Chapter 8: The Unraveling Script

A dense, inescapable, tangible murderous intent radiated from Jiang Yi. It was not the flame of anger, but something far more terrifying—a freezing ice capable of halting everything. His usually calm black eyes, like a deep pool, shattered violently at the moment those pink bills, light as air and dripping with utmost humiliation, were cast onto Xu Yuan’s face.

Slowly, he pushed Xu Yuan aside.

Step by step, he approached Li Wenfeng, whose face twisted into a cruel sneer from his momentary triumph. Jiang Yi’s steps were steady, unfaltering, yet the temperature in the entire private room seemed to plummet several degrees.

“Feng... Feng-ge, what... what does he want to do?” a follower’s voice trembled uncontrollably.

Li Wenfeng was stunned by Jiang Yi’s sudden overwhelming presence, but relying on his numbers, he barked out, feigning ferocity, “Do what? Jiang Yi, do you still want to fight?!”

Jiang Yi said nothing.

He merely walked to the coffee table, bent down amidst the chaos, and picked up an empty beer bottle.

He didn’t shatter it immediately but calmly traced his long fingers over the cold surface. Then, lifting his gaze, his dark eyes locked onto Li Wenfeng like a predator fixating on its prey.

In those eyes, there was no anger, no struggle, not even any emotion typical of a student—only a deathly stillness, pure madness ready to drag everything before him into hell.

The arrogance on Li Wenfeng’s face finally cracked inch by inch before those eyes. He had seen fights, heard threats, but never such a gaze—one that truly meant to kill.

“You...” Li Wenfeng instinctively took a step back, his voice quivering with a trembling he hadn’t realized he possessed.

Reality and nightmare resonated in a strange, twisted harmony.

It was unclear who was abuser and who was victim.

The only constant was the warm blood about to surge forth.

Xu Yuan’s mind went blank, but her body reacted faster than reason.

She couldn’t let this happen!

If Jiang Yi struck, everything would be ruined! What awaited him would no longer be Li Wenfeng’s humiliation, but cold iron bars and a future lost beyond repair!

“Stop!”

She screamed and rushed forward—not at Jiang Yi, but toward Li Wenfeng, whose legs wobbled with fear.

She spread her arms like a foolish mother hen, using her frail body to shield Li Wenfeng behind her.

For a moment, the world seemed to mute itself.

Everyone was dumbfounded by Xu Yuan’s incomprehensible act.

The cowering followers in the corner gaped, forgetting to breathe.

The girls serving drinks ceased their screams, their eyes filled with absurdity and confusion.

Even Jiang Yi—the hellfire burning in his eyes, ready to shatter his enemy’s skull—was halted mid-motion by her sudden, illogical intervention.

He stared at her.

At the girl who had just claimed to be his girlfriend, standing before him, now protecting the one who had humiliated her with money—the enemy he hated most—with the same stance.

He didn’t understand.

In his world, such contradictions, such incomprehensible existences, had never appeared.

“What... what are you doing?” His voice was hoarse, as if sandpapered raw, each word thick with the confusion and bitterness of betrayal.

“If you hurt him, you’ll have to pay!” Xu Yuan faced his beast-like, devouring eyes, her heart pounding wildly, but she could only scream hoarsely, playing the role of the mercenary to the fullest.

“Don’t you know that hitting someone means legal responsibility? Medical fees, lost wages, mental damages! Can you afford that?” Like a crazed merchant, she pointed at Li Wenfeng, still trembling from rescue, loudly calculating, “He’s the son of a school board member! If you injure him, what about our 100,000-yuan bonus? What about my 30,000 yuan?”

Her words stabbed Jiang Yi’s already battered heart like a blunt, absurd blade, indiscriminately and mercilessly.

He looked at her—her face flushed with excitement, her eyes filled with fear but pretending to be all about the money.

The raging fire in his eyes gradually extinguished.

In its place rose a despair more dreadful than anger—a deathly silence.

Suddenly, he smiled.

That smile was silent, mournful, full of self-mockery.

He seemed to be laughing at her, but even more, at himself.

It turned out that the one in his world he thought might be worth protecting—one in a million—was nothing but a thorough transaction about money.

He had been foolishly sentimental.

“Bang!”

In the suffocating standoff, the heavy door of the private room was kicked open from outside.

A man in a black suit, wearing an earpiece and obviously the KTV manager, burst in with four or five security guards holding walkie-talkies.

“What’s going on? Who’s causing trouble here?” The manager’s expression darkened instantly upon seeing the mess, the scattered bills on the floor, and Li Wenfeng guarded by Xu Yuan.

When his gaze landed on Li Wenfeng, he gasped sharply.

“Young Master Li! Are you okay?” He hurried forward, stumbling.

The moment Li Wenfeng saw the manager, he seemed to find his backbone. His earlier cowardly posture vanished, replaced by endless malice and arrogance.

“Get him!” he shouted at Jiang Yi hoarsely. “Beat him! Beat him to death! I’ll take responsibility if anything happens!”

The security guards exchanged glances, grabbed their rubber batons, and surrounded Jiang Yi.

It was over.

Xu Yuan’s heart sank to the bottom of the abyss.

She watched the fierce guards and Jiang Yi’s lone wolf figure driven to desperation. A despair unlike any before seized her heart.

She had messed everything up.

All her so-called clever interventions had only made things worse, spiraling out of control.

At this critical moment, Jiang Yi moved.

He neither resisted nor fled.

He slowly, very slowly, loosened his grip.

Clank—

The intact beer bottle dropped onto the carpet, making a dull sound as if something had shattered.

He gave up resisting.

Like a lifeless, cold sculpture, he stood silently, awaiting the judgment of fate.

Watching his helpless posture, Xu Yuan’s heart felt torn open, pain so fierce she could barely breathe.

No.

It couldn’t end like this.

She suddenly pulled out the pepper spray Lin Feifei had given her.

Without a moment’s thought, she twisted off the cap and fiercely pressed down on the nozzle toward the guards at the front.

A burst of pink, pungent mist sprayed forth instantly!

“Ah—!”

“My eyes! Damn it!”

The guards were caught directly in the spray, clutching their eyes and screaming in agony, their rubber batons clattering to the ground.

Chaos erupted once more in the private room.

“Go!”

Xu Yuan didn’t hesitate. Grabbing Jiang Yi’s cold wrist with all her strength, she dragged him out of the room.

Jiang Yi followed like a soulless puppet, staggering behind her.

His gaze fell on the small hand gripping his own, knuckles white from the force, shadowed and unclear.

“Catch them! Don’t let them escape!” came Li Wenfeng’s furious roar from behind, followed by the manager and guards shouting in confusion.

Xu Yuan heard nothing; only one thought echoed in her mind—run!

Run as far as possible!

She pulled him through the labyrinthine corridors of the KTV, crashing into countless glasses and fruit plates, eliciting screams and curses.

Finally, they burst through the revolving glass doors and emerged into the noisy, lively street outside.

The cool night breeze brushed her face, calming her nearly exploding heart.

She dared not stop, dragging Jiang Yi into a dark alley.

Only when no footsteps chased them did she finally halt, leaning against the cold wall, gasping, her lungs burning.

The alley was dim, lit faintly by distant streetlights.

Jiang Yi stood silently before her.

His face hidden in shadow, his expression unreadable. But Xu Yuan felt the cold, impenetrable aura around him more intense than ever.

“Wh... why didn’t you fight back?” she asked hoarsely after catching her breath.

She didn’t understand—he clearly had the strength to take them all down. So why give up when the guards appeared?

Jiang Yi did not answer.

He slowly lifted his hand, brushing his thumb gently across her cheek.

Xu Yuan stiffened.

His fingertips were cold, rough with calluses, and the touch felt like an electric shock, making her instinctively want to pull away.

“Dirty.”

He finally spoke, his voice low and void of emotion.

Only then did Xu Yuan realize that when Li Wenfeng threw money at her, dust must have stuck to her face.

She looked at him, his eyes still as fathomless as ever in the darkness, and her heart involuntarily skipped a beat.

Yet in the next moment, he withdrew his hand.

“Our cooperation ends here.” His tone was matter-of-fact, final, sentencing their relationship to death. “I’ll find a way to return your 30,000 yuan.”

With that, he turned to leave.

“Wait!” Xu Yuan panicked, instinctively reaching out to stop him.

At that moment, her phone vibrated wildly in her pocket.

Flustered, she pulled it out. The screen flashed insistently with the caller ID: “Aunt Zhang (Tutor).”

Her mind went blank with a buzzing sound.

She had forgotten!

She still had a tutoring session tonight!

She glanced at the time: 9:30 p.m. The session should have ended long ago.

A cold, despair deeper than what she'd felt in the KTV swept over her.

This tutoring job, paying two hundred yuan an hour, was currently her largest source of income. She had visited over ten agencies and said countless good things to get it.

Now, it was all ruined.

The phone kept ringing relentlessly, seeming to toll the death knell for her already precarious life.

Xu Yuan’s hand trembled. She stared at the flashing screen, hesitant to answer.

Jiang Yi, about to leave, paused because of the sudden call.

He turned his head, his gaze falling on her face, suddenly drained of all color, full of panic and despair, then flicked to the glaring caller ID.

His dark eyes flickered imperceptibly.