"Lu Chen, Lu Chen! Are you alright…"
A fragrant scent entered my nose when He Yi hugged my head and looked over my entire body to make sure I hadn"t lost any body parts.
A long time later, she wiped away the bloodstains on my face and stared at me with red, teary eyes. "You… you scared me to death, you know that? What on earth happened?"
Xu Yang interrupted, "Boss, I"m hurt too you know…"
He Yi faced toward him and replied, "If you"re hurt you should look for a doctor, not me! If anything, you look way too healthy!"
Xu Yang: "%%#%@..."
……
He Yi then s.h.i.+fted her gaze to Xue Lu and stared at her for a moment before asking, "Are you Xue Lu?"
Xue Lu was just a child before the GGS Asia Region Vice President. Not only was she inferior to He Yi in terms of cla.s.s and presence, she herself looked completely dumbstruck by He Yi"s beauty. Mouth agape, the only response she could muster was a nod and a "mn”.
He Yi"s eyes flashed with annoyance as she muttered to herself, "Hmph, so you"re the one who caused Lu Chen to get hurt…"
By now, Murong Mingyue and Beiming Xue had caught up to us. Murong Mingyue didn"t look too worried, but Beiming Xue was hugging me tightly and crying loudly, "Big bro, you scared me to death…"
A smile broke across my face as I gave Beiming Xue"s back a rub. "I"m fine now, aren"t I? Don"t cry, Beiming. It"s safe now."
Beiming Xue looked up from my chest and wiped her tears, nodding. "Mn."
He Yi shot us a glance before starting quietly. "This case is almost certainly going to be cla.s.sified as aggravated a.s.sault. The good news is that GGS has pretty good connections in Suzhou, and I"ll pay all the necessary "gifts" to resolve this as best I can. The bad news is Life of Luxury apparently has friends in district public security sub-bureaus and even provincial public security bureaus, so it"s not going to be easy. You may need to stay here for a couple of days before I can get you out."
I nodded. It was a simple matter. He Yi"s area of expertise was business, and our enemy"s, politics. Naturally, it was going to take a lot of money, connections and resources to plot for a happy resolution.
"Boss, sorry we"ve given you so much trouble…" I apologized.
He Yi shot me a glance before smiling a little. "It"s fine as long as you"re all safe, and I knew from the start that you"re going to cause me a lot of trouble the moment you rejoined the gang…"
Everyone laughed until a policeman outside the police station shouted, "Keep your voices down!"
……
It was late. He Yi went back with Mingyue and Beiming Xue, while the rest of us were put under criminal detention.
On the opposite side of our detention room, Life of Luxury"s lackey hooted, "Just you wait, you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds! Brother Luxury"s father will make you wish you were dead!"
Xu Yang jabbed a finger at the guy and growled, "You"re the ones who should back down while you still can, eunuch"s lackey!"
When Gui Guzi heard that, he laughed so hard he was almost in tears. "Hahahaha! That"s right, your "big bro" is now just an eunuch, courtesy of our Boss Broken Halberd!"
……
The verbal PvP continued for a while until around 10 pm or so. We fell asleep when our endurance had reached zero.
It was late in the night when a policeman suddenly entered the detention room and said, "Lu Chen, you"re needed at the interrogation room!"
"Oh?"
I opened my eyes. What"s going on? Why do I have to go to the interrogation room in the middle of the night? Are they going to torture a confession out of me? But I"ve already confessed to everything! Please don"t hurt me...
When we reached the interrogation room, the policeman opened the door and waved me in. "Get in!"
"??"
"Just get inside!"
"..."
I stepped into the interrogation room and found a young policeman standing by the table. He immediately smiled and walked up to me when he saw me. "h.e.l.lo, Lu Chen!"
"You are?"
I shot his badge a look and quickly discovered that it was different from the badges worn by the policemen in this police station. Puzzlement immediately overtook my mind: Who is this guy?
The policeman introduced himself. "My name is Li Chengfeng. You probably don"t know me, but I"ve known you for a very long time, Little Heavenly King."
I was caught off-guard, but I quickly smiled back. "You play games made by Eternal Moon Corporation too?"
"Yeah, I"m a hardcore player in fact…"
Li Chengfeng smiled. "I started during the endgame of Eternal Moon, played through the entire Spirit of Grief, and now the early stages of Heavenblessed. I"m as hardcore as you can find."
"What"s your ID in Eternal Moon and Spirit of Grief?"
"That"s not important." Li Chengfeng smiled. "Let"s talk about your case of aggravated a.s.sault for a moment. Currently, preliminary diagnosis revealed that Life of Luxury had suffered serious injuries to his groin. Although his life is in no danger, it"s very likely that he has lost his reproduction ability. Even if the case was cla.s.sified as legitimate defense, this particular attack is definitely too much. Do you understand what I"m saying?"
I sucked in a deep breath and nodded. "I will bear all the responsibilities of my actions!"
"Very good!" Li Chengfeng"s eyes glimmered with praise. "Now I can truly believe that you"re that loyal and heroic Broken Halberd Sinks Into Sand whose words are worth their weight in gold. No lesser man is deserving of that ID!!"
Suddenly, he changed his tune again and let out a chuckle. "To tell you the truth, I can pardon you from your excessive self-defense."
"Oh?"
I was surprised, but I quickly laughed. "C"mon, man. Life of Luxury has friends in the district public security sub-bureaus and provincial public security bureaus. He could easily lock me up for a couple of years."
Li Chengfeng broke into laughter. "Look at me, brother. Do I look like a member of a district public security sub-bureau or provincial public security bureau to you? I"m working for the Ministry of Public Security! I"m only staying at Jiangsu for a couple days because I have some business to take care of. Now, do you still doubt my ability to resolve this? If you"re still worried, I can tell you now that Life of Luxury"s "friend", his second uncle, is just a section-level employee at a provincial public security bureau. Seriously, this is nothing to me…"
I stared at his determined eyes before replying, "You"re not helping me for free, are you? Surely you want something from me?"
"Haha, I like straightforward people like you!" Li Chengfeng laughed. "That"s right, my request is very simple: I want to join Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls. I"ve read the dossier, and I"m sure my time in your guild will be well spent with brothers like Du Thirteen, Xu Yang, Gui Guzi, and you…"
Relaxing, I nodded. "No problem. I"ll add you to our guild immediately after I go back online. But Xu Yang and Du Thirteen must walk out of the police station unscathed as well."
"Alright!" Li Chengfeng nodded and clapped my shoulder once. "Deal!"
"Before I forget, what is your ID in Heavenblessed?"
"Oh, I"m Legendary Brave."
"..."
"What"s wrong?"
I put my hand on my head. "Why does I feel like I"ve heard that ID from somewhere?"
Li Chengfeng smiled enigmatically. "Think harder. I"m sure you"ll remember it."
"f.u.c.k!" My eyes suddenly turned as wide as saucers. "Are you that Dragon Warrior on Sky City"s Heavenly Ranking?!"
Li Chengfeng smiled gladly. "That"s right. From now on, you may call me Legend or Brave. Hehe, I made a great ID, don"t you agree?"
I nodded and gave him another long look. Who would"ve thought that something good would come out of this disaster? Not only was Li Chengfeng a special person in real life, he was a pro in Heavenblessed as well. Although I knew he had been guildless for a long time, not in a million years could I have imagined that he would join us under such unusual circ.u.mstances!
Long story short, not only did Du Thirteen regain his old flame, Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls even gained a new general thanks to this. This fight was 100% worth it!
I extended my hand toward him and smiled. "As the vice leader, I formally accept your request to join our guild. Welcome to Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls, Brave!"
Li Chengfeng shook my hand and smiled back. "Good midnight to you too, vice leader. Would you like to eat supper with me?"
"But I"m being detained right now…"
"Not a problem, one line from me and you and your friends will be freed immediately!"
"Does this count as illegal favoritism?"
"Hahaha, that"s a good joke, vice leader…" Li Chengfeng spread his arms. "The interrogation is finished, and we came to the conclusion that you and your friends were just defending yourselves from harm. Therefore, it"s totally just and righteous to help you however I can, amirite? If you think that"s too much, I can spin it another way. It"s the duty of every citizen to punish evil, and what you did today is definitely enough to win you a Model Citizen Medal. So what reason do I have to keep you detained, pray tell?"
"You truly are smooth-tongued…"
"Hahaha, c"mon, let"s go get Du Thirteen, Gui Guzi and Xu Yang already. I"ll take you all to supper and drive you all back to your homes afterward!"
"Okay!"
……
As it turned out, Li Chengfeng was being literal when he said he could free us in just one line. It almost felt awkward until we remembered that we were a bunch of good, righteous citizens who totally deserved to be freed. And so we all headed out to enjoy a good drink.
Even Du Thirteen managed to down half a gla.s.s of beer despite his injuries. Xue Lu absolutely refused to let him drink any more after that.
The food at the roadside stalls smelled especially nice at midnight, and everyone was hungry again after everything that had happened earlier. The supper continued until everyone was full, and it was some time in the early morning. Li Chengfeng dispatched a police car to send the boys back to the base, while he personally drove me to Frost Cloud workshop and dropped me at the entrance of the district. He smiled. "I"ll go online the moment I head back. See you at the plaza at the eastern gate of Sky City in 30 minutes, vice leader!"
"Yeah!"
I nodded and watched Li Chengfeng drive away. Then, I slowly walked up the stairs to our apartment.
When I opened the door, I heard He Yi talking to someone on the phone. "OMG, this Bureau Chief w.a.n.g is so greedy. 5 million RMB? Hmph! He sure knows how to kick a person when they"re down… Oh well, 5 million it is…"
"Eve?" I called out to her softly.
He Yi blinked in disbelief when she looked up and saw me. Then, she abruptly jumped into my lap and laughed excitedly. "Lu Chen, did you break out of the police station or something?"
I nearly vomited blood at her "high praise”. Wrapping my own arms around her, I said, "No, we just ran into an unexpected benefactor, that"s all. He was a member of the Ministry of Public Security, and he released us on the spot…"
"Ah? How is that possible?"
I briefly told her about Li Chengfeng, and she replied excitedly, "OMG, the Legendary Brave is a member of the Ministry of Public Security? Thank goodness! I can"t even begin to tell you how much money and energy he saved me. Oh, this is wonderful…"
My beautiful guild leader could barely control her excitement as she hugged me tightly.
I was smiling myself. Everything had happened like a dream: me and my friends escaping jail time, and Ancient Sword Dreaming Souls recruiting a new general.
……
He Yi felt burning hot in my arms. She stared at me with her gorgeous eyes for a moment before closing them.
I froze. She pressed her lips to mine before I could do anything. An unbelievable warmth spread across my lips as He Yi shuddered in my arms. I myself felt like my mind was blown away as I hugged her like I was about to drown in her soft body.
We leaned against the window as moonlight spilled across He Yi"s long hair and trembling eyelashes. The kiss lasted almost half a minute as I hugged her tightly, feeling her longing for me pouring into my flesh like it was a tangible thing. In that moment, time seemed to have come into a stop, and the brilliance that was He Yi seemed to last for eternity.
……
A while later, He Yi pushed me away gently before smiling. "I have to fly for America tomorrow, and it"ll be a long while before I come back. You"d better miss me everyday, you hear?"
Caught off-guard, I asked, "When exactly are you returning?"
"I don"t know, but… just so you know, I don"t mind if you choose to remember or forget this…"
He Yi stared longingly at me again before pressing her hand to my chest. She then smiled and said, "Since I"m leaving tomorrow, I"m going to leave a permanent spell in your soul. From this moment onward, no matter where you go, no matter who you choose to marry in the future, you will always think about me on a rainy day, and your heart will hurt slightly because of it."
……
As her words fell, so did the autumn rain outside the window.