Chapter 10: Green Eyes (10)

Shen Qiuxun took a deep breath. On his way, he actually saw two men in bodyguard uniforms collapsed against a wall, their fate unknown. He really wanted to check if they were the two who had scammed him out of his money, but the situation was critical. He’d let them off the hook for now.

The deeper he went, the clearer the sound of metal clashing against flesh became, a thudding that made his heart pound against his ribs.

As he rounded the last corner, a man in a bodyguard uniform suddenly lunged at him. The man’s visor hung in tatters on his chin, revealing a swollen, bruised face. His hair was a matted bird’s nest, and blood flowed freely.

Shen Qiuxun instinctively recoiled. A deafening boom erupted right beside his ear. The man shuddered, then collapsed to the ground, blood pooling out from underneath him. He died with his eyes open.

The ceiling trembled from the shock, the lights flickering wildly.

“…” Before Shen Qiuxun could find a dark joke to steady his nerves, he met a pair of deep, dark green eyes—gloomy, bloodthirsty, murderous. They lurked in the shadows, poised for action. The owner’s clothes were ragged, and it was impossible to tell whose blood covered him.

Behind him, countless corpses were piled together. A mountain of corpses, a sea of blood—a hellish Asura.

Damn, what an ultimate killing machine.

‘Is this… Pheromone Imbalance?’

[There are residual components of an inducing drug in the air. Xu Zhiyuan’s episode was drug-induced.]

A chilling horror of death snaked up from his back, coiled around his heart, and froze his body.

So the one in front of him was the last man standing?

His survival instinct screamed at him to turn and flee.

But his desire for money was clearly stronger.

Shen Qiuxun quietly exhaled and tentatively took a step forward. Xu Zhiyuan remained warily crouched in place. A beast-like warning growl rumbled from his throat. His eyes were cloudy, like a beast that had lost all reason.

So was he even still alive in there?

Another thunderous boom came from behind. The vigilant green eyes shifted for a split second, looking past him.

Seizing the moment, Shen Qiuxun, with immense audacity, slid right up to Xu Zhiyuan. Before the man could react, he wrapped him in a bear hug, pinning his arms. The man trembled slightly but didn’t push him away. Those dark green eyes warily scanned his face.

Xu Zhiyuan was discerning, trying to distinguish in that blood-red world of wailing ghosts, the sole speck of white that represented calm.

Shen Qiuxun tugged at the corner of his mouth, trying to express friendliness with his eyes.

It clearly wasn’t very effective. After a moment’s thought, he forced a brittle smile. “It’s me.”

Come on, we’ve shared life-and-death trials.

Xu Zhiyuan’s eyes trembled slightly. The dense storm clouds within them seemed ready to disperse. His arms, acting honestly, wrapped around Shen Qiuxun’s waist and held him close. Like a newborn puppy, he examined the person before him with a mix of curiosity and wariness, from his eyes to the bridge of his nose.

Before that mountain of corpses and sea of blood, there was a strange, innocent cruelty.

Shen Qiuxun’s scalp prickled under that gaze. He nervously pursed his lips.

Xu Zhiyuan’s attention was immediately drawn to the mole beneath the corner of his mouth. He looked utterly fascinated, leaning in tentatively as if to kiss or lick it.

[.]

Ruthlessly, Shen Qiuxun covered the man’s mouth. He wrinkled his nose. Suddenly, the wall beside them opened from within.

Jace stepped out. He was in a suit and tie, his expression grim. The look he shot Shen Qiuxun held three parts resentment, three parts disappointment, and four parts jealousy.

Like a husband betrayed by his wife.

A masked bodyguard stood behind him. Past his body, Shen Qiuxun could faintly glimpse the room behind the wall. The equipment and furnishings suggested it was something like an observation room.

‘So he just hid in there and watched Xu Zhiyuan slaughter everyone?’

[Seems so.]

‘God, how could someone do that? Unbelievable.’

[It’s normal. On Lower Planets, human life is the cheapest thing there is.]

Jace eyed the blood-soaked Xu Zhiyuan warily. Seeing the man’s wretched state brought him a hint of schadenfreude. He then looked at Shen Qiuxun, his expression tinged with anticipation. “Well? Have you thought it through?”

“I’ve thought your daddy through.” Shen Qiuxun felt the man in his arms stir restlessly. He pressed Xu Zhiyuan’s head against his own chest and met Jace’s gaze directly.

His defiantly cold stance clearly struck a nerve. “Shen Qiuxun, why don’t you understand…”

“Understand what? Understand that you abuse your power to extort confessions?” Shen Qiuxun, still crouching, tried to help Xu Zhiyuan to his feet. The plan was to leave right after winning this verbal spat. Anything else could wait until Xu Zhiyuan came to his senses.

He had just managed to half-lift the man when the iron door in the distance was kicked open without mercy. Dense footsteps swarmed like locusts, buzzing as if trampling on his heart.

In his arms, Xu Zhiyuan’s muscles tensed. His whole body coiled like a bowstring drawn taut, ready to snap. The warning growl started up in his throat again, as if he might lunge and tear at the newcomers any second.

The arrivals made a grand entrance. Nearly twenty fully armed bodyguards guarded them. Some even brought an armchair and placed it in the center of the room for the leader to sit. He was a man in a long black coat, not too tall, his face cold and harsh, crisscrossed with deep lines. His eyes were narrowed. He held a lit cigar between his fingers. His sheer presence outweighed the twenty-some bodyguards combined.

Jace’s expression soured momentarily, but he quickly smoothed it over and silently moved to stand at the old man’s left. “Uncle…”

The old man took a drag from his cigar. He ignored Jace’s greeting, instead turning his gaze toward Shen Qiuxun.

“You are?” the man spoke, his voice raspy and unpleasant, like phlegm was stuck in his throat—very strange. His eyes were like those of an ancient monster who’d lived countless years in a cave. They stuck to Shen Qiuxun, as if peeling him apart layer by layer.

A real heavy hitter. He definitely shouldn’t have waded into this mess for six bucks.

“I am Xu Zhiyuan’s witness.” Shen Qiuxun composedly stifled the movements of the man in his embrace. He even went so far as to cover Xu Zhiyuan’s eyes with his scarf, preventing him from being suddenly stimulated and going berserk again. Only then did he relax enough to focus on weaving his lies.

“Oh? A witness?”

“Yes. I’d like to ask the Shopkeeper, where were those goods shipped to the pharmacy from?”

The man took a drag from his cigar. For the first time, one noticed his mutilated fingers—one hand only had three fingers left.

Jace stood calmly in place and answered without changing his expression, “From Planet Sufil. They were brought back to the pharmacy by the transport team led by Xu Zhiyuan.”

“Time? When was the loss discovered?”

“The goods were received on the morning of June 7th and delivered to the pharmacy on the night of June 10th. The inventory check began that night… Re-inspection the next morning at ten o’clock revealed the loss.”

“Was anyone else involved during that period?”

“No.”

“Who was responsible for tallying after the goods arrived at the pharmacy?”

“What does any of this matter? Those goods were solely handled by Xu Zhiyuan from acceptance to storage. They vanished without a trace. Who else could it be?” Jace’s expression held a mix of humiliation and suppressed anger.

Xu Zhiyuan buried his face in the crook of Shen Qiuxun’s neck and smelled a faint, cold fragrance.

Expressionless, Shen Qiuxun twisted the arm of the man in his arms to remind him to stay still. He simply continued calmly, “So who was responsible for tallying after the goods arrived at the pharmacy?”

The old man expressionlessly puffed his cigar, his small eyes silently assessing the two before him.

Jace’s eyes flickered to the right, then he lowered his head. “It was Mark, the bookkeeper.”

“But Mark was clearly on the night shift from June 8th to June 9th.”

“Then I remembered wrong. It was… Mark’s partner, Sherlock.”

Shen Qiuxun nodded unhurriedly. “Ah… I remember now. It seemed Mark and Sherlock had swapped shifts that day. It was Feize who was on night duty and tallied the goods.”

Jace’s face contorted horribly. “Maybe I’m mistaken. I’m concerned with the other production line for the drugs all day.”

“How could you be mistaken? I was the one who registered the basic medications on the second day. The shift schedule I received clearly listed Feize’s name. That can be checked. It’s written in black and white.”

“Is that so?” The old man leisurely blew out two smoke rings and glanced at Jace.

Jace stood respectfully, his speech faltering. “No… the person on duty that night really was Mark… I just happened to see Sherlock, so I got confused.”

His plan had been improvised, and from the start, he’d been confident he could take Xu Zhiyuan down immediately. Xu Zhiyuan’s gland was faulty. Just a little genetic drug would make him lose his mind. Once he was dead, there’d be no evidence, no witnesses, and naturally, no problems. But he hadn’t anticipated that Shen Qiuxun would actually step forward and fight him head-on.

“You can’t even remember who was there, Shopkeeper, yet you can deduce the culprit based on your own assumptions?”

Whether the old man believed him or not was unclear. He simply turned his head, fixing those cloudy eyes back onto Shen Qiuxun.

As if appraising him.

Just then, a man in security guard attire ran up from behind. He trotted forward and whispered something in Jace’s ear.

Shen Qiuxun knew more trouble was brewing. He was so worried he felt like pulling his hair out, yet his face remained a picture of calm.

Xu Zhiyuan, barely clinging to life and leaning against him, had finally managed to claw back a shred of reason. He gently peeled down a corner of the scarf. Through the gaps in the brown fabric, his grass-green eyes turned, staring unblinkingly at the person beside him. As if trapped in a hallucination, he was dazed.

The harsh white light filtered down, sliding like water over his jet-black hair. Strands of light pierced through the gaps in his bangs, making his pale skin look almost translucent. His pupils were pitch-black, his eyelashes long. There was not a trace of fear between his brows, only calm, detachment, and resilience.

In such a life-or-death moment, it held a captivating charm.

“We caught Xu Zhiyuan’s best buddy. He was right then in that abandoned house in Seventh Alley, tallying the missing goods. Witness and material evidence, all present.” After hearing his subordinate’s report, Jace’s suspended heart immediately settled. His posture became much more arrogant. He gestured with his eyes, and his men brought the witness and the evidence forward.

Shen Qiuxun somewhat recognized the man brought in. He was also beaten black and blue, trembling and curled up in fear. As for the so-called material evidence, Shen Qiuxun glanced at it quickly. The glass tube contained a pale blue liquid.

“Now then, do you have anything else to say?” The old man leisurely tapped the ash from his cigar on the armrest. He didn’t show any particular reaction to this witness and evidence.

‘Seriously, they’re dead set on killing Xu Zhiyuan! Why go this far? Can you apply for a nuclear bomb for me so I can just blow us all up?’

[Not within my authorization scope.]

‘Useless thing.’

[You could try acting cute with the mission target. He might save you.]

Shen Qiuxun glanced doubtfully at the man leaning dependently in the crook of his neck. ‘If you’re underestimating me…’

[You’ll…]

‘I’ll just walk away, flattened.’

[.]

“Do you have anything else to deny?” The old man took a drag on his cigar, speaking leisurely. The smoke drifted, blurring Shen Qiuxun’s expression.

After a long moment, he lifted his head.