The wind and snow bullied mercilessly, leaving a layer of frost on the tops of shoes.
In front of the convenience store sat a red-painted wooden chair. The paint had peeled away in patches, exposing the raw wood beneath. Bald and ugly-looking.
Xue Bao Tian sat on it absentmindedly with a cheap cigarette hanging from his lips. It seemed he hadn’t smoked this brand in a long time—the ember at the tip had withered, barely alive.
Again and again, the scene he’d seen earlier on Slicked-back Hair’s phone replayed in his mind. The haggard-looking Xue Qing stood there holding a bag of fruit, stunned, while the voice in the video belonged to that bastard Wang Quan.
“Sis, we’re Bao Tian’s friends. We specially came to visit Uncle.”
“If you fucking dare touch my sister, I’ll kill you!” At the time, Xue Bao Tian had grabbed Slicked-back Hair by the collar. “The barefoot aren’t afraid of those wearing shoes. Believe it or not, I’ll drag all of you down with me!”
Slicked-back Hair put away the phone without prying loose the vein-bulging hands clutching him. He merely patted Xue Bao Tian’s shoulder.
“Crown Prince, you’re not barefoot. The two people in the hospital are your shiny expensive shoes. You think putting them in the hospital means we can’t do anything? You’re underestimating us.”
“Since Crown Prince is being so uncooperative, then come with us for a visit. Let’s go talk things out with Boss Wang.” The centipede-like scar on Slicked-back Hair’s lip stretched as he spoke. “But once you go there, Crown Prince, getting out in one piece won’t be easy.”
“Hey! You okay over there?”
Red and blue flashing lights reflected across Xue Bao Tian’s face. The cigarette hanging near his lips was pulled between his teeth, and after a hard drag, the ember flared brightly again.
Pulling himself from his thoughts, Xue Bao Tian stood from the wooden chair, stamped his feet, raised the collar of his coat, and lazily slid two fingers across his temple in a sloppy salute toward the police car parked nearby.
“I’m fine. Just smoking.” He walked over and offered cigarettes to the officers inside the car. “You police uncles work hard. Doing another patrol round?”
The officer inside pushed the cigarette away. “Those guys surrounding you earlier really didn’t conflict with you? Don’t be afraid of them. If there’s trouble, tell the police.”
Xue Bao Tian fell silent for a moment before spreading into a grin and leaning against the car window to peer inside.
“I’ve never ridden in a police car before. How about giving me a lift to the subway station, Officer?”
“If we hadn’t happened to patrol past earlier, would you still be standing here smiling like that?” The officer frowned. “If there’s trouble, let the police handle it.”
The flashing police lights reflected in Xue Bao Tian’s eyes, just like half an hour ago.
“You called the cops?” Rage burned in Slicked-back Hair’s eyes. Watching the approaching officers, he lowered his voice threateningly beside Xue Bao Tian’s ear. “Boss Wang isn’t some harmless vegetarian. You won’t bring him down! If you’ve got the guts, then move your dad and sister into the police station and never come out. The second they step outside, we brothers will go pay our respects in front of your father and help your sister relieve the loneliness of having no husband.”
His dark pupils contracted violently, hatred surging like black tides!
“What are you people doing over there?” a police officer shouted from afar.
The hand gripping Slicked-back Hair’s collar slowly loosened. Xue Bao Tian turned toward the approaching officers with a smile.
The officer pushed Xue Bao Tian’s head back out through the car window. “That scar-faced guy has a criminal record. Were you really just chatting?”
“Mm, chatting.” Xue Bao Tian fiddled with his cigarette. “Talking about how damn handsome police uncles are nowadays. The best ones all got handed over to the country.”
“Tch. Fine then, treat everything I said as nonsense.” The police car window rolled up. The driver hit the gas too hard, and the vehicle shot off.
Under the streetlamp, snow pellets flew slantwise through the air wrapped in light, sharp and cold like the gleam of a blade before it draws blood.
Xue Bao Tian stared at the retreating police car and slowly clenched his fists…
He seemed to have caught a cold. When he woke the next morning, his head felt heavy and muddled.
After a sloppy shower, Xue Bao Tian made himself a bowl of instant noodles. He hadn’t eaten dinner the previous night and was starving badly enough for his stomach to stick to his spine. Before the noodles had even softened, he shoved them into his mouth despite the heat.
Carrying the bowl, he wandered to the window and ate while staring outside. There wasn’t much scenery to appreciate. In winter, Yan City was bleak and desolate no matter where one looked. Even covered in snow, it still fell far short of “especially enchanting.”
His gaze drifted from the withered tree branches to the footpath inside the residential complex. Then the corner of his eye caught the dumpster downstairs.
A moment later, he glanced at it again.
By the third glance, his eyes narrowed slightly. Xue Bao Tian spotted an old scavenger slowly making her way from dumpster to dumpster, rummaging through trash.
He wound the thin noodles rapidly around his fork, swallowed them in one gulp, wiped his mouth, and rushed downstairs without even remembering to put on his coat.
“Mine.” Reaching the dumpster ahead of the old woman, Xue Bao Tian claimed the woven sack first. “I threw it away last night, but now I think it’s still useful.”
The old woman rolled her eyes at him and moved on to the next dumpster.
Xue Bao Tian had no good feelings toward the woven sack. He carried it upstairs roughly, tossing and bumping it around before dropping it in the entryway. Only after finishing the now-cold noodles did he finally bother examining it.
The sack had been delivered by the buyer of Xue Bao Tian’s apartment the previous night, along with some personal belongings left behind in the apartment.
Back then, Xue Bao Tian had been overwhelmed with troubles. After selling the apartment, he only took necessities with him. Many other items had been locked in the storage room, with the agreement that he would retrieve them later.
The new owner had waited a long time without hearing from him and needed the space cleared, so they proactively asked for his address and mailed everything over.
Seeing this woven sack had surprised Xue Bao Tian a little. That poor bastard Zhang Chi had actually forgotten to take away his entire worldly fortune.
That day on Chuanyue Mountain, Zhang Chi had said he was leaving. Unable to figure out what he was thinking, Xue Bao Tian had stubbornly endured the discomfort and let him “serve” him one last time.
Inside the car earlier, Zhang Chi had looked utterly indecent while at it. Xue Bao Tian had already been tormented until his waist and knees ached, but he still gritted his teeth and retaliated stubbornly.
Zhang Chi indulged him completely, copying the techniques that had felt good to himself earlier and even improving on them without instruction. But Xue Bao Tian refused to appreciate it. Gripping Zhang Chi’s jaw, he stared expressionlessly into those gentle, damp eyes.
After collapsing back into the car seat again, Xue Bao Tian raised a hand and covered Zhang Chi’s mouth.
“If you end up pregnant later, come find Master Xue. I’ll take responsibility.”
The cool sports car tore through mountain winds and sped into the gaudy glittering dream of the city, leaving Zhang Chi alone at the deserted station deep in the night…
Now, seeing the woven sack again, Xue Bao Tian naturally hated it by association. Using a rag as padding, he treated it like filthy garbage and threw it straight into the trash bin.
Yet somehow, he’d gone back and picked it up again.
Staring at the coarse woven texture stained by dumpster grime, Xue Bao Tian sneered.
“As expected. Trash cans suit you and your owner best.”
Unzipping the bag, he rummaged through the contents one by one: plaid bedsheets, toiletries, the enamel cup printed with slogans, a few changes of clothes…
And unbelievably, there was even a book.
“Seventh Grade Chinese.” Xue Bao Tian pinched the book between two fingers and laughed mockingly. “This bastard probably only didn’t grab a first-grade textbook because he couldn’t find one.”
He flipped through it carelessly, about to toss it aside, when he spotted a business card tucked between the pages.
“Yanyue Security, Song Zhixin.”
Holding the card between his fingers, a buried memory resurfaced. This was that security company located in the bustling commercial district—the one he’d once visited and left empty-handed.
“How does Zhang Chi know someone from a security company?” Xue Bao Tian muttered to himself.
His gaze fell once more on the book. The name written on the cover—meant to indicate ownership—had been scratched out, and after it someone had awkwardly scrawled two crooked characters:
Yan…
“What the hell is this supposed to be?” Xue Bao Tian squinted hard trying to decipher the messy handwriting. Ye?
Xue Qing received another “gift” during a visit.
This time, it was a bloodstained dagger.
She immediately called Xue Bao Tian. Only after hearing that her younger brother was safe did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Xue Bao Tian’s naturally cold voice sounded especially dark over the phone.
“Who delivered it?”
“It was still that scar-faced man from last time.”
After comforting his sister for a while, Xue Bao Tian hung up. He paced around the room thoughtfully for a bit before digging out the business card he’d casually tossed onto the shelf a few days earlier. Pulling on his coat, he opened the door and headed out.
The moment long fingers swiped open the phone screen, a voice spilled from the receiver.
“Brother Yan, we followed that guy named Xue… and somehow ended up at our own company.”
The man fell silent for a moment. “Where is he now?”
“…Uh, he’s already at the entrance.”
“I’m looking for this person.” Two fingers lightly tapped against the front desk of Yanyue Security. From the end of the hallway came a familiar voice. “Song Zhixin.”
The man holding the phone suddenly turned around.
Against the light, he saw that thin familiar figure standing there once again.
Futile Devices Scans 
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