Chapter 272 - 264: Villain

Chapter 272: Chapter 264: Villain

The sound of the door closing made Chen Qingyuan’s heart jump. He subconsciously took two steps back, only to bump into two hulking giants whose heads nearly touched the ceiling.

Chen Qingyuan’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Forcing down the panic in his heart, he looked past the spacious office toward the handsome young man sitting behind the large desk, leisurely sipping his coffee.

"Fu Lingjun."

He forced himself to appear calm. "What are you trying to do?"

Fu Juemin leisurely set down his coffee cup. His long fingers picked up a golden Parker fountain pen from the desk and began to spin it slowly between them.

He sighed, his tone as light as if he were discussing the weather. "I’m just a brute. Besides killing... what else can I do?"

"You dare touch me?!"

The words almost flew out of Chen Qingyuan’s mouth, but he suddenly recalled everything the man across from him had done recently. The retort died on his lips, and he swallowed it back down.

His face tightened. His gaze swept over the beautiful, trembling woman standing beside Fu Juemin, and after a long moment, he finally managed to force out, "Why... why did you come looking for me?"

Fu Juemin continued to spin the pen, slowly leaning back in his chair, which let out a soft creak.

He tilted his head and smiled at Chen Qingyuan. "Can’t I have come here... simply to kill you?"

Chen Qingyuan’s expression froze. He then saw the beautiful woman he so dearly longed for, after Fu Juemin had leaned back, begin to tremble as she reached out and started massaging Fu Juemin’s shoulders.

An immense sense of humiliation rose up in Chen Qingyuan.

’Yingqiu, Yingqiu must have been forced into this by that monster!’

Chen Qingyuan forced himself to look away, finally regaining a sliver of his composure.

He took a shallow breath, looked Fu Juemin directly in the eye, and said in a low voice, "If you only wanted my life, you could have made your move when I walked in."

"You must have another reason for seeking me out."

"Young Master Wen is as clever as they say."

Fu Juemin put the pen down and began to applaud softly, his face full of admiration. "Let’s play a little game first."

As he spoke, Fu Juemin bent down and pulled an exquisitely crafted silver pistol from under the large desk, placing it on the tabletop.

The gun was Chen Qingyuan’s. He kept it hidden in a secret compartment in the bottom-left drawer of his desk. Only he knew about it, and he had no idea how Fu Juemin had found it.

Of course, now was not the time to dwell on that question.

"If Young Master Wen takes this gun and kills the woman beside me..."

"...then we can pretend today never happened. From now on, I won’t come looking for you again."

Fu Juemin said slowly.

As he spoke, the woman massaging his shoulders froze.

In the next second, all the color drained from the woman’s face. She staggered two steps back, shaking her head frantically. Her hands flew to her mouth as silent tears streamed down her cheeks like a broken dam.

Fu Juemin finished explaining the rules, noticed the woman’s state, and immediately stood up.

"Your name is Jiang Yingqiu, correct?"

He pulled a handkerchief from his suit jacket pocket and, with a look of pity, gently wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"I hear you are Young Master Wen’s most beloved woman. Since he loves you so much, you wouldn’t mind dying for him, would you?"

The woman shook her head desperately. She was born exceptionally beautiful; otherwise, she would never have so thoroughly captivated the ever-arrogant Chen Qingyuan.

Now, wrapped in thick helplessness and fear, she looked all the more pitiably beautiful.

The woman instinctively turned her gaze to Chen Qingyuan.

Chen Qingyuan met her tear-filled eyes, and his heart felt as if it had been viciously seized.

A thought instantly exploded in his mind.

"Fine!"

He practically roared the word. Before the sound even faded, he was already lunging for the desk—

’If I can just get the gun, if I can get it in my hands, I can aim it at Fu Juemin! I can force him to let us go! Even if I die here, I have to get Yingqiu out safely!’

Unfortunately, Chen Qingyuan didn’t see that the moment he uttered that single word, "Fine," Jiang Yingqiu, who was slumped on the floor not far away, froze completely as if struck by lightning.

She stared blankly at Chen Qingyuan’s lunge for the gun. In her eyes, something seemed to be rapidly cooling, crumbling....

Chen Qingyuan’s hand was only an inch from the gun—

—when another hand pressed down on it firmly.

"I’ve suddenly changed my mind."

A voice sounded above his head.

Chen Qingyuan snapped his head up to see Fu Juemin looking at him with a playful expression.

Then, with a light flick of his hand, the pistol that had been just an inch from Chen Qingyuan shot away from him, sliding swiftly across the desk to stop in front of Fu Juemin.

Fu Juemin expertly racked the slide to chamber a round, then casually shoved the gun into Jiang Yingqiu’s hands.

"I’ve decided to give this pretty young lady a chance first."

Fu Juemin smiled and sat back down in his chair, pushing it back to give himself a better view. "The rules are the same."

Chen Qingyuan was stunned.

But before he could recover from this sudden turn of events, he saw the woman who had just been crying helplessly on the floor suddenly rise to her feet as if she were a different person.

She raised the gun and aimed it at him.

Those eyes, which he had kissed countless times, now held only indifference and resentment.

Panic seized Chen Qingyuan. He finally realized where he had gone wrong and desperately tried to explain, "No, Yingqiu, you—"

But before he could finish, four large hands shot out from behind him, clamping down hard over his mouth and pinning his limbs.

In an instant, he was like an animal pinned to a cutting board—unable to move or speak, only able to make desperate, muffled sounds.

"BANG—!"

The gunshot tore through the clamor of the newspaper’s main hall.

Nearly half the people in the building stopped what they were doing, looking blankly toward Chen Qingyuan’s office.

Before long, the office door opened.

A pale, beautiful woman walked out quickly.

"Miss Jiang..."

Someone started to approach and ask a question, but the woman acted as if she heard nothing, leaving the building quickly without a backward glance.

「Meanwhile, inside the office.」

The four large hands holding Chen Qingyuan down had long since let go. He sat slumped on the floor in a daze, staring down at the crimson stain slowly spreading across his thigh.

He wasn’t dead.

But Jiang Yingqiu’s shot felt as if it had struck him right in the chest.

His heart had died the moment she’d so resolutely chosen to pull the trigger.

"Thank you, Young Master Wen, for helping me pass a boring afternoon."

Fu Juemin rose from behind the large desk and ambled over with a smile.

Chen Qingyuan looked up, his eyes red-rimmed as he stared fixedly at him. He spat out through clenched teeth, word by word, "You... demon!"

Fu Juemin looked down at him, that faint, ghost of a smile still playing on his lips.

He bent down, his tone as casual as if he were mentioning a trivial matter. "I’m looking for Luo Chengying, but I have no idea where he’s hiding. I can’t seem to find him anywhere."

"Could I trouble Young Master Wen to pass on a message for me? I’ll be waiting for him at the Xianlido for the next two days. If he has time... he can drop by for a visit."

After speaking, Fu Juemin walked unhurriedly toward the office door.

Chen Qingyuan stared daggers at his retreating back, the hatred in his eyes practically overflowing.

But just as he was about to reach the door, the figure suddenly stopped, turned around, and gave him a brilliant smile.

"Almost forgot... there’s one more thing."

Chen Qingyuan froze.

A moment later, everyone in the entire Xinshen newspaper building heard a bloodcurdling scream!

Shortly after, the door to Chen Qingyuan’s office was violently thrown open.

A figure covered in blood stumbled out.

When the others got a clear look at his horrific state, many immediately covered their mouths in shock!

Chen Qingyuan was holding up his arms. But both of his hands were gone, as if they had been forcibly snapped off at the wrist, leaving only the stark white stumps of bone. Blood gushed from the wounds like fountains, splattering the floor where he staggered.

He had practically gone mad, with none of his usual dapper, gentlemanly air. His eyes were unfocused, and he just kept repeating the same words over and over: "Help me contact Chengying...

Quick, help me contact Luo Chengying!

I want Fu Lingjun dead... I WANT HIM DEAD! AAAAAHHH!!..."

* * *

「At the same time, in an alley behind the Xinshen newspaper office.」

Fu Juemin was squatting on the ground, using a randomly picked-up stick to tease a few stray dogs that had been drawn by the thick scent of blood. He occasionally made "TSK TSK TSK" sounds with his mouth.

"...The Shenghai offices of several newspapers, including the Da Xin and the Xin Republic, have just been burned down by our men."

"Unfortunately, Chen Huaijin wasn’t at his office today... Should we pay a visit to the Chen Mansion tonight?"

Big Cat reported, his expression blank.

"Forget it."

Fu Juemin tossed the stick aside, dusted off his hands, and slowly stood up. "That old fox Chen Huaijin is a master of self-preservation. He’s probably already on a train out of Shenghai by now..."

"Let him go. It doesn’t matter whether he lives or dies."

Big Cat nodded silently.

Fu Juemin stood where he was and looked up at the narrow strip of sky overhead. Light filtered down, but it couldn’t penetrate the dark, cramped alley.

From here, the sounds of chaos and commotion from within the Xinshen newspaper building could be faintly heard...

After an unknown amount of time, Fu Juemin suddenly spoke. "Big Cat, do you think I’m a bad person?"

Big Cat was silent for a moment.

"Yes."

Big Cat answered, then paused before adding, "But in this world... good people don’t live long."

Hearing this, Fu Juemin couldn’t help but laugh.

At that moment, he stood in the dark, cramped, and filthy alley, yet his eyes were as clear as the sky outside it.

He stepped past the stray dogs fighting over the severed hands and ambled toward the light at the alley’s entrance, speaking softly as he walked.

"Bad people don’t live long either..."