"This is the place." An Xin murmured with a touch of grievance, massaging her wrist as she stood before the office door.
"Go inside." Xiang Ri didn't spare her a glance, pushing the door open and stepping in without hesitation.
"Who's there?" The man inside the office, who had been facing away from the entrance, quickly turned at the sound, a fleeting glimmer of panic flashing across his face.
Xiang Ri's gaze swept over the foreign language professor, who feigned composure. The man, adorned with gold-rimmed glasses, appeared to be in his forties, his face unremarkable save for a tiny black mole on his left cheek.
"Professor Zhu, where's that blue-covered notebook I asked you to translate earlier?" Before Xiang Ri could speak, An Xin interjected with urgency.
"What notebook?" Professor Zhu adjusted his glasses, his hand briefly obscuring his eyes as a sly glint surfaced in their depths.
Assuming he had simply forgotten, An Xin elaborated, "The blue-covered notebook I just handed you!"
"I have no idea what you're talking about. You never gave me any blue-covered notebook," Professor Zhu replied with feigned sincerity, glancing at the pair before him with thinly veiled contempt.
Though he was in his forties and no longer in his prime, he didn't consider these two a threat. One was a frail young woman, the other an injured man who looked as though a gust of wind might topple him. Towering at over six feet, Professor Zhu had no fear of intimidation.
From the moment he laid eyes on the notebook, he had resolved to keep it for himself. While he didn't fully understand its significance, he knew it was worth more than his unremarkable professorship. With this in his possession, his financial worries were over, and academia would no longer bind him.
"What did you say?" An Xin froze, sensing the situation's gravity. The notebook clearly held something of immense value. Anger flared within her, and she pointed at Professor Zhu, her voice sharp. "Return my property immediately, or I'll report this to the university!"
"Report me?" Professor Zhu sneered, stepping out from behind his desk. Waving dismissively, he snapped, "Go ahead. But don't disturb my work. Leave now!"
Prepared for such an eventuality, Zhu felt no unease. There had been no witnesses when the notebook was handed over. He could fabricate a plausible excuse or even turn the tables. His status as a professor would shield him from suspicion.
And if trouble did arise? With the notebook's value, even the government would come groveling for it. Becoming a national academician wasn't beyond the realm of possibility.
"What are you doing?" Zhu's smug fantasies were interrupted as he noticed Xiang Ri moving toward his desk. Startled, he rushed forward, spreading his arms to block the way. "Didn't you hear me? Leave immediately, or I'll call the police!"
"Call the police?" Xiang Ri's voice was laced with irony, as though musing to himself. His eyes, however, remained fixed on the safe partially concealed behind the professor.
From the moment he entered, Xiang Ri had noticed the safe. Zhu had been fussing with it when they arrived, leaving little doubt that the notebook was inside.
As Zhu continued his bluster, Xiang Ri's gaze turned icy. In one swift motion, he seized the professor by the neck and hoisted him into the air. "Call them, then," he said coldly. "If you want to die, go ahead. Crushing you is no harder than crushing an ant." With a flick of his wrist, he hurled Zhu to the ground like a discarded rag doll.
The heavy thud echoed as Zhu crumpled, his body convulsing in pain. Realizing he was outmatched, his eyes darted wildly before he began to scream, "Help! Murder! He's going to ki—"
His cries abruptly ceased, silenced as if a string had been cut. A gush of blood erupted from his mouth, staining the floor in vivid crimson.
Xiang Ri withdrew his foot from Zhu's chest, indifferent to how many ribs he had broken. His focus was singular: retrieving what was his without the hindrance of unnecessary noise.
Anxin was already petrified, her gaze fixed numbly on the back of the man in front of her. Then, she glanced at the professor lying on the ground, blood continuing to spill from his mouth. A wave of unprecedented terror surged within her—did this man truly care nothing for consequences? This was a school, a public place. If caught, his punishment would be severe!
Xiang Ri approached the safe, noticing that the key was still inserted into the lock. He twisted it slightly but found it unyielding. His eyes shifted to the small keypad next to the lock, designed for entering a numerical code. With a sharp turn, he looked at the professor, who had ceased coughing blood, and extended a hand. "The code."
"Ha! You can give up now. I won't tell you the code… cough… cough…" Despite the renewed spasms of blood heaving from his throat, Professor Zhu's face was a mixture of smugness and madness. "That's right! The item is inside the safe, but even with the key, it's useless without the code. You'll never get it! Ha... cough… cough..."
"Is that so?" Xiang Ri's tone hovered between a question and a sneer. Seeing the man's obstinance, he decided it was time to give him a little "surprise," even if it was a bit extravagant.
"Just a chunk of scrap metal," he muttered dismissively, "and you think it can keep me from retrieving what's mine?" Turning away, he slammed a ferocious punch into the side of the safe. A loud metallic clang reverberated as the steel dented inward, forming a crater several inches deep, though the exterior structure remained intact.
"Impossible!" Zhu stared in disbelief, his expression twisted with terror. The sheer thickness of the safe, made of nearly ten centimeters of reinforced alloy, was designed to withstand even explosive force. Yet this man—a mere human—had created a dent with a single punch. If he struck again… Zhu dared not imagine the outcome, fearing that the treasure he coveted would soon slip from his grasp.
Anxin, too, was wide-eyed, watching in stunned silence. Was this man even human?
Her thoughts drifted back to that night when two assassins had been sent flying before even coming close to him. Despite being meters away, how had he managed such a feat? Could he truly be some kind of monster?
Xiang Ri, however, shook his head, disappointment flickering across his face. He had expected his punch, at eighty percent strength, to obliterate the safe, yet it had barely made a dent. It seemed the material was exceptional. Resolving to use his newfound "skill," he curled his fingers and began to press into the steel.
What appeared next was even more astonishing. To the onlookers, his fingers seemed to sink effortlessly into the metal, as if it were made of soft clay. Without pause, he gripped and tore away a large section of the safe, exposing its contents. Among the items inside, the blue notebook lay conspicuously on top.
"I won't let you take it!" Seeing the notebook almost in the young man's grasp, Zhu suddenly regained an inexplicable burst of energy. Charging forward like a madman, he lunged at Xiang Ri.
Before he could even get close, Xiang Ri kicked him aside with a single blow. There was not a shred of mercy in his cold gaze. "Fight me? With what? You've seen my abilities, haven't you? Let me tell you—I'm a member of the National Special Operations Unit. This notebook was retrieved from another country. You dared to try and steal it? Just for that, I could charge you with espionage and have you executed a thousand times over! You think you can stand against the entire nation?"
If they had been in a secluded area, Xiang Ri wouldn't have even bothered with such a crude excuse. He would have simply made the man vanish. But they were at a school, with Anxin nearby. Silencing the professor here would complicate matters.
"A… national agent?" Zhu stammered, his trembling body now drenched in sweat. The words hit him like a sledgehammer, sending waves of fear through his entire being. Recalling Xiang Ri's possession of such an item and his overwhelming strength, Zhu could only conclude that this man was indeed part of a state-backed secret program. The realization left him paralyzed with dread.
Satisfied with the reaction, Xiang Ri turned and walked toward the door. Just before leaving, he glanced back with a chilling warning: "You know what to do, don't you? If any rumors spread about this incident… you and your family…" He left the threat unfinished, stepping out of the room. The unspoken implication, however, was even more terrifying.
Anxin followed him out, her movements mechanical. Watching his retreating figure, she quickly caught up. "Xiang Ri, I'm sorry. I didn't know the notebook was so important..."
"No need to apologize." Seeing the typically strong-willed Anxin looking so vulnerable, Xiang Ri's heart softened. "This wasn't your fault. It was my own carelessness."
He knew better than to blame Anxin. The fault lay in his own oversight. If he had been more cautious from the start, none of this would have happened. Moreover, he wasn't the kind of person to lay blame on a woman for his mistakes.
"Thank you," Anxin murmured, rubbing her slightly reddened eyes.
"It's nothing… uh, sorry about earlier. Did I hurt you?" His gaze fell to her wrist, where a dark bruise encircled it. A flicker of guilt crossed his face.
"It's fine!" Anxin glanced at her wrist, feeling as though the pain had somehow lessened.
"Alright, if there's nothing else, I'll head back to class." With that, Xiang Ri quickened his pace. His apprentice and Chu Chu were likely growing anxious waiting for him.
Watching his figure fade into the distance, a thoughtful glimmer appeared in Anxin's eyes. Perhaps… he wasn't such a bad person after all.