Chapter 78: Folded

“That’s enough!”

Seeing Xu Xiao Xiao’s fingers, followed by her entire hand, drop onto the ground, Lu Xin spoke.

Ever since Xu Xiao Xiao pointed her gun at him, his Sister had been hovering above her, watching with malicious intent. But lately, Sister really enjoyed playing along with him, making her much more obedient than before. She only made her move after he gave the nod.

Maybe it was because she’d had fun taking apart a gun during the assessment, but she seemed quite addicted to it. The moment she landed, she instantly dismantled the gun in Xu Xiao Xiao’s hand. Apparently, that wasn’t enough, because she went ahead and dismantled Xu Xiao Xiao’s hand right along with it.

If he hadn’t quickly told her to stop, Lu Xin was sure his Sister would have continued disassembling Xu Xiao Xiao, starting with her arm.

For both Lu Xin and his Sister, this was just a minor incident.

But Fat Manager Liu and Mr. Xu were clearly stunned. They recoiled, staring at Lu Xin as if they’d seen a ghost. Mr. Xu’s knees buckled, almost sending him tumbling. He stared in horror at his daughter’s right arm—nothing but a bare wrist spurting blood. Hardly believing his eyes, he tossed aside his cane and rushed to embrace her.

Staring at the stump where his daughter’s hand used to be, blood gushing freely, he felt a wave of dizziness wash over him.

“How could you… How could you do this?”

Whether driven by sheer terror or blinding rage, he screamed at Lu Xin.

Lu Xin merely furrowed his brow slightly. Glancing at his Sister crouching obediently nearby, he didn’t scold her. Instead, he looked earnestly at Mr. Xu. “She threatened me first,” he stated calmly. “And frankly, I was already doing my best to protect her!”

He spoke sincerely, and it was the truth.

However, Mr. Xu was clearly beyond listening to explanations. His distress grew with every passing second, fueling his enraged shout:

“Even if you are from *that* Department, do you really think you can just hurt my daughter like this?!”

…

Lu Xin sensed the shift in the surroundings. He slowly shook his head. “It’s best we don’t proceed like this.”

…

…

Lu Xin genuinely didn’t want things to escalate. That wouldn’t end well.

Especially not for Mr. Xu.

But seeing his daughter injured, combined perhaps with Lu Xin’s current demeanor, seemed to trigger another worry in Mr. Xu. He was already furious, and as his trembling voice echoed his threat, the grounds around the large, yet strangely empty villa filled with the sound of rustling footsteps rushing towards them.

On the second floor, a curtain twitched open revealing the dark muzzle of a gun barrel aimed straight at Lu Xin.

Holding the firearm was the butler, the same one who had appeared so amiable earlier.

All around, the chaotic sound of boots pounded across the lawn and concrete paths. Figures emerged from the shadows beyond the reach of the lights, running towards them. The distinct sound of firearms scraping against sturdy fabric accompanied their hurried advance.

“Mr. Lone Soldier, it really doesn’t have to come to this…”

As the commotion erupted, Fat Manager Liu was already backing away quickly.

His face was taut with tension. “You should apologize to Mr. Xu right now…” he urged.

Lu Xin frowned, remaining silent.

*Bang!*

Just then, a gunshot suddenly shattered the tension.

From the second floor, a bullet shot out unexpectedly, aimed right at Lu Xin’s head.

It was the butler, the one who seemed so respectable, so deliberate in his speech and actions.

He had shot to kill, without the slightest hesitation.

…

…

Bullets travel incredibly fast. At such close range, death is often instantaneous with the sound of the shot.

But in the split second the shot rang out, Lu Xin abruptly tilted his head.

The movement was unnervingly swift, almost as if his neck had snapped, his head flopping abruptly to the side.

That simple movement was enough. The bullet zipped past his cheek.

It struck the stone pavement three or four meters behind him, kicking up a shower of sparks and blasting away a fist-sized chunk of rock.

…

…

This sudden, almost bizarre turn of events left both Mr. Xu and Fat Manager Liu gaping.

They stared at Lu Xin, incredulous.

Up on the second floor, the butler who had fired the shot thought his eyes were deceiving him. He blinked instinctively.

Then, gripping his gun firmly with both hands, he glared down, preparing to take a second shot.

But just then, he realized Lu Xin was gone.

He instantly tensed. Gripping his gun, he leaned closer to the window, slowly peering downwards.

His view expanded incrementally, yet there was still no sign of Lu Xin.

Further out, however, he spotted the group of medical personnel huddled to one side, along with Fat Manager Liu.

And their eyes.

They were all looking… up at him.

The butler reacted sharply. Looking down, he saw Lu Xin clinging flat against the exterior wall right below the windowsill—no ropes, no support—barely twenty centimeters away, silently watching him.

“Man or ghost?!”

The butler recoiled in shock, scrambling backward while trying to aim his gun.

But the instant the thought formed, Lu Xin shot out a hand, clamped down on his neck, and yanked hard. The butler plunged out the window. For a moment, both were airborne. Lu Xin wrenched the butler’s arm back, kicked off his thigh, used the downward momentum to force the man’s head down, then grabbed his waist…

As the butler crashed to the ground, Lu Xin pushed off the man’s body with both hands, launching himself lightly upwards.

With a sickening thud, the butler collapsed onto the ground.

He looked… folded.

His arms were twisted nearly 270 degrees, threaded between his own legs to clutch his neck. His legs were bent backward and crossed into a grotesque ‘X’. Every joint in his limbs seemed warped to an impossible degree, his back pressed against his head. He looked like a macabre jigsaw puzzle forced together.

Crucially, he was somehow neither dead nor unconscious.

He just screamed mindlessly in terror, rolling uncontrollably on the ground like a crumpled ball.

He even still clutched the gun, its muzzle now somehow aimed directly at his own head.

…

…

“Xiao Lin…”

The butler’s horrifying state utterly terrified Fat Manager Liu and Mr. Xu.

Even Mr. Xu’s daughter, still conscious despite the agony in her arm, was stunned into silence by the sheer shock of the butler’s condition.

Just then, the bodyguards encircling the area finally rushed in.

They abruptly saw the twisted, horrifying figure on the ground and froze, horrified. Instantly, they raised their guns as one.

Since it was night, their guns were all fitted with small, bright flashlights.

Multiple flashlight beams stabbed through the darkness simultaneously, illuminating Lu Xin as he hung suspended in mid-air, his eyes black pools, his expression unsettlingly malevolent.

Panicked shots erupted, bullets whistling through the air.

And then, an excited grin spread across Lu Xin’s face.

No one had spoken, yet some of the bodyguards faintly heard a little girl’s gleeful voice echoing around them:

“Wow, so many toys…”