"Alright, I promise you." He could feel her reluctance to let him go, which surprised Shen Ruxu a little.
He hugged her gently and said in a soft voice, "I will come home."
Shen Ruxu had always been a bit unreliable.
When they were at the base, the two of them would often fight over things.
Rather than acting like an older brother, he was more like an overgrown child with an immature mind.
Being so foolish, he would definitely end up dying a miserable death.
Shen Yi reached out and, right in front of him, slipped a tracker the size of a fingernail onto his person, then mumbled:
"I'll wait for you."
...
Walking down the street, Shen Ruxu recalled how she looked right before he left.
The girl had stood at the door, gripping her clothes tightly as if holding back tears, looking utterly pitiful.
He had almost failed to walk out the door, tempted to just stay behind.
When he pushed the door open and walked in, Fang Li was already waiting for him. There was a glass of alcohol in front of him; he had already taken a few sips, and his face was slightly flushed.
Today, he looked unexpectedly sensitive and nervous.
"We just met earlier this month, and you're calling me out so soon?" Shen Ruxu sat down opposite him, draped his jacket over the back of the chair, and smiled.
"Yeah. Do you want a drink?" Fang Li asked.
Shen Ruxu glanced down at the glass, the amber liquid swaying under the light.
He blinked. "No thanks."
Fang Li didn't push it.
He looked down and poured himself another glass, took two sips, and rubbed his fingers back and forth along the rim.
Rather than drinking, it looked more like he was trying to suppress his nervousness.
Shen Ruxu tilted his head and looked at him.
Fang Li was different today. He was too quiet—so quiet that it didn't seem like him.
Usually, when they met, Fang Li always had a lot to say: things about school, his part-time job, his family, and those repetitive words of persuasion trying to get him to change his ways.
But today, he said nothing.
"I'm planning to leave this place," Fang Li suddenly spoke, his voice very low.
"Going to another city?" Shen Ruxu looked down, his fingers resting on the back of the chair.
"Yeah, and for some other reasons," Fang Li gave a noncommittal answer, then lowered his head, staring at the remaining alcohol in his glass.
"Shen Ruxu," the young man fell silent for a few seconds before suddenly saying, "We've known each other since we were fourteen, right?"
Shen Ruxu nodded gently. "Yes."
For three years, Fang Li had been one of the few friends he still contacted frequently.
"I tell you about so many things, but you never tell me about your past, your family, or your work."
They were called friends, but they weren't actually that close.
It was more like a superficial connection, as plain as water.
They could chat when they were bored, and Shen Ruxu would help him out when needed.
In the beginning, Fang Li had genuinely considered him a friend.
For all these years, he had been waiting for him to turn back, waiting for him to figure things out, waiting for him to step away from that dark path.
But Shen Ruxu never did.
"Do you want to hear about my work?" Shen Ruxu lowered his head. "But every time we talk about it, you get angry."
He was skilled in computer technology and moonlighted as an information broker. People from all walks of life would trade with him before making their moves.
Making money wasn't shameful, not to mention he didn't take money from the poor.
He didn't understand why Fang Li got so furious every time.
"You don't just sell information, you've done plenty of bad things too. It would be weirder if I didn't get angry." Due to his emotional fluctuations, Fang Li's face turned exceptionally red.
Shen Ruxu blinked and said lightly, "If you're referring to the casualties caused by the criminal activities we occasionally organize, then I'm sorry."
"But because of the nature of our work, we also have subordinates to feed and salaries to pay."
He was telling the truth.
He had subordinates to feed, wages to pay, and equipment to upgrade.
It wasn't just about him alone.
To Shen Ruxu, this was just a job.
Just like Fang Li serving plates at a restaurant or working the cash register at a convenience store—the content was different, but the nature was the same.
So he couldn't understand Fang Li.
And Fang Li couldn't understand him either.
Fang Li looked up.
The young man's eyes were red, whether from the alcohol or something else. "Have you ever thought about the consequences? How many people suffer and pay the price for what you do?"
"I know..."
Shen Ruxu drew out his words, "But I just don't feel anything about it. Sorry."
After doing all sorts of evil deeds, was he still expected to feel sorry for the casualties?
That would feel like a cat weeping for a mouse.
Fang Li was severely triggered by these words. He bit the corner of his mouth, his fingers trembling.
He put the glass down, the glass hitting the table with a crisp clink.
The atmosphere remained quiet for a long time, so long that just as Shen Ruxu wanted to say something to break the ice, a knife was suddenly brought out by Fang Li without any warning.
Perhaps it had been hidden in his sleeve beforehand, or maybe placed next to his chair. Shen Ruxu hadn't paid much attention.
He only felt a sudden coldness in his abdomen, followed by warm blood trickling down his clothes.
The pain arrived a step slower than the heat.
It wasn't very deep.
He looked down. Fang Li's hand was gripping the hilt of the knife, his fingers pale and bloodless. The knife had only been pushed in a little bit before stopping.
Fang Li's hand was shaking, trembling so much that the hilt wobbled.
Shen Ruxu felt a bit dazed.
He looked up at Fang Li's face.
That face was very close to him, close enough to clearly see the other's terrified expression.
"Fang Li," he called his name, very softly.
Fang Li let go, not daring to look at Shen Ruxu's expression.
His hand slipped off the hilt, stained with blood, smearing a long red streak across his own clothes.
"I'm sorry." He took a step back, then another, his back hitting the wall with a thud.
"I didn't want to. I didn't want to do this to you."
He simply hadn't had the heart to stab the knife in ruthlessly.
The tiny bit it went in was laughably shallow.
Rather than pain, Shen Ruxu's eyes were filled with a blank emptiness.
He looked down at the knife in his abdomen, then up at Fang Li pressed against the wall.
Fang Li's face was terrifyingly pale, even paler than his own. His lips were trembling, and his eye sockets were so red they looked like they were bleeding.
His legs went weak as he supported himself against the wall. He was exceptionally agitated, his voice rising until it nearly cracked: "Shen Ruxu, I warned you, I advised you so many times. Why couldn't you just be a good person?"
Shen Ruxu leaned against the back of his chair, his face also very pale. Since the wound was shallow, he simply pulled the knife out and pressed his hand over the bleeding spot.
Fang Li still had his hands braced against the wall.
"I'm sorry, they made me do this. They said as long as I did it, they'd give me lots and lots of money. But I couldn't bring myself to do it." He gripped the wall tightly, his words coming out in a jumbled mess. "I couldn't do it, Shen Ruxu. But I also don't want to see you anymore. Every time I see you, I feel incredibly useless. I... I didn't want to."
Fang Li's words were broken and intermittent.
He said they had investigated for a long time, deduced the locations of all his strongholds, set up an ambush, and that there were snipers outside along with a gunman. There was no way he could escape.
Shen Ruxu listened without speaking.
He just leaned against the chair. Blood slowly seeped through his fingers, staining his clothes a dark color, his face devoid of expression.
Fang Li couldn't bring himself to finish the job, helplessly watching as the other man began to walk outside.
Shen Ruxu knew there were people outside, and he also knew he wouldn't be able to escape.
However, he still did not want to die here.
Shen Ruxu had been warned many times by his older and younger brothers that he should be careful and stay vigilant against everyone around him.
But faced with the repeated invitations of a good friend.
He still came.
At the age of seventeen, a time of confusion and a lack of experience in socializing, he treated that meager sliver of goodwill as an anchor, stubbornly refusing to let go.
Shen Ruxu had been exceptionally slow-witted ever since he was a child.
If parents tell smart and perceptive children that hot water is dangerous, they will never touch it again.
Shen Ruxu was different. Even if his mother told him hot water was dangerous, he would still reach out to touch it, only learning his lesson after getting burned.
It was the same when he interacted with others.
He did not know how to treat a person well.
No matter what people said about him, he would not get angry. His emotions were incredibly hollow.
Only after suffering genuine harm would he slowly come to realize: Oh, so this actually hurts.
Shen Ruxu walked outside.
It was so cold.
The surroundings were exceptionally quiet, as if it had all been rehearsed in advance. No one else came by.
He heard a sound.
It was very faint, like something piercing through the air.
Before Shen Ruxu could even turn his head, a sudden heat struck the side of his neck. He collapsed to the ground, turned his head, and saw a blinding patch of red. He realized that he was about to die.
—I left Shen Yi behind.
This thought surfaced in his mind at the very end, when he was groggy and his thoughts were no longer clear.
The base was not in a safe location, and his companions were not good people either.
Shen Yi was so small.
Leaving her there, she could easily die.
His vision grew darker and darker, and his ears were ringing. His consciousness was dragged down bit by bit until he could not hear anything at all.
Perhaps right before his death, in some hidden corner of his heart that even he could no longer perceive, something was tugging at him.
It felt like indignation, but also like a reluctance to let go.
He thought, Shen Yi, what is Shen Yi going to do?
...She is still so young.
More updates to follow
