Chapter 330

Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya ran together after Hou Junyi toward that side, with Damai closely following Fang Mengmeng, Gongzi Xiao walking behind, and Zheng Tan bringing up the rear.

Just then, a bad feeling that had risen from Gongzi Xiao and Fang Mengmeng's conversation startled Zheng Tan; as he turned, he didn't notice and knocked the crystal cup to the floor, and before he could figure out how to respond, Maodou started barking from over there.

To better observe Gongzi Xiao and prevent him from suddenly doing something threatening, Zheng Tan walked at the back, keeping his eyes on Gongzi Xiao; Gongzi Xiao had said earlier that he was the only one in the room, so the most threatening person must be Gongzi Xiao without doubt, and what Zheng Tan needed to do now was keep watch on him.

Fortunately, Gongzi Xiao seemed not to regard Zheng Tan, merely paying attention to the three children running ahead.

As Zheng Tan passed, he saw Maodou at the end of the first-floor corridor; at the corridor's end was a tightly closed door that probably led to the workshop. Beside that door stood a metal rack for holding things, placed against the corner, and Maodou was now yowling in front of the rack, as if something were hidden beneath it, occasionally scratching with his paws.

Zheng Tan kept watching Gongzi Xiao's expression; after seeing the situation with Maodou, Gongzi Xiao's eyes flickered, he rubbed his right thumb and forefinger together, then slipped them into the pocket of his sports jacket.

Seeing this, Zheng Tan's heart tightened; he feared there might be some offensive knife or similar weapon in that pocket.

Hou Junyi ran over, wanting to pick up Maodou, but Maodou was obsessed with the space under the rack; as Hou Junyi approached to hug him, Maodou struggled a few times, rattling the rack with a clatter.

"Oh no! A mouse!" Chu Laiya exclaimed.

A mouse about ten centimeters long emerged from under the rack; as Chu Laiya screamed, it darted past her feet and then vanished from the living room where they had just been sitting, apparently having found another hiding place.

"Dogs catching mice, meddling in others' affairs!" Chu Laiya patted her small chest; that mouse had just run past her feet, scaring her half to death.

As for Maodou, they all knew that Hou Junyi's Maodou loved catching mice, having caught three in a year. So Hou Junyi had once boasted that his Maodou equaled several other families' cats. But the very next day after his boast, Damai caught five large rats and laid them out in front of Hou Junyi's door, giving his mother a fright.

"Oh, it's just a mouse." Fang Mengmeng relaxed and apologized to Gongzi Xiao. She had originally said she would watch the pets well so they wouldn't cause trouble, but instead such trouble kept happening.

"It's fine." Gongzi Xiao said with a smile. His right hand, which he had slipped into his jacket pocket, remained there.

"Hey, monkey, what are you doing just standing there?!" Fang Mengmeng urged.

Hou Junyi stood holding Maodou beside the rack, looking dazed. After hearing Fang Mengmeng's words, his body shuddered, then he slowly turned around. Strangely, as he turned while holding Maodou, his face turned somewhat pale, as if he'd been frightened.

"What's wrong with you? Don't be scared; although Maodou is troublesome, Gongzi Xiao won't blame you—look, Hei Tan broke things and didn't get scolded." Chu Laiya comforted him.

Hou Junyi quickly glanced at Gongzi Xiao, who wore a smile, opened his mouth to explain something, then closed it, hesitated, and said, "I want to go home!"

Chu Laiya glanced at her wristwatch; it was actually fine, before nine. They usually discussed models until nine thirty before heading home, and she wanted to linger a bit longer with her idol—such a chance was rare.

Gongzi Xiao smiled; he had already learned the three children's schedule while chatting with the two girls earlier, and moreover, they had come without telling their families.

"It's still ten minutes to nine; how about this—since you've come all this way, I'll give you a signed DVD." Gongzi Xiao said.

Chu Laiya and Fang Mengmeng's eyes lit up. "Is it that award-winning film from this year? In high definition?"

"Do you have DVDs of his earlier movies? We can buy them! I've got money on me." Fang Mengmeng said, "If it's not enough, can I pay by card?"

"No need; just consider it my gift to you. Oh, those are all upstairs; let me take you up to have a look—take whichever you like." Gongzi Xiao said.

Watching Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya eagerly follow Gongzi Xiao upstairs, Hou Junyi hesitated a moment, then put down Maodou and hurried after them, worried about his two companions; as he went up, he pulled out his phone to call home, but upon taking it out he saw the screen showed no signal at all.

Zheng Tan followed Gongzi Xiao upstairs, also waiting for Hou Junyi behind him; thus, when Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya entered the room Gongzi Xiao had mentioned where DVDs and posters were stored, Zheng Tan did not go in but waited in the second-floor hallway outside the door for Hou Junyi.

When Hou Junyi, somewhat panicked, called out Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya's names and ran up to the second floor, Zheng Tan heard a bang, turned his head, and saw that the door to the room Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya had just entered was shut, while Gongzi Xiao stood in the doorway watching Hou Junyi run up.

"What... what do you want to do?!" Hou Junyi stared at the closed door and said.

Gongzi Xiao stood there, his expression indifferent, looking at Hou Junyi and saying, "Can you tell me what you just discovered, clever little student?"

"Let us go home! If we can't get back by nine thirty, you'll be in trouble!" Hou Junyi said.

That's true; normally, if the three kids aren't home by nine thirty, the three families' parents will call each other to check.

Gongzi Xiao's face turned cold: "So, little friend, you'd better obey!"

Gongzi Xiao walked toward Hou Junyi; he hadn't expected these three kids to come today, and they had persistently rung the doorbell. Before opening the door, he had also seen the three outside via the camera and peephole; as for the three pets, perhaps due to angle, he hadn't noticed them until after opening the door. He had always thought kids were easy to fool—just keep the dog from discovering anything—but he hadn't imagined that this Hou kid would know so much; it seemed the boy had found something.

Thus, sometimes, the more you know, the more dangerous it is.

Seeing Gongzi Xiao approach, Hou Junyi flung his phone hard at him without checking whether it hit, then turned and ran downstairs; Maodou, unaware of what had happened, followed Hou Junyi down.

Gongzi Xiao, after sidestepping to avoid the thrown phone, also pursued him downstairs.

Zheng Tan pressed his ear to the door and listened carefully to the movements of Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya locked inside; they sounded fairly lively, so for now there seemed no safety issue, and he also went downstairs, not knowing what Hou Junyi had discovered that caused Gongzi Xiao to expose himself directly.

Earlier, when they first entered, Gongzi Xiao had shown hesitation, frowning as if embarrassed; this was likely an act for the three kids, meant to get them to voluntarily promise to watch over the three pets that had come in.

Why didn't this person want to see the dog and cat? Could he be afraid that some shady thing would be discovered by the pets' keen sense of smell?

Fang Mengmeng and Chu Laiya, locked in the room, also sensed something was wrong; the door wouldn't open, and the sole high, small window was tightly shut, its glass too hard to break, unknown what material it was made of. Originally transparent, the window now looked as if veiled by a thick fog—this was the dimmable glass Hou Junyi had mentioned, which can become transparent or opaque to block sight.

What drove the two to distraction was that all the lights in the room had been turned off; Fang Mengmeng still wanted to try using the light switch her father had taught her to flash an SOS, but now it seemed useless.

Their bags were still left in the first-floor living room; they had brought no phones, etc. The only thing usable was Fang Mengmeng's keychain, which she always carried, bearing a pen-cap-sized mini flashlight. Using that to signal SOS? It would be difficult, and the effect would certainly be poor.

Finding that smashing the window wouldn't break it, Fang Mengmeng decided to change tactics; after scanning the room with her mini flashlight, she fixed her gaze on the wall's louvered vent, but this vent seemed still too small—even if they smashed it open, they might not be able to squeeze through, and they didn't know where it led.

After all, they were just two children; although they were frightened and couldn't immediately think of a good solution, they were still far better off than kids who would only cry and shout.

Chu Laiya, while following Fang Mengmeng in striking the vent with objects, shouted "Help!" but the people outside the room might not hear them; the room's soundproofing was already good, and moreover, world music was playing outside at a low volume, which just managed to drown out the faint cries from inside.

Meanwhile, Hou Junyi, having run downstairs, thought to rush out and fetch help for the other two companions, but upon reaching the bottom he found that neither windows nor the main door could be opened—the huge floor-to-ceiling windows were all tightly shut, turned blurry, sealing off inside from outside.

Hou Junyi then ran toward the living room, hoping to find something useful there, but he was so frightened that, running hastily, he failed to notice a step between the door and the living room, tripped and fell; looking back, he saw Gongzi Xiao holding a golf club, now less than three meters away from him.

His pupils contracted, his clever mind went blank.

Gongzi Xiao needed only two more steps forward to seize the boy causing him trouble, but just then he suddenly felt someone grab his clothing from behind and yank him hard to the side.

It happened too suddenly; Gongzi Xiao never imagined anyone could be behind him, his attention wholly fixed on Hou Junyi on the ground and the dog beside him, with no guard at all on his rear.

Young Master Xiao slammed into the wall beside him, his head also hit the wall, just as he wanted to turn his head to see who it was, in his peripheral vision he only caught a flash of a black shadow, the next moment another great force struck at his waist. (To be continued...)