The man was in front, the wild boar demons were behind, and Lu Ah-Cang was sandwiched in the middle.
On the way back, the wild boar demons were clearly much more excited than when they arrived, chattering and murmuring. The man focused on the road, saying nothing, tightly holding onto the golden box. Lu Ah-Cang noticed that the fork they turned into was not the same as the one they took on the way in.
It wasn't until the cool moonlight gently touched her warm cheeks that Lu Ah-Cang realized the other end of the tunnel was not leading to the five-star prison cell she had been in, but to a rose garden. Amidst the weeds on the ground, a few red roses sporadically bloomed, while the rest withered. Behind the garden was an ordinary white three-story building, its color stained with dust and traces of corrosion, and even the windows were badly damaged. It seemed to be an abandoned house that had been uninhabited for a long time.
The man's footsteps crunched on the dead leaves and branches as he walked through the rose garden. Stepping out of the garden, he suddenly stopped, as if contemplating for a moment, then waved to the two wild boar demons. The wild boar demons trotted up, and the man offered the golden box, saying, "You two take this thing back for me and give it to him. I have other things to take care of, so I'll meet you later." One of the wild boar demons, as if holding the most sacred thing in the world, gulped and held the golden box tightly in his arms.
"Go! The shortest way is around this house, through that hilly area. With what he placed inside you, you should be able to get there easily, right? He's still waiting for your good news!" the man said.
The wild boar demons exchanged glances and nodded with uncontrollable joy.
"Yeah!" Surprisingly, the wild boar demons could speak fluent human language. They patted their chests and said, "We'll handle it, don't worry!"
The man signaled them to leave quickly. Just as the wild boar demons turned away, the man pulled out what seemed like an ordinary ball pen from his pocket, pressed the end cap twice, and a small but dazzling spark flashed from the pen tip.
In almost a fraction of a second, he jabbed the pen tip on the backs of the wild boar demons in succession. With two muffled thuds, the two wild boar demons fell to the ground.
The man kicked them with his foot to ensure they were knocked out. He put away the pen and took off his mask. Under the mask was Mu Yeliang's face.
Lu Ah-Cang looked at the young face that was distinct even in the dim night, instinctively pretending to be terrified, stepping back. However, she was thinking to herself, with such good looks, why engage in such a line of work as a kidnapper? What a pity. The world is getting crazier and crazier.
"Come on, stop acting, Lu Ah-Cang," Mu Yeliang shook his hand at her.
Except for the person who signs a contract with her, it is impossible for anyone to know her name. After a slight surprise, she walked up to him with curled lips, abandoning the weakness and fear of a billionaire's daughter, smiling as she asked, "Is Mister the one who signed a contract with me…"
"Yes, I am your employer," he readily admitted, bending down to pick up the golden box from beside the wild boar demons. He opened it, then took out a white box similar in size to a cigarette case from his pocket. From inside, he shook out a piece of faint blue light, which was almost identical to the diamond-shaped thing that Lu Ah-Cang had messed with before, and swapped it with the diamond-shaped thing inside the golden box.
After all this was done, he placed the golden box back next to the wild boar demons, and carefully took back the cigarette case containing the real diamond-shaped object.
"Not a bad look, huh?" He pointed to his face, "I transformed based on the appearance of a Chinese celebrity." Lu Ah-Cang smiled without commenting.
"I know, praising my transformation skills in front of a Formless is like teaching a fish to swim. Feel free to laugh at me all you want," he said with self-ridicule.
"Mocking you is beyond the scope of our contract," Lu Ah-Cang shrugged, glancing at the two big guys collapsed on the ground like dead pigs. "Whatever kind of dicking around you do has nothing to do with me. I only follow the contract terms. And I must remind you, our contract ends in just three days. By then, the Charlotte in front of you will cease to exist."
"Three days... are enough." Hope ignited in his eyes like a candle flame, but it was extinguished in an instant by a deeper sadness.
"Anyway, until the contract expires, you are still Charlotte. Just remember that," he walked to the wooden stairs of the building whose color couldn't be made out, and sat down, patting the space next to him. "Take a seat; we have to wait for those two guys to wake up before I report to someone."
Lu Ah-Cang sat beside him and looked at the sky. It was like a dull blackboard, no signs of stars or the moon. The slightly cool night breeze flew over from the rose garden, making an unpleasant rustling sound. The two wild boar demons in front seemed to have fallen into a deep sleep, snoring loudly, with saliva almost forming a river at the corners of their mouths.
It was truly unattractive, truly unromantic. Lu Ah-Cang felt like she wasn't in Paris but in a dirty and disorderly ordinary town.
"Actually, this residential area is not too far from downtown," he understood Lu Ah-Cang's thoughts, looking at the vacant land that had been leveled outside the fence, "All the residents here were evicted. Charlotte's father plans to build a top-notch hospital here. In just about a week, the place we're sitting now, including all the houses on both sides that haven't been demolished yet, will be completely razed to the ground. There was an old man who refused to move from the house he had lived in all his life, and later, he disappeared."
Lu Ah-Cang dismissed it, sneering, "Isn't this kind of thing common? The strong preying on the weak to fulfill their desires, doesn't it conform to Darwin's theory of evolution?"
"Haha, compared to the theory of evolution, I prefer the theory of relativity." His laughter gradually faded, his gaze becoming distant. "Everything is relative; there is no absolute strong or absolute weak. We're only ourselves."
"I don't get it. I'm not familiar with Einstein. What you're saying is a bit profound," Lu Ah-Cang said honestly. She has always been a simple-minded person, unwilling to dwell on deep thoughts. To her, the world and the meaning of humanity are singular — acting. She got benefits and respect through various "roles," and perhaps everything she had longed for but always found elusive. She was content with such a life, at least that's what she thought at the moment.
"The house we're in right now is the home of that missing old man," he turned to look at the dilapidated wooden door behind them, saying evilly, "Do you think the old man might have been murdered and his body hidden somewhere in this house?"
"If you're bored, go do something else, but don't scare me," Lu Ah-Cang scolded him with a glance. Just as she finished speaking, a strong wind different from before suddenly blew in. The doors and windows behind them creaked, and in the house, something seemed to fall to the ground with a thump.
Lu Ah-Cang felt a chill down her spine and jumped up from the wooden stairs, nervously staring at the door, as if something was about to rush out from behind it. Indeed, the door slowly, slowly opened a crack.
At that moment, there was a creaking sound from the path adjacent to the house, and a bicycle stopped outside the building. An eleven or twelve-year-old boy, wearing a baseball cap and carrying a bulging paper bag, jumped off the bike and hurriedly ran towards them.
A furry little creature poked its head out from the door crack of the seemingly haunted house's entrance.
It was just…an ordinary, furball-like puppy.
The boy passed by Lu Ah-Cang and the man as if they didn't exist at all. His bright dark eyes were exceptionally focused, only paying attention to the chubby puppy. He gently picked it up, lightly tapped its nose in a scolding manner, and uttered sounds that Lu Ah-Cang couldn't understand. The boy was mute.
"Why are you here? Are you a kid living nearby?" Lu Ah-Cang proficiently gestured in sign language and asked the boy who appeared unexpectedly.
The boy looked at her attentively, then shook his head and used sign language to ask, "Are you guys here to capture them?"
She exchanged a glance with the man and said, "Them? We're just passing by and taking a break here, nothing more."
The boy breathed a sigh of relief, then turned and pushed open the door. A dusty smell rushed out, but the boy paid no attention, walking inside. He skillfully pulled out a flashlight from near the entrance, and turned it on, his mouth issuing "Ah, ah" sounds to call out.
Amidst the shuffling sounds, an emaciated Golden Retriever trotted out from the darkness of the room. Behind it, two small dogs were playing and chasing each other, looking exactly like the one that had just slipped out of the door moments ago.
The boy took out the contents of the paper bag – a small pack of dog food, soft bread, saveloy, and a bottle of clean water. The Golden Retriever family happily enjoyed their meal.
The boy also carefully broke the sausages into small pieces for the little ones to easily eat. Lu Ah-Cang and the man stood at the door without entering.
"These dogs are..." Lu Ah-Cang asked the boy when he came out after the dogs had finished eating.
"I don't know where Grandpa Henri went. Bell has been waiting for him and refuses to go anywhere. If I don't come, she and her puppies will starve to death," the boy said earnestly in sign language. It was then Lu Ah-Cang noticed several bruises on the child's face, as well as a wound that had not yet healed.
She asked him how he got hurt. From the look of the injuries, it was clear they weren't self-inflicted. The boy subconsciously touched his face, smiling indifferently, "It's nothing, just some mischief from a few troublemakers at school."
"They bully you because you can't speak?" Lu Ah-Cang suddenly asked.
The boy fell silent for a moment, then looked up and stuck out his tongue at her, saying, "It's nothing. I have to go. If my parents find out I stole things from home to feed Bell's family, they'll beat me." He was about to leave after that, but suddenly noticed the two wild boar demons lying on the ground and couldn't help asking out of curiosity, "What happened to those two people?"
"Oh, they were too tired from walking, so they fell asleep. They'll wake up in a while. You should go now," the man patted the boy's head. "By the way, take this. From now on, you don't have to steal things from home to feed the dogs." He took out a wad of bills and handed it to the boy.
"Hurry home," Lu Ah-Cang crouched down, stroking the boy's youthful face. "Learn to protect yourself, don't let others bully you! If you're strong, your enemies will be weak."
The boy nodded as if he understood, glanced at the somewhat strange couple, and rode away on his bicycle.
"This kid should have a better life," Lu Ah-Cang felt a little sorry for the boy.
"He's a good kid, yet he's deaf and mute, and even gets bullied. God is so unfair, don't you think?" Lu Ah-Cang asked.
"If he becomes strong and stops being who he is now, he will definitely have a better life," Lu Ah-Cang said earnestly with the attitude of someone who has personally been through it.
The man shook his head without saying anything. The wild boar demons were still sound asleep, snoring in harmony. It was a relatively peaceful summer night so far.
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