Transcending Boundaries: Journey to the Infinite

Untitled Part 12

Fish Head Xu

"Cut him down!"

Amidst the distant shouting, Yang Chu suddenly saw a dark figure sprinting into the alley from the outside.

The figure ran in a rather frantic manner but was surprisingly agile. Instead of slowing down to avoid a pedicab parked at the alley's entrance, he leapt gracefully over it by pushing off the seat with his hands.

As he continued his mad dash into the alley, the figure suddenly paused near Yang Chu, quickly darting to a corner of the wall.

There, on the ground in the corner, were some cardboard sheets, seemingly left temporarily by a scavenger.

The figure grabbed a piece of cardboard, skillfully folded a few of them back into a box shape, and placed them outside the corner. Then he found a larger piece of cardboard and unfolded it into a box about half his height.

Finally, he walked back to the corner and, after unfolding the cardboard box, slipped it over himself, hiding inside.

Noticing Yang Chu standing nearby, who had witnessed the whole thing, the man first put his hands together in a pleading gesture, then put a finger to his lips, signaling for silence.

"Hmm? Haha—"

Yang Chu wasn't particularly concerned about the man who looked like he was being chased and trying to hide. But when the man turned his head toward him, Yang Chu couldn't help but chuckle.

The man appeared to be in his thirties or forties, with thinning hair styled in a middle part. But what really amused Yang Chu was that the man was cross-eyed. When he put his finger to his lips to shush Yang Chu, the expression was indescribably comical.

"Where did that scoundrel run off to?"

The sound of hurried footsteps echoed from outside the alley, and seven or eight thugs wielding iron rods and knives came rushing in.

Before the footsteps could be heard, the cross-eyed man had already concealed himself with the cardboard box beside a garbage bin in the corner.

"Hey, did anyone just run past here?"

One of the thugs, who had a ponytail and wore a gold chain, looked to be around seventeen or eighteen. Holding a machete, he pointed it at Yang Chu and demanded.

The rest of the group, also seemingly young, stared at Yang Chu with defiant expressions.

Yang Chu calmly shook his head.

"That b*st*rd sure ran fast. Daring to hit on my boss's girl... Hmph, next time I see him, I'll chop him to pieces."

The ponytailed thug cursed in frustration, then waved to his crew, "Let's go find something to eat. I'm starving."

Once the group of young thugs had left the alley, the cross-eyed man carefully poked his head out from under the cardboard box. After confirming they were gone, he let out a long sigh of relief.

He crawled out of the box and carefully stacked the cardboard back to its original position.

Yang Chu watched the man's actions with mild curiosity but didn't say much. He turned to leave.

"Hey... brother, wait..."

Seeing that Yang Chu was about to leave, the cross-eyed man hurriedly finished stacking the cardboard and jogged over to him. "Thanks for your help just now. Have you had a late-night snack? My treat."

He spoke slowly, almost slurring his words, and combined with his cross-eyed look, he came across as a bit dim-witted. But his tone was quite sincere.

"Treat me to a late-night snack?"