Book 5: Chapter 232: Men
The door to the room creaked open. Chen Xing stepped inside, squinting as his eyes adjusted to the dim light.
The teenager was still lying there, motionless, as if all the life had drained from him. If it weren’t for the faint rise and fall of his chest, Chen Xing might have believed he was already dead.
“How horrible… to strike a young boy so brutally…”
Chen Xing kneeled beside Tadashi, propping him up. He winced at the sight of the teenager’s face that was swollen as a pig’s head. The boy couldn’t even open his eyes.
With a shaky voice, he whispered, “Hey, boy… Can you hear me?”
“Who… are you?” Tadashi’s lips quivered as he struggled to force his weak voice out of his throat.
“You can still talk… That’s good… That’s good…” Chen Xing pulled out a thermos, filled a cup with warm water, and brought it to Tadashi’s lips. “Here… drink some water. Be careful, don’t choke.”
Glug, glug…
Tadashi’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he drank, desperately absorbing the liquid into his body.