The resplendent neon lights were flickering and floating like a stream of radiance above the city. Along the streets and alleys, there was a constant hustle and bustle of traffic and a throng of people, accompanied by the ear-piercing din.
Su Mi was running like a madwoman. No matter how beautiful the scenery and people were, they all seemed grotesque and bizarre in her hasty and jolting vision. She was panting heavily from running with all her might. But it still wasn't fast enough – how could a person who hadn't eaten for three days possibly be fast?
Yet she couldn't stop.
Finally, she ran into a small alley in the city center, only to find the way ahead blocked by a high wall. And from behind, there came waves of laughter.
Su Mi was drenched in cold sweat and was forced to turn around. She unconsciously hugged herself tightly with her hands, as if this could wrap herself up more securely.
Several tall figures blocked the entrance of the alley.
"Help! Help!" Knowing it was in vain, she still cried out desperately with her hoarse and parched voice, hoping for a miracle. However, on the street at the entrance of the alley, the people and cars passing by in a hurry didn't stop for the girl's cries.
The leading tall and thin man sneered, "Run? I'll let you run! Today, brothers will teach you some rules."
Their words were quite simple, and Su Mi could understand them all. Her whole body was trembling, and her pale lips were shaking the most. She stammered in the local dialect, "Please let me go. I'll do anything else!"
The tall and thin man stood at the back with his arms folded, his eyes cold. "Miss, hasn't anyone told you that Hope City is a place of despair for the poor? And you... Heh, you're too poor."
Before Su Mi could react, several men had already walked up. She let out a scream and tried to break through their encirclement by pressing against the wall, but was easily caught by the men.
She was just about to struggle when her long hair was grabbed and she was instantly thrown to the ground, causing a sharp pain in her back. Her limbs were firmly pinned to the dirty ground by them.
A blinding glare of strong light.
Even with her eyes tightly shut due to humiliation, Su Mi could sense that the background of her vision suddenly brightened.
The group of men stood up, and one of them dragged Su Mi up from the ground and pinned her against the corner of the wall.
A black extended limousine was parked at the entrance of the alley. Even from such a distance, one could tell from its sleek and solid design that it was of considerable cost.
The headlights dimmed, the engine was turned off, and three men opened the car doors and stepped out.
Su Mi squinted and saw clearly that they were wearing military police uniforms, but this didn't arouse any hope in her. Having lived in the poorest part of the city for so long, she had seen clearly how those military police colluded with the underworld, worked hand in glove to please the rich and oppress the poor.
How could they possibly extend a hand of justice?
She noticed the man who was holding her from behind, and his attention was also drawn to the three military police. This might be her only chance to escape, and she was so nervous that her breathing became heavier.
However, something unexpected happened to Su Mi.
The three military police walked up, pulled out their guns and pointed them at the group of men.
"Ou Er, where are those batches of ores?" The leading military police officer drew his gun.
The tall and thin man was displeased. "What ores?"
"Bang!" A clean shot directly blew his head off! The group of men didn't expect the other side to kill someone just because of a disagreement and were all stunned, completely caught off guard. From Su Mi's perspective, she only saw a big bloody hole appear in the back of Ou Er's head, and even a few drops of slightly warm blood splashed onto her face.
Although there were still five men in the gang, they were no match for the three military police. A few minutes later, they were all handcuffed, with their hands and feet bound, kneeling on the ground, their necks pinched from behind by the military police, and their faces pressed towards the car in a rigid and curved arc.
Su Mi stood in the corner of the wall, not daring to move.
Next, she watched as the gang members were beaten by the military police until their faces were covered in blood and they were writhing in pain, and finally they obediently told the whereabouts of some "goods".
Those gang members were lying on the ground, barely alive. There was even one whose eye was punched concave under the heavy blows and was moaning feebly on the ground in pain. Su Mi looked at the bloody hole on his face and was horrified.
However, even so, the military police didn't intend to let them go. They wiped the blood off their hands and looked respectfully at the car.
A military police officer opened the back door of the car and whispered something. Immediately, a man slowly leaned out and stepped out of the car. Because of the backlighting, his face was blurred in the shadows. But this didn't prevent Su Mi from seeing clearly that he was an extremely tall and straight man, with a crisp suit and shiny leather shoes. He had his hands in his pockets and walked up to the men on the ground, slightly lowering his head as if he was examining something.
If the cruelty and violence of the previous military police officers were already frightening, then this man, despite not uttering a word and not laying a hand on anyone, gave people a sense of majesty and coldness that seeped through his silence.
"Tell your boss," his voice had a calm and low tone, "I don't like betrayal."
"Yes, sir! We're sorry! Our boss is sorry!" The men on the ground were weeping with joy.
He only glanced at the military police beside him. "One person is enough."
The military police nodded and raised his gun. "Bang, bang, bang!" With a few soft sounds, the men on the ground all fell down without even a grunt. And the man who had lost an eye was lucky enough to survive, but was already shaking with fear, hugging his head and whimpering softly.
"Get out of here!" A military police officer shouted.
The man scrambled and staggered out of the alley.
Su Mi tried to shrink further into the corner of the wall, but the man looked up and over. Although she couldn't see his eyes clearly, Su Mi was startled in her heart.
Would they kill her to silence her... Would they let her go?
Just as she was trembling with fear, the man walked towards her without any warning.
Under the street lamp, the man was like a black tree, tall and quiet.
She saw a young and tough face emerging from the darkness. His facial features were unexpectedly calm and handsome, like a magnificent sculpture from ancient times, emerging calmly from the murky waters.
He stared at Su Mi, his gaze calmer and sharper than anyone she had ever seen, giving her an intense sense of oppression for no reason.
Su Mi's body was getting stiffer and stiffer. But then he suddenly made a move.
He reached out and unbuttoned his suit jacket. This should have been a dangerous signal, but his movement was solemn and gentle, which made Su Mi a bit confused. Then, to her surprise, he actually draped the jacket over Su Mi himself.
Su Mi was completely stunned.
However, before Su Mi could thank him, he had already turned around, and his indifferent voice came, "Kill her."
He walked towards the car without looking back. The military police standing at the end pulled out his gun and pointed it at the center of Su Mi's forehead.
The young military police officer's face was calm and cold, not hesitating at all even though a young and innocent life was about to die at his hands. Su Mi was facing the black muzzle of the gun for the first time and suddenly felt her throat choked up, her brain blank, not knowing what to do and whether it would be painful. Perhaps death was only an instant, but the expected instant of death was so Unacceptable and terrifying.
She was Unacceptable. She really unwilling to accept. What kind of joke had fate played on her? Why was she here? Were her twenty-three years of growth memories on Earth real, or just a dream of hers?
She smiled bitterly. She didn't know that the shabby and thin girl, the girl who was so petite wrapped in the jacket, her desperate and sad smile in the night, made the military police who had killed countless people a bit dazed for an instant.
The next move was completely without thinking, out of her control. She was like being possessed, almost gently reaching out and gently grabbing the cold muzzle of the gun of the military police.
She used her scarred but still slender and soft fingers to move the gun pointed at herself away. The military police didn't react for a moment and didn't fire.
The other military police officers sensed something was wrong and all turned around, pulling out their guns and pointing them at her.
And she seemed completely unaware of the threat of death. Her shoes had been lost during the running, and she was walking barefoot on the cold and dirty ground, towards the front of the car, behind that man.
She slowly crouched down and gently hugged his legs.
"Please, save me..." Her small voice carried the pain that had been suppressed for a long time. She looked up at him, "Please, don't kill me..."
She didn't know who he was, nor whether he was good or bad. His subordinates had killed so many people in front of her, and it was also he who personally ordered to kill her to silence her.
But he was also the only one who had carefully wrapped her up with his clean and luxurious clothes during all this time.
In the flowing light of the street lamps, the man's side face as he slowly turned was colder and harder than the night. At that instant, Su Mi vaguely realized that this man was clearly more ruthless than anyone else, yet she was foolish enough to ask him for help.
"I never help anyone." The man looked down at her grubby fingers clutching onto his suit pants.
The military police officers behind had already walked up, bending down to prepare to drag her away. She had no strength left to struggle and slumped in their arms.
But at that moment, she heard his cold and detached voice say, "I only do deals for benefits. What will you offer in exchange for your life?"