Xue Ling was not experiencing being chased by a car for the first time. On the way to Yushi with Wen Jiuzhe, they had encountered roadblocks and ambushes many times, and they had also experienced being chased by others.
But today seemed a little different.
Wen Jiuzhe’s expression did not change, but Xue Ling knew him too well and sensed the gravity beneath his calm.
Gripping the handhold, Xue Ling looked back. The car behind them was very similar to the one they were driving, and it seemed newer and better maintained. Its speed was faster than their battered, hardship-worn junk car.
When the distance closed to a certain point, Xue Ling clearly saw the lion-head pattern on the car behind.
She recognized it as well. The only time Wen Jiuzhe had previously erupted into an intense gunfight with others on the road had also been with this group of lion heads.
So it really was an old enemy.
“Wen Jiu!” someone in the car behind shouted, along with several strange yells from different people.
“Wen Jiu, why are you running as soon as you see us!”
“Aren’t you supposed to be amazing? Why run?”
The wind vaguely carried over the shouting and mocking of several men. It was hard to hear clearly, but it was obviously nothing good.
Someone even fired a shot, but it was too far away to hit their car. It was more like provocation and a show of force.
Xue Ling couldn’t help but look at Wen Jiuzhe again. He noticed it and, taking a moment, smiled at her and said, “Sit tight.”
After saying that, he pulled his hand back and sharply turned the steering wheel, driving off the road.
Judging by the voices, there were at least five people behind them, and they had guns.
They couldn’t keep driving along the road. Their speed couldn’t compare to the other side’s, and if this continued, they would soon be caught.
After the area had been cleared, everything around them was an open stretch of wasteland. There wasn’t a single large building in sight nearby. Only on the left side could he vaguely see the outlines of some houses, as if there were a small town there.
Wen Jiuzhe suddenly changed direction because he wanted to drive there.
He knew very well that in a place without any obstacles, he stood no chance against the people behind them.
These people were not the kind of road robbers who lay in ambush by the roadside and only knew how to wave shovels and clubs. They were armed, truly brutal and vicious, killers with blood on their hands.
Every time Wen Jiuzhe had dealt with them before, he had relied on complex terrain and buildings, constantly hiding and picking them off one by one.
Every seemingly effortless kill had been preceded by patient lurking and calculation. It was genuine fighting for his life.
But today, this barren plain put him at an absolute disadvantage.
No matter how capable one person was, in a place like this, he couldn’t deal with several people holding guns.
The moment he realized this, Wen Jiuzhe made a decision.
He ignored the shouting behind him, his gaze fixed on the outlines of the buildings ahead.
If he could hide in the town before they caught up, then it meant that today, his fate was not meant to end.
If he was unlucky and got caught before that… he hoped Xue Ling wouldn’t be angry.
There was a saying called “seeing the mountain yet running the horse to death.” The small town visible in the distance only seemed a little closer after a long drive, while the car behind was drawing nearer and nearer.
Wen Jiuzhe suddenly said to Xue Ling, “You drive.”
Xue Ling was already tense. Hearing this, she froze. She had learned how to drive, but she had never done something like switching drivers in the middle of driving.
But the car behind was gradually closing in, and she could see it too. She thought that Wen Jiuzhe must be planning to prepare to exchange gunfire from the passenger seat. Gritting her teeth, she squeezed over toward the driver’s seat.
Switch, then switch. At a time like this, there was no room to care about traffic safety.
Wen Jiuzhe was tall and broad, taking up a lot of space, which made the process of switching quite difficult.
Xue Ling had just managed to sit in the driver’s seat and relax a little when she heard Wen Jiuzhe say, “When the car behind catches up later, I’ll jump out of the car. You keep driving forward, drive into that town and hide, understand?”
Xue Ling: “?”
What did you just say?
If Xue Ling could speak properly, she would have cursed him for having something wrong with his brain.
The other side was coming fiercely, clearly not planning to let him go. Sacrificing himself to cover her retreat—this was him acting out a classic TV drama again.
Wen Jiuzhe pulled out his gun and looked toward the rear through the car window. “When they see me, they probably won’t chase you anymore. If they go crazy and still chase you, hide in a pile of zombies. I don’t need to teach you that, right.”
Xue Ling thought he was about to jump out of the car right then. She hurriedly reached out to grab him, but the car suddenly jolted.
Xue Ling immediately withdrew her hand and, a little flustered, steadied the car.
Ahead, a long stretch of the road had been deliberately dug full of pits, with many obstacles placed there. There were also lots of debris and loose stones scattered across the road.
It was probably a measure taken by scavenger teams to prevent zombies from running out of the city, but at this moment it caused huge trouble for driving.
The road was too hard to drive on. The car jolted continuously. Xue Ling could only focus on driving and had no way to grab Wen Jiuzhe for the moment, so she locked the car door with a free hand.
Fortunately, he did not jump out immediately, only kept paying close attention to the rear.
The distance between the two cars closed. A shot hit the rear of their car.
Then came several more shots. Bullets flew toward them as if they cost nothing. Wen Jiuzhe used his shots more cautiously, patiently waiting for quite a while before firing a single shot.
The gunfire from behind stopped. The guy who had been constantly shooting at them ducked back into the car and cursed, “Fuck! My hand got grazed. Good thing I dodged fast!”
“What’s the rush? He can’t get away. Don’t waste bullets!”
But it only quieted down for a moment. Soon, as the distance between the two cars grew even closer, someone else leaned out of the car window, eager to try again.
Wen Jiuzhe turned to look at Xue Ling. After a brief silence, he said, “I—”
The words of farewell did not make it out. The car suddenly jolted again, and the front wheel sank into a pit and couldn’t move.
At this point, it was already too late to stop and get out to push the car.
Xue Ling and Wen Jiuzhe looked at each other.
Xue Ling: “……”
Wen Jiuzhe: “……”
The car behind caught up.
Wen Jiuzhe: “You hide in the car. Don’t get out.”
He opened the car door and faced several gun barrels.
A total of five people got out of that car. Fourth Brother took the lead, with De-ge, who looked honest and simple, as his deputy. The other three young men looked to be about the same age as Wen Jiuzhe.
Wen Jiuzhe swept his gaze over them and aimed his gun at Fourth Brother in front.
Fourth Brother slowly sized him up, revealing a ferocious smile. “It really is you. Didn’t pick the wrong person.”
“You seem to have been living pretty well these past two years. Your brother here has had it rough.”
Back then, Wen Jiuzhe had used the name Wen Jiu to blend into the Yi Lion Base and had fought Fourth Brother once. Fourth Brother lost.
Fourth Brother had held onto that grudge ever since. Among the brothers, he was the best fighter, yet he lost to an outsider young man.
But at the time, Big Brother had admired Wen Jiu a lot, thinking that they would all be brothers sooner or later, so Fourth Brother could only temporarily suppress his competitive streak.
Who would have thought that Wen Jiu would betray Big Brother’s appreciation and stir up such a huge incident.
Now Wen Jiuzhe had nowhere to run. Fourth Brother could naturally shoot him dead with a single shot, but killing him so simply would not ease the resentment in Fourth Brother’s heart.
He looked past Wen Jiuzhe’s shoulder, toward the car behind him.
“I heard you even brought your own girlfriend with you. Why don’t you call her down and introduce her?”
The three young men laughed.
“If you won’t call her, let the brothers help you. Yongsheng, you go.”
One of the young men stepped forward two paces, and Wen Jiuzhe’s gun immediately swung over to him.
At this moment, the tightly closed car door behind Wen Jiuzhe was opened. A figure moved out of the car and, under the gazes of the men, slowly walked to Wen Jiuzhe’s side.
In this weather, the men with blazing firepower were fine wearing just one layer. She, however, was wrapped in a long trench coat, with a hat, mask, and glasses, her face covered tightly, not a sliver of skin exposed.
Fourth Brother only glanced at her once before saying to Wen Jiuzhe, “Back then when you went to the Yi Lion Base, you were looking for someone, right? A woman called Xue Ling. Don’t tell me it’s her?”
When the base fell into chaos and Wen Jiu fled, his second and third brothers had also gone to investigate Wen Jiu’s identity, as well as his motive for doing such a thing.
