The Changing World

"How about you let me in first?"

The young man, somewhat deflated by He Ao's sudden door closing, tentatively pointed inside the door.

"Just say it here."

He Ao shook his head.

"It's too crowded and complicated here..."

The young man said cautiously.

He Ao gave the young man a look as if he were an idiot and reached out to close the door again.

This old unit building had two households per floor, and it was usually hard to even see the neighbors. Where would it be crowded and complicated?

"No, no, no."

The young man quickly reached out to try and wedge his hand in the door crack.

He Ao calmly squatted down and picked up a slightly rusted small claw hammer from the corner of the wall behind him. If the young man dared to reach out, He Ao dared to hammer.

Trespassing was illegal; this was self-defense.

Seeing the small claw hammer, the young man sheepishly withdrew his hand.

He had clearly shone his phone through the door crack after unlocking it and found no one in the living room before going down to buy the pliers. How could this kid have appeared out of nowhere in just a few minutes?

But this kid was really strange. The eerie oppressive feeling was too strong. He had been full of vigor just now, but after this, more than half of his momentum was gone, completely suppressed.

He hesitated for a moment and pulled two photos from his pocket.

He Ao glanced at them. The top photo was of himself, and the one below seemed to be a photo of a girl. The angle was a bit reflective, so he couldn't see it clearly.

The young man flipped the girl's photo over and handed it to He Ao.

Hmm...

It was someone he knew...

It was Liu Nan.

It looked like a candid photo.

The composition wasn't great, and it was a bit ugly.

The young man didn't notice He Ao's increasingly strange expression. He smiled and explained, "Ao Ge, this girl is the daughter of the chairman of Wanhe Enterprise. Although Wanhe Enterprise isn't very famous in West Capital, it's a top-tier large group in the south. Her father is the richest man in the entire province back home. As long as we kidnap her, we can get as much money as we want."

He Ao's expression grew even stranger.

In the entire West Capital, who didn't know that I, He Ao, was a law-abiding good person?

"Ao Ge, we also heard about you from our brothers in West Capital. They said you're the most famous big villain in West Capital, so we specifically came to find you to offer you a chance at immense wealth."

The young man spoke with increasing enthusiasm, as if he had regained his confidence.

Meanwhile, He Ao's face was practically screaming, 'Little question mark, do you have many friends?'

Was this fool being set up by someone? He Ao's reputation as a good person was acknowledged by the entire underground world of West Capital.

"Actually, we've already sent people to catch that girl," the young man chuckled. He wasn't entirely sure why this student in front of him was the notorious villain that the entire West Capital underworld feared. "They should have succeeded by now. As long as Ao Ge helps us out and finds us a place to hide someone..."

Selling cold noodles~ Fragrant and sweet cold noodles~

An ancient-sounding tune interrupted the young man's words.

This was He Ao's phone ringtone.

He Ao picked up his phone and saw it was an unknown number. He thought for a moment and hung up directly.

The young man saw He Ao hang up and was about to speak again.

Selling cold noodles~ Fragrant and sweet cold noodles~

The ancient-sounding tune rang out again.

The young man's words were swallowed back down.

This time, He Ao answered.

"Is this He Ao? I'm Liu Nan," a slightly reserved female voice came from the other end of the phone. "I got your number from your classmate. Are you busy right now? I hope I'm not disturbing you?"

She was referring to why He Ao had just hung up on her. She was a little worried that He Ao was busy. She had originally planned to call back later if this call didn't go through.

He Ao glanced at the young man standing outside the door. "It's fine. Telemarketing calls usually don't call a second time, so I usually hang up on unknown numbers the first time."

"Ah?"

Liu Nan was stunned for a moment, clearly not having reacted.

"What is it?"

He Ao asked quickly.

"Um... thank you so much for today... Have you eaten yet... How about I treat you to dinner tonight? How about Qiu House Restaurant on Guang'an Road in the city center?"

Liu Nan found that she was a little out of sync with He Ao's rhythm and could only ask cautiously. She wasn't someone who liked to owe favors, so she wanted to repay He Ao as soon as possible.

"Wait a moment,"

He Ao put down his phone and quickly opened the map app, searching for Qiu House Restaurant.

The map showed that he could take Subway Line 6, transfer to Line 1, and then transfer to Line 3. The fare was six yuan, and it would take fifty minutes. He Ao could get a 10% discount with his West Capital subway card, making it five yuan and four cents. It would take him about ten minutes to walk to the subway station.

A round trip would take two hours and cost a total of ten yuan and eight cents, while eating a bowl of pea and minced meat noodles downstairs cost ten yuan.

It was a loss.

So he decisively said to Liu Nan on the other end of the phone, "No, it's too expensive."

"Ah?"

Liu Nan was dumbfounded for the second time.

"By the way," He Ao glanced at the young man in front of him. "Be careful recently."

"Ah?"

Liu Nan's "ah, no" didn't come out because He Ao had already hung up the phone.

"What did that He Ao say?"

A girl biting on a milk tea straw popped out from the side.

"He said, 'No, it's too expensive'," Liu Nan held her phone, looking at the girl in confusion, "But wasn't I treating?"

"What else did he say to you?"

The girl thought for a moment and asked.

"He said, 'Be careful'?"

Liu Nan recalled and said softly.

"I know," the girl adjusted her glasses, "He likes you!"

Liu Nan: "?!!!!!"

"Look, he said it's too expensive, he must be feeling bad about you spending money, after all, Qiu House is so expensive. Then he said to be careful, he must be worried about your safety, after all, you were almost attacked by a bad guy today."

The girl began to deduce seriously, "Combined with what he said this afternoon, let me tell you, he's playing hard to get. I'm too familiar with this trick! Although I've been single for eighteen years, I don't know how many romance novels with this kind of plot I've read..."

"!???"

Although it sounded very reasonable, Liu Nan always felt that something was wrong. And weren't you only eighteen years old in total...?

After He Ao hung up the phone, he looked up at the young man, meeting his burning gaze.

"Ao Ge, who was that on the phone just now?"

The young man asked tentatively.

"It was Liu Nan,"

He Ao nodded, then conveniently dialed Team Leader Liu's number.

It was the first time he had seen someone deliver themselves like this. He wondered how much the reward would be for reporting him.

"Hello, He Ao? What's up?"

The call connected quickly, and Team Leader Liu's somewhat tired voice came through. He seemed to still be working overtime at this hour.

"Team Leader Liu, it's like this," He Ao looked at the young man, "Regarding the kidnapping case this afternoon, it seems it was a kidnapping. Now there's someone who seems to be the mastermind standing at my doorstep..."

Before He Ao could finish speaking, the voice on the other end immediately said, "He Ao, protect yourself, don't provoke him. I'll be right there."

This was followed by hurried footsteps and Team Leader Liu's slight panting as he ran.

"Okay."

He Ao responded, looking at the scene before him.

However, it seemed a bit late now.

The young man, who had been suppressed by He Ao's aura, was now flushed. His whole body swelled up like a balloon, and large muscles directly burst through his suit. His originally thin frame now expanded like a sturdy small mountain,

"You're messing with me!?"

He charged at the security door like an enraged bull.

Bang—Crack—

The welding point of the security chain, which had been extremely sturdy, split open.

At this moment, He Ao suddenly realized.

Perhaps the world was different now.