Birds Out of a Cage 2

Taking the note, he saw a line of crooked handwriting scrawled across it:

"Ryuu Mufei, we've taken him! Don't worry, we won't kill him. ---Zhi!"

The blood-red "Zhi" at the very end of the note made Ryuseki feel an extreme sense of unease.

"Quick, quickly call older brother to come over!" Ryuseki shouted to Meisha. He sensed the gravity of the situation; with this matter involving Zhi, the consequences would be far too severe. He hurriedly tossed his phone to Meisha, then helped Lin Yingbin, who was slumped on the floor, onto a hospital bed. Lin Yingbin had not yet regained consciousness. At the same time, Meisha frantically called Kouhi.

Before long, Kouhi rushed over in a hurry.

"Ryuu Mufei was taken by Zhi?" Hearing about this, Kouhi also realized the gravity of the situation. With a furrowed brow and a troubled look on his face, he said, "Now something extraordinary has happened."

"This note is what they left behind!" Ryuseki handed the note to Kouhi. "I don't know why they grabbed Ryuu Mufei, but the note says they won't kill him. Can we really take their word for it, though?"

"Zhi, that fiend. Earlier when you mentioned him, I didn't take it seriously. Making that mistake was my fault!" Kouhi slammed his thigh hard.

"Right now the most important thing is figuring out what to do!"

Meanwhile, on Ryuu Mufei's end.

This was a gloomy space, and one could feel a bone-chilling cold here. Looking at the heavy iron chains on the ground, the pitch-black shackles, and the exhausted, scarred body bound by those cuffs---the person locked up was Ryuu Mufei.

The lifeless place gave one the feeling of being trapped in an ice cellar.

With a loud splash!!!, a basin of bone-chilling cold water was dumped all over Ryuu Mufei.

Ryuu Mufei, still in a daze, was shocked awake by the freezing water. Droplets dripped from his dampened hair-tips. Once awake, Ryuu Mufei slowly raised his head. The water drops hitting the ground quickly froze into a thin layer of ice, and even Ryuu Mufei's breath rapidly condensed into tiny ice crystals in the air.

This place was truly cold!

"Hoo... phoo... phoo...!" Ryuu Mufei gasped heavily for breath, his body trembling unceasingly not only from pain and the cold.

Injured this severely, dressed so thinly, placed in an extremely cold location, and doused with cold water besides, a normal person would have long since been unable to withstand it and frozen to death. As expected of someone from the Five Great Clans, whose constitution differed from ordinary people. Even so, however, Ryuu Mufei was still shivering violently from the cold.

"Hum... hum... hum... hum...! Long time no see, Ryuu Mufei!"

The man standing before Ryuu Mufei spoke in a tone brimming with malice, and it was not hard to hear the mingled anger in his voice.

"Who... who are you?" Ryuu Mufei asked weakly, bound by the iron chains.

Using that same voice, an insidious tone mixed with anger, the man replied, "You really have a short memory!"

This person seemed to recognize Ryuu Mufei? Ryuu Mufei himself did not dare to be certain.

"You are...?! "

Trembling, Ryuu Mufei peered in shock through the gaps of his wet, cold hair at the person before him who claimed to know him.

"You forgot about me, but I never forgot about you! Ryuu Mufei, who would have thought! You, the young master of the Ryuu family, would fall to such a state today! You, Ryuu Mufei, have finally fallen into my hands! Heh~ wa-ha-ha~" With that, the man laughed, his dissolute laughter sending chills down the spine of anyone listening.

Ryuu Mufei panted, looking at the man's silhouette as if recalling something!

"You... could it be! Could you possibly be--Mo...!"

"Hum... hum... hum... You finally haven't forgotten after all! My days of humiliation have finally come to an end. I will surely make a clean break with the past!"

Laughing wildly and speaking at the same time, the man walked out from the shadows. Through the gaps in his hair, Ryuu Mufei clearly saw the fellow's appearance and face.

He saw it clearly: his entire body was hunched over like an old man's, yet his features were exceptionally malevolent. Especially that face; I dare say anyone who had laid eyes on it would never forget that ugly visage. The face was completely covered in pustules resembling the bumps on a toad's back, and his yellowish-red complexion looked terrifying as well.

A toad. If there was any animal to describe him, only this creature would fit. The excitement he displayed made Ryuu Mufei uneasy.

"You... you... how did you end up looking like this, Mo E~?"

Ryuu Mufei was shocked by his appearance, because his current look differed drastically from the past.

"This honorable appearance of mine is all thanks to you! Have you forgotten?"

The man called Mo E spoke as he walked toward Ryuu Mufei.