When the reception ended, it was late at night.
They said goodbye to each other at the parking lot. Before getting into the car, Xu Youning asked Su Yicheng, “When do you and Miss Luo plan to hold your wedding?”
Since his successful marriage proposal to Luo Xiaoxi, Su Yicheng had become gentle. He gave her a breeze-like smile and said, “It’s in preparation. You will be the first one to receive our invitation, remember to come then.”
Xu Youning firmly nodded and said, “Sure.”
Actually, she knew she was not sure.
If their wedding was held after she was revealed, even if she would be glad to attend it, nobody would welcome her.
In Mu Sijue’s car, Xu Youning slanted her head and tried to sleep, but she couldn’t.
She was wondering if anything was wrong and she felt uneasy.
After a time, Xu Youning suddenly heard Mu Sijue seriously speaking to her in a cold voice, “Xu Youning, wake up!”
Mu Sijue had always spoken to her in two tones. One was an impatient tone of command, which meant that if she dared to respond with hesitation, he would gaze at her with his knife-like eyes.
The other, just like the one at the very moment, was serious and calm, which was telling her that he was not kidding and they were in trouble.
Xu Youning opened her eyes at once and saw Mu Sijue assembling a pistol.
With a cold and murderous look on his face, he finished assembling the pistol at a ghost-like speed within 10 seconds. Then he threw it to her and asked, “Do you know how to use it?”
Xu Youning did know, but she asked in bewilderment—”What’s wrong? Aren’t we almost reaching the villa?”
“Damn it! I only want to go back and have a good rest. What the hell is going on?” Xu Youning thought.
Mu Sijue pursed his lips indifferently and took out another pistol from under the seat. He wiped its pitch-black muzzle and said, “I’m afraid that someone won’t let us go back.”
The implication was that—someone was going to kill Mu Sijue.
“Who could it be?” Xu Youning thought.
“Is it Mike? That’s impossible. He has lost trust in Kang Ruicheng and he’s waiting to meet Mu Sijue to settle a business cooperation.”
“Or are they Mu Sijue’s enemies from City G? It’s unlikely that they would come to City A to hunt and kill him.”
“Well then… it could only be Kang Ruicheng.”
In order to establish a business relationship with Mike, killing Mu Sijue while he was away from his territory would be completely in line with Kang Ruicheng’s style.
However, Xu Youning wondered why Kang Ruicheng hadn’t told her anything about it when he called her at noon.
Xu Youning forced herself to calm down and asked, “How many people are there?”
“There are four cars and about 20 guys,” Mu Sijue said calmly.
“20 guys…” Xu Youning felt desperate as if the sky were falling. She asked, “It means that we have to fight one-on-ten. Mr. Mu, are we going to die tonight?”
Mu Sijue glanced at Xu Youning with a hidden danger in his eyes and asked, “Do you hope so?”
“No, absolutely not!” Xu Youning shook her head like a rattle and said, “We still have to rely on your wise leadership to earn our living. You can’t die, you must hold on! By the way… have you come up with a solution?”
If they fought one-on-ten, it would be impossible for them to survive, so Mu Sijue had to find a way to ask for assistance.
It was obvious that Mu Sijue had been prepared for that. He phoned Shen Yuechuan at once and said, “I’m on Kanglin Road. Some cars are following me, send me a few guys.”
“Hold on for 20 minutes.” There came Shen Yuechuan’s firm voice, which had been casual. He said, “I’ll do it right now.”
After the call, Mu Sijue looked at the map, which showed that if they drove off the freeway, they would reach the driveway in the villa area. It was late at night, and the driveway was deserted with few vehicles on it. Those cars had been following his for about half an hour, and it was likely that the guys in them wanted to kill him on the driveway.
He wasn’t sure if they were working for Kang Ruicheng and he told Xu Youning, “Protect yourself if the fight starts.”
“How about you?” Xu Youning asked almost subconsciously.
“Are you worrying about me?” Mu Sijue sneered and said, “I think you’d better think about how not to hinder me.”
“You’d better not look down on me!” Xu Youning made a threatening gesture and said, “You know, I’m proficient in Korean boxing! You can’t say that I will hinder you!”
“…”
Mu Sijue had wondered what Xu Youning’s merits were.
At that moment, he felt that it was not half bad that she could be blindly confident and arrogant.
The driver sped up to shake off the cars behind, while their pursuers were also skilled. He managed to shake off one, while the other caught up with his at once.
A bloody battle seemed inevitable.
“Mr. Mu,” the driver said, “it seems that they don’t dare to fire at us on the freeway. How about continuing driving forward until we get our assistance?”
That meant—to escape.
Mu Sijue would never act in such an inferior way.
“No.” Mu Sijue loaded his pistol and said, “Drive off the freeway. I dare anyone to try and kill me.”
The driver had to wrench the wheel, then he drove the car off the freeway and turned to the skyline drive.
With a “click—” sound—he locked and loaded the pistol.
Xu Youning subconsciously glanced at Mu Sijue, who looked like an active hunter instead of the one being hunted. He was calm and at ease; it seemed that he was able to support a falling sky with one hand while fight against his enemies with the other.
“Drive faster!”
There was a bend ahead. As Mu Sijue ordered, the driver sped up. At almost the same time, Mu Sijue pressed somewhere in the car. Then the lid of the boot sprang open, knocking the backseats and the boot together, which made it possible for him to see what was going on behind while exposed him and Xu Youning to the sight of the cars behind.
Before she could react, Xu Youning was held down onto the backseat. She curled herself on it and heard “bang—bang—”.
Then, the lid of the boot slammed shut, and there came the sound of a sudden brake from behind, followed by the sound of a collision…
Xu Youning broke away with Mu Sijue’s hand and looked up. She found that the windshield of the Buick that had been following them was broken while the driver in the car got injured and lost control of it. Then the front half of the car rushed off the road, leaving it in the danger of rolling over at any time.
Only three cars were left following them.
“Oh, it seems that we’re likely to win.” Xu Youning thought.
While she was complacent, Xu Youning felt Mu Sijue’s cold voice pouring into her ears. “Xu Youning.”
Xu Youning vacantly looked at Mu Sijue and said, “Ah?”
Mu Sijue pushed aside Xu Youning’s pistol that was pointed at him and said, “You haven’t loaded it yet. You can’t threaten me with it even if you aim it at me.”
Xu Youning realized that when she was squatting in the backseat, she had inadvertently aimed the pistol at Mu Sijue. She panicked for half a second and calmly said, “It’s just that I have no intention of threatening you.”
As soon as her voice died down, there came the sounds of gunfire. The bullets hit their car like moths flying toward a flame, but they didn’t cause any substantial damage to the bulletproof shell of the car.
However, with so many people firing at them, they couldn’t hold on for a long time.
Xu Youning asked, “Mr. Mu, what should I do?”
“Do as you did just now,” Mu Sijue said, “Aim at the person in the co-driver seat. Be quick.”
Xu Youning nodded, and squatted in the backseat, with her head exposed. Then she aimed her pistol at the man in the co-driver seat of the car behind.
“Shoot!”
When Mu Sijue voice died down, the lid of the boot sprang open again. Without thinking it over, Xu Youning fired several shots. She missed, but at least she had provided cover for Mu Sijue. Mu Sijue’s bullets had either hit the tire or the driver of the car behind, for it lost control and zigzagged toward the roadside.
The guys in the other two cars saw that and fired hard at them. Due to the raindrop-like bullets from behind, their backseats were punctured. Mu Sijue closed the lid of the boot and said, “It won’t work anymore.” Otherwise, the next thing to be punctured would be their heads instead of the backseats.
“It’s just fine that you’ve gotten rid of two cars like that,” Xu Youning said. She squatted and bent over the back of the seat to observe the situation behind. Suddenly she saw the sunroof of a car open; then a man stood up and threw something toward them.
Previously, Xu Youning wasn’t sure if those guys were working for Kang Ruicheng. At the very moment, she was sure about it. She recognized the miniature bomb that was flying toward them—only Kang Ruicheng had access to it.
“Stop!”
Xu Youning almost roared out as she opened the door and pushed Mu Sijue to jump off the car with her.
Outside the door was a steep slope alongside the road. The two rolled down and heard a loud “bang—” sound, then came a blaze soaring into the air.
Xu Youning was shocked.
Although they knew that she was in the car, those who worked for Kang Ruicheng still dared to use the bomb. She was sure that they had done it that way according to his orders.
She could almost guess how Kang Ruicheng had said it, “If you meet with any difficulty, just ignore Youning and use the bomb. I want Mu Sijue to be dead before tomorrow!”
He had always been like that—as long as he could achieve his goal, he would sacrifice everything even if it was her life.
“Xu Youning!” At the moment of life and death, Mu Sijue wondered why Xu Youning could be deeply absorbed in her thoughts. He yanked her to her feet and said, “Hold your pistol!”
Xu Youning came to herself, then she ran after Mu Sijue and asked, “There are still many guys hunting us. Shall we find a place to hide and wait for assistance?”
As her voice died down, there came an approaching roar of a helicopter and an official voice over a loudspeaker. “Listen, people in the car with the license plate saying AXXXX, you have been surrounded. Put down your weapons, get off the car and put your hands above your heads…”
“What’s going on?” Xu Youning looked up in bewilderment at the blinding lights of the helicopter and asked, “Did Shen Yuechuan call the police? Will we be all right?”
Precisely, the police and those who worked for Lu Boyan went there together. Mu Sijue and Xu Youning were safe.
Mu Sijue glanced at Xu Youning and suddenly asked, “Where did you get your pistol?”
Xu Youning was clever. She pointed toward those who had crouched down on the road and said, “From them.”
Mu Sijue turned his lips into a smile with satisfaction and said, “Very good.”
The two parted the thorns alongside the slope and walked toward the road. Before they could get there, a black Buick that had been parking by the road suddenly ran toward them at full speed—
Xu Youning realized that not all the guys that worked for Kang Ruicheng had gotten off their cars. To fulfill the task, a man was determined to perish together with Mu Sijue.
She reacted at once, which she had never done before. When the car was about to hit her and Mu Sijue, she pushed him away with huge strength.
Mu Sijue held Xu Youning’s hand to take her to a safe place. But it was too late, Xu Youning was knocked down by the car, then she rolled down the slope again…
Xu Youning just felt pain. It hurt like hell when she was hit by the car. As she rolled down, she was pained to death because of the impacts.
What’s worse, she finally bumped against a big tree.
Though it helped to stop her, she felt that she had to be badly battered…