Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The next day.
Xiang Wan woke up before the alarm rang.
She was troubled throughout the night and did not have a good sleep.
Bai Muchuan woke up earlier than her and had already gotten everything ready. When he stepped out of the bathroom, he saw Xiang Wan looking at him with her eyes wide-opened.
“Did I wake you up?”
Xiang Wan shook her head. “Nope.”
“That’s good. You should get more sleep.”
Bai Muchuan placed his shiny pistol into his gun holster.
“I think I had a dream…” Xiang Wan looked at him as he was getting ready to leave. Her voice sounded a little muffled as she just woke up—it was full of unease. “I think it was a nightmare as I feel flustered… But when I try to recall what I dreamt, I couldn’t remember it…”
She often forgot what she dreamt about.
Although she tried to recall after she woke up, she just couldn’t remember a thing. The only thing she knew was how she felt in her dream.
“You little—”
Bai Muchuan laughed.
He walked to the side of the bed and bent down to touch her head.
“Do you feel uncomfortable anywhere?”
She drank beer last night. When she woke up, her head felt uncomfortable.
At this moment, she didn’t want to create any trouble for Bai Muchuan and make him worry.
“I’m fine. Just go, I’ll wait for your return.”
“Mm.” Bai Muchuan smiled at her.
He thought for a moment and bent down to kiss her on the forehead.
“Don’t sleep for too long. You can go for breakfast in the hotel but don’t step out of the hotel. If you need anything, get ‘Laowu next door’ to help you—”
Pffft!
Xiang Wan always felt like laughing whenever he said “Laowu next door”.
“Bai Muchuan, you’re a contradictory person!”
“What do you mean?” Bai Muchuan stood straight to adjust his tie.
“When we were at Jin City, you were so wary of me being alone with Cheng Zheng. Yet there were times that you suddenly didn’t mind at all and even asked me to get him to give me a lift. It’s the same with Quan Shaoteng. Just two days ago, you said that Quan Shaoteng is poisonous…”
“Nonsense!”
Bai Muchuan grunted, looking proud as always.
“Is he more good-looking than me? Besides, doesn’t this mean that you are the most important to me?”
“…” Sounds so reasonable.
“It just means that your safety is of utmost importance.”
“!”
His slightly curved eyes were smiling.
Even though Bai Muchuan said all these in a joking tone, Xiang Wan knew that he was serious about it.
However, the thought of the possible imminent danger that he would be in, Xiang Wan just couldn’t bring herself to smile.
“Don’t be mushy! And please be careful.”
“I know, silly little thing! This is the 108th time you’ve said that!
“…”
He patted her head and pointed at the door. “I’m off now!”
The black-out curtains in the room were drawn closely together. Only a dim light in the room was switched on, which made the whole room felt as though it was still night time.
In actual fact, it was also already bright outside.
Bai Muchuan saw Tang Yuanchu already sitting inside the SUV the moment he went downstairs.
He was leaning on the driver’s seat with his eyes half-closed. It felt like he had not fully awakened.
“Where’s the rest?” Bai Muchuan pulled open the door at the body of the SUV and took a seat.
Tang Yuanchu was not asleep.
His eyes opened when he heard the sound of the door opening.
Seeing that it was Bai Muchuan, he rubbed his eyes.
“Brother Tu went to buy breakfast… Salimu went along with him to help out. Ding Yifan went to get the stuff that we’ve prepared!”
He accounted for everyone clearly.
Bai Muchuan saw his bloodshot eyes. “You didn’t sleep well last night?” he asked.
Tang Yuanchu avoided his sharp eye contact by pretending to wipe the car’s dashboard.
“Yeah! As I hardly drink alcohol, every time when I drink a bit, I’ll have a hard time sleeping.”
Bai Muchuan did not continue the conversation. Instead, he just sat at his seat quietly.
Thus, his silence became a heavy weight pressing down on Tang Yuanchu’s heart.
Tang Yuanchu felt a chilly feeling behind his head as he did not get a reply from Bai Muchuan. He even had a feeling that Bai Muchuan had seen through him.
Cough!
Tang Yuanchu turned around slowly. “Captain Bai…” he said rather awkwardly.
He wanted to give some explanation, but he did not know where to start. Rather, he felt that he was not in a position to explain anything.
Out of a sudden, Bai Muchuan asked, “I’m not sure if you’ve seen the recent news.”
“News, what news?” Tang Yuanchu looked at Bai Muchuan’s grim but expressionless face and forced a smile. “I haven’t been paying attention to such news ever since I become an online celebrity… I hardly logged into my Weibo account as I’m afraid of those crying fangirls who wants to marry me… you know, I’m a soft-hearted person, I find it hard to reject people…”
“Don’t your balls hurt when you’re boasting?” Bai Muchuan sent a glare over.
“…” Tang Yuanchu chuckled. “It’s real. I’m really overwhelmed when the group of girls called me their hubby.”
“You rascal!” Bai Muchuan laughed mischievously.
“I’m talking about the entertainment news about you and Xie Wanwan…”
That felt like a big hammer on Tang Yuanchu’s heart.
Both of his cheeks blushed at that instant. It was a well-kept secret that he thought nobody knew, only to realize that the whole world already knew about it—he was embarrassed.
“What kind of news?” He tried his best to fake ignorance in an attempt to save his face.
“Hmph!” Bai Muchuan swept a faint glare at him. “I’ve seen the photos taken outside a nightclub. The news said you’re her little boyfriend…”
“Is there such a thing? ” Tang Yuanchu return an astonished expression. “I’ve really no idea there’s such news…”
For this, he did not lie.
Tang Yuanchu didn’t know about the gossip news.
“It has been a while since I read such news…” Suddenly, Tang Yuanchu came to a realization that this was not the key point.
He cleared his throat and looked at Bai Muchuan somewhat uneasily. “Captain Bai, initially, I thought you and Xie Wanwan were a couple… later on, I got to know that it was not the case…”
“So, you started to have evil intentions?” Bai Muchuan cut to the point.
“No no no, how would I dare!” Tang Yuanchu’s face was as though the color of bright red berries as he tried his best to defend himself. “That day, she was not in a good mood and couldn’t find anyone to accompany her for a drink. She happened to bump into me so she dragged me to the nightclub… And so coincidentally, I ran into my ex-girlfriend there…”
“Is it the girl who ditched you over a branded bag?”
“Captain Bai…” Tang Yuanchu groaned helplessly. “That hurts!”
“What’s there to be hurt about? I wanted to congratulate you in fact.” Bai Muchuan’s gaze was as though he had a lot of experience. “Out with the bad, and the good will come to you!”
Tang Yuanchu was speechless.
He felt that Bai Muchuan’s gaze was too meaningful yet he couldn’t figure out what Bai Muchuan actually wanted to express.
Was the “bad” he was referring to, his ex-girlfriend? And the good was referring to any other girl, or… Xie Wanwan?
“Tang Yuanchu!” Ding Yifan knocked on the car door, breaking Tang Yuanchu’s thoughts. “Open the trunk.”
“Got it!” Tang Yuanchu replied.
Ding Yifan placed a box into the trunk then got on the SUV, sitting next to Bai Muchuan.
“Boss, everything is ready.”
Bai Muchuan nodded his head.
At that moment, Tu Liang and Salimu also returned from buying breakfast.
“We walked around a bit but there’s hardly anything nice. Let’s just make do with it.”
The breakfast was really simple—it was a very thin slice of butter pancake with some scallion. But it was not the scallion pancake. It did not taste the same and the flavor was not that nice, either.
Bai Muchuan took two bites and put the pancake down.
“Let’s talk about discipline for the mission!”
It was Bai Muchuan’s habit to stress on the importance of the mission before heading out.
He made use of the time where everybody was having their breakfast and spoke very fast.
After he finished the briefing, he received Captain Zhang’s call.
The two of them exchanged a few words before hanging up.
Ding! A new message came in on Bai Muchuan’s mobile phone.
“My apologies, Brother Crown Prince. Brother Steel has decided to change to a different meetup location… As you already know, the police are watching us closely. For the sake of everyone’s safety, Brother Steel doesn’t have a choice.”
Liang was the one who sent the message.
There was only one important thing to note.
“There’s a change of plans!”
…
The SUV left Nanmu hotel.
Tang Yuanchu followed the new address Liang had provided. With the help of the GPS, they soon drove out of the city.
In this remote, desolate place, the natural conditions were quite bad as most of the lands were barren. But the mountainous regions were green, high, continuous and unbroken.
The road condition was very bad as it was between the mountains.
Their vehicle was as though a tiny ant moving along the rocky terrain, it was a bumpy ride.
Soon, they drove into the mountains. The road got narrower and narrower as they continued their journey. Tang Yuanchu was on tenterhooks as he drove on. The other four were also apprehensive as they looked at the high mountains on both sides of the road.
“Boss, have a cigarette!”
Bai Muchuan caught the cigarette that Ding Yifan tossed over.
He also gave one to Tu Liang and Salimu.
As Tang Yuanchu hardly smoked, he had no tobacco addiction and hence, he did not receive one.
Although Salimu was young, his tobacco addiction was actually rather heavy. He took a puff and looked out of the window.
“We’ve not seen any vehicle so far? Boss, is Captain Zhang following us?”
“How could he be seen?” Ding Yifan gave a look of disapproval. “Your brain is more suitable to play with computers…”
“Playing with computers is not easy, alright?” Salimu argued back.
Ding Yifan smiled kindly and when he noticed that Bai Muchuan was looking outside of the window without saying anything, he stopped smiling and followed Bai Muchuan’s line of sight.
The houses that they saw while on the road were really dilapidated. There was an occasional one or two on either side of the road, but it was short and rundown with no one in sight.
The mountains were like a huge stone hanging above everybody’s head. This part of the world that they were now entering was so desolate as if nobody lived in it.
“Do you think the address that Liang sent could be where Brother Steel is staying?” Salimu also joined in to look out of the window. “This place feels even more remote than the place that I used to stay when I was a kid. Are they not afraid to live in such a place?”
Bai Muchuan chuckled. “Maybe it’s a place specially picked to welcome us?”
Tu Liang, who was sitting at the front passenger seat, suddenly turned around. “Boss, do you mean… Brother Steel already knew of our real identity?”
Bai Muchuan was not certain on that question.
He looked at Tu Liang. “Let’s play by ear!”
“Alright…” Tu Liang nodded his head. When he saw an anxious-looking Salimu, he laughed and changed the topic. “How’s the spicy hot crayfish last night?”
“It’s delicious!” Salimu immediately replied without hesitation. “They tasted so good and they were bought by a beautiful sister who is a celebrity.”
He seemed a little proud as he looked at Tu Liang and Ding Yifan. “It’s such a pity that you guys did not get to see her!”
Tu Liang gave a cackle and teased Salimu like teasing a kid. “Salimu, what kind of wife are you looking for in future?”
Salimu gave it a thought and felt a little shy. “Good-looking ones, just like the beautiful sister last night! Ah!”
Their vehicle suddenly jerked. Salimu was caught by surprise as he was talking, the sudden motion causing his body to lunge forward and knock against the seat in front of him.
