Seeing Xiao Shuai’s limping figure, walking out of the Yuanchen Group Building, he hailed a taxi on the side of the road and drove away.
And just as the taxi he was in drove off,
a few other men wearing masks and baseball caps came out of the building, nimbly got into another car, and quietly followed.
Fang Cheng’s eyes slightly flickered, and without lingering, he quickly turned around and headed toward the exit door of the top floor fire escape.
.....................
Late at night, the city’s bustling pace gradually quieted.
The urban village was shrouded in darkness.
In the narrow alley, not a single street lamp was lit.
Only the sporadic light from the windows of residential buildings outlined the heaps of garbage and sewage on the ground.
Overhead, wires tangled like a spider web, drooping as if they might fall at any moment.
Together with layers of small advertisements for certificates, unlocking, and unclogging drains on the walls, they formed the unique landscape of this area.
Xiao Shuai carried a net bag of fruit, limping along.
The old injury on his left leg had long since healed, but after today’s beating, it seemed to ache again faintly.
He instinctively reached out to touch it, with a wad of thick cash in his pocket.
On the ride, he had secretly counted it, exactly ten thousand yuan, not a penny more or less.
This unexpected windfall slightly lightened Xiao Shuai’s heavy mood, and he hummed a little tune off-key.
However, thinking of that mysterious expert whose voice he only heard but never saw, a shadow again clouded his previously bright mood.
After leaving the Yuanchen Group Building, that person never contacted him again, seemingly having disappeared without a trace.
Xiao Shuai looked up at the end of the dark alley.
In the distance, the neon-lit skyscrapers looked like another unattainable world.
Where will the road ahead lead?
His eyes revealed some bewilderment.
Although he managed to extricate himself from danger with sweet talk in front of Chen Chen.
But what if the person secretly communicating was not that amazing mysterious expert?
Or if the Red Tiger Gang had no sincerity and planned to collaborate with the other side.
Wouldn’t he be celebrating for nothing and might even lose his life?
Xiao Shuai dared not think further.
The consequences would be too dire...
He couldn’t help but let out a deep sigh, only feeling that his luck was incredibly cursed.
Throughout his life, the word "unlucky" seemed to be written all over it.
At the age of seven, his father went out to sea to fish, encountered a storm, and his intact body was never found.
At ten, while working tirelessly at a textile factory, his mother developed acute glaucoma from long night shifts.
At the time, the family was too poor to afford timely medical treatment, leading to her eventual blindness.
He had to drop out of school and take on the responsibility of caring for his mother.
During those years, relatives looked on coldly, avoiding him as if he were a plague.
To survive, he scraped by on the social bottom rungs from a young age, doing every dirty and tiring job, and when starved, even begged for food.
Last year, when the Red Tiger Gang opened a new operation, recruiting many members.
Thinking that the gang had recently arisen with great momentum,
he might seize the opportunity to make a name for himself, so he excitedly joined.
Who knew that upon entering, he would be assigned to watch over the girls, becoming a lowly lackey.
It was precisely due to this identity that he later attracted a series of terribly unlucky troubles.
First, he was taught a harsh lesson, almost losing his life.
In humiliation, he had to obediently obey, defecting from the Red Tiger Gang to join the Three Wolves Gang.
Thoughts of being a double agent and changing sides, as long as he performed well, he could make something of himself.
Who knew that after just a few good days, the Three Wolves Gang was wiped out by the Red Tiger Gang.
In the blink of an eye, he was like a stray dog, caught on the scene amidst chaos by the police.
He stayed in the detention center for three months, aiming to turn over a new leaf and stay away from martial world conflicts.
Who knew that on the day he was released, he would be kidnapped, entangled in a bigger trouble.
It was like misfortune opening the door for him—misfortunes arriving at home!
He couldn’t help but grin bitterly, mocking his rotten luck.
A skinny black dog suddenly jumped out from the shadows, barking fiercely at him.
"Damn you, Blackhead!"
Xiao Shuai was startled, recognizing the dog as his neighbor’s, and cursed with irritation:
"Haven’t seen you for a few months, and you don’t recognize me? Ungrateful mutt!"
He immediately bent down, picked up half a brick by his feet, and acted as if to throw it.
"Hey, who angered our Blackhead?"
A barrel-waisted woman, carrying a basin of water, came out from a low house nearby, splashing it on the ground with a "swoosh".
She squinted in the light from inside the house to see Xiao Shuai, raising her eyebrows in surprise:
"Oh, isn’t it Ren? When did you get back?"
Immediately, her gaze fell on Xiao Shuai’s new, ill-fitting clothes and the bruises on his face, teasing:
"Dressed like a human, with a colorful face, where did you make your fortune?"
Xiao Shuai grinned broadly, showing a few white teeth:
"Sister Zhang, please don’t tease me. Just getting by."
He brushed it off vaguely, quickly walking deeper into the alley.
Finally, he stopped in front of his own crooked wooden door.
The door panel, weathered by sun and rain, was slightly deformed, revealing a few cracks.
Xiao Shuai adjusted his facial expression, raised his hand to knock but found the door was unlocked, merely ajar.