NOVEL NEXT Ch. 29
Chapter 29: Life Doesn’t Have That Many Accidents
Six in the morning.
Bai Lengci exhaled a puff of white breath, finishing her last set of push-ups.
Sweat slid down her delicate jawline.
Ever since her body had gotten better, she had started to enjoy exercising, doing it every day.
In the end, it became a habit: push-ups, sit-ups… finally a 10-kilometer jog.
“Life doesn’t have that many accidents”—this line sounded pretty dumb, yet also quite true.
She put on simple sportswear, tied up her short hair, and headed out.
Air surged into her lungs, carrying the mixed scent of earth and breakfast stall grease smoke on the city’s edge.
Suddenly, a scream rang out from the street.
At the mouth of the alley ahead, a man in a cheap jacket with bloodshot eyes was pulling a blood-stained fruit knife out of the chest of a young man who had collapsed on the ground!
Beside the man, a girl in pajamas was so frightened she was sitting on the ground, making broken sobbing noises.
A deep gash, visible to the bone, was etched across her arm.
Bai Lengci froze for a moment.
The knife-wielding man suddenly jerked his head, his bloodshot eyes locking onto Bai Lengci, who happened to be jogging past.
He didn’t even hesitate.
The knife tip turned and he charged straight at her.
“Danger! Girl, run—!”
The owner of a nearby convenience shop, an old man with graying hair, came rushing out waving a mop stick.
Run?
Bai Lengci actually wanted to run.
The instinct flashed instantly across her mind.
But her body told her otherwise.
Don’t run.
It roared, it craved, it calculated distance, angle, and speed.
That wasn’t fear, but something close to a hunter’s… excitement?
Just as the blade slashed toward her face—
Whoosh—!
Bai Lengci’s body slid half a step to the right.
The fruit knife skimmed past her sports jacket, leaving only a faint sensation.
Her eyes sharpened.
Her left foot pivoted, her waist twisted, and her right leg shot out.
“Bang!”
A muffled thud landed solidly on the attacker’s side.
“Ugh—ah!”
The thug cried out in pain, falling sideways.
Bai Lengci moved even faster.
As he was about to collapse, her left hand grabbed his collar and yanked him backward!
His face was fully exposed before her.
Her right fist clenched.
She slammed it down!
Bang—crack!
A sharp, bone-crunching sound made one’s teeth ache.
Bai Lengci froze in her punching stance, staring at the thug’s distorted face.
A hot, sticky liquid splattered onto the back of her hand.
It wasn’t sweat.
The man didn’t even groan.
His eyes rolled back as he toppled stiffly backward, collapsing limply on the ground.
Blood gushed from his broken nose and mouth, quickly spreading across the pavement.
…Dead?
Bai Lengci paused for a moment, not throwing another punch.
That cracking sound just now… was that bone?
She had only meant to subdue him, not kill him!
Self-defense was one thing, but if she really killed someone… the aftermath, especially the secret about her body… she didn’t dare imagine it.
“G-girl! Are you alright?!”
The shop owner approached cautiously, holding the stick, poking the unmoving attacker on the ground.
“Hurry! Call 120! And 110! That young couple—”
Only then did the old man remember the victims and rushed to check on them.
Neighbors, roused by the commotion, began poking their heads out.
Cries of shock rose one after another.
Bai Lengci stood there dazed for a while before walking over to the couple.
Someone was already checking their injuries.
Police cars and ambulances soon arrived.
The scene descended into chaos.
The thug, bound tightly with ropes by neighbors, was lifted onto a stretcher.
The gravely injured young couple was also taken away.
“Comminuted fracture of the nasal bone, slight concussion—won’t die. The man’s worse, lung’s been injured, they’re resuscitating. The girl’s alright.”
A doctor on the scene casually told a policeman nearby.
Bai Lengci listened quietly, her tense heart finally easing.
As long as he wasn’t dead.
She and the shop owner, who had bravely stepped in, were invited into the police car.
“Relax, girl, we’ve already checked the surveillance! That was textbook self-defense! Quick reflexes, solid moves! You trained before?”
The officer glanced at Bai Lengci through the rearview mirror.
This young woman was strikingly beautiful, yet her moves were scarily sharp.
“Mm… I learned a little self-defense before.”
Bai Lengci muttered vaguely, her gaze falling on the back of her right hand.
There, a faint streak of half-dried dark red blood remained.
The thug’s blood.
Just after subduing him, while no one was paying attention, she had pretended to wipe sweat and lightly licked it with the tip of her tongue.
Probably tastier than chicken blood, but nothing remarkable.
Her body hadn’t shown the same intense craving and pounding heartbeat as the last time she drank fresh blood.
Seemed the shelf life wasn’t over yet.
She silently calculated.
It had been five or six days since she last drank that special tomato juice.
At the station, she gave a full statement, signed it, and politely declined the officer’s suggestion to get a hospital check-up.
“Really, no need. I’m not hurt at all.”
By the time she was done, it was already noon.
The officer’s final remark: that thug had caught his girlfriend cheating—with the young man he stabbed.
Caught red-handed, blinded by rage, he had pulled a knife and gone berserk…
Heh.
Love and hate, nothing but a mess.
Bai Lengci curled her lips faintly.
It was ridiculous.
She had barely walked far when her phone buzzed in her pocket.
The name “Zhou Zheng” flashed on the screen.
“Hello?”
“Xiaobai! Oh my god! Are you okay?! I just heard something happened in our area this morning, said some jogging beauty took down a knife-wielding psycho with her bare hands! The way they described it—I just knew it had to be you! You scared me half to death! Are you hurt? Where are you?”
“I’m fine, Zheng-ge. Just came out after finishing the statement.”
“Good, good! Thank heavens! Geez, you really are… a hero! But be careful from now on! Stay far away from lunatics like that! Oh, right.”
Zhou Zheng’s voice suddenly dropped, tinged with excitement and secrecy.
“Right, after I left last night, what happened with you? Sister Lin Wei even called me this morning!”
“Oh?”
Bai Lengci arched a brow.
“Ahem! She didn’t say much, just asked if you’d be coming tonight… Her tone though, tsk tsk, sounded even more interested! Xiaobai, you’ve really hooked this tough-to-please lady’s attention now!”
Zhou Zheng’s voice was brimming with gossip and glee.
“So? Coming tonight? The guests are all asking about you!”
Bai Lengci stopped walking, lifting her head to the blue sky cut into blocks by high-rises.
“Coming.”
She spoke clearly into the phone, a single word.