Chapter 106: Lu Ju
As a ruthless professional killer with a perfect record since debuting at seventeen, Lu Jun knew he should kick the man off him.
However, he never took action.
That unresisting, indulgent cooperation seriously set Li Dong thinking. Was the protagonist shou of this world yet another total love-brain who, after sleeping with him once, fell head over heels?
Thinking about it this way, it wasn’t impossible.
The kisses Li Dong pressed to his face turned gentle, full of fondness.
His voice was so soft it made your scalp tingle, enough to get a person pregnant through the ear. “Xiao Jun, I’m really happy I met you. No matter what happens…”
Hey…
What was with that sadness in his tone?
The kidnapper thought, with Lu Jun around, that kind of thing was never going to happen.
“I’ve never disliked you, I was just a little scared,” the man on top continued.
“Haa…”
To hell with rationality. To hell with a killer’s professionalism.
Lu Jun drew a deep breath. “I already let you f**k me senseless, what the hell are you scared of…” He had zero intention of scaring off a prey who was finally being proactive, no, not prey. Pei Ruozhen.
From today on, he declared Li Tingyi could go to hell.
His mind was full of the man kissing him now. He could hardly remember the businessman he’d once been crazily obsessed with.
“Mm…” Li Dong answered softly.
His fierce style formed a stark contrast with the tenderness in his eyes.
Lu Jun: “…” A lamb awaiting slaughter, a fish dying of thirst. In the heat of it he realized, “F**k…” This time he was done for. He liked him. He really liked him very much and even wanted to develop feelings with him.
F**k f**k f**k, what was love supposed to be…
Lu Jun, someone surnamed Pei who stands in the sunlight won’t like you.
“Xiao Jun,” Li Dong murmured, voice thick with feeling, sweat scattering across the young man’s heaving chest.
“Shut up…” The snarl held a thread-thin plea. If this kept up, he’d die.
Before sleep last night, he’d replayed their dance again and again, the feel of leaning against him, the lingering taste of cocktails between their lips.
On an afternoon with decent sunshine, the lazy day between kidnapper and prey officially began.
Li Dong stayed on the sheltered deck, his body leaning against the railing. The sea breeze blew through his hair. It was a bit cold, so he pulled his clothes tighter.
“Smoke?” The killer stood behind him with no edge to him at all, face wearing the comfort of a man in love and a faint, fussy worry.
“No.” Li Dong shook his head. “Smoking’s bad for your health, secondhand smoke too.”
One line and the cigarette in Lu Jun’s mouth lost all flavor. “Tsk, fine.” He plucked the beloved stick out and flicked it into the sea with an easy motion.
Then he kept looking at the man beside him. “Hey, tell me about you.”
Like, what kind of person did this silly straight guy like?
“Me? Pretty simple,” Li Dong said. “Before I entered the business world, I kept studying and doing research. Outside of campus life, I had time to play instruments. What about you?”
“What instrument?” Lu Jun asked.
“Violin,” Li Dong said.
“What can you play?”
“Most of the famous repertoire. I prefer classical.” Li Dong listed a few pieces, then couldn’t help himself and launched into a stream of music talk.
Lu Jun: “…” He fell silent and played the obedient little listener.
Finally, Li Dong realized he was rambling and cut himself off in time. “Sorry. You probably don’t like such dry topics.”
“Tsk, it’s fine.” Lu Jun thought, with a voice like that, he could listen for ten thousand years.
“Can you tell me about you?” Li Dong’s gaze was warm and steady. “Xiao Jun.”
“My stuff isn’t worth talking about.” A string of dark childhood images flashed across Lu Jun’s mind. He frowned, suddenly feeling it unbearable.
“Mm. Then I won’t push.” Li Dong looked away and smiled, enjoying the gentle winter sun shining over the sea.
“How many kids are you going to have with your wife?” Lu Jun asked through gritted teeth.
“I don’t know.” Li Dong blinked, then smiled. “Marriage is a long way off. I haven’t thought about it.”
“Heh…” If the other person hadn’t met him, he’d already be dead. Where would he have the chance to consider marriage? “You sure dare to daydream,” Lu Jun snorted.
“Why not? Thinking about something doesn’t mean you have to do it. Fantasizing isn’t a crime,” Li Dong said.
“But acting on it can be.” Lu Jun’s voice went cold. He pulled out another cigarette, took a drag, and stepped away from Li Dong’s patch of sunlight.
What used to feel good now tasted bitter.
“Cough, cough…” Lu Jun cursed under his breath and tossed the just-lit cigarette.
“Xiao Jun.” Li Dong suddenly hugged him from behind and chanted meaninglessly, “Xiao Jun, Xiao Jun, Xiao Jun…”
Lu Jun laughed and seethed in the same breath, thinking, Why don’t you just kill me.
The word scram reached his lips and he swallowed it down sweetly.
On the fifth day at sea, the ship docked at a certain port to let off some passengers.
“Pack up. We’re getting off,” Lu Jun said as he came in from outside, face set and grave.
“Mm?” Li Dong was sitting on the bed getting dressed. “We haven’t arrived, have we?” He was surprised. This wasn’t their destination.
“Don’t ask so much.” Lu Jun checked his gun and leaned to the side to wait. “So slow. Want me to help?” He grinned wickedly and came over to “help” him get dressed.
“You’re really…” Li Dong couldn’t do anything with him, so he cooperated.
Truth was, he kind of enjoyed the little hellhound’s service.
After so many days together, he had a faint sense that Lu Jun no longer wanted to hurt him, but also didn’t want to expose the patron behind him, Li Tingyi. There were too many strings attached; it would put him in a bind.
Looked like he planned to let the mission fail.
“Thank you,” Li Dong said, tipping his head up. “Not going to kiss me?” For the past five days they’d been overly affectionate. Lu Jun behaved like a total kissing fiend.
“…” Lu Jun smiled without his eyes, pinched his chin, and kissed him hard, a flaming good-morning kiss.
Given Li Dong’s insight, his gaze dimmed and he sighed. He had already guessed Lu Jun’s plan.
“Alright, let’s go.” Lu Jun ended the kiss and stood up cleanly.
They had no luggage. They left just as cleanly.
Lu Jun walked in front, Li Dong followed. Two strikingly handsome young men slipped into the bustling crowd, drawing glances as they passed.
“Xiao Jun?” Without warning, the man in front sped up. Li Dong had trouble keeping pace. “Wait for me.” He wasn’t cuffed. Ever since they’d disembarked, Lu Jun hadn’t restrained him at all.
That settled it. Lu Jun wanted to release him here.
“Stupid bird…” Hearing the call from behind, Lu Jun rolled his eyes and muttered, then folded his arms and picked up speed, grumpy to the core.
“Xiao Jun—” Li Dong raised his voice and kept chasing.
“…” Lu Jun was on edge. The man had to be brainless. With a perfect chance like this, why wasn’t he running?
“Wait for me—”
The faster Li Dong ran, the faster Lu Jun moved.
Idiot. Stop following me.
Go save your own life already, will you?
“Ugh…” Not watching where he was going, Li Dong bumped into someone and the two of them fell.
The shouting cut off. Lu Jun reflexively glanced back. He couldn’t see the man at all in the crowd.
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m really sorry…” Li Dong helped the young man up, apologizing with genuine guilt.
Lu Jun stood nearby, peering through gaps in the crowd, secretly watching the man he loved.
He saw him scanning everywhere, frantically searching for him, looking and looking and finding nothing.
“Xiao Jun?” Li Dong shoved through the crowd, moving forward in confusion.
He would never find Lu Jun like that, because Lu Jun was following at a distance behind him.
Every move he made fell into the protagonist shou’s eyes. “F**k…”
His heart twisted, exactly as expected. Worse than a bullet through the calf. Worse than a chunk gouged out of the arm.
When Li Dong had searched the whole area and still couldn’t find Lu Jun…
Of course he knew he wasn’t going to find him. But the show had to be done properly, so he kept looking.
Half an hour later, he was drenched in sweat from the brisk pace. It looked like he’d finally accepted the facts.
He sank onto a bench in the square like a man who’d lost his soul and suddenly remembered Lu Jun’s warning on the ship: “Hey, be careful from now on. Your little life is precious.”
What did that mean?
Li Dong patted his pocket. In his wallet were his documents and cash.
Only the photo of Pei Ruozhen’s mother was missing.
The sky was getting dark. Li Dong still sat on the bench.
“Idiot,” the young killer muttered from afar. In weather this cold, what was he doing on an outdoor bench?
Why wasn’t he finding a hotel?
Lu Jun regretted it fiercely. He should’ve booked a hotel, bought a ticket home, and handed them over to this fool.
Early the next morning, accepting that he couldn’t find Lu Jun, Li Dong bought his own ticket and flew home.
In a shadowy corner of the waiting area, Lu Jun watched him queue and clear security before finally exhaling, ticket to the next flight in his own hand.
Two days later, XX Port.
In a business hotel nearby, Li Tingyi stood by the window on the 21st floor, sunglasses on, peeking through the curtains at the ship docked at the port.
“Lu Jun, you there?”
“What’s the address?”
“XX Hotel, 21st floor, 2080.”
“Got it,” Lu Jun said with a laugh over the phone. “Mr. Li, wash up and wait for me. I’ll come right up.”
“Careful not to wreck your reputation,” Li Tingyi said.
15 minutes later, staring at the gun pressed to his forehead, Li Tingyi’s eyes went wide. “Lu Jun!”
“Bang!” Knowing villains die from monologuing, Lu Jun didn’t say a single word.
He pulled the trigger and dropped Li Tingyi with a shot, then tossed the gun aside, face cold.
At the same time, Li Dong returned to his long-lost home. He immediately started tying off loose ends in Eastern Europe and trying to find contact info for the killer Lu Jun.
“Lu Jun?” The industry contact thought for a moment. “Sir, I’ve never heard that name.”
Aside from the protagonist shou’s illogical obsession with the scummy gong, he was without a doubt a cautious killer who never exposed personal information.
As for how Li Tingyi knew Lu Jun’s name… well, ask the author why everyone is a love-brain.
So Li Dong described Lu Jun instead. This time it went unexpectedly smoothly.
“Oh, you mean him?” the person said. “He’s picky about the jobs he takes and drops off the radar most of the time. If you absolutely have to find him… I can ask around.”
“Thank you.”
Not long after he hung up, the news that Li Tingyi, CEO of XX Group, had been shot dead swept the whole country.
“…” If that wasn’t Lu Jun’s work, Li Dong would write his own name backward.
In a dim rental flat, a handsome young man yanked the door open, face full of impatience. “What?” The look in his eyes scared the delivery guy into stammering.
“H-hello… your order…” Near tears. Wasn’t this the guy who placed it?
Lu Jun took the food and slammed the door.
His phone buzzed on the table, over and over. He tore into the food, starving.
“Hello?”
“There’s a job…”
“Not taking it. I’m retiring.”
The middleman stared at the dead line, shocked. Retiring? But he was still so young.
“Hello?”
“Sorry, sir. The person you’re looking for has retired.”
“…Can you give me his contact?”
“That’s impossible.” Every line of work has its rules. A middleman never leaks a killer’s or client’s information.
There was no middleman between Lu Jun and Li Tingyi, which was why Li Tingyi met his end.
“I see. Thank you,” Li Dong said, hanging up with a sigh he couldn’t hold back.
None of this had gone the way he expected.
He’d guessed everything except this. Lu Jun killed Li Tingyi cleanly, then retired.
Why?
Author’s Note:
【Lu Xiao-jun: I must have water in my brain to do this. F**k.】
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