She breathed a sigh of relief after nodding to Xiang Yu.
"I was worried you wouldn't be able to bring yourself to hurt an elderly person, but it seems I was just worrying for nothing." The soundproofing in this old-fashioned courtyard was surprisingly good. Xu Youqing listened to the sounds from outside, but couldn't hear anything, so naturally she knew nothing about the stories Grandma Jiang was telling inside.
Seeing Xiang Yu's reaction, Xu Youqing thought he was just angry and wanted to use the other person as a punching bag. She even asked the system whether the old man Xuanwu would die if Baihu threw a punch.
Xiang Yu said, "Grandpa Jiang was a former White Tiger."
"The constellation that was paralyzed?" Xu Youqing blinked and said, "I could probably guess, but I didn't expect it to be the White Tiger."
Xiang Yu nodded, thought for a moment, and asked himself.
-Xiangyu: After capturing the previous Xuanwu, will Grandpa Jiang be alright?
-System: Uncertain.
The system didn't recognize that this paralyzed, hunchbacked old man, unable to take care of himself, was actually the only surviving White Tiger constellation from the 'vicious incident'.
Perhaps it was nostalgia at play, but the system added something when it was feeling hopeless and disappointed.
-System: But the system can try its best.
[Author's Note: Xu Youqing: At that time, the enraged God of War, Baihu, was less than a meter away from me.]
】
Chapter Seventy-Three: Let's split up and search.
Chapter 73 A Corner: Let's Search Separately
The small park was bustling with activity in the afternoon. A large black speaker in the center of the lake was playing upbeat dance music. The square dancers, mostly middle-aged and elderly, were doing trendy dances, each with a different style. One second they were doing a dreamy waltz, and the next they were doing a drunken butterfly dance. The constant banging and dancing was so disruptive that it gave Xiangyu a headache.
Benches were placed along the edge of the circular walking path around the central lake for pedestrians to rest. Xiang Yu sat on a bench, holding his phone and replying to messages. Xu Youqing looked around beside him, afraid of missing the familiar face from earlier in the day.
After ending his chat with the person on the other end of the phone, Xiang Yu put his phone in his pocket and let out a sigh of relief.
"call--"
He told Gu Chen that Li Yifan needed to see him and that he needed to go back.
He lied, but luckily Gu Chen didn't ask any more questions, otherwise he was afraid he wouldn't be able to cover it up.
"We've been waiting for over half an hour, why haven't they shown up yet?" Xu Youqing looked around and saw one or two people with similar builds, but when they followed them and got closer, they realized it wasn't them, so they had to go back to their chairs and keep watching.
“His activity range shouldn’t be limited to just this area around the lake.” Xiang Yu looked into the distance and saw many elderly people walking briskly around the park’s main loop. He suggested, “Let’s split up and search.”
After Xiang Yu finished speaking, he paused for a moment to think, then looked at Xu Youqing, "If you find him, have the system notify me. Don't go alone."
Having a system protecting them doesn't mean everything is foolproof. The system had given the two of them a heads-up beforehand, and based on the way the other party had isolated themselves from the system, it was speculated that the other party might have other forces helping them.
"Okay." Xu Youqing nodded in agreement.
Xiang Yu told Xu Youqing to stay where she was and observe, while he went to look for someone elsewhere.
To get to the outer perimeter, you have to weave through the square dancing crowd, and I accidentally blocked a few of the older women's dance steps.
The older woman glared at him sharply several times.
"Sorry, sorry." Xiang Yu apologized softly with his head down as he quickly weaved through the dance formation to reach the outer walking path.
The streetlights here are bright, making it easier to see people's features than across the lake. Xiangyu's gaze was fixed on the walkers coming and going.
Unfortunately, there was still no trace of the target.
'Grandma, do you usually like to come around here?'
"Hey, when my legs were better, I'd come and jump around whenever I had free time."
"..." Without even thinking, Xiang Yu ran away without looking back, silently telling herself not to look this way.
Gu Chen pushed Grandpa Jiang in a wheelchair, with Jiang Wensong standing beside him, ready to replace Gu Chen later. Yang Shuhuan and Xu Youlu followed behind Grandma Jiang in her wheelchair, while Wang Zehao stood beside them holding a large bag of roasted chestnuts, popping them into his mouth one after another, exclaiming how delicious they were.
"Thank you, Grandma, for treating me to roasted chestnuts." The bag of chestnuts was bought at the park entrance and was still warm. Wang Zehao picked out a large one, peeled it, and handed it to Grandma Jiang. "Grandma, try this. It's much better than the one from the South Pedestrian Street, and the chestnuts are bigger too."
“Grandma Jiang has diabetes and can’t eat this.” Yang Shuhuan nudged him with his elbow.
Wang Zehao's smile froze for a moment, and he quickly withdrew it, "Look at my memory, I forgot, I'm sorry, Grandma."
Grandma Jiang was going out with a group of younger relatives for the first time, and she even brought her husband along. She was so happy that she didn't mind at all. "It's okay, there are people selling candied hawthorns over there. Grandma will treat each of you to a skewer later."
I don't know if it's because everyone loves candied hawthorns or if the atmosphere was just right, but everyone was happy.
Gu Chen smiled, her eyes crinkling, thinking that she would bring some back for her boyfriend to try. Just as she was thinking this, she squinted and saw a familiar figure in the distance.
Gu Chen's eyes lit up. Confident he couldn't be mistaken, he called out loudly, "Classmate—"
Xiang Yu stopped after running a few steps, slowed down, steadied himself, turned around, looked at the group of people not far behind him, and slowly walked over.
"Are you done with your business?" Gu Chen estimated the time. It hadn't actually been an hour since the other party left, but Xu Youqing had said she would give him a ride home, so it wasn't that fast if they weren't walking.
Xiang Yu hummed in agreement, when suddenly a voice entered his mind.
-Xu Youqing: I saw him. He's coming from the north exit.
-Xu Youqing: Oh no, he's leaving.
After the other party finished speaking, there was no response. Xiang Yu called Xu Youqing's name a few times in his mind, but when he was ignored, he quickly ran north.
Everyone present saw Xiang Yu run away quickly without looking back, assuming he had something urgent to attend to. Gu Chen, who was close to him, was stunned, blinked, and was confused about the situation.
Xu Youlu felt something was off, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. His intuition urged him to catch up, and Gu Chen followed without a word.
The rest of the people were left staring at each other in disbelief.
Xu Youqing followed the previous Xuanwu. The other party was all alone, making it easier to make a move, but just in case, she still notified Xiang Yu.
After all, fighting wasn't her forte.
Coincidentally, the other person was dressed completely differently from during the day. They were wearing a navy blue knitted hat, and perhaps due to the impact of falling into the water during the day, they were wrapped up quite thickly, completely obscuring their features.
An elderly man who was walking with him approached him and said, "You fell into the water during the day, why didn't you stay home and rest?"
This caught Xu Youqing's attention. She followed the other person away from the lake, keeping a distance enough that the other person didn't notice her presence.
-Xu Youqing: How exactly do you catch them?
-System: Generally speaking, you win if you make contact with your opponent.
-Xu Youqing: It's that simple?
Xu Youqing frowned as she stared at the old man's slow but steady figure.
It's obviously not that simple.
After Xu Youqing finished informing Xiang Yu, she saw the old man leave through the north gate and head straight for a black Volkswagen.
Seeing the other person reach into their pocket, he knew something was wrong.
Before Xiang Yu could arrive, he rushed forward first.
Zhao Ming touched the keys in his pocket. Although his vigilance, honed over the years due to age and the morning's drowning accident, had diminished, it was still sufficient to deal with Xu Youqing, a novice who was ambushing and catching people for the first time.
He already knew someone was following him. He noticed that the person was a girl alone, and because she looked familiar, he immediately recognized her as the person who had jumped into the water to save him earlier that day.
Having spent his early years in the underworld and struggling in the business world, Zhao Ming cherishes his life more than anyone else. The drowning incident during the day was a complete accident. He is grateful to the person who saved him, but it is nothing compared to his life.
Zhao Ming turned around, his eyes revealing a calculating shrewdness; despite his age, his mind still worked very quickly.
He boldly guessed that the other party must be one of the Four Constellations.
'You've made contact with her; leave the rest to me.'
A hoarse but excited voice rose in his mind.
Zhao Ming knew he hadn't fed them for too long, and this time, feeding them well would surely bring benefits.
But that's not what it intended to do.
Zhao Ming is too old; it needs to find a new person to replace him.
[Author's Note: Gu Chen: Where's my deskmate? Oh, she went back to her parents' house.]
】
Chapter 74 One Wave After Another
Chapter 74 A Missed Opportunity: One Wave Subsides, Another Rises
"Young lady, you're the one who saved me during the day, right?" Zhao Ming pretended to be a nice guy, not caring at all even though he knew the other person might know his identity. Like an old man rewarding a junior, he took out a black wallet from his pocket, pulled out a stack of red banknotes, and handed it over.
"Grandpa doesn't have much to give you, so take this money and buy something." Zhao Ming smiled kindly, and someone else might have really let their guard down.
Xu Youqing stopped in her tracks, her gaze involuntarily drawn to the thick stack of banknotes in the other person's hand. She paused, and a smile slowly bloomed on her face.
"Ah, thank you, Grandpa." Xu Youqing excitedly reached out to take it.
Zhao Ming sneered inwardly. Sure enough, there's no one in this world who doesn't love money.
It was all an act; both of them smiled slightly.
Just as Xu Youqing's fingertips were about to touch the banknotes, Zhao Ming reached out and grabbed them, but their movements overlapped, and the old man and the young man shook hands.
They both saw confusion in each other's eyes.
The next second, their hands came apart as if they had been electrocuted, as if an electric current had drilled into their fingertips, traveled up their nerves and blood vessels, and rushed straight to their brains.
Xu Youqing's mind went blank. It felt as if something inside her skull was being peeled away by two forces. The brain injury, which had already healed to zero, was being pulled out like a loose thread.
Xu Youqing didn't know how long it had been since she had felt this near-death experience. She didn't even have time to feel it before everything went black and she collapsed.
"sister--"
A shout followed, and the person who made the shout was even faster.
Xu Youqing did not fall to the ground, but was caught by Xu Youluo.
"Sister! Sister, open your eyes and look at me!"
Xu Youluo hugged Xu Youqing and cried, her hands trembling as she called an ambulance.
Xiang Yu was clearly not expected that Xu Youqing would be injured like this. His fist trembled, his eyes red with anger, and he went over and punched Zhao Ming, who was still in a daze. Zhao Ming was knocked to the ground by his punch and could not get up. Not that was the end of it. Xiang Yu grabbed him by the collar and shoved him against the black Volkswagen, intending to punch him a few more times with both hands.
Given his age, Gu Chen, seeing the old man's half-dead state, dared not let Xiang Yu continue hitting him. He put one arm around Xiang Yu's waist and pulled him aside, while grabbing the old man's collar with the other and putting him on the ground. He noticed that this was actually the same person Xu Youqing had rescued during the day.
Red banknotes were scattered on the ground, and people kept gathering around. Some were concerned about what had happened, while a couple of people with ulterior motives wanted to pick up the money, but they were scared away by Xiang Yu's glance.