Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)

Mu Yuze had no idea who these people were nor how he ended up in such a predicament. Everything had happened so fast for him to process it.

Just less than two hours ago, he had stood on the doorway to say goodbye to the Morningstar brothers who were making a trip home.

"I know I’m extremely lovable, but don’t miss me too much, okay?" Sirius remarked playfully, earning him a disdainful eye roll from Mu Yuze.

Somewhere between the trip to a farm at Christmas Eve and lighting fireworks together at New Year’s Eve, the two of them had progressed from being chaotic rivals to frenemies. Sirius managed to pull out the childishness Mu Yuze had no idea existed in him before and Mu Yuze hated him for it. But at the same time, he was also grateful because the boy’s loud voice and randomness was a nice distraction from his thoughts that kept drifting to He Juan at any second and minute of the day.

So yeah, frenemies.

Marius chuckled when he saw both of their antics. "We have to go now before we miss the time of the gathering," he told his little brother. Then to Mu Yuze, "Will you be alright at home alone? Don’t open the door to anyone and don’t turn on the stove if you don’t know how to cook, understand?"

Mu Yuze set his lips into thin lines, nodding. Perhaps it was the traits of an older brother, Mu Yuze discovered that both He Juan and Marius were very good at nagging and oh, they were also huge worrywarts. "I will be fine," he reassured the blonde man, not saying how he was already fifteen and could already be considered half an adult despite his short and thin stature.

No matter how similar this man was to He Juan, he was not He Juan, after all. And thus, Mu Yuze could only swallow his snarky retorts.

Marius nodded with a smile. "I’m sure you will. Either way, XIU is coming back today, right?"

The depth of Mu Yuze’s dark eyes immediately lit up when he heard that. Seeing that, Marius let out a knowing chuckle.

After seeing the two brothers off, he closed the door, made sure it was locked and settled himself on the couch in the living room. His gaze involuntarily drifted to the window, watching as the entire city was shrouded in pure whiteness. Without him realizing, the corner of his lips curved into a faint smile as anticipation slowly simmered from deep inside his chest.

He Juan was coming back... Mu Yuze could finally see him today!

He could no longer count how many hours he had held onto his phone in the dead of the night, staring at He Juan’s name on his list of contacts that only had two people — a habit he had somehow procured during the days He Juan was absent. He knew that he was not allowed to make a call and thus he could only make do with gazing at the man’s name. It was as if staring hard enough would create a miracle and he would be able to find an incoming call from He Juan.

But no, miracles did not happen and Mu Yuze held the silent phone to himself until he drifted off to sleep.

But those lonely and dreadful days were finally over and he could see the man again today!

Mu Yuze started to daydream, thinking about what he should say when he saw the man again. The first thing should be to wish He Juan a happy new year, right? After that, depending on He Juan’s mood, perhaps he would ask how the trip had been and whether his little brother was doing well...

Minutes continued to turn as Mu Yuze was lost in the imaginary conversation in his mind. He thought he was hallucinating at first when he heard the faint ding of the elevator echoing amidst the silence, and only when his ears picked up a series of quiet footsteps did he snap back to his senses.

It was not He Juan, he was certain of it. Another guest of his, perhaps?

Learning from his previous misconceptions about the Morningstar brothers, Mu Yuze held back his speculation this time, but it did not mean that he would lower his guard either. Quietly, he stepped toward the door, moved the stool and climbed on it to see into the peephole.

However, just as he was standing on the stool, the door suddenly shook and faint sparks of fire burst out through the seams of the door!

Mu Yuze’s eyes widened in shock. What was that...?

Before he could even wrap his head around the current situation, the door suddenly swung open and smacked him right on the face, causing him to slip and land on his butt. It hurt, but the pain also served as a wake-up call that roused his natural instinct that had been softened by months of comfort.

Danger! His mind clamored in extreme alert. These people were different from the Morningstar brothers, they were enemies!

In that split second when the door was stuck midway due to the toppled stool, Mu Yuze scrambled to his feet and grabbed the first thing he could find – a round ceramic vase on the shoe cabinet – and he hurled it toward the first person who stepped in through the door!

"Fuck!" The man cursed loudly and he staggered backward as the vase had struck him right on the head, drawing blood.

Mu Yuze’s black-blue eyes sharpened as he spotted an opening. He had no idea who these people were, but the first thing he had to do was to get out of here as soon as possible and find a way to alert He Juan about this! Now!

Never had he been grateful for his small stature until now. He ducked his head, the muscles in his entire body tensed as he sprinted past the disoriented man, his eyes and mind were focused only on one thing — the emergency exit door. As soon as he could get there... as soon as he could leave this place, he was certain that he would be able to shake these people off! After all, his running speed had been honed through years of slipping away from his bastard father!

Alas, there was something very, very important that Mu Yuze had overlooked.

This was not the street where he could take advantage of the crowd to slip away. This was a straight, empty corridor with nary a person in sight. Not only that, these people were also not his father, who was often drunk and wobbled on his feet.

Mu Yuze had just taken no more than five steps when he felt a powerful force struck him from behind and pressed him down to the ground with the weight of a thousand pounds!

He smacked his face for the second time. This time, the pain burned hotter and sharper and he only noticed that he was bleeding from his nose when someone grabbed his neck from behind to lift him up like a little helpless kitten.

"Damn brat..." the man sneered. "You think it’s so easy to escape?"

On the side, the sleeping kittens were startled by the loud noise and started meowing loudly for their mother who was missing at the moment. Alas, nobody regarded their pitiful cries as the man started to drag Mu Yuze back toward the door.

Mu Yuze struggled like mad. "Let me go!"

He even resorted to biting the man’s hand, kicking, scratching and shouting loudly to see if he could attract someone’s attention here, but then it only ended up in his mouth being clasped shut and his neck strangled by the man’s arm that was easily as thick as his waist, rendering him unable to breathe. It struck him how weak he truly was then, for the man did not even need to expend much effort to incapacitate him. How naïve was he to think that he could make an escape?

Aside from the man holding him captive, Mu Yuze caught sight of two more people, one whose head was injured from the vase, while the last one... he was carrying a gun in his hand. Upon seeing that, Mu Yuze did not dare to struggle anymore.

’Calm down, Mu Yuze,’ he told himself as he tried to regulate his heavy breathing. ’Stay calm and seek an opportunity to escape. You can do this. Stay calm...’

However, the semblance of composure he had managed to gather with much effort ended up shattering into pieces when his phone rang. Looking at the three men’s reaction, he could easily guess that their target was He Juan, and the fact that he was going to become a liability made Mu Yuze feel so awful that his eyes reddened.

"Answer it," the man holding him said.

The man who held his phone – also the one with the gun – grinned and picked up the call, putting it on speaker. Mu Yuze felt as if his chest was caving in with the mixture of dread and joy when He Juan’s relieved voice traveled to his ears, "Xiao Ze, were you sleeping?"

Mu Yuze wanted to shout, wanted to warn the man to get away, but his mouth was clamped tightly and all he could let out was faint muffled sounds.

A vicious glint flashed through Injured Man’s eyes when he looked at Mu Yuze, presumably still enraged by the fact that he had been wounded so easily by a child to boot, and he deliberately spoke to the phone with a provoking tone, "Mr. Xiu, we have been waiting to meet you. Imagine how disappointed we are to find that you are not home."

Silence.

All Mu Yuze could hear was his own rapid breathing and the blood that was rushing in his ears. He could not even feel the pain on his body for all of his senses were attuned to the phone.

After a moment that stretched like eternity, He Juan’s soft chuckle sounded. But different from his usual gentle and warm chuckle, this time it was devoid of any emotions, so cold and callous that it sent chills down everyone’s spine – including Mu Yuze.

When He Juan spoke again, gone was the gentleness he had always shown and a hint of bloodthirstiness peeked through, "If you touch even one strand of hair on his head, I will make you yearn for death... so much that you wish you’d never been born." He emphasized each word with gravity, the weight striking the men’s heart akin to a heavy gong.