Little Seven’s face scrunched with doubt. “Will that actually work…?”

“It’ll work!” The tattooed man said firmly. “The padlock on the iron gate has already been picked. We just need to unwind those chains to get out. You said it yourself — fully unwinding them takes at least ten-something seconds. Any delay and she’ll catch up. But what if she takes a fall? That buys us the time, doesn’t it?”

Little Seven was swayed, but still hesitated, trembling and reluctant to go.

In his heart he thought calling the police was still the most sensible option. But one look at his boss’s hard, sharp stare, and he didn’t know how to say it…

The tattooed man shot him a look of total exasperation and gave Little Seven a shove out from behind the hedge!

“Get moving!”

Little Seven went straight into the swing-set post with a thud!

Not a terribly loud noise, but in the silent, open courtyard it sounded enormous. Little Seven panicked, convinced he was now fully exposed to Bai Youwei’s view, and scrambled frantically toward the teaching building!

The tattooed man stayed crouched behind the hedge and waited. Sure enough, moments later, he spotted Bai Youwei coming this way.

The sound of Little Seven running through the teaching building was clearly audible. Bai Youwei followed the sound and headed up. Once her figure disappeared up the staircase, the tattooed man seized the moment and sprinted for the residential building at full speed—

Just as he’d anticipated, the residential building staircase hadn’t been fully cleaned. Glass marbles were scattered in the corners, catching the dim light of night with a smooth, lustrous shine — like beacons of hope.

He was delighted. He hurried to pick up every last one, stuffed them quickly into his pocket, then ran to the iron gate at top speed and began unwinding the chains coiled around it.

As the chains shifted and pulled, they clanged against the surrounding iron bars — a continuous metallic percussion.

One loop… two loops…

…Three loops…

With each loop unwound, the danger seemed to inch closer. Without noticing, he was already drenched in sweat.

“Boss! Boss!…”

Little Seven came stumbling toward the gate, with Bai Youwei behind him — silent and swift as a ghost.

“Get over here!” The tattooed man yanked the chains even faster, shouting at the same time!

With only two loops left, he dropped it entirely and charged toward Little Seven. He thrust a fistful of glass marbles and hurled them hard at Bai Youwei!

The marbles scattered instantly through the air. Bai Youwei’s pace immediately slowed.

“Open the gate!” The tattooed man shouted to Little Seven, then grabbed another fistful of marbles and threw them at Bai Youwei!

Bai Youwei moved to push forward and was cut off — a step landed on the glass marbles strewn across the ground, and she immediately lost her balance, falling as the tattooed man laughed in triumph!

Thud!

She went down hard, and the electric baton was flung from her hand, landing two meters away.

“Boss! The gate’s open!” Little Seven shouted to the tattooed man. “Let’s go!”

The tattooed man raised his foot to run, then saw the electric baton, and hesitation stirred in his chest…

He looked at Bai Youwei.

She seemed to have taken a hard fall. She was slowly getting up, mask knocked askew and blocking her vision as she tried to adjust it.

This was his chance.

Maybe the only chance he’d get all night. If he let it pass, he’d really have no choice but to bring a full crew back for revenge.

Just to teach one girl a lesson?

Better to do it now…

Yes — right now!

NOW!!!

The tattooed man closed the distance in a few quick strides, snatched up the electric baton first, and brought it down hard at Bai Youwei with murderous ferocity—

“Die!!!”

Thud!

…

The baton hit the ground.

A moment later, the tattooed man crumpled and fell…

Not far away, Little Seven was trembling as he watched Bai Youwei rise to her feet, his teeth chattering. “You… how do you have… two electric batons…”

Bai Youwei curved her lips into a brilliant smile. “A good thing like this — the more, the better.”

She walked toward Little Seven, still smiling, and asked pleasantly, “So — are you going to run or not?”

Little Seven let out a scream from deep in his throat, covered his head, and bolted out the welfare home gates!

Bai Youwei’s lips quirked upward. She walked to the entrance, bent down, and picked the chain off the ground, winding it back around the gate loop by loop.

She looked up at the starry sky and sighed softly. “So quiet…”

…

—