375: 7.65 I Have Come

7.65 I Have Come

Bam!

The dull thud of fist coming into contact with flesh reverberated through the air, followed by the hair-rising sound of bones cracking. Everyone who heard it couldn't help but grimace, their teeth hurt as if they were the one who had been hit. 

Strained silence reigned heavily in the room as Lu Yizhou's opponent — the last round's winner — swayed on his feet. Blood spurted out like a fountain from his broken nose. His eyes rolled backward and he toppled to the ground on his back with a wet splat. Surprised cries and sharp intake of breaths echoed after the man's demise.

Just one punch! That pet had just punched him once on the face and he had already fallen!

This… This… Even though the man had been exhausted by the previous round, he was still the strongest who had defeated four others with his bare fists. To knock him out in one move… what kind of monstrous strength was this?!

Lu Yizhou retracted his fist and lifted his eyelids to stare at Thirteen. Under the spotlight, his silver eyes gleamed in a frosty glare, so cold that it sent chills down everyone's spine. "I have told you." His voice, albeit soft, pierced through everyone's eardrums like thunderclap. "Let them all come and don't waste my time any longer."

This time, nobody dared to speak out in face of Lu Yizhou's arrogance anymore. 

The corner of Thirteen's lips twitched. "...Very well," he nodded with insurmountable composure. "Every participant may come on stage from now on. The rules are the same: no weapons. The last three people standing will become the winners and be accepted into the clan. You may even get the opportunity to enter the inner branch and work closely with Boss himself so… do your best."

Lu Yizhou took a few steps backward as tens of people poured into the stage. They all smelled of blood with malicious glint on their eyes. Lu Yizhou counted inwardly. Fifty five… so there were three people who didn't come. Did they forfeit or… would they take the opportunity of the chaos to insert themselves? 

Either way, Lu Yizhou's goal was only one: to leave the stage on his feet. 

He took a deep breath and slid his right foot in a half circle behind him and angled his body for preparation to attack. The others took their own places, too untrusting to form a group for fear that they would be stabbed behind their back. They were all chosen from a large group of people; the strongest and most vicious. Like hell they were going to back down today!

Well, it all worked out to Lu Yizhou's advantage anyway. He wet his chapped lips, and one second before Thirteen announced the start of the match, he raised his gaze to stare straight into the surveillance camera, smiling.

I will come to you soon, his gaze conveyed.

Thirteen declared with a booming voice. "START!"

Lu Yizhou lunged forward even before the last echo disappeared and aimed at the person nearest to him who was still unaware of anything. The man only felt a little breeze on his neck and he suddenly got the chills. In reflex, his body started to move… but it was already too late. 

Lu Yizhou slipped behind him and chopped the back of his neck. The man landed on the ground with a loud thump. Without turning around, he grabbed the arm of another who tried to ambush him from behind and twisted it with a resounding crack. A loud, pained cry reverberated through the air.

The temperature soon heated with bloodlust and the battle exploded into a chaotic mess of fists and kicks. 

Lu Yizhou navigated his way through combative bodies with grace akin to a swan, so fast that nobody could really catch a sight of him. He took people off guard with his attack which came out of nowhere, and before they knew it, the people around them had fallen one after another. 

"Fuck! Come out and fight me face-to-face, bastard!"

"Where are you—arghh!"

A grin spread across Lu Yizhou's face without him realizing. Every cell in his body clamoured in excitement and he soon felt his muscles aching — the good kind of ache — in places that were often unused, courtesy to Aiden who often relied on brute strength to bulldoze his way through without any finesse or style. 

Lu Yizhou got used to the soreness quickly and as soon as he did, his limbs became looser, lighter and freer. His attack grew increasingly sharper, so deadly that it was actually no different than when he was holding a weapon. His chest was heaving and his silver eyes lit up in raw excitement. It was as if he finally spread his rusty wings for the first time in a while and did the long needed warm up exercise. 

Even though he disliked the dirtiness that came with direct brawl, he couldn't deny that it was a good stress reliever.

In his eyes, his opponents' bodies turned into moving targets which he had to hit. His eyes zeroed in on their vital points. He pulled his opponent's hand toward him and delivered a backfist strike to the man's jaw, effectively knocking him out in an instant. 

A cry sounded behind him followed by a solid weight that tackled him from behind. Lu Yizhou spread his legs to balance himself, grabbed the man's arm around his neck and twisted his body agilely to escape the hold. Then he slammed his knee right on the man's solar plexus. His opponent let out a choked sound, blood mixing with bile spewing out of his mouth. Lu Yizhou loosened his hold and let the man fall to the ground. 

He swept his sharp gaze around. 

Bodies were strewn all over the stage, stomped and stepped, their fates neglected. He did a quick scan and found that some of them weren't breathing anymore and they were not Lu Yizhou's opponent. He was certain he hadn't killed anyone yet. He glanced at the paramedics with a frown. They remained silent throughout the ordeal, waiting until the match was done before they got to work. 

No wonder that the acceptance rate was very low. There was no rule against killing. This was truly a life and death fight. 

Eleven people left, including him.

Lu Yizhou strived to deal internal damage to incapacitate his opponents but the others obviously didn't think the same. When the situation called for it, they resorted to desperate moves like biting, clawing, eye-jabbing…

Lu Yizhou was in the middle of fighting someone when the hair on the back of his neck prickled. Still holding someone's neck in his grip, he tilted his head to the side in time for another arm to shoot forward, originally intending to take him off guard by pulling his hair.

Goodness… Lu Yizhou couldn't help but scoff. The mockery was evident in his face as he let go of the unconscious man to turn to the one who had tried to attack him. "This is what you're reduced to? Hair pulling?" He sneered, and before the man could react, he swung his leg to kick the man right in the middle, sending him flying across the air to crash outside the stage. There was a pin drop silence, broken only by the man's pained groans. "If you can't fight, then better not fight at all."

Exactly how did Moshe choose his men? They were really too weak.

Four people left on the stage.

One more elimination and the winners would be decided.

Lu Yizhou eyed the three people opposite him and raised a brow. They seemed to have come to an agreement because in the next second, they started to attack each other, ignoring Lu Yizhou and treating him like air. 

The corner of Lu Yizhou's eyes twitched. Well, so be it. That meant he didn't have to fight anymore.

The weakest was soon knocked out and the entire arena erupted into cheers and roars. Men descended from their seats to run down the stairs, cheering closely around the stage. Paramedics finally climbed up to bring the injured (and deceased) away. 

"Congratulations!" Thirteen climbed onto the stage with a bright smile. The spotlight overhead was turned off and in exchange, the entire room became brightly lit. "We have received this year's winners! You guys have worked hard!" When he passed by Lu Yizhou, he discreetly whispered. "The door behind you, to the left. Someone will guide you from thereon."

Lu Yizhou nodded and turned away. No one dared to hold him back or called him out. They were still reeling on the scene they had seen just now, bamboozled. 

Damn it, Boss' pet wasn't a household pet but a tamed beast! Exactly how could someone contain so much power in that slender body? They had really learned it the hard way today!

"Congratulations for your victory." The one who had been waiting for him was none other than Kaede, his face ghastly save from the blush that was riding high on his cheekbones. He looked like he had seen something fascinating, or terrifying, or both. He didn't dare to meet Lu Yizhou's eyes. "Come on. Boss has been waiting for you."

Lu Yizhou grunted in assent and followed behind Kaede. Through the door that was slightly hidden behind the stage, they entered a corridor that seemed different from the one they had passed through before. Lu Yizhou could sense how the air changed abruptly. The smell wasn't repulsive compared to the stale air freshener and pungent sweat outside. Instead there was a soft floral fragrance, lacing with his lover's citrusy cologne. 

Lu Yizhou's heart, that had barely calmed down from the fight, thumped in its cage.

He could see nobody around except the two of them. It seemed like a private area, judging from how the commotion sounded smaller and smaller the further they went. 

Kaede led him into a massive elevator and they rode in silence.

"I am sorry." The man suddenly said after they had ascended two floors. 

Lu Yizhou was trying to swipe the blood on his hands to his sweatpants to no avail. How could he meet his lover in this filthy state, especially after they hadn't seen each other for six days? To Kaede's words, he merely let out a vague, "Mn."

"I have misjudged you. Boss holds a very high opinion towards you and I thought…" He cleared his throat awkwardly. "I thought it's merely because he has been too infatuated with you…r body. But after today… I can see that you're more than qualified to join us. As the Boss' right hand man, I approve of you."

The elevator brought them to the twelfth floor and the metal door dinged open to show a luxurious hallway laid in thick carpet and marble floor. At the end of the hallway was a huge, double door made of mahogany wood. It was obvious to whom the room belonged to.

Kaede gave him a gesture to go ahead. 

Lu Yizhou took a deep breath and tried to reign in his bubbling anticipation. "I appreciate your sentiment." He said after he had stepped out of the elevator. "But as I have said before, your opinion is of no importance to me." 

In the next second, the elevator door slid close, cutting the sight of the gobsmack Kaede.

"Y–You—" Kaede sputtered at his own reflection on the door. "Fuck!" He cursed out loud, chest heaving. He was right. Boss and his pet were the same! Oh how he really wanted to hit them just once! Just once, and he wouldn't ask for anything more in his life!

The corner of Lu Yizhou's lips curled upward as he strolled down the hallway. His footsteps were almost soundless against the thick, fluffy carpet but as he got close, he deliberately made himself known by stomping his feet. As he expected, the second he arrived in front of the door, it immediately clicked open.

"Come in," came the indolent, lazy voice. "What are you waiting for?"

Lu Yizhou suppressed a smile and entered the room, closing the door behind him. 

And there Moshe was, looking as beautiful — no, he was even more beautiful than the last time Lu Yizhou saw him.

The man he had been yearning to see was sprawled on the long divan, a glass of red wine in his hand, clad in silky black robes that was striking against his pale skin. His luscious, silky hair was spread behind him in waves. He was staring at Lu Yizhou through heavy-lidded eyes, golden eyes intent and oh, that heavenly lips of his were glistening, curling into a smile so seductively wicked that caused the blood to rush on top of Lu Yizhou's head. 

The air was knocked out of Lu Yizhou's lungs. Moshe looked like a nymph who was here to take Lu Yizhou's soul away and Lu Yizhou couldn't take his eyes away, spellbound.

The air was suffused with the sweet scent of his cologne and Lu Yizhou was light-headed from both the sensory and visual impact. Heartbeats thundering beside his ears, he took one step forward, then another and another until he finally arrived in front of his lover. Then without any preamble, he dropped down to one knee gracefully, held his lover's bare ankle, and leaned down to worship his adorable little toes with his lips. Moshe's breath hitched above him.  1

"Master," he exhaled hotly. The longing and anxiety he had been keeping a tight lid on finally burst out, uncontrollable. It burned through his veins, seizing his heart in a tight grip and choking his airways. Only when he tasted his lover's skin could he finally regain air. "I'm sorry to have made you wait."

pqdm.com