It was an hour before closing time. Luo Jin had taken Zhou Yan and pyed through the entire pce.

  When passing by the cw machine, Luo Jin paused.

  There were many different plushies in the cw machine, but what caught Luo Jin’s eye was a dragon plushie sitting in the center of the machine.

  The dragon’s coat was bck with the underside of his wings being a sort of light bluish color. The color of its eyes were like hibiscus and it had a single horn on the side of its head.

  Luo Jin counted the tokens he had left. It was enough for about 6 games. “Let’s py this before leaving, Xiao Yan.”

  Zhou Yan stood by Luo Jin as he inserted some game tokens and started pying the cw machine.

  Luo Jin positioned the cw on top of the plushie and pressed the button to lower it.

  The cw lowered itself onto the plushie and lifted it up. The toy hung in the air for a few seconds before moving. It had only moved a couple of inches before it fell back down.

  On the fifth attempt, the crane had almost dropped the toy into the prize box below, but the plushie bounced and nded back in its original spot.

  The system quietly spoke. [Host, how about switching positions? Some favorability points could be earned even if you fail.]

  Zhou Yan didn’t think he would be so lucky to get the plushie on the first attempt, but the faster he could get those points, the faster he could leave this world. He didn’t want to stay in this world where he spent at least half of the day out cold any second longer.

  Before Luo Jin started another round, Zhou Yan spoke up. “Let me try.”

  Luo Jin smiled at Zhou Yan and moved to the side. “Okay. It’s fine even if you don’t get it, Xiao Yan.”

  Zhou Yan stood in front of the cw machine and moved the crane slightly to the side of the dragon. He pressed down on the button and watched as the cw came down. It knocked over the plushie to its side and then grabbed it. The dragon was picked up and sent to the prize box.

  Luo Jin pressed his body on Zhou Yan’s back and spoke next to Zhou Yan’s ear, “Wow, you’re amazing, Xiao Yan! You did it on your first try.”

  Before Zhou Yan could move his head away, Luo Jin bent down and grabbed the dragon out of the prize box.

  Luo Jin looked at the stuffed toy and handed it to Zhou Yan. A sheepish smile was present on his face, but there wasn’t any room for a rejection. “I wanted to win this and give it to you. You’ll take it, right?”

  There was a moment of silence before Zhou Yan took the plushie.

  When they stepped out of the arcade, it was already dark.

  Luo Jin took the lead and walked in front of Zhou Yan as he led the way through the alleyway back to the school.

  In the quietness of the night, the only sounds that could be heard were the sounds of Zhou Yan’s footsteps followed by another quieter pair of footsteps.

  As they were about to exit the alleyway, a group of thugs suddenly came into view and surrounded them.

  With the front blocked, Luo Jin spoke with a slightly shaky voice as he backed away slowly--intending to turn around and run the opposite way with Zhou Yan.

  “What do you want from us?”

  The group of thugs parted and a bald muscur man leisurely walked to the front. He spoke roughly, “Heh, we’re here to settle the debt by your dead father, boy.”

  Luo Jin slowly rexed and asked, “How much is the debt?”

  When the thugs heard what Luo Jin said, they erupted in ughter. One of the thugs behind the leader snickered. “Hahaha, little boy, do ya really think you can pay it all?”

  Luo Jin hesitated but nodded his head, “My dad wouldn’t borrow a rge amount of money without a good reason.”

  The thugs became quiet and let the leader talk. “Boy, let me tell you, we ain’t asking just for the original amount, we also want the interest from the past years! Your daddy borrowed a lot of our money and didn’t pay a single cent of it off. He went gambling and lost, so he took a loan from us. But then he ran away without paying back the one million dolrs, and since your old man’s dead, the one who has to pay if off will be you.”

  “What!?”

  The leader took out a cigarette and a thug immediately came forward and lit it. “If you can’t afford it, then we’ll just have to make you work for that money.”

  With a puff of smoke being exhaled from his mouth, the leader spoke pyfully, “So, do you think you can pay it off, boy?”

  Luo Jin didn’t answer him because he grabbed Zhou Yan’s hand and ran back from the way they came from.

  The leader let out a chuckle. “Looks like he chose the hard way.”

  Taking another whiff of his cigarette, the leader exhaled a ring of smoke and flicked off the ashes. He stuck the cigarette back in his mouth and walked after the two teenagers in an unhurried manner. “Let’s go boys.”

  “Yes, Boss!” The followers spoke in unison.

  Deeper in the alleyway, the two young boys were quickly blocked in the front by a pair of thugs after they tried escaping from the back.

  Zhou Yan had been observing the situation and keeping his guard up ever since they had encountered the thugs.

  There were sounds of footsteps slowly approaching them from behind. A faint click followed by a loud bang sounded behind them.

  Before Zhou Yan could react, a bullet had grazed his leg. When he gnced down, the faint light allowed him to see a faint outline of blood slowly seeping into his pants.

  When the gun went off, Luo Jin quickly turned around. He saw that the group of thugs were standing behind them. Shouting, Luo Jin questioned the leader. “What are you doing!?”

  When the leader heard the question, he sneered. “You chose the hard way, boy. Now your friend here has to pay the price for your decision. It’s either you come with us or your friend here gets hurt.”

  Luo Jin hesitated, but Zhou Yan stood in front of him before he could respond.

  The leader squinted his eyes as he looked at the petite boy that was standing in front of his target. Seeming that the Zhou Yan wasn’t going to yield, he ughed out and spoke to Zhou Yan, “Since you’re blocking my way, it seems like you’re gonna protect that boy behind you.”

  He didn’t think much of the boy in front of him because of his small figure. The leader thought that Zhou Yan couldn’t do much, so he stepped back, and ordered his underling to fight. “Go entertain him then boys.”

  The two underlings spoke in unison as they brought out their weapon. “Yes, Boss!”

  Zhou Yan looked back and tossed his things to Luo Jin. He quickly gave instructions to him before facing the front. “Stand further away.”

  Luo Jin quickly caught the things and looked at the back that was in front of him as he slowly stepped back. He felt a shiver down his spine. He couldn’t stop his lips from rising. Although the conditions weren’t favorable, he could finally experience Zhou Yan’s protection--it would have been better if the encounter had happened during the daytime.

  Zhou Yan remained unaware of Luo Jin’s thoughts.

  The nky man ran forward and sshed his knife towards Zhou Yan.

  Zhou Yan quickly brought his arms up as fast as he could and stepped back to prevent the knife from cutting him.

  At the same time, the bulky man came from behind the nky man and unched his fist towards Zhou Yan’s stomach.

  Quickly blocking the fist with both of his hands, the nky man took advantage of Zhou Yan’s vulnerability and aimed straight for his face. Zhou Yan hurriedly shifted his head to the side to avoid the weapon.

  The knife grazed the boy’s cheek and some blood ran down his face.

  Zhou Yan threw the bulky man’s hand away and kicked the nky man’s shin.

  The nky man immediately howled in pain as he tumbled down. He underestimated the boy standing in front of him. The nky man gritted his teeth and shakily stood back up. He gripped his knife harder and recklessly ran forward with a limp, sshing and stabbing sporadically without regard to his surroundings.

  The knife failed to nd a single hit on Zhou Yan and instead grazed the bulky man.

  The ck of cooperation from the nky man was starting to irritate the bulky man.

  When the nky man had overextended his arm, Zhou Yan took advantage of that vulnerability to grab it. He quickly twisted the arm behind the nky man’s back and pushed him down.

  Seeing the position the nky man was swiftly put in, the bulky man had a deyed reaction.

  Zhou Yan took advantage of the bulky man’s deyed reaction and quickly dislocated the shoulder of the arm he was holding.

  The nky man screamed and the pain made him let go of the knife.

  Once the knife fell, Zhou Yan let go of the arm and reached towards the knife.

  The bulk man was brought back to his senses after hearing the nky man’s scream and quickly aimed his brass knuckles towards Zhou Yan’s head while he was turned away.

  Zhou Yan grabbed the knife and rolled just before the fist could nd. He swiftly stood back up and faced the bulky man. Taking a gnce back, the distance between himself and Luo Jin had grown closer as a result of the nky man’s earlier fighting.

  Standing behind Luo Jin were a pair of thugs who still retained their positions from when they trapped the two boys.

  For a second, it looked like Luo Jin had a look of excitement, but when Zhou Yan blinked, there was a look of worry on Luo Jin’s face. It must’ve been his imagination; after all, it was dark and they were being cornered by a group of thugs.

  The bulky man saw that Zhou Yan wasn’t paying attention to him and charged forward.

  Zhou Yan had kept his guard up and was quick to react to the bulky man’s punches. He quickly counter-attacked and pushed the bulky man back.

  With each swipe that ripped through the air, the bulky man was forced to retreat--sustaining several cuts to his arms. Seeing that he was about to be pushed too far back, the bulky man made a decision, although stupid, to grab the knife to prevent Zhou Yan’s intense almost monster-like onsught.

  When the bde was caught in the palm of the bulky man, the battle came to a standstill.

  Although his palm was burning from the knife cutting into his hand, the bulky man smirked. Before he made any more moves, he taunted Zhou Yan. “So, what are you gonna do now, kid? If you give up here, I can give you a painless way out.”

  There was no answer to the bulky man’s question because Zhou Yan had closed the distance between the two.

  The bulky man was caught off guard. “Wha-”

  Zhou Yan jerked his knee up and nded right on the bulky man’s crotch.

  The pain to the crotch was too much for the bulky man as his screams of agony failed to escape from his mouth. He slumped to the ground and id motionless while holding his crotch.

  Although his two underlings were ying on the ground in pain, the leader seemed to not be bothered by it. Rubbing his chin, he looked towards Zhou Yan with a thoughtful look.

  It was apparent that Zhou Yan was a strong individual. He was quick and quietly dealt with the underlings with minimal injuries while also keeping a safe distance from his friend--it was the perfect qualities to have as a subordinate.

  The leader smiled as he spread his arms in a rexed manner. “How ‘bout we make a deal? I’ll leave that boy behind you alone if you come with me. How ‘bout it?”