Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“It’s alright, it doesn’t matter whether you know them or not. I’m going to teach you to recite some names today.” The woman took out a blackboard on which there were several names written in chalk — An Xiaochun, Liu Xiaoning, Jin Zhiyan, Fang Qingmeng, Mao Xiaoli…
She was trying to brainwash Jin Yiheng and Jin Rongyan into forgetting their parents’ names and contact numbers.
Long Xiaoxi followed suit and tried to memorize them. However, she had always been poor at memorizing things and, hence, the brainwashing technique did not work for her at all.
The woman left after brainwashing Jin Yiheng and Jin Rongyan.
As soon as she left, Long Xiaoxi murmured, “An Xiaoning, Jin Qingyan…”
“…”
The woman still did not return after a long while. The three children had no idea where she had gone to and were starting to get a little impatient and fidgety.
After peeking out of the window for a long while, they heard some sounds coming from outside and hurriedly returned to their seats.
The woman returned and said to them, “The boat has already moved off. Don’t think you’re still the pampered Young Sirs and Missy you used to be. You’re no longer the beloved children of your parents. Once we arrive at the destination, find your own food when you’re hungry and look for your own water if you’re thirsty. The weather has been unfavorable lately. You are to find a place to seek shelter from the rain on your own. Even if you can’t find any water, don’t ever drink seawater out of desperation. Do you know that you can’t drink seawater? There’s clean and potable water on the island. Have you remembered my words clearly?”
The three children stared at her in astonishment, completely dumbfounded.
“You’re not the only ones who will be on that island. Children who were meant to become assassins in the past all had to undergo training on that island for a period of time. They could only leave the island if they managed to survive. Once you die, that’s it.” Staring at how handsome the two boys were, the woman could not contain her urge to show them some kindness and, thus, grabbed two unopened bottles of mineral water from the box on the ground, as well as two bags of bread, which she then handed to the two brothers. “Here, hold it. This water is clean and the bread is safe for consumption too. By rights, I’m not supposed to give you anything to eat or drink. I only decided to reward you two because of your glib tongues.”
Long Xiaoxi asked, “Why don’t I get any?”
The woman glanced at Long Xiaoxi coldly and remarked, “Little lass, you’re already so chubby and your face has already become round. You’ll lose weight on the island. You don’t need any more food or water.”
Long Xiaoxi felt like she had just been cruelly insulted and discriminated. She glanced at the box, filled with disgruntlement.
After the woman left, Jin Yiheng said to Long Xiaoxi softly, “Once we’re there, Rongyan and I will share the food with you.”
However, Long Xiaoxi said, “Two bottles of water and two pieces of bread are not going to be enough for the three of us. When we reach the island, we’d still have to scour for our own food and water. Otherwise, we’ll definitely starve to death. I must think of a solution.”
She got off the chair slowly and walked toward a table that was not too far away. At the sight of a lighter, she immediately picked it up and stuffed it inside Jin Yiheng’s pocket since she was wearing a dress that had no pockets.
She grabbed an unfinished packet of biscuits and handed it to Jin Yiheng. Feeling a little worried, Jin Yiheng asked, “What if it’s poisoned?”
“It can’t be, they’ve already eaten it before.”
Finding her words to have made sense, Jin Yiheng sealed the opening of the packet of biscuit and placed it inside his back pocket. He then said to Jin Rongyan, “Walk behind me later, don’t let them find out.”
Long Xiaoxi then picked up two bags of bread from the box and handed it to him. “Stuff these into your clothes too. We’ll help to shield you later.”
Jin Yiheng did as he was told and tried to cover the bulge with his shirt.
—
An Xiaoning arrived in M Nation alone. She had found out long ago that Pei Yi and Xihou Jiaping knew each other.
She had also tried to guess Xihou Jiaping’s identity.
However, to her astonishment, Xihou Jiaping turned out to really be the kingpin of DK Organization.
Pei Yi was the chieftain of the quarters in R Nation, and Xihou Jiaping was his superior.
An Xiaoning was led to the higher floors of the headquarters. After she’d been waiting for him for one hour, he still did not show up. She had no choice but to give him a call.
An Xiaoning questioned, “You told me to come and meet you, but where are you? Why aren’t you showing your face yet?”
“What’s the rush? Stay at my place for a few days. My people will serve you well.”
“Turns out you’re really not in M Nation. You made me come here earlier than necessary just so you could stall for time and keep me away,” said An Xiaoning, who’d verified her guess.
“You’re really smart. However, isn’t it a little too late to be saying these now that you’re already on my territory? Hua Jin, be it in the previous lifetime or this present one, you and Xihou Ling will never defeat me. Just give up completely and drop the idea.” As soon as he’d said his piece, he ended the call.
An Xiaoning took a look at the mobile phone, only to discover that there was no longer any reception available.
At this very moment, she heard sounds of footsteps approaching all of a sudden and coming to a halt outside the door.
She watched as the door opened.
More than a dozen masked men who were dressed in black from head to toe swarmed inside.
All of them were tall and burly, and their balaclavas allowed only their eyes to be exposed. They all had guns in their hands, which they were pointing at An Xiaoning.
One of the men instructed in a foreign language, “Bring her away!”
Upon command, two of the men immediately held An Xiaoning down and pushed her out of the room.
An Xiaoning did not struggle or resist at all and simply allowed them to bring her to a spacious and bare mud land.
She scanned her surroundings and could tell that it was not the DK Organization’s execution ground.
Xihou Jiaping had only brought her there because he was eager to kill her as soon as he could.
She was well aware of that.
However, it did not mean that she would admit defeat and resign herself to fate. Before she arrived, she had already expected there to be such an outcome.
Although she was being surrounded by Xihou Jiaping’s people who were all holding her at gunpoint, so what?
Even if she did not have the confidence to rescue the children, she would not allow herself to dig her own grave. That is, at the very least, Jin Qingyan would ensure that she doesn’t.
He can’t allow her to lose her life, even if the children couldn’t be rescued.
Hence, as the DK members were getting ready to shoot… they collapsed onto the ground and died all of a sudden.
No one had seen clearly just what had happened.
An Xiaoning felt a hand around her waist, and she was propelled upwards into the sky.
Staring at him in disbelief, she asked in astonishment, “Why have you come?”
“You were almost shot to death, how could I have not come?”
“They couldn’t have killed me. I have my own ways of escaping,” said An Xiaoning, who had taken all the necessary precautions and preparations.
“I know you have your own ways, but you’ll have definitely gotten injured. You can’t have guaranteed at all that you’ll leave this place unscathed. I don’t want to let you get hurt again. Let’s get out of here.”
He looked down and turned An Xiaoning around. As soon as they left, the mud land was blown up in fumes amid the sound of a loud explosion.
