The driver’s eyes went wide.
The slits on the fair, chubby man’s face stretched open, and a pair of fierce, bloodshot eyes bulged straight out. The moment these eyes were exposed, the hearty and friendly demeanor the driver had shown them earlier vanished into thin air, leaving only the deceit and viciousness characteristic of a rat scurrying through a gutter.
“How did you find out…?!” the driver growled.
“Seeing how unwilling you are to accept it when you ask that, you didn’t really think your plan was foolproof, did you?” Ji Xun mocked. “You guys are actually quite smart. You knew that people from out of town would most likely take a taxi to get around, so you chose the blind spot of a taxi driver to ambush us.”
“That guy who rushed out at the hotel entrance and pushed me away—he was your accomplice too, right? You were parked nearby from the start, and with that little interlude, you could calmly and accurately become the car we were bound to get into.
“After that, you openly used the taxi’s constantly running navigation to send real-time location updates to your accomplices. This avoided the exposure risks of them tailing our car the whole way. Once the time was right, deep in the mountains and old forests, you’d stage a rear-end collision. With Huo Ranyin and me dizzy from the crash, you’d turn around and backstab us with two shots, bang bang.
“A very brilliant plan. Unfortunately, while an average person might find it too troublesome to check even if they saw a taxi driver displaying an extra-large employee ID badge, I just so happened to check. You only swapped the photo on the ID badge but didn’t hack the database. Too careless.”
When Ji Xun was playing on his phone after getting in the car, he had been looking up the driver’s ID number online.
“So you found out that early,” the driver sneered coldly.
“That was just one of the flaws. Nowadays, there are many cases of ride-hailing drivers using other people’s IDs to drive, so you can’t generalize the issue. To confirm further, I chatted with Huo Ranyin about the Buddha statue story. It was so thrilling and horrifying, yet you actually managed to restrain yourself from looking back even once, or chiming in with a single word—it obviously looked very suspicious.”
“Just based on that? A lot of cabbies couldn’t care less about what customers are talking about.”
“I certainly didn’t rule out that possibility. That’s why I started giving random directions. You only cared about whether I had persecution paranoia, but any normal cabbie would have been nosy enough to remind a customer like me that taking a detour would cost extra fare, and that I’d have to take responsibility for it, not them.”
“…” The driver was finally left speechless.
“Oh, by the way, just to add—even for a villain, in a situation where your accomplices are bleeding profusely and you yourself are being restrained, you wouldn’t immediately care so anxiously about where exactly you exposed your flaws. We’re not in a novel where you still care about solving the mystery,” Ji Xun said. “So, I’ll make a bold guess: you’re stalling for time. You probably have other accomplices heading straight for Huo Ranyin and me right now, don’t you?”
“…” The driver panicked.
“Not a big problem,” Ji Xun smiled at the driver again. “We also have accomplices heading straight for you guys.”
Since they already knew there was something wrong with the driver, Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin naturally wouldn’t act tough and try to fight alone. Earlier on the road, when Ji Xun climbed from the back to the front, Huo Ranyin had already contacted the local Qin City police.
Rats hiding in the dark are hard to exterminate; drawing them out to catch them all in one net is the best option right now.
“…” The driver’s face began to contort.
“Alright, you talk too much,” Huo Ranyin interrupted Ji Xun.
Then, with a swish, a handgun slid across the car roof and landed right in front of Ji Xun.
Ji Xun reached out and pressed down on it.
“Go rest to the side,” Huo Ranyin said. “I’ll tie him up.”
“Let me help you. You probably can’t handle it alone.” Ji Xun evaluated the driver’s weight while carefully keeping his gaze away from the sharp edges of the protective shield.
“If you come over, I won’t just be carrying one person, I’ll have to carry two,” Huo Ranyin sneered.
“…” Ji Xun.
“Stay to the side and behave,” Huo Ranyin said. “And call 120 (ambulance).”
“Fine then.” What else could Ji Xun do? He could only follow the great captain’s orders, holding the handgun while reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone again. “I’ll wait for you on the side.”
He didn’t turn around. Instead, he backed away toward the side of the road, his gaze sweeping over the twisted, battered green taxi, and then over the two killers from the white sedan who were tied up at the rear of the car…
Speaking of which, these two killers were real tough guys.
Ji Xun was slightly surprised.
They had been shot, were bleeding, and hadn’t passed out. They should be in immense pain. So how come when he was talking just now, these two killers were playing the tough guys without uttering a single sound?
He then saw Huo Ranyin drag the driver out of the driver’s seat.
This couldn’t be helped either.
If the car had been intact, they could have just tied the driver to the seat. But now that the car had been T-boned into this twisted mess, putting someone—even a killer—back into the driver’s seat wouldn’t be appropriate.
The driver’s obese body, like an unappetizing slab of fat, slowly left the taxi and appeared in Ji Xun’s line of sight.
First the head, then the body, then the feet…
The moment the driver’s feet completely left the taxi, a bizarre sneer suddenly split across his contorted face.
He abruptly lowered his head and bit down on his collar. The collar flipped inside out, exposing a fuse hidden inside. Then, he violently jerked his head!
Beep—
A tiny sound, like a phone receiving a message or a water droplet falling into a pool.
But this was neither the sound of a phone nor a water droplet!
“Huo Ranyin!” Ji Xun roared in an instant. “Run—it’s a bomb, he has a bomb strapped to him!”
Huo Ranyin’s reaction was even faster than Ji Xun’s roar.
The moment the sound rang out, he had already let go, turned, and shot off with the speed of a cheetah that had tensed every muscle in its body!
Only after his rapidly darting retinas captured this scene did Ji Xun finally respond to the frantic alarm bells of his survival instinct ringing in his brain. Reacting simultaneously, he turned and sprinted away from the taxi with his head down!
In that instant, time felt both stretched out and folded onto itself.
The human senses used to measure the length of time completely lost their function. Ji Xun could only chaotically process that—as if right as he turned around, or perhaps as if he had already taken several steps…
A thunderous explosion erupted.
A shockwave surged outward.
Ji Xun was violently thrown into the air by the blast wave. An image seemed to burn into his eyes—he saw the driver fly into the sky.
That pale, obese body wrapped in colorful clothes really flew into the midair like a balloon. Even though it looked so thick and heavy, it was like paper-mache—gently pulled by an invisible pair of giant hands, it was torn to pieces, scattering down like heavenly flowers.
He crashed heavily back down. His internal organs felt as if they had shifted in an instant. His breathing was cut off, and his vision was filled with flashing golden light and rising fiery red…
The numbness and panic of losing control over his body, along with the intense worry for the other person, rampaged through his body like the flames before his eyes. It wasn’t until he lay prone on the ground and broke into a violent fit of coughing that it seemed to find an outlet, surging back to the earth along with his heart-wrenching coughs.
Ji Xun got up, fell down, fell down, and got up again.
He didn’t know what was wrong with his body; he couldn’t muster any strength at all. He finally managed to stand up, stumbling and staggering forward in a crooked path.
His vision was still suffering from the concussion and he still couldn’t see clearly. The concussion this time was much more severe than the one from the car crash earlier—there were only distorted lines and overlapping lights and shadows.
But the problem… the problem wasn’t major.
He remembered the direction Huo Ranyin had fled earlier. He needed to locate the car first… that burning ball of fire… and then, by following the direction he remembered, he would be able to see…
A red light suddenly jumped up, overpowering the golden light.
Ji Xun stared numbly at these colors before him. It wasn’t until he realized the red light was swaying up and down with the swing of his arm that he suddenly realized—he had gotten too close to the car and was caught on fire.
Was it his clothes burning, or his arm?
Ji Xun couldn’t feel it. Right now, his body was like a machine that needed an emergency trip to the repair shop; every part of him was falling to pieces.
He couldn’t worry about all that now.
Ji Xun had already located the vehicle and quickly mapped out the direction where Huo Ranyin might be in his mind. He stripped off his outer jacket, extinguishing half the flames, and ran forward. But after taking only two steps, he fell to the ground.
His palm pressed against the rough ground, but also against something soft.
It was… it was… an ear.
A single ear, all alone, resting right in his palm.
Ji Xun couldn’t see.
Whose ear was this?
His eyes, his eyes…
He tried with all his might to squeeze his eyes shut, then open them wide, close them, open them wide again—he still couldn’t see clearly!
His fingers began to tremble. Trembling, they felt along the outer ear, the auricle, the earlobe…
The hand gripping the ear suddenly relaxed.
There was no piercing on the earlobe.
Ji Xun stood back up. He continued walking toward the spot he had identified. He took a few more steps, seven or eight… Almost there, it should be here… But he still didn’t find Huo Ranyin. He knelt on the ground, crawling, groping forward bit by bit… groping…
He touched a person.
Ji Xun still couldn’t see, but the instant his palm touched this body, he recognized him…
It was Huo Ranyin!
This incredibly certain thought struck Ji Xun’s mind like a bolt of lightning, cleaving through the nerves that had knotted together from tension and panic. He abruptly let out half a breath, but then quickly held his breath and concentrated. He moved close to Huo Ranyin’s face, until he felt Huo Ranyin’s light breathing brush against his face like damp velvet—only then did the remaining half of the breath caught in his chest truly escape.
His body, which had been completely numb, now slowly began to revive. From head to toe, there wasn’t a single spot that didn’t hurt.
“F*ck…”
He groaned in pain and went to look at Huo Ranyin, whom he had encircled in his arms.
He didn’t know if it was because he relaxed a little, but his eyes, which previously could only see light and lines, now swayed and began to sketch out specific outlines…
He was gradually able to see Huo Ranyin’s body clearly… His body was still intact… but his leg—
Ji Xun’s heart clenched tight again.
Blood rushed straight to his brain, and he felt the nerves at his temples throbbing wildly.
He saw that Huo Ranyin’s leg was bleeding; his leg was injured.
He frantically tore off his own clothes and tied them tightly around Huo Ranyin’s thigh to stop the blood from flowing freely.
But his throbbing nerves didn’t ease up just because of one first-aid measure.
Besides the leg, he saw charred, blackened flesh.
It was Huo Ranyin’s back.
Huo Ranyin’s back had taken the direct impact. A large amount of his clothes had been blown to pieces, leaving only a few strips hanging on his body. Those remaining strips were completely soaked in blood and ash, sticking dirtily to his skin. He didn’t know if the bone was injured; he couldn’t see. His blurry, swaying vision prevented him from making out more details. He could only carefully avoid the places where Huo Ranyin was injured the worst…
“120, Huo Ranyin, 120, can you hear my voice?…”
Tensed to the absolute extreme, the brain he usually took pride in didn’t seem to work so well anymore. He actually had to rely on muttering to himself to figure out what he needed to do next.
As Ji Xun tremblingly pulled out his phone and swiped his thumb blindly across the shattered screen, the person in his arms suddenly let out a muffled cough and slowly opened his eyes.
“Huo Ranyin!” Ji Xun called out softly. “Are you alright?”
Huo Ranyin’s gaze was unfocused, and it took a long time for it to center on Ji Xun’s face. Then he opened his mouth. After another terrifying few seconds of silence, Ji Xun’s ears finally caught Huo Ranyin’s voice:
“…Not too good…”
“A bit… dizzy…”
“You might have a concussion, don’t move, I’m calling an ambulance—” Ji Xun said immediately.
“No… it’s… the ground…” Huo Ranyin’s voice was very low. Speaking took great effort, and it took him ages to force a single word from his throat. His face was already pale, and his blood, carrying his life force, was seeping out of his back drop by drop.
“The grou—” Ji Xun had barely uttered a syllable before snapping his mouth shut.
He felt it too.
The ground was silently trembling.
His gaze moved away from Huo Ranyin’s face and looked toward the end of the road.
At the end of the road, the shadow of a vehicle appeared. It wasn’t a police car; it was a red sedan.
Was it the police’s car? A passerby’s car? Or… the killers’ car?
Ji Xun didn’t have time to make a more accurate assessment. The moment he caught sight of the car, his body had already spurred into action. He abruptly scooped up Huo Ranyin, who was clearly immobile on the ground, gritted his teeth, and ran forward.
This was the outskirts; there were no people, no houses, only woods.
Behind where he and Huo Ranyin were currently positioned was a slope. But in the middle of winter, the vegetation was sparse; only dead trees standing like gallows remained, offering absolutely no cover.
Where Ji Xun was running toward with Huo Ranyin in his arms was the two cars in front of them.
The explosion hadn’t completely destroyed the two cars. Although the flames were still burning, at this very moment, they were the only things left that could serve as temporary cover…
“Ji Xun…”
As Ji Xun stared at the sedan ahead, he heard Huo Ranyin’s voice in his ear.
Huo Ranyin’s voice was low and weak. He was lying on his side in Ji Xun’s arms, his face pressed toward Ji Xun’s body, logically unable to see their surroundings. Yet his voice was incredibly clear and calm, as if he had completely grasped the situation and made the optimal judgment.
“Your arm is injured, it’s constantly bleeding.”
“I can hold on, don’t worry.”
“What’s wrong with your eyes?”
“A bit dizzy… can’t see very clearly.”
“Which means you can’t shoot.”
“I can shoot.”
“But you can’t aim.”
The situation was urgent, and their back-and-forth exchange was incredibly fast. Finally, Huo Ranyin said, “In this state, you staying here is just a burden.”
Huo Ranyin’s face was pale to the point of transparency.
He pulled out his handgun. He was already injured this heavily, but the gun was still firmly gripped in his palm.
He issued a cold command:
“Put me down, and hurry up and get out of here.”
“Ha…”
Ji Xun actually couldn’t hold back a chuckle. Countless words boiled in his heart like scalding water. He wanted to say everything, yet he said nothing.
He hurried through the last two steps, dove behind the two cars, then tightened his grip on his handgun and turned back to stare at the red sedan behind them.
Assuming there was still a sliver of possibility—that the ones catching up weren’t killers, but a passing vehicle, or plainclothes police officers…
The car drew closer, and closer still.
Steadily and swiftly approaching them.
His heart sank all the way down with the approaching car, sliding into a bottomless abyss.
He tried with all his might to look forward, wanting to clearly see the face of the person driving. But his swaying vision only sketched out a blank slate for him—a pale, indifferent blankness.
He broke out in waves of sweat; sweat drenched all the clothes on his body.
Until Huo Ranyin suddenly raised his gun, until the red sedan rolled down its window.
“Bang—”
