Chapter 34 by ryuxenji
After paying off the bill, Liang Ling-Chen was very subdued. When Yun Duo thanked him, he merely responded with a soft 'hmm'. He looked at her, lips moving slightly, but said nothing in the end.
Now wasn't the right time and place. His younger cousin was still staring watchfully from the side ...
When he went to retrieve the car, Tang Yi-Bai said, "Cousin, let me send Yun Duo back. You still have work tomorrow. Have an early rest."
"It's fine." Liang Ling-Chen shook his head and looked towards Yun Duo, a glimmer of anticipation in his gaze.
However, Yun Duo also shook her head. "You don't have to trouble yourself, big brother Ling-Chen. We'll take a taxi back."
We.
Liang Ling-Chen wanted to say something more, but Tang Yi-Bai had already begun shepherding Yun Duo away by her shoulders. As they walked away, he said, "Okay, that's all. Bye, Cousin!"
In a comparison of strength, Yun Duo was just like a little wooden puppet before Tang Yi-Bai. She could only go where he wanted her to go, and so she had no choice but to move towards the road. As she walked away, she waved back at Liang Ling-Chen in farewell.
Liang Ling-Chen was left standing where he stood. Looking at their overlapping silhouettes, he could only sigh helplessly.
If a girl did not want to trouble a man, it was not always a good thing.
********
As the saying goes, . If one hails many taxies, it was inevitable to meet one or two unreliable drivers. The driver Yun Duo encountered today was one such unreliable driver. Most frighteningly, he had a facade of being reliable; it was only at the end, after he had twisted and turned to god-knows-where, that he smacked his palm onto his steering wheel helplessly and admitted, "Sorry, I'm lost."
Tang Yi-Bai had been talking with Yun Duo and had not been paying attention to the driver's route. Now, hearing the driver's words, he asked, "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"
Yun Duo was equally taken aback. "Don't you have a GPS?"
"No."
He did not know the way, and he had no GPS, yet he remained so calm. This gentleman's confidence was truly indestructible ... Yun Duo cast a helpless glance at Tang Yi-Bai.
Tang Yi-Bai looked out the window and said, "Forget it. We're not too far off. Let's just get off here."
Just like that, they randomly got out of the taxi about 1 kilometre away from home. Tang Yi-Bai was very familiar with the nearby surroundings. He led Yun Duo into an alley.
After walking for a while, Yun Duo felt that something wasn't right. There was no one in the alley, and there were no lights in the houses around. The entire alleyway was empty, dark and gloomy, and eerily silent. Walking through the alley, any sound whatsoever was amplified — it was as if they would soon startle awake the spirits lying dormant in the area.
The street lamps were completely busted; the only illumination was the natural moonlight. The moon was very round tonight, with fuzzy edges, and it stared at them like a giant eye.
Yun Duo's mind was gradually winding up, becoming tenser and tenser, even her breathing had become fainter and shallower. She tugged gently on the corner of Tang Yi-Bai's sleeve. "You aren't doing this on purpose, right?"
"Doing what?"
Yun Duo looked around and grumbled, "It's so dark here."
Tang Yi-Bai was amused. "You're afraid of the dark?"
"No," Yun Duo denied, and then explained, "It just feels strange. Why isn't there anyone in this alley?"
"There used to be," said Tang Yi-Bai softly. His voice was light and airy, as if caught by some errant thought.
Yun Duo's heart stuttered. "Why isn't there anyone now?"
"Some strange things kept happening. Some ... unexplainable things that could not be resisted by human power. Later on, everyone here disappeared overnight."
"Ah!" Yun Duo yelled out in fright.
"What?" Tang Yi-Bai looked at her with a half-smile.
She asked in a trembling voice, "W-Why did they disappear?"
"Because of the demolition planned, they all moved away."
"..."
She would never have guessed the truth to the story — Yun Duo felt that she had wasted her bout of cold sweat. She was rather indignant, glaring at him as she gripped his arm. "Are you crazy?!"
Her eyes were like stars beneath the moonlight, and her cheeks were puffed up like snowballs out of anger. Tang Yi-Bai found it rather funny, and found himself itching to pinch her face,
He suddenly said to her, "What's that dark shadow hovering behind you?"
Yun Duo sneered, "I'm an idiot pig if I still believe you." She turned as she spoke, but her eyes still drifted unconsciously towards the spot he mentioned.
This one look scared her out of her wits — there really was a moving shadow there!
In the dim light, that corner was against the light, out of the glow of the moonlight, which was why that shadow seemed almost integrated with the wall. And now, it was coming out ...
Oh, not it. He.
It was a person, a man.
His hair was long and wild, covering his forehead. He was wearing an old short-sleeved singlet, which was printed with an advertisement for some beer manufacturer. White hair and weathered dark blue shorts, and a pair of cloth shoes that were so old that his toes were exposed.
This raggedy set of clothes made him look like a scavenger.
For someone to appear so suddenly in a dark and secluded alley ... anyone who encounters such a thing would be frightened. As the man ambled towards them, Yun Duo did not know how to react. She moved a little to the side, thinking that he might just be a pedestrian. She would just let him pass by and everything would be fine.
Tang Yi-Bai suddenly pulled Yun Duo behind himself, staring warily at the man.
When the man finally came closer to them, Yun Duo saw his face. Her mind went 'boom' as her heart rate soared and her limbs stiffened.
It was him, that fugitive murderer! The district public security bureau had put up wanted posters all over trying to arrest him and Lin Zi had worriedly shown her the poster several times, so she had a very deep impression of it. She could already recite the entire contents of the poster from memory.
This fugitive was a local, and he knew how to fight. He had already killed 6 people and gravely injured another, with one of the deceased victims being a policeman.
Right then, the murderous criminal appeared before Yun Duo, causing her face to drain of all colour. She was so frightened that she forgot how to react.
Tang Yi-Bai suddenly gave her a hard shove and roared, "Run!"
Almost instinctively, Yun Duo ran towards the mouth of the alley. But she had only taken several steps when she suddenly realised something. Once she left, what would happen to Tang Yi-Bai?
She stopped and turned to look for him.
That insane bloodthirsty murderer had already pounced on Tang Yi-Bai and the two were now fighting. Tang Yi-Bai was bare-handed, while the murderer now had a sharp knife in his hand!
Tang Yi-Bai very rarely fought with other people; he basically had no combat experience. Luckily, he was tall, strong, and he had great reflexes. He had quickly grabbed hold of the other man's wrist, the one of the hand holding onto the knife, so the other was unable to harm him. The two of them were deadlocked, and then the murderer suddenly jerked his knee upwards, smashing it into Tang Yi-Bai's abdomen.
Tang Yi-Bai grunted in pain, but the strength in his hands did not lessen at all, still gripping the other's wrist in a death grip. Tang Yi-Bai saw Yun Duo stopping from the corner of his eye, and he said urgently, "Run quickly! Get away!"
The murderer was anxious to finish off Tang Yi-Bai, and he abruptly became desperate and changed strategies. He let go of the knife and threw his body at Tang Yi-Bai. Tang Yi-Bai was taken off-guard and was knocked off-balance, stumbling two steps back. The murderer then swiftly picked the knife up again and lunged once more towards Tang Yi-Bai.
One, Tang Yi-Bai was inexperienced, and two, he had no weapon, so he was immediately at a disadvantage. He looked towards the mouth of the alley and saw that Yun Duo was no longer there, so he breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
The murderer raised the knife and stabbed at Tang Yi-Bai. In his distraction, he did not react in time. When he noticed the cold glint of the knife, cold sweat broke out all over his body and he quickly moved to dodge.
But the murderer's movements suddenly halted — he became frozen in place, his arm locked in that stabbing motion, as if he had been hit at a critical acupoint. After a pause, his grip suddenly released and the knife to the ground with a clang.
And then, he toppled over as well.
As he fell, Yun Duo's slender figure appeared before Tang Yi-Bai's eyes. She had an angular concrete block in her hand, and there was some blood on one of the edges. Her face was white with fright, devoid of all colour.
Seeing that Tang Yi-Bai was safe and unharmed, she seemed to lose all strength. The concrete block slid out of her hand and fell heavily to the ground.
She staggered backwards, and Tang Yi-Bai was quick to rush up and support her. Her hands were icy cold, no hint of warmth left in them, and her face was still as white as a sheet. Her initially bright and shimmering eyes were as dead as dust. Seeing her like this, Tang Yi-Bai inexplicably felt his heart clench. It ached, and there was some sour-tinged sadness as well. He immediately pulled her into his arms.
Out of extreme fright, her body was limp. He did not dare to use too much strength — he only supported her waist with one hand, while the other hand rubbed her back gently. He said softly, "Okay, everything's fine now."
Yun Duo did not say anything. She let him hold her, her face buried in his chest. Tang Yi-Bai could feel her breath on his chest. Even through the single layer of his T-shirt, the slight warmth of her breath seeped through to the skin of his chest, and then penetrated beyond the skin into his heart. He stroked her little head and did not hold back his praise. "Yun Duo, you're amazing. You saved me."
Yun Duo still remained silent. She leaned softly against his chest, and then she suddenly raised her arms and hugged him.