Room seven’s solid wooden doors slowly swung open.
Ying Wan followed the bodyguards down the long hallway in the private room towards the main lobby. He silently scrutinized every inch of his surroundings from the corner of his eyes.
There were quite a few people in room seven; all of them businessmen dressed in exquisite suits. They sat in a circle on the couch, sipping wine as they chatted.
The blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreigner he saw previously at the door was standing at the half-open balcony, drinking as he fed the koi in the pond.
Gesturing for Ying Wan to remain at the entrance to the main lobby, a bodyguard went forward and whispered respectfully into the blond-haired man’s ears.
The man tossed all the fish food in his hands into the pond before turning around, casting his gaze in Ying Wan’s direction.
A new song started playing from the record player at a corner. A cello’s musical notes reverberated in the spacious lobby.
The blonde-haired man left the balcony and approached Ying Wan, whose gaze remained fixed on the crescent moon outside the window instead of the man’s movements.
“Mister, he is the one,” The bodyguard spoke to the man in their native tongue. “He reported your name at the door and claimed that you will know who he is the moment you set eyes on him.”
The blonde-haired man nodded. His gaze drifted down Ying Wan’s undone collar, stopping on the back of his hands.
Ying Wan’s fingers were curled up into a loosely-clenched fist. His ring-finger and pinky finger were wound around each other, trembling slightly midair. Those who didn’t know better might think he was nervous.
In front of the table of alcohol, the businessmen currently in the midst of work discussions ceased all conversation. Evidently, they had noticed this new uninvited guest.
The golden-haired man moved his gaze away from Ying Wan’s hands. All of a sudden, he reached out a hand and took hold of Ying Wan’s chin.
Ying Wan was compelled to raise his face in front of everyone. The dim rays of light scattered on the tip of his nose. His lips parted slightly, but he emitted no sound in resistance to the man’s actions.
The golden-haired man had very rough palms. He merely gently caressed Ying Wan’s cheeks several times with his index finger, and already a faint red patch formed on Ying Wan’s fair skin.
This was a pair of hands well accustomed to guns.
Ying Wan’s eyes drooped, seemingly giving the man free reign to do as he wished in this public setting.
“Still as beautiful as ever.”
The golden-haired man took his time to release his grip. A low laugh came from the man’s throat.
In the main lobby, a businessman seated in the middle of the couch took the lead to ask, “…Mr Otto, this is?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“An old favorite in the club, he was with me for a period of time,” Otto turned around, a playful tone to his words. “It’s been a long time since we last met, so I’ll go ahead and reminisce with this little friend. Everybody can continue your conversations?”
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Otto locked the bathroom door, shutting out the cheerful talk in the lobby. Straightening his suit collar, his first reaction was to angle his head, just barely avoiding the fist flying towards him midair.
The fist didn’t make it Otto’s face, but knocked over the aromatherapy bottle on the cabinet behind him. The glass bottle smacked into the wall, slid down the crystal cabinet, and shattered into pieces on the ground within the blink of an eye.
Otto covered his face with a hand and hastily took several steps back. He held up his arms in surrender. Calm down, ok?
Ying Wan retrieved a handgun from his sleeves, patting the gun grip. He said coldly, “Are you looking to die?”
Hearing the resounding succession of crashes from the bathroom, the chattering businessmen outside fell silent momentarily.
With this much noise, Ying Wan could guess what the people outside were thinking even with his eyes closed.
“One of those people is my current mission target. You suddenly barged in, so I had to find a reason on the spot that wouldn’t arouse any suspicion. Also, weren’t you signaling to me just now…”
Ying Wan aimed the gun at Otto, who shut his mouth very quickly, not daring to spout anymore nonsense.
After checking over the bathroom, he looked up. “No bugs, this place is safe.”
A strong fragrance emanated from the overturned aromatherapy bottle. It was a little pungent in the narrow space. Ying Wan crossed his arms across his chest and leaned against the sink. He couldn’t be bothered to exchange any more superfluous words with Otto and directly asked, “When did you return?”
Otto brushed aside the blonde locks of hair blocking his eyes. He answered honestly, “Around half a month ago, after attending your burial.”
“You fooled us again,” He paused. There was suddenly an added tinge of emotion in his voice. “As expected, you aren’t dead. Robin.”
Ying Wan pursed the corners of his lips upon hearing the word ‘burial’. There was no expression on his face. “Where did they bury me?”
“On the highlands of Town Muir, where your father and mother first met,” Otto answered. “Your gravestone faces the sea. Flocks of gulls fly across the sea during Spring. Sage said you’ll definitely like it.”
Ying Wan’s eyes were lowered, as if he had no reaction to Otto’s words.
The tinkling sound of wine glasses came from outside the door. The gradually quieting atmosphere in the bathroom would arouse suspicion. Ying Wan took out his phone from his pocket, randomly picked an audio file, and played it on speaker at the loudest volume.
Otto’s brows shot up when he heard the restrained yet quivering, blush-inducing sounds coming from the recording. “…You even have this sort of thing? You recorded it yourself?”
“In the past, some targets would arrange to meet at hotels,” Ying Wan flung his phone onto the counter. ‘Calm and collected’ was written all over his face, as if he weren’t the individual featured in the recording. “It’s to pull the wool over other people’s eyes.”
On the surface, Otto was a wealthy foreign businessman who dealt with auctions in Fan City. But in reality, he was the same kind of person as Ying Wan.
Two years ago after leaving Fan City, Otto became Ying Wan’s only contact in this port city. He often heard that Otto had a head of dazzling golden hair, but this was his first time seeing it in person.
“What are your plans for the future?”
With the rising and falling sounds in the background, Otto asked probingly, “Do I tell them you’re not dead?”
Ying Wan shook his head. “Help me keep it secret for the time being. I’ll be staying in Fan City for a while to clarify some things.”
Otto was just about to ask how long Ying Wan was preparing to remain in the country when Ying Wan spoke. “Otto, can you help me check something when you go back?”
“Someone mailed a Mackayne D38 to my current address,” He explained. “Something like that isn’t likely to appear within the country. Someone apart from you probably knows I’m not dead.”
“…Could it be Yuan Shan?” Otto’s brows creased. “Isn’t he always finding a chance to get rid of you?”
Ying Wan let out a cold laugh. The corners of his mouth hooked up in a sneer. “Is he worthy?”
Twenty minutes later, the audio recording was close to ending.
After concluding their conversation, Otto was going to unlock the bathroom door when Ying Wan’s voice abruptly came from behind, “Wait a second.”
He twisted the water faucet, filling half the sink with cold water. Ying Wan lowered his head and submerged his entire face into the pond of water.
A moment later, he lifted up his head slowly. He arranged the bits of hair on his forehead and then took measure of his face in the mirror.
Water trickled down his neck, soaking his slender collarbone. Water droplets stuck to his eyelashes and strands of his hair.
Immediately after, he stooped over and picked up a small shard of glass on the floor. He held up the sharp edge, parting his lips slightly.
Fresh red liquid seeped out of a slit in his lips. There was now a visible wound on his lips that resembled a bite mark.
He mussed up his hair, after which he casually undid the buttons on his collar and sleeves. He then turned around to face Otto. “I’m done.”
“Undo your buttons too,” Ying Wan reminded him before they left the bathroom.
Otto: …
Wasn’t this fellow blind?!
The two of them walked out of the bathroom one after the other, and immediately attracted the attention of everyone in the room.
The gazes on Ying Wan were colored by many things – sympathy, pity, probing, contempt, and even undisguised naked desire.
In this world, only human nature was elusive yet so easy to see through.
Otto led the gray-haired youth to the main lobby entrance. He stuffed a large wad of hundred yuan bills into Ying Wan’s chest pocket. “Enough?”
Under everyone’s gazes, the youth bit his lip and lowered his face. The look on his face spoke of both amazement and terror. “Thank you, mister.”
After bidding goodbye to Otto, Ying Wan kept the thick stack of cash before following the bodyguard who’d come to fetch him. He took the same path out of the room.
It had been too long since he last drank. His alcohol tolerance was indeed much worse than before. He hadn’t realized it when he was conversing with Otto, but when he stood alone in the empty corridor with the cold wind from the air-conditioning blowing directly at him, the heavy sensation in his head became prominent. There were even overlapping images of the candle lights on the walls in his eyes.
Ying Wan leaned against the wall as he waited for the tipsy feeling to pass. He took out the thick stack of bills from his chest pocket and started counting them.
Since a meat pie had fallen from the sky, he wouldn’t reject it for no reason.
The corners of his mouth curled up as he thought of this, though the pain made him hiss.
He’d killed a thousand enemy soldiers but lost eight hundred of his own. Every time he encountered a situation in which he had to hurt himself, he often couldn’t control his strength.
He was just about to contact Ah Bu when suddenly, the uneven sound of footsteps came from the end of the corridor.
The indistinct sound of Xu Kang’s voice could be heard not far in the distance. “There are only three rooms left tonight that have not been reserved. If both gentlemen would like to stay overnight, you can choose room ten, which has a bathroom and two bedrooms. We provide twenty-four hour service–”
Reaching the end of the corridor, Xu Kang led the two men in suits round the corner. As he guided them forward, he enthusiastically introduced the various services provided in the club’s VIP zone.
Catching sight of the figure that appeared around the corner, Ying Wan paused midway as he was counting the cash.
Fortunately or unfortunately, he recognized the two people behind Xu Kang.
One of them was his ge’s good friend, the youngest son of Fan City’s philanthropic entrepreneur Ruan Cheng, and the criminal investigation unit’s vice-captain, Ruan Tianjie.
As for the other–
With one hand in his pocket, his ge’s line of sight swept apathetically towards him.
this is so confusing 😭 we need more context, when will have flashbacks and information 🥲
So he’s both N and Robin?? Agh so many secret identities. Maybe i gotta reread the first few chapters. But uh oh, BUSTED BY HIS GE-