Hope Is Not Optional — Manuel Flores 118
Chapter 118
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I held the man by his shirt and lifted him off the ground with ease, his weight hanging uselessly from my grip. His face was swollen beyond recognition, red and bruised, one eye nearly shu, blood trailing from the corner of his mouth where a few teeth were already missing.
To put it plainly, he looked absolutely terrible.
My lips quirked upward when I took in the sight of him. Slowly, raised my fist toward his face.
The moment he realized what I was about to do, all the fight drained from him. His face turned pale, terror flashing in his eyes as his head shook frantically.
“N-no, please-please don’t,” he begged, his voice cracked and hearse. “Spare me. I’ve taken enough hits already. Please, just let me go.”
I didn’t react, or hesitate. I didn’t even feel a single shred of pity.
My fist connected with his face again, the sound sickeningly dull and I felt the impact travel cleanly through my knuckles. Another tooth flew free as he let out a broken, pained groan.
“Ah, my face! My teeth!” he cried, clutching at his mouth.
I smiled, genuinely satisfied. For a brief moment, I had wondered if returning to this body would dull my strength, if I would lose the sharp precision I once had. It wasn’t as refined as it had been after years of cultivation and training in my past lives, but it was more than enough to hurt someone badly.
I stared at him for a second longer before tossing him aside like discarded trash. He hit the ground and curled in on himself, sobbing and groaning in pain. Then I turned my attention to the second man.
He was sprawled on the floor, no better than the first, his face brised, lips split, eyes wide with panic. When I started walking toward him, he scrambled backward in pure terror until his back hit the wall, leaving him nowhere else to go. He looked at me like a man who had finally realized the worst mistake of his life was mistaking me for easy prey.
When escape became impossible, fear twisted into something uglier. He glared at me, though it was clear there was more terror than anger behind it. He raised a trembling hand.
“You-what do you think you’re doing?” he snapped. “You can’t do this! This is a crime! If anyone finds out what you’ve done, you’ll be imprisoned. Beating people like this is a serious offense. Even the alpha, the most powerful man in the world, wouldn’t tolerate this. He’ll have you executed!”
I stopped in front of him and stared for a moment before smiling mockingly.
“Ohhh,” I drawled, tilting my head. “Scary. I’d really hate to run to the alpha.”
Relief flooded his face. He smiled, thinking he had found my weakness. “Good. Then release us right now if you don’t want
trouble.”
“Sure, sure, I’ll release you.”
Hope flickered in his eyes, his smile widening, until I tapped my finger against my chin thoughtfully. “But then again,” I continued, “I don’t think I’ll be the only one getting in trouble.”
“What?” he asked, confused.
I lifted my leg and brought it down hard against his neck, pinning him to the floor and cutting off his airway completely. His breath hatched violently as he clawed at my leg, trying desperate to push it away.
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09:17 Mon, Jan 26 GBB.
Chapter 118
It didn’t move an inch.
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I tilted my head lightly, pressing my foot down harder to remind him that his life was still resting beneath it. “I won’t be the only one to get in trouble, a lot of people saw you dragging me into this alley. So if I say you tried to take advantage of me and I defended myself, people will believe me, even if you end up dead. Don’t you think so?”
I paused, watching the panic bloom in his eyes, then continued as if I were merely offering another option. “Or I could say you started fighting each other over my money and injured yourselves in the process. I mean, look at me.” I glanced down at myself briefly before meeting his gaze again. “I look harmless. You look like bandits. From my experience, people judge based on appearances long before they care about the truth.”
His eyes widened in horror. His mouth opened, as if he wanted argue, and threaten me again, but before he could make a sound, his gaze snapped past me.
“You fucking bastard!”
The shout came from behind. I sensed it before I heard the rush of movement. It was the sharp spike of killing intent. My instincts reacted instantly. Without turning around, I reached out and caught the dagger midair, my hand closing firmly around the blade before it could strike me.
The alley fell into silence.
Both men froze, staring at my hand in disbelief, their faces draining of color. I smiled slowly and even had the decency to wink.
“So,” I said, holding the dagger as if it were a toy, “what do you think? Should we call everyone over and let them enjoy a little show?”
That did it.
They swallowed hard, then dropped to their knees almost in union, hands pressed together in frantic pleading.
“No-no, big brother, please forgive us!” one of them cried. “Please don’t get angry. It’s our fault. We shouldn’t have offended you. Please let it go. We’ll do anything. Anything you want.”
I studied them for a moment, then stepped back and removed my foot from his neck. “Anything?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.
They nodded so quickly I thought their heads might fall off.
A wide smile spread across my face. “You should’ve said that in the beginning. Get up. Get up, don’t ruin your clothes.”
They hesitated, glancing at each other, unsure if this was another trick.
I kept smiling. “I don’t like repeating myself.”
They scrambled to their feet immediately.
Satisfied, I nodded and stretched out my hand toward them. They stared at it blankly, clearly confused. I sighed, shaking my head. “Brothers, why are you so slow? You’re the ones who dragged me here. I wasted my time, my energy, and I even dirtied my clothes beating you up. Shouldn’t you compensate for all that?”
It was shameless. Absolutely shameless.
But since they had tried to scam me first, I didn’t feel bad in the lightest. Scamming the scammers felt perfectly fair to me. After all, that was just how the world worked, or at least, how I worked.
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