Chapter 860: On The Verge Of Death
The world is full of wonders. Let’s use names as an example, people with Wei Guo (protect nation) in the name might not be soldiers. People with Min Zhu (democracy) in their names might not be a democrat. There’s a store by my house called ‘Positivity Massage Parlor’, but it doesn’t really spread positivity.
In addition to the words “Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy” being on their signboard, they also had various Tai Chi and bagua symbols painted on it as if it would attract more cosmic energy and cosmic customers.
Actually, the massage parlor had a lot of customers. Unfortunately, they were all earthlings and all of them were male.
The reason for that was because ‘Positivity Massage Parlor’ wasn’t running a serious business. All their masseuses were all gorgeous young women who wore revealing clothing.
I’m not making things up, I have proof. Based on the purchase history of the men who visit the massage parlor on our online store, a lot of them like S&M and have heavy tastes.
As I passed by the massage parlor tonight, I saw two fat middle aged business men park their car in front of the store. They laughed and talked to each other as they walked into the store and I unconsciously developed a bit of contempt towards them.
They were so out of shape that they could be called ‘human pigs’, so how are they not embarrassed taking their clothes off in front of the masseuse. If I was as fat as a mountain, I would lock myself up at home and never go outside.
I finished buying Xiao Qin a cell phone in the morning, and even if you include the return trip back to the police station, I shouldn’t have taken all the way till nighttime to get home.
The reason why I was late was because I bumped into a few friends from the school basketball team and they told me to play with them.
It was akin to asking for death because of my heart problems, but I wanted to give it a try.
I wanted to know to what extent could I control my muscles and the amount of energy I exert. If I didn’t use too much energy and mainly focused on passing, then can I last for a whole game?
In the end, I only played half the game before I had to head home first.
It wasn’t because I had a heart attack, but because I pulled a muscle in my leg.
It was super embarrassing! Everyone says learning is like rowing a boat against the current; if you stop rowing, then you will go backward. Actually, playing basketball and working out is exactly the same! Due to my heart problems, I couldn’t train like before. Although my Yin Yang Sanshou skills improved, but I was negligent in training my leg muscles. That’s why I ended up pulling a leg muscle only halfway through the match.
Due to my improvements in my Hua Jin skills, I was able to make some tricky passes, achieve some beautiful assists, and even increased my score rate. However, my teammates weren’t familiar with my sudden change of style which led to less goals overall.
Once Liu HuaiShui arrived late, I gave my position to him and left early.
But it was a good experiment because it showed I could participate in casual basketball games.
Since my muscles ached from only half a game of basketball, it showed I had to train slowly and recover. My goal was to reach my previous peak Spartan state before I was completely cured.
As I dragged my tired body past the massage parlor, the streetlights and the overly bright LED lights hurt my eyes.
“Ye Lin.”
I suddenly heard a girl call out to me from an alleyway to the right of the massage parlor.
I shivered and looked up.
Did I mishear, was she calling my name? Since she spoke too fast, I couldn’t tell their age, much less their identity.
The business to the right of the massage parlor was a travel agency. It was already closed, so the alleyway between the two businesses was pitch black. I couldn’t see anyone inside since I was standing under a streetlight.
If it was a normal person who had just experienced a phone mugging incident, they would definitely ignore the cry from inside the alleyway and run home.
But a Spartan isn’t a normal person.
I would take a risk despite knowing the dangers. After being tired from playing basketball and being short on oxygen, I turned into a warrior with a single-celled brain. Basically, I decided I won’t back down. If I run home, then I’ll always be thinking about who was the woman calling my name. Tomorrow, I have to take the class leader to Ai Mi’s place to visit Obama. Xiao Qin will also be going, so maybe I’ll be able to see two female classmates in a maid’s outfit and I can’t afford to be distracted.
I made up my mind and took two steps toward the narrow alley.
“Who’s in there, do you know me?”
I couldn’t see clearly. There seemed to be an air conditioning unit close to the ground in the alley, and there were also empty bottles and other miscellaneous trash.
It was a dead end, the alley didn’t lead anywhere. I already knew about it since I passed the massage parlor every time on the way home.
The narrow alley was not only narrow, but also very short. Even if half of it was covered by shadows, it didn’t look like it could hide more than one person. If I wasn’t wrong, then there was at most only one woman in the narrow alley.
I wasn’t as nervous anymore: I don’t think I’ve pissed off any women lately. Rose Group followed Xiao Qin, so they had no reason to harm me. If it was the SAFE members, then their target should be Dr. Yu, why would they send a woman to meet me alone.
Maybe it was a masseuse from the massage parlor who got messed up by their customers S&M toys that we sold and she wants revenge?
I stepped into the dark alley with many questions and I wanted to see who was hiding inside.
I squinted to try and see if I could see any better. I was instantly frightened stiff when I saw what was lying on the ground of the alley.
I think a girl’s corpse was leaning against the end of the alley.
Due to a lack of light, it looked like she was black and white. To be honest, other than a pair of white shoes, I could only see a silhouette.
But the silhouette looked a lot like Shu Sha. People who knew her would be able to tell it was her.
Also, those shoes was the pair Uncle Fireball bought for her after he bought Shu Zhe an iPad. The class leader wore it on Friday, so I recognized it.
What’s going on? If it was the class leader who called my name, then why was she lying on the ground a few seconds later? Also, why would she appear here? How injured was she to be lying on the ground motionless.
I panicked and didn’t even check if there was anyone else hiding in the alley. I squatted down and tried to check the class leader’s pulse.
I wasn’t able to touch anything.
It was only a shadow of the class leader on the ground.
I shivered and I knew which woman I pissed off.
To be exact, the silhouette on the ground was an unfinished street art.
The class leader without a doubt was the model. A black figure was enough to make someone think the class leader was lying here, so only someone extremely familiar with the class leader could have drawn it.
Only the pair of shoes was drawn in detail. It was done like those 3D American street art styles that could even trick people in broad daylight, much less in low light areas.
Who else other than Zhuang Ni had this good drawing skills and could imitate the class leader perfectly. While I haven’t done anything to Zhuang Ni in the past few days, but I’ve definitely done it before on Cui Song Mountain and at the class leader’s house. Zhuang Ni also isn’t someone who would forgive others so easily.
I wanted to get up, but it was too late.
Zhuang Ni, who had previously been standing on air conditioner and hiding in the shadows, jumped down behind me and put something shiny against my neck…
It’s piano wire, a tool used by professional killers! If you’re really strong, you could separate someone’s head from their body.
Blood immediately appeared on my neck as if it was cut by a sharp blade.
I looked up at Zhuang Ni. She was wearing a black dress and it looked even darker than night. Her pale face looked even brightly and cold than the moon in the sky.
“Did you think that I won’t get my revenge.” Zhuang Ni’s two pupils looked strangely blood-red color, maybe it was a hallucination because I was tired and short of breath.
I saw Zhuang Ni was wearing deerskin gloves on her hands. It was an effective way to prevent yourself from being cut by piano wire. It looks like Zhuang Ni came prepared and was determined to put me to death.
“Hahahahahaha…” Zhuang Ni let out a laugh as my entire face turned red as the piano wire tightened around my neck.
She whispered in my ear like the grim reaper, “Once I kill you, the class leader will be mine.”
You’re crazy! You’re going to kill someone just to achieve your dream of being a couple with the class leader? Are you not afraid of leaving evidence behind and getting caught?
I had completely forgotten about the Minor Protection Law as my life was on the line. For Zhuang Ni, it was actually better to kill me earlier than later. If she kills me now, it would be better than killing me two years later.
Zhuang Ni was someone who didn’t even value her own life, so there was no way she would value other people’s life. She didn’t hesitate at all and was prepared to end me.
Damn, I shouldn’t have forced myself to play basketball today. Did she purposely pick today because she knew I was injured?
I wanted to stick my fingers underneath the piano wire but it was a futile attempt.
“Say hello for me to Satan in hell. Ask him why he didn’t answer my calls and made me have to do it myself…”
Zhuang Ni used all her strength to kill me, so her voice tone became strange like she was simultaneously crying and laughing, but her expression was very cheerful.
“Cough, cough.”
I couldn’t even speak anymore, but there was no way I was going to sit back and wait for death. Since I couldn’t get up because Zhuang Ni’s knees were pressed against my back, I’ll make you lie down with me.
I gave up the pointless struggle on my neck, then I reached back and went to grab Zhuang Ni’s ankle. I intended to forcefully flip her to the ground once I got my hands on her.
I didn’t care if she will be injured or not, after all, it was a life and death situation. Even if she was accidentally killed, then it was simply a consequence of her own actions.