Volume 12
Chapter 19: A Barrage of Gunfire (Part 2)
Who would pull out a gun in the middle of the city? And who would fire a gun in the middle of the city?! This was Shenzhou in the 21st century! Not the new empire in shambles at the beginning of the constitutional monarchy! The Yan family seemed to be living in the past, never having moved forward with the times!
Lu Li turned around and ran with Zhu Qiao on his back. He ducked behind a pillar. The next second, a barrage of gunfire came from behind. The stone pillar he was hiding behind was hit by bullets, sending stone fragments flying. He had never thought such a violently anti-routine scene would appear in his own life. A gunfight! And in the city! Were they really going for a mutual destruction?
“Gege…” Zhu Qiao said in a small voice, her eyes still unable to open. “I’m a little tired. I’m sorry…”
At this point, what are you apologizing for? Little Qiao, you never owed me anything!
Little Qiao’s delicate body grew softer and softer, weaker and weaker, and also colder and colder, as if her soul were about to leave her body. The blood flow in Lu Li’s body suddenly accelerated, his brain congested with blood. He roared, “She is Zhu Xi’s sister, your Yan Rujun’s granddaughter! You dare to kill her?!”
The assassins paid no heed and continued their suppressive fire. The white stone pillar was riddled with holes and clearly wouldn’t hold for much longer.
There was clearly something wrong with Zhu Qiao. He had to get her to a doctor as soon as possible. But, at this very moment, he was being besieged by the madmen under the Yan Matriarch! At this critical juncture, Lu Li’s mind went blank, and he became surprisingly calm. He listened to his own heartbeat, each beat faster than the last, like the rumbling of a war drum. He heard Zhu Qiao say something in a faint, nasal tone, but her voice was drowned out by the sound of gunfire, and he couldn’t hear her clearly.
The stone pillar behind him was tattered and crumbling. The assassins, while firing, were approaching the position of the pillar. Lu Li quietly took off his shoes, counted down from three, and then suddenly threw his shoes out, while shouting, “There’s a bomb! Get down!” The firepower faltered for a moment. The assassins in the front row thought it was a warning from a companion and subconsciously dropped to the ground. The assassins in the back row followed suit without knowing why. It was in this brief gap that Lu Li, carrying the increasingly light Zhu Qiao on his back, rushed into the hall. Even so, a bullet still hit his left thigh. A sharp, bone-gouging pain shot through him, but Lu Li didn’t make a sound.
By the time the assassins kicked open the main door and rushed into the magnificent and intricate hall, they could no longer find any trace of Lu Li and Zhu Qiao.
…
In the shooting range, the seven candidates sat together in a circle, at a loss. “Are those firecrackers outside? Where’s the princess now? Why is no one managing us?”
“Should we go back or wait here…”
With a thump, Lu Li stumbled through the main door, startling the seven men to their feet. “Brother Lu?!” Lu Li ignored them, walked to the front of the shooting range, took the pistol that was chained to the rack, and inspected it. Live ammunition, full clip. It was a good thing he had played with the fancy gun in Zhu Xi’s hand in the snow back then, otherwise he wouldn’t even know how to use a weapon at this moment. And, the guns at this shooting range were actually all loaded with live ammunition. If Lu Li hadn’t used the excuse of going to the bathroom before, it was very likely that the guns at this shooting range would have become the weapons that killed him.
The other party had been prepared all along.
“Brother Lu? That girl on your back looks a little familiar…” the candidates asked with confusion.
Lu Li aimed the muzzle at them, startling them into a sharp retreat. “Don’t come near me. I don’t trust you. Another step closer and I’ll shoot.”
“Brother Lu! Brother Lu! It’s us!”
“Hands on your head! Squat on the ground!”
“Brother Lu! What’s wrong? What’s happening outside?”
“Bang!” Lu Li fired a shot at the ground, scaring the seven men into quickly putting their hands on their heads and squatting on the ground.
He slightly adjusted the muzzle, aiming at one of them he didn’t particularly like. “You, squatting, step out, take out your phone, and read me the headlines of the Capital City news.”
That candidate, trembling all over, did as he was told. “…L-Brother Lu, don’t kill me… I… I won’t compete with you anymore… You’re the imperial son-in-law… you’re the imperial son-in-law, I’m just a small fry… don’t kill me…”
“Read it to me!” Lu Li was anxious in his heart.
“Yes! Yes!” That person nodded quickly. “…The first trending topic is… is that Cheng Yi was exposed for cheating…”
“Next!”
“The-the next one is that the Capital City armed police special forces are conducting an anti-terrorism drill in the quarantine zone… the quarantine zone… the location is from the Red Ocean Hall to 77 Wutong Road… Isn’t that where we are? Why didn’t anyone notify us?!”
An anti-terrorism drill? What an anti-terrorism drill!
No wonder the streets had become more and more deserted since yesterday. So they had already carried out an evacuation, planning to catch him, Lu Li, in a jar!
Lu Li didn’t bother with the anxious group of seven. He turned to look at Zhu Qiao, whom he had placed on a recliner. He didn’t know until he looked, but when he did, Lu Li’s heart went cold. Zhu Qiao’s face was already completely bloodless, the color of her lips almost blending in with her pale skin. Her pale skin was also slightly bluish, like a terminally ill patient on the verge of death.
“Little Qiao? Little Qiao! Can you still hear me?”
Even in such a state, Zhu Qiao still managed to nod weakly.
Lu Li knew that the time he had left was on a countdown. He now had two choices. One was to believe in modern medicine and find a way to take Zhu Qiao to a hospital to escape. The hospital was full of ordinary people; no matter how crazed the assassins were, they wouldn’t dare to brandish their guns there. Their provocation of the state apparatus had already reached its limit.
The second was, as Zhu Xi had said, to take Zhu Qiao to the ancestral hall. Perhaps there was some talisman water or a spell there that could cure her? It sounded absurd. And would they be safe just by entering that so-called ancestral hall?
Life is made up of multiple-choice questions. So far, Lu Li had not regretted any of the choices he had made, and he believed he wouldn’t in the future either.
He sent a final message to Zhu Xi, then turned off his phone screen. For the next stretch of the road, he had to be on high alert and fight for his life with a million-percent will to survive.
“Brother Lu… Brother Lu, what’s happening outside… can… can you take us with you?” the candidates were in tears. They weren’t fools either and realized that something extraordinary was brewing, happening.
“Find a place and hide well.” Lu Li only left them with this one sentence and then rushed out another door with Zhu Qiao on his back.
…
The Red Ocean Hall was formerly a “golden house” of a certain powerful minister. The passages inside were incredibly intricate. There was a “beast room,” a “water play room,” a “curio pavilion,” and also a “Langya path,” a “Shushan path,” and a “Jingxiang corridor.” It was a complex labyrinth. If one were to look at it from a bird’s-eye view, one would find that the entire hall was a rectangular solid composed of numerous rooms, connected by various spiral staircases and corridors. Lu Li was currently in the center of the first floor, and the assassins were slowly approaching the room where he was.
Although Lu Li was holding a gun, he also knew that this weapon’s comforting significance was greater than its practical use. He couldn’t possibly fight his way out of the encirclement with just one small pistol. Besides, he had never killed anyone, and certainly wouldn’t kill anyone.
“Gege…” Zhu Qiao spoke again.
“Little Qiao, don’t talk. Save your strength. Soon, we’ll be there soon,” Lu Li said, his heart burning with anxiety.
“Gege… thank you…” Zhu Qiao said. “These past few days… I’ve been very, very happy…”
“I’ve met so many big sisters… eaten so much delicious food… worn so many new clothes… and I’ve had you with me, gege… I’m really so happy…”
“Little Qiao, don’t talk.”
“Mr. Producer…” This long-unheard address made Lu Li’s eyes moisten. “…Goodbye…”
