Chapter 14: Twelve Tattooed Brutes and One Dashing Young Gentleman

Chapter 14: Twelve Tattooed Brutes and One Handsome Youth

“I wonder how that idiot is doing?”

Liu Jingbai stepped out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, her freshly showered skin glowing with a tempting rosy hue. She strode gracefully on her long, alabaster legs to the bedroom and picked up her phone.

A faint smile appeared on her delicate face as if she had just thought of something amusing.

With practiced ease, she opened her messaging app and tapped on the chat pinned at the top, labeled “Idiot.”

From the casual glance at their chat history, it was clear that every time she sent several messages, he would reply with just one short sentence, usually only a word or two—mostly perfunctory replies like “Mm,” “Oh,” “Okay,” or “Not bad.”

The last message was also from her, sent that very morning.

Now, it was already evening.

“No reply again! So annoying!” Liu Jingbai pouted, flopping onto the bed. She had planned to close the app to avoid frustration, but then noticed that the usually stagnant class group chat was now bursting with over 99 unread messages, buzzing with lively conversation.

“Did something happen?” she wondered and tapped in.

Immediately, she saw that everyone was discussing Jiang Ren.

Curious, she scrolled back through the messages and finally found the origin of the topic—a classmate had shared a news article.

“The Strongest Youth in History!”

“Fifteen-Year-Old Outsmarts Twelve Fierce Adults!”

“Shocking: Twelve Tattooed Grown Men Defeated by a Fifteen-Year-Old Boy and His Dog!”

“In the Wild Mountains: The Story of Twelve Adults and One Youth—Don’t Miss This!”

“A Boy Uses That Thing to Take Down Twelve Adults!”

“The Boy and His Dog Encounter a Gang of Thugs—Heartbreaking Aftermath!”

These headlines, some embarrassing, some baffling, left Liu Jingbai unsure which to believe, so she randomly clicked on one link.

Ten minutes later, after reading through the news, she breathed a slight sigh of relief—the content was at least somewhat reasonable.

“Twelve Tattooed Brutes and One Handsome Youth’s Unspeakable Secret!”

Glancing at the headline, she furiously clicked the “Report” button.

“I hate clickbait the most!” she exclaimed.

Liu Jingbai refrained from joining the class chat and instead sent a few caring messages to the person she had nicknamed “Idiot.”

Then she stared at her phone, waiting.

One minute.

Three minutes.

Half an hour passed.

“Idiot, idiot, idiot!”

“Jiang Ren, you big idiot!”

Liu Jingbai threw her phone onto the bed, pounding the mattress angrily before lying down, sulking.

Gradually, drowsiness overcame her and she drifted off to sleep.

Meanwhile, elsewhere.

Jiang Ren’s face was somewhat darkened.

He had barely managed to unlock his phone when a flood of push notifications hit him.

“Twelve Brutes and One Youth’s Secret,” “The Boy, the Dog, and the Brutes’ Unspeakable Story”—each headline more absurd and exaggerated than the last.

Indeed, the youth in question was none other than himself.

It had been barely a week since he dealt with the poaching gang, yet somehow the news had leaked, picked up first by foreign media, instantly going viral.

Within half a day, the craze spread to his home country, growing even fiercer.

Just logging into any news app showed that at least half the headlines involved him—proof of his sudden fame.

Thankfully, he had acted quickly, decisively leaving the mountain village where his neighbor kept Xiaobai and taking refuge in a hotel in the nearby town.

During the day, he had spoken by phone with villagers who told him that many self-media personalities and internet celebrities had arrived near his home. Without their help keeping watch, those people would likely have broken into his house by now in search of content.

“My head hurts,” Jiang Ren muttered, rubbing his stiff neck as he rose to look out the window.

This town was the closest settlement to the mountain village, lacking any tourist attractions, so mostly locals passed through.

Yet despite the darkening sky, the streets were still crowded with oddly dressed men and women.

Most of them were absorbed in their phones, talking to themselves, sometimes laughing loudly, cursing, or playing dumb.

Undoubtedly, these were internet celebrities live-streaming to ride the wave of his fame.

Jiang Ren was grateful for his foresight in having a trusted acquaintance book a room for him in advance, and for sneaking in through the back door disguised; otherwise, he might have had to flee under cover of night.

“Good thing I dismantled all the traps,” he thought, recalling how he had promptly removed the forest snares after the incident.

Otherwise, with these internet fame-chasers going wild, many would have modified the forest into a death trap, and dozens might have perished.

A pleasant ringtone sounded behind him.

It was a phone call.

Since Jiang Ren had discovered his number leaked and had received several calls from strangers claiming to want interviews, he had promptly restricted incoming calls to a whitelist only.

The caller was Elder Yuan from the village.

Jiang Ren answered, “Elder Yuan, you’re looking for me?”

“Dogsheng,” came Yuan’s voice.

Hearing that nickname, Jiang Ren sighed inwardly. When the old hunter had taken him in, he casually gave him that name. Only when Jiang Ren was six did he insist on changing back to his real name.

Though the official name had changed, the villagers who had grown used to calling him Dogsheng still treated it as his nickname.

Elder Yuan continued, “A director came by here. He said he wants to make a movie about your story and asked if you could sell him the rights. He wants to meet you—should I give him your answer?”

Jiang Ren didn’t hesitate. “Elder Yuan, that director’s probably just another internet celebrity. Don’t get scammed.”

“I don’t think so. I remember he’s a new-generation director—you even gave us his movie tickets a few years ago,” Yuan said with some puzzlement.

Jiang Ren’s interest piqued. “Is his name Zhang Ke?”

“That’s right. I had my grandson look him up online, and his picture matches.”

“Send me his contact info. I’ll get in touch with him,” Jiang Ren decided.

He occasionally watched movies to break up the monotony of life.

Zhang Ke was a director he liked—a promising talent who had made a fine film debut, excelling in composition and storytelling. Unfortunately, he hadn’t released anything in two years.

Rumor had it he couldn’t find a suitable script, so had stalled production—never expecting to find one in Jiang Ren’s own story.

Of course, Jiang Ren’s willingness to meet was largely because he wanted to see how his life would translate to the big screen. Another big reason was his pressing need for money.

Buying gear and weapons cost money.

Traveling around the world cost money.

Hunting in remote areas cost money.

Selling film rights wouldn’t bring much, but every little bit helps—and what harm is there in a little extra?

(End of chapter)