The Contaminated Novelist (2)
Creak-
Wu Hang yanked open the dorm room door and abruptly raised the slipper in his hand, only to find himself staring straight into a terrifying face covered in scratches and blood.
It was a woman.
A woman whose red clothes fluttered as her feet hovered above the ground.
The atmosphere suddenly fell so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.
Wu Hang and the woman in red were face-to-face, mere inches apart, and the smell of blood hit him full in the face.
Gulp.
Wu Hang's drowsiness vanished, his heart suddenly racing. He swallowed with difficulty as a chill shot up his back and spread through his entire body.
The slipper in his hand fell to the floor with a slap!
Then, almost everyone in the dorm building, asleep or awake, heard a piercing, earth-shaking scream.
"Aaaaaaah!!!"
One hour earlier.
Heavenly River International, underground casino.
The densest crowd had gathered around the open gaming tables on the right.
The casino's shill, its enforcers, and the gamblers who had come for entertainment were all watching the long-haired man seated on the left side of the table.
The man was in his twenties, dressed in a black trench coat, with long hair hanging down his neck and stubble covering his face. Only his eyes were cold and sharp as blades.
He was no casino veteran, yet he had drawn nearly everyone's attention.
Because tonight, he had won two million-with ten yuan.
Starting with the smallest dice bets, he had gone on to mahjong, five-card stud, Texas hold'em, blackjack, three-card poker... winning every bet.
All anyone knew was that his surname was Gu.
The blond woman seated across the table gritted her teeth. "Mr. Gu, you're very lucky."
She deliberately stressed the final word.
She meant: did he have a death wish, cheating on Heavenly River International's turf?
The man crossed his legs without a care, pulled the sexy female dealer attending him into his arms, and casually pushed all the chips in front of him forward. He grinned. "Am I?"
Those two short words were full of arrogance.
The gamblers watching behind him were all stunned.
Boss Lin, the person pulling the strings behind Heavenly River International, was a well-known local tyrant in Suzhou, with considerable connections on both sides of the law.
How could this man remain so composed in the face of the casino's power?
Had he really just tossed out two whole million in chips like that?
Among all the underground casinos in Suzhou, who would dare show such nerve?
The blond woman's face turned livid, and she gave an almost imperceptible nod.
The female dealer the man surnamed Gu had pulled into his arms was the casino's shill.
The dealer put on a radiant smile. As the man surnamed Gu made his move, she pressed her fair, smooth body against him, then offered him an Italian cigar. Looking at him through sultry eyes, she said in a coquettish voice:
"Brother Gu, what's so fun about this casino? Why don't we go out and play something else?"
The man surnamed Gu took the cigar, rolled it around in his hand, and brought it to his nose for a sniff. Then he casually tossed it onto the floor and pulled a crooked, low-quality cigarette from his pants pocket. He lit it, took a deep drag, and slowly breathed out a cloud of smoke. Looking at the dealer clinging to him like a kitten, he asked with feigned confusion:
"Play what? You?"
The dealer shyly lowered her head, playing hard to get as she lightly tapped the man surnamed Gu on the chest with her fist. "You're so naughty!"
When most men and women flirted, if the woman said you were a bad man, you could basically take out the balloon you had prepared. If she said you were a good man, packing up and leaving was probably your only option.
The man surnamed Gu knew this well. He was just about to take the opportunity to cop a feel when he felt a vibration in his pocket. He pulled the dealer up and tossed her aside. "Hang on, I need to take a call."
The dealer stumbled to the floor, utterly bewildered.
The man surnamed Gu took his phone from his pocket and answered it.
It was an off-brand phone for seniors, missing four or five buttons, with a screen only three fingers long. Its advantages were a large battery, water and shock resistance, and an exceptionally long standby time.
Knockoff phones were awesome!
"Gu Jiuge, Gu Jiuge! I called you eighteen whole times! Are your ears stuffed with donkey hair?! You even dare ignore my calls now-you've really got some nerve!"
The anger practically poured through the screen and stabbed at his eardrums.
Gu Jiuge walked to one side, tossed his cigarette butt on the floor, and ground it out underfoot. Lowering his voice, he said, "Sister Yan, I'm on a mission. Keep it down."
"Put the mission aside and go to Star Sea Middle School first. The Contaminated Novelist has appeared again. Go take care of it. There are a lot of people on campus, so keep your identity hidden."
"Hm?" Gu Jiuge paused, frowning.
"If I remember right, the Novelist is only a seventh-tier ghost right now. Anyone on our team could handle it, so why me?"
The voice on the other end gradually calmed. "Chu Ning is on leave, and Lin Luo went to Tianjing to deliver some files. Captain Li is free, but he was badly injured in his last battle with Thanatos and still hasn't recovered. There's no need to trouble him over something this minor."
Gu Jiuge considered it. "Then... why not send Qingxue? She's only seventh tier herself, but if she takes alchemical bullets, she should still be more than capable of handling the Novelist."
There was a brief silence on the other end of the phone before Sister Yan said faintly:
"Ten minutes ago, Qingxue took two Desert Eagles and tried to climb over the wall at Star Sea Middle School. A group of old security guards caught her, and by now... she's probably been hauled off to the police station. Once you've dealt with the Novelist, remember to go get her out."
Whose subordinate is this, to be so valiant?
Oh, it's the old security guards at the school gate. Never mind, then.
Gu Jiuge pressed a hand to his forehead and sighed. He tucked the knockoff phone into his pants pocket and returned to the gaming table. Then he picked up the dice cup, gave it a casual shake, and set it down on the table with a decisive slap! Rising to his feet, he looked around and said flatly:
"I'll come back for the money in a few days."
With that, Gu Jiuge hurriedly squeezed through the crowd, as if the chips on the table were worth two hundred yuan rather than two million.
He did not even look at the dice in the cup.
The female dealer glanced at the blond woman across the table.
The blond woman's eyes flickered, and she nodded lightly.
The dealer reached out and lifted the dice cup.
All six dice showed sixes.
The whole room erupted.
Bang!
Wu Hang was so terrified that he fainted on the spot. As he fell stiffly to the floor, the back of his head struck the bed rail hard, making a loud bang.
Curled up on the top bunk, Su Bai desperately wanted to climb over the rail and check Wu Hang's injuries, but he found his hands and feet cold and stiff, unable to move an inch.
Fear and bewilderment from the depths of his soul held his body firmly in place.
Whoosh!
A soft sound rang out.
As if carried by a fierce wind, the woman outside the door, her red clothes fluttering, rose into the air in an instant and slowly floated up to the bed, bringing her face close to Su Bai's.
"You don't believe my story?"
Drip!
Drip!
Thick blood fell lightly onto the tip of Su Bai's nose. The pungent smell was like tens of thousands of ants, almost devouring him whole.
A loud buzzing filled Su Bai's head.
He felt a piercing chill, a freezing cold that filled his body from the inside out. It left him unable to breathe, and a profound drowsiness followed.
Darkness filled his vision, and his consciousness gradually sank.
Am I... going to die?
The moment that thought flashed through Su Bai's mind, a wild warmth surged from his chest, instantly dispelling the chill throughout his body and winding through his limbs.
Immediately afterward, a faint red light suffused Su Bai's eyes.
Suddenly.
Bang!
A loud crash came from outside the door.
Su Bai jolted awake, gasping for breath. The red light in his eyes vanished instantly.
Gu Jiuge leaned at an angle against the doorway, a Tang saber in his left hand resting casually on the floor and a crooked, half-smoked, low-quality cigarette between his lips.
The narrow doorway.
The curling smoke.
The dim light.
The man walking out of the darkness.
The scene was like a god descending from above.
"Phew-"
Gu Jiuge took the last drag of his cigarette, tossed the butt on the floor, and gently ground it out underfoot. He glanced sideways at the woman in the red dress, her face still close to Su Bai's, and sighed.
"What a hassle."
His voice was a little deep, with a slightly magnetic quality, and pleasant to hear.
Of course, that wasn't important.
What mattered was that he slowly raised the Tang saber in his hand, and an eerie red light immediately gleamed in his eyes.
The woman in the red dress paused for a moment, then abandoned Su Bai and fled toward the window.
Gu Jiuge's eyes drooped, making him look somewhat listless, but he was no slow mover. He abruptly stepped forward and shot across the room, leaving afterimages in his wake. In an instant, he reached the window and brought his blade down.
Whoosh!
The blade flashed and vanished.
The strike shattered the half-open window, sending shards of glass tumbling to the floor with a sharp crash!
The woman in the red dress was also cut in half at the waist, then turned into black mist and dissipated.
In the bright moonlight, the Tang saber's cold, sharp edge pierced the eyes.
The bright moon hung high, and all was silent.
Su Bai stared at the scene before him, beyond anything he understood, utterly shaken. "What... what on earth was that?" he murmured.
Gu Jiuge put away his Tang saber. As he turned around, the red light in his eyes slowly faded. He rummaged in his pocket for a while, but only pulled out a cheap lighter. He waved it at Su Bai, tilted his chin up slightly, and asked:
"Kid, got a cigarette?"