"Good evening, Mr. Wu!" Xiang Ri greeted, standing at the study door with Wu Henian's limp body slung across his shoulder.
"Who... who are you?" Wu Heyan stammered, aiming his gun at the young man before him. Despite Xiang Ri's frail, harmless appearance, a strange tension gripped Wu's heart.
"Me?" Xiang Ri nonchalantly positioned the human shield in front of him. "I'm just a nobody—you wouldn't know me, Mr. Wu."
"What do you want?" Wu Heyan slowly regained his composure, though he stayed wary. The fact that this unarmed young man could so effortlessly subdue his high-ranking brother, a man whose position was earned through brute force, warned him to tread carefully.
"I just came to borrow something," Xiang Ri replied with an unsettling calm.
"Borrow... what, exactly?" A sudden chill ran down Wu Heyan's spine as he thought of a dreadful possibility, his voice quivering. "You're not here for my head, are you?"
"No, no! You've watched too much *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, Mr. Wu." Despite Wu's hand trembling on the trigger, Xiang Ri appeared unfazed. He continued in a cool, steady tone, "I'm asking for something simple—surely, you won't mind?"
"What do you want?" Wu Heyan relaxed, reassured it wasn't his life. Yet his brow furrowed. "If it's money, I have plenty. Tell me how much, and it's yours."
"Oh? And how much can you offer?" Xiang Ri seemed mildly intrigued, though he had no intention of letting the old man live.
"I'll give you a billion!" Wu Heyan held up a finger decisively.
"A billion?" Xiang Ri questioned his own hearing for a moment, unaware that Wu Heyan, upon hearing the gunfire and noticing his guards' absence, had already prepared for the worst. In his desperation, he would offer up his entire fortune if it could save him.
"Yes, a billion!" Wu Heyan felt pleased by Xiang Ri's astonishment, sensing his financial offer was having an effect.
To say Xiang Ri wasn't tempted by the billion would be a lie, but he knew such a fortune would leave a trail leading back to him. This villa's coming fate would echo far and wide, and any investigation into that money would be a death sentence.
"As tempting as it sounds, I'm afraid I must decline."
"Why? It's a billion!" Wu Heyan's anxiety grew as his bribe failed to sway Xiang Ri, heightening his sense of impending doom.
"Shouldn't you at least hear what I actually came to borrow?" Xiang Ri cut him off, steering the conversation away from money.
"Go on, then. Anything I possess, I'll gladly give," Wu Heyan replied, deciding to retrieve his brother first; strength in numbers might improve his odds. The young man before him carried an unbearable intensity, his smile betraying a lurking tempest.
Ignoring his request, Xiang Ri's face took on an amused expression. "As I said, it's something simple that you'll certainly have. Since you're willing to part with anything, why don't you hand over... your life?"
"What?" Wu Heyan seethed, tightening his grip on the gun. "How is this any different from what I feared?"
"It's quite different. Taking your head would leave you in pieces. I'm just taking your life—I'll even leave your body intact," Xiang Ri replied lightly, as though discussing something trivial.
"So I should thank you for that courtesy?" Wu Heyan's eyes burned with rage.
"I wouldn't mind if you thanked me! I see you already have a gun in your hand, so feel free to end it yourself. Spare me the trouble—if I have to do it, the process might not be so painless." Xiang Ri's tone remained as composed as ever, entirely unbothered by the fact that he only held a limp human shield while facing a man armed with a gun.
"Fine! But promise me you'll spare my brother." Wu Heyan seemed resigned, hoping to save his kin with his final act. But Xiang Ri was unmoved, his face expressionless as he regarded him.
Slowly, Wu Heyan lifted his right hand, pointing the barrel of the gun at his own temple. Yet, in the very instant before he squeezed the trigger, he spun the gun toward Xiang Ri, firing a barrage of shots. At that moment, saving his own life took precedence over family loyalty.
Xiang Ri had anticipated this. The moment Wu Heyan raised the gun, he prepared to use his human shield, suspecting the old man wasn't so noble as to die without a fight.
*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!* The bullets hit the human shield, jolting Wu Henian back to consciousness for a fleeting, agonizing moment, only for him to slip into an eternal silence.
Xiang Ri, unwilling to delay any longer, gave a swift flick of his arm, turning his human shield into a weapon, hurling him straight at Wu Heyan.
*Crash!* The two bodies collided, sending a bookshelf tumbling down in a cacophony of falling objects, drowning out all sound except for a faint, pained groan.
"Still alive?" Xiang Ri approached, surprised by the old man's resilience.
Wu Heyan, once a burly figure, was now barely recognizable, his face streaked with blood. Though most of his injuries were superficial, a deep dent over his chest spelled out his imminent fate.
"Ah, brothers indeed. Begging me to spare him, then shooting him dead the next second. The perfect pair, heading for the underworld together." Xiang Ri remarked sarcastically, unfazed by the gruesome sight.
Wu Heyan, clinging to the last flicker of life, stared at him with unyielding venom, the hatred in his eyes undiminished even as blood trickled down his face.
Xiang Ri decided to twist the knife a bit further: "By the way, I have your son."
"Xiaoyun? If you've harmed him, I'll haunt you beyond the grave!" Wu Heyan's voice was hoarse and desperate; his son was the last of his family.
Xi Ri, intending to reveal that his son had already met his end, had a sudden thought, which made him change course. "He's fine...for now. But I have a question, and if you lie to me, he may not be."
"Speak," Wu Heyan murmured weakly, clinging to the hope of his son's survival.
"I want to know the purpose behind this man's presence." Xiang Ri nudged Wu Henian's lifeless form with his foot.
"It's... it's nuclear warheads… cough... cough…" Wu Heyan choked, blood gushing from his mouth. "Two hundred fifty… nuclear warheads… cough…"
"Two hundred fifty nuclear warheads?!" Xiang Ri was momentarily dumbfounded. Nuclear weapons—any mistake, and the entire city could be obliterated. It appeared he had unwittingly averted a disaster of unimaginable scale. A hint of satisfaction crept over him.
Realizing the silence that followed, he looked down to see that the old man had finally expired. He hadn't had time to tell him that his beloved son was already waiting for him in the afterlife—what a pity.