“Is your master still okay?”
“Shut up. You are not worthy to mention my master!” Ye Wei coldly barked as she shot a cold gaze. Her wrist slightly moved. An alluring yet cold smile crept up the corners of her lips and she said, “Blue Wolf, I am giving you a chance to prepare on account of your age. Just don’t die too terrible a death later.”
There was viciousness on Blue Wolf’s face and dominance finally appeared in his gaze after those years of dormancy. Since Eleven was like him, she could clearly feel the murderous intent emanating from him.
Blue Wolf broke into laughter as his white hair fluttered in the night sky without any help from the wind. The birds were jolted and quickly flew away. There was an oppressing presence under the creepy night sky.
“You are undoubtedly the disciple she is most pleased with. I will waste you all today,” Blue Wolf said extremely coldly.
Eleven coldly smiled. “Why don’t you try?”
Ye Wei suddenly laughed alluringly and kept her silver gun. “After hiding for the past few years, to think you have taken refuge under the wings of the Mafia. How useless of you. So, you want to pick a fight? Whether it’s one-on-one or a group, I’m on.”
Eleven shot a cold gaze and said, “Cut the crap. I’ll put my gun aside and waste you with what my master has taught me.”
Mo Jue suddenly said, “Wifey, do you want to fight? Let Marshmallow help you.”
To be persistently gallant in front of one’s wife was a must.
“F*** off! This is none of your business!” Ye Wei looked at him with a cold gaze while Mo Jue curled his lips in slight indignation. All of a sudden, sporadic gunshots, which became more frequent, were heard from the direction of the prison.
It was not much longer later that a violent explosion followed.
Ye Wei and Eleven were taken back. Did Xu Nuo take action?
Oh, dear, how could a young girl who had yet to fully develop her skills take on all of them?
Blue Wolf, seeing their urgency, suddenly opened his eyes wide and waved his sleeve. He suddenly showed his five claws and, like an agile wolf, leaped toward Eleven and Ye Wei with a sinister gaze.
Ye Wei and Eleven moved to his left and right at the same time. As their feet turned, one moved forward with palms facing Blue Wolf whilst the other swept at his feet. They were extremely agile.
In the night, Mo Jue’s clear gaze focused on Ye Wei’s every move and was ready to save his wife anytime. Since Ye Wei forbade him from taking part, he obediently sat aside. He could sense Blue Wolf’s ferocity from a while ago.
While Ye Wei and Eleven were not weak, they were, however, not going to hold out for long.
With the forest now a battleground, the three of them duked it out and nobody was clearly winning. With no gimmicky or eye-dazzling moves, they utilized quick, vicious, and accurate moves that were guaranteed to kill if the moves hit home. They wished they could utterly decimate their opponents.
Eleven and Ye Wei had not been involved in such fistfights in such a long time, but working together for more than ten years cultivated a cohesion that was shocking. Whilst Blue Wolf would defeat them one-on-one, Ye Wei and Eleven working together allowed them to be equally matched.
But this was not for long.
After thirty-over moves, when Ye Wei went for Blue Wolf’s spine with both her palms and Eleven delivering a hurricane kick toward Blue Wolf’s heart, Blue Wolf coldly smiled as though he had been expecting that. With a reverse-grip, he gripped Ye Wei’s wrist and forcefully changed his position with Ye Wei’s. Eleven, in horror, realized that she was delivering a kick toward Ye Wei’s heart.
Eleven quickly retracted her move but could not avoid Ye Wei’s palms. She was knocked back ten-over steps and her spine hit against the tree trunk and then bounced back forcefully. She coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Ye Wei was enraged and tried to wrestle free from the old man’s grip and darted behind Blue Wolf to try and grab his spine. When it came to hand-to-hand combat, many would go specifically for the spine as breaking the enemy’s spine meant game over.
Blue Wolf, seemingly expecting Ye Wei to move, counteracted and pinned her down. He then sent her flying with a judo move.
Mo Jue, seeing his wife being viciously kicked away, quickly rushed to catch Ye Wei. As Eleven wiped the blood off her lips, she pushed herself off the ground into a leap and attacked. The immense strength in her move carried with it a strong murderous intent.
Ye Wei, who was caught by Mo Jue, did not say a word and pushed Mo Jue away. She swept past the branches on the ground and viciously swiped them at Blue Wolf without pause. She and Eleven, of the attaching variety, coordinated their attacks.
Killers often fought this way, focusing on the offensive rather than the defense as their main purpose was to kill their opponents. Ye Wei and Eleven clearly treated Blue Wolf as their target.
Their hatred for him aside, this was also a form of sparring between the previous top killer and current top killer. As Ye Wei and Eleven were not people to pass over a fight, they would not let Blue Wolf get away so easily.
“Wifey, you are so fierce.” Mo Jue murmured as he looked on the fierce fight with his clear, purple eyes.
With another round of moves dented, Blue Wolf’s gaze glinted with bloodlust in the night sky. It was cold, tough, and carried a strong gust of wind with it. “You want to touch a hair of mine, huh? You’re still very far from it.”
He sounded cold and indifferent.
Ye Wei and Eleven looked each other in the eye. They smiled coldly and fearlessly. Ye Wei, with her elegant arrogance, said, “Blue Wolf, to know oneself and the enemy is the key to winning the battle. Do you know what you have lost?”
Eleven, in her typical coldness, added, “We almost figure out your playbook. Blue Wolf, you are sure to lose.” She said decisively and forcefully, “It’s so tragic that you left the First Terrorist Organization, and after all these years, did not learn any new moves. When we heard the old witch order your demise, we knew that such a day was an eventuality. Now, die.”
Just as Eleven finished speaking, Blue Wolf’s eyes went wide as Eleven rapidly moved in the dark like a thousand-hand Buddha. As she moved quickly like lightning, she almost surrounded him and it was impossible to differentiate which one was the actual person.
Ye Wei then used a Tai Chi move that was very slow and gradually approached Blue Wolf. While she gently pushed out her palms, Blue Wolf saw Eleven pass through Ye Wei. It was clear that his palm move managed to repel Ye Wei.
In the blink of an eye, Ye Wei appeared at another corner and hit her palms onto his back. Blue Wolf felt a shock through his body. Before he could steady himself, Eleven struck.
It was as though a thousand hands gripped at his throat.
Blue Wolf, in a rage, roared and thumped his feet as his palms leaped into the air. Eleven suddenly backed off whilst Ye Wei’s moves were slightly weakened.
In the blink of an eye, he was trapped again.
It was like a dense web trapping him still.
Even somebody as capable as Mo Jue could not tell the weaknesses in Ye Wei and Eleven’s move at that moment. When used separately, they were able to curb-stomp others, let alone them in sync.
Blue Wolf broke into a cold smile. Unlike the first time when he panicked, he seemed much calmer this time as the corners of his lips curled into a cold smile. “So she taught you all these flowery moves! Humph!”
As he closed his eyes, Blue Wolf relied on his hearing to differentiate the moves at play. Eleven’s ‘thousand-hand Buddha’ move and Ye Wei’s Tai Chi did not seem to affect him as he was able to quickly respond to the changes in breath and wind, hence accurately meeting Ye Wei and Eleven’s blows.
Mo Jue was in applause!
How excellent!
When it came to men, whoever was more capable would be worshipped. Blue Wolf demonstrated exceptional prowess.
Eleven broke into a seeming smile whilst Ye Wei was still her typical violent self. As their wrists turned in sync, the flowery moves were off and they quickly moved.
Mo Jue could make out a five-diagrams-and-eight-elements move. As Ye Wei and Eleven moved, there were some clear threads surrounding Blue Wolf. Blue Wolf opened his eyes when he sensed something was amiss.
His hands and waist were already bound by a very intricate force.
When he opened his eyes, Ye Wei and Eleven backed off together. As they raised their hands, they tightened the thread and trapped Blue Wolf.
“Blue Wolf, die!” Eleven coldly smiled as she lifted her leg and retracted the thread as she swept over like a hurricane. Ye Wei also retracted the thread from her side. She suddenly opened up one of her hands and hit it against the top of his skull.
…
At the other side of the forest, as Stone entered the minefield, explosions arose and the ten-over men in pursuit laughed.
The Asian branch’s head, who was carrying Ning Ning and Xu Nuo, did not dare to catch a breath. As Xu Nuo felt weak due to a loss of blood midway, she leaned to a side and the young kid reached out to embrace her.
A panic showed on his white, tender face. Ever since he knew Xu Nuo, she was a lively and tough nut. Seeing Xu Nuo this weak and fragile made him nervous.
When he hugged Xu Nuo, she was a bit more awake. She immediately pushed Ning Ning away, but she was too late. Ning Ning, feeling warmth on his hand that had touched her back, moved his hands away. It was blood.
The young kid’s gaze also seemed to turn red, and his fingers trembled uncontrollably. As it was thankfully night time, the night concealed his terribly pale face. It was Xu Nuo’s blood…
Bloody, thick, and… cold…
“Nuo Nuo, what’s happened to you?” The young kid heard his own trembling voice and breathed hard. He tried to calm down but failed miserably. He was afraid.
“I’m fine. It’s just a flesh wound, so why are you trembling?” Xu Nuo’s voice did not seem to change as it sounded domineering as usual. She softly scolded him. “You, stupid stone. If something this minor causes you to tremble, you are really unpromising.”
How was that a flesh wound? His tiny hands were moistened by the blood. She clearly said that the stone caused her to bruise, but why did she bleed so heavily? The young kid was not stupid and quickly wanted to turn Xu Nuo around to check her back for injuries.
Xu Nuo pushed his hands away and gently fumed. “Stop looking. It’s just a minor wound. I’d had a lot of them and am used to it. Getting away is more important. If they catch up with us, we are dead meat.”
The young kid was extremely calm and his eyes in the night were bright. As the young kid glumly looked on at Xu Nuo without his typical feigned elegance, the Asian branch’s head could tell that this tough girl could be the wife of his future master—a power couple! He did not dare to interrupt them and walked into the forest with each of them in his arms.
This was a perfect place to hide in the dark night.
Xu Nuo, acting as though nothing had happened, held onto the Asian branch’s head’s neck and thought of ways to keep herself going without showing the slightest signs of fatigue. The young kid’s cold face showed no emotion.
“Nuo Nuo, turn around and show me.”
“I won’t allow you to. What is there to see?”
“Turn around!” He deepened his voice and ordered Xu Nuo for the first time. The Asian branch’s head was even more certain that this little master and his temperament was something no typical child could have.
He was so calm, so brutal to the point that a grown-up would be stopped by his temperament and involuntarily avail himself to the child’s orders.
One sentence was all it took to rally them.
“My dear Stone, I should say that there is nothing remarkable about a girl’s back. Don’t you have any sense of shame?” Xu Nuo smiled as she landed a slap on the young kid’s face. “Look at me this attentive and alert. Does it look like something will happen to me?”
The young kid could not make out whether she was lying or not. While Xu Nuo did look lively and energetic, why did he feel so uneasy?
“Was it because of the injury you took when you pounced onto me?” He could easily see through the chaff and recalled the terrifying look on Xu Nuo’s face as she pounced on him, along with her groan.
“So much nonsense from you,” Xu Nuo said as though nothing had happened. “I promised your auntie that I would deliver you intact into her hands. For all you know, she might become my in-law, so I have to please her, hehe.”
“What about you?” Ning Ning asked.
“Just like this.”
The young kid kept silent. In the dark night, the woods were silent as the two young kids sat on the Asian branch’s head’s shoulder and stared at each other hard. Ning Ning totally lost his composure.
He was extremely unhappy and almost screamed out. He was extremely displeased at how Xu Nuo wanted to please his auntie.
The Asian branch’s head could sense his anger even though the young kid wanted to show his typically elegant smile. He suddenly recalled how Xu Nuo disliked him feigning and tried to suppress his smile.
“How inconsistent of you.” She coldly scolded him and the young kid gritted his teeth as he bore the uneasiness that creeped him out. He then said, “Nuo Nuo, if we do get off this island, do not return. Deal?”
As Xu Nuo looked into the dark sky, the gently blowing wind carried some hints of heat in it. While the woods were extremely quiet, there was still gunfire from a distance away. It gave people the impression that all was calm and well.
She then had some inclination to get out, not going back to that rigorous training, not having to talk to the sea alone when lonely. With her dear Stone that she could bully, it made for very nice days that she could look forward to.
But Paradise Island was her only home. Ever since she could remember, her memories were all at that place and there was something indescribable about it.
“I like Paradise Island”, Xu Nuo said.
The young kid misunderstood what she said. He had put everything through this clearly, and Xu Nuo turned it down? The young kid was extremely displeased. Like Third Young Master Ye, the young kid had inherited his signature domineering streak. He was not somebody whom Xu Nuo could appease with just a sentence.
“Did what I asked you have anything to do with whether you like Paradise Island?” the young kid asked. He did not understand why he had this insistence that Xu Nuo leave. He just felt that she should leave.
“Dear Stone, hearing you say this stifles me. Why do you want me to leave?” Xu Nuo smiled as she struggled to keep reasoning going. “To keep on trolling you?”
The young kid was stunned into silence.
Xu Nuo had an indescribable feeling in her heart and mused. “Sir, what do you think is on his mind?”
The Asian branch’s head, who was quietly finding a path all along and avoiding the thorns that would hurt the kids, paused and said, “That’s easy. If you two were ten years older, this would be like asking her to be your girlfriend.”
To have somebody call him out on his thoughts left the young kid, despite his really thick skin, with a blushing face. He was really thankful that it was the dark of night and Xu Nuo could not see him blushing.
If not, it would be utterly embarrassing.
He decided that once he escaped, he would deploy the Asian branch’s head to Antarctica—such was the young kid’s scheming thought.
Xu Nuo laughed gracefully and added onto what the Asian branch’s head had said. “That’s why I say my dear Stone likes me, but he just won’t admit it. Sir, he’s quite thin-skinned, so stop teasing him.”
The Asian branch’s head went silent. Who was actually teasing who?
But his heart was as bitter. Little Xu Nuo’s injuries were severe. If she were not treated in time… Ning Ning was still in the dark.
“Nuo Nuo, don’t avoid the question.” The young kid chased the question down as he wanted an answer badly.
However smart he was, he was still a kid who wanted to be with the young girl he liked. It was human nature and the rest of the questions could wait. Xu Nuo chuckled. “So you want me to follow you?”
“Yes!”
“What perks and responsibilities do I have?” Xu Nuo asked. Xu Nuo was typically very cold, and would only joke and seem livelier in front of Ning Ning. “I have very high expectations.”
The young kid was so angry he was at a loss for words.
The Asian branch’s head suddenly said, “Ning Ning, let her be your first lady. With that appointment, she will have all the perks. That’s how you kill two birds with one stone.”
The Asian branch’s head was also an interesting and funny person. Being older than them and having gained insight into many things, these two kids were the best of their age and their thoughts were easily understandable. From this to-and-fro, he could see that they had something going for each other but kept it to themselves and did not want to openly mention it.
When Xu Nuo heard that, she became silent and looked at Ning Ning. Ning Ning went silent as well and did not mention anything. What had been a tad cheerier became different and the Asian branch’s head was a little worried. Did he say something wrong?
Xu Nuo felt a little dizzy. She felt a little off-balance and wobbled as she sat on the Asian branch’s head’s shoulder. The latter had been putting his utmost attention on Xu Nuo.
All of a sudden, a branch hit Xu Nuo’s forehead and she was slightly awake. The young kid, who had remained silent all this while then said, “That works too.”
“What did you say?” Xu Nuo asked as she rubbed her forehead that had hit a branch.
The young kid smiled gently and said, “Nothing much. I’ll tell you more once we are out of here.”
The Asian branch’s head led the two kids more and more off-track. Gunshots rang out from afar and then died down. He paused and carried on walking, reminding the two children not to say a thing.
As the sound of waves neared them, the woods ended on a cliff. What they had not expected was to step out of the forest and be immediately surrounded by a few youths who emerged from the back of the rocks—all before the Asian branch’s head could catch a breath.
On counting, there were seven of them. They were all vicious-looking.
“Do not move!” A youth barked. The Asian branch’s head quickly put down the two children and pulled them behind himself. As he looked at them with a cold gaze, he thought, ‘Damn it, being locked up for the past few years has caused my alertness to drop!’
“I knew you could come up here. Did you think those gimmicks down at the prison could fool us?” The man coldly smiled. Anybody could deceive.
The youths walked over and held the guns against the three’s heads. The youth coldly smiled and said, “You are damn lucky The boss wants you alive.”
“Blue Wolf’s orders?” Xu Nuo’s gaze was sharp as a razor and exceptionally cold.
The man raged and raised his gun, about to hit Xu Nuo. The young kid then said in a calm voice, “Stop. Isn’t it embarrassing that a grown-up like you is hitting a woman?”
“You…” The man’s shame quickly turned into anger as he kept his gun. The other man said, “Stop the crap and bring them down.”
Xu Nuo gritted her teeth. To come this far and have everything come to naught left her extremely indignant. They were that close to success but her condition did not allow her. If something happened to the Asian branch’s head and Ning Ning lost his life, she could not bear to face it.
Just as she thought of the possibility, there was a sudden noise in the air. At the same time, yachts raced toward them. In such a tenuous moment, nobody could tell who those incoming were reinforcing.
The few men guarding Ning Ning wanted to quickly rappel down the cliff, but the helicopter was extremely fast whilst two fighters circled the air. On the cliff, things seemed much more spaced out. One of the men who was looking on with a telescope suddenly said in shock,” Uh oh, they are from the First Terrorist Organization.”
The very obvious black five-petal insignia of the First Terrorist Organization was on the fuselage of the aircraft.
The Asian branch’s head almost cheered.
Xu Nuo’s first reaction was to push away the gun pointed at Ning Ning. As the men became angry, Xu Nuo coldly fired and killed him. She dragged Ning Ning behind the rocks, and the Asian branch’s head followed suit. As the group of them wanted to advance, they feigned a few shots to force them back.
At that moment, gunshots came from the middle of the air. As it was too far away, with help still on the way, Chu Li ordered the helicopter to quickly approach whilst the fighters waited for orders. As they were attacking targets on a cliff, the slightest carelessness on their part would endanger Ning Ning.
The group of men also panicked as they would not make it past today alive. If they were going to die, somebody was going to die along with them. They hence fired as they rushed forward. Xu Nuo took a bullet to her shoulder, and that shot she fired was already a forced shot. She could only grab Ning Ning and run, but they had nowhere to go.
The waves fiercely lapped against the cliff.
As the helicopter suddenly descended, Chu Li personally took aim and fired. The burst of gunfire nailed five of the seven. The other two, in their rage, rushed over. The Asian branch’s head fired but realized that his gun was empty. In shock, he gripped onto another man’s gun and aimed it into the sky. Ten-over shots were fired.
“I’ll kill you!” The other man with reddened eyes rushed over. The young kid, with inexplicable strength, suddenly pinned Xu Nuo in his embrace and ducked behind a rock. He used his body to shield her and took a bullet to his arm.
It really hurt…
He would not allow Xu Nuo to get injured for him. Just once, and he could not take it, let alone for it to repeat in front of him again and again. He was able to protect her too.
Xu Nuo was dazed by the shock, and she, already heavily wounded, had her back knock against the rock, the pain from it almost knocking her out. “Stone…”
Before she could say anything, the man raised his gun in a sinister smile and fired at the young kid on her. Xu Nuo’s eyes were wide open. Her weak hands quickly pushed the young kid away and roared as she got up. The bullets which should have nailed Ning Ning landed squarely around Xu Nuo’s heart…
Blood spurted out.
When the guy saw Xu Nuo being shot, he aimed at the dazed kid and was about to fire. Xu Nuo instead leaped over and blocked the muzzle of the gun and took another two bullets. The man was stunned at what happened, and in that instant, Xu Nuo used force and pushed the man backward.
“I’ll die with you!”
Both of them fell off the cliff…
“No!!!” The heart-rending scream rang across the cliff.
Everything happened too quickly for Ning Ning to react. While he had intended to protect Xu Nuo so that she did not die, Xu Nuo pushing him away and taking a few bullets left Ning Ning stunned.
His mind was blank as he saw Xu Nuo’s chest turn red as reddish-black blood poured out.
As his eyes burned in excruciating pain, Nuo Nuo’s name was lodged in his throat. He did not respond to the other guy firing at him.
Nuo Nuo…
Nuo Nuo…
He climbed to the edge of the cliff and tried to grab Xu Nuo’s fluttering skirt. Although he had caught it, he heard the sound of cloth tearing in the air. His weighted hands suddenly felt empty…
All that was left was a broken piece of skirt…
He could only see Xu Nuo’s fiery red body in its reddest and most tragic final act.
Her fiery red dress filled Ning Ning’s gaze with a sea of red…
After the Asian branch’s head took out the last man, he leaped towards the cliffside and held onto Ning Ning, who wanted to leap down. “Ning Ning, don’t!”
Xu Nuo took more than five shots to her heart.
At the foot of the cliff, the bulging rocks and fierce waves meant that an uninjured her would not have survived the fall, let alone having so many fatal wounds.
‘Dear Stone, our times with each other are short. I’ll see you in our second life.’
He could almost hear Xu Nuo’s cold voice but saw nothing.
The searing point tore his heart apart.
This was the first time he tasted what living hell was like.
“Ahhhh!!!” Ning Ning suddenly roared. The Asian branch’s head was shocked and grabbed Ning Ning who had fainted.
His scream of desperation, however, repeatedly reverberated along the cliff…