Shi Fenglian pressed her hands tightly against her apron, trying her best to act normal: “Please wait a moment.”
This noodle shop didn’t take up much space, with only four tables in total.
The semi-open kitchen allowed customers to see everything clearly.
“Why is this young man coming to eat at this hour?”
Shi Fenglian busied herself in the kitchen, casually asking as if by accident.
“After all, it’s only now that things have quieted down.” Lu Yan pulled out a pair of chopsticks, tapped them on the tabletop to align them, and added at the end: “Please make it quick.”
……
Yao Yi huddled in the car playing on his mobile phone, yawning boredly.
Before he could close his mouth, he heard someone knocking on the car window.
Yao Yi felt something was off and rolled down the window: “Is something wrong?”
The young girl’s eyes were slightly red, her voice urgent with a sobbing tone: “Brother, please help, my dog fell into the sewer.”
“Uh, don’t panic, tell me slowly, which sewer?”
Yao Yi opened the car door, and as soon as he got out, the young girl grabbed his sleeve.
“I’m so anxious, this way, this way.”
Without a word, the young girl dragged Yao Yi straight into the alley.
……
“Beef noodles are here.”
Shi Fenglian beamed with a smile, placing a bowl of beef noodles that looked, smelled, and tasted perfect in front of Lu Bai: “Add vinegar yourself if you want.”
“Thanks.”
Lu Bai didn’t eat the noodles but directly lifted the bowl to sip a small mouthful of broth.
Though it wasn’t like that dramatic thunderclap in the background from China’s Little Master Chef, the taste was indeed good, at least absolutely above average in a flyspeck noodle shop like this.
He smacked his lips, staring at the bowl of beef noodles in front of him, and asked: “Don’t tell me you picked cooking from the ability pool in the first round?”
His voice was soft, but in the quiet noodle shop, he could be sure Shi Fenglian heard it.
“What ability pool?” Shi Fenglian appropriately showed a puzzled expression.
“Want to make a bet? If there’s more than five pieces of beef in this bowl, I’ll turn around and leave right away. If the weight isn’t enough…”
Lu Bai didn’t say the rest, but presumably the other party would understand his meaning.
Shi Fenglian’s stiff smile was starting to falter, twitching unconsciously a couple of times.
Abandon the illusions, accept the fact that she was exposed.
She simply dropped the smile, walked to the shop entrance, used an iron hook to pull the roller shutter door down to a height she could reach with her hands, then pressed it fully to the ground with both hands.
As the roller shutter door made a clattering sound, the noodle shop darkened.
After doing all this, Shi Fenglian stood up and turned back: “Aren’t you underestimating me a bit too much?”
“Why are you blocking your own escape route?”
Lu Bai didn’t turn his head, staring at the beef noodles in front of him, hesitating whether to take a bite.
After all, the taste was really good, but he was a bit worried Shi Fenglian had added something else.
“I never intended to become a death fighter anyway.”
While speaking, Shi Fenglian pulled a bone cleaver from the front pocket of her apron: “Rare opportunity to try, so let me see just how big the gap is between me and you elite students!”
By the end, her tone had a bit of a gritting teeth flavor.
She quickly moved behind Lu Bai, gripped the handle with both hands, and thrust fiercely at the back of Lu Bai’s neck.
Clang!
After a crisp sound of metal collision, due to the sudden counterforce, Shi Fenglian didn’t hold tight, causing the about twenty-centimeter bone cleaver to fly from her hand.
“You seem a bit extreme.”
Lu Bai stood up and walked to the kitchen, not even minding the bone cleaver on the ground: “Once exposed, try to take me out; if that fails, go down together. That’s what you were thinking, right?”
He tightened the valve on the gas canister in the kitchen, looked up at the despairing Shi Fenglian, and continued.
“I guess you’re carrying a lighter too, right? If you want to go down together, I suggest not using such an obvious method. Of course, I more suggest you don’t go down together—it’s no good for you anyway, is it?”
“At this point, what’s the use of saying that.”
Shi Fenglian quickly picked up the bone cleaver, but instead of aiming it at Lu Bai, she gritted her teeth and held it against her own neck: “Even if I die, I won’t let you get this point of mine.”
Lu Bai smiled: “I said we’d make a bet. More than five pieces of beef, and I leave right away.”
“Really?”
Shi Fenglian’s eyes lit up.
She had already prepared to die, but things took a turn.
She made it herself, so of course she knew exactly how many pieces of beef were in that bowl of beef noodles.
If possible, she didn’t want to be eliminated so early either.
Lu Bai walked out of the kitchen, chuckling as he raised his right hand.
Pfft! Sizzle~
A blade flashed, precisely slashing the artery on Shi Fenglian’s neck, blood gushing from the wound.
Whether from anger or a damaged windpipe, Shi Fenglian whimpered, unable to say a complete sentence.
“Of course it’s fake.”
Lu Bai smiled sheepishly.
He had wanted Shi Fenglian to make another bowl before leaving, who knew she was so extreme, ready to suicide at the drop of a hat—you think you’re Japanese or something?
He looked at Shi Fenglian gradually losing breath, shook his head: “I actually quite like eating beef, too bad I don’t dare eat this bowl of beef noodles.”
【Ding!】
【Points +1, current points: 4, current rank 9/357】
Just from this ranking situation, one could see the clues; it was certain that in this deathmatch duel, a large number of death fighters were hunting.
How much time had passed? Already dropped from second to ninth.
“The competition is really fierce.”
He simply cleaned up the crime traces he left, raised the roller shutter door to half-person height, bent down to exit, then conveniently pulled the roller shutter door down.
He wasn’t overly cautious; after all, this area belonged to the Third External Affairs Team, so even if something happened, it would just mean he came personally to investigate.
……
Secluded alley.
Yao Yi was dragged by the female high school student through several turns, leaving him disoriented.
He couldn’t help asking: “Little sister, where’s the sewer you mentioned?”
“Almost there, just ahead.”
The anxious look on the female high school student’s face faded a lot, but since she was walking ahead, Yao Yi couldn’t see.
After difficult squeezing through a half-person-wide gap between walls, in front of an empty courtyard wall, the female high school student finally stopped.
What puzzled Yao Yi was that he didn’t hear any dog’s howls, nor see any sewer.
Who would walk a dog in a place like this?
Yao Yi instinctively became alert: “You’re lying?! There’s no dog at all, is there?”
He scolded while deliberately raising his voice, as if that would make him seem more confident.