Chapter 68: Two-Faced Phoenix Man 27

Lu Xiang’s life had always been smooth sailing, unchanging for over twenty years. As the Lu Family’s only son, he rarely encountered any truly unsolvable problems.

Or rather, power was the sharpest blade. Many things were resolved in advance before they could even reach him.

So, when the man woke up in the shaky vehicle that reeked of leather and the heavy stench of gasoline, he even thought he was dreaming.

But which dream could feel this realistic?

The black cloth blindfold was tied with extreme force behind his head, squeezing his eyeballs so much they nearly bulged out. His throat was stuffed solid with a dirty, worn rag of rough material, and Lu Xiang vaguely felt as if it had been shoved straight into his esophagus.

Lu Xiang was a germaphobe by nature, and this kind of torment was no different from torture for him.

The overwhelming stench assaulted his nasal cavity, choking him to the point of nausea, but in the brief gaps when his throat convulsed, the man heard cursing voices coming from the front of the vehicle.

They were two crude, intimidating voices that easily brought to mind shady figures like thugs and ruffians.

The kidnappers were grumbling and cursing, seemingly complaining about how difficult the mountain road was.

Lu Xiang could feel fine sweat beading on his forehead; the sticky sensation made his skin crawl all over, but he knew he absolutely could not show any signs of wakefulness right now.

He had to suppress his uncomfortable physiological reactions.

Thus, when the vehicle hit a rugged stretch of road, the constant jolting of the cabin drowned out the kidnappers’ voices—and also masked the man’s choking cough after he retched.

People always cherished their lives, after all.

He had been awake for only a few breaths, but the reality of being blind, unable to move his limbs, weak all over, and completely unable to save himself forced the pampered Eldest Young Master to calm down. He struggled to summon his reason and analyze his current situation.

Lu Xiang had been born into a prestigious family, after all. Even if he had never encountered a kidnapping like this before, he roughly understood that since they hadn’t silenced him immediately, they stood to gain something from it—at least his life wasn’t in immediate danger for the moment.

This group was most likely targeting the Lu Family behind him.

So, all he had to do was figure out who they were and what they wanted, stall them as long as possible, and wait for the Lu Family’s rescue.

Someone like Lu Xiang from such a prominent family naturally carried some emergency, concealed positioning devices on him.

They were usually disguised as buttons, cufflinks, and other fine accessories on his clothing, so even if this group had already looted all his personal items, it was still hard to guard against every possibility.

The man calmly and methodically analyzed the situation. Once he determined the car still had some distance to travel, he decided to keep pretending to be unconscious while recalling the details of how he had been kidnapped.

It had happened right after evening self-study ended, around 9 PM. Jiang Rang occasionally had the habit of grabbing a late-night snack, and Lu Xiang had naturally gone with him. The two had casually eaten something at the school gate and were heading back.

Lu Xiang had been ambushed on the road while walking Jiang Rang home. The attackers seemed to have scouted the area in advance, knowing those winding, interconnected back alleys like the back of their hands…

As he thought it over, the man suddenly froze, struck by a realization.

His Jiang Jiang had been with him at the time. Had he been hurt? Or had the youth suffered the same misfortune and been kidnapped along with him?

The mere thought made Lu Xiang’s heart tremble uncontrollably.

He himself could endure any amount of suffering without a peep, but the idea of the youth possibly being bullied behind his back sent chills racing through the man’s entire body.

It was right then that Lu Xiang vaguely sensed a faint, almost imperceptible tremor beside him.

It wasn’t the vehicle’s own shaking, but something more like the suppressed fear and unease coming from another person.

Lu Xiang froze for a moment, suddenly realizing what it meant. He inched closer to the source along with the vehicle’s jolts and indeed caught a faint, sweet fragrance.

In that instant, the man’s heart went as cold as if he’d been doused with ice water in the dead of winter.

If it had been just him alone, the kidnappers could vent their emotions on him if they got worked up—they wouldn’t kill him, after all. But if there was also Jiang Rang, who had no status or backing…

Lu Xiang didn’t even dare think further.

The van slowly came to a stop at an abandoned factory in the desolate outskirts.

The factory gate screeched open with a piercing sound. The kidnappers seemed to know the drug’s effects had mostly worn off, so they roughly yanked off the black cloths covering Lu Xiang and Jiang Rang’s faces, shoving and dragging them out.

The world he saw again was so gray, dilapidated, and scarred.

Bathed in the pale moonlight, Lu Xiang caught sight of the youth’s pitiful, panicked expression.

The spring chill lingered in the air. The slender young man wore only a light apricot-white hoodie on his upper body. Perhaps from his frantic escape earlier, it was smeared with dust and grime, turned utterly filthy. Even his beautiful, pale face under the moonlight appeared dull and terrified.

His hands were bound tightly behind his back, and a cloth was stuffed between his soft pink lips, bulging his cheeks. He looked like a pitiful white bird that had fallen on hard times.

White Bird fluttered his wings feebly. The moment he spotted the man, fear and sorrow welled up unbidden in his eyes, dark as black pearls.

Of course, amid the shimmering tears, there was also the utter trust of seeing a familiar, dependable person.

As if with a single glance, he pinned all his hopes on you.

And right now, Lu Xiang was the savior for this youth in distress.

~~~

The first day of the kidnapping wasn’t so bad, all things considered.

Because Lu Xiang cooperated fully—whether recording plea messages or ransom videos—he went along without a hint of resistance.

The kidnappers seemed to be after money, and once they got what they wanted, they injected the two men with muscle relaxants and left them tossed aside.

But these burly thugs had a clear grudge against the wealthy, especially targeting Lu Xiang with their words and actions, heaping on the humiliation.

They crowded around the trapped Eldest Young Master in the center, jeering and laughing as they punched and kicked him.

Tied up nearby, Jiang Rang mustered his courage during this and tried to intervene against the violent abuse. But the moment he showed any sign of it, the pale-faced Lu Xiang pulled him tightly into his arms, shielding him.

Lu Xiang’s back took the brunt of the thugs’ kicks and blows. The mole beneath his eye made his skin look even ghostlier white, while the sweat-matted curls on his forehead clung like iron nails, stabbing into his eyes amid the dirt, humiliation, and violence.

His face twisted in obvious agony, yet his arms held the youth as if guarding his own life, refusing to let the other suffer even the slightest harm.

Night had fallen deep, and the spring evening was bitterly cold.

The captors had long since retreated to the warm interior of the house to rest, their cursing and crude voices fading into murmurs.

Only after all sounds had vanished did Jiang Rang dare to shift his body carefully and laboriously. He gently touched the fresh bruises on the man’s face and asked in a trembling whisper, “Does it hurt?”

The youth’s gaze was soft yet laced with pain. Just looking at the wounds on the man’s body brought tears to his reddened eyes.

For a fleeting moment, Lu Xiang’s expression turned impossibly tender. The mole under his eye grew misty in the dim moonlight, like dew gathered in the night, ready to trace a gentle arc down his cheek at any second.

In a hoarse voice, the man reassured him, “It doesn’t hurt, Jiang Jiang. Don’t be scared. Cough cough… We’ll be home soon.”

Jiang Rang neither affirmed nor denied it. He simply leaned gently against the man’s shoulder, like a small animal on the verge of losing its warmth, huddling against his final piece of driftwood in the cold, shivering as he tried to draw some heat.

Then came the second day.

It was a rare fine, sunny day, but Lu Xiang felt none of its warmth. If anything, he sensed the kidnappers’ malicious glee, like they were watching a show.

At first, Lu Xiang assumed they were gearing up for more violence. Gritting his teeth, he warned them that the Lu Family would hand over the money, but as their sole heir, if he ended up seriously hurt, they wouldn’t just fail to get paid—they’d face retaliation from a major clan.

The group just grinned, as if they hadn’t heard his threats at all, showing none of the viciousness from the previous day’s beatings.

It wasn’t until evening that Lu Xiang finally understood the looks they’d been giving them.

Tied up all day with no energy left—and after overdoses of muscle relaxants—they both desperately needed food to fill their stomachs.

But the kidnappers brought only one bowl of rice.

They seemed thrilled at the prospect of watching the lovers turn on each other and announced with relish that only one of them could eat it.

The pale, battered man yielded it to the youth without a second’s hesitation.

But this time, the youth shook his head. For the first time, those deep black eyes looked at the man with such gentle acceptance.

Jiang Rang clearly looked wretched himself—grimy and bedraggled like a rain-soaked sparrow—but he rallied his spirits.

In a soft voice, gentle as if coaxing a child, he persuaded, “A-Xiang, you got hurt yesterday. You have to eat something today. I can skip a meal—no big deal. I’ll make it up next time.”

“A-Xiang, you have to take good care of yourself. If you collapse, I won’t be able to get out on my own. I’ll be trapped here forever. So please, just listen to me this one time, okay?”

Lu Xiang’s eyes were bloodshot, his teeth grinding with a creaking sound. His gaze burned with hatred, as if he wanted to tear the kidnappers limb from limb.

It was Jiang Rang standing in front of him, blocking the kidnappers’ line of sight and keeping the man’s sharp edges hidden, sparing him a second round of vengeful humiliation.

Lu Xiang chewed the fragrant rice one bite at a time, his eyes reddening as he stared at the young man’s slender frame. He watched in a daze, his mechanical chewing never pausing.

The Eldest Young Master only thought of it as the rations Jiang Jiang had left him to build his strength. Even without an appetite, he had to eat every last bit, preserving his energy while waiting for rescue.

Lu Xiang always believed that this endless captivity would eventually reach its end.

But in reality, that end came far too slowly, like distant starlight on the horizon, forever out of reach.

Especially on the third day, when Lu Xiang’s positioning device was accidentally discovered by the kidnappers. Despair clamped down on them like a shroud of dark clouds.

Not only had the man failed to send out their location, but he had nearly earned himself another brutal beating.

In the end, Jiang Rang stepped forward voluntarily, offering to take the punishment in the man’s place.

Lu Xiang lost it right then. Even after being injected with several doses of muscle relaxants, he somehow managed to take down one or two kidnappers and nearly broke free.

Perhaps seeing that whipping and humiliating the man no longer intimidated him, the kidnappers turned their attention to Jiang Rang instead.

They grinned wickedly and said to the man in a meaningful tone, “Do you know how to turn someone into a madman? Lock them in a pitch-black, silent room with no one to talk to from dawn till dusk. After long enough, they’ll go crazy on their own.”

“Since your bones are so tough, we’ll use your precious little heart to run the experiment.”

Lu Xiang nearly went mad at their words.

How could he bear to let his sweet, innocent Jiang Jiang endure such torment?

He cast aside his pride, begging and conceding, even offering to take Jiang Rang’s place in their vile game.

But the kidnappers never wavered.

In fact, the more Lu Xiang suffered, the more thrilled they became.

The first time Jiang Rang was locked in the pitch-black, damp, and shadowy basement, the young man simply lowered his eyes gently. His voice was light and ethereal, like snowflakes drifting onto pine needles. “It’s okay, A-Xiang. You just take care of yourself. I’ll wait for you to come save me.”

Two full days.

After two full days, Jiang Rang was finally released.

When he emerged, the young man just looked much paler and more haggard, with no other obvious abnormalities.

But the problems soon surfaced. Jiang Rang had become timid and sensitive, startling at even the slightest loud noise.

When Lu Xiang asked him about it with red-rimmed eyes, he barely spoke, only responding sluggishly and in a tiny voice, “I’m fine… I’m fine.”

It cut the man like a knife.

After that, the kidnappers seemed to have found the perfect way to grind down Huajing’s Eldest Young Master’s unyielding pride.

Whenever Lu Xiang upset them, they would lock Jiang Rang in that pitch-black basement.

Even without provocation, just to watch Lu Xiang suffer, they would shut the young man away.

Once, twice, three times…

Each time Jiang Rang came out, he would reassure Lu Xiang that he was fine. The haggard young man, pale-faced, would force a casual smile. “I’m not a kid anymore. I’m not afraid of the dark.”

But in truth, even he might not have realized it—now, every night, or whenever he brushed against a dark corner, his pupils would contract uncontrollably, and his whole body would tremble.

Jiang Rang had grown extremely dependent on Lu Xiang. Sometimes, upon waking, if he didn’t see the man right away, he would break into sobs.

Even when he cried, it was muffled and helpless, as if raising his voice even a little would summon some monster to devour him.

Lu Xiang would always console him helplessly, and as he did, his once-roguishly vibrant peach-blossom eyes gradually took on a venomous glint amid the twisted heartache and pain.

The man’s face was now gaunt beyond measure, his cheekbones sharply prominent—a picture of ferocity barely masked by his feigned meekness and lowered gaze.

He gently soothed the trembling young man in his arms, who curled up like a frightened kitten. Once the other had fallen into a deep sleep, he pressed a tender kiss to his forehead.

The clouds parted, and pale moonlight sprinkled down like grains of salt onto the body of that gentle evil ghost.

The evil ghost lowered his eyes softly and gazed quietly at the water bucket in the corner of the abandoned factory.

Lu Xiang stroked the pocket on one side of his shirt. Tucked inside was a canister of sleeping pills that had been crushed into powder.

It had tumbled out of a backpack during one of the kidnappers’ heated arguments, when they accidentally knocked it over.

Lu Xiang stared at it quietly. Once he was certain no one had noticed, he stealthily shifted his limp body and picked it up.

He didn’t want to wait any longer.

He would take matters into his own hands—one stab at a time—and send those beasts straight to hell.