Deranged General

Loud laughter resounded from their table as Lai Mingjie almost choked himself with his self-ridiculing laughing. Director Cheng covered his face with both hands and hardly swiped his palms down. He lost it; his senior lost it!

"I will kill him! I swear these three remaining years wouldn't pass without me killing that bastard!" Lai Mingjie laughed out again, attracting the attention of the other peacefully drinking demons. It seemed that someone infuriated Emodao again—was fighting with this powerful man quite a sport for them?

"Senior, we should probably go home now." Director Cheng got up and tried to pull Lai Mingjie with him. This senior demon might be older than him for a thousand years, but he behaved like a child in every lifetime he had. This was the third life of Emodao that Louyan had seen, and he was so excited to pass away normally so he didn't have to meet him again in the future. Then again, he was bound to the Crimson City. He just needed Emodao not to recognize him again.

"Yeah, yeah, I need some fresh air now..." Lai Mingjie started having his hiccups after.

He walked funny and managed to make it up the stairs with the help of Director Cheng. The man then walked away when Director Cheng was paying for their drinks and destruction caused to the table and the cup. It was too late when the old man realized that Lai Mingjie was missing.

Along the dark alleys, Lai Mingjie was so sure he was taking the correct direction back to his unit. In fact, he was... but he was in no shape to walk on his own. Of course, around the high-class buildings and residences, bad apples tended to roam. Some of them were hoping to catch a big fish when they spotted Lai Mingjie waltzing into their territory. He was trying to walk normally, but his vision had gone cloudy. He was passing out in the next few minutes.

"Hey, look, what a good night gift. It's Lai Mingjie." One thug laughed out, attracting the attention of his rotten colleagues. The men surrounded Lai Mingjie, but the demon king decided that they weren't worth his remaining consciousness.

"Get out of my way, worthless humans." He didn't even stop, and he was walking towards the leader who had been tapping his metal bat against his hand. "You dare think you're even qualified to speak to me... me, the glorious King of the Eastern Hill..."

"What 'Eastern Hill'? Huh, this man had become delusional..." The leader raised his bat and stopped Lai Mingjie from advancing by pushing his bat on the demon's forehead. "Hey, dipshit, hand over your money to us! Also your clothes and phone! Everything on you!"

"Ah, since when did worms start talking?" Emodao grinned as he stared at the leader. His eyes glowed red as if he was the monster in such a dangerous night. The leader grew stricken with fear and panic. In his retreat, he swung the bat and hit Lai Mingjie across his face.

Whack! A loud sound accompanied his spin. He then flopped to the dirty ground and tasted blood in his mouth. Lai Mingjie couldn't help but sprawl on the floor. The pain woke him up a little, but it was a bad sign. Ah, was he going to get beaten up tonight? This demon king? Beaten up by mere mortals?

Well, he was not Emodao anymore. He was only a shell of his previous glory. The man moved to curl as he tried to shield himself from the kicks he received from these men. Seven men were kicking him all at the same time, and however he tried to keep his face from getting hit, he was too weak to even resist. Laughter echoed as the thugs found pleasure in kicking him around. Blood had already painted their shoes, and they didn't find it a reason to stop.

"That... looks fun."

A mellow voice echoed in the alley, and the seven men slowed down as they found the owner of the voice a little creepy. The leader squinted at the man walking towards them. He then proceeded to make a delinquent noise of an elongated hum before getting taken aback by the person. The man who stopped them... he looked like someone who walked right out of women's comic book. He resembled a rather charming prince.

"Hey, pretty boy. This isn't your chick flick. Go home." Another of the goons loomed his face against the prince that arrived. He then frowned at the unchanging expression of the man who decided to ignore him. The man continued staring at the leader. "Mister, leave my boss alone. You're not even worthy to touch a strand of his hair."

"Worthy? What's up with you behaving like fucking immortals?" The leader raised his bat again. "If you wanna save this piece of shit, come at me!"

Even though he said 'come at me', his goons attacked first. They were in the midst of brandishing whatever they had on them when the creepiest moment happened. The prince, who was brimming with innocence and charm, suddenly distorted his face with a wicked smile. A maniacal expression fit for people who had lost their sanity replaced his warm smile as soon as he whipped his hand up against the closest goon's face.

Who knew he was concealing a switchblade in his hand? He was right to intervene and save someone from getting beaten up, but it was too much to slice someone's face right out. He wasn't even remotely guilty with his action. As if it wasn't brutal enough to cut someone's face in half, he swung his fist and pounded on the man's face. The goon groaned in pain before losing consciousness from the pain and brunt force of the blow.

The rest of the goons attacked, but the prince only started laughing as he swung his hand even while dodging. Deep cuts appeared on the goon, and he wasn't holding back in hitting their wounds. The villains of the night cried and gave him appalled faces. Blood had already splattered on his clothes and face, but he continued to be relentless. The goons had already retreated, taking their colleagues with them.

All of a sudden, as if a switch, the prince looked down at himself and dropped his maniacal smile. He hid his switchblade and took off his jacket to wipe the blood from his face. He then went to Lai Mingjie who was only listening to their sounds. His eyes slithered to the side, and they only flickered as he was now sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"Director Lai, can you talk? I'm taking you to the hospital..." Xu Rouguang slowly and carefully got him to sit up, wiping hair and dirt off of Lai Mingjie's face.

"Guess you're still the maniac I knew..." The director's eyes flickered slowly, his lashes fluttering. He could feel Xu Rouguang's hand removing things on his face. He must have looked so pathetic in front of his sworn enemy right now. However, his eyes had fallen to a close, and only his sense of touch was active.

There was a sensation of a touch being used to clean his lips from dirt and blood. After a few strokes, something soft and warm laid flat on them. With the feeling of a breath on his face, Lai Mingjie tore his eyes open with the last of his energy.

How dare this deranged general kiss him of all things he could have done?