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The big man’s expression was somewhat stiff now.

He clearly hadn’t timed it right and had struck too hard. He hadn’t expected the young boy to be so frail, fainting so quickly.

If he were to strike again in front of so many people, even a light punch would undoubtedly kill the opponent.

But with everyone watching, he couldn’t possibly cheat, could he?

For a moment, he stood there, hesitating.

As time was about to pass, the audience below became enraged.

The strong man ceasing his attack meant that the young boy wasn’t dead, and their bets would be for naught.

Jing Haoran clenched his fists tightly, "These people are simply inhuman."

Gu Xiaoxi watched the big man in the arena hesitating, fixated on his fists.

"Who told you to hit so hard? It doesn’t matter if you lose the bet, but you mustn’t lose your reputation. If he doesn’t die, it’s his fate. If he dies, we own up to it."

Gu Xiaoxi overheard this sentence.

It was obviously the boss speaking to the muscular man on stage.

Of course, the boss and the muscular man weren’t yelling face to face.

If Gu Xiaoxi hadn’t seen it wrong, that muscular man had a hidden earpiece in his ear.

Indeed, right after Gu Xiaoxi heard that voice stop,

the muscular man swung his fist and violently struck the young boy.

Gu Xiaoxi narrowed his eyes and tightly gripped the wine jug in his hand.

A moment later, the audience at the edge of the stands suddenly stopped screaming.

The scene instantly became as silent as death, with only the sight of the robust man slowly falling to the ground on the stage.

What did everyone see?

The scene rewinded back to ten seconds ago.

Just as the muscular man clenched his fist and struck at the boy,

the unconscious boy suddenly opened his eyes, tightly wrapped his arms around the man’s legs, and flipped onto his back.

At the same time, a dagger appeared out of thin air, and all anyone saw was blood spraying three feet into the air as the muscular man fell to the ground, dead.

The young boy also fell to the ground, breathing heavily, his bright eyes darting around.

He could be sure that he hadn’t laid a hand on the man to kill him after climbing on his back.

Who could have killed him then?

After the initial silence, complaints filled the air.

The vast majority of people had lost and lost miserably.

Jing Haoran turned to look at Gu Xiaoxi, covering his heart and taking a deep breath, "That scared me to death. Thankfully, he’s unharmed."

Gu Xiaoxi looked at the boy on stage and shook his head, "He probably won’t live much longer."

"What do you mean?" Jing Haoran exclaimed in shock.

"Serious internal injuries, he’s on his last breath." Gu Xiaoxi spoke indifferently.

"Then why didn’t you act sooner!" Jing Haoran’s eyebrows furrowed in anger.

Gu Xiaoxi shrugged helplessly, "Why didn’t you step in earlier to save him instead of going to retrieve the blocked money for me? Remember to count tenfold."

"How much did you bet just now?" Jing Haoran asked.

"Ten thousand, idiot!" Gu Xiaoxi had no desire to talk to him.

Gu Xiaoxi had been sitting at the bar the whole time. Now the music played again and the dance floor resumed its noise.

The aftermath on the stage was being cleared away.

The bar’s behind-the-scenes boss also merely thought the young boy had killed the corpulent man.

However, when the boy was carried away, the doctor regretfully shook his head, "I can’t save him."

"Damn it!" The boss was immediately livid.

Two men lost in one night.

Losing a young boy was no big deal since he hadn’t been trained. Buying him had only cost a little money.

But losing a fighter meant the loss of a major asset.

While he had made quite a profit from the fight, training someone new was harder.

The boss glared at the unconscious boy, angrily ordered, "Get him out of here, weigh him down with stones, and sink him in the pond!"

"Yes!" Several subordinates hurried to do so.

Jing Haoran returned with a hundred thousand.

Suddenly, they had made a lot of money.

But there was no joy in their hearts.

No amount of money could bring back a compatriot’s life.

Gu Xiaoxi handed over five banknotes to the bar’s waiter, "No need for change, just fill up my jug."

"I tell you, Gu Xiaoxi, since when did you become so cold and heartless?" Jing Haoran felt a chill just looking at her. The young boy was dead, and she seemed to feel nothing.

Gu Xiaoxi took the jug, now full of liquor, from the waiter, and strode out of the bar.

The night was thick, and the back alley was as lively as ever.

Crowds came and went, men and women of all shapes and ages.

Gu Xiaoxi glanced at the sky and turned to walk around the bar, heading towards the pond behind it.

Jing Haoran didn’t know what she planned to do, following her, obviously still troubled by the death of the young boy.

"Shh!" Behind a small tree by the pond, Gu Xiaoxi made a silencing gesture to him.

Jing Haoran looked at Gu Xiaoxi, puzzled by her sneaky behavior.

Just then, Jing Haoran saw two people carrying a snake-skin bag out of the back door of the bar from a distance.

The two looked around conspiratorily, carrying the bag and tossing it directly into the pond, then watching as the bag sank.

They turned and ran away at full speed.

Gu Xiaoxi pointed to the spot where the bag had sunk and said to Jing Haoran , "You have three minutes. If you can get him out of the pond, he can be saved."

"What?" Jing Haoran didn’t understand what Gu Xiaoxi meant.

"Don’t you want to save the young boy? He is in that bag."

As soon as Gu Xiaoxi finished speaking, Jing Haoran sprinted towards the pond without a second thought.

But Gu Xiaoxi grabbed him and pointed to a dark spot not far away, "Go down there, come back from there, don’t let anyone notice."

Jing Haoran swiftly followed the direction pointed out by Gu Xiaoxi, diving into the water, swimming across the bottom of the pond, and then resurfacing.

Clearly, he truly wanted to save the young boy, using his fastest speed. Although it took more than three minutes, Gu Xiaoxi was confident she could save the person.

Upon opening the snake-skin bag in the shadowed shelter of the trees, Gu Xiaoxi reached out and felt the boy’s pulse.

Thankfully, it was still beating.

She clenched her fist and thumped his chest, causing the young boy to immediately spit out a mouthful of water.

Suddenly, Gu Xiaoxi checked his breathing, which was still present.

That was great.

"Jing Haoran, take off your clothes, dress him, and take him back to the hotel," Gu Xiaoxi ordered immediately.

Without a second thought, Jing Haoran took the bag with the stones in it and sank it back to the bottom of the pond.

He removed his jacket, laid it over the boy’s head, and wrapped his upper body tightly.

Gu Xiaoxi then nodded in satisfaction.

Fortunately, Jing Haoran wasn’t foolish, and doing so was indeed to keep others from knowing they had saved the young boy, to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Back at the hotel, Jing Haoran placed the young boy on the bed.

Perhaps the lake water had washed the dirt from his face, making him look clean and somewhat handsome.

Gu Xiaoxi immediately began to heal him using her powers, with the aid of Spiritual Power to repair his injuries. In less than half an hour, his internal injuries had largely healed.

Jing Haoran sat anxiously by his side. Seeing the young boy wake up, he immediately stepped forward excitedly, "Are you okay?"

"Thank you for saving me." Despite his weakness, the young boy immediately expressed his gratitude.

Gu Xiaoxi pulled up a chair and sat beside him, staring at him curiously, "Where are you from? Why are you here?"

"I’m from the Imperial Capital."

"Which family in the Imperial Capital? Why are you here?" Gu Xiaoxi asked again.

The young boy, however, lowered his head and said no more.

"How old are you?" Jing Haoran asked again.

"Fourteen!"

Gu Xiaoxi examined him, noticing a certain stubbornness in his character and a spirited look in his eyes. He had some backbone.

His silence naturally had some reasons related to his self-esteem.

She decided not to press further.

"Alright, you’ll sleep with Jing Haoran tonight. I’m heading back to my room," Gu Xiaoxi stretched, took a sip from a flask she pulled out of her trench coat, and disappeared into her room.

Jing Haoran was also confused by Gu Xiaoxi’s indifferent expression.

"What’s your name?" Jing Haoran asked.

"Ye Shen!"

"Seeing how dirty you are, go wash up quickly, I’ll go buy you a set of clothes," Jing Haoran said, turning to leave.

But at the door, he suddenly stopped, standing at the entrance of Gu Xiaoxi’s room.

It was only then that it hit him, how effortlessly they had saved the young boy.

And she was not a coldhearted person.

Gu Xiaoxi had been planning from the start to save the young boy.

That’s why she had been calm all along, letting him be the one afraid.

Had the young boy not been grievously injured and abandoned by the buyer, they wouldn’t have been able to save him.

If, like him, she had impulsively tried to save the boy on stage, not only the bar owner would have caused trouble, but also that crowd of frenzied spectators would not have let him off.

Jing Haoran slapped his forehead, realizing he had to learn more if he was to continue to follow Gu Xiaoxi.

But suddenly, he covered his heart, filled with melancholy.

What to do! He had just lost his feelings for her, and now they were back in an instant!

Jing Haoran descended the stairs, heartbroken, lamenting why she wasn’t his wife.