20demayo Chapter 1303 The Arrival of the Umbrellaless
Chapter 1303 The Arrival of the Umbrellaless
Just as Lin Yi finished his tea, footsteps sounded at the door.
The footsteps grew closer and stopped in front of the jewelry store, then there was a knock on the door.
Boom, boom, boom.
Three taps, neither too hard nor too soft, with a very steady rhythm.
Su Xiao stood up from the sofa, walked to the door, and opened it.
There was a person standing at the door. He was not tall, but very wide, like a cube that had been stretched horizontally.
The other person was wearing a dark gray jacket, with the zipper only half-zipped up, revealing a white crew neck shirt underneath.
The gold chain around his neck gleamed dimly under the streetlights, and he wore two gold rings on his fingers. His nails were neatly trimmed, but his knuckles were thick, suggesting he had done manual labor.
Fatty Ma.
A smile immediately spread across his face when he saw Su Xiao, after all, the group hadn't seen each other for a long time.
"Bai Ye, where have you been all this time? I haven't seen you or anyone else."
Su Xiao stepped aside to let Ma Pangzi walk in quickly, rubbed the soles of his shoes on the doormat before stepping into the store.
Lin Yi sat up straight on the sofa, placed the teacup on the coffee table, and looked at Fatty Ma.
He knew that this guy was the type who wouldn't visit unless he needed something; he should have been spending his time with the rich women he knew.
"What's wrong? What happened?"
"It's nothing much, it's just that someone came looking for you these past couple of days, saying they were your friends?"
"friend?"
Lin Yi looked at Su Xiao curiously, his eyes asking if Su Xiao was the one he had called.
Su Xiao shook his head, indicating that he had not received any news from anyone recently.
Without saying another word, Fatty Ma took out his phone, found a text message, and turned the screen towards Lin Yi.
"Do you recognize this person? If not, I'll have someone deal with him."
Lin Yi glanced at the screen, which displayed a photograph.
The background of the photo is the arrival hall of an airport, with the tarmac and runway visible through the glass curtain wall.
A man stood next to the baggage carousel, pulling a suitcase with one hand and holding the hand of a five or six-year-old girl with the other.
The man was wearing a dark jacket and a baseball cap pulled low, but Lin Yi recognized him at a glance.
Brother without an umbrella.
Su Xiao recognized him too. He placed his hand on the counter and tapped his fingers lightly twice.
Fatty Ma put his phone back in his pocket.
He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, put it in his mouth, and casually offered two to Su Xiao and Lin Yi as well.
“That person called me after landing at the airport and said he wanted to see you two. I asked who he was, and he said he was an old friend of yours. I didn’t dare bring him directly, so I came to let you know and see how things were going.”
He said he was waiting at a nearby coffee shop and wasn't in a hurry.
"Let him come over."
"Okay, I'll go get someone then."
Su Xiao walked to Lin Yi's side, stood by the window, and watched Fatty Ma's figure disappear at the end of the street.
Brother without an umbrella.
They hadn't seen this person for a while.
Lin Yi had heard Su Xiao mention it once, saying that Brother Wusan had gotten involved with Nairoi of the Blood Gate and was being hunted down to the point of near death, so he had to run away.
It now appears that he not only ran away, but ran very far away, even abroad.
Moreover, he didn't run away alone; he brought his daughter with him.
Lin Yi withdrew his gaze, turned around, and sat down.
About ten minutes later, footsteps sounded at the door again.
This time, the footsteps were more steady than Fatty Ma's earlier, as if someone was deliberately controlling the weight of their steps, not wanting to make too much noise.
The door was pushed open, and the copper bell rang once.
He wore a dark jacket and a baseball cap with the brim pulled low, obscuring most of his face.
He was pulling a suitcase with his left hand and holding the hand of a five- or six-year-old girl with his right.
The suitcase wheels rolled on the floor, making a low rumbling sound.
The little girl was wearing a pink coat, had two braids in her hair, and was holding a teddy bear. She had big, bright eyes. She looked around the store and finally her eyes fell on the teddy bear squatting next to the counter, and then she stopped moving.
Brother Wusan loosened the handle of his suitcase, took off his baseball cap, and tucked it under his arm.
His face was noticeably thinner than when we last met, his cheekbones were more prominent, and his eye sockets were deeper.
He looked at Lin Yi and Su Xiao, a smile spreading across his face.
That smile held weariness, relief, and an indescribable sense of emotion, like someone who had been wandering for a long time finally returning home.
"haven't seen you for a long time."
Lin Yi looked at him and nodded.
Su Xiao didn't say anything, but stood up from the chair, walked behind the counter, took out a clean cup from the cabinet, poured a cup of tea, placed it on the coffee table, and pushed it towards Brother Wusan.
Brother Wusan glanced at the cup of tea, smiled, walked over, and sat down on the sofa.
He picked up his teacup, took a sip, and frowned slightly.
It's cold.
"I've been waiting for you," Su Xiao said.
Brother Wusan chuckled, put the teacup back on the coffee table, leaned back on the sofa, and let out a long sigh.
The breath he exhaled was trembling, like someone who had been holding their breath underwater for a long time finally surfacing.
The little girl stood beside him, hugging her teddy bear, her eyes still fixed on Bubuwang.
Bubuwang got up from the ground, walked to the little girl, squatted down, tilted its head to look at her, and its tail wagged gently behind it.
The little girl reached out and tentatively touched Bubuwang's head. Bubuwang didn't flinch; instead, it leaned its head forward, its tongue dangling from the corner of its mouth, panting heavily.
The little girl laughed happily and quickly became friends with Bubuwang.
Brother Wusan looked down at his daughter, his expression softening considerably.
"Call me uncle," he said.
The little girl looked up at Lin Yi, then at Su Xiao, before lowering her head and burying her face behind the teddy bear, speaking very softly, like a mosquito's buzz.
"Hello, uncle."
Lin Yi rummaged through a drawer under the coffee table and pulled out a packet of candy. He opened it, took out a piece, and handed it to the little girl.
The little girl peeked out from behind the teddy bear, looked at the candy, and then at Brother No Umbrella.
Brother Wusan nodded, and she reached out, took the candy, clutched it in her hand, and then hid behind the teddy bear.
Brother Wusan smiled at his daughter's shy expression, then looked away and turned to Lin Yi and Su Xiao.
The smile on his face faded slightly, replaced by a serious expression.
"A lot has happened during this time, let me tell you from the beginning."
Lin Yi leaned back on the sofa, picked up his teacup, and took a sip of cold tea.
Su Xiao also picked up her teacup, but didn't drink it; she just held it in her hand.
Brother Wusan took a deep breath and began to tell his story.
He spoke slowly, each word seemingly rehearsed in his mind before uttering, without any unnecessary words or embellishments, simply laying out the facts one by one.
From the moment Su Xiao helped him leave the country, he took his daughter and rushed to the airport overnight. They exchanged two tickets at the counter, boarded the plane, took off, and left this land.
As the plane took off, he glanced out the window and saw the city lights twinkling in the night, like scattered gold dust on the ground.
The plane landed in the early morning local time.
Sunlight streamed in through the porthole, stinging his eyes.
He led his daughter out of the airport and stood for a while at the exit of the arrival hall, watching the people who came to pick up passengers holding signs with various words he couldn't understand.
He hailed a taxi and handed the driver a piece of paper with his address written on it.
That address was sent to him by Su Xiao. Su Xiao had an estate abroad, on the edge of the city, surrounded by large vineyards, far from the city center, so quiet it was unsettling.
When the taxi stopped at the entrance of the manor, Brother Wusan stared at the iron gate for several seconds.
The iron gate has a simple and ancient style, made of black cast iron, with spikes at the top of the railings, and two lanterns hanging on the gateposts, with dim yellow light shining from inside.
He rang the doorbell and waited for about half a minute. An old man in a gray work uniform came out of the guardhouse, looked him up and down through the iron gate, and then took out a walkie-talkie from his pocket and said a few words that he couldn't understand.
There was a moment of silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie, then a voice came through, speaking in Chinese, asking him his name.
Brother Wusan gave Su Xiao's name, and there was a moment of silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie before the iron gate slowly opened.
The manor was much larger than he had expected. The main building was a three-story structure with light yellow stone exterior walls, red tile roof, and large windows with polished glass that reflected the clouds in the sky.
The estate's housekeeper was a white woman in her fifties, wearing a dark suit, her hair tied up, and light makeup.
She led Brother Wusan to a bedroom on the second floor that faced the vineyard. The bedroom was large, with a big bed, a walk-in closet, a separate bathroom, and the window overlooking the endless vineyard.
Brother Wusan put the suitcase away, carried his daughter to bed, and let her sleep for a while.
He sat on the edge of the bed, looking at his daughter's face, feeling a tightness in his chest.
He didn't want his daughter to live this kind of nomadic life with him, but he had no other choice.
After settling down at the manor, Brother Wusan began to do one thing—inquire about the situation back home.
He dared not contact people in China directly, dared not make phone calls, dared not send text messages, dared not use any methods that might be tracked.
Through an old connection—a Chinese businessman doing business abroad—he managed to get in touch with a friend in China.
That friend told him that the Blood Gate was in complete chaos.
After Stan's death, the Blood Gate split into six factions, each of which felt it was qualified to inherit the Blood Gate's legacy, and each of which felt that others were unworthy.
They were initially negotiating, blaming and hurling insults at each other.
Later, the negotiations broke down, and they began to fight in the streets, using knives, guns, fists, and every means at their disposal.
The cleaners tried to intervene, but they soon realized that this was not something they could handle.
The internal strife within the Blood Gate is not as simple as two gangs fighting for territory; it is a full-scale war between six forces within the same organizational framework.
You try to persuade this one, but that one disagrees. You try to suppress that one, but this one jumps up in protest.
If you try to suppress everyone, they will unite against you first.
While the Cleaners are powerful, they are not powerful enough to suppress six forces simultaneously.
Moreover, the six factions of the Blood Gate were surprisingly united in dealing with the Cleaners: if you attack my people, I will attack yours.
If you take down one of my strongholds, I'll burn down one of your branch offices.
They fought back and forth, locked in a fierce battle.
In this situation, the scavenger chose to retreat.
They withdrew their forces from the Blood Gate's territory, waiting for the Blood Gate to settle things on its own.
The infighting within the Blood Gate lasted for a very long time, so long that even those involved in the infighting forgot why they were fighting in the first place.
The six factions were constantly being weakened and dwindled in the battle.
After Stan's death, Huang Fen stopped pretending. He was originally the most powerful fighter in the Blood Gate. He was suppressed by Stan before because Stan had something he needed, so he had to submit.
Now that Stan is dead, there's no need for him to continue acting.
He took over most of Stan's territory and manpower, and took something he had always wanted from the Bloodgate's warehouse.
That thing is one of the ballast stones of the Blood Gate. It is said that it has been sealed in the deepest part of the warehouse since the Blood Gate was founded. Every leader of the sect knows of its existence, but no one is willing to use it.
Stan was reluctant to use it, because once he did, it would be gone.
But Huang Fen was willing to give up because he didn't care about the future; he only cared about the present.
With that item, Huang Fen's strength increased dramatically.
He started to get arrogant, so arrogant that he felt he could challenge anyone, including the entire troupe.
There was no result.
When Huang Fen confronted the troupe head-on, he realized how naive he had been.
In that world, Huang Fen died, and died a terrible death.
It is said that his body was blown into hundreds of pieces and scattered on the street.
His forces collapsed the day after Huang Fen's death; some defected to other factions, while others fled.
Of the six factions, some died, some scattered, and in the end, only Neloy remained.
During this period of time, Naloy has been doing one thing—keeping a low profile.
Unlike Huang Fen, she wasn't flamboyant, nor was she eager to seize territory like the leaders of the other four factions. She simply took good care of her people, did her job well, and didn't fight, grab, or make a fuss.
When the other five factions were exhausted from fighting each other, Naray intervened.
It wasn't because she was the best fighter, but because she knew best that Blood Gate's future wasn't on the edge of a knife.
At this point, Brother Wusan picked up his teacup and took a sip.
The tea had gone cold, but he didn't care. He tilted his head back and drank the cold tea in one gulp, then wiped his mouth with his sleeve.
After consolidating the remaining forces of the Blood Gate, the first thing Naray did was not to expand or seek revenge, but to purge.
She purged all those who had been tainted with too much blood in the Blood Gate's internal strife, and at the same time, she reorganized the Blood Gate's businesses.
Blood Gate's power shrank by more than half under her control, but the remaining half was more stable than before.
Although Blood Gate is not as powerful as it was in its heyday, it is still a force to be reckoned with, and even in its decline, it is still stronger than most mid-level adventure groups.
Brother Wusan smiled as he said this. There was a sense of感慨 (gǎn kǎi, a feeling of mixed emotions, often including regret or nostalgia) in that smile, as well as a hint of something complex that was hard to define.
"Guess what Naloy's current status is?"
Lin Yi looked at him without saying a word.
"She's currently affiliated with the Cleaners, serving as a special consultant for their Bright City branch." The man without an umbrella said this with a hint of disbelief, as if he himself couldn't quite believe the story was true.
"The cleaners gave her a separate office and two assistants. They hold a weekly meeting to report on the Blood Gate's operations and security."
Su Xiao paused for a moment while holding the teacup.
"A street cleaner?"
“The cleaner,” Brother Wusan repeated, nodding.
“Nailo said that Stan’s era is over, and if Bloodgate wants to survive, it must change. If it doesn’t change, it will die; there is no other way.”
After hearing these words, Lin Yi remained silent for a moment.
"So you're working for Naloy now?"
Upon hearing this question, Brother Wusan's expression became subtle. His lips twitched, as if he wanted to laugh but didn't, and in the end, he simply shook his head.
"I guess so. Naroi said that I helped her consolidate her external forces, and she would help me take care of my daughter's future."
He paused, looked down at his fingers.
"As you all know, I need to leave a way out for my daughter."
“Although Nairoi is ruthless, she is good to the people around her. I’ve been following her for so long and I’ve seen it for myself. She has never broken her promises to me.”
Lin Yi nodded and didn't ask any more questions.
This was Brother Wusan's own choice. He's not a child anymore; he knows what he wants and what price he should pay.
"As you all know, I ran away back then. Although I was forced to, I didn't deny that I ran away. If it weren't for Naroi supporting me over there, I wouldn't have dared to come back."
He glanced at Bubuwang, who was squatting next to his daughter, and then at Lin Yi and Su Xiao, who were sitting on the sofa.
"Of course, most importantly, I'm too embarrassed to tell my daughter that her dad is now living off his wife."
Seeing the expressions on their faces, Brother Wusan couldn't help but laugh.
“Life abroad is too hard.” He shook his head, his disdain undisguised. “You wouldn’t believe it, the grapes in that vineyard are absolutely awful. I was really out of food for a while, so I picked a few bunches to try. Good heavens, can you imagine what they tasted like? You’d taste better than those grapes even if you ate a traditional Chinese medicine pill. I don’t even know what variety of grapes they were, that they could be so bad.”
Hearing this, Su Xiao finally spoke.
"That estate used to grow wine grapes, not for eating."
Brother Wusan paused for a moment, then looked at Su Xiao with an even more complicated expression.
"You should have said so earlier! I stayed there for so long, I almost ate the whole vineyard. Do you know how much mental preparation I had to do to swallow those grapes? I even started to doubt my sense of taste, and I even went to the supermarket to buy a few pounds of grapes to compare. It wasn't my problem, those grapes were just really awful."
Su Xiao picked up her teacup, took a sip, and said nothing.
Looking at his indifferent and aloof demeanor, Brother Wusan took a deep breath and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.
Forget it, there's no point in talking to Su Xiao about this.
He leaned back on the sofa and steered the conversation back on track.
"But to be honest, if it weren't for the news from Naloy that things had been settled, I'd probably still be holed up in that manor eating grapes. It's not that I didn't want to come back, it's that I didn't dare to. I have a child with me, I can't afford to gamble."
He spoke in a very calm tone, but Lin Yi could hear the underlying tension beneath that calmness.
It would be a lie to say that a man who has been hiding outside with his daughter for so long is not afraid.
He wasn't afraid of something happening to himself, but rather what would happen to his daughter if something happened to him.
Why isn't Nairo coming over?
When Brother Wusan heard this question, his expression changed again.
He took out the pack of cigarettes from his pocket, pulled one out, put it in his mouth, took a deep drag, and exhaled the smoke from his nostrils, which slowly drifted into the air.
Brother Wusan, with a cigarette between his fingers, flicked the ash off the edge of the coffee table before speaking.
"She doesn't dare to come."
"Bai Ye single-handedly shattered the Blood Gate. She was afraid that if she entered the gate, Bai Ye would kill her without even saying a word."
He spoke with a hint of helplessness, as if he were explaining things to Naroi, or stating a fact.
Lin Yi glanced at Su Xiao, whose face remained expressionless, but the hand holding the teacup did not move.
Brother Wusan stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, leaving a charred ring at the bottom.
"She asked me to give her regards to you both, and to let her know if there's anything the Blood Gate can do for you in the future. She'll do whatever it takes to help you."
Lin Yi looked at Brother Wusan and could tell from his eyes that these words were Nairoi's original words, and Brother Wusan was just relaying them.
"She didn't just send you back this time to deliver a message, did she?"
Brother Wusan nodded, bent down, pulled the suitcase that was at his feet over, and placed it next to the coffee table.
He unzipped the suitcase, rummaged through it a few times, and pulled out two palm-sized boxes from a hidden compartment.
The box was entirely black, with no patterns or decorations on its surface, except for a layer of dark red wax clay sealing the gaps in the lid.
He placed the two boxes on the coffee table and pushed them in front of Lin Yi and Su Xiao.
“This is what Naro asked me to bring. She said it’s something she kept hidden away in the Blood Gate warehouse, and she’s thanking you both for your previous help.”
Lin Yi looked at the two boxes, reached out, and picked up one of them.
The box was lighter than he had expected.
Lin Yi gently scraped off the wax clay from the edge of the lid with his fingernail and lifted the lid off.
There was a ring inside the box.
The ring was made of a very special metal that Lin Yi had never seen before.
Lin Yi took the ring out of the box and held it in his palm. The notification sound of the Paradise of Reincarnation rang in his ears.
You have obtained the Prison Guardian's Bronze Ring.
[Note: Using this ring will grant you 10 minutes of full access.]
[Fully Open State: When this state is activated, if the hunter is in the real world, some restrictions can be lifted for 10 minutes. During this time, the hunter can use active abilities and temporarily retrieve one piece of equipment from storage space.]
In the real world, everyone is fighting with their hands and feet tied.
But the Prison Guardian Ring is different; it allows you to break free of those restraints in ten minutes.
Ten minutes isn't a long time, but for contractors of Lin Yi and Su Xiao's level, ten minutes is enough to do a lot of things.
If the Grey Gentleman dared to show his face in the real world, Lin Yi was confident he could kill him within ten minutes.
This isn't confidence; it's capability.
No matter how strong the Grey Gentleman is, he is still a person suppressed by the rules of the real world.
With the Guardian Copper Ring, Lin Yi was free from the constraints of the rules for ten minutes.
When an unoppressed person confronts an oppressed person, the outcome is never in doubt. (End of Chapter)