Conflict

Liu Cheng wore a gloomy expression, his club whistling through the air at the exact right moment as he struck with ruthless intent.

Before Cui Yue could react, he took several blows to his back, a burning pain immediately erupting along his spine as he gasped sharply for breath.

"These bastards have no shame at all, ganging up on someone."

Before Cui Yue even had a chance to catch his breath, he heard a sharp whistle whiz past his ear. He instinctively jerked his head aside just in time to see a beer bottle thrown by Feng Tao fly past his cheek.

"That was close! Ah!"

While Cui Yue was inwardly celebrating his narrow escape, Liu Cheng drove a vicious blow directly into his lower back, the pain nearly keeping him from standing.

"Despicable coward!"

Having landed his first blow, Liu Cheng pressed the attack with even greater ferocity, raining down blows indiscriminately upon Cui Yue's head.

This was nothing like being back at the factory. There, both sides had maintained some restraints and held back a little; but here, they held nothing back, dispensing with any finesse and simply trying to beat him to death.

Cui Yue could barely manage a desperate defense, empty-handed and cornered in the alley by a mob.

"Damn it, looks like I'm going down at this bastard's hands tonight!"

Two fists could not match four hands, let alone the combined assault of eight or nine men.

Suddenly, Cui Yue took a blow to the back of his calf. His knees buckled, and he dropped to one knee on the concrete pavement.

Crack!

With a sharp snap, a beer bottle shattered into a mess of glass shards scattered across the ground.

Cui Yue's vision blurred, warm blood streaming down from his scalp as his body collapsed limply onto the ground.

"Hmph!"

Feng Tao snapped his fingers, walking up to Cui Yue with a twisted grin.

"Weren't you acting all high and mighty a few days ago? What's wrong now? Playing the coward? Hahaha."

Several of the lackeys formed a tight circle around Cui Yue, chiming in loudly with roars of laughter.

"Yeah, Cui Yue! I've had it in for you for a long time. You usually act like you're hot stuff, not even showing Brother Feng any respect! Better start begging for mercy now while you still can!"

"Ha! I thought you were some kind of supernatural warrior with three heads and six arms, acting all tough the other day. What happened today, got your balls snipped off?"

The group roared with laughter. To them, Cui Yue sprawled on the ground was nothing more than an insignificant piece of dead meat, entirely beneath their notice.

"Come on, punk, call me 'Grandpa' three times right now, and I might just spare you!"

Cui Yue breathed heavily, his vision clouded with a sea of red, barely able to make anything out as he muttered a few faint groans.

Feng Tao paused, glancing back at the men around him.

"What did the punk say?"

Liu Cheng hurried forward, pressing his ear close to Cui Yue's lips to listen carefully.

After listening for a moment, his expression grew increasingly unsightly.

"What did he say?"

Feng Tao asked curiously.

Liu Cheng scratched his head, looking deeply troubled, and finally summoned the courage to whisper.

"He said... he said, 'Kiss my ass...'"

Upon hearing this, Feng Tao flew into a rage, his face turning as red as a pig's liver. He lashed out with a kick straight to Cui Yue's chest, and still unsatisfied, stamped down viciously a few more times!

"Damn you! I'll teach you to be arrogant! I'll teach you!"

Cui Yue had no way to dodge and could only struggle to raise his arms in defense.

With a muffled cough, a mouthful of crimson blood sprayed from his lips.

After kicking him for a while, Feng Tao finally vented his pent-up anger. Staring down at Cui Yue, who resembled a dying stray dog beneath his feet, the joy of victory filled him with an unprecedented sense of gratification, exciting him to the point of a strange, involuntary tremor.

"Oh, right, Cui Yue. Didn't you always want to fix machines properly? Well, I'm going to grant your wish. I'll make sure you spend the rest of your life surrounded by scraps of rusted metal!"

"That wire... that wire harness switch, was that your doing?"

Cui Yue's voice was as faint as gossamer, barely audible.

"Hmph, you want to know the answer? Well, I just won't tell you!"

Feng Tao neither admitted nor denied it, his face plastered with smug triumph.

"That... that day you deliberately had someone pull me away and tampered with it behind my back, am I right?"

Feng Tao chuckled coldly and sighed deliberately.

"Too bad, too bad. You figured it out a bit too late. Blame yourself for lacking brains, don't blame anyone else!"

Cui Yue spat out a mouthful of blood-stained foam, taking labored breaths. His fists clenched so tightly his knuckles turned white, but the agonizing pain throughout his body prevented him from even rolling over. He could only glare at Feng Tao, grinding his teeth in hatred.

Feng Tao squatted down halfway, reached out, and patted Cui Yue's face with utter contempt.

"Stay far away from me from now on. You'd better not show your face in front of me again, or I'll make sure you're missing a few body parts and turn you into a proper cripple!"

Feng Tao waved to his men and turned to leave, but suddenly remembering something, he stepped back, stared down at Cui Yue, and spoke in a deliberately loud voice.

"Oh, right, right, there's one more important piece of news I forgot to tell you. Yang Liu from Production Line Two is my girlfriend now. Stop hanging around her for no reason. Once I'm done playing with her, maybe I'll toss you leftovers."

"What?! Shut your filthy mouth!"

Hearing Feng Tao's words, Cui Yue felt a surge of blood rush straight to his head, and he blurted out a curse. His eyes bulged wide, carrying an expression that wished nothing more than to chew up the Feng Tao before him and swallow him whole.

"I really didn't make this up to fool you! If you don't believe it, go ask her yourself. Everyone around here already knows. What? Were you still kept completely in the dark? Hahahaha!"

Feng Tao laughed without restraint. He loved the feeling of trampling Cui Yue beneath his feet, especially like this, leaving him broken in both body and soul!

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!"

Cui Yue ignored the agonizing pain in his body and roared loudly, sounding as though he were trying to convince Feng Tao, but even more so, trying to convince himself.

"Hah, why don't you take a piss and look at yourself in the mirror? What can you possibly give Yang Liu? Expect her to stay cooped up in the warehouse with you for the rest of her life?"

Feng Tao mocked derisively.

That's right, what could he give her?

Forever is too long; I'm afraid time...

Cui Yue felt utterly lost. That night, Yang Liu had pressed against his back, holding him tightly, pouring out every ounce of tenderness and exhausting a lifetime of affection—only for it to end in this result!

When she told him to forget her and start over, did she mean... did she mean this?

Cui Yue refused to think about it, refusing even more to entertain the thought!

He simply could not reconcile the pure girl he knew with the street thug standing before him; such cruelty should only exist in television dramas.

Cui Yue's heart ached so fiercely he could barely breathe. His entire chest felt as though it were being sliced open by countless sharp blades, carved away piece by piece, wringing out every drop of his heart's blood, only to be stitched back together and torn apart all over again in an endless cycle.

A single tear slipped from the corner of Cui Yue's eye, mixing with the dust and dampening the ground.

Though dreams hold a thousand sorrows and endless separation, they could not withstand this mortal betrayal of love and hate.

Of all passions and desires, I would rather renounce the path and plunge into the mortal dust than break my vow to you to the very end.

Yet alas, this eternal pledge turned out to be absolute bullshit!

Absurd! Utterly absurd!

All talk of a lifetime together, all vows that true love endures the test of time—they were all nothing but lies.

"Hhahahaha..."

Driven to the extreme, Cui Yue burst into laughter instead. His laughter grew louder and louder, unable to mask the bitter sorrow within. It was laughter laced with tears, hating himself for having misjudged a person and misplaced his affection.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Cui Yue's face flushed crimson, his chest heaving violently as his breathing grew more and more frantic!

"Splurt!"

Another mouthful of fresh blood burst from Cui Yue's lips, soaking right through the shirt on his chest and standing out with startling clarity in the dark night.

Liu Cheng felt a twinge of panic, his palms slick with sweat.

"Is this punk about to kick the bucket? Why is the blood squirting out like a fountain? And why is he laughing? Damn it, which one of you hit him in the head just now? Did you beat him retarded?"