After Ruan Qing was left alone in the basement, he felt a bit scared. He wanted to open the door and leave this place.
However, the door was locked with an iron chain.
Ruan Qing used all his strength to push the door, but he only managed to open a small gap, barely wide enough for him to stick his hand out.
After struggling for a long time without success, he gave up and sat down next to the light, feeling confused about his current situation.
Who exactly was he? Who were these people? And where was this place?
It was all very suspicious. Whether it was the strange reactions of these people or their inexplicable conversations, everything felt off.
This didn’t feel like how you would treat a relative or a friend. Besides, no one would typically lock up a friend.
He didn’t seem like their friend; he felt more like a prisoner whose freedom had been taken away.
Ruan Qing even started to doubt the truth of what that man had told him at the beginning.
Was he really his lover?
Ruan Qing nervously bit his lip, carefully examining the entire room, hoping to remember something.
But everything around him was completely unfamiliar, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t recall a single memory.
Just as he was about to give up, his gaze suddenly froze, stopping in a particular direction.
However, before he could focus on it for long, his attention was interrupted by the sound of footsteps outside.
Someone was coming.
The footsteps grew closer and closer, and the steady rhythm of the sound only heightened his unease.
Ruan Qing felt his heart leap. He looked around, picked up an object from the corner, gripped it tightly, and stood calmly beside the door.
***
If the other four people involved in the kidnapping had been there, they would have recognized the man walking toward the basement.
He was the fifth participant in the kidnapping—Luo Haodong.
Luo Haodong had gone through great trouble to shake off Ren Yanqing’s men and immediately rushed back to the construction site building.
The basement was the hiding place the five of them had initially agreed upon, so Luo Haodong walked toward it without a second thought.
As Luo Haodong walked, his steps began to slow. His gaze landed on an electrical wire leading into the basement, and a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes.
Why would there be an electrical wire running down to the basement?
It wasn’t just the wire; there was also a pile of materials and miscellaneous items stacked not far from the basement entrance.
If he remembered correctly, these items and materials were originally stored inside the basement, weren’t they?
Luo Haodong frowned as he looked at the things that clearly belonged in the basement, then pushed the basement door open.
But before he could get a clear look at the basement, a dark shadow flashed before his eyes, and a sharp pain suddenly exploded in his head.
“Bang—!!!”
Luo Haodong had no time to react. He looked at the boy in front of him holding an iron rod, and instinctively reached up to touch his now somewhat numb head.
It was blood.
Since Luo Haodong was standing right at the entrance, Ruan Qing could only strike him from the side, aiming naturally at the part of his forehead that was closest.
Ruan Qing had just used all of his strength. If the target had been an ordinary person, they would have definitely passed out or collapsed to the ground, completely weakened.
But Luo Haodong didn’t. Blood slowly trickled down his forehead, yet he only reached up to touch it expressionlessly, his face showing little change.
It was as if he wasn’t the one who had been hit.
Seeing that the man hadn’t fallen, Ruan Qing’s face turned pale. His delicate fingers tightened around the iron rod as he began to take small, hesitant steps backward, all while under the man’s unblinking gaze.
Ruan Qing had dared to strike because he only heard the footsteps of a single person.
If it were just one person, he was confident he could knock them out and escape from this basement.
However, he hadn’t expected that this man would endure a blow that would have incapacitated an ordinary person.
It was worth noting that a blow of that strength to the head could have easily killed someone.
Luo Haodong glanced down at the blood on his fingertips. Instead of immediately getting angry or seeking revenge on the bold person who dared to strike him, he looked expressionlessly toward the basement.
The basement was no longer the place he remembered. Warm lighting illuminated the entire room, making it clean and tidy, giving no hint of its previous state as a filthy, chaotic space.
There was even a lush, blooming potted plant sitting on a makeshift table nearby.
If not for the fact that the wary young man facing him looked somewhat familiar, Luo Haodong would have thought he’d entered the wrong place.
Luo Haodong had personally carried out the kidnapping, so he naturally recognized the young master. Yet now, he felt as if he didn’t quite know him at all.
As he narrowed his eyes, he noticed that this young master seemed… somehow different from before.
Casually wiping the blood that was blocking his view, Luo Haodong began moving step by step toward Ruan Qing.
Seeing this, Ruan Qing clutched the iron rod in his hands tightly, taking a defensive stance, as if warning the man that he wouldn’t hesitate to retaliate if he came any closer.
But Luo Haodong acted as though he hadn’t noticed the iron rod in Ruan Qing’s hands, approaching him undeterred, one step at a time.
Though his pace was casual, Luo Haodong’s towering figure exuded an indescribable sense of pressure, making Ruan Qing instinctively want to retreat.
A trace of panic flashed in Ruan Qing’s eyes as the man drew closer. Even with an iron rod in hand, he couldn’t help but back away in fear.
He retreated until he reached the corner of the room, with nowhere left to go.
Staring at the man still approaching him, Ruan Qing gripped the iron rod even tighter and, summoning all his strength, swung it at him once more.
Yet before the rod could make contact, it was seized in midair.
The first strike had succeeded because Luo Haodong had been unprepared, but this time he was clearly on guard. With ease, he intercepted Ruan Qing’s full-force swing.
Watching his rod get caught, Ruan Qing’s panic deepened. Instinctively, he pulled harder, trying to yank the iron rod back.
But the man’s strength was overwhelming; Ruan Qing couldn’t budge the rod at all.
Even as he strained with all his might, the rod remained firmly trapped in the man’s grip, unmoving.
Luo Haodong looked at the iron rod in his hand with an expressionless face, then gave it a slight pull, tugging it firmly toward himself.
The iron rod that Ruan Qing had struggled to budge was effortlessly pulled over by Luo Haodong. If Ruan Qing hadn’t let go quickly, he might have been dragged along with it.
With his weapon gone, Ruan Qing’s eyes widened in shock, and panic set in as he instinctively turned toward the open door to make a run for it.
But just as he moved, an iron rod zipped past his head, embedding itself straight into the wall beside him.
If the rod had been off by even a fraction, it could have pierced directly into his skull.
Ruan Qing’s eyes widened further, his pupils constricting as his heart nearly stopped. Reflexively, he tilted his head and stumbled to one side, barely managing to steady himself and avoid colliding with the iron rod.
The fear of death sent a slight tremor through Ruan Qing’s body. His eyes were slightly red, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead, trickling down his fair, delicate skin, giving him an inexplicable air of fragile beauty and disarray.
He looked utterly pitiful.
Yet Ruan Qing didn’t dare move a single inch further, his body stiff as he leaned against the wall.
Thank you for the chapter!!
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