"However, apart from simply wanting to sit here myself, I really do want to protect the boss and his family from up close."
Zhu Qiang's gaze flickered slightly. Whether he thought of something or not, he didn't answer Xu Gang's question, but instead went on talking to himself.
"?"
Xu Gang was baffled. What on earth are you talking about? There are six other brothers outside; don't you know what kind of strength everyone has? If anyone in City Number Seven could touch even a single hair of the boss under our protection, the rest of us might as well just drop dead on the spot. Besides, those women hiding in the shadows aren't exactly pushovers.
"It's not that I don't trust the guys," Zhu Qiang seemed to know very well what Xu Gang was thinking. He glanced at He Shengting's figure. "Just in case, you know. You also know that the boss spends almost every day in the lab doing his research, without taking a single day off for holidays or weekends. I've always worried that he'd collapse from exhaustion in the laboratory. Now that he's finally taking a break for himself to accompany the boss's wife and the little boss, I don't want anyone disturbing them."
"And..." He paused, his expression suddenly turning extremely serious.
Seeing this, Xu Gang turned serious as well.
Who would have thought Zhu Qiang would say, "This carousel is actually pretty interesting, don't you think?"
"..."
The tension on Xu Gang's face instantly collapsed, and he stared at him expressionlessly.
Are you fucking kidding me?
What the hell is interesting about this thing?
That kid over there is looking at us like we're weird creeps. Didn't you notice, sister?
I feel terrible right now!
Ignoring his gaze, Zhu Qiang cheerfully grabbed the reins of the wooden horse, as if he was about to shout in the next second: "Giddyup!"
In the end, he didn't call it out. A person can be a bit eccentric, but not completely out of their mind.
As the music gradually stopped, the wooden horse also slowly came to a halt.
Xu Gang let out a sigh of relief, feeling finally liberated. The brat next door was led away to somewhere else by his parents, and that strange look finally vanished.
Zhu Qiang smacked his lips, feeling a sense of unfulfilled longing...
Equally unsatisfied was Xiao Linlin.
"Mom, can we ride the happy pony one more time?" She grabbed the hem of her mother's skirt, looked up, and acted spoiled.
"Happy pony" was her personal name for the carousel.
"No way, oh," Xia Rou squatted down, reached out to tidy Xiao Linlin's hair, pinched her little cheek, and smiled. "You've already ridden the 'happy pony' twice today. Children can't be too greedy!"
Aside from the amusement park's overly terrifying haunted house and the too-thrilling roller coaster, the couple had basically taken Xiao Linlin to try out every other attraction.
"Shall we come again next time?" He Shengting also squatted down and patted Xiao Linlin's little head. "It's already almost nine-thirty. It's time for Linlin to go home and sleep."
"Mm..." Xiao Linlin pouted. "Who knows when next time will be? You guys are always so busy!"
He Shengting and Xia Rou froze at the same time, exchanging a look of helpless resignation.
The adult world was always filled with too much helplessness; they were busy with work and truly had very little time to take Xiao Linlin out to play.
"Next time for sure!" They had said those words who knows how many times. Many things promised to friends were always postponed or broken for various reasons...
Yet He Shengting and Xia Rou had never actually used "next time for sure" to brush off Xiao Linlin; what they promised, they always fulfilled!
It was just that the time for the family of three to go out and play together was simply too scarce. Xiao Linlin just hoped such moments could last a little longer.
"Mom, I'm sleepy. Let's go home!" Xiao Linlin suddenly looked up, raising both hands toward her mother for a hug.
Perhaps because Xiao Linlin was already tired, her enthusiasm faded, and as her spirits relaxed, sleepiness quietly crept in.
Xia Rou let out an imperceptible sigh, forced a smile, and scooped Xiao Linlin into her arms.
The "happy pony" had started up once again, yet it was getting further and further away from Xiao Linlin, as if telling her that the joy of this moment did not belong to her, but to other children.
Snuggling in her mother's arms, she wrapped her arms around her mother's neck and said in a voice only she could hear:
"Going home..."
...
"Going home."
Fang Qingze was waiting for the subway on the platform. It was already 9:30 in the evening, and the pedestrian street subway station was still relatively crowded, with people everywhere.
Fang Qingze had arrived quite coincidentally. The previous train had just left; although he hadn't managed to catch it, this also meant that he would be able to stand at the very front of the queue for the next one, getting on the train first and taking a commanding lead!
The harsh screeching of the brakes approached from afar. The train car compressed the air inside the tracks, and the resulting airflow blew out from the gaps in the screen doors, hitting Fang Qingze's lower legs.
Fang Qingze figured that standing right at the front this time meant he should easily be able to grab a seat.
Yet reality dealt him a fierce slap to the face. Ah, Little Fang, you're still too naive.
"I'm so stupid, truly!" Fang Qingze hugged his backpack as he squeezed into a corner of the train, looking at the crowd of figures before him with his world-weary eyes, fiercely complaining in his heart: "I only knew that standing first would let me get on the train first, but I forgot that everyone around me would be senior citizens!"
The moment before the doors opened, seeing a few people standing right behind the doors inside the carriage, and in accordance with the subway rule of "letting passengers off before letting new ones on," Fang Qingze didn't rush in immediately. Passengers inside the carriage stepped forward to exit.
Right at that moment, an elfish, thin elderly man squeezed past Fang Qingze with an agility unbefitting his age, diving straight into the carriage.
Before Fang Qingze even had time to react, an overwhelming push from behind hit him.
In that instant, some instinctive urge seemed ready to burst within his body. He could only flow with the crowd into the carriage while hurriedly suppressing that impulse.
"Hey, hey, hey! Let me off, I haven't gotten off yet!" Someone nearby seemed to be shouting.
Little master, there's more to this chapter, please click the next page to continue reading. The later parts are even more exciting!
By the time Fang Qingze came to his senses, he was already standing near the door on the opposite side.
Crouched in the corner, Fang Qingze clutched his backpack to his chest.
He didn't like having body-to-body physical contact with strangers—men and women alike—so he used his backpack to carve out some space.
What the hell, what day is it today? So many old folks out late at night, trying to pull off a "Night Parade of One Hundred Demons"?
He pulled out his phone to check the date: June 15th, Thursday. Nothing special, not any kind of holiday.
There were two old men sitting on the bench beside him, one of whom was the elderly man who had squeezed through the door right as it opened.
"Old Zhang, what did you manage to grab?"
! Robbery?
Fang Qingze was startled, looking at the old man who looked to be around seventy, feeling that the world had gone a bit mad.
"Hey! Don't even ask!" Old Zhang leaned back against the back of the bench, his face full of unhappiness. "I actually had my eye on a rice cooker. My in-laws have one; it's great for cooking rice, making porridge, stewing soup, and brewing herbal medicine!"
Old Zhang snorted. "There was only one left, but it got snatched by some old hag who claimed she saw it first and refused to let go. It infuriated me!"
"I couldn't win against that old hag, so after walking around for a long time, I just bought this kettle instead."
With that, he brushed past the topic of the rice cooker and began praising the kettle he bought to the inquiring old man like a child showing off a treasure, describing its functions and how good the boiled water tasted...
Fang Qingze finally understood. This was just some supermarket holding a promotional event—no wonder the elders had all swarmed out in full force.
The train sped rapidly through the tunnel. The carriage was noisy and crowded, with everyone standing doing their utmost to maintain their posture to avoid being shaken off balance by the swaying train.
Right beside Fang Qingze, two young men were whispering.
"Hey! Did you see that video!" One of them, dyed with yellow hair, asked mysteriously.
"What video?" The other, with red hair, looked utterly puzzled.
"You don't know? There was an explosion on the 10th floor of Shengxian Pavilion! How can you not know about something this big? It's blowing up all over the internet! Someone actually jumped straight out of the explosion hole! The 10th floor, man!" The yellow-haired guy's tone was deeply exaggerated, as if he had witnessed it on the spot. "I saw it just before the two of us got on the train. I didn't have time to tell you then."
"Shengxian Pavilion?" The red-haired guy widened his eyes in shock. "The 10th floor? Yikes—won't you turn black and blue all over hitting the ground?"
"Black and blue? I'd be scattered in pieces... I'm telling you, that guy is fine!" Excitement flashed in the yellow-haired guy's eyes.
"No way! You said he jumped from the 10th floor, which is over twenty meters high. Unless he can fly, it's impossible to be fine!" The red-haired guy completely disbelieved it; that was simply too absurd.
"It's true," the yellow-haired guy grew anxious. "If you don't believe me, you have to believe the cops, right? Police cars are already at the scene, and there's even a fire helicopter dropping fire-extinguishing stuff. Look it up online yourself."
The red-haired guy pulled out his phone and opened a video app.
Shengxian Pavilion?
Fang Qingze remembered that the so-called "Shengxian Pavilion" was a hotel. While the name sounded grandiose, it was also a luxury hotel.
Fang Qingze figured that such an event must have hit the trending searches, so he pulled out his phone and opened a video app as well.
Sure enough, the very first video was related to the explosion.
Posted at 21:20, author: Lone Wolf.
Title: Shocking! Luxury hotel "Shengxian Pavilion" suffers explosion, mysterious dark figure leaps down and vanishes without a trace!
Less than half an hour after posting, the video had 36,000 likes and 14,000 comments.
The video was shot from a ground-level perspective. Amidst the shaky footage, the 10th floor of Shengxian Pavilion was ablaze with raging fire, and a huge breach continuously spewed thick, rolling smoke.
The video was filled with clamorous voices and constant gasps, along with chaotic footsteps. The videographer occasionally seemed to be bumped by pedestrians, causing the frame to shake violently from time to time, accompanied by a few curses.
The bullet comments initially consisted of a string of exclamation marks and question marks. A few seconds later, the rest of the comments devolved into a chaotic free-for-all.
Someone asked: "Is this Shengxian Pavilion? I heard that the people staying in this hotel are business bigwigs. With an explosion this big, won't several major companies change hands overnight?"
"An explosion? I'm so scared..."
"Baby talk is so nauseating..."
"Don't be scared, little sister, come into big brother's arms, big brother will protect you~"
"Why is everyone a little sister? Did the person above get so out of their mind from trolling that they forgot this could be a guy?"
"What? A guy? Isn't that even better? Ideally a trap, hehehe..."
"Your perversion terrifies me. By the way, how many heavenly guardians do you take down in a single meal?"
"I give up, why are these all thousand-year-old dead memes? Got any fresh material?"
"Ohoho, didn't they say Shengxian Pavilion has the best security and is completely safe? Lmao! With an explosion accident this big, let's see who else dares to stay there."
"The person above has a lot of resentment. Have you never stayed there so you're eating sour grapes because you can't have them?"
"Ah, right, right, right. You should go more often. Next time you go, send a message so buddy here can prepare your funeral arrangements."
"My review: good riddance, Shengxian Pavilion isn't anything good either. Last time I tried to take a picture, I got bitten by a guard dog, and my phone almost got confiscated."
"What? Shengxian Pavilion keeps dogs? How do they train them to snatch phones?"
"They must be talking about the security guards at Shengxian Pavilion. Those jerks really are arrogant; you have to endure their sideways glances just walking past them..."
"A round of applause for the detail of referring to them as 'it'. If you ask me, I wouldn't dare say Shengxian Pavilion has the best security, but I completely agree that they have the most loyal security guards!"
"Shengxian Pavilion is really mediocre. My review is: not as good as the 'Jiutian Ju' across the street."
"The guy above is obviously a rival business, save the bias."
Others complained that the video was too shaky:
"Author, were you getting bent over while filming? Why is it shaking this much?"
"666"
"666"
"Bro has high attack power! Drop a couple of lines in the comments too? I'll like your post."
The bullet comments contained all sorts of things. Mostly people joking around and acting as trolls, yet no one seemed to care about the explosion at the Shengxian Pavilion itself, as if nobody gave a damn whether anyone was injured or even dead.
Looking at the chaotic, demon-dance-like barrage of comments, Fang Qingze found it a bit boring. He didn't care about what happened to Shengxian Pavilion either; even if people died, it didn't matter. In City Number Seven, or even the entire Federation, weren't a few occasional deaths completely normal?
As for the location of the explosion, he only knew that area belonged to the commercial district and that Shengxian Pavilion was very luxurious, but he had never been to the commercial district, let alone known what the security guards at Shengxian Pavilion were like.
...
As the footage stabilized, suddenly, another loud bang erupted from the tenth floor of the hotel, and flames carrying thick smoke and building material debris blasted out from the breach.
Immediately following that, a jaw-dropping sight appeared!
...