Chapter 1.17

Warning! Overly explicit TORTURE(kind of) scene that made me change the rating of the novel.

Ling Xia burst through the front doors, running out of the building into the warm, clear air. His eyes moved about, searching for any suspicious figures in the area, and light from the full moon aided him, making a certain person running away very apparent.

Ling Xia sprinted after him, Yang Lizhen hot on his heels. They didn't seem to be getting any closer though, the person seemed to be able to run as fast as Ling Xia and Yang Lizhen even though the two had trained their bodies, and Ling Xia was an athlete.

The only other person Ling Xia knew that could match up with him was V, he even taught Ling Xia some new moves, but there was no way he was here.

The figure continued running through the large parking lot, dodging between cars and trying to lose his pursuers. Ling Xia almost lost sight of him for a second before seeing him slip in between two cars. He lunged toward him, catching the hem of the figure's shirt, but before he could tighten his grip on it, it slipped through his fingers.

Luckily, Yang Lizhen was on the other side of the car, waiting for the figure to come out. The figure noticed him first, and threw a punch at his face, successfully breaking Yang Lizhen's glasses.

A plastic lens broke, and fragments of it stabbed into Yang Lizhen's face. Small lines of bright red blood trickled down his face, and Yang Lizhen hastily took his glasses off to prevent even more damage to his face.

Ling Xia ran past Yang Lizhen to chase the figure, but froze when he saw that Yang Lizhen wasn't moving. Worried, he asked Yang Lizhen what was wrong. "He broke my glasses. I think some fragments are embedded in my skin now."

Ling Xia became perplexed. "What? How did he break the lenses? He couldn't possibly break them with just one punch," he asked while taking his phone out of his pocket. He turned the flashlight on and shone it on Yang Lizhen's face.

"I don't know," answered Yang Lizhen, trying not to move his face too much, so Ling Xia could work on his face.

Ling Xia picked the shards of plastic off of Yang Lizhen's face. After ten, long minutes, Ling Xia stepped back, saying, "I think I got all of them. Do you still feel anything?"

"No," Yang Lizhen answered, wiping the blood off his face while thinking that he would clean it up later.

"Did you see where he went?" Ling Xia asked, referring to the figure they were chasing.

"No, I lost him. But I do see Mu Ninghua's fake boyfriend in that car." Yang Lizhen pointed at a blue convertible with a man sitting in the driver's seat. The light from his phone illuminated his face, and Ling Xia could barely make out that it was conveniently the same man as the one from the reunion.

The two men walked over to the car, knocking on the window which surprised the man who was staring intently at his phone screen. He hastily turned his phone off to hide what he was doing, but Ling Xia caught the screen. It was an online poker game with a large sum of money being in the center.

The man had just raised 100 dollars even though the best hand he could get was one pair. There was a man who folded with a better hand, but this man refused to give up. Maybe he just wanted to bluff, but it didn't seem like it was working because the rest of the players were still in the game.

Either way, Ling Xia now knew what the man wanted; money. Every man who gambled like that needed immense amounts of money.

"Hello," Ling Xia kindly greeted the man.

The man suspiciously replied in his scratchy voice, "Hi. What do you want from me?"

"We'd just like a bit of information from you," Ling Xia informed him with a smile on his face.

The man scowled. "And why do you think I'll give it to you?" He started the engine just to show his willingness to drive away.

"30,000 RMB(1)." The man stopped changing gears and looked back at Ling Xia. Ling Xia smiled because he had caught the man's attention. "I'll give you 30,000 RMB for it."

The man became intrigued. "What information do you want that you're willing to pay that much for it?"

"We just want to know about your dealings with Mu Ninghua," Yang Lizhen popped in.

"Mu Ninghua? I don't know any Mu Ninghua's." The man had furrowed eyebrows and seemed genuinely confused about what Ling Xia was saying.

Yang Lizhen pressed on. "Really? You don't know Mu Ninghua? You don't know the woman you just pretended to date?"

"You mean Lotus?" the man asked, switching to English as he said the name. The man saw that the two were a bit confused, so he supplied them with more information, greedy for his 10,000 RMB. "That's the name she gave me when she gave me the task."

Ling Xia and Yang Lizhen exchanged glances. They would definitely investigate that name thoroughly when they got back. Ling Xia turned back to the man. "Can we record the information about your deal with Mu Ninghua?" The man narrowed his eyes, hesitating to take the deal out of suspicion. "Don't worry, you will never be mentioned."

The man nodded, and Ling Xia took out his phone, pressing the record button. The man explained what happened, saying it in a brokenhearted voice and obviously not caring about Mu Ninghua's future struggles because of this.

"Mu Ninghua just came up to me one day using the alias "Lotus" and she asked me to pretend to be her scum boyfriend for a night. She wanted to break up with me in front of everybody. She offered me 2,000 RMB, so I took the deal. Once we got there though, I realized how dangerous it was. There were way too many people there, many of them looked stronger than me, so I wanted to leave, but I did my job dutifully. Later, my wrist was actually broken! Mu Ninghua just nodded when I asked her for money for the hospital bills, but I don't even know if she actually will. Now, I'm just sitting in the car we came in. I've been waiting for so long, but Mu Ninghua hasn't come out yet to give me the money I need!" the man described, exaggerating many details.

Ling Xia, as agreed, transferred the money over to the man using his phone and started moving away with Yang Lizhen. "Hey, wait! You gave me 31,000, not 30," the man shouted after Ling Xia's retreating form.

Ling Xia looked over his shoulder to answer him. "Just a tip for your excellent service," acting like cool dude just to amuse himself.

The two men walked over to Yang Lizhen's car. "I guess we won't be able to find that other person today. Why don't you try finding out who that man was, and I'll dig some information up about Lotus."

"Mm, get home safely," Yang Lizhen responded by saying his goodbye.

"You too," Ling Xia returned before going over to his bicycle and biking home. It wasn't that long of a ride, only lasting twenty or so minutes. He got off of his bicycle and pushed into the garage.

Walking over to open the garage door, he froze. He caught some people sneaking up to him in his peripheral vision. They were too close. Ling Xia wouldn't be able to enter the house and shut the door behind him without them closing in on him.

For lack of a better option, he continued walking toward the door to prevent the people behind him from realizing that he caught on.

It was his motto. When in doubt, act clueless.

When the group finally reached within punching distance of him, he did exactly that, throwing a vicious punch at one of them, and while they were surprised, he rushed past them and out into the street, hoping that somebody was nearby who could help him. He couldn't take on five people at once!

He stopped to take a quick glance around and called for help. "Hello? These people are chasing me! Please help–" Before he could finish his sentence, all the air left his body, leaving him incapable of talking. He stumbled to the ground, barely managing to turn his body to the side before the impact came.

"Ugh." The sound came from behind him. Ling Xia assumed that somebody had tackled him to the ground. He whipped around, but found himself unable to move. He heard a short, mocking laugh from behind him as the person behind him shifted into his view.

It was a bulky man, with bulging muscles on either of his arms, a face with many scars decorating it. They tangled for a while, each trying to come out on top, but the bulky man won in the end.

Smiling victoriously, he pinned Ling Xia to the ground. Ling Xia stared at him with wide eyes, gasping for breath. Finally, he took a long, deep breath and closed his eyes as if resigning himself to this fate.

When he felt the grip on his shoulders loosen, his eyes shot open, as sharp as ever, and he retaliated by kneeing the man in the crotch. The man's face instantly contorted in pain, and he staggered backward in pain. Ling Xia pulled his knee into his chest and pushed it outward, hitting the man square in the chest. The man flew backward, landing on the ground with a thud.

Ling Xia rolled away, aware that he had more enemies and he needed to escape. He pushed himself off the ground, but a kick to his side sent him into a dizzying spiral. Landing on his back, he opened his eyes to the blurry night sky. Stars dotted the black nothingness until a face blocked his view.

Ling Xia blinked, waiting for the sight to come into focus. When he finally saw whose face it was, his eyes widened. It was a man with dyed yellow hair, his hair longer than most men, coming down to his shoulders.

Ling Xia recognized him as the same man who was around the area for some time. He was the reason why Ling Xia made sure to lock his door a few hours ago. Ling Xia had thought he was a thief trying to get into his house, but the man's actions implied otherwise.

It seemed the man was here for him specifically. And this time, Ling Xia didn't know who did it because he had probably made some enemies in the business world too. Mu Ninghua was not the only option this time.

"Well, you provoked the wrong person, aye?" the man in front of him spat out, his face moving closer to Ling Xia's. "The boss told us to break your legs 'cause of some… what's it called? Figure skating. You do some figure skating, and our boss wanted that to stop. What'd you do that made her so mad, eh?"

Ling Xia didn't know what to say. First of all, he didn't know who his boss was. Second of all, he felt like a hero that was captured by a villain who kept on explaining his evil plans to him.

"I'm sorry, I don't know who your boss is," he replied with a painful smile on his face. His side was killing him.

The man with yellow hair looked back to the rest of his group with a ridiculing smile on his face. "You hear that? This guy thinks he don't know who our boss is!"

He turned to Ling Xia again, his face magnifying as he leaned into Ling Xia's face. His cigarette-smelling breath wafted through Ling Xia's nose, making him scrunch his nose up in disgust. The man wasn't bothered by this act of obvious discomfort and continued, "Listen closely, I'll only be saying it once, you hear? Her name is Lotus."

Ling Xia's eyes noticeably widened. "Oh, you recognize the name, don't ya? Well, tell us, what did you do, huh?" the man asked again.

A tiny figure danced happily in the back of Ling Xia's mind. 'Oh, Mu Ninghua, you just keep on giving me things to use against you, don't you?' Ling Xia kicked the little figure away, making it land on its bum, rubbing it pitifully.

He couldn't let his glee distract him from what was important. He pushed it down. Then, his attention returned to the fight at hand.

"What? I saw you look surprised when you heard the name. Go on, tell us. We won't judge," the man pushed on, even encouragingly patting Ling Xia's face.

When the man saw that Ling Xia wasn't planning on answering his question, he tutted and nodded to his friends, moving away from Ling Xia. "Break his legs, guys. This one doesn't seem fun to toy with."

Ling Xia pushed himself into a half-sitting half-lying-down position to see what was happening. He saw three people take metal poles out from behind their backs and walk up to him with evil grins on their faces.

His face paled, and he scrambled to his feet and ran, finally figuring out what Mu Ninghua wanted.

She wanted to make him suffer, she really wanted to make him suffer, by ruining his figure skating career. To be honest, Ling Xia wasn't too into figure skating, but it was the intentions of Mu Ninghua that counted!

Recognizing this plan of hers, Ling Xia decided to make a break for it. But before he even made it a few feet, a woman used all of her strength to swing her pole into his shoulder, making him wobble. His feet crossed each other, the movement almost making his right foot catch his left, but he kept his balance and continued to sprint away.

He didn't quite know where he was running, but he was definitely going somewhere. Or at least, he was planning on going somewhere, until he felt something crash into his head. He fell onto the rough pavement, scraping his elbow on the road. It bled bright red blood instantly, and the burning pain stung Ling Xia.

His vision went blurry, and he fought to remain conscious. Lying there with trembling hands, he reached up to his head, only to draw it away after feeling something wet and sticky. He brought his shaking hand to his face. The streetlamp's light shone down, casting light on the red that coated his hand. It was blood.

One of the men had thrown his pole at Ling Xia earlier, hitting his target cleanly. The pole had struck his head, and the impact had made black spots dance in his eyes. Luckily, the man hadn't used the deliberately sharpened edge of the pole to hit Ling Xia.

Ling Xia watched as the three people stalked up to him once more and realized he probably had no chance of escaping now. But escaping was not the same as fighting back.

Blood pooled into his ear as he lay on the ground, curled up. His hair was matted with blood, the pole that caused this to happen lying on the ground next to him.

Ling Xia grappled for the pole next to him. Each passing second brought the people closer and closer to him as he desperately tried to find the long metal pole. After what seemed like centuries of searching, he finally felt it under his hand. His fingers wrapped around the pole, gripping it as tightly as he could right now.

When the first person in the group got close enough, he jabbed her in the stomach with the sharp edge of the pole, returning the favor for what happened earlier. It cut straight through the woman's clothes like butter, and her skin split open. Dark red blood leaked out, trailing down her abdomen. Ling Xia twisted the pole around, making the already horrible gash much worse.

He finally pulled it out when he thought she had had enough. She fell to the ground, trying to stop the bleeding with her hands, but her hands were barely cutting it. Hot tears dripped down her face as she cried out incoherently in pain.

The woman probably thought she was going to die. The gash on her stomach wasn't fatal, but it was severe enough for Ling Xia.

Ling Xia turned his attention to the only other person with a weapon in his hands. He lifted the pole again and aimed it at that man, ready to plunge it into his stomach as well.

Suddenly, Ling Xia felt something pushing down his hand. His hand plummeted to the ground, and a shoe came into his view.

"Ah!" Ling Xia shouted when the shoe grinded against his fingers, making his fingers straighten in torment.

"You like that? That's what you get when you try to hurt my girlfriend," a man hissed. A strand of yellow hair swayed in the corner of Ling Xia's vision, so Ling Xia recognized who this person was.

"Help Yanyan, boys. I think this one deserves to be played with a bit more," the yellow-haired man ordered before looking back at Ling Xia with a glint of hatred in his eyes while grinding his foot on Ling Xia's hand even harder.

Ling Xia's skin twisted and stretched, but it never broke. Why wouldn't it break? He knew it wouldn't stop the pain, but it would give a moment of clarity to think of an escape plan.

He held in his screams of pain, his mind racing to figure out how to escape. None of the thoughts stayed in his mind for long. The numerous ideas whizzed past, but Ling Xia couldn't get his hands on any of them. His frustration was interrupted when a slap hit his face. His face spun to the side, and his cheek stung. The yellow-haired man had backhanded Ling Xia across his cheek, and his sharp nails raked across Ling Xia's face, causing his skin to split open, beads of blood leaking out.

He threw a left hook at the man with his free hand, but it was stopped in its tracks. The yellow-haired man had caught his fist and flung it back onto the ground. He shifted his entire weight onto the foot that was on Ling Xia's hand, making Ling Xia let out a sharp gasp.

The man smirked when he saw Ling Xia's face twist in pain. He lifted his other foot and dug his heel into Ling Xia's left elbow. The bright red was dirtied with the pebbles and mud from the other's shoe. Ling Xia screamed.

The man's smile widened as he continued to dig into Ling Xia's wound. He felt like he was going through decades of suffering, and it was never going to end.

'It hurts.' he thought, one of the only thoughts currently running through his mind. He also knew he should have never underestimated this situation at all.

After two excruciatingly long minutes, the man stepped away, seeming like he was retreating, and Ling Xia was left desperately panting for breath like a half-dead fish flopping around on the ground trying to get air into its lungs, but couldn't.

While the man was going away, Ling Xia tried pushing himself off the ground, but his body refused to gather the strength he needed. So he was forced to lay there, vulnerable to any attack directed at him.

The man soon came back with a knife in hand. He crouched down to Ling Xia's eye level and pulled him up by his collar. "Let's put this somewhere noticeable, aye? Somewhere that'll make you notice every time you look at yourself in the mirror, but not anywhere that other people will see it."

His eyes lit up. "What about here? Right in the middle, right where you hurt my baby," he offered, prodding the area he was referring to with the tip of his knife. Seeing that Ling Xia only looked at him with cold defiant eyes, he shrugged. "Well, guess that's a yes, then."

He dug the knife deep into Ling Xia's flesh, slowly dragging his knife across Ling Xia's skin, the skin being cut like paper.

Ling Xia writhed, screaming out when the man twisted his knife because he wanted to see Ling Xia cry. It was tortuous. Every movement of the knife was slow and dragged out, so Ling Xia was inflicted with the most amount of pain possible.

He made one last ditch effort to stop the man. It hurt too much for him not to. The pole was still under his hand, so he used it to hit the man's arm. The knife flew out of his hands, and Ling Xia tried to gather all the strength he had into his arms once again. He launched his body at the projectile, trying to catch it.

He succeeded, grabbing the handle of the knife in mid-air and turned it against its owner masterfully. The yellow-haired man understood that this was a threat and cautiously backed off, putting his hands in the air to show his surrender.

That was when Ling Xia noticed something was wrong. It was too silent. The quiet night's silence was only broken by a chirping bird. But the other people behind him should have also been making noise. But he noticed it too late.

All of a sudden, somebody grabbed the knife in Ling Xia's hand and wrenched it out of his grip.

The knife slipped out of Ling Xia's blood-covered hands very easily, and now the opposing party held the knife once again.

During Ling Xia's surprise, the man also yanked the pole out of Ling Xia's hands. He handed the knife over to the yellow-haired man again, not forgetting to kick Ling Xia over int he process.

The yellow-haired man gratefully plucked the knife up and moved closer to Ling Xia again. "Let's continue, shall we?" A sly smirk crossed his face as he stabbed the knife into Ling Xia's stomach again, continuing to carve something onto Ling Xia's body.

Ling Xia flinched as the cold knife touched his body. He wanted to fight back, he really did, but how? He could wipe the floor with these five in his actual body, one that had been trained for many more years than this one, but there were no what if's in the world.

The seconds and minutes ticked by, and the man finally finished having his revenge. He stepped back, admiring his work from afar. These carvings were always deep enough to scar, for seeing the scars on his victims bodies after he was done with them satisfied his crazy craving for dominance.

"Alright, boys," Ling Xia heard him say after taking a deep breath. "I'll let you have the last hit. Break his legs. Break 'em good."

Ling Xia felt panic rise up in him, but he pushed it down, deep down. The only thing panic meant for him was that he needed to get out of this situation. He would not let it distract him.

He tried to push himself to get up one last time, but the result was disappointing. He could barely lift his body. His vision was swimming, on the brink of turning completely black, and he barely held on.

'I don't like it,' he thought. Another of the few thoughts in his head.

He squeezed his eyes shut, and even though he knew that his thoughts wouldn't do anything, he hoped that he could still find all the other trainees in the world after this, hoped that he could get back at Mu Ninghua for this, and probably the most unreasonable of them all, hoped that something would interrupt these people's actions.

He almost laughed at himself. How long had it been since he last hoped for something so badly. In all those worlds he went through, he had no free will, so he had already accepted his fate. Apparently, freedom was just as much of a burden as it was a joy.

He waited for the pain in his legs, expecting it to happen any time now, but his expectations were unfulfilled. He heard a few grunts of pain from the only ear available and shakily opened his eyes to see what was happening.

Everything in his sight was spinning, and it only magnified the pounding in his brain. Once his vision finally focused, he saw one figure walking up to him and saying in an uncannily familiar voice, "Let's get you back home," the deep voice said, pulling Ling Xia up.

Almost immediately, Ling Xia felt dizzy again, and it took a moment for his brain to reorient itself. With his breath still ragged, he tried to push the man that was holding him away, not trusting him enough to let him take Ling Xia wherever he wanted to, his vision continuing to blur with every step they took. But the man kept his grip, half-carrying, half-dragging Ling Xia over to his house.

The garage shutters were still open because of the fight, so the man hauled Ling Xia up the stairs and into the house. He finally let go of Ling Xia when they reached the couch, dropping him onto it.

Ling Xia slouched on the couch, still not aware of where he was. He found the room familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

His head pounded, the blood dripping down, staining the yellow couch red. Once Ling Xia figured out where he was, he would never be able to sit on this couch again.

The man came back with a box and some other things, setting them down on the coffee table next to him. Ling Xia heard the man open the box, the latches clicking open. Thinking that this was his chance to escape, he grabbed the first thing he saw on the coffee table, the lamp, and flung it at the man.

Before the lamp even left his hand, the man caught the neck of the lamp and pushed it back to its original position, forcing Ling Xia's hand back as well.

"I don't know if you've realized, but I'm trying to help you. Sit back and relax," the man said, putting his hand on Ling Xia's shoulder and gently pushing him until his back touched the couch.

So Ling Xia sat there, listless, waiting for the man to finish his work. While he was doing his thing, Ling Xia noticed that he had never let him see his face. Right now, Ling Xia's heda was being pushed down, so the man could see his injury clearly, but even when he attacked the man, Ling Xia never got a glimpse of his face.

Nevertheless, he stayed silent. The man had control over his body right now, so Ling Xia couldn't ask any questions that might provoke him. It was obvious the man was avoiding the topic of identity.

The man didn't see or hear the quick analysis of the situation in Ling Xia's barely working head. He just worked on the worst injury first, using a paper towel to blot away the blood and wrapping his head in many bandages which turned red way too fast for either of their liking.

When the man saw this, he sighed. "Let's just hope you don't have a concussion." Then the figure pushed an ice pack onto Ling Xia's head.

Ling Xia flinched from the cold ice on his head and the dull pain that resonated from the place when the figure put any pressure on it. The man pulled Ling Xia's hand up, making him hold the ice pack there. "Keep it there."

He moved downward, turning his face sideways and then down, so Ling Xia could only see his hair. He rubbed the alcohol on Ling Xia's elbow and whatever the yellow-haired man had carved and also put some anesthetic on them. "It's just a bunch of lines," he noted while staring at Ling Xia's stomach.

"I wonder if they mean something," he murmured, but then pushed his thoughts away and forced himself to focus on the injuries. He placed a huge band-aid on Ling Xia's stomach to finish, and Ling Xia was finally able to realize where he was.

The black dots in his eyes had finally cleared, and he recognized that he was in his own house. The stranger had kindly brought him to his own house and even treated him.

"Thank you," Ling Xia hoarsely murmured, many of his letters barely audible or just breaths of air because his throat was sore from screaming so much.

"Don't worry about it, how could I not help you?" the man said as if it was a matter-of-fact, lifting his head to gaze at Ling Xia.

When he finally got a clear look at the stranger's face, Ling Xia was aghast. "It's you!?"

"Mhm, and now you owe me a favor." The man smiled gleefully.

Notes:

So, um, that whole event needs work. I definitely didn't do it justice. But here is the one note for this chapter!

1: 30,000 RMB(ren min bi) is another way of saying 30,000 yuan(China's currency). It's about 4,600 USD, and for anybody in another country, sorry, you'll just have to do the math yourselves.

Oh, and, uh, school. It exists. Means slower updates.

At the least, it's one update per week. That's my goal.