Chapter 19: Rainy Alley

Chapter 19: Rainy Alley

Before reaching home, the rain began to fall.

As a few drops hit his face, Lu Yuan knew he was in for a long journey.

In just a few seconds, the rain intensified.

"Roar!"

Large raindrops fell from the sky, resembling someone pouring buckets of water in the middle of the night.

Lu Yuan quickly ran under the awning of the street shops, shaking off the water from his hair. Following this narrow shelter, he headed towards home.

After the heavy rain, the streets became even emptier.

Occasionally, a few workaholics, carrying laptops, could be seen running across the road.

Electric scooters and cars with orange headlights zoomed by Lu Yuan from time to time through the rain curtain.

Suddenly, a small van stopped at the entrance of an alley in front of Lu Yuan.

As Lu Yuan walked by casually, the van's door opened, and four or five men in black short sleeves emerged, two of them carrying something wrapped in black paper.

Lu Yuan couldn't tell what it was.

After getting off the van, two more people hurriedly approached from the alley.

As the two groups met, they immediately entered the alley, leaving behind a young man with dyed blond hair in his twenties standing at the entrance, smoking a cigarette in the pouring rain.

"It's pouring."

Lu Yuan didn't understand why the young man chose to stand in the heavy rain and smoke.

"Can this even light up?"

Lu Yuan silently muttered to himself as he passed by the young man. The latter seemed to glare at him and mumbled a few curses.

Throwing the cigarette on the ground, the young man turned and went into the alley.

The rain was too heavy.

Lu Yuan didn't understand why the young man chose to smoke in the pouring rain.

"Can't be too careful."

Lu Yuan went ahead for several meters, preparing to cross the road.

Looking at the flashing red lights on the opposite side of the road, he unintentionally glanced back at the alley he had just passed.

"Three."

"Two."

"One."

The red light turned green.

Lu Yuan stepped onto the crosswalk.

Even with his hand covering his head, raindrops continued to fall rapidly, rolling down from his hair.

Squinting his eyes, he carefully avoided puddles on the road.

Midway through, Lu Yuan stopped.

He stared at the green pedestrian signal, and a sudden instinct made him turn around and run back.

"Hopefully, it's just my imagination."

Lu Yuan ran to the entrance of the alley where the van was parked and glanced inside.

The heavy rain blurred his vision, and the alley was pitch black.

No lights were visible.

This area was an old part of the city, where many houses still retained their original rural appearance, and hardly anyone lived there.

Lu Yuan took a few steps into the alley.

Suddenly, he crouched down, reaching into the waterlogged ground and picked up a pink hairpin.

The color of the hairpin looked new, the kind high school girls would wear.

Lu Yuan felt a sense of familiarity looking at it.

Images flashed rapidly in his mind like a movie.

"Recently, our city has witnessed several cases of missing persons. The police have established a special investigation team."

"Lu Hui, female, 28 years old, wearing a white shirt. If anyone has information, please call the following number; there will be a reward!"

"Lu Yuan, want to go back to class together? I need your help with yesterday's math answers."

"Look at this kid, so annoying! Get lost!"

"Click!"

Lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating everything.

Lu Yuan connected the clues in his mind.

"Kidnapping related to the missing persons case?!"

He instinctively reached for his phone, but a faint whistling sound, mixed with the heavy rain, approached rapidly.

"Bang!"

A rusty steel pipe struck the cement ground fiercely.

Lu Yuan crouched down, and due to the rolling, his clothes and pants were covered in mud. He looked somewhat disheveled.

"Hey, he actually dodged that?"

The blond young man, holding the steel pipe, looked at Lu Yuan with surprise. The silver earring on his left ear sparkled in the lightning's glow.

Lu Yuan quickly stood up, legs slightly tense. Subconsciously, he moved toward the blond guy.

But in the next moment, he abruptly stopped, turned around, and ran back towards the alley.

His adult soul told him that, in such a situation, the first priority was to get out of danger and then call the police.

But before Lu Yuan could leave the alley, the van parked at the alley's entrance suddenly lit up with two orange lights. It made a sharp turn and rushed into the alley.

"Boom!"

The van stopped, completely blocking the narrow alley.

Direct car lights forced Lu Yuan to turn his face slightly.

Then he saw the van's door open, and an average-looking middle-aged man walked out expressionless.

"Damn!"

Only now did Lu Yuan realize that someone was still in the car.

Everything he did in the alley, his hesitation, and the fight, were all seen clearly by the person in the car.

"Ha!"

Lu Yuan heard someone laugh, and then the sound of a baton breaking the air echoed in the heavy rain.

He dodged to the side with all his might, and in the same instant, he kicked backward toward the blond guy holding the steel pipe.

"Bang!"

The kick was solid.

The blond guy was kicked three or four meters away by Lu Yuan, stumbling and hitting the wall before sitting down.

The steel pipe fell to the ground.

"This kid knows some martial arts!"

The blond guy clutched his chest and exclaimed.

The middle-aged man blocking the alley entrance had a slight change in expression and approached Lu Yuan.

With his left hand gripping the pink hairpin tightly, Lu Yuan's face was flushed. Instinctively, he raised his fist and aimed straight at the man's face.

The fist pierced through the heavy rain curtain, but before it could land, the middle-aged man casually diverted it with a palm.

Then he raised his fist to strike back.

Aimed at Lu Yuan's neck.

Lu Yuan could only dodge sideways, but his shoulder was forced to take a hit.

The two engaged in a rapid struggle, the sound of punches and kicks echoing in the rain.

It was a completely different feeling from the sparring with Cheng Peng.

Without any protective gear, the punches were real and landed solidly.

But now, with adrenaline surging and the enhanced physique of a ten-point attribute, Lu Yuan almost felt no pain.

The middle-aged man was obviously more experienced, with greater speed and strength.

In terms of practical experience, Lu Yuan was far behind.

Almost immediately, he found himself on the defensive, getting hit repeatedly.

To endure until now, he relied solely on his determination and brute force.

"Swoosh swoosh!"

At this moment, there was suddenly the sound of footsteps splashing through water from behind.

Lu Yuan broke off the middle-aged man's attack, quickly pressed against the wall, and turned his head to look in the direction of the sound.

Five or six figures clad in raincoats were approaching.

They held weapons—some with batons, some with glaring machetes.

The blond young man, who had been kicked away, was now standing as well.

Joining these people, their eyes were fierce, like wild dogs fighting over food.

"Black Brother!"

Someone shouted.

The middle-aged man, who had been blocking the alley, smiled, spoke in dialect, and occasionally glanced at Lu Yuan with a hint of mockery.

Lu Yuan watched as the two groups converged, about to join forces.

In the pouring rain, the high cement walls of the city village alley seemed to merge with the black sky.

A sense of inexplicable fear and despair welled up from the depths of Lu Yuan's heart.

He began to feel overwhelmed.

He could almost hear the pounding of his own heart in his chest.

Raindrops on his face brought a chilling sensation.

"Hoo, hoo."

His breathing became heavier and more ragged.

At the brink of a certain threshold.

"Bang!"

Lu Yuan slammed his fist hard against the wall behind him, and like a wild beast, he pounced on the nearby middle-aged man.

In the pouring rain, the youth ran fiercely, clenching his teeth. His handsome face looked somewhat ferocious due to the effort.

In his eyes, a hint of madness flickered.

Nobody saw it.

A faint blue virtual screen quickly formed.

On the screen.

Two usable attribute points disappeared instantly, and what changed was the Strength attribute.

It increased from the original 9 to... 11!

(End of this chapter)