Greenhorn

At the sound of the bell, Zhao Mingjun said in a low voice, "Someone's outside?"

The man hurriedly replied, "It's downstairs. That's the bell for the main entrance."

"Who could be looking for you?" Zhao Mingjun asked coldly.

"I don't know. Anyone... anyone could be." The man really had no idea.

Zhao Mingjun said nothing. He quietly listened to the bell until it stopped ringing.

Perhaps the other person had assumed no one was home and left.

He steadied himself and said in a low voice, "All right. I'll leave once I get the money. Don't try anything funny."

"I wouldn't dare, I wouldn't dare..." The man had completely lost his nerve.

Blocking the doorway, Zhao Mingjun said, "Then what are you waiting for? If you move fast, you can still make it to the hospital to get your fingers reattached. If you're too late, I'll remove two more of your parts."

"Yes, yes..." The man hurriedly urged his girlfriend, "Go get the money!"

Her legs had gone weak, so she simply crawled into the room.

Just then, the doorbell suddenly rang again behind Zhao Mingjun, and it sounded different from before.

This time, the man didn't need to remind him. Zhao Mingjun knew that the person from before had come up and was now standing outside the door.

Hiss! Hey! Zhao Mingjun wondered who was looking to die. Could the timing be any worse?

He leaned toward the peephole and saw a tall, muscular young man standing outside, chewing gum with a relaxed expression.

Although he was just a young man, it was still better not to create unnecessary complications.

"Is he here for you? Come over and get rid of him." Zhao Mingjun spoke in a low voice.

Holding his hand, the man also looked outside through the peephole and shook his head. "I don't know him."

"You don't know him?" Zhao Mingjun nodded. "Then ignore him. If you don't respond, he'll naturally leave."

"Huh? So someone is home after all? I heard voices. Why are you ignoring me? I came all the way here to find you..." The person outside shouted through the door.

Zhao Mingjun frowned. He hadn't expected the person outside to hear them.

"Didn't you say you didn't know him? How dare you lie to me?" Zhao Mingjun glared at the man.

The man was bewildered. "I really don't know him. Could it be... he's looking for my girlfriend?"

"I don't care who he's looking for. Get rid of him," Zhao Mingjun said.

The man hurriedly shouted toward the door, "Who is it? What do you want?"

"I'm looking for my girlfriend!"

"What?"

The man was dumbfounded. "Get lost. It's just me and my wife in this apartment. Where would you get a girlfriend?"

The person outside was naturally Mo Qiong. He knew Zhao Mingjun was in 401, so how could he leave just because no one answered?

Breaking through the building's main entrance was easy. He simply extended his phone through the gap in the door and took a picture, then locked onto the door opener and threw a stone at it. That was enough to press it.

Mo Qiong arrived at 401 and fearlessly pressed the doorbell.

Knowing beforehand that there were people inside, he paid close attention to the sounds on the other side. When he faintly heard someone speaking in a low voice, he took the opportunity to start shouting.

Mo Qiong didn't know what was happening inside. It seemed that there was more than just Zhao Mingjun, so he decided to probe them.

Sure enough, after hearing the man's answer, Mo Qiong knew that the speaker wasn't Zhao Mingjun. He was probably the original resident of the apartment.

He might not even be Zhao Mingjun's accomplice. It was highly likely that he was an unrelated person being held hostage.

The reason was simple. If the speaker had been Zhao Mingjun or one of his accomplices, he wouldn't have said, "It's just me and my wife in this apartment." He would have simply said, "You've got the wrong door."

Zhao Mingjun and his accomplices had no need to conceal their numbers. The fact that the man could say there were only two people inside meant that he was most likely being held hostage and didn't dare mention the third person.

At this point, Mo Qiong could temporarily retreat and call the police directly.

He could tell the police that he had seen Zhao Mingjun at the entrance to the residential complex and thought he looked like a wanted criminal. After confirming which building and apartment he had entered, he had called the police.

However, after thinking it over, Mo Qiong held back.

He couldn't determine when Zhao Mingjun had arrived at the apartment. It could have been ten or twenty minutes ago, or it could have been several hours ago. There was no way to know.

If the timing didn't match up, he would only arouse suspicion.

"The easiest way is to wait downstairs and call the police when he comes out."

Mo Qiong thought it over. Although this method was easy, he had no idea when Zhao Mingjun would come out. What if he had to wait a day, or even several days?

Besides, he couldn't guarantee that the hostage inside wouldn't be killed when Zhao Mingjun left.

After thinking for a while, Mo Qiong came up with an idea. I'm already at the door. I might as well subdue him. That way, I can guarantee I'll get the reward.

He quickly thought of what to say. "How could that be? How come I didn't know she had a boyfriend? Who are you? Open the door! I want to see her!"

Mo Qiong put on an extremely displeased expression. He was displeased, and the man inside was even more displeased.

What the hell? A man came looking for someone at my home? That's impossible. My wife isn't that kind of person.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Mo Qiong pounded hard on the door, making it boom.

"Open up!" As if he wanted all the neighbors to hear, Mo Qiong shouted loudly.

The huge commotion panicked the people inside. The man hurriedly said, "Big brother, how about I ask my wife?"

Zhao Mingjun shook his head. "No need. Let him in!"

His voice was cold beneath the mask.

The man shuddered and thought, This is bad. The person outside is practically asking to die. Why did he have to come at a time like this, shouting and making such a racket?

Although he didn't know what connection the man had with his wife, once he entered this door, he would definitely meet a bad end.

The masked robber would never let him keep shouting outside. Sure enough, he was letting him in directly. This man would probably be in grave danger.

That was what the man thought, but he didn't dare resist Zhao Mingjun. He still slowly opened the door.

Mo Qiong shoved the door aside and barged in, shouting, "Where's Xiao Xin? Come out and explain everything to me!"

At the same time, Zhao Mingjun darted out from a blind corner beside the entrance and stabbed at Mo Qiong.

No one knew that although Mo Qiong appeared to enter without any precautions, he was actually highly focused.

Moreover, when he came in, his head quickly turned from side to side. It seemed that he was looking for the so-called Xiao Xin, but in reality, he was searching for Zhao Mingjun.

When he saw the masked man draw his knife, Mo Qiong leaped sideways to open up some distance. He pulled out his ballpoint pen and said, "What the hell is going on?"

Seeing how quickly he had reacted and how he had dodged the knife, Zhao Mingjun hurriedly used the momentum to close the door and blocked it. "Kid, keep quiet and you can stay alive."

Seeing Zhao Mingjun raise his knife, Mo Qiong actually raised his ballpoint pen as well. "You'd better not make any rash moves."

Zhao Mingjun froze when he saw the ballpoint pen. Is this some kind of joke?

The man, who had shrunk away from the door the moment it opened, saw Mo Qiong challenge a knife-wielding robber with a ballpoint pen. He couldn't help thinking that Mo Qiong was insane.

But then the man felt something was strange. "You... you're looking for Xiao Xin? Who's Xiao Xin?"

Mo Qiong widened his eyes. "Isn't this Xiao Xin's home? She sent me this address online!"

The man was stunned. "There's no Xiao Xin here. This is my home!"

Mo Qiong also looked surprised. "What? Did I come to the wrong place?"

The man stared at Mo Qiong speechlessly. He hadn't expected that his wife hadn't been seeing someone else after all. This kid had simply come to the wrong place.

Normally, entering the wrong apartment wouldn't matter. But why did it have to happen now? Wasn't this practically asking to die? What terrible luck.

Just then, the woman came out from the inner room carrying the money. There was roughly twenty thousand yuan.

The man hurriedly said, "Big brother, take the money and leave. I definitely won't call the police."

The man was cowardly, but he was also shrewd. At this moment, he had noticed a hint of murderous intent in Zhao Mingjun.

Zhao Mingjun took the money, but before he could say anything, he saw Mo Qiong approaching him step by step with the ballpoint pen in his hand.

"Don't move!" Zhao Mingjun shouted.

Yet Mo Qiong continued advancing and said, "I've never been afraid of robbers in my life. What luck, running into one today. If you've got the guts, stab me to death. If you can't kill me, don't even think about leaving."

The man nearly went crazy when he heard that.

How thick does your head have to be to say something that tough?

He had already handed over the money and only wanted to get the robber out of there as quickly as possible. But Mo Qiong actually wanted to keep him there? He was too young and reckless!

It wouldn't matter if one person wanted to throw his life away, but if Zhao Mingjun stabbed Mo Qiong to death, they certainly wouldn't be spared either. They might all be silenced.

"Shut up! Are you trying to get yourself killed?" the man growled, trying to stop Mo Qiong.

But Mo Qiong had already made up his mind to keep Zhao Mingjun there, and was now less than two meters away.

"Looking to die!" Zhao Mingjun unleashed his ferocity, stepped forward decisively, and thrust his knife at Mo Qiong.

Mo Qiong reacted with lightning speed and suddenly flung his ballpoint pen.

What made it unusual was that Mo Qiong's hand then rapidly caught up with the flying pen and seized it in midair.

He had practiced this many times.

As long as the object he threw wasn't moving too fast, an ordinary person could generally catch it again with their hand in midair.

At this moment, Mo Qiong had thrown the object out and then caught it in his hand again.

To others, it looked flashy and ridiculous, like someone showing off with a spear.

But to Mo Qiong, it was an excellent way to conceal the trajectory of an attack in close combat.

At that moment, the ballpoint pen pulled his hand forward, pointing straight at the web between Zhao Mingjun's right thumb and index finger.

Zhao Mingjun was clearly skilled with a knife. His right hand had originally been thrusting straight forward, but when he saw the sharp pen tip seemingly about to strike his hand with pinpoint accuracy,

he was still able to change the thrust into a slash midway, attempting to avoid the pen tip and stab Mo Qiong in the neck, trying to kill him in one blow.

But astonishingly, Mo Qiong changed his move at almost the same time. As he stepped forward, he sharply bent his wrist, and the pen tip still pointed straight at the web of Zhao Mingjun's hand.

Zhao Mingjun was startled. He tried to slash at Mo Qiong's hand, but it was already too late.

At such close range, Mo Qiong's pen was swift and fierce. Even after changing moves, its speed didn't decrease at all, and it stabbed directly into his hand.

Splurt! It struck the web of his hand dead-on.

"Ah!" Zhao Mingjun let out a scream. His hand went limp, and the knife fell.

As if he had expected to knock the knife away with pinpoint accuracy, Mo Qiong lifted his foot and kicked it. The knife slammed violently into his leg, slicing a small cut.

Zhao Mingjun had lost his knife and been wounded. He stumbled backward repeatedly, staring at Mo Qiong in horror.

That brief exchange had involved at least three rounds of maneuvering!

This greenhorn with a sword—no, with a pen—is ridiculously agile!