That night, Huo Boyan drove alone to the remote outskirts Li Jiahao had mentioned, bringing the money with him.
“I’m here. Where are you?”
Huo Boyan asked Li Jiahao over the phone.
“You came alone?”
Li Jiahao didn’t quite believe him.
Huo Boyan: “Yes, I came alone. The money is in the car too.”
As soon as he finished speaking, the call was disconnected. When he tried calling back, no one answered.
“Huo Boyan brought the money to save you.”
Li Jiahao was excited as he said this to Lin Yao.
Lin Yao couldn’t believe Huo Boyan would actually bring so much money to rescue her. She fell silent, unsure of what to say.
“Wait here. I’ll go check if he really came alone.”
Lin Yao desperately wanted him to leave quickly so she could take the opportunity to escape.
But the moment Li Jiahao stepped out the door, he pulled something black from his jacket.
It was a gun!
Even though she could only see by moonlight, Lin Yao clearly recognized the object in his hand as a gun.
She couldn’t be mistaken.
He was taking the gun to meet Huo Boyan!
Lin Yao was now frantic with worry. She hadn’t been this anxious even when she was kidnapped.
Soon, she managed to free herself from the ropes.
Last night, she had already used a knife to cut the ropes binding her hands, but afraid of being discovered, she had only loosely tied them back.
Now the ropes were off, but she still couldn’t get out—the door was locked from the outside.
Her phone had been taken away too.
What should she do?
How could she warn Huo Boyan?
Lin Yao paced around anxiously.
Huo Boyan sat by the car, watching from a distance as someone approached.
It was Li Jiahao.
He had come alone. Lin Yao was nowhere in sight.
Huo Boyan asked, “Where’s Lin Yao?”
Li Jiahao stopped far away from Huo Boyan.
He was holding a gun.
Huo Boyan grew tense. He hadn’t expected Li Jiahao to have a gun.
Li Jiahao pointed the gun at him and ignored his question, instead demanding, “Where’s the money?”
Huo Boyan took a suitcase from the car and opened it in front of him.
The suitcase was indeed filled with U.S. dollars.
But why was there only one suitcase? A million dollars couldn’t be that little!
“I want a million dollars! That’s clearly not a million here!”
Li Jiahao shouted angrily.
Huo Boyan’s expression remained unchanged. “The rest is in the trunk.”
Li Jiahao pointed the gun at him and ordered, “Go get it!”
Huo Boyan stood his ground. “I’ll get it, but I need to see Lin Yao first!”
Li Jiahao: “You’re in no position to negotiate.”
Huo Boyan sneered. “You want to take all that money and go abroad, right? But you’re already on the credit blacklist. You can’t leave the country.”
As if his guess was spot on, Li Jiahao grew agitated. “So what?”
Huo Boyan: “Let me see her. We’ll exchange the money for her, and I’ll arrange a ship for you to leave the country.”
Huo Boyan was right. Li Jiahao planned to take the money and flee abroad, believing that only then would he be safe from Huo Boyan’s retaliation.
Now Huo Boyan was offering to help him leave the country.
But could he really be that generous?
As if reading his thoughts, Huo Boyan assured him, “Don’t worry. As long as you haven’t harmed her, I won’t come after you. Once you’re abroad, our business is settled.”
After a long hesitation, Li Jiahao finally said, “Bring the money and follow me.”
Huo Boyan only breathed a sigh of relief after hearing his agreement.
He walked to the trunk, opened it, took out the suitcase, and gave a meaningful glance to the person hiding inside the car.
Li Jiahao watched as he approached with several suitcases and opened them to confirm they contained U.S. dollars.
Then he led him to the place where Lin Yao was being held.
Huo Boyan walked ahead with the money, while Li Jiahao held a gun to the back of his head, pushing him forward from behind.
Soon, they arrived at an abandoned house.
“Stand here and don’t move.”
Li Jiahao went to open the door.
As the door was pushed open, someone in the darkness swung something at Li Jiahao’s head.
“Lin Yao!”
Huo Boyan recognized her at a glance.
Li Jiahao was struck until his head bled, but he still held onto his gun.
Lin Yao, terrified, dropped the stool and ran toward Huo Boyan.
By the time Li Jiahao reacted, Lin Yao was already standing beside Huo Boyan.
“You damn bitch, how dare you hit me with something!”
Li Jiahao pointed the gun at both of them and shouted loudly.
Huo Boyan shielded Lin Yao and said to Li Jiahao, “Now you’ve seen her, and the money is here. Take it and leave!”
Li Jiahao laughed loudly. “Do you really think I’d let you go? It’s all because of you that I ended up like this!”
“If it weren’t for you, why would I have fled abroad?”
Li Jiahao questioned Huo Boyan frantically, as if he had gone mad.
Huo Boyan replied, “You brought all of this upon yourself!”
“Brought it upon myself? Now that I have the money, you two lovebirds can go to hell together!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he aimed to shoot Lin Yao and Huo Boyan.
But what he didn’t know was that two people had already been standing beside him.
They were Zhu Yuhang and Shen Kaicheng.
Right after he said those words, the two of them immediately lunged at Li Jiahao, trying to wrestle the gun away from him.
Startled by their sudden attack, Li Jiahao struggled desperately, fighting back against them.
In the chaos, Li Jiahao suddenly fired a shot forward.
He was aiming at Huo Boyan.
With a “bang,” everything fell silent in that instant.
And in that same moment, Lin Yao, who was standing behind Huo Boyan, pushed him aside.
Huo Boyan fell to the ground.
By the time everyone reacted, Lin Yao had already been shot in the chest and collapsed on the floor.
“Lin Yao!”
Huo Boyan cried out, on the verge of breaking down.
He never expected Lin Yao to push him away.
Why would she take a bullet for him?
He should have been the one shot.
Lin Yao struggled to speak but couldn’t utter a word.
“Don’t talk, and don’t fall asleep. The ambulance will be here soon!”
Huo Boyan held her hand, not wanting her to speak anymore.
But his hand trembled uncontrollably, causing Lin Yao’s hand to tremble along with his.
The police arrived quickly and restrained Li Jiahand.
The ambulance had just arrived.
But Lin Yao had already fallen unconscious.
No matter how much Huo Boyan called her, she wouldn’t wake up.
Lin Yao was taken to the emergency room, and Huo Boyan stood motionless at the door, staring blankly.
His hands were even stained with Lin Yao’s blood, which had already dried.
Shen Kaicheng and Zhu Yuhang, who had rushed over, didn’t know how to comfort him as they watched the scene.
Instead, he looked dazed and asked, “She’ll be okay, right?”
“If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have ended up like this!”