Night had fallen.
Tonight in City B, a storm raged, marking this night as anything but ordinary.
Down an alleyway behind the Blues Bar on Hua Street, voices echoed.
"Halt, don’t run!" A man's venomous voice sounded through the pouring rain, accompanied by the rhythm of pursuit.
Yijia Xue, dressed in a short white skirt, cared not for the rain that soaked her clothes. She ran awkwardly, struggling against the pursuit of several burly men.
"Damn it! I am a master thief," she fumed internally, "I've been stealing for nineteen years. When did the tables turn? And what they're after now is my heart. Xinlin, you've certainly put in a lot of work to steal my heart. But you’re out of luck! Even if I have to tear out my heart and feed it to dogs, I won't let it fall into your hands. Humph!"
"Boss, that woman's over there," a lackey pointed hurriedly in Yijia Xue's direction.
Spotting a silhouette dressed in white, the leader coldly commanded, "Follow her. We need proof she's breathing or dead – she has swallowed a number of hallucinogens, she won’t get far."
"Understood," the other six subordinates echoed in unison.
Yijia Xue’s nails had dug into her flesh. The intoxicating effects of the drugs she'd ingested were rapidly intensifying. The only way to keep her wits about her was to focus on her pain. But as the footsteps grew louder, she didn’t even have time to think.
Suddenly, a side door was pushed open. A man, dressed like a bar worker and holding a bag full of garbage, stepped out into the alley.
Seizing her chance as he walked away to dump the garbage, Yijia Xue darted inside. It was the kitchen, dimly lit. The hallucinations caused by the drugs made her see multiple overlapping shadows. She shook her head, forcefully trying to stay conscious.
The man, on returning from the trash bins to find Yijia Xue standing there, shouted, "Who are you? What are you doing here?"
Leaning against the wall, Yijia Xue barely moved her head forward before knocking it back against the hard surface. The jab of searing pain in the back of her head brought her, at least momentarily, back to consciousness. Unfocused, she looked in the man’s direction, paused, then asked, "A woman, dressed like this, in a bar – what role do you think she plays? You're new here, aren't you? Don't even recognize me? Do you not want to last here?"
Yijia Xue was merely guessing, but to her surprise, she was right. As she knew all too well, in the nightclub scene, maintaining an air of authority was imperative.
The male waiter was new and didn't know many people. Hearing the domineering tone of Yi Jiaxue, he assumed she was a sort of head lady and remained silent.
Feeling the drug effects kicking in once again, Yi Jiaxue decides not to linger, knowing that her methods wouldn't work on everyone. She beckoned the waiter over, "Come here, I've had a little too much to drink, help me out."
The male waiter obediently came over and helped her walk to the exit without uttering a single word.
Just as they were nearing the dance floor, Yi Jiaxue found an excuse to push the waiter away and walked out herself. After a few steps, she noticed several muscular men looking around at the entrance. Drawing a sharp breath, she quickly turned around and ran back in, hopping on the elevator. She recognized the men—they were the same ones who had kept an eye on her during her captivity; she would recognize them even if they were ashes.
Meanwhile, the muscular men also spotted Yi Jiaxue and began following her.
Knowing the men would approach soon, Yi Jiaxue repeatedly hit the elevator button nearly breaking it, closing the door at the last moment. She randomly pressed a higher number, buying herself more time to catch her breath.
Ding~ The elevator doors opened. Yi Jiaxue stumbled out, looking drunk to anyone who saw her. Only she knew that everything in her view was spinning so much that even a single waiter looked like several.
"Which floor did the girl get off?" a male voice echoed from the stairwell.
Angry, Yi Jiaxue mused about how dedicated these individuals were, even using the stairs to pursue her. Frustrated and worried, she fled into a nearby private room.
But... what was going on here? She had not managed to shake off the dogs behind her, and now it seemed she had infuriated a group of wolves—of the lustful kind. Pinching her wrist to maintain her clarity, she took stock of the adults-only scene in front of her—a room filled with scantily-dressed men and women.
"Sheesh..." she said, feigning calmness. "I’m sorry, folks, I didn’t mean to intrude. I’ll leave right away." She took a few steps back, intending to leave, when her wrist was held firmly.
The force belonged to a rugged man with a scar on his left cheek, clearly a rough character who was used to a tough life. Yi Jiaxue struggled to free her wrist, but failed.
Quickly changing plan, she filled her eyes with tears, adopting a pitiful expression. “I’m sorry sir, it was an honest mistake... I just came here to catch my husband cheating, so I didn't notice which room number I barged into. Please let me go... I have a child, with a cheating husband... I beg you to spare me considering my pitiful situation”
The man stared at her without expression, but with a telling flick of his wrist, a minion came forward and slipped a small white object into a wine glass.
The man gestured to the women in the room, "You all, leave us.”
Startled by the sudden change, the women hastily put their clothes back on and left.
The scar-faced man roughly pulled Yi Jiaxue to the table, grabbed the glass from the minion and let out a devilish laugh, "You disrupted our party by barging in here. Drink this glass of alcohol and we'll let you leave."
Her vision was blurry and she couldn’t see clearly, but she heard the man's words. Just one glass of wine? Without any second thought, she grabbed the glass. Noticing the cold sensation in her hand and the smell of alcohol, a sense of tranquility washed over her.
The scar-faced man held her hair and forced the wine down her throat, choking her. The drug-fueled exhaustion left her with little energy to resist.
