Chapter 319: At Your Disposal
The night was heavy.
Jiang Qingli pressed the answer key, and the call timer started on the screen.
The background noise on the other end was chaotic. Jin Li’s voice was hoarse and broken as he began, awkwardly, "Jiang... Jiang Qingli, I..."
He struggled with that "I" for a long time, as if he wanted to say something but was being choked, leaving only the sound of his ragged, heavy breathing.
"If there’s nothing, I’m hanging up."
Jiang Qingli’s voice wasn’t the incessant pestering or impatience Jin Li remembered. Instead, it was so calm it was devoid of emotion, as if she were speaking to a stranger.
A wave of panic enveloped Jin Li. The image of Fang Chi’s severely injured, mangled face flashed through his mind, along with the blood-red light of the operating room. He roared, almost losing control, "I’m begging you!"
Inside the military vehicle garage in the Ninth District’s Zone C, males just back from the battlefield were coming and going. When they suddenly heard the usually calm and composed Jin Li let out a roar, they all snapped their heads in his direction. But at that moment, he couldn’t spare the energy to care about their stares.
"I’m sorry, Miss... Miss Jiang! I was a bastard before! I was the one who was unfaithful, who cheated on you with Bai Yiyi! It was all my fault!"
The surrounding males gasped, their eyes wide with disbelief. They never expected him to say something like that in public.
Overwhelmed with shame, Jin Li could only half-kneel on the ground. With wounds from a Mutant Beast still fresh on his face and body, he was a pathetic sight.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, he begged in a humble tone, "I know I have no right to ask you for anything, but please, save Fang Chi. As long as you agree, I’ll do anything... I’m begging you..."
The once majestic and awe-inspiring White Tiger General now had his hands clenched into fists, blood streaming from his wounds. He couldn’t suppress a beast-like, mournful whimper.
Once he had calmed down a bit, Jiang Qingli spoke coolly, "I’m already looking at Fang Chi’s data."
Jin Li froze, his face a mixture of shock and elation. By the time he came to his senses and wanted to say something, the call had already been disconnected.
The sound of chaotic footsteps approached. The crowd of onlookers scattered as several medics came over, pressing down on his wounds as they lifted him onto a stretcher and took him to the infirmary for compulsory treatment.
Fearing Jiang Qingli might go back on her word, Jin Li grabbed his terminal as soon as his wounds were bandaged and contacted her again.
He sent a list of his assets to Jiang Qingli. She didn’t reply.
Jin Li clenched his fists, but then he heard a subordinate beside him say, "Colonel Jin, Miss Jiang has already accepted the mission."
"Really?"
"Really," the subordinate said. "The Supervision Office reported that Fang Chi’s condition has been stabilized. Once he wakes up in the next day or two, they can arrange for Miss Jiang to begin the healing."
Jin Li let out a heavy sigh of relief and fell back onto the hospital bed, a flood of complex emotions washing over him.
’He had thought Jiang Qingli would despise him just as she had before. She really had changed so much...’
’If she had been like this back then, they...’
A sharp pain seized his heart. Jin Li clutched his chest, his brow furrowed.
Ever since he had vomited up something red a few days ago, he’d been feeling unwell, as if suffering from some aftereffect.
Jin Li remembered that Bai Yiyi had fed it to him, claiming it was a piece of candy she had made.
Ever since becoming a colonel, Jin Li had considered himself a cautious person, yet he had eaten it without a shred of suspicion.
The moment it entered his mouth, it seemed to have a will of its own, shooting down his throat and into his body. A sharp pain stabbed his heart, and then, as if possessed, he had pushed Bai Yiyi down and kissed her...
After vomiting it up, his obsessive, day-and-night infatuation with Bai Yiyi seemed to have vanished.
’And that dazed feeling... looking back on it now, it feels somewhat familiar... as if I’ve experienced it somewhere before...’
Jin Li tried to question Bai Yiyi, but he couldn’t reach her at all. There was no news from the other Beast Husbands either. Only Chi Yun had messaged him yesterday, saying Xie Youchen had found Bai Yiyi and told him to go take a look.
Just as he thought of this, a video call from Chi Yun came through.
As soon as the call connected, Chi Yun cursed, "We’ve been played by Xie Youchen!"
He flipped the camera, revealing a bloated female cowering in the corner of a room. Her face, covered in festering pimples, was a horrifying sight.
Ling Qing stood nearby, pinching his nose in disgust, his expression dark.
"Look at this, just look!" Chi Yun was furious. "Xie Youchen’s secretary insists this female is Bai Yiyi! Is he a moron? Does he think I’m blind?! What the hell does this have to do with Bai Yiyi?"
"I bet Xie Youchen has taken a liking to Bai Yiyi and hidden her away. Now he’s just found some random thing to humiliate us!"
"Bai Yiyi maxed out my card while I was laid up in bed, embarrassing the hell out of me! And I actually believed him and came here to find her, only to get fobbed off like this!"
"And to think I even called him brother-in-law!"
He cursed indignantly for a few moments before Ling Qing, who was standing to the side, suddenly spoke up. "Since when are you qualified to call him brother-in-law?"
Chi Yun’s eyes widened. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
Ling Qing looked him up and down, then sneered. "Exactly what it sounds like. You’re not worthy."
Chi Yun paused for a few seconds, then shot to his feet, pointing a finger in Ling Qing’s face. "I knew there was a reason you suddenly tagged along! Turns out you want to get back with your ex, too!"
He grabbed Ling Qing by the collar and roared, "You say I’m not worthy? And you think you are?!"
"Where am I not worthy?" Ling Qing lifted his chin confidently. "I was her favorite back then."
"She may have stolen a role from Baili Jing for you back then, but what about now?" Chi Yun taunted. "I heard you got thrown in the slammer a while ago for fighting with Helian Ying. Lost all your endorsements, got kicked off the production, and your movie was pulled... Tsk, tsk. A broke loser with a criminal record thinks he’s worthy of courtship?"
"And I heard she was all over Qin Muye right in front of you last time, which made you faint from anger, didn’t it?" Ling Qing retorted, not to be outdone. "Oh, that’s right. Wasn’t that the day you were groveling at her feet, begging her to heal you, and she didn’t even spare you a glance—"
Before he could finish, Chi Yun threw a vicious punch!
Ling Qing’s head snapped to the side. He spat out a mouthful of blood and a tooth, his eyes blazing with fury, and immediately started brawling with Chi Yun.
The two of them fought furiously, even unleashing their Superpowers. The small room was filled with flashes of fire and claps of thunder, and they were both covered in wounds from the fight.
In the end, it was Jin Li who stopped them. "Do you two still want to find Bai Yiyi or not?"
Chi Yun said resentfully, "You know where she is?"
Jin Li pointed at the female trembling in the room. "Chen Mi probably wasn’t lying to you. She is Bai Yiyi."
"What?!" Chi Yun’s eyes flew open. "What do you mean?! This is Bai Yiyi?! How is that possible! Bai Yiyi is..."
He gestured to indicate a slender figure, then looked at the female in the corner, who was easily three times as wide. The way she shook her head in denial was nauseating.
"Her posture when she tries to hide, her little mannerisms... they’re the same as Bai Yiyi’s," Jin Li said. "I think you’ve both noticed it too, you just don’t want to admit it."
"Also, I want to ask, did she ever give you a red fruit to eat?" Jin Li shared his suspicion. "The intense feelings we had for her were probably because we ate that fruit. And now, its effect has worn off."
Both of them were stunned.
At first, Bai Yiyi had hoped to beg them to spare her for old times’ sake. But now, the gazes of her three former fiancés were filled with nothing but disgust and murderous intent.
She shrank back, shaking her head frantically, tears of terror streaming down her face. She still tried to argue, "It’s not my fault... It’s not my fault..."
In the dead silence, Ling Qing said, "I remember Chen Mi telling us we could deal with her however we pleased."