Shengfeng Jiayuan.
The living room in Xia Tianlei’s home was in complete disarray. It looked as though a fierce Hand-to-Hand Combat had just taken place. The furniture was toppled, belongings were scattered across the floor, and the entire room was a mess.
Xia Tianlei lay lifeless on the floor, dried blood at the corner of his mouth and large bloodstains on his clothes—a truly horrifying sight.
In fact, Xia Tianlei had indeed been the one to make the phone call earlier. Not long ago, he had engaged in a desperate struggle with the assailant. But the difference in their strength proved too great, and the assailant had beaten him down, leaving him gravely injured.
While the assailant paused between bouts of berating him, Xia Tianlei secretly weighed his options. Calling the police now would be useless; only Yang Luo had the ability to defeat the vicious assailant before him.
So he pretended to stay calm and quietly slipped his right hand into his pants pocket. With the faintest movement, he took out his phone and placed it beside his thigh, then secretly found Yang Luo’s number and called him.
Xia Tianlei naturally knew that speaking on the phone in this situation would undoubtedly reveal his intentions. He only needed to call Yang Luo and let it ring once. With Yang Luo’s quick wit and keen senses, he would surely notice something was wrong.
However, the assailant spotted Xia Tianlei’s incredibly discreet movement. He swiftly drew a pistol fitted with a suppressor and aimed its dark muzzle at Xia Tianlei’s head. Then he snatched away the phone and smashed it onto the floor, shattering it to pieces.
“What’s this, Director Xia? Trying to call someone to come rescue you?”
Had he managed to get through to that kid? Xia Tianlei silently prayed that Yang Luo had noticed something was wrong. He had no other hope.
When Xia Tianlei kept his lips pressed shut and said nothing, the assailant raised his hand without hesitation and fired. The bullet struck Xia Tianlei’s right arm with deadly accuracy. In an instant, blood gushed out, staining his sleeve red.
Though pain tore through him, Xia Tianlei gritted his teeth and endured it. “Who are you, really? Why go to such lengths to murder me?”
“Hmph. I was paid to do a job, that’s all. Don’t think you can get anything out of me.” The assailant replied coldly, a trace of disdain in his eyes.
“You dared to break into a home and attempt to murder a police officer! My colleagues will be here soon. You won’t get away. I advise you to surrender now and cooperate for a more lenient sentence!”
“I’ve been lying low and watching you for nearly two months. If I weren’t completely sure of my chances, would I have acted so easily?”
“Just you wait. My people will be here soon. Don’t get too cocky, you bastard.”
“Is that so? Then let’s see if they can get here before you breathe your last.” As he spoke, the assailant planted one foot heavily on Xia Tianlei’s wound and ground his toe into it again and again.
Xia Tianlei clenched his teeth in pain. Beads of sweat the size of beans rolled down his forehead, but he forced himself to endure it without making a sound.
Seeing that Xia Tianlei still hadn’t made a sound despite such torment, the assailant grinned viciously. “You’ve got some guts! In a moment, I’ll drag your wife and child out of that room and give them a good beating. If you can still keep that tough act up then, I’ll really have to hand it to you.”
“Don’t you dare!” Xia Tianlei’s eyes reddened as he roared in fury. He knew there was little chance he would survive today, but his wife and child were innocent. He couldn’t let them get hurt.
The assailant took a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, slowly pulled one out, and lit it. He took a deep drag, then slowly blew the smoke into Xia Tianlei’s face. Xia Tianlei immediately began coughing violently.
“You think hiding your wife and child means I don’t know about them? I’ve been investigating you for so long, I know every hair on your body.” The assailant leaned close to Xia Tianlei’s face and said viciously, “Your wife really is a beauty. Today, I’m not only going to have my way with her, I’m going to kill your child too, so you can experience what it means to wish you were dead.”
“Leave family out of this! You were hired to do a job, so come after me. Don’t hurt my family!”
“My employer wants me to make your life a living hell. Of course I can’t spare your wife and child, either. Otherwise, how am I supposed to collect the rest of my fee?”
“Who’s your employer?” Xia Tianlei rapidly searched his mind, trying to think of possible suspects, but came up with nothing.
“Do you really think I’d tell you?” After saying this, the assailant viciously stubbed his still-lit cigarette into Xia Tianlei’s bullet wound.
“Sss…” The sound of flesh burning filled the air, along with the acrid smell of scorched skin. Xia Tianlei’s body convulsed violently from the pain, veins bulging on his forehead.
“Having fun? This is only the beginning. Hahaha…” The assailant laughed loudly as he kept slapping Xia Tianlei’s face. His laughter rang harshly through the silent living room.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, Xia Tianlei found a burst of strength from somewhere and slammed his head into the assailant’s chest.
The assailant had never expected Xia Tianlei to dare fight back in this condition, and was caught off guard.
The unexpected blow struck the assailant squarely in the chest. A wave of pain hit him; he staggered and nearly fell to the floor.
The assailant touched his chest. Xia Tianlei had put everything he had into that blow, and the man felt heat rise in his throat. He nearly spat out a mouthful of blood, but managed to force it back down.
“You’re asking for death! You dare sneak up on me? I’ll cripple you first!” Enraged and humiliated, the assailant kicked Xia Tianlei viciously in the chest.
The assailant had already tormented Xia Tianlei for a long time, and Xia Tianlei had just used all his strength to ram him. By now, he was utterly exhausted and had no strength left to fight back. The kick landed squarely on his chest, sending him flying a meter away. He crashed heavily onto a table, then rolled off it and spat out a mouthful of blood.
The assailant walked up to Xia Tianlei again, grabbed both his legs, and twisted hard.
Two sharp cracks rang out as Xia Tianlei’s legs were forcibly broken.
After enduring one cruel torment after another at the assailant’s hands, Xia Tianlei was completely spent. He could no longer bear the pain of his broken legs. His vision went black, and he passed out.
“Tianlei, Tianlei…”
Just then, a beautiful woman of around thirty came charging out of a room like a runaway cannonball. She rushed forward in a panic, stumbling and nearly crawling as she made her way to Xia Tianlei.
With a thud, the beautiful woman dropped heavily to her knees. Like a withered flower, she collapsed weakly onto Xia Tianlei and burst into heartbroken sobs.
“Tianlei, Tianlei, wake up!” Her voice trembled with boundless grief. Every word was like a sharp knife, piercing the air around them.
The woman was Xia Tianlei’s wife, Lu Shuangrou.
The moment Xia Tianlei realized the assailant had broken in, only one thought filled his mind: protect his wife and child.
So Xia Tianlei immediately knocked his young son unconscious. Then, in a panic, he told his wife to take the child and hide in a room. He sternly warned her again and again not to come out, no matter what happened outside.
Hiding in the room, Lu Shuangrou felt as if her heart were being roasted over a blazing fire. She was as restless as an ant on a hot pan, unable to sit still. Desperate to use her phone to call the police, she was cruelly thwarted by fate: her phone was in the living room. All she could do was listen through the tightly closed door to the fierce struggle in the living room. Every clash and every cry was like a heavy hammer striking her heart, making it tighten more and more, as if it would leap from her throat at any moment.
When the assailant’s arrogant, grating voice reached her ears, her heart sank. She immediately realized that Xia Tianlei had probably been gravely injured and was in extreme danger.
At last, the worry and fear inside her burst forth like a flood breaking through a dam, impossible to hold back. With trembling hands, she secretly opened the door a tiny crack. From the assailant’s cold-blooded gunfire to Xia Tianlei gradually passing out in agony, each horrific scene played out before Lu Shuangrou’s eyes as clearly and cruelly as a film. Every image was like a razor-sharp knife stabbing into her heart, leaving it battered and broken.
Seeing the man she loved suffer such inhuman torment, Lu Shuangrou’s reason finally shattered. She rushed out without a second thought.
As Xia Tianlei lay unconscious, he seemed to hear his wife’s familiar, grief-stricken call. As if grasping a glimmer of hope in the darkness, he was drawn by some mysterious and powerful force and slowly, painfully opened his eyes.
When Xia Tianlei saw Lu Shuangrou lying on top of him, fear and anxiety flashed in his eyes, as if they spoke of endless worry. Using what little strength he had left, he struggled to speak, one word at a time: “Shuang… Shuangrou, go! Go…”
Lu Shuangrou’s sudden appearance was like a light shining into the assailant’s dark, twisted world, igniting the wicked thoughts in his heart.
The assailant stared fixedly at Lu Shuangrou, his eyes brimming with undisguised desire. He couldn’t help but exclaim, “She really is a beauty. Even more beautiful up close.”
As he spoke, the assailant reached out with his bloodstained, wicked hands, eager to pull Lu Shuangrou into his arms, as though he meant to claim her beauty for himself.
Lu Shuangrou sensed the assailant’s evil intentions and spun around. Her eyes filled with resolve and fury. She seized his hand and sank her teeth into it with all her strength, without the slightest hesitation.
“Aaah…” The assailant let out a shriek like a slaughtered pig, so piercing it seemed capable of shaking the room apart. His face twisted with pain, his features nearly crushed together; his already vicious expression became even more terrifying.
Enraged and humiliated, the assailant flung Lu Shuangrou away with all his strength, like a mad beast, then viciously kicked her.
The impact sent Lu Shuangrou’s frail body sailing a meter away like a kite with its strings cut. She landed heavily on the floor.
“Shuang… Shuangrou…” Xia Tianlei called out in anguish, his voice full of pain and self-reproach. Ignoring the piercing agony in his body, he struggled to roll over, then slowly dragged himself inch by inch toward Lu Shuangrou. Each movement took everything he had, and every inch he crawled left a trace of his suffering behind him.
Seeing his hand, bitten until it was covered in blood and missing a large chunk of flesh, the assailant was nearly driven mad with rage. His eyes blazed red like fire as he roared at Lu Shuangrou like a crazed beast, “You bitch! You dared to bite me? I’ll shoot you dead!”
Hearing the assailant threaten to shoot Lu Shuangrou, Xia Tianlei—struggling to crawl—was jolted with shock, as if struck by lightning. He hurriedly looked back and saw the assailant already drawing his pistol. Its black muzzle, like a demon’s eye, was aimed at his wife as the man slowly squeezed the trigger.
“Bang!”
A gunshot shattered an atmosphere already stretched to the breaking point, its crack echoing through the room like a thunderclap. The bullet streaked toward Lu Shuangrou like a deadly meteor, trailing the breath of death.
“No!” Xia Tianlei cried out in agony and despair from the floor. The sound came from the depths of his soul, brimming with boundless grief and terror, as if the cry itself would tear his soul apart.
At that critical moment, as if driven by some mysterious and powerful force, Xia Tianlei miraculously got to his feet and shot toward Lu Shuangrou like an arrow loosed from a bow.
After the gunshot, the whole world seemed to freeze.
Xia Tianlei landed heavily on top of Lu Shuangrou, like an unbreakable mountain shielding her from all danger. Moving at an almost miraculous speed, he had thrown himself in front of her and successfully taken the fatal bullet for her.
“Tianlei, Tianlei…” Lu Shuangrou called his name again and again, sobbing uncontrollably. Her voice had gone hoarse, and tears blurred her vision. She seemed to sense what had happened: Xia Tianlei lay on top of her, completely motionless and unresponsive.
Lu Shuangrou summoned all her strength and finally managed to push Xia Tianlei off her. Then she struggled to turn him over. A bloody hole gaped in his chest, and blood poured out like a spring, soaking his clothes. It was as if their love and his life were draining away with the blood, leaving her utterly heartbroken and despairing.
Overcome with grief, Lu Shuangrou pulled him tightly into her arms. Her hands frantically pressed against his chest, trying to stop the flow of blood, as she choked out, “Tianlei, please don’t leave us.”
“Hahahahaha…” The assailant burst into mad laughter, the sound full of cruelty and malice. His eyes gleamed with madness as if he had fallen into a state of twisted excitement, completely indifferent to the couple’s life-and-death parting and lost in his own perverse pleasure.
The assailant didn’t dare waste any more time. He picked up a camera, adjusted the angle, and photographed the bloody scene. Then he pointed the black muzzle at Lu Shuangrou again.
Yang Luo’s unease surged like a raging tide, threatening to engulf him. At the residential complex’s entrance, he executed an incredibly dangerous 180-degree drift and came to a sudden stop. The motorcycle’s tires screeched against the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. He abandoned the bike by the roadside and sprinted into the complex like a black gale, moving so fast it seemed the wind itself was chasing after him.
The Security Guard at the residential complex entrance stared in astonishment, his mouth gaping wide enough to fit an egg. He was about to ask which building Yang Luo was headed to and why he had so recklessly left his motorcycle by the entrance.
But Yang Luo showed no sign of slowing down. With a whoosh, his figure leaped over the residential complex’s railing like a bolt of black lightning and vanished in an instant, leaving the Security Guard gaping where he stood.
“Stop!”
The Security Guard snapped out of it and started running after him, shouting loudly. But by the time he reached the railing, Yang Luo had already disappeared. Panicking, he quickly took out his radio and called for his colleagues to come help.
Xia Tianlei’s home was on the ninth floor of Building C. Yang Luo had visited many times before and knew the route like the back of his hand. He could find it with his eyes closed. To avoid alerting anyone, he didn’t take the elevator. Instead, he decided to climb up along the drainpipes and residents’ windows, one floor at a time.
If he took the elevator to the ninth floor, he would have to knock on the door to get inside. If there really was danger in the apartment, he might alert the people inside and make the situation even worse.
Damn, good thing it’s only the ninth floor. If Brother Xia lived any higher, I might have fallen to my death before I got there. Yang Luo muttered to himself, but his hands and feet never let up.
As Yang Luo struggled up to the sixth floor, a faint sound from above suddenly made his blood run cold.
No good, that was a gunshot!
Although the silencer had muffled the shot, Yang Luo’s years of experience let him recognize the sound immediately. The gunshot struck his heart like a heavy hammer, making it clench.
The moment he heard the gunshot, Yang Luo was frantic, as if a fire had ignited in his heart. He wished he could somehow gain superpowers and leap straight to the ninth floor.
Now Yang Luo no longer cared about being cautious. He cast all thoughts of his own safety aside. Like Spider-Man in a movie, he climbed toward the ninth floor as fast as he could, using both hands and feet, each movement resolute and fearless.