Back Then, I Adored You

Gu Yusheng’s fighting was quick and powerful, causing the kidnappers to fly into the walls from his kicks but, being local punks experienced with fighting, they were not going down easily.

Gu Yusheng’s initial attack aroused their bestiality and, after shaking off the pain from being slammed, they quickly rolled back onto their feet and menacingly closed in on him.

Gu Yusheng stood erect and motionless in the center of the living room as the men surrounded him from all directions.

Qin Zhi’ai watched in terror and anxiously yelled out. The moment she shouted “Gu,” he turned his head to briefly glance at her. The next second, he grabbed ahold of one man who pounced at him and mercilessly slammed him to the floor, without so much as a grunt.

The man let out a miserable shriek. Gu Yusheng quickly struck another man with a single hand and then seized his elbow. He leapt up and kicked the man, sending him flying.

After seeing how easily and painfully their accomplices had gone down, the remaining two men did not charge but, instead, dashed to a corner of the living room that had a messy pile of boxes and loose items. The two men on the ground scrambled in the same direction.

The camera man was the first to reach the corner. Tearing open one of the boxes, he pulled out two machetes and handed one to the man who’d been following closely behind him. Brandishing their machetes, they lunged for Gu Yusheng.

Under the harsh shine of an incandescent bulb, deadly glints of white light reflected off the blades.

Qin Zhi’ai’s face was deathly pale as she cupped her hands against her mouth, afraid to make any sound for fear she would distract Gu Yusheng.

As if he sensed her fear, Gu Yusheng turned and looked at her again. The corner of his lips twitched. He had wanted to say something comforting, but the two men with the machetes charged toward him too quickly with full-on hostility. There was no time for him to waste.

Swerving sideways, Gu Yusheng avoided the head-on blows of the machetes and grabbed the camera tripod with his hand behind him.

Although Qin Zhi’ai never blinked, Gu Yusheng’s movements were so quick that all she could see was his flashing figure. A crushing sound made her blood run cold. Then one of the men lost his grip on his machete, which clanged spectacularly when it hit the floor. Gripping his wrist, the man bellowed and rolled around on the floor in the fetal position.

Qin Zhi’ai now knew what the crushing sound was. It was the sound of his bones breaking.

Failing to gain an upper hand, the men were becoming anxious. Another man waved his machete in the air before piercing the air toward Gu Yusheng’s groin.

Qin Zhi’ai’s fingers quivered, and she tightly clutched onto Gu Yusheng’s jacket. Her lips were drained of color, and her body was trembling like a leaf.

Another crushing sound of breaking bones followed by the screech of metal scraping the floor left a second man incapacitated. In the blink of an eye, only two more men were left.

Gu Yusheng’s fight against the kidnappers did not last long but, for Qin Zhi’ai, it felt like an eternity of torment.

As Gu Yusheng prepared to deal with the camera man, the man who had posed as the waiter suddenly turned and brandished his machete at Qin Zhi’ai.