Half an hour later, Darnell left the Apex’s headquarters.
In the confrontation with the Axe, Darnell always stayed behind the scenes at the Apex, commanding from a distance to reduce the danger to himself and those around him.
So after finishing breakfast, instead of having the Apex members take him to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals, he decided to take the bus to avoid drawing attention.
At this time, the buses heading to Spectrum Pharmaceuticals were always overcrowded. Darnell waited for eight buses in a row but couldn’t find a seat.
During this time, Darnell received fliers from four takeout restaurants, a non-profit organization promoting safe sex with condoms, and two small cards for moving and unclogging drains.
He wasn’t interested in any of the contents, but he felt that those distributors were working hard early in the morning, so he didn’t refuse.
Finally, a relatively empty bus arrived. Darnell put the condom in his pocket and threw the rest of the fliers in the trash.
He finally found a seat, and just as an elderly man in yellow approached him with an intense gaze, Darnell’s phone rang. He quickly put on his earphones and heard Garrett’s voice. He informed Darnell that the police had filed a case against Nathen.
Garrett was planning to take a dozen brothers from the Brigade of Light to the bookstore over the weekend to see if they could run into Nathen since the police were short-handed.
Darnell knew that Garrett was calling to seek his opinion. Without hesitation, he nodded and agreed to let Garrett bring the members of the Brigade of Light to the bookstore. Not only because Garrett was his brother, but also because facilitating the reunion of Sophia and her brother would be a virtuous deed. Darnell always enjoyed doing good things. It was in his nature.
“Ahem!”
After hanging up the phone, Darnell put his earphones back in his pocket and looked up. He noticed that the face of the elderly man in yellow had changed and his gaze became even sharper and more hostile. He saw the old man rolling up his sleeves, revealing his formidable strength…
Darnell quickly stood up to offer his seat, fearing that the old man would get angry and slap him.
The old man snorted before sitting down. He even sneered, “No manners at all. I’ve been standing here for so long, and it seems like some people didn’t even notice me.”
Darnell was nearly driven crazy in frustration. The old man looked to be only around fifty, standing about five foot seven, dressed in shorts and a short-sleeve shirt, with muscles that rivaled those of a young man.
This man was clearly full of energy. Not only was he competing for a spot with the busy morning crowd, but he also had the audacity to start hurling insults right away. It was incredibly frustrating.
But Darnell didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, so he held his tongue.
“Young people have become more and more impolite,” the old man in the yellow shirt continued relentlessly, shouting across the crowd at his companions who were also competing for a spot. “I don’t know how their parents are raising them!”
An older man in a tank top shouted back, “Next time you see someone like that, just slap him twice. Help their parents teach these brats how to respect their elders!”
Many passengers in the bus stepped back slightly, distancing themselves from this group of hot-headed old men.
Darnell, however, merely smiled faintly, not taking it to heart, and responded politely, “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t hear you. I was on the phone.”
The old man in yellow snorted dismissively, clearly not willing to accept the apology.
“Oh? Whose twenty dollars is this?”
Darnell didn’t continue apologizing but instead lowered his head, pointing to the cash lying at the old man’s feet. “Did someone lose their money?”
The old man looked down and, sure enough, saw a dollar bill lying next to him.
Darnell called out three times, but no one responded. The old man huffed, “This money is by my feet, so of course it’s mine.”
With that, he bent down to pick up the crumpled bill.
Darnell feigned surprise. “Is this really your money, sir?”
The passengers in the bus glanced over, shaking their heads helplessly. Darnell was still too naive.
“Of course! If it’s not mine, is it yours? This is my cash!”
The old man scolded Darnell, proudly waving the money as if it were proof of his claim. “Are you trying to steal my money?”
Darnell shook his head, “No way, not at all.”
“You wouldn’t dare.”
The old man, triumphantly holding the dollar bill, suddenly felt something crumpled inside the bill. Instinctively, he opened it to find something else inside.
When he saw it, his expression changed, and with a flick of his hand, the money and the item fell to the ground.
“Hey, sir, your money and a condom just fell out.”
Darnell bent down to pick up the money and the condom, innocently handing them back to the old man. “Here’s your condom. You should keep it safe.”
As soon as this was said, the bus fell into stunned silence, with countless eyes turning to look.
First, they stared at the dollar bill and the condom in Darnell’s hand, then shifted their gaze to the old man in yellow, whose face was now bright red with embarrassment.
Had this old man no shame?
Several nearby girls instinctively moved away from the old man.
The old man’s companions also wore mocking smiles, seemingly surprised that their friend was such a person.
Seeing so many people looking down on him, the old man wished he could find a hole to crawl into. “This isn’t mine, it’s not mine… I don’t have…”
“How can it not be yours?”
Darnell waved the items in his hand before continuing, “You just said in front of everyone that money was yours.”
“The condom and the dollar bill were stuck together. How can they not be yours? Don’t feel pressured, sir-if young people can use condoms, so can you.”
“Many seventy-year-old men in Baycliff carry condoms. You’re not the only man, so there’s no need for you to feel ashamed.”
Passengers who couldn’t stand the old man’s ruckus also displayed knowing smirks.
The old man felt like his veins were about to burst. He just couldn’t refute it. After all, he had been greedy.
Darnell pressed the cash and condom into the old man’s hands. “Here you go. Keep it well. Don’t worry. Condoms aren’t something to be embarrassed about.”
“On the contrary, it shows you’re keeping up with the times and have a sense of safety. Carrying it means you won’t bring home any diseases from the outside.”
The old man was fuming. “It’s not mine! It’s not mine!”
He glared fiercely at Darnell. “If you keep saying it’s mine, I’ll beat you up!”
Darnell feigned confusion, “But the condom is wrapped in the cash. And you said the money is yours. How can the condom not be yours? So whose is it?”
The old man threw the items at Darnell and shouted to the bus driver, “I want to get off, get off…”
When the bus reached the next stop, the old man got off, still defiant, turning back to point at Darnell, and shouted, “You better watch it, kid!”
Clearly, he had guessed that Darnell was behinds this.
“What?”
Darnell shouted back, “Do you want your condom back?”
This time, not only the passengers on the bus but even those waiting at the bus station turned to look at the old man.
His cheeks flushed again, and with his head down, he turned and ran away…