Chapter 699 - Abandoned

The night arrived amidst the torrential pour of rain. For hours, the rain poured heavily non-stop. Many plans for tonight had been canceled due to the heavy weather.

As the stormy night deepened, the lightning in the bas.e.m.e.nt dimmed.

Gunan stared at the ceiling. His eyes were blank. His mind was emptied of thoughts.

Perhaps because he had vented out the secret which he had been keeping for a long time in his heart, his mind was strangely calm.

All this time, he had continuously been thinking of how to survive or prove his worth or defeat his enemies, but now, his always occupied mind was blank as a clean slate.

If it was the usual him, he would be panicking right now and use all his tricks to get out of this situation. It was not because he had not done all he could, on the contrary, he used up all of his cards but none of it worked in front of his omnipotent father.

He had done everything he possibly could.

Gunan covered his face. 

Being on the losing side felt terrible, but he could no longer do anything about it.

"Can I really live like how I did before?"

The answer was no.

For him, life had no meaning if he could not achieve his goals. 

It was only the debt he owed to Lu Jin that kept him going.

Click.

The sound of the door opening made Gunan glance at its direction. 

As expected, the man sent by his father visited him before the big day.

"You are expecting me?" The man's face was smiling.

Gunan narrowed his eyes.

The spy continued nonchalantly. "Heh, you finally changed your clothes. It seems that you got used to staying here. It's a shame, you are going to leave very soon."

"You have a reason for coming here. Stop dawdling and getting high just because you are father's spy."

"Father? You still call the master, 'father'? You failed and became useless trash. You have no right to call the master, 'father'."

Gunan laughed mockingly. He just fell into this state and now some small fry was already making fun of him.

"What is this jealousy I am smelling? You're acting like a kid unable to get another's toy."

The smiling man's face broke. 

"You are not the same as before, Gunan! Look at where you stand. It now depends on me whether you can leave here or rot in prison. While I am still being nice, you can beg me to rescue you."

Gunan smirked. "Heh, no way. You and I both heard from my father, he will get me out of here. It does not depend on you. I can beg father, but not a lowly sc.u.m like you."

"You!" 

Annoyed, the man grabbed Gunan's collar.

Gunan's eyes glinted dangerously.

"I might be useless for now. But I can climb back up again," he sneered. "Since you know me, you must know what I do to people who have offended me. My toys aren't just mere toys."

"You think the master will have your back?" The man leaned in and whispered to Gunan, "You had a visitor today, didn't you? And both of you seemed so emotional earlier."

Gunan's eyes flashed. 

So this bastard was watching and listening to them. 

Without any hesitation, he lifted his head and rammed it against the man's head, surprising the man.

"Agh!" 

Since Gunan was cuffed, his movements were restricted. But it did not stop him from putting the man's neck between his arms fluidly.

The man was not an easy one either. His elbow pummeled Gunan's stomach twice. He then held the arms around his neck and threw Gunan over.

Crack.

That was the sound of Gunan's ribs breaking.

He g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

"I can't believe it is this easy to subdue you--"

His words had not finished yet when Gunan leaped up swiftly and rammed against the man. The blow was hard and the latter staggered to the ground.

"You f.u.c.ker!" The man cursed.

Gunan did not stop. He pivoted and whirled his leg to kick the man on the ground.

"Die! Die! Die!"  His violent nature found its way out.

The man below gritted his teeth and took out the hidden knife from his pocket that he had prepared.

Slash!

The light brown pants were slashed and blood splattered.

'...!' 

This spy…!

The man found his momentum and stood up. He charged at Gunan with the sharp knife in his hand and murderous glint in his eyes.

Gunan's hands were bound. Even though he tried to block the knife from coming to him, he could not do so. He tilted his body to at least make the man miss the vital spot.

The small blade went through just right above his heart.

"Ugh!" 

Gunan gritted his teeth and endured the pain. With the use of qigong, he tightened his muscles and twisted his body around so that the man's hold on the knife would loosen. When the man lost touch of the knife, he quickly took a step back.

Drop.

Drop.

Drop.

Streams of blood continued to drop on the ground from the knife in Gunan's c.h.e.s.t. 

"Ha. As expected from the student whom Butler Qian taught himself. However..." The man reached to his b.r.e.a.s.t pocket and took out a small gun with a silencer.

"Too bad. You are facing me."

Gunan stared at the gun, his eyes in gloomy disbelief.

For the man to come here with a knife and a gun, it meant that he came here to kill.

It had been his intention from the start.

But why?

"...Did father order it?"

The man laughed at Gunan's question.

"That's a stupid question, don't you think? Do you think I can disobey master just because of my personal feelings? I'm not like you. Yes, Master ordered me to kill you."

Master ordered me to kill you.

To kill you…

...

Something snapped inside of Gunan. 

He dazedly muttered. "So, he.... He abandoned me? Just because I told the truth to Lu Jin?"

"Half right and half wrong."

Gunan looked at him with blank eyes.

The man continued to explain with a smile. "He plans to discard you from the start. Because the plan is nearing completion and you made a mistake at a very critical time, Master used this golden opportunity to get rid of you once and for all. After all, we can't let master Lu Jin keep running around with that little hope in his heart, can we?"

"What...?"

The man tilted his head. "Did I stab you too hard that you cannot understand my words? I know you are aware of the master using you to control Lu Jin. However, lately, Lu Jin has been rather suspicious. Master found him keeping a few records. And now, you tell him such stories." He spread his hands out and shrugged mockingly.

"Of course, Master will not be pleased with you. So he wants to teach Lu Jin a lesson, or something like that. Well, aren't you Lu Jin's favorite toy? Losing you ought to teach him more obedience. It's amusing how you two both pretended to be brothers. Haha..."

Gunan was frozen in place.

e thought that he would still be of some use to Ming Zhi Yi. But what was this?

Teach Lu Jin a lesson, in exchange for his life?

A chill overcame him. He began trembling uncontrollably.

In the end, he was still some 'toy' and 'slave' in his father's eye.

Hah.

Gunan still clearly remembered that day. 

When Ming Zhi Yi saw him for a second time after Gunan took a bath at Lu Jin's request, the tall man who had scary eyes looked at him from head to toe. 

Then he laughed. He had laughed so happily that those scary eyes no longer looked so scary in a child's eyes. However, there was a hint of madness in that laugh that little children could not notice. 

Ming Zhi Yi had patted Gunan's shoulders and said with a warm smile, "From now on, you can call me 'father'."

Gunan knew that enviable word, 'father'. He still remembered the bewilderment and joy that came to him when his 'father' first appeared.

Red blood continued to spread on the ground, forming dark pools on his feet. His breathing also became more labored.

However, the physical pain in his c.h.e.s.t was lighter than the pain of betrayal that Gunan felt.

In all those years, he grew up and learned at some point that Ming Zhi Yi was not the kind of person who would charitably get a son and treat him like his own. Gunan knew that he only had that privilege because of his resemblance to someone, because he was useful. But nevertheless, he was sincere and did his tasks well.

Even though he knew that he could be thrown away at any time if he did not do a good job, he thought that at least his 'father' would think twice of getting rid of him fully. He would not be a mere pawn to manipulate Lu Jin.

However… It was only a lie that he believed in.

"Hah." 

Gunan chuckled. His wide eyes lost their shine.

Now, his dear father was going to abandon him. It came unexpectedly soon that he was not able to prepare himself.

"Ha, ha, ha!" 

Gunan laughed.

So this was how his sincerity would be paid!