Chapter 20

Jiang Xian’s pupils suddenly tightened. A slanting sheet of rain swept in, piercing into her skin, blood, and bone marrow like needles. A chill spread through her whole body, reaching straight into her mind. Instinctively, she reacted.

It was a kidnapping!

There was no time to take the stairs. Jiang Xian pulled open the window with one hand and jumped onto the sill. In the curtain of rain, she was like a black panther as she landed lightly on the first-floor balcony.

At that moment, Xiao Ya and Auntie Wang were tidying up clothes. Seeing a massive object suddenly drop down from the sky, they were so frightened that they instantly backed up three steps and screamed soundlessly.

Just as they recovered from their shock, they saw Jiang Xian flip over the first-floor railing built from carved white marble. She paused slightly on the railing.

Then she turned her head and looked at the two housekeepers.

Lightning happened to flash, illuminating her handsome, sculpted side profile.

Beneath hair like seaweed, a pair of obsidian eyes were gathered in shadow. “If I’m not back in twenty-four hours, call the police!”

After saying that, she turned and leapt down. Her footsteps carried a stumbling wetness, and very quickly, she [unauthorized copy]disappeared into the curtain of rain.

Jiang Xian jumped into the car, swiftly started it, and stepped on the accelerator. The car quickly drove onto the slick road, friction sparking like lightning. Water splashed everywhere, and the falling rain hung like a curtain, spreading bit by bit across the windshield.

Her vision was blocked, but she did not let up on the accelerator. She only quickly turned on the wipers, and through the view that was both blurred and clear, she rapidly searched for Jing Lian’s figure.

Right up ahead.

A silver Alphard minivan. The man in the suit threw Jing Lian into the back seat as if he were tossing in a kitten.

To dare snatch someone right in front of her eyes—how outrageously bold.

Jiang Xian pressed the accelerator all the way down. As she approached the right side of the minivan, she quickly spun the steering wheel hard to the left. The car drifted left with a rumble and immediately blocked the front of the minivan.

She was just about to lower the window when the suited man reacted nimbly, instantly reversing the vehicle, then going around the Ferrari in front of him and switching into the right lane.

Damn it!

Jiang Xian slammed a fist against the steering wheel, quickly adjusted the read the original at bailiantales.com car, and continued chasing after that vehicle.

The rain fell harder and harder. The sky was completely shrouded in dark clouds. Cars and people came and went on the road. The Alphard drove ahead. As long as it won the time of one traffic light, it could quickly shake off the Ferrari behind it.

The man in the car glanced at the rear from time to time. After driving for more than ten minutes, he saw that the Ferrari was still chasing relentlessly. He glanced again at the woman behind him and suddenly thought, Could this woman’s sugar mommy have caught up?

Suddenly, the phone rang. The man answered and said in a low voice, “Boss, the person has been picked up. How should she be handled?”

He spoke standard, refined Zhejiang-accented Mandarin, an accent completely mismatched with his sturdy appearance.

On the other end of the phone was a low male voice altered by a voice changer. “Do it cleanly. Don’t leave traces.”

“Understood.”

The man hung up and lifted his eyes to look at the rearview mirror. In only a short while, the woman driving the Ferrari had caught up again.

He steadied himself and drove the car into the inner ring of the coastal road, planning to shake her off at the bend.

The curtain of rain was like fog. In the rearview mirror, the orange car drew closer and closer. The bend was just ahead. He deliberately slowed down. When the car reached his rear wheel, he suddenly swung the tail hard, forcibly crashing into the vehicle behind him. The road was slippery in the rain. With a loud boom, ​stolen content​the Ferrari spun three times in place before finally running aground on the green lawn, its momentum spent.

The man stretched out his hand and gave the person behind him the middle finger, then drove off toward the abandoned cruise ship!

Jiang Xian was struck so hard that all five viscera seemed to ache. Her head spun, the smell of fuel filled the air, and the sound of the engine dying hissed by her ears. Her stomach churned violently, and she nearly vomited.

But she quickly adjusted. She started the car again, placed her numb hands back on the steering wheel, and shot out through the rain like a yellow arrow.

The abandoned cruise ship had originally been a famous scenic spot on Youyue Island. Because someone had once gone up to sightsee, accidentally fallen into the sea, and died, the area had been designated a dangerous zone by the local government and was forbidden to tourists.

A warning line had been drawn within a three-meter radius of the cruise ship, and red circular signs had been erected in every direction, marked with: “No Entry.”

Even so, naughty children still often ignored it and ran up there to play and cause trouble.

When Jiang Xian arrived in front of the cruise ship, she happened to see the Alphard parked at the roadside. The warning line had already been broken through. Footsteps came from the cruise ship’s deck. She looked inside and saw the white-suited man carrying Jing Lian as he leapt into the cabin.

The footsteps clicked away into the distance.

Jiang Xian pulled open the car door and charged straight into the cruise ship through the rain.

The cruise ship had five floors in total: two below deck and three above. They were currently on the first floor above ground.

Inside the cabin, there was no light. The air gave off the scent of decaying wood and dust. Jiang Xian ran two steps inside, then stopped, trying to listen for the other party’s footsteps.

But ever since she had jumped into the cabin, she could no longer hear that person’s voice.

He must have known she had come in, so he had deliberately hidden with Jing Lian.

Damn it.

Time passed second by second, and Jiang Xian’s heart could not help panicking. Saving someone’s life was a race against every second. She did not know what Jing Lian’s current condition was, but she knew she could not delay any longer.

Her vision gradually adapted to the darkness. Before her were messy, abandoned tables and chairs, as well as a ruined, mottled bar counter. She turned on her phone flashlight and shone it over the floor. Finally, on a stretch of ground covered with dust, she found a pair of men’s footprints. The wet marks stretched all the way into the distance, continuing until the staircase to the second floor, where they disappeared.

He had gone upstairs.

Jiang Xian did not dare act rashly. Once she [Read on BaiLianTales]moved, the other party would move too. If she went to the second floor, the other party would go to the third. If they chased each other like this, it would not work.

Jiang Xian aimed the phone light upward. The beam passed through the gaps between the steel-reinforced wooden boards, just enough to penetrate to the second floor above.

She did not plan to remain deadlocked and took the initiative to break the brief silence. “Let her go. Otherwise, the consequences will be unimaginable. Do you know who I am?”

Her voice passed through the gap and entered that man’s ears.

The other party was clearly stunned. He had not expected her to actively break the stalemate. His voice came from the upper right ahead of her. “Hahaha, miss, I don’t know who you are, but I advise you not to get involved in this matter. You still have a chance to leave. Otherwise, don’t blame me for showing no mercy.”

Following the sound, Jiang Xian quietly shifted toward the source of his voice. At the same time, she deliberately lowered her tone. “Oh? Are you sure? Do you know that I’m the heir of Shen BioTech? Whatever you want—money? I can give it to you.”

Hearing this, the man could not help bursting into laughter. When he grew smug, that was when he revealed his flaws.

“What a joke. If you’re the daughter of Shen Group, then who’s the one in my arms?” he replied disdainfully.

Jiang Xian’s pupils shrank. She thought inwardly, Sure enough. Perhaps he really had been sent by Jing Lian’s stepfather.

“Since you know who she is, why are you still doing this? Could stolen contentit be that your employer wants to become the heir too?”

“You.”

The man was stunned by the question and instantly reacted. “You tricked me.”

“I didn’t trick you. You’re just pitifully stupid.”

Jiang Xian lifted her head and looked up. The man happened to be right above her. A few mottled beams of light fell through the cracks in the wooden boards, and she could vaguely see a green skirt. The rainwater from the hem had soaked through the boards, dripping down with soft ticks and landing on her lashes.

The calf lying across the space above her brows had several mottled bloody marks. The rainwater on Jiang Xian’s brow carried a faint fishy sweetness. Her soft gaze was instantly ignited, and fury filled her brows.

The person she had finally, finally managed to nurse back to health had once again been wounded all over. Her heart could not help trembling, and her limbs shook along with it. She clenched her fists hard, as if she could hear the sound of bones cracking joint by joint. She lifted her head, reached out, and hooked the light fixture hanging from the ceiling. Pulling herself upward, she kicked. With a bang, she smashed through the brittle wooden boards. Splinters scattered all around her. Like a leopard bursting from the ground, she landed in a half-kneeling posture, one hand supporting herself on the floor while the other gripped the broken light fixture. Then she hurled it at the bewildered man in the suit.

The sound of shattering rang out again, mixed with the man’s howl. He had no time to react. His chest was smashed by the light fixture she threw, sending fragments everywhere. His entire body toppled backward and was forcibly knocked three meters away. His head slammed into the glass wall, and a whole pane of glass shattered like beads, crashing all over him.

The glass on the cruise ship was shatterproof, so although he was struck dizzy, his body was not injured.

When he came back to himself, he saw [bailiantales.com]that the person before him had already picked up the woman on the floor and turned to leave.

The man’s fighting instinct was also awakened. His whole body sprang up, and he suddenly lunged forward.

Jiang Xian was carrying Jing Lian horizontally in both arms, so her steps were slightly slower. Seeing that her calf had already been grabbed, she stumbled forward. Her back leg was suddenly lifted by him, and it looked as if she was about to be thrown down.

She instinctively held the person in her arms tighter. Her whole body lifted into the air, knees bent, and she rolled down the stairs.

One turn, two turns, three turns—she had no time to count. She only felt her back and head slam painfully again and again before she crashed into the leg of an old table.

Jing Lian’s face was right in front of her. Jiang Xian could not spare any thought for the pain throughout her own body. Instinctively, she saw Jing Lian’s brows furrow and heard a muffled groan escape her mouth.

“Jing Lian.”

She pulled Jing Lian up into her arms. The person in her embrace was soft and wet, her body cold and filled with the scent of rain. Her breathing was also very faint.

Jiang Xian reached out and pinched the area beneath her nose. Applying a little force, she saw Jing Lian’s brows knit into a thin line before her eyes slowly opened.

“Jiang… Jiang Xian.”

This was the first time Jing Lian had called her by name. Her voice was as faint as a thread, soft and sticky.

Jiang Xian did not rush to speak to her. She quickly stood up and helped her run toward the glass window.

At this moment, the man had also come down from upstairs. He held the shattered crystal chandelier in one hand and covered his injured forehead with the other. Blood flowed out between his fingers, dripping over his terrifying gaze.

“Good. Today, the two of you can die together.”

The crystal chandelier came smashing toward them. Jiang Xian wrapped both arms around Jing Lian and spun to the right, avoiding the chandelier.

The huge sound of glass exploding came by her ear, and Jing Lian regained consciousness through her haze.

Her five viscera and six organs were also fully mobilized by the arrival of danger. She instantly became clear-headed.

And at this moment, she was being held in Jiang Xian’s arms.

The other woman was drenched from head to toe. Her hair clung messily to her bailiantales.com face, and her nose tip and cheeks were stained with mottled blood. Suddenly, she leaned down, her lips trembling beside Jing Lian’s ear.

“Jing Lian, from now on, take a deep breath. Then, when I count one, two, three—close your eyes and hold your breath.”

“Ah?”

Although Jing Lian did not understand, she instinctively obeyed. She inhaled deeply, taking the breath all the way in, and then heard Jiang Xian whisper beside her ear.

“One, two, three.”

Her waist tightened. Her whole body rose into the air. She closed her eyes and held her breath, hearing glass shatter loudly beside her ears as the wind and rain carried them into the sea.