Xie Qi opened the door and found that Lina had come back. Raising an eyebrow, he looked at her and said, "Was there something else you needed me for?"
Under his gaze, Lina bowed her head low and said quietly, "There's a guest who says he'd like to see you downstairs."
She wasn't tall to begin with, and bowing her head like that made her look even more petite.
Xie Qi figured the guests should have escaped the villa by now. After all, he had given them a key himself. If they were still here, even he would have to praise their courage.
But now that he had heard a guest wanted to see him, Xie Qi couldn't help feeling curious.
"Which guest wants to see me?"
"He's a Black man, and he's very tall." Lina tried hard to describe Saul, but that was all she could think of.
"Oh? Interesting." Xie Qi had planned to play a hunting game tonight, letting those little lambs who thought they had escaped enjoy themselves for a while before tasting despair.
He hadn't expected someone to offer himself up as tomorrow's meal.
Xie Qi first thanked Lina for coming to tell her, then told her to stay on the second floor for a while and come down after he had dealt with the guest.
Seeing Xie Qi turn to leave, Lina suddenly grabbed a corner of his shirt, a little anxious.
Xie Qi turned to look at her, only to see that Lina seemed startled by what she had done. She quickly let go and stepped back several paces, stammering, "I-I'm sorry, I just..."
Afraid Xie Qi would misunderstand what she meant, Lina flushed bright red, but couldn't get a single word out.
Xie Qi looked at her for a moment, then smiled and ruffled her brown hair before turning and heading downstairs.
Lina stood rooted to the spot, one hand resting on the crown of her head where his warmth still lingered, watching Xie Qi's back disappear around the corner.
Saul had been waiting for a while, hidden behind the sofa beside the stairs.
From this position, he had a clear view of the stairs, and nothing would obstruct him when he made his move. It was perfect for an ambush.
The livestream viewers had prepared sunflower seeds or sunflower-seed-flavored nutrient supplements and were analyzing from every angle who was stronger in a fight, Saul or Xie Qi.
[I'm putting my bet on the officer. With the courage he's shown in sacrificing himself for what's right, he deserves to win!]
[As much as I hate to say it, the chef really has let his guard down this time. He knows these people want to kill him, yet he hasn't become more vigilant and is going down there empty-handed. And his opponent is ambushing him, so the chances of success are high!]
[Exactly. And this officer is a retired M-country soldier, so he must be proficient in all sorts of fighting techniques, right? So far, all we've seen is that the chef is very strong. We haven't seen how skilled he is.]
[I don't care! The chef will definitely win! These people should all obediently let him kill them!]
[Did the person above throw away all sense of right and wrong while watching a dungeon game? How old are you? How did you pass the livestream level assessment? Someone should look into it.]
Not many people in the bullet comments favored Xie Qi. Although he had acted like a complete psycho before, he hadn't shown much of his combat ability, so he had little advantage over Saul.
And he seemed unaware of the approaching danger, still descending the stairs with elegant, leisurely steps.
The staircase in the villa had more than thirty steps, and at his pace, it would take him a minute to get down.
From the moment Saul heard his footsteps, his nerves had been taut. He listened closely and counted in his head, waiting for Xie Qi to take the final step before rushing out to kill him.
Thirty,
Thirty-one,
Thirty-two,
Saul had deliberately counted the steps during the day. There were thirty-three steps from the second floor.
But now he had only heard thirty-two, and the final step still hadn't fallen.
An ominous feeling suddenly made Saul's scalp tingle.
A premonition honed by surviving countless brushes with death made him roll forward at once.
He covered his head and rolled across the floor several times, then immediately got up and looked back.
A long knife was embedded in the floor right where he had been. As though imagining how close his head had come to being split open, Saul couldn't stop his hand from trembling.
"Oh, you dodged it. As expected of you, Mr. Officer. You really are agile."
Smiling, Xie Qi pulled the Chef's Knife free, leaving a smooth cut in the floor.
He had deliberately made noise with his footsteps as he came downstairs, all to make Saul lower his guard.
When he reached the final step, Xie Qi had softened his footsteps and circled around the other side of the sofa to get behind Saul.
Now the two faced each other, Saul gripping his dagger tightly in one hand.
Since the ambush had failed, he could only fight the chef head-on.
He had observed Xie Qi before. The other man had no obvious muscle definition, which proved he hadn't trained systematically. Saul thought that with his own skills, subduing Xie Qi shouldn't be a problem as long as he avoided that knife.
Acting on the thought, Saul lunged forward while Xie Qi was off balance from pulling out the knife.
The dagger in his hand struck from Xie Qi's blind spot, aimed straight at his neck.
If you wanted to incapacitate someone immediately, the heart wasn't a good choice. After all, a person could still live for a few seconds after being stabbed in the heart, and for a professional, those few seconds could provide an opportunity to counterattack.
But if you cut an artery in the neck directly, blood would spray out at once. The dizziness caused by blood loss would make most people's limbs go weak, robbing them of the ability to fight back.
Although Saul had mainly used firearms on the battlefield, he was also skilled in close-quarters combat. Ammunition wasn't always plentiful, after all.
He had thought the darkness would conceal him and that the chef would surely be unable to react to the surprise attack.
But when he slashed, his blade met empty air. Xie Qi had already dodged his attack.
His strike had failed, and the long knife in Xie Qi's hand was already coming straight at him.
The knife reflected light even in the dimness, and its sharp edge made a sound as it sliced through the air.
Saul had underestimated the knife's length and dodged a little too late. Its tip had already grazed his body, and a stabbing pain immediately welled up.
Saul hurriedly retreated, pressing a hand over his wound to stop the bleeding.
Feeling the resistance against the tip of his knife, Xie Qi knew the fight had been decided.
He had just exerted himself, yet not a drop of sweat had appeared on him. He didn't know whether this body was a normal human's, but in every physical respect, it was far superior to his body in his previous life.
To guard against kidnapping and assassination attempts, Xie Qi had practiced several fighting styles, including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai. The one he had mastered best was Sambo, a killing art that originated in Russia, half of his homeland.
And this body allowed him to use all his abilities, leaving him at ease even under Saul's attack.
Seeing that Saul was still watching him warily, looking for a chance to continue fighting, Xie Qi smiled faintly. He pointed the knife downward and spread his hands, exposing himself completely to Saul as if he didn't care at all about a possible attack.
Saul was bewildered and suspicious at his strange behavior. Just as he was about to seize the chance to kill him, his head suddenly swam.
More and more warm liquid pooled in his hand. As if drawn by something, it kept flowing out, and even pressing hard against the wound couldn't stop it.
Just as his limbs went weak and he fell helplessly to his knees, that mocking voice sounded beside his ear again:
"Sweet dreams, Mr. Officer."