Chapter Ninety-Four: Hijacking

Several days later, after training with Ye Xing as usual, Busujima Saeko returned to the cafeteria. Since Ye Xing disliked crowded places, she had to eat alone today. For some reason, she had felt uneasy all day. While waiting for her meal, Rei Miyamoto happened to pass by carrying an empty tray she had already finished with.

Noticing something odd in Busujima Saeko’s expression, Rei asked with concern, “Senior Busujima, you look a little strange. Are you sick? Should I go ask Teacher Kawamoto to check on you?”

“No need. Perhaps I’ve just been overworked from recent kendo practice. I’m fine, so you should go on ahead,” Busujima Saeko said with a smile and a shake of her head. She did not want anyone worrying about her.

“Is that so? Then I’ll be going now,” Rei replied, still somewhat uneasy, but after hearing that, she had no choice but to leave. After putting away her tray, as she stepped out of the cafeteria entrance, something in the corner of her eye caught her attention: a very familiar figure, someone she felt she had seen before in the car stolen by Koichi Fujigawa.

Curious, she followed. After turning a corner, a sudden rush of wind came from behind her. Something heavy and blunt struck the base of Rei’s neck. Her vision went black, and she collapsed forward. Two people immediately caught her and locked her in a room that was not often used.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. Here is the dish you ordered. Please enjoy.”

A person dressed as a waiter placed the food Busujima Saeko had ordered on the table. For some reason, she kept feeling that this person looked strangely familiar, as though she had seen them somewhere before. Moreover, their movements seemed stiff whenever they faced her.

“May I ask whether we have met before?” Busujima Saeko asked, puzzled.

“I work here as a waiter, so it’s only natural that I would have brought you dishes a few times. If you don’t need anything else, I’ll take my leave,” the person replied, tense and awkward, then left quickly.

Busujima Saeko frowned and muttered, “It must really be because I’ve been training too hard. This won’t do. If I don’t get proper rest, it will affect tomorrow’s practice.”

While eating, she intended to finish quickly and go back to rest at once. She could not miss the daily training sessions personally guided by Ye Xing. She also paid no attention to the fact that the taste of the dish seemed somewhat different from usual, and after quickly finishing, she stood up, picked up her wooden sword, and headed out of the cafeteria.

She had barely taken a few steps before her head began to swim. Her vision blurred, and everything seemed doubled. Swaying as she walked, Busujima Saeko murmured, “Am I really that tired? I need to hurry back and rest. And after that, I still have to take care of Kozue.”

With a dull thud, Busujima Saeko fell at the cafeteria entrance. At once, several shadows moved in. As if the whole thing had been planned in advance, a few people surrounded her. Koichi Fujigawa said to the waiter from earlier, “You did well. This time we’ll definitely be able to make Ye Xing obey us. From now on, we won’t have to live under such danger anymore. You are the greatest contributor to that.”

Flattered by Koichi Fujigawa’s praise, the female waiter seemed almost light-headed as she said, “It was only what I should do.”

“Still, Busujima Saeko’s body is really something. The entire pack of medicine I stole would have been enough to put an elephant to sleep within a minute, and yet she could still walk all the way here after eating before finally collapsing!” a lecherous-looking man said, drooling as he stared at Busujima Saeko’s slender waist, so trim from years of kendo practice.

After learning the art of sword aura, Ye Xing’s physical condition had improved tremendously, and he had gained resistance to certain drugs. But these people had simply put an entire packet into the food. A normal person would have died long ago after eating it; Busujima Saeko had avoided that outcome, but she still had been rendered unconscious by the drug’s effects.

A few men moved in close. They had long admired Busujima Saeko’s cold, stunning face and the mature beauty she seemed to radiate at every moment, and each of them wanted a chance to get a little handsy.

Just as their hands were about to touch her, Koichi Fujigawa stepped in front of them and stopped them. “Students, you are the hope of the new world. How can you do something like this while Busujima is asleep? Why not be patient? Once Ye Xing and Busujima both join us, wouldn’t it be much more convenient?”

“That’s true. We are respectable people. We can still wait this little while,” the students said, though they were clearly unwilling. Koichi Fujigawa’s brainwashing had some effect on them. Reluctantly, they withdrew their hands, though their eyes remained fixed on Busujima Saeko with greedy longing.

In the Takashiro family estate, Ye Xing lay on the grass while his consciousness trained within the sword’s interior under the guidance of Ruoxing and Ruocheng. Aside from training, he almost never did anything else. As always, he was practicing within the sword-space when Ruoxing suddenly hurled him out, saying that someone approaching carried hostility toward him.

He immediately went on guard. The sound of footsteps on the grass told him the direction of the newcomers, and he swung without hesitation. There were two of them: one had dyed blond hair and wore a brazen, mocking expression; the other wore an expression so falsely pleasant it was nauseating, while the eyes hidden behind his glasses glittered with hatred.

“Long time no see, Ye Xing,” the one who gave off such a phony impression greeted him in a seemingly friendly tone.

Ye Xing gave no reaction to hearing his own name. What surprised him was that Busujima Saeko was there too, looking weak and being held hostage by the blond man. Given her strength, there were almost no people in this world who could defeat her. Under the present circumstances, the most likely explanation was that she had been drugged. Ye Xing looked at the two of them for a long moment and then asked, “Who are you?”

Ye Xing’s question made both their expressions stiffen. Anger surged up from their hearts, and they wanted nothing more than to beat him senseless. But they had already witnessed Ye Xing’s combat power. If they went at him now, whether they could defeat him was one thing; whether they could survive was another.

So they could only force themselves to remain patient. Koichi Fujigawa kept up his mask as a responsible teacher, his smile somewhat strained as he said, “Ha ha, Ye Xing, you really do love joking. Come to think of it, this hand of mine was cut off by you.”

“No impression,” Ye Xing said coldly, glancing at the empty sleeve of his wrist.

He was not deliberately provoking them. He truly had no memory of it. To Ye Xing, Koichi Fujigawa was nothing more than an insignificant little figure. People like that were forgotten in the blink of an eye. Ye Xing had no interest in remembering such trivial matters.

“You—!” The blond one could not take it anymore. He had finally found a chance to strut before the other side and provoke him, only for the man to fail even to remember him. The feeling was enough to make someone want to kill.

“Who you are doesn’t matter. What matters is what you want,” Ye Xing said calmly, cutting off the blond man just as he was about to start cursing.

“Talking to a smart person really is convenient,” Koichi Fujigawa said with a clap. His main purpose in capturing Busujima Saeko was, of course, to use her to threaten Ye Xing. Having understood that, Ye Xing asked directly without wasting words.

Koichi Fujigawa did not bother with nonsense. “I’d like you to join us.”