# 1160
Chapter 1161: I Ask, You Answer
"Injured?"
Baili Pangpang froze.
"Didn't you notice? When he walks, his left foot bears some weight—he must have twisted it. When he set down the umbrella, his arm was also a bit stiff. Though he's trying hard to hide it, anyone with eyes could see through it." Lin Qiye spoke slowly.
"Could it be that the rainy day made the road too slippery, and he fell?"
"...That's possible."
Lin Qiye was silent for a long while before finally standing up from under the eaves. He held a black umbrella and walked straight toward the gate. "I'll go out for a bit. I'll be back soon."
Lin Qiye passed through the open iron gate, turned a corner in the alley, and gently pressed his hand against the empty air. A red-eyed black shadow rose from the rain, placing one hand on its chest and bowing slightly:
"Black Pupil the caretaker, at your service."
"I want to see all footage from this road from the past half hour." Lin Qiye said calmly.
Black Pupil nodded. Its body immediately turned into a shadow and climbed onto Lin Qiye. In the center of its brow, a single red eye suddenly opened.
The red eye projected the images it saw directly onto Lin Qiye's retinas. Fragments of the past flickered before Lin Qiye's eyes like a rewinded video tape, rapidly scrolling by.
Old Liu's figure walked backward out of the iron gate, disappearing into the endless drizzle.
Lin Qiye, wearing casual clothes and holding a black umbrella, walked calmly forward along the rainy path, a red eye glowing faintly beneath the umbrella's edge.
Finally, at a corner two streets away, he saw several different figures.
There were four or five men in their early thirties, fierce-looking with tattoos or hideous scars on their shoulders. They smoked cigarettes and strode forward aggressively, heading toward the alley where Hanshan Orphanage was located.
As they walked, their lips moved, seemingly saying something.
Black Pupil's [Peeping Tom] could only see the past, not hear any sound. Lin Qiye could only roughly deduce from their lip movements that their destination was the orphanage.
At that moment, Old Liu walked briskly out from another street, carrying a full bag of groceries in the rain.
The thugs didn't see Old Liu, but Old Liu saw them.
His expression instantly changed. He glanced at the East Altar Lane nearby, then at the thugs' retreating figures heading straight for the orphanage, his face filling with anxiety.
Without hesitation, he first carefully set the heavy bag filled with vegetables and meat down on a stone pedestal by the roadside. Then he rushed out, shouting something as he ran toward the thugs.
The thugs heard the commotion, turned around, and saw Old Liu. They paused briefly, then sneered and charged over大步。
They grabbed Old Liu by the collar, saying something fierce. The old man stubbornly lifted his head high, then was punched into the muddy roadside weeds. Rain poured down on him, soaking him completely.
Then the thugs swarmed him, kicking and beating the curled-up Old Liu for a long while before spitting twice and cursing as they walked away.
Old Liu lay in the weeds for nearly a minute before slowly getting up.
He coughed weakly, his old hands trembling as he brushed off the mud. He limped to the stone pedestal, picked up the clean vegetables and meat, glanced complexly at the direction where they'd gone, sighed, and walked step by step toward the orphanage.
Watching that figure gradually disappear into the remnants of time, Lin Qiye's grip on the umbrella handle tightened involuntarily, his knuckles turning white.
Lin Qiye took a deep breath and shifted his gaze from where Old Liu had departed. He looked toward the road where the thugs had left, his eyes burning with cold killing intent!
"Black Pupil..." Lin Qiye said grimly, "...lead the way."
"Yes."
In the heavy rain, that figure holding a black umbrella vanished like a ghost into the empty street.
"Come on! Drink!"
"Tch, this damn weather really kills the mood."
"Tell me about it. Raining this hard, and we still gotta collect two debts tonight... Dammit, I'm bringing a knife tonight. Any little punk who doesn't pay, I'm gonna cut 'em!"
"Those tens of thousands are pocket change. The real money is getting rid of that old man and those bratty orphans with no mothers."
"True, the Li family's offering is generous. This job is worth ten of our usual ones."
"Nope, let's go stir up more trouble at that orphanage tomorrow. Even if we gotta use knives, we're gonna drive them out."
"Come on, let's drain these first!"
Under a tarp held up by plastic sheets, five men clustered around a low table, each raising a bottle of beer and drinking deeply.
The torrential rain hammered against the plastic sheets, rolling down the slope and hitting the ground with a soft patter. One man with a facial scar finished his entire bottle, set it on the table, and burped:
"Ah, that hits the spot! Not bragging, but when I was young..." He trailed off, suddenly noticing that the space around the table seemed a bit crowded. Slightly tipsy, he raised his head and looked around at everyone's faces.
One, two, three, four, five... six?
How did there suddenly become six people?
The scarred man rubbed his eyes, his gaze falling on the sixth person sitting beside him.
It was a young man in his early twenties, with a very unfamiliar face. A black umbrella rested by his feet, rainwater dripping from the ribs and pooling on the ground. Judging from the wet area, he'd been sitting there for quite a while.
The scarred man's pupils contracted sharply, his buzz vanishing more than halfway in an instant. He jumped to his feet, nearly toppling the table full of bottles!
"Who the f**k are you?!"
Once the scarred man stood, the others snapped back to attention as well, staring死死的 at this ghost-like young man.
Lin Qiye sat quietly on the wooden bench, a snow-white blade resting horizontally across his knees, his eyes as still as an autumn lake—unruffled.
"I ask, you answer." he said calmly.
"Dammit, let's get him!"
The scarred man didn't hesitate, grabbing the beer bottle from the table and swinging it toward Lin Qiye's head, his expression fierce and sinister.
CRACK—!!
Lin Qiye sat there without moving, but a flash of blade light rippled across the blade resting on his knees. It sliced clean through the scarred man's entire arm that was holding the bottle!
"ARRGGGHH!!!!"
Painful screams echoed beneath the tarp.
Fresh blood splattered across the ground like a waterfall. The other thugs widened their eyes in shock, completely frozen. They stared at Lin Qiye sitting on the bench as if looking at a plague god!
What had just happened completely exceeded their comprehension. One of the thugs tried to bolt, but in the next instant a blade flash crossed his path—the foot he'd lifted was severed. He stumbled and fell to the ground, his wail piercing and wretched.
Lin Qiye sat before the mess of the overturned low table, his gaze calmly sweeping across every face of the remaining thugs, repeating calmly:
"I ask, you answer."