While Wang Yibo was dazed, Song JiYang stole away the gun pointed at him and fired at the lock, then kicked the door open. The wound on his arm wouldn’t stop bleeding. His face was pale.
Xiao Zhan removed his gun too, and put it back in its holster. He grabbed Wang Yibo’s arms and made the other hold onto him. He asked, “Can you still walk?”
Wang Yibo stared at Xiao Zhan. He didn’t say anything. Xiao Zhan avoided his gaze, towing him forward. At least Wang Yibo didn’t try to resist.
Coincidentally, the parking lot was right outside the door. Song JiYang walked ahead and found an old-fashioned SUV. He waved at Xiao Zhan and pointed at the car with his uninjured left hand.
Xiao Zhan dragged Wang Yibo over and made Song JiYang prop Wang Yibo up. Then, he fired a direct shot into the car’s glass window.
The glass shattered. He reached a hand in and opened the car door before removing all the cushioning from the car seat and throwing it onto the ground. Finally, he crawled over to the back seat and unlocked the door.
Song JiYang urged, “Hurry, the soldiers Wen RouHan hired are almost here.”
Xiao Zhan opened the car’s back doors. Song JiYang pushed Wang Yibo in first; Wang Yibo’s leg wound was quite severe. He had lost a lot of blood, so his forehead was wet with cold sweat. But Song JiYang wasn’t much better off. The bullet he had taken to his right arm had been pretty serious too.
Xiao Zhan had just pulled the live wire out when the soldiers pursuing them charged out of the emergency exit. Xiao Zhan’s eyes were sharp, so he quietly relayed, “Lie down!”
The car Song JiYang had chosen was parked in the middle of the lot. It couldn’t be spotted in a glance. A group of three soldiers were clearly wary of them too, because they stood in a tiny triangular formation and were approaching slowly. Xiao Zhan leaned against the steering wheel and silently reached a hand out to open the car door.
His form was small, so he carefully pushed the door open a little and slipped out, then lightly closed the door behind him.
Wang Yibo was still pretty calm. He looked down at his own leg; when he looked up again, he found that Xiao Zhan had disappeared. He immediately turned to stare at Song JiYang.
Song JiYang could tell what he wanted to ask. He said, “You don’t need to worry about him.”
At this moment, gunshots rang out, but they came from the other end of the parking lot. The soldiers seemed to have discovered a shadow, so spun around and rushed in that direction.
“He……” Wang Yibo was ultimately still worried. His eyebrows were tightly furrowed together. If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t even lift his leg, he would’ve gotten out of the car long ago. “Only has eighteen bullets.”
Song JiYang knew whatever he said would be useless, so only shrugged.
The gunshots stopped. Though the car no longer had a window, they were too far away to catch anything. They could only faintly hear the sounds of fighting. Wang Yibo’s heart pounded extremely quickly in his chest. Yet, his perked ears could only pick up the sound of a bone breaking and a few angry roars that followed. He couldn’t hear Xiao Zhan at all.
A few minutes later, Xiao Zhan returned.
His light-colored jacket was spattered with blood and grime. There were three submachine guns on his shoulder. When he got on the car, he wordlessly threw the guns onto the passenger seat and slammed the door shut with a “peng”. He continued to hotwire the car.
Wang Yibo could only see that his previously pale knuckles were now slightly red.
“How many people left?” Xiao Zhan suddenly asked.
It took Song JiYang a while to react. “Four.”
The car lightly trembled, then started. Xiao Zhan turned around and glanced at the two in the back. “Seatbelt.”
“What kind of stinkin’ habit,” Song JiYang cussed as he put on his own seatbelt.
Wang Yibo was still staring at Xiao Zhan. Xiao Zhan asked him, “You want me to climb back there and put it on for you?”
Song JiYang was annoyed to death of the two of them. He pulled out the seatbelt and stuffed Wang Yibo into it. “I’ll do it. I’ll do it, okay?”
Xiao Zhan stomped on the gas pedal and the car took off.
The car was the most common type of SUV found on the island. It was stick shift, but Xiao Zhan didn’t seem to have any problems driving it. He accelerated to over two hundred miles per hour, steadily making his way up the mountainous road that was between the airport and downtown.
Their pursuers caught up fairly quickly. The man in charge rode on a six cylinder motorcycle. His center of gravity was low, so his vehicle managed to drive extremely quickly. The motorcyclist lowered his body and sped up.
“Can you still use your left hand?” Xiao Zhan threw three guns behind him. “Take these.”
Song JiYang saw that among them was the Glock 17 that had a very light recoil. He knew it was the one Wang Yibo had gifted his Boss. His Boss only kept a submachine gun for himself.
Wang Yibo’s expression became worse from where he was off to the side. Song JiYang was scared he would suddenly combust.
But this was a command his Boss had given him. Song JiYang could only force himself to say, “I can.”
He observed the motorcyclist from the mirror. He wanted to wait until the other was closer before shooting.
Xiao Zhan’s expression was solemn as he stared in the rearview mirror. He ordered Song JiYang, “Wait for me to give the okay.”
Before Song JiYang could do anything, the motorcyclist took a shot at the car’s back window. Song JiYang and Wang Yibo lost their cover, so crouched over behind the seat to avoid the rain of bullets.
Xiao Zhan calculated the optimal distance and said, “Shoot at the gas tank!”
Song JiYang wanted to stand up and shoot, but he could only use his left hand. The mountain road was rugged and bumpy, so it was hard for him to take aim. The motorcycle was getting closer and closer.
Wang Yibo watched as he spent a long time aiming, then grabbed the gun from him, impatient. As soon as he got an eye on the target, he shot three continuous rounds. One hit the man’s body, another hit the front wheel, and the last hit the gas tank.
The motorcycle instantly exploded. Thick smoke and raging flames threatened to reach the sky. A large quantity of shattered rock hurtled down the side of the mountain, blocking the armored car following them behind a pile of combusted debris.
Xiao Zhan continued to accelerate. He temporarily left the soldiers chasing them in the dust.
Song JiYang looked at Xiao Zhan, then looked at Wang Yibo who looked like a bottle of explosives. While he kept an eye on the situation behind them, he also found a conversation topic. “Elder He is going all in this time.”
“Weren’t the troops hired by Wen RouHan preparing to attack in Switzerland?” Wang Yibo had known long before about Wen RouHan’s little plot. He had just never expected that the other would dare to take a risk in country U, a place that was extremely close to Ping City.
“He hired another bunch of soldiers on the black market after you guys left Ping City. I didn’t notice at first, but kept an eye out when I arrived in country U. I ordered an investigation that led to the discovery that he had hired the soldiers. But I didn’t expect for Liu Haikuan to be looking into this matter as well. He felt that something was off too, but couldn’t manage to contact you starting from last night.”
Upon hearing this, Wang Yino immediately realized that his phone had been tampered with. He was just about to pull it out when Xiao Zhan spoke from up front, “I already threw your phone away when I helped you up earlier.”
Song JiYang’s mouth twitched.
“Where’s Liu Haikuan right now?” Wang Yibo asked Song JiYang.
Song JiYang said, “He and I reached an emergency agreement to meet at a safe house in the downtown area. Two helicopters should arrive by around twelve midnight.”
“Two?” The corners of Wang Yibo’s lips tugged upwards. “Mine……and Xiao Investment’s?”
Song JiYang looked at Xiao Zhan before nodding.
Wang Yibo nodded before finally directing his gaze onto the person driving up front. He could see Xiao Zhan’s eyes from the rearview mirror. He looked so collected and focused, just like he did every time he was stuck in a good book. It was like nothing had changed.
Wang Yibo inhaled deeply. Then, he spat out the word he refused to believe, “Sean?”
The car smoothly finished a sharp turn. The inertia made Wang Yibo nauseous. The wound on his leg hurt so much that it now felt numb, but his heart felt like someone was slicing at it with a dull knife. The pain was so bad that he could barely gather the energy to breathe.
A long time later, he finally heard the person he treasured so much go “un”.
Sean said, “That’s me.”
From then until they got off the car, there were no other noises aside from the heated, raw wind sounds that thrummed against the passengers’ eardrums from through the broken window.
They finally arrived downtown. In the time before their pursuers caught up, the three of them abandoned the car and got on the most common form of transportation in the downtown area, a three-wheeled motorcycle used for carrying passengers.
On the motorcycle, Song JiYang used a clothing item he had found on the car to simply bandage his arm. He put his gun into a tote bag that he had found in the trunk, too. There were a lot of people downtown, so the driver didn’t realize that there was anything different about these three.
Song JiYang gave the driver the address of the safe house. The motorcycle carried them through several alleyways, continuing on for a long time before finally reaching the building the safe house was located in. It was a normal rental building, split into east and west sides. There weren’t a lot of levels, and all sorts of people resided in it. Song JiYang led them into a simple elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.
The top floor was roughcast and empty of any people or items. No renters had lived there before, but that didn’t mean it was clean. The floor was covered with dirt and dust. Sean furrowed his brows when he looked at it, then took his jacket off and put it down. He grabbed Wang Yibo’s hand and pulled him over to sit down. He lifted his head and told him, “You sit first. I’ll go buy some medicine.”
“Sean, take the gun.” Song JiYang was afraid that he would encounter pursuing forces, so threw a gun at him.
As soon as Sean caught the gun, he squatted down and handed it to Wang Yibo. “Mr. Wang Yibo, you take it.”
Wang Yibo scooted closer and weighed the gun. He looked at Sean and asked, “Aren’t you scared that I could shoot you right now?”
Sean didn’t answer. Instead, he half-kneeled by Wang Yibo’s side and examined his wound. He quickly glanced at the degree of damage Wang Yibo’s pant leg had suffered before determining, “We’ll need to take care of your leg wound immediately.”
“My gunshot wound……” Song JiYang interrupted.
“Did it go straight through?” Sean turned to look at him. Song JiYang nodded, so Sean replied, “I’ll buy bandages for you.”
Song JiYang rolled his eyes, not even bothering to hide his disdain.
Sean kept looking at Wang Yibo. Wang Yibo stared straight back at him, too. His eyes were only filled with judgement, nothing else. Sean didn’t like the cold expression in Wang Yibo’s gaze, so covered it and pecked Wang Yibo. He quietly told him, “I’ll be right back.”
As soon as Sean left, the room became silent. Song JiYang sat on the bay window by the balcony, maintaining a safe distance from Wang Yibo.
A while later, Song JiYang finally opened his mouth. “What do you want to ask? You can ask me. If you ask Sean, he might not answer.”
Wang Yibo replayed the scene of the first time he had eaten dinner with Song JiYang in his mind. He lowered his voice and inquired, “Why?”
“He’s liked you for a while.” Song JiYang glanced at the door before continuing, “I don’t know how he got to know you, but he really likes you. Sean had a lack of love in this life; he’s not from a happy family. The way he’s with you is how he normally is, gentle and harmless, always soft-spoken. But he normally kills people. In front of you, he wouldn’t.”
“I was working for Wen RouHan when I was seventeen. I fainted after being cut up by someone and getting thrown in a little alleyway. Sean brought me back with him. He’s the only son in his family——His father was the Chinese leader of a small, local gang in Laos. In his early years, he had an innumerous amount of mistresses, but they only gave birth to daughters. Sean was the only son. Later on, an explosion injured his reproductive organs and he couldn’t have children anymore, so Sean truly become his sole successor. His dad didn’t like his appearance and said he looked too weak, like he wouldn’t be able to command respect. Because of this, he was extra strict with him. Sean had already started walking the line of life and death with a group of old ex-militia when he was just past the age of ten. A couple years later, his dad had an accident and he came to Ping City.”
Song JiYang probably wanted to paint Sean as a tragic hero, so he kept talking. Upon seeing that Wang Yibo wasn’t going to interrupt him, he added, “Sean asked to meet you once, three years ago. He waited on top of the Jian Island Tower for you the whole night, but you didn’t come. Later he started messing with everything you did because he wanted your attention.”
Here, Song JiYang laughed dauntlessly. “Xiao Zhan is a student who looked like him. His mom owed a lot of money from gambling. Everything else is also real. One time he saw Xiao Zhan outside of Ping University and thought he looked similar to him, so sent someone to investigate him. He scheduled a meeting with Xiao Zhan.”
“He never told me what they discussed, but a few days later, someone took Xiao Zhan to get plastic surgery. He got surgery to look almost exactly the same as Sean. The person attending Ping University was sometimes Xiao Zhan, sometimes Sean. I didn’t know what he wanted to do back then, and he never answered when I asked about it.
“Some time passed, and Sean managed to get your schedule. He used Xiao Zhan’s identity to get into White Nest. Based on what I know about him, I’m guessing he was preparing to drug and rape you. Nobody expected that you would bring up wanting to be his sugar daddy first.”
Wang Yibo looked at Song JiYang, speechless.
“He told me he originally only wanted to sleep with you a couple of times. But after sleeping with you a couple of times, he wanted you to like him too.” Song JiYang paused. “I know what he did to you was extremely unfair. You can tell too, he’s just that kind of person. He has to get what he wants, no matter the means; he’s sinister. I’m in no position to explain for him, but if you don’t think about all this……”
Song JiYang sighed softly. “It’s up to you to make a decision.”
Wang Yibo didn’t answer for a long time. He imagined what he should do in this circumstance. His answer was that he should kill Sean, and that was doing the least. Thus, he could make neither head nor tail of this situation.
He had remained silent the entire way here because he had discovered that he couldn’t even say anything harsh to Sean.
Sean came back with a big bag of medicine and food. When he saw that both Wang Yibo and Song JiYang were how he had left them, he first smiled at Wang Yibo, then pulled out a bottle of water and unscrewed the lid. He set it beside Wang Yibo. “Mr. Wang, I bought the water you like to drink.”
“Let me fix A- JiYang up first.” He found a pair of scissors, bandages, and medicine, then cut open Song JiYang’s sleeve. Song JiYang’s wound had already basically stopped bleeding. Sean used a cotton ball covered in disinfectant to help him clean off the bloodstains before applying the medicine.
Wang Yibo picked up the water and took a gulp. He tilted the bottle too fast, so water spilled down his chin. He stared at Sean. Sean’s back shifted with his movements; he was diligently bandaging Song JiYang’s arm. He looked very practiced, as if he had a lot of experience doing this. Song JiYang trusted him a lot too. Wang Yibo sat off to the side, on the jacket Sean had brought him, and felt like an outsider.
Sean used the scissors to cut the residual bandages off. He told Song JiYang, “Song JiYang, go wait outside for a bit.”
Song JiYang walked over to the paper bag that Sean had brought back. He squatted down and picked out a bento box, then went outside. When he passed Sean, he muttered I feel like a peasant worker. Sean pretended he didn’t hear anything.
He closed the door. Sean carried the scissors over to Wang Yibo and half-knelt in front of him. He carefully cut off the suit material that had been stuck on Wang Yibo’s calf because of the blood. Suddenly, he felt something cold press against his forehead.
It was the gun he had given Wang Yibo. Wang Yibo stared at him emotionlessly, but Sean smiled in response. He ignored the barrel glued to his forehead, instead leaning in closer to kiss Wang Yibo.
Wang Yibo was only scaring him. There was no energy in his arm, which allowed Sean to easily push it away. Their teeth clinked together. One of Sean’s hands rested on Wang Yibo’s shoulder while the other remained on his leg. Wang Yibo could taste cigarettes in Sean’s mouth.
So it appeared that Sean smoked.
Wang Yibo was dizzy from excessive blood loss. A sudden sharp pain shot through his calf, causing him to instantly become alert. Sean scooted a bit further away from him and tugged the cloth that was stuck on his flesh off.
He carefully cleaned Wang Yibo’s calf, then used a lighter to disinfect a pair of tweezers. He used the tweezers to remove the glass shards from Wang Yibo’s flesh. Sean’s head was lowered and Wang Yibo’s vision was blurry, so he couldn’t decipher the other’s expression. He could only tell that Sean’s lips were tightly pressed together.
If they had successfully boarded the plane back to Ping City today and Sean had this expression on his face, Wang Yibo would definitely have taken him to do everything he wanted to do. As long as he would stop being this unhappy, Wang Yibo would’ve presented the stars and moon to him.
After Sean cleaned up his wound, he grabbed some tablets and handed them to Wang Yibo. “Antibiotics.”
Wang Yibo put the gun down, swallowed a few, and looked at Sean. “Don’t you have anything to say?” Sean gazed back at him. “What does Mr.Wang want me to say?”
Wang Yibo didn’t reply. Sean continued, “I didn’t think it would happen so fast, but it’s better this way.”
“Better?” Wang Yibo’s lips twitched in mockery as he inquired.
Sean pressed the back of his hand against Wang Yibo’s forehead, avoiding the topic of debate. “You’ll still need to get this looked at when we get back. You have a slight fever.”
Even if Wang Yibo was extremely capable, he was still a pampered, wealthy son. When had he ever gotten so seriously injured? The onset of fever was expected. Sean found some bread and fed Wang Yibo; Wang Yibo didn’t reject him.
Song JiYang finished a bento box outside, then opened the door to peek inside. He was scared that Sean would get strangled to death by Wang Yibo in a moment of inattention. He decided that it would be better for him to stay inside the room. His presence could also somewhat dispel the awkward atmosphere.
At twelve, the island’s downtown was still bustling.
Two helicopters landed at the safe house as planned. They parked separately on the east and west sides of the roof of the rental building. Sean half-piggybacked Wang Yibo upstairs. Liu Haikuan waited for Wang Yibo nearby.
When he saw Wang Yibo, he immediately walked over, wanting to take Wang Yibo over from Sean.
Unexpectedly, Wang Yibo pushed him away and said, “I can walk.”
Then he turned around and stared at Sean.
Sean saw that he was still willing to look at him and was extremely surprised. He and Wang Yibo maintained eye contact for two seconds, before he held his arms out and carefully asked, “Can I hug you?”
Wang Yibo’s expression immediately turned fierce, but Sean hugged Wang Yibo quickly while he was off guard anyways. His embrace wasn’t very tight, but the warmth and strength he used still belonged to Xiao Zhan. He even pecked Wang Yibo’s chin and told him, “See you in Ping City.”
The lighting was dim. Sean’s expression was very gentle, pure and innocent. Wang Yibo still instinctively wanted to hold this person’s hand and walk away with him. He couldn’t tell if the “liking” Sean had given him was real or a figment of his imagination——he would have to ask Sean to find out, but Wang Yibo didn’t want to. He also didn’t dare to.
Sean took two steps back and turned around to make his way in the direction of the bridge between the two sides of the building’s roof. He was walking towards his helicopter, his Song JiYang.
He left his back to Wang Yibo, unafraid. It was like he knew Wang Yibo wouldn’t do anything.
Wang Yibo emotionlessly watched Xiao Zhan’s helicopter take off and rise into the atmosphere before slowly striding towards the cabin door that was open and waiting for him.
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Vote and Comment if you enjoyed this chapter. Happy Wednesday🧡 Stay tuned for the next chapter! Stay safe and healthy😊 With luv, AR&SS❣
