“Shh!” Qing Chen motioned to Li Tongyun.
The little girl looked up in horror at the ceiling of the living room, her body shrinking into the sofa.
In spite of how precocious she was, she had rarely faced this kind of situation.
She had not completely gotten over the previous trauma left by the hoodlums who broke into her house, but now another pack was coming.
Li Tongyun subconsciously moved to turn off the TV with the remote control in her hand, but Qing Chen stopped her.
In autumn, the sky was quick to turn dark, so they had turned on the lights early.
The thugs must have noticed this when they came; pretending like there was no one at home would on the contrary attract their attention.
Qing Chen patted the back of the girl's hand and mouthed silently, “Don't be afraid, I'm here.”
Li Tongyun wiped the corners of her teary eyes and nodded.
Inside the house, everything seemed to have gone on as normal without a change.
Qing Chen turned around and went to the kitchen, signaling Jiang Xue to continue cooking.
He wrote on a paper and showed it to Jiang Xue: The thugs are already upstairs. From now on, all of us have to keep acting normally. Don't panic, they won't think that you’re hiding right below them.
This building had four floors and eight units; they shouldn’t be so crazy as to search through the whole building.
Jiang Xue patiently cooked the dishes and brought them into the living room. Suppressing her trepidation, she wrote on the paper: What should we do now?
As soon as the words fell, the shattering noise of broken glass came from upstairs, followed by heavy footsteps rumbling over the ceiling above their heads.
Qing Chen's heart sank – that must be the weight of mechanical limbs.
Ordinary people’s feet couldn’t produce such a heavy sound.
Slowly, a strange rustling echoed from the ceiling.
Qing Chen searched his mind for a similar sound… It was the sound of a metal zipper rubbing against the floor.
At this moment, someone was lying down on the floor to eavesdrop on them!
It was as if a devil had descended right behind you, softly breathing, swallowing the stench of blood in the dark of the night.
Qing Chen sat on the sofa motionlessly. There was no need to make any move at a time like this. He just had to quietly wait for them to leave.
If you were a prey facing an experienced hunter in the forest, you had to learn how to hide your scent.
Don't even try to take risks, because the hunter had a gun.
There was another sound of zipper rustling against the floor, and the person lying prone seemed to have gotten up. The heavy footsteps soon moved towards the kitchen.
On the TV was the news broadcast that had just started airing, and the host's crisp voice reverberated across the room.
Qing Chen instructed Jiang Xue: Try to contact Kun Lun on WeChat, but don't make a call. You may be overheard.
Jiang Xue took out her mobile phone, muted it, and then sent a message to Lu Yuan.
But unexpectedly, Lu Yuan did not reply.
Qing Chen wrote: Forget it, we can’t count on Kun Lun for now. Let’s just keep waiting.
Li Tongyun nestled in her mother's arms and slowly calmed down her emotions. She gently clinked on the porcelain bowl with her chopsticks, mimicking the noise she usually made when eating.
However, they suddenly heard a door creaking open from the corridor. Hu Xiaoniu and his friends were chatting as they climbed upstairs.
Qing Chen, Jiang Xue, and Li Tongyun glanced at one another – they all realized what was happening.
Hu Xiaoniu’s gang must have gone up to visit Jiang Xue's house!
After a round of knocks, Wang Yun asked, “Aunt Jiang Xue, are you at home?”
The next moment, various exclamations and collisions resounded from upstairs, accompanied by the thumps of heavy objects falling to the ground.
The noises came and went quickly, it looked like they finished the battle in a flash.
Then the four of them were dragged into the house.
Qing Chen was shocked, he had apparently underestimated those suspects’ combat power.
Although those students were just ordinary people, the thugs had been way too fast in sorting them out.
What should we do? Save them? Jiang Xue scribbled on the paper in panic.
If those four were captured, everyone could guess what would happen next.
Qing Chen looked at Jiang Xue, and then at Li Tongyun.
The little girl suddenly tugged on his sleeve and squiggled on the paper: Brother Qing Chen, you’re really smart, you must have figured out a way.
She paused for a while before resuming to write: But you have to keep yourself safe.
Qing Chen sighed. Hu Xiaoniu and the others shouldn’t have died, with the way those criminals were acting, they should regard time travelers as a source of wealth and wouldn’t kill them so easily.
Then it wasn’t too late…
He promptly closed his eyes, pupils narrowing in the darkness beneath his eyelids.
One by one, he examined the key information inside his mind.
If anyone asked him what could be found within the days that had gone by, Qing Chen would calmly answer that there were long forgotten treasures.
“According to the reports, there are still nine suspects on the run this time…”
“Hello classmate, do you know Liu Dezhu…”
“Four transfer students came from Hai City…”
Qing Chen seemed to have found something.
What did Liu Dezhu tell him in the confinement room?
“After Kun Lun learned of the whereabouts of those people from Zhou, they made an ambush outside the school ahead of time…”
“The person in charge called Zheng Yuandong said that they would send someone to protect me.”
Qing Chen reopened his eyes. He turned his back and took out the communication device to send Liu Dezhu a message: Take a taxi to Apartment no. 12 in Courtyard 4 on Xingshu Road and squat in front of the building. Go now!
Liu Dezhu immediately replied his text: Boss, what is this for? Why do you want me to squat there?
Qing Chen noncommittally replied: Remember to tell Hu Xiaoniu that the first transaction has been completed. Tell him to pay with a gold bar.
Liu Dezhu was stunned when he received the message. What did this mean, how did Hu Xiaoniu suddenly get involved? But he still answered: Okay, I’ll leave now.
Qing Chen finally breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t trying to bring harm to Liu Dezhu by ordering him to come over.
It was because he realized that a time traveler of little importance like Jiang Xue might not be able to contact Kun Lun, but Liu Dezhu would definitely be able to.
He didn’t mean for Liu Dezhu to contact them directly; Kun Lun must have already planted people around him.
What Qing Chen needed was not Liu Dezhu, but for Liu Dezhu to bring Kun Lun along.
Gradually, a girl’s crying voice faintly crept down from upstairs. It seemed like someone had woken up.
…
In Xinglong district, several Kun Lun spies who were keeping watch on Liu Dezhu's place were chatting.
They saw Liu Dezhu sneaking out of the corridor. After looking around to make sure nobody was following him, he dashed outside the district and jumped into a taxi parked at the gate.
A Kun Lun member whispered into the headset, “Attention, the Sparrow has flown, the Sparrow has flown, the Sparrow flew into Eagle's car.”
On this mysterious night, Liu Dezhu restlessly sat in the backseat of the taxi and rushed, “Mister, please hurry up and drive to Courtyard 4 on Xingshu Road.”
Lu Yuan's voice was relayed through the headset: “Sparrow has given the address, everyone follow up. He’s behaving abnormally. Wrench, Hawthorn, you guys should speed up over there and look for a place to hide in advance.”
Liu Dezhu didn't have the slightest idea of how this movement affected so many people.
