he, Zhao Xing, the one and only biggest fucking idiot in the world?!

Irritably shoving Luo Mingshan away, Zhao Xing shot him a disgusted look and cursed, "Fuck, you're always getting in the way and getting me hurt..."

Before the words had even faded, a group of prison guards swarmed over. They carried Su Ge away on a stretcher, then took everyone involved in the conflict away for questioning.

Perhaps the AI behind the surveillance cameras had detected that the incident was over. The electronic cards of everyone on the scene began sounding one after another as points were deducted.

"Qian Peng: 20 points deducted. Balance: 78.5 Repentance Points."

"Li Fei: 20 points deducted. Balance: 77.9 Repentance Points."

...

"Su Dong'an: 30 points deducted. Balance: 168.4 Repentance Points."

Su Dong'an was the one who had smashed Zhao Xing with a chair. He was also a Su, and his card's balance was higher than everyone else's. Who knew what his connection to Su Ge was.

Zhao Xing narrowed his eyes.

Just then, the electronic card on Su Ge's body gave a chime from the stretcher.

"Su Ge: 80 points deducted. Balance: 2,954 Repentance Points."

He had pulled a knife. Though he hadn't drawn blood, that still started at fifty points, which was what Zhao Xing expected. But that balance...

Zhao Xing clicked his tongue to himself. Between the points Su Ge had transferred to Zhao Xing and those he had given his underlings, Su Ge must have put in at least forty million yuan.

A big shot, a big shot...

Then came Zhao Xing.

"Ding—"

"Zhao Xing: 240 points deducted. Balance: 133.7 Repentance Points."

One man, one fight, one against eight—and 240 points gone.

Xitulanya Restaurant instantly erupted into noise. The looks directed at Zhao Xing grew complicated.

Even the guards leading the way ahead gave him a few extra glances.

Zhao Xing lowered his head and counted on his fingers.

After all that, he'd made a net gain of sixty points, but his head had been hit and his neck was injured.

Add it all up, and he'd basically made nothing.

Zhao Xing frowned.

And besides...

He looked at Su Ge being carried away on the stretcher.

The guy had died out of nowhere. He didn't know whether it would be pinned on him. If he ended up with a life on his hands because of this, he'd be losing big time.

Of everyone, Luo Mingshan alone had not lost any points. Only his cheeks were smeared with the blood Zhao Xing had wiped on them.

A young guard beside him looked at his bloodstained yet breathtakingly beautiful face. His voice softened without his even realizing it. "Luo Mingshan, are you hurt? If it's serious, you can apply for treatment first."

Luo Mingshan shook his head, then turned to Zhao Xing, his voice slightly low. "Zhao Xing is hurt. Badly. He needs treatment."

The guard hesitated.

Luo Mingshan hadn't lost points, which meant he hadn't taken part in the brawl. Even if he was brought in, he would only be asked a few questions and released. Going for treatment first was understandable. But Zhao Xing was clearly at the center of this brawl...

Zhao Xing snorted, his voice lazy. "Officer, our Luoluo's card never went off. How do you know his name? You sure pay a lot of attention to him."

The young guard's face flushed at once.

He swore he had no improper intentions toward Luo Mingshan.

It was just that...

Luo Mingshan's face was so beautiful he barely looked human. Even the hottest celebrities of the day looked utterly ordinary beside him.

The moment he arrived at the prison, he caught the attention of countless inmates, and quite a few guards discussed him in private too.

When they found out why he had been sent here, countless guards felt regret and pity for him.

Quite a few guards knew this inside story, but having Zhao Xing blurt it out so openly was still embarrassing.

Sure enough, the captain leading the group looked thunderous. He swept the young guard a cold glance and said heavily, "Quiet."

Zhao Xing shrugged and shut his mouth.

With both hands in his pockets, he followed the group forward at an unhurried pace.

The nine of them were separately locked in nine little rooms to await questioning.

After a little more than half an hour, Zhao Xing was called in.

He followed the guard who came for him to another metal room. It was somewhat like the room they'd entered for class assignments: guards, a metal chair, and a robot.

The guard questioning him was the captain who had led the group earlier. He looked to be in his forties, upright and stern—and somehow familiar.

Zhao Xing spoke calmly, objectively recounting the entire sequence of events. He stressed that after he fell to the ground, he had made no further attack at all, so he had no idea how Su Ge had died.

The captain flipped through the materials in front of him without speaking.

Zhao Xing leaned forward a little and couldn't help asking, "How exactly did Su Ge die?"

The captain said, "Sudden cardiac death."

Zhao Xing breathed a sigh of relief and silently marveled at his good luck.

But just to be safe, he asked, "It had nothing to do with us, right?"

The captain frowned, recalling what he had seen in the footage.

Quite a few guards had concluded that Su Ge had already shown signs of an episode before Luo Mingshan acted. Otherwise, there was no way Luo Mingshan could have so effortlessly blocked Su Ge's full-force strike.

But Guan Pengcheng felt something was off.

The camera hadn't caught Luo Mingshan's expression, but it had captured Su Ge's with perfect clarity.

At the instant Luo Mingshan grabbed his wrist and he let go of the dagger, the emotion in his eyes had been strange. It looked like... utter terror.

Yet Luo Mingshan had only grabbed his wrist and stopped his attack. From beginning to end, he had not done anything to hurt him.

And the doctor's report was perfectly clear.

The cause of death truly was sudden cardiac death, unrelated to anyone else.

Guan Pengcheng returned to himself and said to Zhao Xing, "Su Ge's sudden cardiac death was related to excessive emotional agitation. After discussion, we have unanimously decided to deduct another fifty Repentance Points from you."

Zhao Xing cursed internally.

Right on cue, his electronic card sounded an alert.

"Zhao Xing: 50 points deducted. Balance: 83.7 Repentance Points."

"Zhao Xing." The captain behind the glass wall spoke again. "You planned it from the beginning, didn't you? You knew Su Ge wouldn't let Luo Mingshan go, but fighting them would cost a lot of Repentance Points. So you deliberately proposed a transaction for three hundred Repentance Points at the outset, so you could protect Luo Mingshan better. Isn't that right?"

Zhao Xing: "..."

That explanation gave Zhao Xing goosebumps all over.

He sneered, his brows full of disdain. "What the hell are you talking about? I really did want to sell Luo Mingshan. I only backed out because I thought three hundred was too little... If I'd known I'd only make ten points after all this trouble and get hurt too, I definitely wouldn't have thought three hundred was too little."

The captain gave Zhao Xing a complicated look.

Zhao Xing felt rather pleased with himself.

He seemed to be getting closer and closer to joining "the 101 Most Heinous."

That was right. He, Zhao Xing, was trash, scum. Hurry up and send him away!

"Beep."

"Lie detected."

The metal chair and robot spoke in succession.

Zhao Xing's wild, unruly, ruthless smile froze on his face.

The only consolation was that this room didn't administer electric shocks.

The captain, on the other hand, wasn't at all surprised by the result.

He sighed. "Zhao Xing, don't you recognize me?"

Zhao Xing paused, then ventured, "You do look a little familiar."

"My surname is Guan. You and the others used to call me Uncle Guan when you were little."

Uncle Guan...

Zhao Xing remembered.

After he and Luo Mingshan encountered that pervert, Zhao Xing had drawn the prison guards' attention because his injuries were too severe.

Zhao Xing took the chance to expose the whole thing.

Since it involved a male offender, Captain Guan had been the one who handled the case with Zhao Xing.

In the end, the male offender received the punishment he deserved. A huge amount of Repentance Points was deducted from him, and he was shut in the electric shock room. He ultimately failed to hold out and died there.

Zhao Xing still remembered that after it was over, Officer Guan had stroked his head and said, "You were very brave. You protected your little brother. That was wonderful. You did a great job."

Zhao Xing said, "...Uncle Guan."

He tugged at the corner of his mouth, remembering Grandpa Zhou at the guard station.

Grandpa Zhou had liked him too, once. But now he didn't even want to look at him; the disappointment and disgust in his eyes were almost overflowing.

Zhao Xing looked at Guan Pengcheng and smiled as though it meant nothing. "Uncle Guan, you never expected that when you saw me again, I'd have become a criminal like this, did you?"

Guan Pengcheng looked at Zhao Xing and corrected him. "You're not a criminal. You're only a Pre-criminal. As long as you reform and pass the ideological assessment, you can leave."

Zhao Xing smiled. "I can't reform, Uncle Guan. You misjudged me. I was never a good person. Don't forget—I was sent to the problem-child treatment center at seven for attempted murder."

"I've always thought there was more to that. I believe you..."

It was as though the air suddenly went still.

The ventilation, the hum of the electronics, footsteps in the hallway outside the door... it all seemed to vanish.

Zhao Xing couldn't even hear himself breathing. It was as if something had separated him from the world. The world was silent, and his ears could hear only one sound—Guan Pengcheng's voice.

He stared at Guan Pengcheng's lips and heard him say—

"I believe you didn't push Luo Mingshan on purpose."

...

All the noisy sounds of the world returned at once.

Zhao Xing closed his eyes and curled his lips in a mocking laugh.

Ah.

What had he been hoping for just now?

How boring.

Sitting in the lie detector chair, Zhao Xing suddenly had an idea.

This kind of chair could not be used on children. But he was an adult now. What would happen if he told the truth about that day here?

As long as he told the truth.

Luo Mingshan's cowardice and lies would be exposed to the world.

Zhao Xing's heart suddenly pounded hard. His five fingers clenched the armrests of the electric chair. His lips moved as he looked at Guan Pengcheng. "I..."

He stopped.

"Can I leave?" Zhao Xing lowered his eyes.

Guan Pengcheng paused. "You can."

Zhao Xing stood, eyes lowered, the curve of his lips mocking.

Forget it.

Why bring up a case that was already closed?

Would telling the truth erase the year he had spent being "educated"?

Would telling the truth perfectly recreate, for Luo Mingshan, what he had gone through?

No.

The wish "to make everyone believe I'm innocent" belonged to seven-year-old Zhao Xing.

Not nineteen-year-old Zhao Xing.

Nineteen-year-old Zhao Xing only wanted to live as he pleased, become worse and more arrogant, become the kind of villain everyone avoided.

Then get chosen to go "aboveground."

As for Luo Mingshan...

It was enough for Zhao Xing alone to know how vile Luo Mingshan was.

It was enough for Zhao Xing alone to mete out the punishment Luo Mingshan deserved.

What satisfaction was there in letting others punish him compared to doing it himself?

...

Luo Mingshan's tear-filled eyes suddenly surfaced in Zhao Xing's mind.

When Luo Mingshan thought he was about to be sold, his whole little face had gone white. Yet the corners of his eyes were red, his lashes wet, and tears wavered in his beautiful eyes as though behind a pane of glass.

...It made his fingers itch.

Zhao Xing touched the wound on his neck and narrowed his eyes.

Ah.

He had gotten hurt because of Luo Mingshan today.

Shouldn't he go collect some interest?

The moment Zhao Xing stepped outside, he saw Luo Mingshan standing at the end of the corridor with his back to him.

The young guard from earlier stood beside him, chatting away.

The young guard said, "That Zhao Xing... he's really vicious. In all my time working here, this is the first time I've seen someone lose more than two hundred points in one go. Aren't you afraid of him?"

Zhao Xing curled his lips smugly.

Right? Vicious, right? Terrifying, right? Totally beyond redemption, right?

It looked like his reputation had pretty much been built up. At least in this young guard's mind, he ought to be number one.

Seeing that Luo Mingshan said nothing, the young guard didn't feel awkward. He simply asked and answered himself. "Then again, you're his wife. Why would you be afraid of him?"

Zhao Xing: "???"

The young guard pondered aloud. "My colleagues all say that although Zhao Xing looks vicious, he only got into a fight to protect his wife. So he's not completely beyond saving. He's ten thousand times better than Su Ge, who burned, killed, looted, and committed every kind of evil..."

Zhao Xing: "????"

Fuck, he was pissed!!!