This Villain Ch.40

Chapter 40: Every decision you make changes your destiny

The viscous, pungent liquid on the stairs slowly flowed down to the feet of the motionless 012.

Yu Yan, accustomed to seeing blood in the hospital, couldn’t help but flinch at the sight, guessing what kind of scene awaited upstairs.

The man grasped by 012 cried out in panic, “Don’t kill me, save me, Song Qiufeng, save me! I’m your brother after all!”

It would have been better if he had remained silent. Once he spoke, Lu Qiufeng’s attention shifted to him.

“Save you? You must hate me for what happened back then. You’ve been finding ways to torment me these past few days, and you never seemed to remember our thin family ties. Being brothers with someone like you makes me sick.”

Lu Qiufeng smirked coldly, “Two years ago, you were clearly imprisoned for violating the laws of the Central District. How did you end up here as a local tyrant?”

“Did Fourth Uncle and Fourth Aunt pull you out?”

Song Jinshu, covered in blood, turned red with anger. For a moment, he forgot the cold-blooded killer beside him and tried to refute desperately:

“What else do you want? Haven’t I already paid the price? I can’t return to the Central District and am stuck in this godforsaken place! It’s just playing with some mutants; am I the only one playing?”

“I don’t want to debate this with you.”

Suddenly, Lu Qiufeng snatched the energy gun from Yu Yan’s hand, and with a burst of anger, stepped forward and fired three quick shots into Song Jinshu’s head.

The man was instantly dead.

012 emotionlessly released Song Jinshu’s corpse and walked over to Yu Yan, stepping through the blood on the stairs.

Yu Yan watched the bloodstained footprints left with each step 012 took, then glanced at Lu Qiufeng, who had slumped beside the corpse on the stairs, exhausted.

“Hmm, very good. You’ve all gone on a killing spree, leaving nothing behind,” Yu Yan said. “So, let’s wrap things up. Lu Qiufeng, are you okay with that?”

Lu Qiufeng, holding his forehead, replied, “I’m the one who killed him. The Song family won’t cause trouble for you. What’s there to be afraid of… He should have died long ago.”

“Let’s go,” 012 said, pressing down on Yu Yan’s shoulder.

Pushed by a great force, Yu Yan looked back and said, “Leaving Xiao Lu, who’s just a patient, like this isn’t quite right…”

012 turned his head back, not allowing him to look behind.

Yu Yan lifted his hand to rest on the one 012 had on his shoulder. “Yao’er, let’s discuss this.”

012 wasn’t interested in discussing anything with him. They exited the small building, and chaos reigned outside.

For some unknown reason, the manor’s barrier had malfunctioned, allowing a large number of mutated creatures to invade. The nearby ballroom and small villas were filled with screams.

Yu Yan stopped mid-sentence and asked, “What’s happening up ahead?”

“I made a few adjustments when I entered, causing the barrier to malfunction, making it easier for Xiao Wei to bring in mutated creatures to cause trouble,” the red-eyed rabbit proudly said from behind.

He glanced curiously at them, then shouted at a small figure running from a distance, “Xiao Wei, Big Brother is over here!”

The gap-toothed kitten ran up shouting, “Idiot Big Brother really got tricked by that nasty dog poop!”

“Who are those two?” the kitten asked, noticing the two standing by the door.

“They might be Big Brother’s new little brothers,” the rabbit replied.

Yu Yan: “……”

“Alright, we don’t need to worry about this ‘Big Brother’ anymore. Let’s go,” Yu Yan said, patting 012 on the shoulder.

He was just joking. Yu Yan didn’t really intend to leave the mess behind without addressing it. They had to wait for Captain Xin Luo’s team to receive the message and come to pick up Lu Qiufeng and the collection team hiding in the basement.

The bosses who had been attending the ball noticed the commotion behind them, with the manor owner seemingly in trouble, and were suddenly attacked by rampaging mutated creatures. Most quickly gathered their bodyguards and fled the manor, while a few unfortunate souls lost their lives.

Da Tou, Xiao Fei, and Guide Li also arrived. 012, who had been gripping Yu Yan’s shoulder, finally let go and silently left in one direction.

Yu Yan rubbed his arm and saw that 012 was heading toward the small villa area, where Boss Huang’s building was located.

He left quickly and returned just as quickly, with a casual expression as if he had just gone to the bathroom.

“Did you go to take care of Boss Huang?” Yu Yan asked.

“I saw it,” 012 said, grabbing his hand. “He touched your hand.”

Yu Yan thought, ‘You don’t care that Boss Huang tricked you into being sold, but upset that Boss Huang touched my hand. Is your jealousy a bit too strong?’

If you knew Zhou Sheqing wanted to marry me, would you rush back to the Central District to take her out?

Given 012’s emotional state, it wasn’t out of the question.

…

At dusk, Captain Xin Luo and his team finally arrived.

Their group, covered in dust and grime from their search in the northern wasteland, failed to find anyone. Instead, they were found by Researcher Kang, who said he wanted to play in the Underground City. Captain Xin Luo had a complex and relieved expression.

By now, everyone who could escape the manor had done so, including the mutated creatures locked in the basement. The manor was left with only a few servants who had miraculously survived the chaos.

The team that had escaped took a vehicle back to their base in the Underground City to rest. Lu Qiufeng and Yu Yan ended up on the same vehicle.

012 glanced at Yu Yan but did not join him. Instead, 012 boarded a different vehicle ahead.

The two children who had been following Lu Qiufeng naturally got on the same vehicle as him.

Lu Qiufeng turned to them, irritated. “What are you doing getting on? Just leave if you have nothing to do.”

The children, unfazed by his annoyance, jumped into the vehicle and said, “We’re going to make sure Big Brother gets to a safe place, so you don’t get tricked again.”

Lu Qiufeng glared at them for a moment. The children returned his gaze with innocent, cute looks and settled in without moving.

Captain Xin Luo urged, “Researcher Lu, hurry up and get in. It’s getting dark; we need to leave quickly.”

Reluctantly, Lu Qiufeng got in the vehicle and sat next to Yu Yan.

Yu Yan leaned against the window and occasionally glanced at the vehicle in front.

As the vehicle started moving, Yu Yan spread his legs and leaned back with a sigh.

Lu Qiufeng said, “I’ll send someone to handle the manor’s affairs. You’re not responsible for the cleanup, so why the sigh?”

Yu Yan withdrew his gaze and replied, “I’m bored on the way. Want to talk about your situation?”

Lu Qiufeng was reluctant to speak but, considering that Yu Yan had come specifically to rescue him, he felt obliged to share under Yu Yan’s insistence.

“One of the top ten jokes among the prominent families in Central District,” Lu Qiufeng began, “is that the two young masters of the Song family quarreled over a mutant, and one of them sent the other to court and into prison.” He continued, “I was one of them.”

Two years ago, Lu Qiufeng, inexperienced in the dark realities of the world and sheltered in his ivory tower, had inadvertently helped a poor little beggar named Xiao Hong.

It was later discovered that the “little beggar” had deceived him. Xiao Hong was actually a high-level mutated rabbit who had infiltrated the Song family to rescue a captured companion, Xiao Wei, from Song Jinshu’s club.

Enraged by the deception, but seeing Xiao Hong’s (feigned) helplessness, Lu Qiufeng decided to help, which led him to uncover the dark side of his seemingly glamorous family.

He found out that his cousin Song Jinshu’s club was filled with high-level mutants offering special services, alongside a few attractive humans.

Song Jinshu himself had a penchant for cruelty. Lu Qiufeng went to the club to rescue Xiao Wei and stumbled upon a party hosted by Song Jinshu, which was so brutal that it made him vomit on the spot.

This incident was just the beginning. Suspicious, Lu Qiufeng soon discovered that there were secret laboratories in the family, in addition to the publicly known ones, conducting inhumane human experiments.

He also saw the Song family’s factory that mass-produced high-level mutated creatures, channeling them into illegal markets. The factory was a grim sight, with humanoid mutated creatures being manufactured, raised, transported, and sold like livestock. Some defective ones were cruelly discarded and processed into meat products for a special market.

And all of this was just one dark facet of the prominent families in Central District.

The naive and morally clear young master could not accept any of it. After struggling with his conscience, he chose to expose all the crimes.

To help the poor high-level mutated creatures escape capture and persecution, he asked his unsuspecting mother to hide some of them in her villa, rescued from Song Jinshu’s club and laboratory.

However, those high-level mutated creatures, filled with hatred, did not believe in his genuine intentions. After killing his mother, they stole valuable items from the villa and fled.

In the end, the Song family suppressed everything. Only the tip of the iceberg was revealed, and only Song Jinshu was held accountable, being publicly imprisoned. The matter was thus concluded.

Unable to change anything but losing his innocent mother in the process, Lu Qiufeng’s character drastically changed after being expelled from the Central District for betraying his family.

Disheartened, he changed his surname and moved to the Fifth District, becoming an unambitious researcher at the Evolution Research Institute.

Lu Qiufeng did not recount all these details but simply told Yu Yan about how he met the two children.

He had rescued Xiao Wei from Song Jinshu’s club and then sent them to the outer district.

Two years later, he suddenly received a distress letter sent under the names of Xiao Hong and Xiao Wei.

The letter stated that Song Jinshu was not in prison. He was still living well in the outer district thanks to the Song family’s connections, and he held a grudge against the past, having captured them.

So, Lu Qiufeng decided to join the research institute’s collection team to the outer district to verify the truth of the letter.

Yu Yan asked, “So the letter was a trap set by Song Jinshu, and you fell for it and got captured?”

Lu Qiufeng replied, “It wasn’t a simple capture; the process was quite complicated… never mind, I don’t want to go into details.”

The two children in the front seat popped their heads out. The little rabbit said:

“We’re too clever to be caught, it’s just that Big Brother is too easily fooled! We heard Big Brother was looking for us in the underground city. Before we could find you, you disappeared, so we had no choice but to come here!”

Xiao Wei added, “Although easily fooled, Big Brother is a good person. He’s a good big brother but a bit naive.”

Lu Qiufeng said, “Shut up and stop calling me ‘Big Brother.’”

Yu Yan had actually heard of the rumor about “the two young masters of the Song family falling out over a mutant.”

In the increasingly ambiguous rumors, the contested mutated creature was a beautiful troublemaker, and the whole affair was even spun into a scandal.

Given Lu Qiufeng’s past comments about high-level mutated creatures, Yu Yan almost misinterpreted his past as involving some romantic entanglement with one.

But he didn’t expect there was such a heavy backstory.

Even though Lu Qiufeng was vague about it, Yu Yan pieced together his past.

Such an experience, even if not as a tragic hero, was still significant. In the original storyline, he seemed to have the same unfortunate fate as the original character Kang Shi.

Reflecting on these accounts, Yu Yan vaguely recalled that the two children also had some roles in the original storyline.

Calling up the inconspicuous system, Yu Yan found their connection with the protagonist Su He.

In the original storyline, after 012 had nearly wiped out the Evolution Research Institute, spreading a terrifying virus and causing chaos.

Su He fled to the outer district due to being targeted and persecuted for cultivating a mutant that crossed levels.

At that time, the original owner, Kang Shi, and Lu Qiufeng had already died at the hands of 012. Xiao Hong and Xiao Wei helped Su He, likely because she knew Lu Qiufeng.

Seeing that Lu Qiufeng didn’t dislike the two children but was still troubled by the past, especially his own role in it, Yu Yan said, “Xiao Lu, your two ‘brothers’ are very loyal and came all the way to rescue you. Don’t be so grim and harsh when you talk.”

Lu Qiufeng suddenly shifted his position, glancing sideways at him. “Don’t call them ‘brothers.’”

Yu Yan responded with a puzzled look.

Lu Qiufeng scoffed, “They’re genuine brothers, unlike you, who call yourself ‘Third Brother’ but are actually just a love interest, a romantic brother, heh.”

Yu Yan: “…”

Lu Qiufeng continued, “Don’t pretend you came to save me; I don’t believe it. I told you I saw 012, so you came to the underground city to check him out, using me as an excuse, right?”

Under his scrutinizing gaze, Yu Yan shrugged and admitted, “Alright, I’ll be honest. I actually came here to avoid matchmaking and marriage.”

Yu Yan had never even considered developing feelings for someone, let alone entering into marriage. It was indeed a very troubling matter.

The convoy did not rest and traveled continuously day and night to return to the underground city.

Captain Xin Luo arranged for them to rest for a day at the Green Tree Street base before heading back to the city.

Yu Yan got off the vehicle, feeling sore and stiff from sleeping in the car.

As everyone got off the vehicle, 012 also descended. Cloaked and masked, he did not approach but stood at a distance, his expression cold and indifferent.

Guide Li came to bid farewell to Yu Yan and quietly asked, “Mr. Yu, did you have a quarrel with Yin Hui? He seems upset.”

Yu Yan glanced above 012’s head, saying, “He’s not angry; he wants to eat people.”

012 watched him for a while, as if waiting for something, but eventually turned and walked away.

Yu Yan stood there with his hands in his pockets, watching as 012’s figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance.

The underground city, shrouded in darkness, was frozen in the night. The distant and near lights stretched the shadows of passersby, and 012 kept his distance from everyone, gradually disappearing into the darkness.

“Xiao Lu, go back and take a leave of absence for me. I’ll stay here for a while before returning.”

“What?” Lu Qiufeng, busy dealing with the two younger ones, turned his head to respond, only to find Yu Yan already striding away.

“Hey! Kang, you’re not planning on leaving, are you?”

Yu Yan left Green Tree Street and caught up with 012, walking behind him at a distance of two meters, moving at a leisurely pace.

012’s footsteps were silent, while Yu Yan’s were casual and clear.

Suddenly, 012 turned around and, with an imposing and cold demeanor, walked up to Yu Yan, embracing him and resting his head against his neck.

It was a very fierce and demanding display of affection.

“You stayed at my place before, and now that I have nowhere else to go, I’ll be staying at yours for a while,” Yu Yan said.

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