Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 125: The Reward

Bao Xiong stepped back, his eyes rolling in their sockets. His gagged hands shook as if struck lightly, then he bowed. "I’m sorry. Please forgive me."

’Is Bao Xiong going mad?’ the thought reeled in Leon’s mind as he stared at the sudden change in Bao Xiong’s actions.

All three of the squad, who had been relaxing on the beds, stood up abruptly, turned toward Leon’s direction, then bowed.

There, on the floor underneath Leon, a long shadow streaked past him. He swallowed hard, feeling a sudden shift in the air moving in and out of his lungs.

He turned, his mind cracking in his skull. ’Hei Luo?’ The name bounced in Leon’s head as his body moved in a 360-degree angle.

In the dark hallway stood a man with short red hair and red eyes. The shallow wind waving through the darkness fumbled through his black coat and exited like fire.

Leon tilted his gaze from Hei Luo’s direction to Bao Xiong, Liu Yan, Wu Ze, and An Lang’s directions, then smiled faintly. ’So, all three of the men in black are high people.’

The air burned the moment Hei Luo stepped into the room, his hands placed behind his back.

Sweat beaded on Bao Xiong’s face as he stared at the floor. ’Is he here because of what I did earlier?’ He shivered heavily as soon as the man walked past him.

"Mmm..." Hei Luo sighed, then halted at the center of the room, where the white table was. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

A grim grin dressed his gaze as he tilted his eyes from An Lang to Wu Ze, almost as if they had done something unworthy.

"Squad 7." He tilted his gaze from Liu Yan to Leon, his grimace turning into a smile. "Congratulations on locating the Devilish Goat in Chaos City."

He pulled his right arm from his back. Under his tight grip, a black envelope remained fixed, like a treasure about to be bestowed into someone else’s care.

"This is your reward for revealing the hiding spot of the creature." He whipped the envelope twice in the air, then stretched it toward Leon’s direction.

’Why is only Leon receiving a reward?’ Bao Xiong’s jaw clenched as he followed the envelope to the shocked boy.

"Me?"

"Yes," Hei Luo confirmed.

Leon moved forward with trembling steps, leaving the side of the door. ’What will they be given? We worked as a group. I can’t be the only one to receive a gift.’

With his mind full of questions, Leon closed in, reached for the envelope, then bowed. "Thank you, sir."

A smile tore across Hei Luo’s face.

’How am I going to share it? Am I even the right person to share this? What is even inside?’ Thoughts hijacked Leon’s mind as he fixed his gaze on the envelope now held tight in his hands.

Hei Luo placed his hands behind his back, then turned, ready to step out of the room.

"Sir, please, how should we share this?"

Hei Luo tilted his head slightly, smiled, then exited without answering.

...

"What is in that?" Liu Yan rushed forward, her face shimmering with joy. "It’s been months since we received something like this."

Leon’s brow raised as he stared at Liu Yan’s sudden joy.

"Leon, open it and let’s see what’s inside," An Lang stated, folding his arms across his chest.

With a disgusted sigh, Bao Xiong shouldered Leon as he walked past him. His gaze burned as he looked at Leon from the corner of his eyes before reaching his bed.

"Whatever that is," he sat on the bed and threw his legs onto it, "...it won’t be any more than a hundred jade coins."

’A hundred jade coins?’ The question hammered Leon’s thoughts. In his entire life, the only thing he had seen, touched, and utilized were sand coins, the only coins given to those of Dusthollow.

Although Darian had gifted him lots of money, even one jade coin would have changed his life and helped him accomplish his goal.

"What are you waiting for, Leon? Open it," Liu Yan tapped Leon’s shoulder. "If it’s a hundred jade coins, we would know how to share them."

A devilish laugh escaped Bao Xiong. "Count me out. Jade coins are nothing to me." He closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, the pain of not receiving the gift from the fire wielder’s hand hammering against his chest like jagged poison.

Liu Yan walked beside Leon as he neared the central table, placing the envelope down.

Wu Ze stood up. "Leon, don’t mind Bao Xiong. He’s just jealous." She neared the table, her face full of expectation.

"Me jealous? Huh! Why should I be jealous of something that had been gifted to a Dusthollow rat?" He spat to the left side of the bed, then shook his head. "Even my corpse wouldn’t do that."

Wu Ze whipped her head sharply. "Really, Bao Xiong?" A saddened expression filled her face as she shook her head.

Liu Yan placed her palms against Leon’s back. "Remember what I told you earlier."

An Lang squeezed his eyes shut, exchanging surprised glances between Leon and Liu Yan. ’Are they now lovers?’

The sound of paper tearing filled the small space of the room as everyone, except Bao Xiong, turned welcoming faces toward the second brown envelope sealed inside the first one.

A short laugh echoed from Bao Xiong. "Only waste objects are placed in brown envelopes."

An Lang turned an angry expression toward Bao Xiong. "Man, what at all has this boy done to you?"

Bao Xiong’s laughter seized into a grimace. "Look at the mice defending the rat." He paused. "If humans are arguing, don’t ever consider yourself worthy to talk back."

He swung his leg off the bed and stood up, black energy spiraling around his right fist. "You hear me?" He pointed his index finger toward his right ear, his face burning red.

With a degraded expression, An Lang’s mouth went completely dry. He shifted his gaze away from Bao Xiong, then slowly walked toward his bed, which was opposite Bao Xiong’s.

Wu Ze sighed, devastation filling her gut. "Do whatever you want with the small power you wield."

Her chest heaved, her eyebrows opening and closing like a turbine. "Do whatever you want with the small power you wield, Bao Xiong."

She swallowed hard, then shifted her gaze to the now bright green-gold light emitting from the hard brown envelope Liu Yan had managed to open.

"Wu Ze!" Liu Yan’s eyes widened as she screamed in a tone she had never used.

"It’s a hundred jade coins." She paused, swallowed hard, brushed her palms across her face, then stared back at the five golden cards placed at the top of the five jade emblems.