Hui Tian Ch122 [Extra]

Chapter 122

Met each other once.

Long, long ago.

“Give it back! That belongs to my parents!!”

A sudden roar erupted in a secluded alley. Immediately after, several gang members couldn’t hold back a nine-year-old boy, Bai Sheng, who struggled free like a furious little wolf, pouncing on the leader, a guy with yellow hair. Amid the chaos, a row of trash cans was knocked over with a clatter.

“What are you doing?!” “This little bastard is rebelling!” “Damn, do you want to die?!”

The gang members, who had been blocking the way to rob money, didn’t expect the child to resist so fiercely. Shocked and enraged, they rushed forward to beat him. But in the blink of an eye, Bai Sheng had pried open the yellow-haired guy’s hand and snatched back what had originally been around his neck—a black leather cord with two old plain gold rings threaded onto it.

“Kill him!” “Kill him!!”

Fists and shoes rained down on him. Bai Sheng held his head, staying silent, clutching the two rings so tightly that the veins on his hand bulged. It wasn’t until one of the gang members squatted down and forcefully tugged at the leather cord that he suddenly turned his head and, swift as lightning and without hesitation, bit down hard on the gang member’s arm. His sharp teeth pierced the flesh instantly.

“Aaahhh——” This bite was so vicious it seemed inhuman, with blood almost spurting out. The gang member screamed in agony. Amidst the panic, there was a sharp sound of flesh tearing, and Bai Sheng had torn off a piece of flesh from his arm!

“Who’ll kill whom?” Bai Sheng spat out the flesh, his eyes shining menacingly through the blood on his face, even carrying a chilling smile. “I asked, who’ll kill whom?!”

He headbutted the gang member in the stomach, sending him crashing into a trash can with a loud bang. The remaining gang members hurriedly rushed up, not expecting this nine-year-old child to fight back like a blood-soaked little demon. 

Amidst the storm of punches and kicks, he rolled on the ground, grabbing a beer bottle from the trash heap and smashing it on the gang member’s face with a loud crash. Blood sprayed as he flipped over and straddled the yellow-haired guy, fiercely digging his nails into the other’s eyeballs!

Amid the screams, roars, shrieks, and curses, the noise finally attracted attention, and footsteps hurriedly approached from the alley entrance.

“There!” “Found him!” “Stop!!” ——The Bai family’s bodyguards had finally arrived.

The gang members fled, and the bodyguards shot forward like arrows in pursuit. The yellow-haired leader struggled desperately to escape but couldn’t shake off Bai Sheng. In his fear, he felt the boy’s sharp nails digging deep into his eye sockets, with warm liquid constantly flowing down his face to the ground.

“Young Master! Is Young Master okay?!!”

“Hurry, hold him down!” “Don’t let them get away!!”

Some bodyguards tried to pull the crazed Bai Sheng away, but it was futile.

In those brief seconds, pain, fear, and darkness overwhelmed the yellow-haired guy. Amidst the rolling and screaming, he heard Bai Sheng’s voice in his ear, each word carrying immense resentment, like a malignant tumor:

“No one can take them away……” They will never leave me again.

.

“I threw a punch, then a kick, hum! hum! ha! hey! This and that and then that again, I beat that gang so badly that they were running in all directions, crying and wailing…”

Evening at the Bai family mansion. Little Bai Sheng, with a bandage on his head and his arm in a cast, demonstrated his moves, looking like a mighty general sweeping through thousands of enemies. The pair of plain gold wedding rings he had retrieved from the gang hung around his neck, glinting faintly with his movements.

“Bravo!” “Mighty!” “Young Master, you’re amazing!” The butler, along with a group of servants, cheered him on. Chairman Bai, laughing and crying at the same time, said, “It’s so late already; be careful with your hand! Hurry up and take Young Master back to his room to sleep!”

The nanny quickly coaxed and persuaded him. Bai Sheng, still full of energy, struck a pose and stylishly stepped down amidst thunderous applause, striding back to his room with his arm in a cast.

“…Today’s matter cannot end like this. I will investigate thoroughly, and none of those gang members will get away.” Chairman Bai’s low, anxious, and stern command came from a distance. “Also, fire all the bodyguards who were with Bai Sheng at school today and hire a new batch. From now on, I will personally oversee his trips to and from school…”

Click. 

The door was gently closed, and the bedroom fell into deep darkness, with a hint of moonlight filtering through the heavy curtains. 

The outline of a picture frame on the bedside table became faintly visible in the dark; the photo showed a family of three closely huddled together, the couple holding their young son in the middle, their eyes curved like crescent moons.

Bai Sheng sat quietly at the bedside, expressionless and motionless, his thick eyelashes drooping, like a small statue that had lost its warmth. 

After a long time, he silently took a breath, removed the leather cord from his neck, and held the two warm rings in his hand, clutching them tightly as if swearing, gripping so hard that the metal pressed into his palm bones.

Gone were the bravado and mightiness; loneliness and silence that did not match his age appeared on his childlike face. He gently stroked the laughing faces of his parents in the photo with his thumb, which was wrapped in a bandage, and softly placed the rings in front of the frame.

“I will protect you,” he whispered.

“I won’t let anyone take you away from me again.”

.

Long ago.

New York, late at night.

The deafening nightclub music was shut behind the door, and the alley was winding and dark, with faint drumbeats still coming from above.

Nineteen-year-old Bai Sheng, eyes closed and face flushed with a slight drunkenness, staggered with his weight fully on his classmate supporting him, hearing the others complain to each other.

“Is this really his first time drinking?” “I told you guys not to push him!” “What should we do? Go back to school?” “If we go back now, we’ll get caught, right?”

Bai Sheng, his head hanging low, didn’t make a sound, his mouth curving into a suppressed smile.

He was indeed drunk, but not to the point of being unconscious. Pretending to be this drunk was just because he wanted to return to the dormitory early and didn’t want to continue partying with Joseph and the others at the nightclub.

The alley behind the bar was cold and dark. The young men turned a corner and suddenly faced a group of gang members with tattoos, dyed hair, and cigarettes in their mouths. They looked like the local thugs of this area, staring at them intently, each holding some kind of weapon.

“W-what do you want?”

“Don’t come over!”

The university students didn’t have time to retreat in panic before their way was blocked from behind as well. Several gang members brandished switchblades and gestured threateningly, looking fierce and menacing: “Don’t talk nonsense; hand over your valuables! Watches, take them off!”

The group, all from upper-middle-class backgrounds, were instantly terrified and screamed in panic. Joseph, screaming and flailing like a headless chicken, almost ran into the knife behind him, but Bai Sheng grabbed him just in time: “Careful!”

Bai Sheng steadied himself against the wall, quickly surveying his surroundings. 

Joseph, this frail young man, was definitely useless, and another white male classmate was trembling all over. More importantly, there were two girls with them. On the opposite side, there were at least eight or nine thugs, probably armed with guns besides crowbars and switchblades. The only fortunate thing was that their goal was clear: they wanted money.

“It’s okay, it’s okay… Don’t get excited.” Bai Sheng, though slow due to his drunkenness, still spoke clearly, pushing the girls behind him with one hand and taking out all the cash from his wallet with the other. He then took off his expensive watch, saying, “Don’t hurt anyone; take it easy… we good?”

The gang members snatched the watch, shouting excitedly and signaling that they could leave.

Bai Sheng immediately gestured for the girls to leave quickly. At that moment, a black guy suddenly noticed a piece of leather cord peeking from Bai Sheng’s collar: “Wait! What’s that?”

Bai Sheng halted his steps, his expression changing slightly.

“Wow, gold rings,” the thug’s eyes gleamed with greed, reaching out to grab them without further ado: “Hand them over!”

Smack!

A crisp sound echoed as Bai Sheng firmly grasped the thug’s wrist.

Joseph was petrified, and the surrounding thugs were also momentarily stunned. Bai Sheng’s dark pupils stared straight into the thug’s eyes: “Let go, don’t touch it.”

“What did you say?” “Want to die, you brat?” “Hand over the gold! Hand it over!”

Amid the angry curses, several hands reached out simultaneously to tear the leather cord from Bai Sheng’s neck. Joseph was trembling too much to make a sound. At this tense moment, Bai Sheng’s forearm muscles tightened like stone, and he succinctly instructed Joseph with one word:

“Run.”

Joseph: “?!”

A crisp, bone-breaking sound was heard. Crack!

Bai Sheng snapped the thug’s arm, smoothly catching the fallen switchblade and stabbing it cleanly into the thug’s abdomen!

A scream erupted, startling everyone. The thugs had never expected this seemingly compliant Asian man to suddenly explode in violence. After a brief shock, they were enraged and swarmed him.

The narrow alley turned into a battleground, with everyone yelling and fighting. A black man at the front punched Bai Sheng in the ribs but didn’t have time to throw a second punch before Bai Sheng twisted his arm, dislocating his joint with a crack. The man screamed in pain and bent over, while someone else grabbed Bai Sheng from behind, who then threw him over his back and punched his face, breaking his nose with a crack, followed by shattering his jaw with a second punch, and driving his iron fist into the thug’s eye socket, causing a clear squelching sound!

The thug screamed in agony. In the chaos, someone got a knife and stabbed Bai Sheng in the shoulder, causing a fountain of blood.

“Murder! Murder!” Joseph trembled and screamed, scrambling away, “Help! Murder!”

Bai Sheng, half covered in blood, pulled out the knife from his shoulder and, without hesitation, stabbed it into the attacker’s ribs, twisting the blade before pulling it out, bringing a gush of blood and flesh with it.

So cold, so ruthless.

Blood streamed down from his forehead, past his high brow, with a glint of cold light in his deep eyes. It was like a long-suppressed beast had been awakened by the killing, roaring to the sky with its hideous fangs bared to the world.

“He… he’s just one person! Don’t be afraid!” The thugs were going crazy, “Don’t be afraid! Get him!”

In the dark, countless fists, feet, and knives swarmed towards him, but all the noise and shouts blended into a silent background, turning into a huge void.

It was as if he had lost the sense of pain, not even noticing the blood pouring out. Only rage and hatred consumed everything.

Bai Sheng grabbed a thug’s hair, ignoring his own fingers’ bones showing, and smashed the thug’s head against the wall, sending pieces of bricks and brain fluid flying. A companion went mad, hitting Bai Sheng’s back with a steel pipe. Amidst the muffled sounds, Bai Sheng turned around, grabbed the pipe, and smashed it into the thug’s eye, followed by a powerful kick that sent him flying several meters, knocking down three or four others.

He had nothing left in this world.

His close family was torn apart; no one would lend a helping hand, and no one would accompany him further.

But it didn’t matter.

He was enough on his own.

With the sharp sound of a knife stabbing into flesh, Bai Sheng felt a chill and then warmth in his ribs. Blood spurted out!

“Kill him! Kill him!”

This stab had surely reached his abdomen, which would have dropped anyone else instantly, but Bai Sheng, trained in boxing since childhood, had muscle strength and resistance beyond ordinary people. Without slowing down due to the pain, he grabbed the one who stabbed him, pulled him forward, and headbutted his nose. As the man screamed and fell, several more thugs attacked. In the blink of an eye, the string around Bai Sheng’s neck broke, sending two rings flying!

They drew an arc in the air, and Bai Sheng’s pupils shrank instantly.

Time suddenly froze, and everything moved in slow motion, until a hand reached out and caught the string with the rings.

Several thugs shouted simultaneously, “Who’s there?” “Stop!”

Following Bai Sheng’s gaze, under the streetlight at the alley entrance stood a man in black, seemingly surprised to see the scene. He looked at the rings in his hand. His silhouette was slim, and though his face was unclear, a glance showed he was a young Asian with a very calm demeanor, probably a student from a nearby university.

“—Run!” Bai Sheng shouted, “Take my stuff and run; get help!!”

The shout snapped everyone out of it. One bloodied thug went crazy, pulled a homemade gun from his pocket, and pointed it at the young man, “Give me the stuff! Give me the money! Shut up and get lost!!”

The situation changed in an instant. The young man raised his eyes, his pupils reflecting the dark muzzle.

Bai Sheng, whose vision was mostly obscured by blood, didn’t see the young man frown slightly, with a subtle expression in his eyes.

“Didn’t you hear me?! Hand it over; give me the money! You son of a b—”

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

The young man raised his hand, instantly catching the trigger with his middle finger. With a precise flick of his index finger, the magazine popped out and landed smoothly in his palm. This series of actions was faster than lightning. Before the thug’s curse was finished, the young man rotated the gun, using the muzzle as a pivot, and struck the thug’s elbow with his palm, causing the gun to fly out of his hand!

“Ah—”

The thug screamed as his arm went numb, losing his balance and falling backward. At the same time, with a crisp snap, the young man caught the gun in mid-air, skillfully reloaded the magazine, pulled the slide, and chambered a round. Bang!!

The young man fired a shot into the sky, making the sound like a thunderclap, causing all the thugs around to pale in terror.

“Let him go and get out.” The young man pointed the gun at them, his voice calm and authoritative, “Right now.”

The thugs, frightened, got up. The one with tattooed arms stammered, “Which gang are you from? Do you know this area is ours—”

The young man’s response was to pull the trigger.

Bang!

The bullet whizzed past, grazing the tattooed thug’s ear. He screamed in fright, and no one dared to linger any longer. They all scrambled out of the alley, cursing as they fled into the night.

With a thud, Bai Sheng leaned exhausted against the wall, sliding heavily to the ground.

Only then did the intense pain from internal injuries and broken bones return to his senses. He clutched his rib wound, blood seeping rapidly through his fingers, as he heard distant sirens from several blocks away. The police Joseph had called were finally arriving.

The young man casually discarded the gun and walked over, stopping to look down at Bai Sheng.

Heavy blood loss blurred Bai Sheng’s vision. He struggled to lift his head, barely making out the young man’s outline against the light. Then he heard him speak in Chinese:

“Are you alright?”

Bai Sheng tried to speak, but a rush of blood choked him, rendering him unable to make a sound. After a few attempts, he finally managed to force out a few words:

“…Give me back my stuff.”

“You’re bleeding.”

Bai Sheng repeated, “Give me back my stuff.”

The beast-like, raspy breathing echoed in the back alley. After a while, the young man looked away, glancing at the two old wedding rings in his hand, his eyes passing over the scratches and the inscriptions inside the metal.

He tossed them back and said, “It’s not worth it.”

“Don’t sacrifice your life for something left by the deceased.”

Bai Sheng grabbed the rings, feeling their hardness in his palm.

Leaning his head against the brick wall, he looked up at the young man, his bloodied, handsome face breaking into a tired smile, “But these are the last things I have in this life… I won’t give them to anyone.”

In the distance, New York’s nightlife glittered, while the alley remained cold and desolate, littered with chaos. The night wind carried the smell of blood and rust. The young man sighed silently.

Then he knelt down, removed his coat, and pressed it firmly against Bai Sheng’s abdominal wound, skillfully and decisively stopping the bleeding. As he moved, Bai Sheng caught a faint, pleasant scent from his neck.

It was a fleeting detail—the car lights flashing past, illuminating the young man’s lowered eyelashes.

“The police are here. I can’t stay to deal with the aftermath. You’ll have to handle it yourself.”

But as he tried to stand, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by Bai Sheng:

“Are you a student from around here?”

“…”

“What’s your name? How can I find you later?”

The young man did not answer, gently but firmly pulling his wrist free.

“Life is full of disappointments, but you’ll meet more people, have more experiences, and form more connections with this world. Don’t make any hasty conclusions now.”

He stood up, his tone calm and gentle, “Goodbye.”

Red and blue police lights approached from a distance.

The screech of brakes sounded one after another, stretchers were unloaded, and the noise of police radios mixed with the footsteps of medical personnel. The blue and white police tape cordoned off the alley, and the voices of Joseph and his friends crying tears of joy could be heard from the crowd.

Lying on the stretcher, Bai Sheng kept his head turned, his blood-covered vision looking into the distance. The young man’s figure was walking into the dark alley, gradually disappearing into the dim lights.

He left without a trace.

.

Two months later.

University tennis court.

—Pa! The yellow ball bounced off the line, ending the match with a beautiful ACE.

The audience in the front rows stood up and applauded. Bai Sheng grabbed a towel to wipe his sweat, took the initiative to shake hands with his defeated opponent, and returned to the stands to pack up his racket. The habits formed over the past two months became instinctive. As he drank water, he subconsciously scanned the crowd but still did not see that figure.

An indescribable sense of regret passed through his heart, fleeting and almost imperceptible.

“Hey, is your body alright?” A friend came over and patted Bai Sheng’s back, “Why do you keep coming to our school to play tennis recently? Got nothing better to do?”

Bai Sheng shook his head with a smile, put the water bottle in his bag, and his fingers touched the soft fabric inside. It was the black jacket the young man had thrown to him that night before he left, neatly folded, the bloodstains washed clean, and the faint scent on the collar had disappeared. Even if he sniffed carefully, he could no longer find a trace of that fleeting scent.

“…By the way.”

“What?”

Bai Sheng hesitated for a moment before saying, “There might be someone at your school; I don’t know if you’ve seen him. He’s also an international student; he’s about this tall, looks slim, and doesn’t talk much…”

His friend was puzzled, “What kind of description is that? What’s his name? Where’s he from?”

Bai Sheng was at a loss for words.

“Where did you meet him? There aren’t many Chinese students at our school; if you describe him, maybe I know him.” His friend hooked an arm around his shoulder, actively offering suggestions, “Or can you describe his appearance? His accent?”

—The streetlamp’s backlight illuminated the filthy and chaotic alley. That figure stood in the pool of blood, the light and shadow outlining a pale and indifferent jawline, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t clearly see that impassive face.

“I don’t know,” Bai Sheng murmured.

He closed his eyes and took a long breath, the sigh fading away in the wind.

“It feels like… just a dream.”

Meanwhile, in a distant research building.

In a high-up office.

Shen Zhuo stood by the window, the glass reflecting his pale face, his dark pupils gazing at the tennis court not far away. He watched until the player he was focused on leaped high, ending the match with a fierce and decisive ACE. The front-row audience stood up and applauded. The victor walked off the court to pack up and drink water, exchanged a few words with friends, then slung his bag over his shoulder and left the court alone.

—Months ago, the wounded and cornered beast in that dark alley had quietly vanished, leaving no trace on the outside. Shen Zhuo looked away.

“Professor Shen also watches tennis team matches?” An assistant’s enthusiastic voice came from behind, “Our school’s tennis program is famous; I’ve already got tickets for next month’s university league… Ah, that student who won just now isn’t from our team, is he? Huh? He looks unfamiliar.”

Shen Zhuo turned from the window, closed his laptop, and put it in his briefcase.

“This office is a bit noisy,” he said.

Noisy?

The lead of the genetics and evolution project and HRG director, Professor Shen, said his office was noisy?!

Shen Zhuo carried his computer out of the office, and the assistant jolted in surprise, hastily chasing after him while gesturing animatedly, “Should I ask the school to give us a different office? How about the big suite on the top floor of the biology building? Can I use the funds to buy a new sofa? I also want to buy a coffee machine and maybe an oven for us… Professor, wait for me! Professor Shen!”

…

The afternoon sky was clear, with sunlight streaming through the treetops. The summer wind, carrying the scent of earth, howled up into the sky.

Bai Sheng paused in front of the car door, casually tossing and catching the leather cord, watching the pair of plain gold rings rest heavily in his palm.

“…Life is full of disappointments, and in the future, you will meet more people, have more experiences, and form more connections with the world… So don’t make hasty conclusions now.

… Is it hasty conclusions?

Bai Sheng chuckled wryly, putting the rings back around his neck and tucking them under his collar. Perhaps there are people in this world whom you can only meet once, making a grand entrance and leaving without a trace, ultimately just a fleeting moment in a dream.

They probably won’t meet again.

The warm wind from the distant Atlantic Ocean swept through the strait, enveloping the land and bringing a hidden, youthful bitterness, taking away Bai Sheng’s hasty summer of nineteen years old.

Time flies, the wind howls, and light and shadow flow like water.

Eight years later, on the other side of the ocean. Shenhai.

“…The conflict between humans and evolutionists has never ended well, and the sudden evolution’s cost falling on every civilian is a disaster…

　

“But I only follow you, Supervisor Shen. I was like this when I first saw you in the newspaper.”

Under the resplendent hotel lights, Bai Sheng blocked the entrance to the lobby, arms crossed, smiling as he looked at the cold-faced  Chief Supervisor of Shenhai City:

“Following you has always been my lifelong dream.”

In the lobby behind, smoke lingered, and inspectors moved back and forth. The bloodstains of those evolutionists who were illegally trading evolution sources still remained in the mess.

At such a close distance, Shen Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly.

The powerful, invincible young S-class evolutionist in front of him subtly overlapped with a desperate, trapped figure in a dark alley many years ago.

The signs were there.

But that was really too long ago.

The flash of memory was like a fleeting light, instantly buried in the vast, deep sea, impossible to capture again.

“No need, Mr. Bai,” Shen Zhou replied calmly. “Please don’t pry into my personal affairs in the future.”

The two brushed past each other, and Shen Zhou walked towards the elevator. Bai Sheng turned to look back.

The bustling, silent lights of Shenhai City’s Chief Supervisor walked away into the distance, a faint, familiar scent from his uniform’s collar lingering briefly, reminiscent of wiping the dust from a mirror, causing a sudden tremor in the depths of memory.

Bai Sheng was stunned.

…It couldn’t be.

He thought instinctively.

The dazzling lights and shadows split into two different worlds, and the two of them moved farther apart at the boundary of brilliance and obscurity—

The wind howled through the hidden hollows of the soul, like tides surging in, engulfing years of time. 

No one knew that, as the years were gone.

They had once met each other.

________________

Author’s note:

Extra story ends

This month, the physical book of this novel will be available for pre-order, including an exclusive extra story for the publication. Although it’s written for the extra story, I still tried to include some fluffy moments for the characters, haha. I hope the editor keeps as many fluffy moments as possible.

Jinjiang has launched a trial version of paragraph locking. I’ve decided to give it one last try, striving to unlock as many old chapters as possible.

Here’s a joke: The author credibility score on Jinjiang is linked to signing contracts, updating, keeping promises, and article locking, among other factors. Because of too many locked old articles, one negative score dragged everything down, and my author credibility score is still zero, haha.

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