Futile Devices Scans

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

“Boss Liuyi!”

Xia Liuyi jolted awake from a nightmare, frowning as he looked toward the door.

Xiao He sprang up alongside him. In one swift motion, she stripped off her clothes, ruffled her hair into disarray, and deliberately made the room look like the aftermath of a heated tryst.

Xia Liuyi yanked the door open. Xiao Ma nearly crashed headfirst into him, face full of panic. “Boss Liuyi! Something’s wrong! The Boss and Madam got into a fight—Madam stabbed the Boss!”

“How badly is the boss hurt?!” Xia Liuyi cut him off anxiously. He didn’t even throw on a shirt—wearing only a pair of trousers, barefoot, he rushed straight out.

Xiao Ma hurried after him. “It didn’t hit anything vital—they’ve already sent him to the hospital! But Madam, she…”

“Which hospital?!” Xia Liuyi roared.

“Jiaocheng Hospital, the one right by the Walled City! Boss Liuyi! Madam—she, she…” Xiao Ma grabbed at him nervously, unable to finish.

“What happened to her?!” Xia Liuyi barked.

“She… after stabbing the Boss… she jumped off the villa roof…”

Xia Liuyi froze mid-motion as he bent to get into the car. The keys slipped from his hand and hit the ground with a sharp clatter.

The car shot through the night at breakneck speed.

At the end of the road was a fork—left led to the seaside Jiaolong Villa, right to Jiaocheng Hospital.

Xia Liuyi slammed the brakes at the intersection, breathing hard, face expressionless.

Then he wrenched the steering wheel and turned left.

He slammed the car door shut and charged barefoot into the villa.

The servants on duty rushed to stop him. “Boss Liuyi! Boss Liuyi!”

“Move!”

Behind the building, by the swimming pool, a white sheet covered a small, frail body.

Xia Liuyi rushed forward and dropped to his knees before it. He lifted the sheet—

—and the cold hardness on his face shattered in an instant.

He trembled, bending over as he collapsed onto Xia Xiaoman body. After a long silence, a suppressed, broken breath escaped him.

“…Sis…”

The housekeeper and servants trailed over, stopping at a distance, not daring to approach.

Xia Liuyi knelt there for a long time, eyes bloodshot, body shaking. At last, he asked hoarsely, “What happened?”

The housekeeper hesitated. “I only arrived afterward… A-Wen, you explain.”

One servant stammered, “Madam and the Master started arguing. I—I heard from outside. It sounded like Madam suspected the Master had someone else. He said he didn’t, but she didn’t believe him. She called him ‘pervert,’ ‘shameless’… and then she said something like, ‘what you really like is—’ but before she could finish, the Master slapped her. Then Madam grabbed a fruit knife and stabbed him. We rushed to send the Master to the hospital, but just as we reached the door, we heard the sound—Madam jumped…”

Xia Liuyi curled in on himself, clutching the sheet tightly.

It felt as though the heavens had collapsed in an instant.

A hoarse, agonized growl tore from his throat.

After a long while, he sniffed hard. When he raised his head again, his face was completely blank.

He pushed himself up slowly. “Handle things here. I’m going to see the boss.”

He staggered away step by step.

No one dared call out to him.

One servant slipped away quietly and made a phone call.

Xia Liuyi drove back along the same road, returning to the fork and heading toward Qinglong.

By the time he arrived at Jiaocheng Hospital, a crowd of Xiaoqi Hall underlings had already gathered. Xiao Ma followed behind him, saying, “Boss Liuyi, Boss Xu is inside—he won’t let us in.”

Xu Ying blocked the ward entrance. “Xiao Liu, your sister stabbed the Boss. It’s not appropriate for you to go in.”

“My sister had an episode—she couldn’t control herself,” Xia Liuyi said coldly, his eyes crisscrossed with blood-red veins. “I followed the boss since I was ten. At fourteen, I kowtowed into the gang. He’s shown me immense kindness. I would never harm him. I just want to see him. Move.”

Xu Ying stared at him for a moment, then suddenly smiled. “Fair enough. You’re devoted to the boss—I shouldn’t stop you. Go in. He just fell asleep. Don’t wake him.”

The room was dim, filled with the metallic scent of blood and the choking smell of medicine.

A small floor lamp in the corner cast light on Xia Liuyi’s bare feet.

Qinglong lay quietly on the bed, face up, eyes slightly closed, as though resting from exhaustion.

Xia Liuyi shut the door, moved lightly around the bed, and sat by the window.

He tilted his head back, staring at the shadowy trees outside. The night wind lashed at them, their branches trembling as if struggling toward the sky.

“Boss,” Xia Liuyi said softly, “was I wrong?”

“I shouldn’t have begged you to marry her back then.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Neither did she. The one who was wrong… was me.”

He lowered his head, burying his face in his hands, voice hoarse.

“But what could I do? She loved you so much… thought about you every single day… without you, she couldn’t live. She’s my sister. She treated me so well, protected me since I was little…”

His voice choked off completely.

He opened his mouth, but no sound came out—only ragged breathing, as his fingers dug deep into his hair.

After a long while, he barely managed to steady himself and lifted his head slightly.

“Boss…”

Then—

His breathing stopped cold.

In the dim, blurry darkness, something was dripping steadily from the edge of the bed.

He lunged forward in a single stride and tore the blanket away—

The stench of fresh blood slammed into him!

Qinglong’s half-open eyes stared at the ceiling, frozen in a rigid expression of shock.

And the twin Qinglong blades—specially forged at great expense for Xia Liuyi’s twentieth birthday—

One was driven into his chest.

The other into his abdomen.

Both had pierced through the bedframe, buried to the hilt, leaving only the handles exposed.

Xia Liuyi’s fingers trembled as he placed them beneath Qinglong’s nose.

A moment later—

“AAAHHHHH—!!!”

A shrill, grief-maddened scream ripped from his throat.

He shoved the iron bed—Qinglong’s corpse still lying on it—violently against the door.

At the same time, furious pounding erupted outside. Xu Ying shouted, “Boss!” as he tried to break in.

Xia Liuyi dropped to one knee, bracing the bed with all his strength, blocking the door.

Xia Liuyi dropped to one knee on the ground, bracing both hands desperately against the bedframe.

Under the relentless, thunderous pounding against the door, he lowered his head and took one last, lingering look at Qinglong. Then he turned his face away in agony, teeth clenched so hard they nearly shattered—

Suddenly, he let go.

Both hands shot forward, gripping the twin blades embedded in Qinglong’s body. With one brutal pull, he yanked them free—

Blood sprayed across his face.

He spun and bolted like an arrow, smashing through the window and plunging from the second floor!

Xu Ying and his men burst through the door—

Just in time to be hit full in the face by the cold wind rushing in.

His expression darkened as he glanced at Qinglong’s corpse, then at the shattered window frame. Grinding his teeth, he roared:

“Spread the word! Xia Liuyi killed Boss Qinglong to avenge his crazy sister! Mobilize the entire Xiaoqi Hall—hunt down the traitor! Dead or alive!”

No sooner had he finished speaking—

Crash! Another window shattered outside.

“What the hell was that?!” Xu Ying barked.

“Looks like one of Xia Liuyi’s lackeys—he jumped out the window too!” a subordinate replied.

“The fuck are you idiots standing around for?! Chase them!” Xu Ying exploded.

When it came to slipping away, Xiao Ma was always number one.

The moment he heard Xu Ying’s bullshit, he didn’t hesitate—he leapt straight out of the corridor window. The few underlings with him, having learned well from their boss, took advantage of their anonymity—scattering swiftly into the crowd, blending in as innocent bystanders, even mixing into the massive pursuit force… only to slip away halfway through.

Xia Liuyi ran through the forest at breakneck speed, blades in both hands.

Barefoot, his feet were torn open by sharp stones, blood trailing behind him—but it was as if he felt nothing at all, his face blank as he charged forward.

The pain wasn’t in his feet.

It was in his heart.

Or rather—his heart hurt so much it had gone completely numb.

In a single night—within two hours—the two most important people in his life had both died before his eyes.

Xia Xiaoman’s vacant stare at the sky. Qinglong’s half-open eyes—

Dead without closing them.

Dead without peace.

Xia Liuyi’s grip tightened around the hilts until they creaked.

He ran on, teeth clenched, breath suppressed. Behind him came distant shouts of pursuit. Xu Ying’s men were chasing relentlessly—but at the edge of the forest lay Jiaolong Walled City.

Over five hundred high-rise buildings. Thirty thousand people. A dark, endless maze.

Once he vanished inside, he would be like a stone sinking into the sea.

Suddenly—

A sharp, searing pain shot through his knees!

His whole body pitched forward, crashing heavily to the ground.

Between several trees at the forest’s edge—

A line of trip wires had been strung up.

A group of men stepped out from the shadows, machetes in hand.

Leading them was a broad-foreheaded man with a huge mouth, a curved blade slung over his shoulder—

Cheng Dazui.

Xia Liuyi staggered up, bracing himself against a tree, knees trembling. His earlier momentum had nearly shattered his legs; from the thighs down, he could barely feel anything.

“Dazui,” he said through gritted teeth.

Cheng Dazui slapped the flat of his blade with his palm. “Brother Liuyi.”

“I’ve got no grudge against you,” Xia Liuyi said, breathing hard. “Why help Xu Ying?”

“I’ve got no grudge against money either,” Cheng Dazui replied lazily. “Whoever pays more, I follow.”

Xia Liuyi took a deep breath. “The antidepressants my sister was taking—you introduced her to that Western doctor. You tampered with them.”

“Oh, not me,” Cheng Dazui said. “That was Boss Xu’s arrangement. I just followed orders. Heard your sister enjoyed taking them, didn’t she?”

“Cheng Siquan!” Xia Liuyi roared hoarsely.

Cheng Dazui tilted his head weakly, then casually picked at his ear. “Xia Liuyi, you can’t even stand properly. Save your strength. If you come back with me, take your punishment—three blades, six holes—kneel before the Boss’s spirit tablet and beg the elders… maybe you’ll still have a chan—”

The word “chance” never finished.

In the blink of an eye—

A flash of steel.

His wide-open mouth was sliced cleanly in half, top and bottom!

The Qinglong blade flew past, embedding deep into the tree behind him. Half his head hung skewered on the blade, while the rest of his body collapsed to the ground.

Xia Liuyi leaned against the tree, supporting himself with his remaining blade.

His voice was icy. “Who’s next?”

The surrounding men sucked in cold breaths, shaking their heads violently, their legs trembling even worse than his. They could only watch as he limped, step by step, toward the walled city.

At that moment—

Chaotic footsteps surged from the forest behind.

The pursuers had arrived.

Xu Ying’s voice rang out faintly, “Whoever kills Xia Liuyi gets a hundred thousand!”

The men exchanged looks.

Bloodlust and greed clouded their judgment.

Then—someone shouted, and they charged toward Xia Liuyi’s back with raised blades.

It was the end of term exam season.

He Chusan got up early, climbed the dim stairwell to the rooftop of the old tenement, and practiced his horse stance for half an hour among the colorful mess of laundry. After slowly going through a set of palm techniques, he decided he’d trained enough and went back downstairs to gather his books, preparing for a self-study session at school.

With his small backpack, he turned into a familiar dark alley—

The same one where he’d once been kidnapped in a sack.

Every time he walked here, he felt uneasy, worried those bastards might suddenly feel like making a sequel and haul him off again without a word.

He straightened his back, pretending calm as he quickened his pace.

Just as he was about to leave the alley and step into the light—

Something tripped him.

Thud! He fell flat on his face.

Bracing himself awkwardly on his elbows, he had just started to get up—

When his shoulder suddenly turned cold.

A blade rested against his neck.

In the darkness, someone was breathing harshly.

He froze, not daring to move. He felt the person patting him down, searching for something—then pausing when they touched his worn-out little backpack.

At that moment, recognizing the silhouette and the ragged breathing, he spoke in surprise:

“Brother Liuyi?”

“…Fuck. It’s you,” Xia Liuyi muttered hoarsely.

Then—

Clang.

The Qinglong blade fell to the ground.

He collapsed forward—

Unconscious—

Right onto He Chusan’s back.

He Chusan carried a blood-soaked underworld boss home—nearly scaring his father into a stroke.

The man, an unlicensed dentist who had lived quietly in the shadows for decades, was utterly at a loss upon seeing such a notorious thug.

But He Chusan—having once been brutally beaten and tormented by Xia Liuyi—was far more mentally resilient than his father.

“Dad, shut the door. Don’t let anyone see,” he said quickly.

“How the hell did you get involved with someone like this?! And you brought him home?!” his father stammered, locking the door and pacing anxiously, the candlelight flickering wildly.

“He saved me once,” He Chusan admitted, forcing himself to be honest.

“What did you do that needed saving?!” his father demanded.

“I got stopped by some guys. They tried to rob me.” He left out the rest.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…” the dentist muttered, too panicked to form proper words.

“Dad, check him—see if he’s dying.”

Rolling up his sleeves, the unlicensed dentist turned into an unlicensed vet.

Counting across Xia Liuyi’s body, he found seventeen or eighteen wounds of varying depth. His kneecaps were partially dislocated—but none of that was fatal.

The real problem—

A bullet wound beneath his shoulder.

The bullet was still lodged inside. The injury looked a day or two old—infected, festering, flesh torn open in a horrific state.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk…” he muttered again.

He Chusan ran back and forth, fetching water and gauze while assisting his father.

Truthfully, he had no good feelings toward someone like Xia Liuyi. Men like him were everywhere in Jiaolong—one died, another took his place.

But still—

The man had saved him.

And as an ordinary, decent person, he simply couldn’t stand by and watch someone die in front of him.

After studying the wound for a long time with a magnifying glass, the dentist said, “A-San, my eyesight’s shit. I can’t see clearly. You take the bullet out.”

“…Will it hurt?” He Chusan asked nervously.

“Hurt? Of course it’ll fucking hurt!” his father snapped. “But he’s unconscious—saves us the anesthetic! Hurry up!”

He Chusan pushed the tweezers in—

A hoarse groan escaped Xia Liuyi even in his unconscious state.

Startled, he froze.

He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and forced himself to remember—

How Xia Liuyi had once grabbed his collar and smashed his head into a table.

How he’d kicked him flying.

How he’d beaten him with a broken stool leg.

How he’d said, “Even if you die on the street, I wouldn’t spare you a glance.”

When He Chusan opened his eyes again—

A surge of fierce courage filled him.

One hand clamped over Xia Liuyi’s mouth.

The other—

Drove the tweezers in decisively.

The dentist watched, dumbfounded, as his normally gentle son calmly pulled a bullet out from spurting blood without even changing expression.

A chill ran down his spine.

…Did I raise this kid wrong? Should he be studying medicine instead?

When Xia Liuyi woke up—

He was lying on a narrow iron bed in He Chusan’s tiny second-floor room.

A single candle flickered. The damp ceiling was covered in black mold, giving off a rotten smell.

He lay face down, a pillow propped under his chest to keep his shoulder wound from touching the bed.

He Chusan sat beside the bed on a wooden stool, another smaller stool under him, studying by candlelight.

Xia Liuyi took a slow breath—

—and realized that aside from his fingers, he couldn’t move a damn thing.

“…Hey,” he rasped.

He Chusan leaned closer.

The first thing Xia Liuyi said after waking—

“Beef offal.”

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