Chapter 5: Found a Strange Place

Yu Chu’s blood rushed to the top of his head, anger and frustration overflowed in his chest, and the moment Zhou Mu let go and he landed, he lunged at the man behind him. He knew he couldn’t attack Zhou Mu’s iron-clad muscles, and it would be asking for trouble to fight him hard, so he had to avoid the front and go around behind him.

——The wounds on Zhou Mu’s back must not have healed from the whipping he received last night, so he went after those wounds.

Yu Chu’s body wasn’t physically strong, but it was quite responsive and flexible. Before Zhou Mu realized what he was trying to do, he attacked with a punch, pretending to slip halfway through, and stumbling to look like he would fall.

Zhou Mu did reach out to help him, but he quickly stood up straight, got under his opponent’s armpit, and punched him in the back. The fist hit Zhou Mu’s back hard, and he heard a muffled grunt of pain from Zhou Mu while his arm was numb from the force.

His heart was immediately pleased; he followed it up with another punch.

This punch didn’t hit since the prepared Zhou Mu dodged sideways. As he turned to face him, Yu Chu tried the same trick again, going around his side to his back. Zhou Mu didn’t let him get away with it this time, and Yu Chu was stopped by a robust and powerful arm, whether under his armpit or around his side. When he stumbled, pretending to fall, Zhou Mu took two steps back and looked at him coldly, with an if you want to fall that badly, just do it attitude.

The wind and rain were getting more and more violent, and the sea was rolling up behind him with huge waves and booms, and Yu Chu didn’t have to pretend. He was really unstable from the wind, and the rain was slapping his eyes open. He still insisted on rushing left and right, using all kinds of methods and unexpected movements to rush behind Zhou Mu, as if he was wound up and tireless.

There was no one on the island but these two figures standing silently in the pouring rain, one trying to jab, the other dodging and blocking.

Yu Chu knew he looked lousy, but as long as he didn’t louse up the man across from him, he would be fine. He tried his best to breathe steadily, holding all those gasps back into his lungs as two fierce eyes stared at Zhou Mu through the gaps in his wet hair that shielded his eyes.

But Zhou Mu’s breathing was steady, and his demeanor returned to calm indifference, and his gaze was even more unperturbed, not even showing a trace of anger. His hair was very short, even when it wasn’t wet, and after being drenched by the water, but the roots were distinct, the deep contours of the face highlighted showing his sharp handsomeness.

Not far away came a clear crack, the sound of trees broken by the wind and rain. Yu Chu, who was focused on dealing with the person in front of him, heard it, and didn’t take it to heart. But Zhou Mu frowned; his eyes looked deep into the woods to his left, and there was a moment of distraction.

This opportunity couldn’t be lost!

Yu Chu fiercely scampered forward, but Zhou Mu, who had his eyes fixed elsewhere, suddenly reached out and moved swiftly against his forehead, and his broad palm also blocked his entire face.

Yu Chu’s head was blocked, his feet were still running forward, his center of gravity was unstable, and he sat on his butt in the rain. The coolness spread up his buttocks, but his heart was like a blazing fire. He couldn’t care less about the pain in his tailbone; he flipped up and rushed to Zhou Mu’s left.

Smack!

The forehead was against his palm again, the way forward was sealed, and his face was mushed into the palm. Zhou Mu watched him as he was sliding forward, but the other didn’t want to catch him, so he quickly closed his hand, allowing him to sit down again on the ground.

Yu Chu’s anger boiled.

He stood up and stopped going behind Zhou Mu and didn’t care if the man’s flesh was harder than iron. Grimacing, his fists and feet attacked directly.

Zhou Mu saw the move, using only one hand to block all his attacks, not anxious, not annoyed but calm and stoic, and whether it was intentional or not, he used a single move to Yu Chu’s face, a big slap, to stop him.

Yu Chu thought it was too convenient; how come this hit was completely lawless.

When his hands were caught, Yu Chu kicked; when his feet were caught, Yu Chu hit with his head, and when his head was held, Yu Chu bit with his teeth. When Zhou Mu held his forehead and his mouth couldn’t reach him, he spit, no different from a street fighter.

After being hit by spittle, Zhou Mu tsked impatiently, restrained Yu Chu’s two flailing arms with his right hand, and pinched his cheeks with his left.

Yu Chu couldn’t move his body, and his mouth was pinched shut, so he could only stare with his eyes in anger and humiliation, maintaining this position. Like a trapped beast caught by a hunter, Yu Chu struggled in vain for a while and finally gave up reluctantly. The wildness in his body faded like a tidal wave, and the fierceness in his face gradually disappeared, remaining motionless in the posture controlled by Zhou Mu, his eyes looking blankly ahead.

Zhou Mu watched for a while, as if finally sure that he was calm before releasing his hands and feet, but didn’t want to drop Yu Chu, who became like cooked noodles like he had no bones as he fell on him.

A gust of wind was blowing, Yu Chu’s whole body was trembling, and his lips were bloodless, as pale as his face. His wet bangs covered most of his eyes; only his eyelashes were exposed, resting on the lower eyelids.

Zhou Mu’s hand was between their chests, a gesture of pushing outward, but he hesitated slightly and didn’t move on, allowing Yu Chu to rest his head on his shoulder, losing his strength and leaning back.

After a few seconds of stagnation, he bent over a little and bowed down, trying to put one hand through the bend of Yu Chu’s leg and pick him up horizontally. But at that moment, Yu Chu, who had fallen on his shoulder, suddenly opened his eyes, and a wry light flashed under his eyes, then he slammed a fierce fist into Zhou Mu’s bent back.

He used ten levels of force in this punch, Zhou Mu suddenly stiffened his body, and a muffled grunt spilled out of his throat. Yu Chu didn’t flee away but only took a step back and looked at him smilingly. Still cold and shivering, his face and lips were blue and white. He rubbed one of his hands with the other because of the pain of the recoil, but the look on his face was very pleased.

Zhou Mu slowly straightened up, his usual ancient well of expression finally changed, as the corners of the mouth collapsed into a straight line, his chin to his neck forming a cold hard curve, and a wave of dark and heavy anger brewing in his eyes.

Yu Chu, slightly raised his chin, with provocation and arrogance, asked, “What? Do you still want to fight back? Don’t forget your identity, big bodyguard.”

Zhou Mu didn’t answer, but after a few seconds, his turbulent expression suddenly relaxed. The darkness in his eyes also quickly dispersed so fast that Yu Chu thought his anger was just his illusion. The man in front of him reverted back to his poker face, his eyes becoming emotionless.

Yu Chu snorted in his heart and said, “I’m going back to the mansion, don’t follow me. At least don’t appear around me. I don’t want to be unhappy and have to think about getting rid of you, we’re all tired. If Mr. Yu finds out, then, guess if he will punish you or me?”

Zhou Mu didn’t answer, so Yu Chu slyly narrowed his eyes, “I guess, Mr. Yu will at most ground me for three days or a week, and then take it out on you, and reward you with five lashes, hiss… Whip lashes really hurt.” He deliberately frowned and made a sound of pain.

Yu Chu finished without waiting for Zhou Mu’s reaction and walked straight back. After walking a distance, he turned his head and saw Zhou Mu standing still, letting the rain pour down on him, his tall, upright figure like a silent tower. He couldn’t see his face in the rain but could feel his cold, austere eyes falling on him.

Yu Chu pulled the corner of his mouth, turned, and quickened his pace.

He was a very different person from the original body. He could fool other people for a short time, but it was impossible to fool Zhou Mu. Since Zhou Mu was his bodyguard, he must know the former Yu Chu very well and detect the clues sooner or later. So there was no need to pretend in front of him deliberately; what should be done would be done.

The road was lined with wind-blown tree trunks, and the palm trees, agave, and unknown shrubs beside him were all swaying wildly in the wind. After he walked for a while, two roads appeared before him, the same three-meter-wide black brick floor, only one off to the left and one extending to the right. He came without noticing that there was another road, and now, with only a moment’s thought, he turned to the one on the right that didn’ lead back to the old mansion.

This island, these people around him, including this world, were too strange to him. He urgently needed to grasp some more information, so he wasn’t in a hurry to go back to the mansion and first wanted to see other places.

After walking for about seven or eight minutes, a tall courtyard door appeared in front of him, and when he approached, he found that it wasn’t closed tightly, leaving a shallow gap. He reached for the door handle, and the door was indeed unlocked, so he pulled it open.

The door opened to an overgrown courtyard; a few wooden crates were scattered randomly on the lawn, on the right side a boat with a broken bottom was lying next to the fence, the rusted hull of the boat rattled as it was beaten by the rain. Across the courtyard, there was a small dark red building. The steps were covered with moss and weeds, the walls were covered with green vines; it was uninhabited and long abandoned.

Yu Chu stood in the courtyard with some disappointment. He thought about going back, but a gust of wind blew, causing his clothes to cling to his body, making him colder, and he simply wanted to go inside to take shelter from the rain.

He crossed the courtyard to the steps and reached for the half-closed door. The door hadn’t been used for a long time, and the latch and lock were rusted together. He thought the door would not be easy to pull, but it opened with a gentle pull, and there was no creaking sound.

Yu Chu frowned slightly and looked down at the joint between the door and the door frame, and found that the top and bottom of the four hinges were smooth and not rusty as if the door had been used often.

He stared at the hinges for a while, then walked in and thoughtfully surveyed the room.

The room was quite large and the air was filled with a strong, musty smell. The walls were somewhat soaked, the damp walls had a layer of moss, turning the color dark or light dark green. The left side of the wall had a few dusty old sofas stacked along it, and the right side was piled with abandoned furniture. There were empty bookcases with no drawers, wooden beds with missing legs, and dirty carpets barely recognizable as gray-blue. It was a huge indicator that people used to live here, but the back of the building was empty.

But if the house had been unoccupied, how could the hinges on the front door be so new?

Yu Chu was an orphan in his original world. He had struggled to survive until now and had a place in the senior class; although he didn’t care about the rules, he wanted to achieve his goals by any means. He couldn’t turn off his natural keenness, sensing the unusual in ordinary things.

For example, the abandoned vacant house he was now in gave him a strange feeling in his heart.

Yu Chu walked to the several stacked sofas, reached out, and knocked on the back of the couch. The sound was hollow, and there was nothing hidden inside. He knocked several sofas all over and then leaned down to look at the bottom of the couch, but except for being choked with a nose of dust, he found nothing.

Then he went to check the old furniture and saw that it was still covered with cobwebs, and the heavy dust hadn’t been disturbed. Apparently, there was no need to check again.

He turned his attention to the carpet at his feet, pondered for a moment, and then went to the corner of the wall, trying to lift a corner from there. As a result, he half leaned down and then stopped moving.

There was a cloud of gray soot, and after it settled, there was a line lying in the gap between the carpet and the corner. The shape remained intact about 3 cm long, and he figured it should be from a cigarette burn. He reached out and twisted his finger; the ash instantly turned into powder, gray and black streaks left on his white fingertips.

Yu Chu looked at his fingers and squinted slightly.

This house was unusually humid and looking at the thickness of the dust, he estimated that no one had lived there for at least a year. But the ash was quite dry, so according to the rainy weather on the island, it should’ve fallen here after the last rain. Otherwise, the walls were soaked in water after a rainstorm and the ash would have dissolved into a small pile.

What kind of person would smoke in this corner?

Yu Chu straightened up and stood at the spot where the ashes fell, facing the moldy wall, a picture came to mind.

Someone was holding a cigarette in his mouth, which was already half-burned, and a piece of ash was barely hanging on the butt of the cigarette. His eyes were half-closed because of the rising smoke but he couldn’t get his hands to take the cigarette out of his mouth because his hands were full of things – no, no, no, maybe not things, but what he was doing to the wall, letting the ash fall.

Yu Chu began to look closely at the wall in front of him, and finally, he saw something out of the ordinary in it.

Between the oddly shaped mold and moss, there was a tiny straight gap. The gap was hidden in various light and dark lines; it was hardly noticeable if he didn’t look closely. The gap extended upward, turned right, and went downward, drawing a square shape a foot long and wide on the wall.

Yu Chu stretched out his right hand to push the square, but there was no response. He continued to push, feeling the wall sink a little. His curiosity was completely aroused, so he used both hands and pushed in with all his might.

Click, click, click.

After a few subtle mechanical sounds, the wall in front of him slowly slid to the right, revealing a tunnel the size of a doorway.

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Thank you very much for your support; I will continue to work hard!