Chapter 315: Rules and Retribution
by xennovel“Boss, what do we do now?”
As the old police officer stepped out of the detention area, several people immediately surrounded him, many of whom had accompanied him to the motel. His deputy, clearly nervous, was at the front. “We got a call from the hospital. Young Master Zhao… he actually survived. But… think about it, all those bullets, and he’s still alive? This… what kind of mess is this?”
A chill ran through the group as they nodded repeatedly, muttering nervously, “Yeah, what are we gonna do?”
“What else can we do?”
The old police officer cursed through gritted teeth, “Who the hell could’ve expected this? Not only did we run into people from the Qinggang Office, but we also ran into madmen… Damn it, if I’d known it would be this much trouble, I wouldn’t have listened to that Zhao guy’s crap for anything…”
He suddenly grew tense. “Did you return the stuff we took?”
An officer beside him nodded quickly. “Returned it, all returned. Young Mas… That Zhao guy is unconscious, no one else knows.”
“Remember, this was just a routine police call, understand?”
The old police officer shot a fierce glare at everyone present and lowered his voice. “That Zhao guy’s lost his mind. He blew this whole thing way out of proportion, pulling strings everywhere, trying to cover it all up. I thought he was just going after some ordinary convoy, I didn’t expect Ability Users… these madmen… to be involved. No matter how powerful the Zhao family is, they can’t just sweep this under the rug…”
“Especially since he got beaten into a pile of rotten flesh…”
“It’s weird. That Zhao guy isn’t usually this unreliable. Why was he so reckless this time?”
He shook his head hard, pushing aside the chaotic thoughts, and instructed:
“If you want to stay alive, don’t get involved with these people in any way. Pull out immediately…”
“Understand?”
…
Some subordinates nodded repeatedly, impressed even if they didn’t fully grasp the situation, while others asked quietly, confused:
“‘If that’s the case, why didn’t we just let him go straight to the Qinggang Office earlier?'”
“‘Did all the food you ate go straight to your gut and bypass your brain?'”
The old police officer hissed in a low voice, “That Zhao guy was beaten to a pulp! His family won’t just let it go! If we didn’t bring him back, don’t you think the Zhao family would come after us? Damn it, when something like this happens, the only thing we can do…”
He paused, then said through gritted teeth, “…is follow the law!”
The junior officers stared blankly. This was the first time they’d heard their boss spout such official jargon outside of a formal setting.
…
…
Meanwhile, just as Lu Xin began seriously contemplating his family issues, atop the Fourth People’s Hospital in Satellite City Seven of Central City, a helicopter landed, its rotors churning up fierce winds. A middle-aged man in a black suit, clutching a pipe between his teeth, with a meticulously trimmed mustache gracing his upper lip, hunched over as he disembarked. He then took an elevator down to a hospital ward.
An emergency surgery was underway in the ward. A nearby tray already held over a dozen bloody bullets.
Lying on the bed was an intact head, quite handsome in appearance, but the body attached to it was practically rotten flesh.
The surgeons stepped aside, making way for the middle-aged man with the pipe.
None of them dared remind him that smoking wasn’t allowed in the operating room.
The man carefully examined Zhao Hui lying on the bed, the muscles in his face tightening slightly.
After a moment, he spoke, his voice somewhat hoarse, “How did this happen?”
“‘An Ability User did this.'”
Beside him, a man in a crisp suit murmured, “Twenty-four bullets, all lodged in his body, yet they perfectly avoided every vital point. Not even a fatal artery was hit. That’s why he’s still alive. Only an Ability User could empty two magazines into someone and still ensure they’d make it to the hospital alive.”
The middle-aged man slowly nodded. “Where is this Ability User?”
“‘Satellite City Seven, Second Detention Center.'”
The secretary whispered, “Not one of Central City’s Ability Users. Seems connected to Qinggang.”
“‘Qinggang…'”
The middle-aged man repeated the name slowly. A faint smile seemed to touch his lips. Under the operating room’s stark lights and deep shadows, the smile looked somewhat ferocious, yet his voice remained remarkably calm. “My son… foolish, arrogant, ignorant, and greedy. And… he has those unspeakable psychological issues. But he is my son, after all.”
“‘I know him. He makes constant petty mistakes, but he’s fundamentally a coward. He’s not capable of making a truly big one.'”
He paused slightly, turning to look at the secretary. “So, why was he beaten like this?”
The secretary hesitated for a moment before replying, “It seems… it was because he coerced… a certain driver.”
The middle-aged man frowned. “Male or female?”
The secretary replied, “Female.”
A sneer spread across the middle-aged man’s face. “Someone like him? Why would he coerce a female driver?”
Faced with this question, the secretary fell silent again, unsure how to answer.
“‘Get me a gun. Four magazines!'”
The middle-aged man turned sharply and walked out. “No matter how disappointing he is, he’s still my son. My only son. I’m rarely home, neglectful of his upbringing… that’s because I’m always cooped up in the research lab, for the sake of our Central City. Now that my son has been beaten like this, if I continue to ignore him, how can I face his mother?”
“‘Since that Ability User attacked him, there must be a reason. But it doesn’t matter.'”
“‘After I’ve emptied these four magazines into him, then you can start investigating what really happened.'”
“‘Since he’s an Ability User, I presume he won’t die so easily.'”
…
…
“‘Hey, kid…'”
In the empty cell, Lu Xin sat obediently on the bare wooden bed, waiting for his dinner.
From the adjacent cells, noticeably crowded due to inmate transfers, a voice suddenly called out.
A burly thug with bleached yellow hair and a shiny stainless steel tooth slammed his fist against the bars, shouting at Lu Xin, “Quite the big shot, huh? Buying food, buying cigarettes… Tell us, how did a rich kid like you end up in here?”
Lu Xin glanced at them, then lowered his head again.
He might be locked up, but he wasn’t like these criminals.
“‘Dammit, I’m talking to you…'”
The sound of fists hammering the bars echoed again, accompanied by loud shouts directed at Lu Xin:
“‘Still acting like a pretty boy in here? Don’t you know the rules?'”
…
Lu Xin sighed, gripping his right hand which had been trembling with excitement. He remained silent, contemplating life.
*Thwack…*
Suddenly, a shoe came flying over. Lu Xin looked up just in time to see it arc past his face and land on the floor on the other side.
“‘Hahahaha…'”
Laughter erupted from the cells on both sides. All the inmates were hooting excitedly as if it were great fun.
Lu Xin sighed again, stood up, and muttered to himself, “Well, I’m already in the detention center anyway…”
Seeing him stand up, the inmates next door yelled even louder, “What’s wrong? Getting mad?”
“‘Come on over here! Let grandpa teach you the rules…'”
…
Amidst their raucous laughter, Lu Xin turned and walked towards them. Facing the approaching, grinning faces, he twisted his neck, ducked down, and his body seemed to bizarrely contract, bones contorting as if breaking, allowing him to slip right through the bars into the cell on the left.
Looking at the faces where smiles slowly vanished, replaced by eerie bewilderment and growing terror, he offered a very gentle smile:
“‘Hello there.'”
“‘Who threw the shoe?'”
…
When the young guard who had gone out to buy Lu Xin’s food returned with a boxed meal—complete with an extra chicken leg—and a ten-yuan pack of cigarettes, he opened the iron door to the corridor only to find Lu Xin in the left cell, pinning down a blond thug and beating him.
A circle of other inmates were pressed tightly against the walls, some with bruised noses, others with swollen faces, one even had his pants down around his ankles, hands clamped over his groin.
These guys, who normally raised hell over the smallest things, were now more docile than lambs. Not a single one dared to even cheer.
Startled, the guard quickly blew his whistle, banging on the bars and shouting, “What’s going on? What happened?”
“‘Why are you hitting him?'”
“…How did you even get over there?”
…
Lu Xin got up from the thug, hitched up his pants, gave his body a twist, and slipped back through the bars into the middle cell.
“‘You can’t blame me for this.'”
Lu Xin argued with an innocent look, “I was just sitting quietly in the middle cell, and this guy kept cursing at me. At first, I thought I’d just ignore him, but he wouldn’t stop. He even took off his shoe and threw it at me! Of course, I had to go over and teach him a lesson.”
He clenched his fist as he spoke, trying to show he was still fierce.
The young guard glanced at the fist-sized gaps between the bars, remembered the old police officer’s parting words, and shivered.
After a long moment, he managed to say, “Alright then…”
He glanced worriedly into the left cell. “Is he dead?”
The group of inmates leaning against the wall shook their heads in unison.
“‘Okay…'”
The young guard relaxed, passed the boxed meal and cigarettes through the bars to Lu Xin, and said, “Call a guard if there’s any more trouble.”
“‘Got it.'”
Lu Xin nodded obediently, took the meal and cigarettes back to his small wooden bed, and slowly began to enjoy his dinner.
The aroma of the chicken leg filled the warm, friendly atmosphere of the detention center.
…
…
Amidst the sound of others swallowing saliva, Lu Xin finished the last grain of rice in his boxed meal. Then, sitting on the small wooden bed, he lit a cigarette, slowly blew out a smoke ring, and glanced down in slight surprise. Unexpectedly, the quality wasn’t bad.
While not comparable to the gold-filtered ones Vice President Xiao had given him, they were much better than the three-yuan packs.
Full and smoking, he began to think about serious matters.
Like his relationship with his Father.
When Mom left earlier, he’d actually been a little worried that Father, left unsupervised, might take the chance to bully him and Sister, or perhaps try to escape. But surprisingly, Father had been unusually well-behaved and even actively showed goodwill towards him…
His behavior at the motel had been quite touching.
So, in return, shouldn’t he also grant Father a bit more trust?
Ever since entering the Second Stage, he had been trying to find ways to coexist peacefully with Father, cautiously deepening their understanding.
The effects were obvious. From keeping Father locked up previously, afraid to let him out, he now at least dared to borrow his power occasionally. However, the wariness in his heart couldn’t be completely erased. Normally, he gave Father 10% trust at most…
During the Sea Country attack, because he was in a bad mood, he gave Father nearly 50%.
In the motel courtyard, for a split second, he had given him over 70% trust.
Meaning, theoretically, Father could have instantly caused even greater destruction than when dealing with the Red Cloaked Apostle, or even used that opportunity to leave him directly… Of course, it was only a possibility of leaving, not a guaranteed success.
What would happen if the trust level approached or reached one hundred percent?
Lu Xin actually looked forward to the moment when he and Father could truly reconcile, understand, and trust each other.
But achieving that kind of trust wouldn’t be easy…
After all, their hobbies and tempers were quite different. Father liked to cook; he liked to eat.
Father threw tantrums easily and was petty, while he…
*Rustle… rustle…*
The hazy sound of rain came from outside the small window. A light rain had started sometime unnoticed.
Lu Xin’s mind cleared slightly. Inhaling the damp, grassy scent drifting in from the window, he slowly raised his head.
This world is so beautiful, and I’m very…