Chapter 89: 89. Courage

In the clouds above the inn, Nan Gengchen was dragged into a room on the second floor, wailing and howling to the heavens.

Outside the window, the flickering light of a bonfire was visible, yet he felt as though he had plunged into hell.

Nan Gengchen screamed, “Boss, please don’t touch me, I beg you, really, that Hu Xiaoniu and Zhang Tianzhen look better than me, find them instead!”

While he cried and shouted, he secretly strained with all his might in his lower abdomen.

He had read online that in such a critical moment, if one could manage to soil one’s pants in time, it might just spoil the perpetrator’s appetite and save one’s safety.

He just never imagined that he himself would one day have to resort to this tactic.

However, the anticipated sound of the other person unbuckling his belt didn’t happen.

The criminal wore a black leather jacket with a clean shaven head.

A black dragon tattoo extended from his neck to his chin, giving him a ferocious look.

The criminal slowly took off his gloves, revealing the rough mechanical limbs underneath. He moved his fingers, which, due to ageing, made a creaking sound as they clenched and unclenched.

It was enough to make one’s teeth sour.

The criminal stood coldly opposite Nan Gengchen, watching him until his sobbing gradually subsided, then calmly asked, “Kid, I’m not interested in men. Now, I’m going to ask you questions, and you’re going to answer. Cooperate well and you might just save your life, got it?”

“Got it, got it!” Nan Gengchen hurriedly nodded his head.

“What’s your identity in the Inner World?” the criminal asked.

Nan Gengchen was startled; he thought he’d be brought into this room for ruin, but he didn’t expect the other party would suddenly ask about his identity in the Inner World.

This was totally different from what he had imagined, and it seemed that the perpetrator’s actions until now had been just for show.

But he couldn’t figure out why there was this twist, or how the other person knew he was a Time Traveler.

He had hidden it so well, no one knew!

Yet, the criminal pressed the gun muzzle against his forehead, “I’m asking you a question?”

With teary eyes, Nan Gengchen said, “I’m a hacker…”

“Hacker?” the criminal muttered under his breath with irritation.

They knew that traversing to the Inner World didn’t carry over knowledge, so technical-type Time Travelers were the least valuable in their eyes, all status and no actual skill.

And this status might even become a burden.

The criminal continued to question, “Which city do you live in?”

“City number 18,” Nan Gengchen answered.

“Which district?”

“The First District,” Nan Gengchen said quickly, adding, “I just moved there too.”

The criminal whistled, “Oh, so you’re a rich man living in The First District. Why did you just move there?”

Nan Gengchen said with aggrieved bitterness, “I’ve just been taken care of recently.”

The criminal was taken aback; what was this all about? He continued to ask, “On Red Fountain Square in The First District, what’s the recent holographic projection?”

Nan Gengchen said, “It’s a projection of three Tiger Whales leaping out of the water.”

The criminal thought for a moment, then pressed his chest intercom, “Boss, it’s confirmed, he’s a Time Traveler from city number 18 in The First District. Proceed with cleaning up the scene.”

After he spoke, he released the intercom and was about to drag Nan Gengchen out the door.

Just then, in Nan Gengchen’s view, as the criminal bent over to grab him, a masked youth appeared behind the otherwise obstructive figure of the criminal.

The youth’s face was covered with a scarf, but Nan Gengchen could still see the fiery red lines extending from below the scarf to the corners of his eyes.

He didn’t know when the young man had appeared; neither he nor the criminal had noticed the other’s approach.

No footsteps, no breathing.

Absolutely nothing.

The criminal seemed to also detect something off from Nan Gengchen’s expression, but he was already rendered immobile.

The spleen is the body’s blood bank, and once struck by an external force, the victim will bleed out rapidly and die.

The speed is second only to having one’s carotid artery slit.

The criminal only felt his body rapidly cooling, and he could even hear the sound of his own blood dripping onto the ground.

Blood frothed slowly from his mouth as the villain attempted to reach for the intercom.

But someone had already gently reached out from behind, plucking the intercom from his chest.

“Who… are you?” Nan Gengchen asked in shock.

Qing Chen calmly looked at him, “No need to pretend you don’t recognize me, come with me, I don’t have time to chat right now.”

“Okay, Brother Chen…” Nan Gengchen said excitedly.

It didn’t surprise Qing Chen that Nan Gengchen recognized him.

The two had been classmates since their first year of senior high school, not only that, they had been deskmates after being sorted into liberal arts and science classes.

The two hardworking boys had always been best friends. Qing Chen, even though he had masked his face and deliberately messed up his hair,

just needed one look at his eyes, his contour, and Nan Gengchen could immediately confirm Qing Chen’s identity.

As Nan Gengchen prepared to follow Qing Chen and leave, he muttered excitedly, “I never thought you’d come to rescue me. If you hadn’t shown up, I might have been taken away by them…”

Just as Qing Chen planned to lead Nan Gengchen out the back door, the sound of rapid gunshots suddenly erupted outside the window.

Someone shouted, “Run, they’re going to silence us!”

Qing Chen abruptly turned to look outside the window.

It was the distinct sound of firearms equipped with silencers.

The bonfire outside blazed like a sea of flames against the sky, the students’ screams boiling like water.

He pulled out his handgun and walked to the window. The innkeeper and waitstaff of Cloud Inn already lay in pools of blood, students terrified and fleeing in all directions.

Two Kunlun members lay shot, no one knew when, and the inn’s main door had been opened at some unknown time, with students taking the chance to escape in the chaos.

One Kunlun member lay face up on the cold concrete floor, chest mutilated, eyes forever open.

Another Kunlun member knelt askew by the door, eyes closed in death.

He held a gun in his hand, beside him a villain lay breathless, further away another corpse of a villain.

The two villains had taken four bullets between them, while the Kunlun member was soaked in blood, making it difficult to discern how many bullets had hit him.

It seemed he had desperately opened the door, creating a lifeline for the students.

At this moment, students were struggling to their feet, heedlessly fleeing outside.

Qing Chen did not know what had happened in that instant, even the strongest minds seemed to struggle to catch up.

By the time he reached the window, everything had already happened.

In just a few breaths, so many had died.

Qing Chen silently observed the two blood-drenched corpses. Because he had not witnessed it with his own eyes, his emotions also arrived a bit slower.

There was no sadness, nor was there any sense of being moved.

It was just something suddenly stuck in his throat, he himself didn’t know what it was that was lodged there.

In the chaos, the remaining few villains were not chasing after the students but instead coldly tied up Liu Dezhu, Hu Xiaoniu, and Zhang Tianzhen, planning to blend in with the students and leave with the Time Traveler.

Indeed, the villains’ target was the Time Traveler, and now that their plan had gone awry, the prospect of silencing all students was no longer possible.

The best option for them was to cut their losses in time.

A voice came through the intercom, “Lao Wu is nowhere to be found; he may have already met with an accident. Lao San, you and Lao Si bring down those two from upstairs, we’ll meet in the parking lot.”

Lao Si and Lao Wu were already dead.

Qing Chen silently watched everything unfold and suddenly remembered something Ye Wan had said, “If one could control their hot blood, then it wouldn’t be called hot blood. Sometimes, you only truly understand your choice when you’re facing a situation head-on.”

“Stay here, and remember, I wasn’t here tonight. If I don’t make it back… don’t tell my parents either,” Qing Chen said softly, then headed outside.

In reality, he didn’t want to take any more risks either. After all, Nan Gengchen had been rescued, and it was a good opportunity for him to leave.

But Qing Chen wondered, had he really tried his best?

If he turned around and left now, would he remember his retreat today every time he fought from this day forward?

At that moment, he felt Mother Ye’s words were very true; once across the river, soldiers smeared with blood could not turn back.

Irrespective of rules, military orders, or pros and cons.

That was courage.