Chapter Thirty-Seven: Ambush and Murder

With his keen sixth sense, Long Fei could clearly tell that there were only two people in the van, but both of them were extremely dangerous—far more skilled than the bodyguards at Ye Wentian’s villa.

“So, you’re Long Fei? Ye Qian’s personal bodyguard?” Chen Xin, whose presence Long Fei hadn’t noticed before, now stood not far away, watching him with a half-smile.

Long Fei’s heart gave a jolt. It seemed that the university truly hid dragons among men—someone as skilled as Chen Xin could approach him without being noticed, a feat few could accomplish, even if Long Fei had been distracted. This alone spoke volumes about Chen Xin’s abilities.

Long Fei frowned slightly and spoke in a calm voice. “Who are you? How do you know me?”

“I guessed,” Chen Xin replied with a mysterious smile. “Anyway, if I’m right, Ye Qian seems to be in a bit of trouble right now. You’d better go check on her quickly.”

Long Fei suspected that Chen Xin was deliberately stalling him, but upon reflection, he found that unlikely. Since Ye Qian’s car had already vanished, and with the bodyguards following behind, they should be able to hold off the two experts in the van for a while. Thinking this, Long Fei became less anxious and smiled. “Really? Then what’s your name?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.” With that, Chen Xin’s figure slowly disappeared at the campus gate.

Long Fei could not afford to delay any longer. He hailed a taxi, pointed ahead, and said, “Drive as fast as you can—just keep going along this road!”

“Hey, brother, where exactly do you want to go? How am I supposed to drive if you don’t tell me?” The driver was a young man, clearly a streetwise type who had probably turned over a new leaf and was now driving a cab—no rarity in Shanghai.

Long Fei didn’t bother to hide his urgency. “Just drive as fast as you can and chase the red Ferrari ahead. Don’t worry, you’ll get your fare in full.”

The driver was stunned, then burst out laughing. “Didn’t expect you to be such a tough guy—chasing after a girl, huh? Don’t worry, my driving skills are top-notch. Back in the day—”

With a sharp slap, Long Fei produced a thick wad of cash, tossing several thousand yuan onto the dashboard. “I don’t like people who talk too much. From now on, keep your mouth shut and drive, or I’ll throw you out and drive myself.”

The driver glanced at the money, hesitated a few times, but finally closed his mouth obediently. Since deciding to go straight, he couldn’t afford to get into fights anymore—and who in their right mind would turn down easy money? This haul was worth a few days of fares!

Long Fei pulled out his phone and called Ye Qian, but no one answered. Growing more anxious, he dialed several more times, but still no answer.

Honestly, the driver’s skills were far less impressive than his bragging. After ten minutes, they still hadn’t caught sight of the cars ahead. Plenty of vehicles had passed by, but none were the ones Long Fei was seeking, and his anxiety only grew. At a red light, Long Fei simply hauled the driver out and dumped him into the passenger seat amid startled yelps, then took the wheel himself. With a roar, the taxi shot forward at a breakneck speed that left the driver gaping—he’d never thought his cab could move like this.

He forgot all about Long Fei running the red light, even forgetting how roughly he’d just been treated. Now, as the car darted between traffic like a rocket, weaving perilously close to luxury vehicles and drawing angry blares of horns, the driver grew excited. “Brother, are you a professional racer? Even the pros can’t drive like you! Man, I’ve never seen anything like this—this is awesome!”

“To hell with BMWs, Ferraris, Porsches! Ha!” He’d probably suffered plenty of scorn from luxury car owners, but today, as they left those cars in the dust, the driver was thrilled. Suddenly, his little Xiali felt a lot more impressive than those BMWs, and he cheered even louder.

At a fork in the road, Long Fei decisively took the one leading out of the city. Though he’d only taken this route once before that morning with Ye Qian, he remembered clearly that this was the way back to the Dream Garden.

The car sped on, the traffic thinning until the road was all but empty. The driver, calming down, grew uneasy. “Hey, brother, where are we actually going?”

Long Fei ignored him, flooring the accelerator. Rounding a bend, he finally caught sight of Ye Qian’s red Ferrari up ahead—but something seemed amiss.

When Ye Qian drove past the campus gate, she had indeed seen Long Fei, but she was already fuming at him. Since he hadn’t bothered to greet her, she certainly wasn’t going to stop for him. Once outside the gate, her anger only grew, and she nearly made the car fly as she cranked up heavy metal music to full volume, the deafening noise making her ears ring before she was satisfied. Because of this, she didn’t hear Long Fei’s calls, and even if she had, she might not have answered.

She’d noticed the bodyguards following her, but just thinking about them fueled her anger. With a stomp on the gas, she shot ahead, leaving the bodyguards far behind—even if they realized they were being followed, there was no way to warn her. After all, a Ferrari’s speed, even with her limited driving skills, was far beyond what the Santana behind her could manage.

Soon, Ye Qian left both the Santana and the van behind, cursing them out as she finally slowed down. After passing an intersection, the Santana reappeared, but this time she noticed the “tail” following her—on the crowded city streets she hadn’t spotted them, but now, with few cars around, it was obvious.

In the blink of an eye, the Santana caught up, just as a massive truck blocked Ye Qian’s way, skidding sideways to completely seal off the already narrow road. Forced to a halt, she slammed the brakes.

The truck driver grinned at her menacingly, and Ye Qian felt a chill—something was very wrong. She quickly turned off the music and thought of calling Long Fei, but before she could, the driver had already appeared at her window like a ghost.

With a loud crash, the scar-faced driver swung a hammer, shattering the passenger window to pieces. Grinning, he reached in—clearly demanding her phone.

Ye Qian wisely handed it over while thinking about how to escape. Her best hope was that the bodyguards would catch up, but a glance in the rearview mirror dashed her hopes. The Santana had stopped, and as the four bodyguards got out, the two men from the van opened fire, killing them instantly.

The two men were clearly professional assassins. The one on the left had shoulder-length hair and skin so pale and smooth it looked like he used facial masks daily—he smiled, revealing perfect white teeth. The man on the right also wore his hair long and closely resembled his companion, but his skin was so deeply wrinkled that it looked like the bark of an ancient tree, enough to terrify at a glance.

Both wore white gloves—the left held a rifle, the right a submachine gun. As the bodyguards stepped out, the man with the submachine gun cut them down in a burst of gunfire. The two bodyguards still in the car reacted quickly, drawing their pistols, but before they could open the doors, the rifleman grinned, and with a thunderous boom, the Santana exploded into a fireball, soaring into the air before crashing down with a metallic crash.

Ye Qian’s pupils contracted in terror. Clearly, these three men were after her. She was beginning to regret her anger—if only she hadn’t quarreled with Long Fei, she wouldn’t be at their mercy now. In this desperate moment, she fervently wished for Long Fei to appear and save her, vowing to always listen to him and be a good, obedient girl from now on.

She didn’t stop to consider whether she could actually keep such a promise, nor did she think about whether Long Fei could really handle these three monstrous men, even if he arrived.

“Miss, come out, won’t you?” the scar-faced man said in broken Chinese.

Ye Qian froze. This was her third kidnapping, but the first time she’d directly faced her abductors and heard them speak. At that moment, she realized these three men were not from Huaxia.

Unwillingly, Ye Qian unbuckled her seatbelt. But just then, the three men suddenly turned their heads. A taxi was racing toward them at high speed, making all three frown and radiate a murderous aura.

The assassin with the fair face raised his rifle; his companion leveled his submachine gun. As the taxi closed in, less than a hundred meters from Ye Qian’s Ferrari, it swerved sharply yet didn’t lose speed, zigzagging forward. At the same moment, the two men opened fire.