Chapter 174: Volume 1, Chapter 174 – Study Well, Make Progress Every Day (18)

A clear, boyish voice rang out like the morning sun.

The handsome mixed-race face beneath the boy's fine golden hair was as perfect and exquisite as a game model, his narrow fox-like eyes held the depth of a vast deep sea, and his smile blossomed like peach blossoms.

It gave Cheng Su an extremely uncomfortable feeling; he glanced at the arm wrapped around the girl's waist, his expression suddenly darkened, he stepped forward and, without a word, seized his arm, saying coldly:

"Let go of me, you bastard!!"

Li Wen Nian narrowed his eyes, faintly exuding danger, not yielding an inch.

The atmosphere plunged to freezing point, like the calm before a storm.

Jiang Zhi spoke just before they were about to fight: "Li Wen Nian?"

She said this, pushing aside his arm across her waist, stepping back a few paces to put distance between them.

Li Wen Nian grasped her white cane, "Zhizhi, don't you miss me?"

Before Jiang Zhi could answer, Cheng Su beside him grabbed his collar, his voice thick with cold menace: "Are you looking to die?"

Cheng Su remembered that name, Li Wen Nian. It was the name of the previous owner of the seat he was sitting in.

These days at school, he'd heard many rumors; he browsed the school forum, and the top hot post was about their photos.

At that moment Cheng Su wished he could crush his phone; he envied the boy named Li Wen Nian.

He had clearly known Zhizhi longer……

Li Wen Nian's emotions grew unstable again; he lowered his head, his fingertips digging hard enough to break the skin of his thumb, bright red blood welling up, the pupils hidden beneath his gold hair roiling with terrifying killing intent.

His mind was filled with 'So annoying, so annoying, so annoying,' 'Kill him,' 'Kill everyone,' 'Kill them all.'

Jiang Zhi sensed something was off between them, feeling his way forward, wanting to go over and stop it.

"Bang!"

A deafening gunshot split the night sky.

In an instant, passersby on the shopping street were frightened and ran off in panic.

The street was already crowded at night, and with an outdoor performance nearby, it was packed; there were only two exits, crowds surged to escape, and piercing screams echoed through the heavens.

Jiang Zhi couldn't see his surroundings, jostled by the crowd, losing even his white cane, and couldn't tell which way was which.

The bodyguards at the street's edge rushed toward her immediately, but were blocked by the crowd and couldn't get through.

The street descended into chaos; Cheng Su and Li Wen Nian were also scattered by the crowd, nowhere to be found.

Jiang Zhi could only follow the crowd in one direction when suddenly someone tripped him, his body lurching forward uncontrollably as he fell.

She tried to steady herself, for if she hit the ground she would surely be trampled; the original host's frail body couldn't withstand even two blows.

At that moment, a hand pulled her to his side, his figure blocking the pressing crowd around them.

Jiang Zhi's cheek rested against that person's chest, he smelled the familiar scent on his nose, and the fingers gripping his lapels slowly relaxed.

Whoever it was, it was Yun Jin.

If it was him, that was enough.

I don't know how long she walked; her vision grew dim, she saw no light, the temperature was low, a faint chill covered her skin, bringing waves of cold.

She heard several gunshots near her ears, as if they brushed past her cheek, terrifyingly close.

The person holding her never let go, having dealt with the pursuers, he brought her to a deserted back alley.

The ground was piled with junk, the air reeked of damp dust and a strong smell of blood.

Jiang Zhi's fingers touched warm, sticky blood; his expression went blank, his lowered voice trembling:

"Li Wen Nian?"

Li Wen Nian loosened the arm around her slender waist, his body swayed slightly, he leaned against the nearby wall and swiftly tore off a strip of cloth to tightly bind the shoulder where blood kept seeping out.

He slightly raised his brow; the fox eyes that naturally carried a smile now revealed a grim, ferocious look unlike before.

"No."

If a subordinate who had followed him for long were present, they could see at a glance that he was now in a state of madness.

Li Wen Nian suffers from a severe psychological disorder; since childhood he has dwelt in the world's darkest, survival-of-the-fittest places, fighting to live and slaughtering his half‑brothers.

He even needed to kill his closest friend, merely to become the next‑generation godfather of the Ulysses Family—emotionless, cruel, and tyrannical.

Li Wen Nian has been black to the core since early on, walking through this world like a living corpse.

But the girl before him is different.

He urgently wants to drag her into hell, to stain those clear, pure eyes with black.

How fun that would be.

Jiang Zhi heard the voice and looked in that direction, but his blurry, dark vision could not make out the person's form.

She said with certainty: "You are Li Wen Nian."

As soon as she finished speaking, the boy shoved her against the wall; she tilted her chin slightly, and a feeling of suffocation came from her throat.

Li Wen Nian lowered his gaze, through the dim light he blandly watched the pale, fragile neck he was choking; it seemed a little more pressure would easily snap it, he drew near, his thin lips brushing her ear, his voice low and devoid of emotion:

"My name is Li Shijiu; don't get it wrong again."

Jiang Zhi helplessly clung to his hem; the lack of oxygen made her unable to stand, and just as she was about to collapse, the hand gripping her suddenly released.

She covered her chest and coughed, breathing ragged, weakly leaning against the wall behind her.

After a long while, Jiang Zhi reached out into the air and felt around: "Li Wen Nian?"

For a long time, no one answered her voice.

The boy had at some point fainted, collapsing unconscious on the ground.

Jiang Zhi dragged him with all his strength to a nearby abandoned house and snapped: "Does he have a split personality?"

777 watched the host's drastic change, already accustomed: "Probably not."

Jiang Zhi raised a hand to rub his aching head, then after a moment put his hands on his hips and asked: "Brother Seven, can my eyesight return to normal for a few minutes?"

Although in a few months her eyes will get better, but now the situation is urgent, blindly taking care of this problematic boy is obviously a problem.

After passing through these several worlds, 777's system got an upgrade; unlike the first world where it could only warm the belly, it now has some practical functions.

"Okay, but afterwards the Host's eyes will take a longer time to get better."

Jiang Zhi sighed: "I know."

Vision gradually cleared; using the night's darkness, I barely managed to see everything in the room, as well as the boy lying on the ground with a pale face.

Li Wen Nian was shot in the shoulder, and his left leg was also shot.

Thinking back to how he led me here, acting as if nothing were wrong and even having time to choke her neck, Jiang Zhi couldn't help but admire him; his physique is too strong.

Given that everyone outside is hunting him, Jiang Zhi also couldn't take him to the hospital, and her own body couldn't carry him.

Jiang Zhi simply staunched the blood on his body; the wound wouldn't kill him for a while, her gaze lingered on him, her expression froze.

The blond-haired boy had new and old scars on his back, chest, and abdomen, most of them gunshot wounds, as well as blade scars.

Although he is under eighteen years old, the scars on his body are probably more than those of a soldier.