novelraw Chapter 1263: C’est la vie
Chapter 1263: C’est la vie
Four people wearing white masks and tactical combat uniforms burst into the room with great speed.
At the very moment they rushed in, Mr. House inside the room was struggling… resisting with a body that was practically no threat at all — but his limbs were already strapped down with belts.
“Let go… let me go…”
At the brink of despair, these masked armed intruders felt almost like salvation to him — he wasn’t religious, didn’t believe in any God, but at this moment he had the urge to praise the Lord.
“Who are you people!!”
The doctors and nurses shrank together in fear… two of the masked armed men were aiming guns at them!
Meanwhile, the other two arrived beside House and undid his restraints. One spoke in a low voice, “You’re House?”
“Is… is it Wally…?” House asked excitedly.
The man didn’t answer, only said quickly, “Mr. House, we have to leave immediately. There are many people from the Beltani Company stationed here.”
“Damn… I hired them… all of them, shit!“ Even so, he forced down the anger in his heart… as long as he could leave this place, as long as he could return to Wally’s side, as long as he could… he would take everything back!The masked soldier nodded and carried House on his back.
They quickly exited the hospital, tossing flashbangs and smoke grenades everywhere, creating chaos. House felt like he had gone back to last century’s wartime years, the days when he traveled through smuggling routes under gunfire.
He only heard chaotic shouting… his head was groggy, and soon he was taken into a modified van.
House seemed to regain some spirit… perhaps because he felt rescued. “Thank the Lord, your kindness will surely be rewarded.”
One of the masked men suddenly took out a small scanner and began sweeping House’s body.
“What are you doing!” House protested — the man’s movements weren’t exactly gentle.
“Relax, sir,” another said calmly. “He’s just checking whether any trackers or transmitters were planted on you. You don’t want to escape only to be caught again, do you?”
House froze, then quickly said, “Continue!”
Suddenly, the scanner beeped… right at House’s chest. House hurried to explain, “I have a pacemaker!”
The man didn’t respond and continued scanning. When he swept past House’s foot, the scanner beeped again. “You have another pacemaker here?”
House shuddered, and before he could speak, his leg was lifted. Someone grabbed a small knife and cut open the sole of his foot, using tweezers to pull out a pea-sized object.
“It must be Jimmy! That damned traitor!!” House ignored the pain and snarled, but seeing how cautious Wally’s people were made him extremely satisfied — at least for now, his guard against these people weakened… though only until he saw Wally himself.
…
His name was Yiqi. He grew up on the Siberian Plateau, later joined a local boxing camp, and eventually drifted into life as a mercenary… and was the only survivor among the ten-man unit.
At the dock, looking at the four former teammates who were supposed to set up the final escape route, Yiqi didn’t feel much sorrow. The only thing he feared was the unknown virus injected into his body.
Yiqi considered the possibility that it was a lie… but what if it wasn’t? People who make and sell drugs — nine out of ten are lunatics. He wasn’t a gambler. Faced with life and death, the only thing he could do was cooperate.
Besides, weapons aside, when it came to pure hand-to-hand combat, he was no match for the young man in front of him — the one who had casually picked up a hospital bed with one hand earlier and swung it at him. The young man now sat on a chair, flipping a small scalpel between his fingers.
The scalpel danced like a butterfly knife… Yiqi’s eyelids twitched hard. Few people could handle a scalpel like that. That tiny blade might be deadlier than his fists.
Two of the four dead mercenaries had their throats slit in one clean stroke by that very scalpel…
And beside them was a woman who looked… “dry,” in Yiqi’s view — yet she single-handedly took down the other two mercenaries.
“When you rescued House, what was the next step?” the young man asked, looking straight at him.
Yiqi didn’t dare meet his gaze… He had killed many, but the young man’s eyes made him feel like he was strapped to an operating table, about to be dissected — like facing a butcher.
“We were going to leave through this dock, take a cargo ship to Shanghai. Our company has a freighter there. From there we’d go to Mara, take a plane, and finally return to the UK…”
The young man — Tang Tianlin — narrowed his eyes. “That still takes at least four or five days. But you arrived less than two days ago.”
Cold sweat trickled down Yiqi’s face. “We didn’t start from the UK. We have people operating all over the world.”
Just then, the woman leaning against the wall suddenly opened her eyes. Two beams of headlights swept across… a van arrived outside.
Tang Tianlin stood up. “You’ve rescued House. Follow your original plan. I’ll leave contacting your boss to you.”
As he spoke, he flicked his hand — the scalpel shot past Yiqi’s face, slicing a shallow cut, then stabbed into the wall behind him.
“Okay…”
At the same time, Tang Tianlin and the woman both put on white masks and matching tactical gear, walking together toward the vessel.
She finally spoke. “I never agreed to suddenly disappear like this. And for so long.”
Tang Tianlin said casually, “Opportunities don’t wait. Miss this, and you might never find the Perfect Human cell again.”
She fell silent. After a moment, she walked away and stood alone at the rail, looking toward the river… After a long while, she took out her phone and sent two messages.
One to Little Bao, asking him to request an extended leave for her — she was interested in the Perfect Human cell but didn’t want to abandon her medical examiner identity… the one that allowed her to interact with Ren Ziling.
The second was to Ren Ziling, saying she had personal matters and needed to leave for a while; moving in would have to wait.
Soon, House was escorted onto the ship. Yiqi wasn’t originally the squad leader — only the deputy — but now he naturally became the new leader of this “ten-man” squad, fully responsible for House and communications with the true boss in the UK.
She silently watched… Tang Tianlin’s plan was rushed but surprisingly effective. Even though he was extremely cautious, she still didn’t fully trust Yiqi. She flicked her finger gently.
A faint red sigil slipped into Yiqi’s body unnoticed… merging into the necklace around his neck.
Better safe than sorry, she thought.
Soon the ship left the dock. Suddenly her expression changed — Oh no!
This trip might take a long time. She forgot to bring her jam!!!
She reached out through the railing, devastated. “My food supply…”
…
At the dock, Liu Minghao and Wei Zidào put down their binoculars. Liu Minghao lit a cigarette and took a drag.
“Brother Hao, what are they trying to do? Looks like they’re leaving.” Wei Zidào frowned. “The old guy they took… he looks familiar.”
“That old guy is called House,” Liu Minghao said. “His public identity is an investor doing business in our country. He even has business ties with the Zhao family… But behind the scenes, he’s a drug smuggler operating in Europe.”
“This guy… how is he connected to the vampire families of the Banquet Alliance?”
“I don’t know about that,” Liu Minghao said, shaking his head. “House’s situation was never under our jurisdiction in the first place. That’s National Security’s business. But now… anyway, write a report later and submit it to the branch. I think our overseas intelligence system is about to start operating.”
“What about the chaos at the hospital?”
Liu Minghao shrugged. “Aren’t there still police? Besides, House isn’t a China national. If those foreigners want to mess with each other, let them. As long as they’re not targeting our own people, we can pretend we didn’t see anything.”
He then glanced at the time — 10:30 p.m.
“It’s this late already… go on home.”
……
……
Three hours earlier.
Luo Qiu returned home… and unsurprisingly found Li Zi sitting on the living room sofa, and unexpectedly saw Ren Ziling fighting for her life in the kitchen.
Auntie Ren, looking every bit the domineering aunt, stood at the kitchen door with a spatula in hand — but her persona collapsed instantly. She didn’t say anything like “Dinner will be ready soon” or “Go wash your hands.” Instead, she asked pitifully, “...Where did you put the chu hou paste?”
Luo Qiu sighed softly, shook his head, took the spatula from her hand, and put on a fresh apron. “I’ll take over. I don’t want to spend twice the time cleaning up afterward.”
“Can’t we still be friends?!!”
“They’re all here.” Without even looking, Luo Qiu opened one section of the cupboard and casually said, “Everything we don’t use often is in here. If you can’t find it on the stove, it’ll be in this cabinet. Remember that.”
Unexpectedly, Auntie Ren began counting on her fingers. “1, 2, 3… 30!!! Oh my god, that was more than thirty words in one sentence! Can I celebrate with three bottles of beer tonight?!”
Under Boss Luo’s gaze, Auntie Ren wriggled away like a caterpillar toward the kitchen door… He pulled it shut behind her.
Li Zi, who was watching TV, burst out laughing, saying the variety show performers were hilarious — so Auntie Ren tossed a freshly bought physalis berry at her.
Li Zi, with her top-tier reflexes, caught it with her mouth. Grinning, she said, “Another one!”
“Scram!” Ren Ziling grabbed a handful and threw five or six at once.
Li Zi caught all of them.
Ren Ziling… defeated.
“Were you hired as a clown from a circus?” Auntie Ren collapsed weakly onto the sofa.
Li Zi tossed one berry back, feeding it to Ren Ziling with a mischievous smile. Ren Ziling rolled her eyes.
Life probably wasn’t boring at all when Luo Qiu wasn’t home… She brushed her hair back and glanced at the kitchen door where his silhouette moved faintly. She smiled.
She was already starting to miss it.
……
Luo Qiu’s cooking couldn’t compare to Miss Maid’s, but it absolutely crushed Auntie Ren’s. Ten minutes later, the three of them were seated at the table.
Li Zi didn’t come often to freeload meals, but every time she did, she could eat nearly half a rice cooker by herself. She almost licked the plates clean — same as always.
“Luo Qiu, can I be your mistress? I’m easy to take care of! If you can guarantee three meals a day like this, I won’t even care about the title!”
Luo Qiu smiled lightly without answering… Li Zi retreated in defeat.
Ren Ziling snorted. “You may not care, but I do! From now on, if you’re here, you handle your own meals!”
“You can’t be serious!!” Li Zi protested.
Ren Ziling ignored her and grabbed the nearby cup — naturally not three bottles’ worth. Luo Qiu had only poured her a single glass… not even full.
Absolute tyranny.
“Oh right, when I went out to do an interview today, guess who I ran into?” she said suddenly, a bit of beer foam at the corner of her mouth.
Luo Qiu pushed the tissue box toward her. “Who did you meet?”
“Song Ying!” Ren Ziling widened her eyes. “I nearly jumped out of my skin! Your classmate has quite the background!”
“You… interviewed her?” Luo Qiu murmured, thoughtful.
“Yeah, her company’s doing PR. They invited almost all the major media outlets.” Ren Ziling almost wiped her mouth with her hand, but obediently used a tissue instead.
“What did she say to you?”
Auntie Ren narrowed her eyes. “Give me one more bottle and I’ll tell you~”
Boss Luo stood up and said to Li Zi, “I’m full. You two take your time. Just leave the dishes — I’ll wash them later.”
Auntie Ren opened her mouth but couldn’t speak before Luo Qiu disappeared back into his room — as decisive as always.
Li Zi burst out laughing.
She was starting to look forward to staying here for a bit… even if it wouldn’t be for long.
(End of Chapter)
C'est la vie is a French phrase that translates to "that's life" in English. It's used as an idiom to express acceptance or resignation, particularly in the face of minor setbacks or unpleasant situations.
柱候酱 (Zhù hòu jiàng, chu hou paste)
- is a type of fermented soybean paste used in Cantonese cuisine. It is made from soybeans, ginger, garlic, and other spices.
- It has a sweet and savory flavor and is often used to braise meats, especially beef and lamb.
灯笼果 (Dēng lóng guǒ, physalis berry)
- Physalis alkekengi: Also known as Chinese Lantern, the fruits are edible when fully ripe, though the rest of the plant is toxic.