Chapter 301: Up To You
Wei Lingyun had been waiting for someone to make the first mistake, and the man holding the rifle in the middle of the group of men seemed determined to volunteer.
His expression hardened as soon as Rouxi refused him, and the five men behind him spread farther apart until they blocked the entire path to the SUV. It might have been intimidating if Lingyun hadn’t already noticed the nervous way two of them kept glancing at the baby vine curled around Rouxi’s wrist.
"I don’t think you understand the situation," the leader said as he stepped forward.
"No, I understand it perfectly," Rouxi replied, slowly nodding her head. "You want something that belongs to me, and I’m not giving it to you."
"You’re standing inside Gu Han’s territory. Nothing here belongs to you."
Rouxi looked down at the pavement beneath her feet as though she expected Gu Han’s name to appear there. "I’m standing in a parking lot." She raised her head and smirked at the man. "And anything in my possession belongs to me. I’m pretty sure that’s how it’s always worked."
The man’s jaw tightened. He had probably expected fear, negotiation, or at least enough common sense for them to recognize that six rifles were pointed in their direction. Instead, Rouxi only looked mildly irritated.
Lingyun understood the feeling well.
The trip had been going surprisingly well until these idiots arrived. Rouxi had laughed, emptied half the craft store, and gone almost an entire hour without threatening one of the four of them.
That had to be some kind of record.
Now someone was trying to take her thread. Lingyun let out a sigh and shook his head. One thing he had learned in the past few months was that Rouxi was insanely territorial. If she thought it was hers, she wouldn’t hesitate to kill to protect it.
It’s one of the reasons why he had probably fallen in love with her in the first place. She looked at him like he was hers.
"You have one chance," the leader warned, pulling Lingyun out of his thoughts. "Leave half of the supplies and walk away."
Rouxi glanced at the basket in Yuche’s hand before turning toward Lingyun. "Did he say something different this time?"
"No," Lingyun replied, shaking his head with a sad look on his face. "He used more words, but the stupidity stayed the same."
The leader raised his rifle and pointed it directly at Rouxi.
Lingyun’s hand tightened around his gun, but he didn’t draw it. Neither did Zhenlan or Chenghai. Yuche remained beside Rouxi with the basket hanging from one hand, although several loose pieces of metal around the parking lot had already started to tremble beneath his control.
They were all waiting.
It wasn’t because they needed permission to protect her. Rouxi had already decided that the supplies were hers and that the men standing in front of them had no right to take them. But whatever happened next was still her decision.
She sighed as though the entire situation had become tiring. "You can leave now. I want to go back home and make sure my house is still in one piece after all this time."
The leader stared at her. "What?"
"You threatened to kill us over embroidery thread, but I’m feeling generous because I had a good morning. Take your men and go away before I change my mind." Rouxi was looking and speaking to him like he was still in kindergarten, but maybe that was the only way to get the information into his head.
After all, speaking like an adult hadn’t helped at all.
One of the men behind him laughed so hard that he almost collapsed into the man beside him. Tears streamed down his face as he continued, not bothering to pull himself together.
That was their second mistake.
The leader reached for the cart, and Rouxi’s baby moved before anyone else did. Both heads struck at once, but only one sank its teeth into the man’s hand. He jerked backward with a shout and tried to pull free, but the vine tightened around his wrist while poison dripped from its fangs.
The other five men immediately raised their weapons.
Everything happened at once, but it was over almost as quickly.
Yuche lifted his free hand, and the rifles ripped sideways before anyone could fire. Metal screamed against resisting grips as two weapons flew completely out of their owners’ hands. A third man held on long enough to be pulled off balance before the rifle twisted violently and struck him across the face.
The guns flew directly to Chenghai and Zhenlan, causing Rouxi to look at him.
"How else did you think we were getting guns?" mused Yuche. He didn’t need to even turn his head to look at her. He already knew what she was thinking and the look on her face.
Smiling brightly to himself, Lingyun drew his gun and pointed it at the so-called leader of this merry band of men. He didn’t need to fire it, but his point was still made. Heat gathered around his fingers and travelled toward the nearest rifle barrel until the metal glowed red.
The man holding it screamed and dropped the weapon.
"You might want to let go faster next time," Lingyun suggested with a shrug. "Or not. It’s really up to you."
Another man managed to fire, but Zhenlan moved before the bullet reached Rouxi. Lightning cracked across the parking lot and struck the rifle, throwing the shooter backward. Yuche caught the bullet with his power and sent it into the pavement several meters away.
Chenghai stepped in front of the cart as the last two men, the first ones to get their weapons taken, charged forward. The first pulled a short looking machete from his belt and swung it Chenghai’s neck, but the blade struck his skin and stopped dead.
For one confused second, the attacker stared at the weapon as though he couldn’t understand why it hadn’t cut through flesh.
