Chapter Twenty-Three: Touch Him, and You Die!
This was a middle-aged man bearing a military rank.
The color of his uniform was noticeably darker than that of the soldiers beside him, a deep shade of forest green. On his shoulder epaulets ran a golden stripe, atop which gleamed a golden five-pointed star insignia.
He appeared to be in his forties, his stern, square face adorned with a thick beard. The passage of years had etched hardship into his skin, and a savage scar running down his left cheek lent him an even colder, more severe air.
At this moment, his expression was icy, his gaze fixed upon Nangong Yuchen, who had just risen to his feet. With a furious shout, he demanded, “Where is Haoran? Where is my son?”
A lieutenant!
He was actually a lieutenant!
The moment Nangong Yuchen saw the man’s epaulet, his face drained of color as he thought despairingly, “It’s over!”
Soldiers armed on all sides left them with no hope of escape, a suffocating sense of doom closing in.
At the same time, Nangong Kexin, Lili, and Huiyan were all seized by the same dread—especially Nangong Kexin, whose heart filled with boundless regret. She had never expected things to spiral so far out of control! Now not only was she in danger, but her dearest friends and younger brother were also…
“Warden! Young Master Haoran, he… he…” The burly bald man who had just fought with Nangong Yuchen hurried forward, speaking with utmost respect.
“What happened to Haoran?” The middle-aged man’s icy inquiry silenced the burly man, who lowered his head and said nothing.
Just then, several black-clad thugs from the tavern emerged from the second-floor private room, carrying Zhou Haoran.
“Haoran?” The middle-aged man recognized him at a glance and rushed over, his face contorted in pain as he beheld Zhou Haoran, bathed in blood and barely clinging to life. Instantly, his fury exploded.
“Tell me exactly what happened here!” His roar chilled everyone present to the bone.
“Warden! Young master was beaten by that boy and the three women with him!” The bald man quickly pointed to Nangong Yuchen.
“Four kids?” The middle-aged man slapped the bald head hard, then bellowed in rage, “Four brats, and you let them do this to Haoran on our own turf? What use are you lot—eating dirt?”
As he raged, he laid into the bald man with fists and feet.
“What are you all standing around for? Get Haoran to the hospital, now!”
Biting back his pain, the bald man quickly ordered his men to carry Zhou Haoran to the car and drive him to the hospital.
At that moment, the middle-aged man turned and strode toward Nangong Yuchen.
“So, you’re the ones who did this to Haoran!”
Seeing him approach, the three girls beside Nangong Kexin turned pale as paper, their whole bodies shaking, death seeming to draw ever nearer.
“I’m the one who hit him!”
“You?” The man’s cold gaze swept over Nangong Yuchen, then sneered, “Heh, you’ve got some nerve, boy.”
His sarcastic laugh scarcely faded before he roared to the soldiers behind him, “Shoot him for me! A few lowly citizens dare lay a finger on my son Zhou Lingtian? They must have a death wish!”
Click, click, click!
The moment the order was given, several squads of soldiers raised their black guns, loaded and cocked them, all muzzles trained squarely on Nangong Yuchen. In the span of a heartbeat, the soldiers completed their sequence, just waiting for Zhou Lingtian’s command to pull the trigger.
Thump, thump!
Staring at the gun barrels aimed at him, Nangong Yuchen’s heart pounded wildly—a feeling of utter despair and powerlessness.
Run? Nowhere to run. Resist? The moment he so much as twitched, he’d be riddled with bullets, and might even drag his sister and her friends down with him.
What to do?
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, but in the end, despair prevailed. It was a death trap now, though he remained unwilling. If he’d known it would come to this, he would have killed the scoundrel who hurt his sister outright!
“Fir—”
As Zhou Lingtian’s raised hand was about to drop, Nangong Kexin suddenly struggled free and cried out, “I’m the one who hit Zhou Haoran! It had nothing to do with them—please, kill me and let them go!”
Her voice was anxious and trembled slightly—she was clearly terrified of death as well.
“Kexin!”
“Stay out of it! I said this is my business!”
As the two quarreled, Zhou Lingtian’s rage only deepened. He felt utterly humiliated—his son was already twenty-one, and though he lacked in physical training, now here were a boy and a girl each insisting they’d beaten him. Was his son truly so useless? Beaten like this by just anyone?
He growled, “Kill all four of them!”
Thud, thud!
The order given, the soldiers shoved the three girls over to Nangong Yuchen, this time aiming at all four of them.
“No! We’re students of Star Academy! If you do this, the Academy will punish you!” In a moment of crisis, Lili managed to quell her fear and call out.
“Heh, Star Academy?” Zhou Lingtian sneered, lips curling with disdain.
His reaction made Lili’s already pale face turn even more hopeless.
Click, click, click!
“So this is how it ends,” Nangong Yuchen thought, sorrowful. He hadn’t expected to die here before his sister could forgive him, before rescuing his parents. His body’s strength had just begun to surge, and before he could even break into the first tier and see the world beyond the Crystal Wall, he would perish here.
At that moment, Nangong Kexin turned her gaze toward him—at her younger brother.
“I’m sorry.”
In that instant, all four closed their eyes in despair, awaiting death’s arrival.
“Do it,” Zhou Lingtian said, turning to leave for a safe distance.
But just then, a cell phone rang.
Ding-ding~~~~~
It was Zhou Lingtian’s phone.
“Wait!” Interrupted for the third time, he was visibly irritated.
“Hello? You—” But the voice from the other end cut his curse short.
In less than a dozen seconds, Zhou Lingtian’s expression shifted from anger to gloom, and by the time the call ended, his face was ashen, his body faintly trembling.
He turned to face Nangong Yuchen, his cold, fearful gaze seeming to pierce him through, but at last, with deep reluctance, he ground out, “Let them go.”
“Huh?”
The four heard this and opened their eyes, bewildered to see the soldiers lowering their weapons. It was as if they’d been resurrected at the edge of death.
“What, longing to die here?” Zhou Lingtian roared, his voice colder than ever.
At his words, the four scrambled out the door.
Once they had vanished down the distant street, the bald man approached Zhou Lingtian and asked, “Warden… why did you let them go?”
Smack!
His only answer was a vicious slap and a furious shout: “Shut up!”
As his voice faded, from the depths of the street a young girl walked quietly forward.
Tap, tap, tap.
She was like a beautiful maiden stepped straight out of a comic book.
Her long, jet-black hair fell loosely over her fragrant shoulders, giving her a gentle, graceful air from afar. As she drew nearer, her delicate features became clear—a classic oval face, exquisitely lovely, with elegant brows framing limpid, autumn-water eyes that seemed to draw in one’s gaze.
She wore a blouse of white and blue, closely resembling the Star Academy uniform. The main differences were the color and the blue crystal star pinned to her prominent left breast, from which hung a red five-pointed star that glittered under the lights.
Her skirt was a pale blue, edged with delicate trim that set off her fair, slender legs. A pink bow at her waist accentuated her graceful figure to perfection.
“Mu Ningxue!”
“A top student of Star Academy!”
“The young lady of the Mu family!”
Both Zhou Lingtian and the soldiers seemed to recognize her at once.
Mu Ningxue walked forward, her autumn-water gaze sweeping over them before settling coldly on Zhou Lingtian.
“You should be grateful you didn’t act,” she said coolly, turning to leave. Her cold voice was an unspoken warning.
“Miss Mu!” Zhou Lingtian called after her, unwilling. “So my son Haoran is to be beaten and humiliated for nothing?”
Mu Ningxue halted, the silver ring on her right hand lighting up.
Black and red cubes, each the size of a fingernail, surged forth densely like code. They twisted, gathered, entwined—taking shape.
Click, click, click! A mechanical assembly of parts, and the cubes formed a sniper rifle over a meter long.
S—ArTNB11—Model 99—S—Bombardment Sniper!
The rifle was split into two sections. The barrel was jet-black, more cannon than gun, its muzzle as wide as a bowl. The rear section, shorter but wider and red in color, bore a ten-centimeter curved groove, seemingly designed to fit snugly against the shoulder.
Where the sections met, a glowing blue energy orb, thirty centimeters across, pulsed with a power that made one’s heart quake.
Her answer to Zhou Lingtian was that gaping muzzle.
Mu Ningxue gripped the massive barrel in one hand and aimed it straight at Zhou Lingtian’s head, her voice cold as ice: “Zhou Lingtian, keep your useless son in line, or I won’t hesitate to have the Shangguan clan appoint a new warden.”
With that, she swung the weapon toward the Star Emperor Tavern behind him and pulled the trigger.
Fizz!
A red energy blast shot out of the cannon-like muzzle, streaking through the night like a meteor and striking the tavern.
Boom!
In a single breath, the once-luxurious tavern was reduced to ruins and blazing fire.
“I don’t care what your reasons are—remember this: if you dare touch him, you die.”
With that, Mu Ningxue strode away, leaving only the gulping of soldiers and the ashen-faced Zhou Lingtian, Warden of District A, bathed in firelight.
“Angel, Mulin! What are you plotting with Chen?” Mu Ningxue’s soft murmur echoed at the street’s end…