CH 15.2

Lunchtime at the canteen.

Just in case, Lunatic has been ordered to remain hospitalised in the clinic, so Jiang Yiyi has had the desk all to himself these days.

No one appears to mind, of course.

Jiang Yiyi eats quickly, as usual. When he puts his chopsticks down, he notices Lone Wolf coming this way with a tray in hand.

Jiang Yiyi’s gaze stops on him momentarily.

Lone Wolf isn’t stopping as he tilts his head in Jiang Yiyi’s direction.

Their eyes meet. Lone Wolf is smiling brilliantly once more.

Jiang Yiyi gives him a calm, peaceful smile in return.

Lone Wolf’s cheeks twitch uncontrollably. He stops, and continues staring at Jiang Yiyi from some distance away.

“Keep moving now, go eat.” A prison officer quickly interrupts, and yells at Lone Wolf.

Lone Wolf’s temples rise slightly. They twitch.

“Lone Wolf! Go eat your meal!” The prison officer raises his voice.

Lone Wolf finally stops looking and goes to his seat. He starts eating his meal quietly.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Yi looks at Lone Wolf, whom Jiang Yiyi is still looking at, and then back to ask, “done? Let’s go back then.”

“Wait.” Jiang Yiyi watches Lone Wolf speeding up eating more and more, and says, “I’ll wait for him.”

Lin Yi glances at Lone Wolf, and suddenly realises, “today? Right now?”

“Time waits for no one, after all.” Jiang Yiyi watches Lone Wolf and says.

“But aren’t there too many people around?” Lin Yi is scrutinising the environment, “and Butcher has even tightened security recently…”

Lone Wolf has put his chopsticks down; he turns his head in Jiang Yiyi’s direction.

Jiang Yiyi shows him a warm smile once more.

After staring for a few seconds, Lone Wolf finally stands up. He has snapped.

“Lone Wolf!” The prison officer doesn’t even manage to call him out before Lone Wolf is rushing towards Jiang Yiyi.

There are howling winds.

The prisoners move efficiently to the side, observing quietly.

A prison officer is following closely behind, trying to stop him.

Lone Wolf proves to be faster and more agile than all of them, though. He reaches his destination soon enough.

Jiang Yiyi, meanwhile, has extended his hand in the meantime. Lin Yi feels a touch to his waist; the scalpel Jiang Yiyi uses for operations has been retrieved already.

Lone Wolf strikes with a fist as his legs spring into action. He is going for the outright kill.

The scalpel spins into Jiang Yiyi’s palm with a beautiful arc. Jiang Yiyi is quite exceptionally calm. A dissection diagram emerges in front of him, labelling countless points on Lone Wolf’s body.

For Jiang Yiyi, this is no mere fight, but a… grand operation.

The scalpel inserts and slices skin open. As fresh blood comes pouring, it hits a red dot that reads ‘Severance will render left hand uncontrollable.’

Lone Wolf’s lunge has an awkward pause as he freezes, but inertia carries him straight to his target.

The prison officers are here. The prison officers stop. The prison officers watch as Jiang Yiyi starts painting with the human body as his canvas. They look at each other, nonplussed.

It is extremely quiet.

Lone Wolf is trying to struggle, but finds his body slipping from his mind——It is like every inch of his bones and every inch of his muscles are betraying him in real time. His strength is sapping like his blood; life is ticking away. The shadow of death looms close.

However, he does not fear death. Right now, right here, he fears the person standing in front of him.

What is scarier than death? To be alive.

Alive, and under the auspices of Jiang Yiyi.

Jiang Yiyi is known for the expedience of his operations, and this time is no exception. Not to mention that this operation has no other complications other than initial uncooperativeness from the patient.

Jiang Yiyi is able to finish his art in no time.

He pulls his scalpel out.

Someone gasps among the frozen sculptures of onlookers. The veil is broken.

“Doctor! Get a doctor!”

Prison officers rush in to support Lone Wolf.

Jiang Yiyi shakes his head at Lone Wolf, who is covered head to toe in blood, then hands the bloodied scalpel back to Lin Yi.

Lin Yi receives the scalpel with stupefaction, as he asks the question on everyone’s mind, “he’s still alive?”

“Of course he is.” Jiang Yiyi is amused by the banality of the question, “murder is a felony, you know?”

“And what you did… was not?” Is this even any better than just having murdered him?

Lin Yi observes Lone Wolf, who is drenched in his own blood and crisscrossed with wounds from his head to his feet. He doesn’t look much more alive than a corpse.

“Certainly not.” Jiang Yiyi takes a step back, and looks at the wounds, analysing, “eighteen incisions, each one no deeper than six centimetres. No life-threatening injuries. No more than ⅓ hampered in capacity for labour. Even under the strictest scrutiny, no judge will be sentencing based on anything more than light injuries.”

Lin Yi takes a step back in reflex, keeping a distance from Jiang Yiyi.

“Naturally, given that I was merely defending myself against his clear aggression, self-defence shall apply.”

“You are telling me…” Lin Yi points at the walking blood fountain that is Lone Wolf, “he only has light injuries?”

“Of course.” Jiang Yiyi turns his head to offer a business smile, “I attest as such in my capacity as a doctor.”

Lin Yi gulps as he looks at Lone Wolf once more.

Just as Jiang Yiyi says, Lone Wolf has not even lost consciousness. In fact, he is clear of mind and not the least affected in mental faculties like speech——Even though he really, really doesn’t look fine.

As he has his eyes shut tight, and shaking uncontrollably all over. He is sweating just as much as he is bleeding. Light injuries almost sound like a joke——One could hardly recognise his fearlessly provoking Jiang Yiyi from him.

【Lone Wolf】

Lone Wolf is irritated. Some guy’s stare really makes him uncomfortably irritated.

What do they call him again?

Doctor?

What year is it to still have such a beta male nickname. Really…

Lone Wolf looks behind himself. Doctor is staring at him, showing him the smile he could see every day.

That damned, despicable smile.

He wants him dead. So that he can no longer observe him with those eyes, so that he can no longer smile so, so that he… will no longer be around.

Lone Wolf is definitely a patient, resilient individual. He has patiently been waiting for days in order to find the most opportune time.

However, everything becomes unbelievably fragile in front of him.

Lone Wolf has not received advanced education. He cannot put into words why he feels so anxious. Why he is… fearing.

Yes, he is fearing. Every time Jiang Yiyi is staring at him, every time he smiles, what lies beyond the irritation, is fear.

Fear turns some into cowards, and turns others uncontrollably irritated.

The feeling of being watched by a predator. The looming Sword of Damocles. It chips at Lone Wolf’s resilience.

He has to do something.

Lone Wolf has been telling himself over and over again, to be wary, to be patient. Yet, something snapped the last time he saw his gaze once more.

He is an eyesore. He must kill him! Kill him!

Lone Wolf rises. He throws a fist towards Jiang Yiyi. A fist carrying the deeply buried fears.

It was the wrong decision.

He has to pay the price.

He feels no anxiety anymore. In its place, is fear. Genuine, horrible, fear. Engulfing him.

He does not fear death. He has always been ready to face death when he took someone’s life for the first time.

However, bravery against death does not mean fear is neutered.

Quite the opposite. It serves as an ultimate proof, of how the things that bring him fear, are far worse than death.