Chapter 50 - Making Contact

"Save Li Feng..." Atty. Cao murmured. He was hired to protect Liu Xiaodan, but his client was asking him to save someone else instead. What was tricky was that he was being asked to favor the prosecution.

He then eyed at the young man and saw that he was innocent despite the guilt of causing all of these unfortunate events.

"Alright then. I will plan for this accordingly." Atty. Cao decided to end his discussion right now. It was almost time after all. However, he didn't say what the new end result was; he only said he would plan accordingly.

If he didn't want Liu Xiaodan to be executed without causing Li Feng to take the fall, then he could only have the case dismissed.

The lawyer went home, and Liu Xiaodan was walked to the cell. He went to the comfort of the black bear that was inspected by the wardens earlier. Since it was purely made of cotton, they just let Liu Xiaodan keep it. Besides, that man only had two days to live; why take an innocent bear away?

As soon as he hit the bed, he pulled the drawing pad from the floor and started sketching. He was reading this book in the library earlier and wanted to sketch the rather picturesque angles of his imagination. He was studying cinematography after all.

"Yo..."

Liu Xiaodan finished three concept art frames when he heard someone call him from outside. His cell door was open, but the man didn't even walk inside.

His face was hardened by experience in this place while his arms seemed to be riddled with battle scars. However, Liu Xiaodan didn't feel fear... he just felt annoyed.

"He wants to see you. Come with me." The man didn't even try to mock Liu Xiaodan, but he did command him like he was a pawn.

The father didn't bother trying to stay anymore. If he shooed this guy, more of them would come after all. Even if it was not really illegal, it was suspicious to have inmates gathering in one place.

Then again, the guards were just looking at them as if their mouths were gagged by fear or money. However, they still wished to keep a good eye at Liu Xiaodan. That man was from the fifth floor, the floor for the worst.

Even that Black Boss was only on the fourth floor.

"Boss, he's here." The man that came pushed Liu Xiaodan inside the cell. The small containment reeked of cigarette and blood, making Liu Xiaodan cover his nose. His eyes then saw familiar faces like Qin Rong, Brother Niu, and Dong Qiu's; they were all glaring at him.

"Hehe, finally, you came. I thought I would still have to drag you out from somewhere." A bulky man with skin tanned brown by the sun attracted Liu Xiaodan's gaze. He looked like he was built to kill while his tan felt like he got it from military training in a hot place.

The Black Boss gestured to a bed emptied out to be sat on. "Please sit, Liu Xiaodan."

Liu Xiaodan did what was asked and noticed that his only exit was blocked by Dong Qiu. He then eyed the Black Boss who pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. He tossed the lighter to Liu Xiaodan, which the father caught with just a hand. Was he asking him to light his cigarette?

The father would roll his eyes in discomfort as he went with the formalities. "What do you want from me? I really don't want any trouble."

"Hehe, you say that, but you freely cause trouble in my turf." The Black Boss chuckled before giving him a once-over. This young man didn't seem to be bitter-tasting yet. Perhaps it wouldn't be so awful, right?

"You killed six of my men. How are you planning to compensate for that?"

"They attacked me. If they die, it's not on me. It's because they're idiots." Liu Xiaodan had to put on a mean face and a mean act. Besides, he was correct: who would try to get into a knife fight in such a cramped area?

"Hehe, you think it's that easy?" The Black Boss got up and towered at Liu Xiaodan who was still seated. "You have a lot of options to go around this, Liu Xiaodan. Are you going to kneel, or are you going to die?"

The father started trembling; not because he was scared, but he was disgusted. All of a sudden, he felt this sudden gag reflex tried escaping his mouth. The sour taste kept on going back to his throat like something was squeezing his stomach and forcing him to vomit his breakfast at this man.

He was fearlessly looking at those cold eyes, but he chose to break eye contact as he felt very uncomfortable. When his eyes descended at his eye level, he could make out that throbbing thing hidden inside the Black Boss's pants.

Disgusting. Really? Forcing people to do this? Then again, he saw how aggressive these people were. If he didn't have Guangru, he would have to submit to him even if he died escaping, right?

Liu Xiaodan turned his face away and spied another look at his exit. What bewildered him was that he could see Tang Mingming spying from the other hallway. It was as if he was scared to see what was going to happen.

The father looked away again and landed his gaze at Qin Rong's side of the cell. Next to him was a bulletin board-looking collection of photos.

Before he could get a good look, the Black Boss dipped down and grabbed his chin. He forced Liu Xiaodan to look at his cold eyes. "I gave you enough time to think. So what's it gonna be?"

A cough... wait, was it just a cough?

The Black Boss released his hold on Liu Xiaodan, and the latter proceeded to throw up on the floor by lowering his head. Since his head was down, they didn't see the shock on Liu Xiaodan's face.

The bile he just threw up didn't look yellow... if anything it was white and had a very strange taste. After a few blinks, it turned into yellow; and the sour taste he knew was on his mouth as well. He blinked some more upon realizing what he was feeling...

Ghost! Someone was making contact with him and was channeling energy and emotions to him. Perhaps, someone who had to go through the same had died in this very room.

Liu Xiaodan moved his head up a little and spied on the floor, on the spaces that weren't blocked by the Black Boss. His scalp must have tingled uncontrollably if it was still the old him.

In contrast to only four other people in the cell, a dozen more people were standing behind the Black Boss. All the feet were white and grayed so it was easy for Liu Xiaodan to know that those weren't live people.

"Hehe, how many people have you forced to kneel, Cheng Hei? How many of them chose to die instead?" He then brought his freezing glare of rage to meet with Cheng Hei's eyes. "Not only are you despicable, but you're also terribly disgusting..."

Cheng Hei froze. No one else knew his name but the old guards in the prison. Even the new ones were not allowed to know who he was. However, this man... he simply called out his name.

The man grabbed Liu Xiaodan's neck and squeezed it in anger. How dare he divulge his name?! He must die!

However, when he firmly held Liu Xiaodan and even lifted him from the ground, the man just dangled from his hand. Liu Xiaodan stared at him with resentment like a dead man. Even his corpse-cold skin was making Cheng Hei's heart race in fear.

Also, why couldn't he feel a pulse on this man's neck?

"What's wrong, Cheng pig? Didn't you swear to break my neck in a second?"

"Ahh!"

Cheng Hei was terrified. He suddenly threw Liu Xiaodan like a rag doll against the bars of his cell. Bang! Liu Xiaodan met the cold steel and fell to the ground like a lifeless corpse.

Cheng Hei backed off a little and felt that he was drenched in cold sweat. He didn't know how that man knew his name... he didn't also know how that man knew those words…

The words of his feistiest victim...

He then gritted his teeth as he felt humiliated when he lost composure. Cheng Hei glared at Qin Rong. "Throw him out and tell everyone to kill him in the shower! I don't want to see him ever again!"

To be honest—even if it was humiliating for Cheng Hei, the three men in the room were relieved. They had gone through the same when dealing with Liu Xiaodan.

To see that even Cheng Hei was affected, they felt like they got some of their dignity and masculinity back. Qin Rong then grabbed Liu Xiaodan's collar and dragged him out of the cell.

When they were out of sight, Cheng Hei shooed the other two as well. He sat on his bed and wiped the sweat beads on his forehead. A thin film of sweat actually made his clothes stick to his body.

On his beautiful face was a crazed smile while his eyes were drowning in resentment.

"I'll watch you die this time, Cheng pig..."

...

Liu Xiaodan was thrown to the showers, and he knew an accident was waiting to happen again. He got to his feet and saw more of Cheng Hei's men baring their knives at him. Qin Rong didn't take out his, but he only laughed mockingly at the father.

"You think you can get away with disrespecting him? You'll just die!" He ordered his men, "Get him!"

"Wait!" Liu Xiaodan lifted his hand as if stopping them. "If you wanted to really do this, I won't stop you. However, let me get some things straight.

"I did kill fifteen people without touching them, and I could still do it right now. Whoever attacks first will die in a second." He blinked. "Does anyone want to try?"

"F.u.c.k you—!"

One who almost died at the last encounter lunged forward with his knife, but he felt like something jolted him. The human eyes Liu Xiaodan had suddenly turned into fish eyes. It was as if he was staring at a dead person instead.