The car drove for less than an hour, eventually making a series of turns into the mountain estate.
The following vehicles were forced to stop not far behind.
The estate before them was vast, and from here, they could see the villa in the distance with its lights on.
The man sat in the car, slowly raising his binoculars.
In the lens, two bodyguards in black stood under the streetlights, each holding a shovel, continuously digging a pit in the ground.
The man made a call, and within seconds, a lazy voice came from the other end.
“How is it?”
The man raised the binoculars again for a look and reported truthfully, “The pits in the estate are all dug; they must be preparing to bury something.”
There was a two-second silence on the other end. “Burying it in their own estate? Hah, what a strange preference.”
The call ended, and the man quickly drove away.
The next day.
Jiang Luxi woke up on a classical-style bed draped with wine-red curtains. She blinked, her mind gradually awakening.
Her beautiful eyes widened in alarm as she scanned the entire room.
Hadn’t she escaped yesterday?
Had she run straight into a wolf’s den?
Click! The door opened from the outside.
Jiang Luxi sat up warily, curling into the corner.
A man in a black suit stood at the foot of the bed, his gaze cold and penetrating.
Jiang Feng stood with his hands at his sides, noticing she was awake, and said, “Miss Jiang, come with me to see Master Ho.”
Jiang Luxi froze for a moment, quickly recalling the entire novel in her mind. There seemed to be only one character with the surname Huo—the deranged antagonist, Huo Jin Ge.
In every chapter he appeared, someone would inevitably die. He was a ruthless character who killed without batting an eye, so she always skipped his parts whenever he showed up.
The story ended spectacularly with Huo Jin Ge boarding a yacht that the male lead had rigged with explosives in advance…
Jiang Luxi’s face went pale with horror.
How could she accept the fact that she had escaped from one madman only to fall into the hands of another lunatic…
Jiang Feng raised an eyebrow.
Seeing Jiang Luxi’s face grow increasingly pale and her reluctance to get out of bed, he urged her again, “Miss Jiang, Master Ho doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
In the next second, Jiang Luxi scrambled off the bed.
She followed Jiang Feng out of the room and down the spiral staircase. The entire time, her eyes darted around, taking in the enormous house.
The novel described Huo Jin Ge as the third son of the Huo family, mentioning only that the Huo family was wealthy—but she never imagined they were this rich.
The luxurious villa, the unique decor, the bodyguards and servants stationed everywhere…
Jiang Luxi followed Jiang Feng out of the villa and deeper into the estate. They walked along a stone-paved path, through a dense grove, until they reached the depths of the backyard.
Jiang Feng stopped and said to her, “Wait here for a moment.”
Jiang Luxi obediently stood in place, nervously clutching the hem of her dress, her eyes vacant as she stared at the man standing with his back to her in the distance.
Jiang Feng approached and said something to the man. Then, the man turned around.
He was dressed entirely in black, the top two buttons of his collar undone, revealing a glimpse of his collarbone. His sharp jawline led up to a straight, thin mouth, a tall nose bridge, a seductive tear mole, and those deep, cold black eyes.
Jiang Luxi gasped sharply.This face was so flawlessly perfect that Jiang Luxi’s moral compass completely surrendered to his looks.
He seemed comparable to that top-tier guy she’d encountered at the bar yesterday…
Huo Jin Ge frowned, watching the woman standing frozen like a wooden block. He tilted his head slightly and beckoned her over with a curl of his finger.
Jiang Luxi swallowed hard, goosebumps rising on her back as she reluctantly stepped forward.
Yu Yi emerged from the dense woods nearby, rushing to Huo Jin Ge’s side in quick strides.
He raised a hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead. “Master Ho, the matter has been handled.”
As he spoke, Yu Yi glanced down at his crimson-stained hands, wiping them on his clothes with a hint of disgust.
Jiang Luxi’s nerves instantly tightened.
Had he just finished disposing of a body?
Was that blood all over his hands?
She suddenly recalled the book’s description of Huo Jin Ge’s ruthless, cruel, and brutal methods.
Jiang Luxi lifted a hand to cover her mouth, fighting back a wave of nausea.
Yu Yi hadn’t gone far when Jiang Feng grabbed him, nodding toward his hands. “What happened?”
“Don’t ask. Got paint all over them.”
The invisible pressure radiating from Huo Jin Ge made Jiang Luxi hold her breath, rooted to the spot as she stared at him.
The man planted one foot on a nearby decorative rock, leaning down to murmur something to the bodyguard digging a hole. The bodyguard’s eyes flicked subconsciously toward Jiang Luxi before he nodded and climbed out.
Huo Jin Ge’s gaze was inscrutable as he noticed the woman’s eyes fixed unwaveringly on the shovel in his hand.
He gestured for her to approach. “Come here.”
Jiang Luxi: ?
Then, with a casual tilt of his chin toward the pit, he said, “Get in.”
Jiang Luxi: !!!
Huo Jin Ge watched her standing there, wide-eyed and staring, and couldn’t help but curl his lips into a faint smile.
As soon as he lifted the shovel, Jiang Luxi immediately leaped into the pit, terrified the tool would come down on her head the next second.
The pit wasn’t deep—only waist-high—but her high heels made her stumble awkwardly.
Trembling, she stood inside, craning her neck to meet the gaze of the man looking down at her from above.
Unbelievable.
A madman through and through.
Was he making her dig her own grave now?
On the path to her demise, the main villain and the male lead had truly joined forces.
Each one more deranged than the last.
Huo Jin Ge tossed the shovel beside her, then hitched his pant leg with his well-defined fingers, crouching unevenly at the edge of the pit. “Keep digging.”
His voice was deep and mellow, with a slightly heavy, magnetic tone that was pleasing to the ear.
But paired with those three words, it felt unnervingly eerie, sending chills down one’s spine.
Jiang Luxi took a shaky breath, her voice barely a whisper. “C-can I not dig?”
A gust of wind swept past, and she felt the hairs on her arms stand on end.
Huo Jin Ge raised an eyebrow, his expression unchanging. “Dig.”
Yu Yi, who had returned, stood to the side, his bloodied hands clasped in front of him.
Jiang Luxi shuddered, picked up the shovel, and began stabbing at the soil, digging deeper.
Before long, the waist-high pit gradually sank lower. Each thrust of the shovel grew more forceful, sending clumps of yellow earth flying.
She watched as the man bent to pick up a tree branch. Holding it straight out, he measured her height, then laid it horizontally to gauge the width of the pit.
Cold sweat beaded increasingly on Jiang Luxi’s forehead, her movements slowing with growing dread.A man’s icy voice drifted leisurely into her ears: “Don’t stop, keep digging.”
“Expand it outward a bit more, dig deeper.”
Jiang Luxi didn’t dare slack off in the slightest. With the scorching sun beating down on her head and her foot pressing on the shovel, she continued to bury herself in hard work.
Before long, a bodyguard in black came running over. He leaned close to Huo Jin Ge’s ear and whispered quietly: “Sir, the tree has arrived.”