by A Sick Frog
Qin Ke Xuan took out the knife she had brought, fondling with it in her hand, before suddenly flinging it out, the knife-edge zipping a hair’s breathe past the nose bridge of Wen Mei Xia who was trying to escape sneakily. She said, unperturbed, “Her? She doesn’t have the ability to do that.” There was definitely someone else directing behind the scene.
Wen Mei Xia freaked out, her legs almost giving way. Beads of sweat immediately dotted her forehead, and she turned, trembling, to look at the Qin Ke Xuan who had not even spared her a look, her lips shaking uncontrollably: “Xuan, Xuan…”
Qin Ke Xuan tilted her head, her eyes narrowing as she said darkly: “Try running again.”
Upon hearing such words, not only Wen Mei Xia started feeling scared, even the Long Ge lying on the ground could not help but started feeling uneasy. This girl could be cold-blooded as far as this…
Qin Ke Xuan’s foot shifted towards Long Ge’s ribs, and exerted strength as she stamped down, “Last chance, are you saying or not?”
“Cough… I, I… I’ll say, you severely injured our boss’s little brother previously during a fight. We had actually intended to just target you, but we couldn’t find a chance. Afterwards, Wen Mei Xia found us and got us to kidnap your little brother, so we borrowed this chance to lure you out.” Long Ge immediately spilt the beans when one of his ribs broke, he had heard from the boss’s little brother that his ribs had been broken by this devil one by one.
Long Ge exhaled after spilling. This information was not classified anyway, even if he told her, his boss would not reproach him. Even though his boss would punish him for today’s crushing defeat, but so long this diabolical girl let him go, there’s hope as long as he was still alive. With regards today’s defeat, they would save the revenge for another day.
However, he saw an eerie smile gracing her lips. Even though her expression was one of smiles, her eyes were not smiling, in fact, it gave Long Ge a tinge of coldness.
“Did you think I’d let you go? Don’t you know that when you cut weeds, you need to pull out the roots as well?” Long Ge, upon glimpsing Qin Ke Xuan’s delicate face, suddenly felt as though she was Luo Sha*, beautiful yet lethal.
(T/N: “Luo Sha” = “罗刹” is a demon in Buddhism or poltergeist in temple that plays tricks on monks and has a taste for their food)
“You, what do you want to do?! You’re crazy! Help!” Long Ge screamed in fear.
Qin Ke Xuan flipped up a knife on the side and grabbed it, ready to finish off this guy. Yin Xu Dong could no longer obey Qin Ke Xuan’s command to stand there and not move. Carrying Qin Peng Cheng, he ran over while shouting: “Xuan Xuan don’t!”
Chapter 16 - One Fight to Fame
Long Ge rolled over, escaping Qin Ke Xuan’s foothold. Qin Ke Xuan completely did not mind, and instead turned to look at Yin Xu Dong at her side, “You want to save them?”
Yin Xu Dong urged anxiously: “Even if you are a minor, you can still be jailed if you really murder someone! And since they did not gain anything from this either, why not just let them go. There’s no need for you to dirty your hands because of them. Right? Xuan Xuan?”
Dirty her hands? From the moment she, together with the other children, had been captured by the organisation and locked in the training arena, her hands were stained. If she had been soft-hearted at that time, then she would have been the one being used as stepping-stones for others.
As of right now, however, she needed to find a way to go back, meaning she would still require this identity in order to continue living. If she were to be blacklisted by the police, then that would indeed be very troublesome.
“If they don’t die, are you not worried they will come back for revenge?” This would be the consequence of not eliminating the roots along with the weeds.
Yin Xu Dong furtively rolled his eyes, why did she say it as though it had nothing to do with her. If they wanted revenge, she was the one they would come looking for to seek revenge! This was terrible! How did he forget about this problem, if she were to let them go, then Xuan Xuan’s safety would be at risk in the future, right? “Xuan, Xuan Xuan? They won’t come and find you for revenge right?”
“Mmh, definitely.”
Yin Xu Dong hesitated, “Then, are you really going to let them go?”
Qin Ke Xuan shot him a glare, was it not him who had brought it up to let them go?
Long Ge, upon hearing this, got anxious. Just as that fellow had some results in persuading the little devil, why did he himself waver? “Cough cough… bro, as long as you let us go, we’ll definitely not come looking for you for revenge!”
Yin Xu Dong: “Really?”
Qin Ke Xuan remained silent. Even if they did come knocking on her door for revenge, she would lure them out to some desolated and hidden place, and to settle them for once and for all. As long as she did not leave behind any evidence for the police to find, she need not worry about whether she needed to go to jail. In that case, it seemed that she had to go back and do some proper research about Detective Conan.
Long Ge made a solemn vow in reply: “Of course! We will definitely do as we say!” Over-saying these kinds of verbal promises would do him no harm, as long as he can save his own butt first, it did not matter how many promises he needed to make.
Qin Ke Xuan threw another phrase: “If I ever see you again, I’ll break as many bones as you have in your body. Don’t worry, you definitely won’t die before all your bones break. Oh and, if you don’t believe me, I can do a live demonstration now on anyone you want.”
The people who had originally still held some anger towards Long Ge for submitting to the girl, upon hearing Qin Ke Xuan’s words, immediately had both hands up in support like Long Ge. Being humans, there is always a need to be flexible, only foolish people will insist the impossible stubbornly.
Beads of perspiration, be it from fright or pain, dotted his forehead. He said cowardly: “Cough cough, no, no need, I’ll definitely believe that!”
Yin Xu Dong’s lips twitched, and he tugged the corner of Qin Ke Xuan’s shirt, saying softly: “Xuan Xuan, we better leave first.” He seriously could not stand looking at this bunch of burly and strong-looking uncles bullied so badly by a little girl.
Qin Ke Xuan walked forward first, taking the shortest short cut there was; in other words, completely ignoring the fact that there were still injured people on the floor as she trod on them and over them calmly. Even when the kidnappers’ injuries were trampled upon, they dared not make any noise in fear of attracting her attention and being pulled out to serve as her demonstration specimen.
The scene at that time was later passed down by the current generations (to the new members who joined their gang). After the bloodbath by the female Asura, she left the bloody scene while stepping on the broken bones of the people, a cruel smile gracing her lips; the place was later spread by them as the bloody scene where the fighting had taken place. This kidnapping-but-they-ended-up-being-beaten-up event and Long Ge and company’s devastating condition had made Qin Ke Xuan widely known. And hence, Qin Ke Xuan became famous after that one fight and was known as “the female Asura” by the insiders.
When Qin Ke Xuan passed by Wen Mei Xia, she stopped, lowering her head to meet Wen Mei Xia’s frightened gaze, and said expressionlessly: “If there’s a next time, it’ll be your neck.” After saying that, she walked down the stairs, and met the ones on the lookout. She sent a kick at each of them, and they fell.
Yin Xu Dong carried Qin Peng Cheng, following grovelingly eagerly. He had already gained immunity to all the intimidation. Qin Peng Cheng, on the other hand, looked at his step-sister in reverence, oh lord, if she were to decide one day that he was a nuisance, would he still be able to live till the next day and see the sun?
Qin Ke Xuan walked to the parked car, opened the door, threw the secretly dozing driver out with a fling of her hand, and sat into the driver’ seat. Yin Xu Dong hurriedly opened the passenger seat door and slid in, putting Qin Peng Cheng down
before leaning forward on the driver seat in front, asking Qin Ke Xuan: “Xuan Xuan, when did you learn how to drive? I though minors can’t get licenses?”
“I’ve seen Qin Shu Hua drive one before.” Even though this vehicle was very different from the carriage in her time, but how could a mere non-living thing as such be harder to drive than a horse?
Upon hearing that, Yin Xu Dong got a huge fright. He swallowed, “Xuan Xuan, why don’t we call someone to come fetch us.” To let someone who had only watched other people drive, drive a car was very dangerous.
Qin Ke Xuan reached out to push Yin Xu Dong away, “Noisy.” Then she started the car, stomping on the pedal and they zoomed forward. Just as they were about to slam into the wall in front, Qin Ke Xuan quickly braked, and spun the steering wheel, forcibly swerving a full 360 turn before the car stopped.
Yin Xu Dong’s face paled, “Xuan Xuan, why don’t we stop.” He did not want to die!
“Shut up.”
Qin Ke Xuan, once again, stepped on the gas pedal, and they zipped onto the road very unsafely, following the directions the kidnappers had provided. After some tiny problems, Qin Ke Xuan had pretty much grasped the knack to driving. Of course, she completely did not follow the traffic rules, violating them and snatching lanes all the way.
As they were in the outskirts of town, they were not intercepted by any traffic police. Only until they entered the town area did a police car stop them.
The traffic police looked at the little girl sitting in the driver’s seat, and the boy and another little boy in the backseat, and pinched his forehead in exasperation: “Come out, come out.”
Actually, Qin Ke Xuan had originally wanted to just slam the police car away but was stopped by Yin Xu Dong’s screaming and howling. So they turned out to be the police that specialised in handling the traffic sector, if she slammed into them, the consequences would be dire.
“Are you guys sneakily driving the car your family owns?” It was definitely some young lady and masters of rich families driving the cars their families owned out to play, and they even dared to violate traffic rules and drive so crazily!
Yin Xu Dong talked before Qin Ke Xuan could open her mouth: “No, police uncle, we were kidnapped. We finally escaped by stealing the kidnappers’ car. Look, my brother’s injured so badly, we’re rushing to the hospital, that’s why we couldn’t help but violate the traffic rules.”
The traffic police had not believed them in the beginning, but upon seeing Qin Peng Cheng in that state, he could not help but believe them, “Even if that’s the case, you guys can’t continue driving the car. I’ll drive you guys to the police station to report the kidnap case.
And so, they were escorted back by the police uncle. They called home after reaching the police station and Qin Shu Hua, along with his wife and Officer Song, rushed over in a flurry.
Jiang Hui Lin upon seeing her son covered in blue and black bruises immediately dashed over to hug him, crying painfully.
Following which were rounds and rounds of recordings and inquiries. When she was asked how they escaped, Qin Ke Xuan replied: “Knocked them down and we walked out.”
No one believed that. Yin Xu Dong and Qin Peng Cheng testified for her strongly with their integrity, that Qin Ke Xuan did not lie. Everyone immediately fixed their attention on the weak looking girl.
When the police were inquiring about the location of their den and wanted to proceed with arresting them, Qin Ke Xuan replied in disdain: “You think they’ll stay there like idiots and wait for you to go catch them?” The policemen were embarrassed.
After all the testimonies had been recorded, this affair drew to a close hastily. As for the police’s follow-up investigation regarding arresting the criminals was outside of Qin Ke Xuan’s scope of concern, hence she very straightforwardly disregarded that.
This affair should have ended off very cleanly, but after a month when Qin Ke Xuan stepped out of her mid-year examination venue, she found out, however, that there was a to-be-continued sequel to this episode.
Qin Ke Xuan looked at the few guys clothed in black in front of her, “You’re only making your revenge now?”
The few of them wearing black opened up a path, and out walked a twenty-ish year old guy. He was very obviously not on the same rank as the people wearing black. He smiled lightly: “Ms Qin, I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood. We’re not here to seek revenge, rather, we came to seek you out in admiration of your reputation.”
“Then move it.” Qin Ke Xuan was completely not interested in their what they were intending to do.
The guy kept smiling, not angry at all: “Since Ms Qin is straightforward, I won’t beat around the bush either. We are here to invite Ms Qin to join our organisation, what do you think?”
“Not interested.” Qin Ke Xuan rejected bluntly.
The guy maintained his demeanour and poise, handing her a name card, “Heh, Ms Qin need not reject us so quickly. If Ms Qin is willing to join our organisation, we can guarantee you will find the merits provided satisfying. It’s cinch be it money or status. Also, our organisation is enormously powerful, if you ever meet with any trouble, we are able to get it out of the way. For example, there are quite a number of gangs troubling you recently, of course, we believe in your capability, and that these are mere trivialities to you, but they are still quite bothersome aren’t they? Besides, it would not be very good if they trouble your family members.”
“So you guys are very capable?” Qin Ke Xuan took the name card, sweeping a nonchalant glance at the name printed on it, Zhou Lin, as she asked.
Zhou Lin laughed lightly, “Exactly how capable we are, even I daren’t measure. Mmh, at least we can promise that there’s no one in this province that would dare to provoke you.”
Qin Ke Xuan laughed coldly, one province. Back in her time, there was no one in the entire country that dared provoke their organisation then.
Zhou Lin continued: “Should Ms Qin join our organisation, we are able to immediately get the gangs to stop troubling you.” They had made the necessary preparations before looking for her.
Qin Ke Xuan suddenly thought of the time machine she had seen while she was researching. She knew she was definitely unable to invent such a device on her own; perhaps to draw support externally would be a possible way.
Her head lowered, muttering irresolutely to herself, before raising her head, her eyes sparkling, and replied: “Okay, I’ll join your organisation.” Even if they did not have the means to do so, there was no need to worry; she can find more powerful organisations through this one that was hidden in the shadows.
Hence, Qin Ke Xuan joined the underworld just like that.
Chapter 17 - The Way of Killers
With regards to the kidnapping, Qin Shu Hua’s guilt towards Qin Ke Xuan had reached history’s highest. Hence, he firmly chose to close both eyes regarding Qin Ke Xuan’s devastating mid-year examination results and decided that he should care about this neglected child more.
The night when he heard about her results, they were sitting at the dinner table, and so he asked her affably: “Xuan Xuan, which high school do you want to go to?” If he did not communicate with the school leaders, with Xuan Xuan’s results, other than technical schools, she would not have any other choices.
“The best one.” Qin Ke Xuan said as a matter of fact.
Qin Shu Hua was shocked: “You want to go to First High?” To get into that school, with Xuan Xuan’s results, was not just difficult, but very difficult!
Jiang Hui Lin placed a chicken wing in Qin Ke Xuan’s bowl, saying: “What about First High, just go have a meal with the principal, worst comes to worst, donate some money, and everything’s a done deal. It’s best to spend some money to go to a good school, don’t tell me the money you make is for hiding?!” Also because of Qin Ke Xuan rescuing back the kidnapped Qin Peng Cheng, Jiang Hui Lin was, currently, being unprecedentedly good to Qin Ke Xuan.
Qin Peng Cheng also placed the chicken drumsti
ck in front of him in Qin Ke Xuan’s bowl, beaming: “Sis, enjoy the drumset.”
With regards to their sudden concern and care, Qin Ke Xuan was no different at all and continued on with life as usual.
Qin Shu Hua looked at their harmonious relationship in gratification. It would be even more perfect if Xuan Xuan could smile. “Right, I’ll make an appointment with First High’s principal tomorrow to talk, we’ll definitely let Xuan Xuan attend First High.”
The second day, Qin Shu Hua left the house bright and early in the morning to meet First High’s principal. The two of them drank a whole morning’s worth of tea, and only finally after Qin Shu Hua suggested making donations to purchase a large collection of books did the principal nod his head reluctantly.
When Yin Xu Dong heard Qin Ke Xuan was going to go to First High, he was so excited he practically bounced around. If it were not for Qin Ke Xuan’s murderous glare, he would have hugged her and spun several rounds.
“Next time if I didn’t call you, don’t enter my room.” Qin Ke Xuan, while watching Conan, said to the Yin Xu Dong who had appeared unsolicited sitting on the floor.
“Hah? Why not? Wasn’t everything fine before?” Yin Xu Dong asked, uncontented.
“This is not of your concern.”
“Oh.” Yin Xu Dong replied, crestfallen, then immediately thought that no matter how intrepid Qin Ke Xuan was, she was still a girl, so she probably minded not having privacy, and felt at ease.
Qin Ke Xuan finished an episode of Conan and switched off the computer, starting to chase people out: “During the holidays, follow the new training requirements, don’t look for me if it’s nothing important, I want to see results by the time school starts.”
Yin Xu Dong raised his hands, asking: “What is considered important?” He personally felt that coming over to play every day was very important, as to whether Qin Ke Xuan would agree with his point of view would be hard to say…