Futile Devices Scans

In the private club, lights and shadows swayed.

Xue Bao Tian wrapped an arm tightly around the woman in his embrace. “Sha Sha is staying with me tonight. Second Brother, why don’t you pick someone else?”

A thumb pressed down on the lighter, summoning a burst of flame. Across from him, the man in his thirties lit his cigarette before smiling. “Crown Prince, giving you one woman isn’t a big deal, but why do I get the feeling you’re deliberately looking for trouble and trying to slap me in the face?”

Xue Bao Tian glanced toward Zhang Chi standing in the shadows, feeling rather confident. “Second Brother, if that face of yours never gets slapped, it’s not really useful staying attached to you. Why not let it fulfill its purpose tonight?”

The man across from him put the cigarette between his lips and freed both hands to clap a few times. “The Crown Prince sure has a silver tongue. But even a vicious dog biting someone needs a reason. When exactly did I become enemies with the Crown Prince?”

“Huang Song, stop pretending to be stupid. If you hadn’t given the order at the hotpot restaurant last time, how would that coward Huang Zheng have dared mess with me?!”

The man opposite rubbed his temples, a lazy smile spreading across his face. “Crown Prince, you wrong me.”

Xue Bao Tian’s voice was already cold by nature, but now it carried extra menace. “Second Brother, you’re taking the blame for this no matter what. If it’s unfair, then so be it.”

“Fine. I’ll take the blame.” The man suddenly dropped his smile and planted one foot on the liquor table, shoving forward violently!

On the opposite side of the liquor table, Xue Bao Tian lounged with one leg crossed over the other, a woman still in his arms. His legs were less than half a meter from the glass extension of the table.

The piercing screech of metal table legs grinding against the marble floor drowned out the decadent music in the private room, sliding into everyone’s ears with a chilling vibration before stopping mere inches from Xue Bao Tian’s legs.

His long legs were trapped between the liquor table and the sofa. If the other man had used even a bit more force, or controlled it a little worse, the inch-thick glass would have pinned his leg bones into the gap. The consequences were easy to imagine.

Even in such a situation, Xue Bao Tian remained fairly calm. He merely leaned back slightly, not even bothering to look at the man across from him first. Instead, he immediately looked toward the shadowed area where Zhang Chi stood.

The man in the shadows remained unmoving, not the slightest trace of tension leaking from him.

Damn it. Xue Bao Tian cursed inwardly. He nudged the nervous woman beside him, whose legs had curled up in fear. “Move farther away. Master Xue is collecting a debt here. Don’t let yourself get dragged into it.”

The woman left, and Zhang Chi also stepped forward once.

Only then did Xue Bao Tian feel a little more at ease. Reaching toward the liquor table now dangerously close to him, he picked up a glass of alcohol. “Second Brother, acting this arrogant—do you have the animal protection association backing you or something?”

The man across from him ground his jaw. “If we’re talking arrogance, nobody compares to the Crown Prince. However the Crown Prince wants to settle this debt tonight, Huang will accompany him to the end.”

“How to settle it?” Xue Bao Tian turned to Zhang Chi, deliberately drinking with a relaxed and lazy posture. “Zhang’er, you were there that night at the hotpot restaurant too. You should know how to collect the debt. Go on—don’t keep Second Brother waiting.”

Xue Bao Tian had seen Zhang Chi dislocate someone’s shoulder before—steady, precise, ruthless, painfully effective without causing lasting damage. So now, he rubbed his own shoulder, making the hint obvious enough.

Sure enough, Zhang Chi stepped forward again, revealing the features previously hidden in the shadows. His appearance drew Huang Song’s attention. The man narrowed his eyes through the cigarette smoke as he sized him up, then lowered his gaze and stubbed out the cigarette. “Yeah, I’ve already waited long enough. Let’s not waste time.”

Two capable-looking bodyguards stood behind Huang Song as well. At this moment, both subtly leaned forward, the muscles beneath their clothes tightening, clearly entering a state of readiness.

Under everyone’s gaze, Zhang Chi pondered for a moment before asking, “Mr. Huang, did the original conflict between my boss and you involve money or property?”

Huang Song raised a brow. “It didn’t.”

“Did either side use violence?”

This time, Xue Bao Tian frowned and interrupted impatiently. “Why so many damn questions? What’s with all this useless crap?”

Despite the criticism, Zhang Chi still looked at Huang Song. After considering briefly, Huang Song answered anyway, “No violence.”

Zhang Chi nodded and continued his analysis calmly. “Since it didn’t involve money or property, and no major physical conflict occurred, then Mr. Huang, instructing your younger brother to physically attack my boss means you were the first to cross the line.”

Xue Bao Tian leaned an arm against the back of the sofa, frowning as he listened. Huang Song smiled coldly and asked, “So?”

Zhang Chi walked around the sofa to the center of the private room. As he passed Xue Bao Tian, his fingers secretly squeezed the man’s shoulder slowly. “So logically speaking, my boss wanting to recover his dignity is perfectly understandable.” Standing between the two men, his gentle smile carried a faint sense of pressure. “And the… rather emotional things my boss just said—I assume Mr. Huang can understand them too?”

Bang!

Xue Bao Tian slammed his glass heavily onto the liquor table. He raised his eyes to stare at Zhang Chi with a cold face, saying nothing.

Huang Song, on the other hand, burst out laughing. Pulling out another cigarette, he pointed it through the air toward Xue Bao Tian. “Crown Prince, after hearing your bodyguard’s analysis, I’m actually starting to understand your aggressiveness earlier.”

Zhang Chi bent down, picked up a bottle from the liquor table, and poured two drinks, pushing one toward Huang Song.

At this point the liquor table had shifted far from Huang Song. Zhang Chi casually hooked a finger around the edge of the glass tabletop and, without seeming to exert much force, tugged once, returning the displaced furniture neatly back into position.

In the brief flicker of surprise on Huang Song’s face, Zhang Chi handed over the drink. “My boss once told me that all the business in Wangchuan is supported by Second Master. You’re no ordinary person. The only reason the two of you never became close was because of a misunderstanding between you.”

The implication was obvious—Xue Bao Tian both admired and respected Huang Song; it was just a misunderstanding standing between them.

“Really?” Huang Song looked toward the man opposite him. “The Crown Prince really said that about me?”

Xue Bao Tian’s attention had remained fixed on Zhang Chi the entire time, and now Zhang Chi was looking at him too. Their eyes locked tightly together. Beneath the silent contest between them was a chilling undercurrent.

After a long moment, Xue Bao Tian shifted his icy gaze toward Huang Song and gave a fake smile. “Isn’t that right? I haven’t eaten Wangchuan in ages. I’ve really been craving it. If not for this mess between me and Second Brother, I would’ve gone there long ago.”

He picked up the drink Zhang Chi had poured and leaned forward slightly. “Second Brother, shall we?”

Huang Song clinked glasses with him, his tone cool. “The Crown Prince is truly magnanimous.”

The moment the private room door closed behind them, Xue Bao Tian exploded.

He grabbed Zhang Chi by the collar, glaring furiously. “Scared, huh? If you’re this damn cowardly, why the hell are you even a bodyguard?! So all those skills of yours are only used on me, is that it? All day you just know how to act tough, but when it comes to the real thing, you turn into a pathetic grandson!”

Xue Bao Tian shoved him away. “Zhang Chi, I must’ve been blind to treat you like treasure. You backed down, and I still had to worry about saving your face and act like some loser with you. I, Xue Bao Tian, have never cared whether other people lived or died, and today I ended up feeling this damn suffocated because of you!”

He brushed past Zhang Chi angrily, yanked open the private room door, and called over a waiter. “Get me a girl. A proper one—with big tits.”

“Two Hundred!” Zhang Chi, silent until now, pulled him back, shut the door, and gathered him into his arms as he explained patiently, “That Huang guy isn’t someone you can provoke.”

Xue Bao Tian sneered. “I’ve noticed you usually don’t talk much, but when it comes to making excuses, they sure come easily.”

“Right now it’s just a small conflict between you and him. Let’s not blow this up any further, okay?”

“Who the hell is ‘we’? We’re not close. Get lost!”

Just as the standoff continued, knocking sounded outside the door. The waiter was extremely efficient and had brought someone over within moments. Xue Bao Tian opened the door to let the woman in, then wrapped an arm around her and sat down on the sofa.

Looking at Zhang Chi standing by the doorway, his features once more hidden in shadow, Xue Bao Tian casually groped the woman’s half-exposed cleavage and said in a vulgar tone, “Why the hell aren’t you leaving yet? Planning to stand there and watch me get busy?”

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