Come Daybreak

Xue Yang (ii)

Before the receptionist knew it, she was already on her knees watching the back of the dangerous man disappearing as he ventured further into the brothel.

Left with no other choice, she could only grit her teeth and run back to her desk. She hastily picked up the phone and dialed a number, "We have a problem. Send security. There's an intruder."

Aware that his time was now limited, Feng Xinya slightly picked up his pace and proceeded to head to the back of the building where the basement was located.

When he arrived, he was met with the scene of disorder where there were two teenagers confronting a gang of giant and built men practically twice their size.

The foremost boy directly in the attack range of the thugs had short and fluffy, light ash brown hair and big, bright blue-green eyes framed by long and soft lashes as he glared vehemently at the larger men in front of him. His skin was a healthy light peachy color, letting Feng Xinya know this was probably the protagonist and his target as someone held captive for such a long time would not have such translucent and radiant skin. He also had the original Feng Xinya's memories of the boy to go by.

On the other hand, the boy a few feet behind him seemed more like a long-time captive with his sickly pale white skin that was practically sinking into his bones. His pale blonde hair was slightly overgrown, crusty, and messy so that they veiled his opaque green eyes, which weren't as bright and clear as the protagonist's. Despite that fact, they were still strangely captivating. His frail figure seemed as if he could be blown away with just a slight gust of the wind, yet there was an engraved air of elegance that surrounded him which could not be suppressed by his current condition.

Feng Xinya pulled from the original's memory the identity of the other boy. He was just a cannon fodder who, by the time the original had appeared to save the protagonist, had already died pushing the protagonist out of the way when one of the thugs had an outburst of violence after being provoked by said protagonist. In the end, the other boy was just a nameless character who died in order to provide time for the original to save the protagonist.

The boy wasn't dead yet, which made sense since Feng Xinya had arrived a few minutes faster than the original did. He didn't have the luxury to care either, as his time was limited if he wanted to smoothly rescue the protagonist.

A cold and unfeeling pair of hazel eyes met with a pair of calm, calculating pale green eyes.

No one aside from the nameless cannon fodder seemed to have noticed his presence as they were so immersed in their squabble. Even though his presence was known, the cannon fodder remained perceptively silent, his gaze holding an unspoken threat,

"If you leave me here, I will make it hard for you to leave unscathed."

He seemed to have guessed that Feng Xinya was not there for him, but only the other boy. It wasn't hard to guess, since he must have been held for years with no hope of getting out, while the protagonist was only there for a few days and someone was already there to take him out.

Feng Xinya retracted his gaze and directed it towards the large figure that was quickly heading in the direction of the protagonist with a sharp knife as he yelled in anger,

"You damn brat! If I don't teach you a lesson today, my last name isn't Shen!"

The protagonist quickly recoiled and tried to jump behind the other boy who was noticeably shorter and thinner than him due to malnutrition for a long period of time. He also shut his eyes tightly, awaiting the pain of being stabbed by the knife while the other boy who had inadvertently become his shield didn't even react in the slightest. He didn't blink, twitch, or cower as if the one who was going to be injured wasn't him.

The anticipated moment didn't come.

The sound of the air being sliced could be heard moments before the attacker fell to the floor lifeless, a nondescript and seemingly unremarkable black-coated tactical knife impaled into the side of his head; jutting unsightly from his right ear. The throw and kill were so quick that no blood was spilt.

"W-what the hell?"

"Who is it?!"

"You!"

By the time anyone realized what happened, Feng Xinya was already in front of the two boys. He quickly grabbed both of them by their slim waists and hoisted them up, carrying them both by his waist like two bags of rice before running out of the room through the way he came from.

Of course, he knew not to leave from the front entrance of the brothel since that receptionist most likely already had some form or security waiting for him. So, he kicked down a room's door, indifferent to the screams of the two naked prostitutes servicing the man on the table as well as that naked man's curses and profanities.

He ran through the room and quickly jumped out of the window backwards since they were only on the first floor anyway, shielding the glass shards from both boys as efficiently as possible and cushioning their fall as he landed on his back with them now on top of him. Then he speedily rolled to get back on his feet, heading back to the direction of his car.

It didn't take much time as he had planned which room to intrude on from the moment he passed it by on his way to the basement earlier and had long since determined the escape route.

Uncouthly throwing both of the boys in the back seat before jumping in himself, he ordered his driver, not wasting even a single breath and cherishing his words like gold,

"Drive, now! Home."