Chosen: Beyond Fate

Chapter 6: When It Rains, It Pours

In the stillness, only the rain could be heard.

Ji Jue stared blankly at his surroundings. After a long while, he slumped down onto the doorstep, so exhausted that he felt like he could drop dead right there.

“What the hell is all this?”

He pried open his stiff fingers and tossed the railing he had been gripping to the ground before looking around. The desolate little courtyard was silent. Luckily, Ji Jue’s place was pretty isolated, and the nearest houses on either side had been abandoned long ago. Otherwise, this would probably have caused quite a commotion by now.

He held his phone in his hand. More than once, he wanted to call the police, but the moment the number went through, he hung up.

Should I call the cops? How am I supposed to explain this? Do I say that some old guy broke into my house, smashed my front door and fridge door, ate my white cut chicken, then tried to eat me? His body? Oh, it burned to ashes. Look, it’s in the dirt. I’m totally innocent. I acted in self-defense.

Would that help at all?

For more than ten years, Cliff City’s security budget had been shrinking by the year. Public safety kept getting worse, and the police kept getting lazier. Supposedly even the new governor could not stand it. When he first took office, he had planned to outsource all police work outright.

Besides... the corpse had turned to ash.

Ash.

Ji Jue looked at the two tattered pieces of clothing and let out a weak sigh.

What the hell were you even after? Yesterday you ran me over on a tricycle, fine. Today you came here to outright bite me. In the end, you turned into ash and vanished. Why? Did you come here just to tell me, ‘Hey bro you smell good?’ And leave some unlucky kid with lifelong psychological trauma? Are you insane?

No, that old man definitely didn’t look clear-headed. From beginning to end, there was a kind of madness about him. And then there was that blood-red spirit matter no normal person could possibly have. It looked alive—no, more like a parasite lurking inside his body.

So what the hell was that thing?

Amidst Ji Jue’s confusion and panic, he felt his phone vibrate. The cracked screen lit up, showing a familiar name. He froze for a moment, then felt a huge sense of relief.

Lu Feng!

Feng had served in the Central Lands for four years. He’d crawled through that hellhole as a paratrooper and still made it back in one piece. He never talked about those years, but judging from the dense tattoos on his body and the medals he’d toss to his younger siblings to play with like toys, it was safe to say he had plenty of experience with this sort of thing.

Ji Jue picked up the phone and forced himself to speak. “Hello? Feng! Listen to me, I...”

Lu Feng’s voice on the phone was hoarse. “Jue, are you free right now? Come to Mercy Hospital. Mom’s had an accident.”

Ji Jue shuddered; he was shocked, as if he’d been struck by lightning.

***

Half an hour later, without bothering to wash his face or tidy himself up, Ji Jue threw on some clothes and rode his beat-up little scooter. His vehicle cut through the puddles, spraying water everywhere as he rushed to the hospital.

The hospital was packed, and temporary beds filled the corridors. The air was thick with a stale, damp smell. After repeated cleanings, the moldy odor was not exactly strong, but it was impossible to ignore.

Ordinary people could not afford private hospitals or pay a registration and consultation bill that ran into the thousands. Therefore, they had nothing to rely on except a few public hospitals, where the queue stretched to the end of next year, or these charity hospitals funded by the Radiant Church.

Amid nurses and doctors rushing back and forth, Ji Jue stumbled into the corridor outside the exam room and found Mrs. Lu.

“Oh, it’s nothing serious, it’s just a little bump. It’s fine. That kid Xiaogou just loves to make a fuss over nothing.”

With bandages still wrapped around her face and more than half her short hair shaved off, Mrs. Lu waved her hand and forced out a careless smile. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I’m doing just fine.”

The third and youngest kids were not around. They were probably at home doing homework.

Lu Feng said nothing. He squatted and smoked by the door outside the corridor, holding a slip of paper as he waited for the test results.

“What happened?” Ji Jue asked, staring at the bandages on Mrs. Lu’s arm and the injuries on her face, dumbfounded.

The second daughter, Lu Ling, who was there keeping watch, kept blaming herself nonstop with reddened eyes. “I should have stayed with Mom to watch the shop last night. It’s my fault. It's all my fault!”

Mrs. Lu slapped the back of her head. “You? If you were there too, you’d be practically handing yourself over to the robbers. If things went bad, it wouldn’t just be robbery, it would turn into something worse.”

Last night, close to midnight, thieves pried open the door and broke into the auto repair shop before rummaging through everything. Lu Feng had gone out drinking with his old comrades and did not come back until later. Lu Ling was at home studying and looking after the two younger kids. The only one watching the shop was Mrs. Lu. After being startled awake, she shouted, grabbed a wrench longer than Ji Jue’s arm, and went to fight the thieves head on. However, she could not win against two men. In the pitch dark, she took a blow to the back of the head, passed out, and nearly got kidnapped.

By sheer luck, when the thieves tried to carry her off, they ran into a late-night food cart packing up. The old woman pushing the cart recognized Mrs. Lu. Otherwise, they might have never found her again. Who knew where she would have been sold off to.

Just thinking about the possible outcome made Ji Jue feel chilled to the bone, and his whole body went cold.

“Ah, it’s fine. Just a small issue.” Mrs. Lu patted her chest and raised her arm, which was thicker than Ji Jue’s thigh, then waved it around. “I’m a strong woman. See, I’m still as lively as ever.”

“I’m just glad that you’re okay.”

Ji Jue did not know what to say. He slumped down beside her, hesitating again and again, but somehow felt even more shaken and helpless than when he himself had barely escaped death.

Outsiders could never understand how hard it was for an orphan who had no one to survive alone in Cliff City for years. If it weren’t for Mrs. Lu taking him in and looking after him, Ji Jue would have died long ago.

Never mind teaching him auto repair without holding anything back. Tianmen University was the top school in Haizhou, one of the five schools of the Federation’s School League. Getting into that school had the power to change one’s fate, and getting in was so tough it could crush nearly every student. Without Mrs. Lu’s all-out support, would Ji Jue really be a promising Tianmen University student now?

In my wildest dreams. I’d probably be a thief at South Station or the docks waiting for my next victim.

Now that he saw Mrs. Lu was fine, he finally relaxed a little. However, as he leaned against her, before his eyes appeared another prompt that sent shivers down his spine.

[Abnormal spirit matter detected. Absorb?]

Ji Jue’s smile froze on his face. Reluctantly, he turned his head. Pale-faced with a forced smile, he glanced at Mrs. Lu and swallowed.

When his spirit matter activated the wrist device, he could faintly see it. Beneath the bandages on Mrs. Lu’s body were specks of mold-like crimson light.

“Mrs. Lu, looks like there’s some dust on the bandage.” Ji Jue raised his hand and gently placed it on the bandage. “I’ll pick it off for you.”

The matrix-like pattern from before reappeared from his palm, sweeping over the wound. All the crimson vanished completely, and then the matrix faded away.

Mrs. Lu cried out in pain, then quickly broke into a smile. “Ouch, kid, you’re always so clumsy... Hey, wait, I actually feel a lot better now. My chest doesn’t feel tight anymore, either. When Xiaogou applied the medicine earlier, it was so painful I thought he was trying to kill his own mother. I’m telling you, he still needs more practice. What do they even teach people in the army...”

“Mom.” Lu Ling nudged her, hinting at her to stop talking.

Lu Feng came back with the test results, and a faint smile appeared on his gloomy face.

“It’s nothing, Mom. There’s just a bit of infection in your wound. Two shots of anti inflammatories and a tetanus shot will do.” He handed over the report. “You’ve also got a mild concussion. The doctor says you need to rest. For the next few days, just stay home. Jue and I will look after the shop.”

Of course Mrs. Lu refused. She was still thinking about going back to clean up the auto shop. Lu Feng and Lu Ling could only keep persuading her, and Ji Jue also did his best to talk her out of it before she finally gave up the idea.

Including Lu Feng, none of the four siblings were Mrs. Lu’s biological children. Years ago, Mrs. Lu had fallen seriously ill. Excessive hormone treatment had wrecked her body, and she had never married. Lu Feng and the other three kids from the shop had all been picked up off the streets by Mrs. Lu. Over the years, she raised them through endless hardship, and their bond was even stronger than that of a biological family.

Sadly, aside from the second child who had just gotten into university, none of them were good at studying...

No wonder Mrs. Lu adored Ji Jue so much when he came to work part-time. Ever since he showed up, she had never had her blood pressure spike over the youngest one’s math and foreign language grades again. After all these years, she had long treated him as family, never once keeping any distance.

After Mrs. Lu agreed to rest for a few days, Ji Jue finally let out a breath of relief. Lu Ling took the forms to get the medicine. Lu Feng gave Ji Jue a look, and the two made an excuse to go smoke and stepped outside again. Standing under the eaves, they watched the rain pour down.

Ji Jue did not smoke or drink. Lu Feng, on the other hand, was a heavy smoker, a bad habit he had brought back from the army.

“Thanks for coming all this way,” Lu Feng said. “I had a hectic morning. I’ve been running around without a clue all day. My mind’s all over the place now.”

“What are you being polite for?” Ji Jue shot him a look but did not dwell on it. He just asked, “Any leads from the police?”

Lu Feng shook his head. “No. Don’t count on that bunch, heh... They told us to go home and wait. The license plate was fake, too. White cargo vans are everywhere in the North Mount District. There’s no way to find it.”

“Any cameras?”

“There are some in the shop, but they didn’t catch their faces. As for the outside cameras... They've been useless decorations for years. Most of them have long been broken.”

Silence fell. Ji Jue glanced at his wristwatch. After a long while, he said, “I’ll go back to the shop and take a look. Maybe I can find some clues.”

“While you’re at it, clean things up. Otherwise Mom definitely won’t be able to sit still. If something’s broken but can be fixed, fix it. If it can’t, don’t tell her. Just throw it out without a word, or she’ll feel bad about it.” Lu Feng patted Ji Jue’s shoulder, then pulled him into a firm half hug. “Sorry to put you through this. I’ll get you a new computer later.” freewebnovёl.ƈom

Ji Jue rolled his eyes, not buying it at all. “You just want a new computer to play games, don’t you?”

“Hahaha, you got me.” Lu Feng grinned. After flicking away his cigarette butt, he tossed the car keys to Lu Ling. “You drive Mom home later. You’ll have to take care of the house these next couple days.”

“Huh?” Lu Ling froze, eyes wide. “What about you?”

Lu Feng kept his head down and waved his hand. “I’m going out to talk to a few friends, see if there’s anything going on. I won’t be back tonight.”

“Feng!”

As he turned to leave, Mrs. Lu raised her voice, wanting to say something. However, when he turned back to look at her, her lips moved, but she did not know what to say. This time, though, she did not call him by his milk name.

Lu Feng smiled and waved. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’m just asking around.”

He turned and walked away, disappearing into the curtain of rain.

Half an hour later, Ji Jue lifted the rolling shutter of the auto repair shop. What greeted him was utter chaos. From the counter to the shelves, everything had been knocked over. It was nothing like what Mrs. Lu had described. A full-on fight for survival had happened here!

Ji Jue pulled the shutter down behind him and walked toward the counter.

The old man who tried to kill him, the eerie blood colored glow, the inexplicable attack... There were too many things he could not make sense of. There had to be some traces left behind.