Page 37

"Okay, thank you, A-Xun." Pei Qingyu spun the scalpel around his fingertips, smiled softly, and turned straight back around.

Before Xun Yin could react, he heard the man facing away from him seem to ask quietly again, "A-Xun... you're not angry anymore, are you?"

"What?"

Xun Yin froze. Before he could answer, Pei Qingyu, who had been half crouching in front of him, suddenly straightened slightly and hurled the scalpel in his hand.

The gunman opposite them fell with a muffled grunt. Pei Qingyu looked back at Xun Yin and said innocently, "Sorry, A-Xun, the attrition rate is a little high... do you have any spares?"

Xun Yin: "..."

Pei Qingyu tilted his head. Xun Yin glanced behind him and immediately kicked over the table beside them, sending it in front of them both. He grabbed Pei Qingyu's hand and made to run toward the stairwell they had come from.

"Wait, that's not the exit." Pei Qingyu caught him and pulled him back.

Xun Yin did not understand, but he cooperated, letting Pei Qingyu hold on to him and pull him behind another table. Pei Qingyu motioned for Xun Yin to look toward the stairs. Something that absorbed light seemed to have been smeared there, making it look particularly dark from a distance.

By the light of the swaying chandelier overhead, Xun Yin suddenly realized that it was not light-absorbing dye, but blood slowly flowing down.

"I took a look just now. Most people quickly hid behind the bar in the center. Only a few ran up the stairs in a blind panic, and then there wasn't another sound from them." Pei Qingyu pressed his tight chest and said softly, "They didn't escape. They were killed."

As Pei Qingyu spoke, he unconsciously gathered the coat around himself. Amid all the chaos of running and hiding, he had somehow still managed to spare a hand to clutch that coat tightly.

Xun Yin glanced at Pei Qingyu's fingers clutching the coat, then reached up and tapped his earpiece as though trying to cover something up. He went quiet for a moment, then looked up and told Pei Qingyu briefly, "No response. I probably lost contact as soon as I entered this hall."

"Mm." Pei Qingyu nodded, looking thoughtful.

At some point, silence had returned to the hall, as though everyone had concealed themselves in the darkness.

Xun Yin peered out. The surroundings were a mess, and at some point, six straight lines passing through the central bar had appeared on the floor, dividing the entire hall into twelve sections. Xun Yin stared at the undamaged central bar for a few seconds, and something stirred in his mind.

"This is still roulette?"

"Yes." Pei Qingyu was having trouble staying crouched. Bracing himself on Xun Yin's arm, he sat cross-legged on the floor and turned his head to cough twice. "Or, more accurately, only now is it truly Russian roulette."

"The gunmen who just entered represent a handgun with only one bullet. The survivors now represent the ball placed in the roulette wheel, and the central bar represents the spinning wheel. Whoever it lands on has to leave the bar, their life or death left to fate."

Pei Qingyu glanced at the clock on the wall. There were fifteen seconds before the second hand reached the hour.

"The bell rings on the hour, and the game starts when it rings." Pei Qingyu recovered from a bout of palpitations and said quickly, "We can't contact the outside, but that doesn't mean the outside can't contact us. If Song Ranran really is monitoring this place, she'll definitely give us a signal later. But rather than waiting around, we might as well..."

"Counter stillness with movement." Xun Yin finished his sentence and pulled him halfway upright. "If we want to take part in the game, we have to get behind the bar."

"Yes." Pei Qingyu carefully gathered the coat around himself and chuckled. "A-Xun, you..."

"Captain, you go ahead. I'll cover the rear." Xun Yin pulled him in front of himself and said quietly and earnestly, "Look after yourself, Captain. Don't worry about me."

"I'll be right behind you. You don't need to look back."

The distance from the corner of the hall to the central bar was no more than ten meters at most, yet crossing it was exceptionally difficult.

Pei Qingyu's only weapon had been lost while protecting the two of them. He turned to look at Xun Yin one last time. Xun Yin was looking down, loading his handgun. He clicked the magazine into place and silently met Pei Qingyu's eyes.

Pei Qingyu smiled faintly, then charged out without hesitation a second later.

He was slender and moved with great agility, already reaching the next hiding spot as the gunmen around him pulled their triggers. There was only one way to move from his current position to the bar, and the surrounding gunmen would certainly concentrate their fire there.

Pei Qingyu took a silent, gasping breath. True to his word, he did not look back, and swiftly rushed out again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the gunmen concealed around him lean out, just as expected. But a second later, gunfire rang out behind him, and the gunmen fell at the sound.

-It was Xun Yin.

Hidden behind the table in the corner, he calmly dealt with everyone who tried to hurt Pei Qingyu.

Seven seconds remained. The low gate at the entrance to the bar was slowly closing. Pei Qingyu suddenly twisted around and braced his back against it, calling in a low voice, "A-Xun!"

Xun Yin understood. He immediately threw the handgun forward, rising swiftly at the same time and charging toward Pei Qingyu.

The handgun traced a complete arc through the air and landed securely in Pei Qingyu's hand. Pei Qingyu bent forward and narrowed his eyes. With two bangs, he accurately took out the gunmen who had leaned out again.

Three seconds, two seconds, one second...

Before the bar gate closed, Xun Yin leaped forward, wrapped his arms around Pei Qingyu, who was watching him unblinkingly from the entrance, and slipped behind the bar.

"Hss..."

Pei Qingyu turned his head and coughed. Looking at the man sprawled on top of him, he could not help chuckling.

Xun Yin climbed up with the tips of his ears red and reached out to pull up the man he had knocked down. He rubbed Pei Qingyu's back, silently watching him keep his head lowered and laugh without stopping.

"I'm fine. It doesn't hurt. I just got a bit of a stitch... cough, cough, cough, cough..." Pei Qingyu kept choking and coughing as he laughed. For some inexplicable reason, Xun Yin's movements just now kept reminding him of the wolf pups in Animal World. He handed the □□ back to Xun Yin and asked softly, "You're pretty practiced at tackling people. Have you trained before?"

"No," Xun Yin answered sullenly. His hand rubbing Pei Qingyu's back unconsciously pressed harder and harder, making Pei Qingyu squirm slightly before he belatedly eased the pressure.