Chapter Fifty-Three: Keiko

Chapter Fifty-Three: Keiko

Baize Shao, struggling to cope with the current situation, felt a growing sense of urgency within. He even found himself thinking absurdly, was it possible that no one needed to use the restroom at this hour?

In truth, Baize Shao wasn't the only one feeling anxious; the two attackers opposite him were equally uneasy. Their identities could not be revealed, and they had initially thought their target would be nothing more than some young master visiting the dance hall for amusement.

Yet, to their surprise, the youthful face before them proved to be exceptionally troublesome, even ruthless toward himself. In order to break free from the initial predicament and disrupt their rhythm of attack, he had nearly brushed shoulders with death.

In that critical moment, had Baize Shao been a fraction slower to react, even if he dodged the dagger aimed at his heart, the one aimed at his waist would have pierced straight into him, leaving only death as his fate.

Now, though injured, Baize Shao continued to fight back desperately. His tenacity and bloodthirsty resolve made him a formidable adversary, much to the annoyance of both attackers.

As time slipped by, the two men’s assaults grew increasingly urgent. During a lull in their attacks, they exchanged glances, each reading the other's thoughts: their prolonged failure to subdue him meant they must resort to firearms. Otherwise, the longer the delay, the greater the risk of unforeseen complications.

Their orders had been to avoid gunfire if possible, since the Rose Dance Hall was not a place where shooting could be taken lightly; the aftermath would be tangled and messy.

Their ultimate task was to capture the escapee alive, as that man had already been wounded and they had assumed there was no rush. Unexpectedly, the escapee was dead, and Baize Shao had become a vexing new problem.

Thus, Baize Shao, as the last person to contact the target, became their prey. Unfortunately for them, his stubbornness exceeded their expectations, and no one could predict when others might arrive. They decided to make it quick.

When Baize Shao saw the cold pistols in their hands, his heart skipped a beat. In such a confined space, with no cover, if they fired at him, he would be as exposed as a target on the range, guaranteed to be hit.

Without waiting for them to fire, he lunged forward, knocking the gun out of one man's hand and grappling with him at close quarters. The other attacker, caught off guard by Baize Shao's swift response, aimed his pistol at the rolling figures, but could find no chance to shoot.

Bang!

Suddenly, a gunshot echoed, reverberating through the restroom and down the corridor. Baize Shao and the burly man both froze mid-grapple.

They instinctively looked at each other, realizing neither had been hit. Then a dull thud sounded.

Turning their heads, they saw the gunman’s posture unchanged, but his body had collapsed, dead with his eyes wide open. With his fall, Sun Yanjie’s familiar face appeared behind him.

Baize Shao let out a breath of relief, while the man he’d been grappling seized the opportunity, rolling rapidly to the restroom window, smashing the glass, and leaping from the second floor.

Sun Yanjie hadn’t expected the black-clad brute to react so quickly and decisively, escaping by jumping from the window. Still, he rushed to the window and fired several shots into the night after the fleeing figure.

Reluctantly holstering his gun, Sun Yanjie turned to Baize Shao, who lay on the ground gasping for breath, his clothes soaked in blood, and asked with concern, “What happened? How did you get into such a fight?”

“Sun, I really owe you one. If you hadn’t arrived in time, I’d probably have died here today. But what brought you here?” Baize Shao steadied himself and inquired.

“Well, you’ve been gone a while since you went to the restroom and hadn’t come back. That girl, Ah Chen, is quite impressive—she won a pile of money for you in no time. So I thought I’d check in, and ended up stumbling into all this,” Sun Yanjie replied with a smile.

He glanced at the chaotic state of the restroom, puzzled. “Who are these people? What happened here? Looks like the fight was fierce, even shots were fired?”

“It’s a long story—I don’t really know what happened myself. See that corpse by the door? It all started with him. Oh, and though the black-clad man escaped, there’s still a survivor here. We should take him back and see if we can learn anything.”

Sun Yanjie looked at the man groaning intermittently on the floor, nodded, and then helped Baize Shao to his feet. “Let’s get you to the hospital and deal with your wounds; you’ve lost a lot of blood.”

“What do you think?” Baize Shao rolled his eyes helplessly.

Just as the two stepped out of the men’s restroom, a girl dressed as a student emerged from the ladies’ room opposite. Both sides paused in surprise.

When the girl’s gaze fell upon the pistol in Sun Yanjie’s hand, Baize Shao’s blood-soaked clothes, and his still bleeding right hand, fear washed over her face and she instinctively retreated several steps.

Clearly, she had connected the gunshots from earlier with the scene before her. Yet to Baize Shao’s surprise, the girl didn’t scream like most would. Though her body trembled, her eyes held a barely perceptible calm.

“Miss, it’s all right, don’t worry. I’m a police officer—there’s been an incident,” Sun Yanjie spoke up, flashing his badge.

“Oh... I understand,” the girl replied, her expression settling somewhat, though her words came out haltingly.

Tap tap tap tap!

Just then, hurried and chaotic footsteps sounded in the corridor. First to arrive was Wu Yangbing, followed by the dance hall’s own enforcers. The commotion had also drawn the owner, Qian Yong, to the restroom.

“What happened?” Wu Yangbing asked in a low voice.

“It’s fine,” Sun Yanjie replied softly, then turned to Qian Yong. “Mr. Qian, I’m truly sorry. There was an incident, so shots were fired.”

“Captain Sun, I hope you can give me a clear explanation. I’ll have someone clean up here,” Qian Yong said, frowning at the mess before turning to leave.

“Keiko! Keiko! Are you all right?” Suddenly, an anxious voice rang out from the corridor as two or three girls in school uniforms rushed in.