Chapter 29: Held Hostage

"Stop making that face, come have a drink."

Han Letian snapped his fingers in front of the dazed Li Cheng and poured him a glass of peach-flavored sparkling water.

The time was Saturday afternoon, the location a VIP room in a high-end KTV in Yin City.

The weekend get-together and karaoke had been planned long ago. Besides Li Cheng, Mu Yulu, and Han Letian, there were also a few other classmates including Shao Wangshu.

In theory, minors aren't allowed into a KTV alone. But Han Letian's father was an old friend of the owner here, so one phone call got them in.

"I'm going outside for some air."

Li Cheng forced a faint smile, waved his hand, stood up and walked out of the room, casually pulling the KTV's soundproof door shut behind him. He crossed the gaudy gold-and-jade corridor to the end and pushed open a window.

Outside the window the sky was a clear blue, so pure it seemed washed clean. In the distance, tower cranes stood like the arms of giants, hauling rebar and cement to build high-rises.

Li Cheng took a deep breath. As the cold air flooded his lungs, he suddenly cupped a hand over his mouth and coughed violently, smoothly pulling a tissue from his pocket and wrapping up the large clumps of black blood he coughed out.

He'd been on the gene suppressant for two weeks now. The drug was remarkably effective — the near-total body collapse hadn't recurred, and the gene thirst cycle had been halted.

As for side effects, probably a dozen or so complications including hematologic toxicity, cardiotoxicity, pulmonary toxicity, and liver damage.

"Doesn't it feel cold standing here?"

The girl's voice came from behind. Li Cheng turned his head and saw Shao Wangshu, dressed in a blue striped shirt and a dark blue pleated skirt, bouncing over and handing him a throat lozenge. She must have heard him coughing.

"I'm fine." Li Cheng took the lozenge and asked with a smile, "Why are you out here too?"

"A bit tired."

Shao Wangshu tilted her head and stood facing Li Cheng. "Why'd you stop singing? I already sang several songs — I was really looking forward to hearing yours."

"Ha, better not look forward to it. Definitely not as good as yours."

Li Cheng laughed and shook his head. Just now Shao Wangshu had sung three songs: one "What I Miss," one "A Little Happiness," and one "Bubbles."

Even with his shallow knowledge of music theory, he could tell Shao Wangshu's vocal level was very high — excellent pitch, a clear and beautiful timbre, steady breath, transparent and bright high notes, rich mix voice with natural transitions.

"You haven't heard me, how would you know."

"No no no, I'm strictly KTV-level."

Li Cheng scratched his head, then thought of something. "Oh right, our class's New Year's Day talent show is doing a rock band — they've got a guitarist, keyboardist, drummer, and bassist, but they still need a lead vocalist. Want to give it a try?"

"Eh?" Shao Wangshu was startled, then hesitated. "But I've never performed on stage before."

"Just give it a try? Worst case, wear sunglasses so you don't look at the audience — then you won't be nervous." Li Cheng suggested.

This was advice from experience. Back in elementary school, the teacher had every student perform one talent, no repeats. Li Cheng had no choice but to lie and claim he knew sign language, then performed ten minutes of Naruto hand seals on the podium without getting caught.

Later, for the school's hundredth anniversary, he was even dragged in to serve as the sign language interpreter for the anniversary documentary, appearing on camera the whole time, "translating" the principal's speech with sealing jutsu.

Ding dong.

Not far away came the sound of an elevator arriving. A group of men and women in crisp suits and Bluetooth earpieces, faces stern, stepped out of the car, followed by Wei Caiyan, whose expression was dark.

"We've found Miss Wangshu."

The suit-wearing man at the head tapped his Bluetooth earpiece, reporting the situation to his superior, and led the group down the corridor toward the end.

Li Cheng watched this aggressive-looking group, his brow furrowing unconsciously. Shao Wangshu's face, meanwhile, had gone faintly pale.

"Miss Wangshu, your father's call."

The suit man took out a phone and handed it to Shao Wangshu. From the other end came the weary, guilty voice of a middle-aged man: "Wangshu, at home, we're running out of blood."

"But I only just gave 400cc last week."

Shao Wangshu walked a few steps away, turning her back so Li Cheng couldn't hear the conversation. Her voice was almost pleading: "Can you give me a few hours? I'm out with friends right now. If there's really no choice, there's still old blood in the cold storage."

"."

The middle-aged man on the other end fell silent. Then came the arrogant, domineering voice of a young man: "Ahem, you little brat — when they tell you to give blood, you give blood. What's with all the crap."

"Old blood isn't as effective as fresh."

The languid voice of another young woman: "The family gives you so much pocket money every month — you think it falls from the sky? Ahem—"

The pair of young man and woman broke into violent coughing, as if trying to cough their lungs out.

"Wangshu, don't mind what your brother and sister say. They're just in a bad mood." Shao Wangshu's father said bitterly.

"…It's fine, I understand."

Shao Wangshu lowered her eyes, bit her lip, and hung up the phone.

When she raised her head again, she had already put on a brilliant smile. She handed the phone back to the suit man, turned to Li Cheng, and said with a smile: "Sorry, could you wait for me a little while? Something came up at home I need to deal with. It shouldn't affect us going out together tonight."

"…Sure."

Li Cheng hesitated, then nodded. Even though Shao Wangshu had deliberately lowered her voice and walked a few extra steps away, his enhanced physical conditioning had still let him hear the contents of the call clearly.

It seemed her family situation was more complicated than he'd imagined.

"Then let's go."

Shao Wangshu smiled and took Wei Caiyan's hand, walking ahead and leading the suited men and women into an empty room.

"."

Li Cheng stood where he was, leaning against the windowsill, looking up at the patterns on the ceiling.

————

"Would 200cc be okay this time?"

Shao Wangshu sat in the seat by the door, skillfully rolling up her sleeve to reveal her pale upper arm covered in ugly scars.

Wei Caiyan, face taut, prepared the blood-drawing equipment for her.

The suit man shook his head and said flatly, "No. The plan is 500cc."

"500?"

Wei Caiyan whirled to stare at him, furious: "Even national blood donation regulations cap collection at 200–400cc, with at least six months between collections. Does your Shao family treat their daughter like a mobile blood bag?!"

"If there were any other choice, Mr. Shao wouldn't want this either." The suit man was unmoved, cold.

The two sides were locked in a standoff. In the end it was Shao Wangshu who broke the silence: "Sister Wei, step aside."

"But—"

Wei Caiyan still wanted to say something, but Shao Wangshu simply shook her head.

Seeing her like that, Wei Caiyan had no choice but to step aside and let the men in black suits snatch the syringe away.

Cold iodine swabbed across the skin, and the sharp needle glinted with a cold light under the lamp's glow.

Thud!

The sudden sound of the door opening made every activity in the room freeze for a beat.

Everyone's gaze turned toward Li Cheng, who stood outside the door.

"I don't know what's going on in here."

Li Cheng swept his eyes around the room, looked straight into Shao Wangshu's eyes, and said, "I just want to know one thing—you hate this, don't you?"

He pointed at the already set-up blood-draw equipment and said calmly, "A nod, or a shake of the head, will do."

"."

Shao Wangshu glanced at the men in black suits, then at Li Cheng, and—mustering some unknown courage—nodded firmly.

"Little classmate, don't poke your nose into other people's business," the lead man in the suit said, gripping the syringe with a furrowed brow. "This is the Shao family's domestic matter."

Li Cheng didn't bother listening to a word he said. He simply took Shao Wangshu's hand, gave a gentle pull, hauled her to her feet, and burst out the door.

"Hey—"

Shao Wangshu found herself in the corridor, inexplicably breaking into a sprint alongside Li Cheng, her voice unconsciously shooting up an octave. "Hey?!"

Bang!

The private-room door was shoved open hard, and the flustered men in black suits poured out of the room. The lead man in the suit shouted, "Stop! What are you doing?!"

A swarm of people came charging after them. Wei Caiyan followed behind, watching Li Cheng and Shao Wangshu sprinting down the far end of the corridor, a smile unconsciously spreading across her face.

"You say stop, so I stop?"

Li Cheng muttered, dragging Shao Wangshu into the fire escape, casually pulling the iron door shut, sliding the bolt into place, then yanking a fire hose out of the wall-mounted fire equipment and wrapping it around the door handle a few times.

Then he pulled the girl along and ran upstairs.

(End of chapter)