Chapter 34 Part 2

The bullet whistled through the air toward Zhou Jinsheng. But due to the chaotic flow of people, it only struck a nearby man’s arm. Blood bloomed instantly, and the man wailed like a banshee. “Ahh, fuck fuck, someone help—”

There were people behind them too!

Zhou Jinsheng’s eyes darkened. From the moment the gunshots rang out, he had yanked Shen Yu to a safe cover.

He quickly fitted Shen Yu with a bulletproof vest. The man was like a walking arsenal. He immediately pulled a gun from inside his suit jacket and fired several shots toward the opposite side.

Chi Xianli cursed. These attackers’ target was clearly Zhou Jinsheng!

With so many heirs from prominent families present, if any mishap occurred, no one could bear the wrath. They would dig up the mastermind even if it meant turning the earth upside down. Chi Xianli had never expected Zhou Yaoshu to go so mad as to launch an attack in a place like this.

Chi Xianli gritted his teeth, his heart pounding. He shouted loudly, “Fuck, Zhou Jinsheng, can you handle this?”

The wild wind howled. Zhou Jinsheng shielded Shen Yu and replied during a brief pause, “I can. Take the others back to the cruise ship.”

Zhou Jinsheng’s voice was steady and icy, like a powerful sedative. Chi Xianli’s panicked thoughts quickly calmed. He made a snap decision, grabbed someone trying to flee outward, and shoved him back. His voice turned stern. “Everyone else, fall back now! Immediately!”

Someone said in terror, “But behind us, there’s—”

This was the Lin Family’s Little Young Master. Spoiled and sheltered, he had never even seen blood before. Chi Xianli recognized him and frowned. “There are security personnel on the cruise ship who can protect you. These people aren’t after you. A gunfight’s about to break out at the port. See how many lives you’ll have left then!”

Gunfight???

The crowd instantly weighed the pros and cons and halted their panicked flight. Trembling, they followed Chi Xianli and retreated quickly.

At the same time, contrary to the terrified fleeing media, reinforcements emerged from the shadows, closing in on them.

Fuck. The attackers realized they had fallen into a trap. It was too late to retreat. Mercenaries loaded with real guns and live ammo surrounded them airtight. The two sides clashed instantly.

“Bang bang bang—”

The gunfight erupted, with shots ringing out in rapid succession, unceasing.

Muscles pressed tight. Shen Yu was held firmly in Zhou Jinsheng’s arms. The gunfire sent his adrenaline surging. He licked his lips and narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction. “Give me a gun.”

Zhou Jinsheng frowned. “What?”

Shen Yu scanned the surroundings, dodging stray bullets. “A gun. You couldn’t have brought just one.”

Zhou Jinsheng’s brows furrowed, his ink-black eyes sharp and profound. A low, magnetic chuckle vibrated from his solid chest. “Feel around for it yourself.”

Fuck, flirting at a time like this?

Shen Yu slipped his hand into Zhou Jinsheng’s suit jacket. His arm wrapped around the man’s sculpted waist and abs, reaching his lower back. His fingers deftly hooked the trigger. From the feel, it was a Silver Desert Eagle.

Shen Yu buried his upper body in Zhou Jinsheng’s embrace. The mature man’s unique scent enveloped him, along with the steady, powerful heartbeat transmitting through his chest into Shen Yu’s ears.

Shen Yu narrowed his eyes. A mischievous thought struck him. Instead of drawing the Silver Desert Eagle right away, his other hand followed. He hugged Zhou Jinsheng proactively—then racked the slide.

The cold, dangerous click of the slide being racked carried through the shirt. It hit Zhou Jinsheng’s senses via sound before touch. His body shuddered. More dangerous than the peril was the blood surging, heat flooding to one spot.

Zhou Jinsheng’s gaze darkened, his voice turning hoarse. “When we get back, you can play however you want.”

Shen Yu was speechless. “…Who wants to play with you.”

The man hooked his lips. “If you don’t want to play, then I’ll play with you. How’s that?”

“…”

Shen Yu drew the gun with a swift, handsome motion. He extended his arm, aimed behind Zhou Jinsheng, and fired instantly. The bullet’s screeching wind followed with a “bang,” hitting the target.

Shen Yu smirked and reminded him, “Zhou Jinsheng, get your head in the game.”

Zhou Jinsheng heard a “clatter.” A gun fell into his peripheral vision.

He glanced over. The man’s wrist was blooming with blood, his expression twisted in pain as he reached to pick it up again.

Zhou Jinsheng narrowed his eyes and fired a quick, precise finishing shot. Frowning, he positioned himself to block Shen Yu. “Stay behind me.”

The gunfight didn’t last long. In the end, the crowd either hid on the ship or scattered. Aside from the mercenaries and bodyguards, only Zhou Jinsheng and Shen Yu remained at the port.

The gale howled, whipping their clothes and hair. The silent night and sea wind flowed toward them like heavy mist from all directions.

Shen Yu yanked off the uncomfortable bulletproof vest and tossed it to the ground. He tucked the gun into his waistband, rubbed his wrist, and stood lazily nearby, watching the scene.

The reporters disguised as media had all been subdued. Old Li and several men in black dragged out the dozen or so shooters from the cruise ship. Blood trailed across the ground. Few dared look at the gruesome sight; some even leaned over the railing and vomited.

They had disguised themselves as waiters and actors, lurking on the ship. One second they were pouring drinks and performing; the next, they could pull guns and blow their heads off. Terrifying to think about.

Zhou Jinsheng slowly adjusted his cuffs. His gaze swept over the assailants. He said nothing, but his condescending expression, treating them like dust, said it all.

What did it say?

Cheng Yitan, sprawled in a pool of blood, suddenly froze. He recalled that smile that had suddenly appeared before his eyes, that summer afternoon, the tennis ball gripped tight in his hand and never thrown, the voice suddenly calling his name—

As life ebbed away, he didn’t know what drove him. In a haze, he grabbed a gun in front of him, aimed at the man, and pulled the trigger.

In that unnoticed instant—

“Bang—”

The tennis ball from back then finally returned in full, as a bullet.

Shen Yu, who had been watching Cheng Yitan closely, had his pupils contract sharply the moment he fired. His body moved faster than his mind, lunging onto Zhou Jinsheng.

The instant he saw Cheng Yitan, Shen Yu had decided to take the gamble.

Shen Yu loved to bet.

From the moment of the escape, everything was part of the plan.

He never fought unprepared.

And this was the ending Shen Yu had chosen for himself.

In a flash, the bullet whistled through the air and pierced his back.

With a “thud,” time seemed to freeze. His body became the shield. The bullet struck Shen Yu’s back with a dull sound.

Shen Yu’s body jerked violently.

Zhou Jinsheng reacted instantly. He fired several shots at the man on the ground. His arm steadily caught Shen Yu’s falling body. Blood rapidly seeped from the back, instantly staining Zhou Jinsheng’s hands red.

Whose blood?

Zhou Jinsheng froze in place, feeling the temperature of the body in his arms drop lower and lower.

Chi Xianli, who had rushed out, felt his heart skip. Blood was everywhere. He called Zhou Jinsheng’s name a few times, but got no response, as if he were dead.

Chi Xianli cursed, trembling as he pulled out his phone to call the hospital. But he was too nervous; his hands shook badly, and the phone dropped when the call connected.

Zhou Jinsheng’s eyelids twitched slightly. He picked up the phone and calmly instructed, “Clearwater Bay Port. Someone’s been shot. Send a medical team…”

Chi Xianli was shocked by his composure. But the next second, he saw Zhou Jinsheng’s fingers gripping the phone spasming uncontrollably, veins bulging on the back of his hand, on the verge of crushing the phone.

Shen Yu’s eyes were closed, his consciousness sinking into endless darkness. But that mysterious power failed to arrive.

Shen Yu sighed inwardly. No effect this time?

Had he… lost the bet?

Unwilling, Shen Yu asked 007: 【If the strategy fails and the body dies again, does it rewind and start over?】

007 replied solemnly: 【Yes.】

Shen Yu steeled himself for another loop, quietly awaiting death’s approach. For once, he felt a bit defeated: 【Why is this so hard?】

007 reached out to pat its host comfortingly, but lacking a physical form, it could only puff its cheeks: 【It’s okay. We’ll get it next time. You’ve already done great, Host.】

Shen Yu truly didn’t want to loop again, but there was no choice. In this situation, he had no option. As usual, he mentally cursed out Zhou Jinsheng’s ancestors eighteen generations deep.

When he reached Zhou Jinsheng himself, his lips suddenly felt wet, then cool.

A kiss?

The man’s breath came with it. But it was less a kiss and more a feral bite—like the mightiest mountain collapsing in an instant, like the calmest sea surging into stormy waves—

Frenzied and fierce.

Yet tender.

“Shen Yu, I love you…”

These five words were like a key. Shen Yu’s body shuddered.

With the pain from the chest wound came beams of sunlight-like warmth flooding his will, one after another. The pent-up energy burst forth like a dam breaking, pouring out like seawater.

The fortune surged and flowed into Shen Yu’s limbs.

Shen Yu suddenly realized.

Normally, if it was just a little short, the final sensation would be only the last trickle.

So why did he feel this continuous stream now?

Unless—

This love had accumulated into mountains and islands long ago.

Grass and trees grew on those islands, under constant sunny skies with sunlight and flowers, waiting to be gifted in a surprising moment at the end.

They had been bottled up too long, suppressed too long, restrained too long. The moment the outlet opened—

Mountains toppled, rivers poured into the sea. Love rushed out uncontrollably.

He had triggered it early.

Eyes closed, the first thought flooding Shen Yu’s mind was that without his sudden betrayal, He Qian could finally film his damn movie without worry.

He sighed, feeling his death had done some good.

The sunlight flowed into his body, making Shen Yu feel so comfortable—like returning to his mother’s womb, even smelling the jasmine she loved.

In this warm embrace, he relived returning to his roots again and again.

For these bearers of great fortune, these strands were negligible. Yet why did they always feel so good on him?

Shen Yu: 【I’ve really never had the good stuff before.】

The sensation of going from hell to heaven in an instant was pure bliss. Suddenly curious, Shen Yu asked 007: 【Did blocking the bullet for Zhou Jinsheng break character?】

007 was shocked too and shook its head: 【No.】

Why wouldn’t a self-interested person blocking a bullet for Zhou Jinsheng break character?

Perhaps the “Shen Yu” he had crafted could no longer be separated from Zhou Jinsheng.

“Shen Yu” struggled up and down in fate’s whirlpool, inevitably heading toward his destiny.

His feelings toward Zhou Jinsheng were overly complex. Calling it love was too unrealistic, and calling it hate born from jealousy and unwillingness felt too heavy yet too shallow. There were too many entanglements; if he had to pick one word for it, that word was—

Reluctance.

He was reluctant to see him die, reluctant to part with those eyes like black mist when they gazed at him, reluctant to lose that fervent and profound love and hate, reluctant to let go of those arms that held him so tightly, reluctant to forget that aura when he protected him across the boundary between life and death.

Though he was awful, and Shen Yu was awful too.

But Zhou Jinsheng truly carried his memories of youth.

That was the Shen Yu who had not yet grown up, the Shen Yu who had not yet changed.

That was his bright and beautiful time, his pure years.

If you died, who would remember him like this?

So when “Shen Yu” blocked that bullet for Zhou Jinsheng, the Heavenly Dao detected no anomaly.

Had it not been for that instant—when beams of warm currents like sunlight flowed into his limbs and bones, and the Heavenly Dao’s power tilted toward him—the World Will might never have discovered his existence.

But that was only concerning “Shen Yu.”

Shen Yu felt it: he was being drawn out.

Not the drawing out of life, but the drawing out from the world.

The Heavenly Dao was expelling him.

Shen Yu had always had bad luck since childhood, so he understood the sensation of life being drawn away better than anyone. When he had pounced to save a child about to be struck by a car and lost both his legs, when he lay on the operating table on the verge of death, desperate to stand again for the sake of his dream—he had brushed past the god of death time and again.

But the sensation of being drawn out from a world was a first for him.

He found it somewhat novel.

Those memories grew light and ethereal, devoid of weight.

Chen Miaomiao had nothing to do with him. Chen Jinyang had nothing to do with him. Zhou Jinsheng had nothing to do with him. Yu Tingsi had nothing to do with him. Chi Xianli had nothing to do with him. He Qian had nothing to do with him. Song Shi had nothing to do with him. Even “Shen Yu” had nothing to do with him—

Everything, everything, had nothing to do with him.

This world had no connection to him.

All the worlds he would experience in the future had no connection to him either.

Shen Yu knew exactly where his next destination was.

He was heading to the next world. He still had many, many unfinished regrets. He still had many, many things to accomplish. He had to reach the end. He had to go back to the past. He had to save himself.

So, sorry.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Zhou Jinsheng hugged him tightly, his chest heaving. Afraid of hurting him, those arms—always as unyielding as steel—carefully loosened. His fingers spasmed wildly. He wanted to touch him but didn’t dare.

The man finally lowered his proud head completely, like a defeated trapped beast.

“. . . Please.”

【Detachment successful.】

Two voices rang out almost simultaneously.

Everything faded into nothingness.