Chapter 26: Tao Te Ching
"Xu Si, come out!"
The shouting continued.
Pei Zhen increased his grip, restraining the woman’s arms with a bizarre twist that made it impossible for her to break free. After several twists, the hilt of the knife clattered to the ground, rolling a few times and scraping against the concrete.
Reflected in his eyes was the old iron door at the stairwell entrance. When he looked down at He Li again, it was as if he were gazing upon a sin intrinsic to human nature—greed.
"Don’t cry."
Like a whisper in the night rain, his words dissolved into the wind. He Li was stunned, her voice, moments before calling for him to let go, now weakened.
Pei Zhen added in a very low voice, "Don’t cause her any more trouble."
It was obvious who "her" was.
The bright moon sharpened the visibility in the surrounding darkness. Time seemed to slow as He Li found herself unexpectedly looking up into the young man’s exquisitely defined, cold eyes. The instant his gaze fell condescendingly upon her, his grey pupils radiated a stark chill, as if tearing through a facade of suppressed gentleness to reveal the pale, grim bones beneath the surface.
He Li registered the blatant threat, and it was so chilling that she forgot to scream. A cold dread spread through her body. Animals possess an innate sense of danger, and humans have an intuition for avoiding risk. She felt afraid, unable to articulate why, but she was truly terrified of the young man’s eyes, of that particular look.
It was as if... if she didn’t stop, if she continued to trouble Xu Si, this young man might reveal another, darker side of himself, pass judgment on her sins, and slaughter her.