Chapter 25
The top floor of Paradise City is where the Black Widow lives, and the next floor is where the Paradise City Guards live. The Guards’ daily work, in addition to maintaining the stability and order of Paradise City and handling disputes between guests, is mainly to “manage” Bede and others through whipping, imprisonment, water dungeons, etc.
As Bi De and A Quan walked up, they saw many familiar faces.
Ah, the guy lying headfirst on the stairs had broken three of his ribs with a kick, and if the big shot hadn't been very fond of him at the time, he might have been treated as consumable along with the other seriously injured children.
The bearded man sitting on the wall was not liked by the others. He liked to make fun of the children the most. He would often press the hot cigarette butt on a child and laugh triumphantly at the sight of him or her getting scared and in pain from the burns.
The man lying by the door… judging by his figure, he should be the executioner nicknamed the Scavenger. Bede had seen him lift up a girl with festering lower body upside down, slam her to the ground seven or eight times, then throw the girl with blood all over her head into a bag and drag her away at random.
As he walked up, he counted. Every person here had left a deep impression on him. At the beginning, it was these people who made him realize a cold and desperate thing -
This is hell.
But now, they all lay here helplessly, lifeless. And he was still alive.
——He has to live on.
Bede's steps suddenly became brisk, and he even showed a slight smile on his face, but there was a thin layer of tears in his eyes. Countless faces full of fear, countless scenes of desperate struggles, all flashed through his mind one by one, and the hatred gradually faded, and he only looked forward.
There was suddenly light in his eyes.
Finally, he reached the bottom and stood in front of the door that might determine his fate.
Bede took a deep breath, turned his head to look at Aquan, and even smiled. His smile made Aquan stunned, and before he could say anything, Bede raised his hand and knocked on the door.
The maroon door was not closed tightly and slid open with a creaky sound at the slightest force.
Ah Quan's heart suddenly rose, but he saw that Bide seemed to be unperturbed and walked in. He was worried that Bide was driven crazy by the huge pressure and forgot to be afraid, so he hurriedly followed him into the door.
After entering the room, he quickly scanned the room, seeming to ignore the luxurious decorations in the room, and his gaze immediately fell on the ground in front of him.
Her long raven black hair spread on the ground like a piece of brocade, her crimson skirt spread like the wings of a butterfly, the candlelight shone brightly on her jade-like arms, her red lips were slightly parted, her long eyelashes drooped , she was like the Sleeping Beauty in a fairy tale waiting for a kiss from the prince.
This breathtakingly beautiful woman, who looks slender and fragile, is the Black Widow in Paradise who makes them hate her to the core and fear her like a tiger.
The moment he saw her, Ah Quan shuddered reflexively, and then realized that she could no longer make them suffer by just opening her lips. He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to look at the person sitting at the table.
He first saw a hand - the fingers were long and well-proportioned, with almost no protruding joints, and there were two rings on the hand. One was a crudely made stone ring, and the stone was not even polished. Even A Quan felt that the ring had no aesthetic appeal at all, and he didn't know why someone would wear it on their hand. The other was also an ordinary silver ring, with no decoration except for a circle, it was extremely simple.
His eyes turned slightly and he saw the necklace worn on the man's neck - a thin silver chain, and the pendant was a green jade in the shape of a leaf, which was carved very delicately, and one could even see the fine veins that looked like those on a real leaf.
Ah Quan's eyes kept wandering around the man's hands and chest because he didn't dare look at his face. But he noticed that Bede beside him took a step forward and looked directly at him, and he immediately felt sincere admiration.
—Isn't Peeta afraid? he thought.
Before entering the door, Bi De was actually still nervous, but after seeing that person, he was suddenly not afraid anymore.
Because that person "saw" him.
This is a very strange feeling. Bede meets many people every day. As long as they are not blind, they can see him. But that kind of "seeing" is different from this kind of "seeing". When he is seen by those people, he will be terrified, timid, humiliated, and feel that... in their eyes, he is just a toy or some garbage that can be treated at will. They see him, but they don't see him.
Ah Quan, Lili, and many of his companions would also look at him, with trust, respect, admiration, and dependence in their eyes. They drew strength and confidence from him, but Bede felt overwhelmed. He wanted to say many times - "I don't deserve your trust", "I don't know what to do", "Don't look at me like that". But he couldn't, he could only grit his teeth and hold on. He made decisions in panic and issued orders nervously. Everyone only saw his calmness and no one knew how scared he was.
But the way this person looked at him was neither condescending nor looking up as if he was omnipotent. Instead, he looked at him calmly but very focused, making people feel his equality and respect, and making people feel that... even if he did not agree with your opinion, he would definitely listen carefully to every word you said, would not think that you were insignificant, and would not add extra pressure on you.
This feeling was very vague, but also clear. Bede clearly felt that the person in front of him was different from the others, and felt that for the first time, he was truly "seen" by someone. This feeling made him relax all over, and his slightly hunched back straightened unconsciously.
Rong Yuan had never thought that just a simple glance could make this handsome young man in front of him like him. Perhaps it was because he had been trampled on for a long time, so he would be grateful for a little kindness and respect.
"Hello, sir." Bede bowed deeply and said respectfully. Because he had received special training in this area, his etiquette was as smooth as flowing water and very beautiful. He said gratefully: "I am the representative of the children here, Bede, it is an honor to meet you. And... Thank you, sir, thank you for getting rid of the demons in Paradise City and giving us freedom and survival. We will never forget your kindness."
Rong Yuan said: "Yeah."
In his opinion, it was natural for Bede and others to express their gratitude, and saying "you're welcome" was hypocritical - if they were really indifferent and didn't even say a word of thanks, although he wouldn't say anything, he would definitely feel dissatisfied in his heart.
Bede was stunned for a moment, blinked his eyes, and said, "Dear Sir, I... I have another request..."
"Oh?" Rong Yuan guessed what he was going to say and was amused by his straightforwardness, so he said, "Go ahead."
Bede swallowed his saliva and said, "That's right. Most of the forces in Paradise City have been killed by you, but that's not all... Or rather, those in Paradise City are just some lower-level personnel. Behind them is actually the largest force in Central City - the Bajun Family. I don't know if you have heard of the Bajun Family..." Bede himself didn't actually know the real Bajun Family. He was captured in Paradise City when he was very young. But from the sporadic conversations of some guests, he had already firmly remembered the name of the mastermind who made their lives so miserable, and outlined an extremely huge and terrifying image in his mind.
"Yeah, I've heard some." Rong Yuan said.
"Then...then..." Bede said as he quickly organized his words in his mind, "Although you have saved us now, as long as the Tyrant Family finds out about the situation here, we will definitely be killed by them. So, I ask you...I..." As he said this, Bede felt that his request was a bit too much. The other party was able to eliminate the people of Paradise City and save them by the way, which did not mean that he could ask the other party to fight a behemoth for them. Therefore, he suppressed the words that were about to blurt out and changed his mouth to say: "We have some very young children among us. I ask you to take them to a safe place and not leave them here."
Seeing Rong Yuan's expression slightly changed, he hurriedly added: "They are all good children. Although they are young, they already have the ability to survive independently. So just leave Paradise City. I dare not cause you more trouble."
Rong Yuan was silent for a moment, then asked, "How many people?"
Seeing that his tone had softened, Bede said happily, "There are twelve children in total... Well, seven is also fine... five, five?" Facing Rong Yuan's gaze, his voice became lower and lower, and finally he begged, "How about three? There are three children who have just learned to walk, and they don't know anything..."
Rong Yuan looked at him deeply, and then asked: "What about you? Don't you want to live?"
Bede lowered his head and stammered, "If...if it is possible...of course we also want to live." He said pitifully, and then felt ashamed of himself for having such extravagant hopes. His head almost dropped to the ground, and his face turned red and white.
He heard footsteps and Rong Yuan walked up to him.
Then a hand fell on his head.
Bi De was rather thin, and Rong Yuan was a head taller than him. This action was as if an elder brother was comforting his frightened younger brother. Ah Quan, who was standing beside him, couldn't help but look envious.
Rong Yuan said very gently: "Don't worry, you will all survive, I promise." Then he put down his hand and said: "The Bajun army is coming soon, go gather all your people and take them to a safe place."
Bede raised his head, looked at Rong Yuan with sparkling eyes, moved his lips, and a thousand words were stuck in his throat, but in the end he only said one word: "Yes!"
