The Unlucky One in a Crematorium-Style Novel (2) The moment Qin Jingzhou saw the system’s reaction, he knew it had been kept in the dark as well. He lifted his head and glanced around. The unrestrained graffiti on the street walls—especially the large swaths of Latin letters—made him certain he was no longer within the borders of Huaguo.
Survival came first.
He swept his gaze over two trash bins not far away. Beside them lay various renovation tools—used brushes, paint rollers, and scrapers. He lunged forward, snatching two rollers and a scraper into his hands.
He weighed them briefly, then calmed his breathing and carefully sensed the surrounding world. In the previous world, the suppression on his strength had been severe; he could only rely on “brute force to create miracles.” The kind of “miracles” he produced could shock people, but not to the point of making them question reality itself. This world was clearly more tolerant. He could exert more strength than before—and he had also regained a bit of his computational ability.
For example, after poking his head out from behind a concrete pillar and glancing across the way, he immediately located the assassin and even deduced the bullet’s trajectory. Twisting his body, he dodged another shot and flung a roller straight at the man’s head.
A muffled grunt reached his ears. Qin Jingzhou leaned out again and, with all his strength, hurled the scraper in his hand.
A soft pfft.
At the cost of straining the muscles in one arm, Qin Jingzhou brought the assassin down.
Thankfully, there had only been one assassin. Otherwise… he might have strained the other arm too.
The alley was empty now. Holding the remaining scraper, Qin Jingzhou walked over to the fallen Caucasian assassin and stomped down mercilessly.
“Who sent you?” he demanded.
He spoke in English.
The man’s eyes rolled back—
—and he passed out from the pain.
Qin Jingzhou: … “I wronged that useless emperor from the previous world. When he had his leg smashed on the spot, he was drenched in cold sweat from the pain but never passed out. He could even stare at me with bloodshot eyes.” To Qin Jingzhou, the system appeared as a small orb of light attached to the outer shell of his sea of consciousness. Though the orb had no expression, he could clearly sense its mood. “What did you find that’s making you this awkward?” The system hurriedly replied, “Brother Zhou, I owe you an apology! I’m sorry! The original novel was four million words long, and I only told you about the main plot instead of reading everything carefully. I just ran a full search and found details about the male supporting character’s biological father. After the divorce, he was misled by friends and went abroad… to Eastern Europe, specifically, to make money by going into the ‘sea.’ The novel says he died in extreme disgrace. The biological father was the male supporting character’s lifelong knot in his heart—his greatest wish was to never become like his father.” “That’s not right,” Qin Jingzhou said, focusing again on his physical condition. “The original body doesn’t have kidney deficiency, nor does it have any strange marks or injuries.” At that moment, the original owner’s memories surged over him like a sudden flood.
After sorting through those residual memories, Qin Jingzhou lifted the unconscious assassin with his uninjured arm and walked toward his residence according to those memories, speaking to the system as he went. “Blind faith in books is worse than having no books at all. ‘Going into the sea’… that’s really selling it cheap. The original owner hooked up with a local big shot’s lover. Before anything even happened, the big shot found out. The one I’m holding right now is that big shot’s subordinate, sent to teach the original owner a lesson.” System: …
So, between going abroad to make money and seducing a big shot’s mistress, which was better? The system fell into momentary confusion.
The original owner had rented a detached house here.
Qin Jingzhou first dragged, then hoisted the man inside. The neighbors saw this and didn’t even bother to ask a single question.
He opened the door, set down the scraper, slapped the last remaining adhesive bandage onto the assassin’s wound, and tied the unconscious Caucasian man to a chair. Only then did he unhurriedly head out to buy medicine.
When he returned, he treated his injuries in the dry, clean bathroom—especially the strained arm muscles and the minor abrasions on his hands. A subordinate had gone missing; the big shot would definitely send more people. There might be another tough fight soon.
After all, this wasn’t Huaguo, but the indescribable chaos of Eastern Europe. Asking for help was useless.
Once everything was taken care of, he looked carefully at himself in the mirror. “The original owner wanted to make a living off his looks. I… actually don’t see a problem with that.”
The system understood him well. “I think he suits your aesthetic more than the emperor from the previous world.” That emperor had been beautiful, yes—but a bit too delicate. The original owner, Shangguan Jingzhou, was handsome without losing his masculine edge. The system continued, “Like father, like son. You know how it is—romance novels often make the male supporting character better-looking than the male lead.” Qin Jingzhou caught the implication immediately. “Sounds like my cheap son’s student years weren’t exactly pleasant.” “Unlike many novels, the baby-swap incident really had no conspiracy behind it. His adoptive father was a nouveau riche, and his adoptive mother was similar to the male lead’s biological mother—her mind was full of competing for favor and suppressing mistresses. They weren’t afraid, or rather didn’t believe, that they wouldn’t bond with their biological son. So from childhood to adulthood, the male supporting character was thoroughly disgusted by his adoptive parents, the adoptive father’s lovers, and his half-siblings—but he never lacked money. Later, when his identity was uncovered and he returned to his biological mother’s side, he was once again disgusted by her many lovers and his half-siblings from different fathers…” “He’s seriously starved for affection.” “Yes. After following his biological mother back to the old residence, he met the male lead there and, through him, met the female lead. From then on, he gradually fell in love with her.” Qin Jingzhou washed his face. Even his movements as he dried it unconsciously grew gentler. “Have they already met?” “They have. Your cheap son is currently a senior in college, about to graduate. The male lead already finds him extremely unpleasant and has secretly made things difficult for him several times.” At that moment, the assassin in the small living room slowly woke up and let out a cry of pain.
Almost simultaneously, the doorbell rang.
Qin Jingzhou calmly hung up the towel. Under the stunned gaze of the Caucasian assassin, he tucked a large and a small kitchen knife into his pockets and went to open the door openly.
Outside, three cars were parked in front of the house.
Black-clad bodyguards opened the doors. From the middle stretch limousine stepped out a middle-aged man in a custom-made suit with an ordinary appearance. From the other side, a blonde beauty was dragged over to him by the bodyguards.
The blonde beauty looked utterly wronged. She knelt at the man’s feet, sobbing nonstop. “David, listen to me—he seduced me!”
With his uninjured hand, Qin Jingzhou flicked his wrist and threw a kitchen knife.
Cold light flashed.
Several seconds later, the middle-aged man and the bodyguards seemed to wake from a dream and all turned their heads toward the bodyguard closest to the man—
—who now had a kitchen knife embedded in his chest.
The bodyguard, hands trembling, opened his coat… and everyone clearly saw that the knife had precisely pierced through the barrel of the V61 pistol hidden in his specially made inner pocket.
Qin Jingzhou asked lightly, “What did you just say?” He calmly pulled another kitchen knife from his jeans pocket.
The blonde beauty immediately stopped sobbing. “I took the money! I only know that the other party’s surname was Weng!”
The middle-aged man grabbed the blonde woman by the collar and threw her at Qin Jingzhou’s feet. In heavily accented English, he said, “Master from the East, my apologies. She… is my gift to you.”
Qin Jingzhou ignored him for the moment, frowning slightly. “Weng?”
The system quickly added, “Your cheap son’s current stepfather’s surname is Weng. This man later becomes one of the male lead’s capable aides… one of them. Back when the original owner hadn’t divorced yet, he was already the eldest miss’s lover. He…” The system flipped through the plot. “He once tried to have the original owner sterilized, but the original owner survived through sheer dumb luck. Right now, he publicly presents himself as a generous, open-minded, model stepfather.” Qin Jingzhou laughed in anger. “So he’s a seasoned rival in male competition.” He lit a cigarette. “We’re going back to Huaguo.” He had planned to build a proper career before returning, to appear before his cheap son with dignity. Now, he couldn’t wait any longer.
Just as he was about to speak, his intuition flared again. He kicked out instantly. The middle-aged man, caught completely off guard, was sent flying backward. As the bodyguards prepared to act against Qin Jingzhou, the kitchen knife in his hand flew out, striking the dagger that had suddenly appeared in the blonde beauty’s hand. Knife, dagger, and hand were all nailed straight to the ground.
The blonde woman’s head lolled to the side, and she passed out.
Qin Jingzhou’s brows knitted tightly.
On the inside of her wrist was a tattoo of two Chinese characters:
Rui Tong.
The male lead of the novel was named Jiang Ruitong.
It was obvious—they were taking advantage of the fact that no one around here could read Chinese.
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