Chapter 17
“Ay, kid, I’m not someone who likes using force, but I do listen to advice. If you insist on keeping your mouth shut, you’re making things very difficult for me.” The buzz-cut man pretentiously straightened his clothes.
“I… don’t know.”
The moment the words fell, a fist cutting through the air smashed Ye Xuan to the ground. His head buzzed, and after a brief numbness, his face began to burn with pain.
The buzz-cut man lifted Ye Xuan from the ground as easily as picking up a rag.
“Kid, I already told you. I listen to advice. They told me to hit you, so I have no choice but to listen.” The buzz-cut man shook Ye Xuan a few times. Ye Xuan’s stomach churned violently. He wanted to vomit.
Someone could not bear to watch anymore and said to Ye Xuan, “Hey, kid, do you know who this man is? He’s Quan Guanxi, famous in the prison for being able to fight. He once killed someone and was sentenced to death with reprieve. He’s been in prison for years. If you don’t want to die, you’d better just tell him.”
“Yeah, yeah, hurry up and tell him. Save yourself a beating. He’s Quan Guanxi. He really can beat people to death,” the crowd echoed one after another.
“Kid, did you hear my great name clearly?” Quan Guanxi was very satisfied with that introduction. “I have the patience to wait for you, but my fists don’t.”
“I… don’t know.”
Bang. A sharp fist smashed into Ye Xuan’s waist and abdomen, sending him flying more than ten meters away.
“If you insist on being stubborn, then I’ll just beat you until you open your mouth and call me Daddy.”
Quan Guanxi rushed toward Ye Xuan. His fists rained down on Ye Xuan’s body. Ye Xuan curled up, using both arms to block, which only made Quan Guanxi even angrier. His punches came even faster.
“Hey, look. What’s that on Quan Guanxi?”
“Looks like purple qi.”
“Did Quan Guanxi become an ability user?”
“Quan Guanxi became an ability user! His fists are moving so fast. There’s no way a normal person could do that.”
Hearing that he had become an ability user, Quan Guanxi stopped and looked at his own fists, then burst into wild laughter. “I became an ability user too! I finally became an ability user!”
Now that an ability user had appeared, the team leader stopped pretending to be deaf and mute. With his hands behind his back, he walked over.
“I knew you could do it, Quan Guanxi. Today is your last day in the reserve team. Consider yourself lucky.” The team leader first praised Quan Guanxi, then kicked Ye Xuan, who had been beaten half-dead. “See that? Learn from him.”
What was he supposed to learn? What did he need to learn? To beat someone half to death without distinguishing right from wrong? Or to abandon morality and stand on high ground, watching coldly from the sidelines?
Originally, he had thought that as long as he quietly did his own part and kept himself clean, that would be enough. But he had ignored the fact that this was a world where, even if you did nothing, trouble could come looking for you anytime and anywhere.
Then was there still any need for him to hold on?
And what exactly was he holding on to?
Ye Xuan and Quan Guanxi were sent to the hospital at the same time. A large crowd surrounded Quan Guanxi, while the one supporting Ye Xuan was a thin, unwilling man who had clearly been assigned to do it.
After helping Ye Xuan onto a seat, the man let go immediately as if he had touched a virus, then hurried away, afraid of having even the slightest connection to Ye Xuan.
Quan Guanxi crossed his arms and looked down at Ye Xuan, smugly saying, “You asked for this, kid. In the end, I still had to rely on myself. High comprehension, that’s what it is.”
“Ability user Quan Guanxi, please come with me.” A nurse walked over and said to Quan Guanxi.
“You stupid kid, tsk. With your level of comprehension, you’ll never become an ability user in your life.” Quan Guanxi put both hands behind his head and gave the nurse a hooligan whistle. “Hey, you’re pretty good-looking.”
“Ability user Quan Guanxi, please follow me quickly. The researcher is still waiting to conduct your examination.”
“Aren’t I following you? I haven’t seen a woman in eight hundred years. I can’t even talk to you a little?”
The nurse stopped paying attention to Quan Guanxi and only quickened her pace.
“Hey, why are you walking so fast? Wait for me.”
Quan Guanxi’s voice faded away. Only Ye Xuan remained in the third-floor corridor. His neck hurt, his face hurt, his chest hurt, his stomach hurt—everything hurt. His whole body hurt.
Was anyone going to save him? Was anyone going to notice a patient curled up on a chair, unable to move?
Why exactly did he have to suffer this kind of treatment?
“Tsk, little pitiful thing. How did you get beaten into this ghostly state?”
Ye Xuan opened his swollen eyes into a narrow slit and saw that the person speaking to him was Xie Yan. He shakily stretched out his hand and spoke with difficulty.
“Save… save me.”
“Don’t panic, don’t panic. I’ll save you.”
Xie Yan helped Ye Xuan up and brought him toward his research room, which was on the twelfth floor above the hospital.
“The wound on your neck hasn’t even healed yet. How did you get beaten like this?”
Ye Xuan saw himself in the elevator. He had been beaten so badly that he barely looked human. His face was swollen like a pig’s head. He also wanted to ask why he had been beaten into this state.
Xie Yan brought Ye Xuan to his research room and helped him lie down on the diagnostic bed. Then he helped him remove the heavy combat uniform. The exposed skin outside his short sleeves was bruised black and purple. Xie Yan clicked his tongue, dumbfounded. “Were you beaten by an ability user? You’re lucky to still be alive after being beaten like this. If I hadn’t happened to pass by the third floor, were you planning to just sit there and wait to die?”
While rambling on, Xie Yan applied medicine to Ye Xuan. Some of the medicine was highly irritating, making Ye Xuan suck in cold breaths from the pain.
“Bear with it. In order to help you recover, I’m even using special medicine on you.”
After treating Ye Xuan’s injuries, Xie Yan wrapped him up like a mummy.
“My suggestion is that you’d better stay in the hospital and rest for two days. I’ll give you two days of sick leave. Don’t go to training these next two days. But sick leave doesn’t count toward training time, which means you’ll only have three days left in the reserve team.”
“No need.”
“No need for sick leave? Your current physical condition is very bad. If you force yourself to train, your body won’t be able to handle it, and it’ll cause secondary injuries.”
“No need to stay in the hospital.” He was already three thousand in debt. If he stayed in the hospital again, he would never be able to pay it back. As for reserve team training, whoever loved training could go train. Who knew how many people there still had bad intentions toward him? If he went back, those people would still find ways to mess with him.
“Aiya, I knew you were a stubborn brat. I already contacted your friend for you in advance.” Xie Yan put both hands in his pockets. His prescription-free lenses reflected the light and blocked his eyes. “Also, out of kindness, let me remind you. You’ve noticed it too, right? This place used to be a prison. Then the largest group here must be those guys who committed crimes. If you don’t want to be bullied by them, the best way is still to make your own fists hard.”
Of course Ye Xuan understood these things. But between ability users and ordinary people, there was a vast chasm. If he wanted to reclaim the losses he had suffered, then he had to become an ability user.
“Oh? Looks like your friend is here.” Xie Yan glanced at the surveillance monitor, saw Xia Chenxi hurrying over, and pressed the switch for the research room door.
“Ye Xuan!”
Xia Chenxi rushed in.
