Chapter 20
Shao Lan had had a bad feeling when Lin Zhizhi left.
Only a feeling, though. Before sleeping, he’d bought a weapon from the vending machine to defend himself.
He’d lived too long in a society governed by law. He’d bought a knife without even considering a gun, leaving him completely at a disadvantage now.
But the robbers’ decision to send two men to 803 and one to 802 made him certain of one thing.
Lin Zhizhi had sold them information.
How else would the gang know so much about them?
Resentment burned in him. The blade whistled through the air. Expressionless, Shao Lan had no intention of showing mercy anymore.
Alarmed, Zhang Fang abandoned his attack on Shao Lan and knocked Xu Nan aside. “Nan, look out!”
The dagger missed. Shao Lan’s expression darkened.
Zhang Fang was a very, very good fighter.
Unlike Jiang Mingran, who was simply an athlete with good conditioning, this man had trained to fight and had a great deal of experience.
Xu Nan clearly knew it, too. The first thing he did after escaping death was throw the nail gun to Zhang Fang. “Fang, kill him!”
Zhang Fang caught it and aimed at Shao Lan.
Shit. Shao Lan lunged for the chair and raised it as a shield.
Nails flew from the gun, punching deep holes in the chair.
Zhang Fang was plainly the best fighter. Xu Nan usually carried the nail gun only because he was the gang’s highest-ranking member and its brains, as well as being short and unable to fight.
As the gunfire drove Shao Lan toward a corner, Jiang Mingran dragged himself up and slammed into the nearest man, Blondie.
They grappled. In the doorway, Uncle Bing, who’d been shaking like a leaf, suddenly roared and charged Xu Nan with the induction cooker raised.
Xu Nan stared.
The cooker struck him squarely on the head. Seeing stars, he fell.
“Nan!” Zhang Fang turned and shouted.
“Kill… kill him!” Xu Nan got up, grabbed the cooker, and smashed Uncle Bing to the floor.
Furious as he was with the old man, Xu Nan understood who mattered most. Shao Lan.
Kill him, and dealing with the other two would be easy.
Shao Lan had used the confusion to escape into the corridor. Xu Nan and Zhang Fang chased him. Blondie shook off Jiang Mingran and followed.
Jiang Mingran despaired.
Shao Lan was clever, but this was three against one. And one of them was a fighter as formidable as Zhang Fang.
He was almost certain to die.
With the last of his strength, Jiang Mingran turned his head toward the corridor. It was pitch-black, without a single source of light.
The robbers could see nothing, either. Shao Lan was hidden somewhere.
“It’s fine. He’s on this floor. He can’t get away,” Xu Nan ordered. “Blondie, guard the stairs. Fang and I’ll search the corridor.”
Blondie went as ordered. Zhang Fang and Xu Nan searched, step by step.
Suddenly, Xu Nan caught Zhang Fang’s arm.
Following his gaze, Zhang Fang saw a vague dark figure crouched in a corner.
Shao Lan?
“Watch for a trap,” Xu Nan warned quietly. “That kid’s full of tricks.”
Zhang Fang raised the gun and fired a nail at it. The figure didn’t move.
“A decoy. Knew it.” Bitterly, Xu Nan turned the other way. “The elevator’s up ahead. He probably isn’t this way. Let’s go back. He’s most likely hiding in another room.”
Zhang Fang nodded.
But the instant he turned, a blade whistled through the air behind him.
He jerked aside, but couldn’t avoid it entirely. The blade grazed his neck and drove into his shoulder.
Zhang Fang spun and fired repeatedly.
In the faintest trace of light, he saw Shao Lan’s bloodied face.
The figure really had been Shao Lan!
What kind of endurance did it take to be shot without making a sound, fooling them right before their eyes?
The nail gun was hard to aim in the dark. But at this range, repeated shots were bound to hit. Sure enough, after several, a dagger clattered to the floor.
He’d hit Shao Lan’s hand!
Zhang Fang’s spirits lifted.
He switched the gun to his left hand, drew the cleaver with his right, and swung ahead. He was strong. This blow would do far more damage than a nail. It could kill outright.
Shao Lan was finished!
Shao Lan stumbled back, but his back was already against the wall. He had nowhere to go.
Zhang Fang smiled, stepped forward, and brought the cleaver down again.
Shao Lan didn’t dodge! He took the blow and used the moment to seize Zhang Fang’s shoulder.
With the last of his strength, he spun them both around and shoved Zhang Fang against the wall.
What good would that do? Zhang Fang almost laughed. Shao Lan didn’t even have a weapon. Did he think one knock against a wall would kill him?
Then he felt his back touch something projecting from it.
The moment he realized what it was, his mind reeled.
No. No!
He fought desperately to stop himself.
But Shao Lan fell forward with the momentum, crashing into him.
The protruding object was pressed down.
Xu Nan stood where he was, his face white. He didn’t go over.
There was no point.
He couldn’t believe Shao Lan had thought of this despite being completely outmatched in a fight.
That last retreat, with his back against the wall and nowhere to go, had been planned.
He’d used it to press the elevator button.
Then, in a split second, he’d forced Zhang Fang to press it, too.
Riddled with nails and wounded by a cleaver, Shao Lan had traded himself for the gang’s strongest fighter, taking Zhang Fang with him.
Now the elevator doors slowly opened.
“No! I don’t want to play again! I don’t…”
Zhang Fang tried to flee down the corridor. But the property manager had appeared like a ghost, standing before him with her flashlight.
“Are you attempting to violate the resident regulations of Xingfu Estate?” she asked with her familiar professional smile.
A chill ran through him. He pointed at Shao Lan, who’d already entered the elevator. “No! I didn’t press it! He did! He pushed me against the wall! That’s the only reason I touched it! He broke the rules! Punish him!”
Under the elevator’s cold white light, the badly wounded Shao Lan sat against the wall. He said nothing. With his face covered in blood, he smiled faintly.
As though she couldn’t understand a word, the property manager smiled at the frantic Zhang Fang. “Are you attempting to violate the resident regulations of Xingfu Estate?”
He trembled. He knew what happened to those who did.
Full of vicious resentment and fury, he entered the elevator.
“Weapons used inside the building may not be taken into scenarios,” she reminded him. “That would also be a violation.”
Zhang Fang closed his eyes for a moment and threw the nail gun and cleaver out.
Xu Nan hurried to pick them up.
But just as he was about to run off with them, the property manager turned, as though she’d noticed something. “Oh, Resident Xu Nan. You’re participating in this game scenario, too.”
Xu Nan froze. “Why? I didn’t press the button!”
“A small number of scenarios operate by invitation,” she said, smiling. “As it happens, you’ve been invited to this one.”
“I refuse!” His hands shook. “It’s an invitation, isn’t it? I refuse!”
He turned to leave.
“Are you certain you wish to violate the resident regulations of Xingfu Estate?” she asked with a smile.
He went rigid.
Fuck! What kind of invitation couldn’t be refused?
As she approached, his nerve deserted him completely. Helplessly, he dropped the nail gun and cleaver and entered the elevator.
“I’m going to kill you,” he told Shao Lan viciously.
Shao Lan smiled weakly.
“You missed your best chance,” he said. “It’ll probably be much harder now.”
The elevator doors closed. Smiling, the property manager bowed. “Enjoy your game, all three of you.”