Chapter 901: Boundary Line
Translator: Azza
Tao Yueyue gazed with boredom at the iced-coke in front of her. Zhou Xiao said while drinking a beer, "Drink quickly. We’ll be going back after drinking."
"Oh…" Tao Yueyue took a sip from her cup.
A man came over to Zhou Xiao’s side and said, "I haven't seen you before."
Zhou Xiao narrowed his eyes at him. "I can't come just because you haven’t seen me before?" He reached out and picked up the cigarettes and lighter that the man had placed on the bar table, and lit one.
"Haha, what do you do for a living?"
"Murderer."
"Really?" The man thought it was a joke and continued in a joking tone. "Have you killed many people?"
Zhou Xiao looked behind him. "More than the people in here."
The man looked happy and snapped his fingers at the bartender. "Give him a cup of long-island iced tea."
Taking this opportunity, Tao Yueyue said quickly, "Uncle, I want to try a small cup of vodka."
"Is this your daughter?" The man looked at Tao Yueyue and his eyes were obviously not as enthusiastic as they had been. However, for the sake of his face, he asked the bartender to pour a small glass of vodka.
With outsiders present, Zhou Xiao didn’t interfere with Tao Yueyue this time. He and the man chatted together on random topics that had no depth, but the two of them weren’t drunk on alcohol. They had other motives and their words were laced with flirtation.
Tao Yueyue raised the cup of vodka and pretended to drink it. The bartender wiped the glasses while saying, "This alcohol tastes very strong. Just pour it into the coke and drink it."
"No, I like drinking like this."
"Why do you like vodka so much? You must have seen it on TV, right?"
"Yes."
"How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
Zhou Xiao and the man suddenly got up and left their seats and went to the bathroom together. The bartender also went to the other side to greet other guests. Taking this opportunity, Tao Yueyue quickly took out the syringe and drew the vodka from the glass into the syringe.
She put the protective sleeve of the syringe on and breathed a long sigh of relief. She was one step closer to her actual goal, and the coke in her cup seemed to be much sweeter now.
The men in the bar chatted with each other. Tao Yueyue was like a transparent person. This feeling was quite relaxing.
Zhou Xiao never came back. She became worried. He wouldn’t…
She ran to the bathroom door to eavesdrop, and she turned pale when she heard the man's screams. She rushed into the men's bathroom when no one was going in. This bar also only had men's bathrooms.
The unusual sounds came from one of the stalls. She hesitated before knocking on the door. "Uncle Zhou, are you in it?"
"Get lost!" Zhou Xiao scolded.
"Haha, your daughter is really worried about you."
"Go out and wait for a while. I'll be back right away." Zhou Xiao's tone eased.
"Back right away? Are you kidding me? You’re not going to leave for at least another half hour." The man gasped.
Tao Yueyue rolled her eyes. She was just worried that this man would be killed. At this time, someone else came in. They weren’t too surprised to see Tao Yueyue. The man asked while urinating, "Little girl, did you come to the wrong place?"
After urinating, the man shook a few times and left.
Tao Yueyue continued to knock on the door. "Uncle Zhou, come out when you’re done. I'm so bored."
"Get lost! I won't kill him."
"Haha, you better kill me."
Tao Yueyue left helplessly, sitting near the toilet in anxiety.
After a while, Zhou Xiao came out with a satisfied and exhausted expression. There was nothing but sweat on his body. There was no blood. Tao Yueyue sighed in relief.
His tone was obviously milder now. He asked, "Were you afraid that I would kill someone, or were you afraid that I would be caught?"
"I was scared you’d be caught…"
He grinned, "Let's go!"
Walking on the street with Zhou Xiao, his murderous aura had obviously diminished a bit. He was smoking a cigarette, looking at the night sky, and even humming softly.
"Tao Yueyue…"
Just as he was about to say something, two police officers appeared on the street. Zhou Xiao stretched out a hand and Tao Yueyue grabbed it. To the police, they were like a pair of father and daughter who came out to eat supper at night passing them by. As they walked past, Tao Yueyue noticed that one of the policemen looked at her in surprise, then turned on their phone.
About ten meters away, the policeman said to his colleague, "Wasn’t that girl just then the one who is missing?"
"Hey, you guys need to stop right there!"
Zhou Xiao pulled Tao Yueyue and ran as fast as they could. The police behind desperately chased them. Finally, Zhou Xiao hid in the gap between two buildings. The policemen who had lost their target searched blankly and shouted, "Tao Yueyue…"
The other said, "Is the man with her a kidnapper?"
"But I haven't heard anything about her being kidnapped. It's just that she is missing. Besides, you saw how she so obviously ran away with that person."
"Haii, then that’s really troublesome. Let's report to the bureau tomorrow."
With the sound of footsteps heading away, Tao Yueyue questioned her choice again. Just then, she could have broken free from Zhou Xiao and ran to freedom, but she chose not to say a word.
Her reason told her that she didn't have to doubt herself. Her choice was correct. Her ongoing plan was more important than the junior high exam that she was about to miss and more important than eating delicious food at home. She wanted to make nights in Long’an no longer dangerous.
Through this episode, Zhou Xiao basically trusted Tao Yueyue. He asked, "Are you really planning to follow and do this line of business with me?"
Tao Yueyue nodded. "You can earn so much money by killing one person, and I want to do this too. Earning money, killing people, and living easily."
"The adult world isn’t that easy… but if you want to earn money, I will give you a chance. You will kill one of these two people. I will pay you the reward and let you go home. From then on, we’re partners!"
This time, Tao Yueyue nodded firmly. "Okay!"
Zhou Xiao stroked her head. "Teacher Zhou chose you correctly."
Zhou Xiao glanced outside the alley. "It seems that Song Lang is looking for you through the police. The neighborhood isn’t safe. We have to move."
"Then how can that uncle contact you?"
"I will leave behind my contact information."
The two returned to the housing community. They had nothing to pack. They only took the dead man's cell phone and ID. Zhou Xiao also took a charger. He carved a series of numbers on the door, which was Old Xie's phone number.
Zhou Xiao took her to a ruined building. This piece of feng shui treasure had been occupied by a group of homeless people long ago. Seeing outsiders coming in, a bunch of people came out from within the darkness, reminiscent of a wolf pack in a cave.
A homeless man with hair past his shoulders pointed at a pillar with a line of chalk on it. He said, "'High-end club' If you read it then get lost!"
"We’re friends from the same path. Let us stay overnight. I know your boss Xu Gaokui."
The homeless man looked Zhou Xiao up and down. "Who are you?"
"Zhou Xiao. Zhou Tiannan's disciple."
"Zhou Tiannan?" The group of homeless people chuckled. "The one who randomly died?"
The impulsive and easily irritable Zhou Xiao faced the ridicule of this group and actually endured these insults. The homeless people pointed to the side. "Go and stay there."
Zhou Xiao clasped his hand and a fist together and went to a cement-lined room without a door with Tao Yueyue. There were a few burnt bricks on the ground, some rags, and cotton wool, which could barely be used as a bed. Zhou Xiao said, "In this world that’s like a sewer, it doesn’t matter if you don’t have money. The most feared thing is to have no networking."
"You offended that underworld boss, so why is no one chasing after you?"
"Good question. That’s because this is another boss's jurisdiction. He thinks I'm still useful. He doesn't want another group of people to come in the name of crusade against me to cause trouble. There are many boundaries in Long'an that ordinary people can't see, but it exists concretely for us."
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