Tang Hao was busy throughout the Lunar New Year period.
On the third day, they went around visiting relatives. Tang Hao brought Sis Xiangyi to Dragonrock Village to visit his grandparents.
Tang Hao brought her to the village several times before this. All the villagers knew who she was, and the elders called her “Lil Sis Qin”.
“Big Sis Qin!” Yan’er was also very close to her.
Tang Hao brought her to his grandparents’ house. Tang Hao shared a meal with Grandpa, while Grandma chatted with Sis Xiangyi.
After the meal, Tang Hao went deep into the mountain to tend to the Liquor Tree sprouts.
After a period of intensive care, the first batch of eighteen sprouts had grown to about two feet tall. Soon enough, they would become strong and healthy Liquor Trees.
The plants were still green at that stage of growth, but will eventually turn into a golden yellow color. By then, they would be considered mature and would start producing sap.
He tended to the sprouts one by one. When he was done, he clapped his hands satisfactorily and stood up.
Suddenly, he noticed that the blood jade bead on his right wrist was glowing. The sudden flash startled him.
He could see vague silhouettes of runes within the red glow.
Tang Hao’s expression changed drastically when he saw that. It meant that the defensive properties of the beads were activated.
Furthermore, the bead would only be activated when the wearer’s life was in danger.
Sis Xiangyi and Yan’er were in Dragonrock Village. They should not be in danger.
He closed his eyes and carefully sensed who it was.
When he opened his eyes again, there was a shocking coldness in his gaze.
It was Officer Zhao who was in danger. He could sense that she was in Westridge.
He could not afford to wait another second. He assumed another stance and dashed back toward Dragonrock Village, running among the trees as fast as lightning.
In less than two minutes, he was back in the village. He told his grandparents that there was something urgent that he had to attend to, then jumped in his car and drove out of Dragonrock Village.
He got on the main road toward the county seat.
His phone suddenly started ringing. It was indeed from Zhao Qingxue.
“Are you alright? What’s going on?” Tang Hao said anxiously when he answered the call.
“I’m fine for now. They’re still coming after me. The Dongying people!” Zhao Qingxue was still panting. She had not calmed down yet.
Then, she cursed them. “What’s up with these Dongying people? Can’t they let me spend my Lunar New Year in peace?”
“Dongying people?” Tang Hao was surprised, then he immediately understood. Miki Group must be hunting her down for revenge.
The last time when he was on the cruise ship, he killed about half the people there and caused Makoto Miki to be captured. After that, the police and military combined forces to eradicate Miki Group’s influence in Huaxia. Miki Group must have suffered heavy losses because of that.
They were finally taking their revenge.
However, they had picked an inappropriate time to do so. It was the Lunar New Year!
“Dammit!” Tang Hao was furious when he thought of that.
“Fortunately, the Artifact you gave me blocked a bullet. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be alive now,” Zuao Qingxue said, still frightened.
“Where are you now?” Tang Hao asked.
“East of town!”
“Continue driving eastward. I’ll meet up with you,” Tang Hao said. He was driving toward the direction of that part of town anyway. He could sense that their locations were getting closer.
“This is bad. They’re gaining on me!” Suddenly, Zhao Qingxue shrieked. Then, Tang Hao heard a loud crash. Someone must have collided with Zhao Qingxue’s car and rammed it off the road.
Then, he could hear the sounds of gunfire.
“This is bad!” Tang Hao exclaimed and became more anxious than ever.
He floored the accelerator and activated the jade talismans. The car sped on the main road as fast as lightning.
Within a minute, he could see three black cars blocking a lane on the road. A white car had crashed to the mountainside next to the road.
A group of men dressed in black were using the cars as cover and shooting at the white car.
Bang! Bang!
A volley of bullets landed on the white car, forming multiple holes.
He could vaguely see someone dressed in red between the white car and the mountain wall. The figure was holding a gun and occasionally returned fire.
“These Dongying bastards are too brazen!”
Tang Hao narrowed his eyes. Without losing any speed, he rammed his cars toward the black cars.
The Dongying people did not manage to react. Some of them were sent flying by the impact, while some were caught between cars and ground into mincemeat.
The remaining survivors were dumbstruck. They fell on the ground trembling. Some of them wet their pants.
Even Zhao Qingxue was dumbstruck when she saw that.
She knew that Tang Hao’s car was special, but she was afraid that he might be injured because of the sudden impact.
“Don’t move!”
She came to her senses. Then, she rushed forward and pointed her gun at the people on the ground. She quickly got them to surrender their weapons.
She laughed mockingly when she saw their wet pants.
Tang Hao got out of his car and carefully examined Zhao Qingxue. He was relieved when he saw that she was generally unharmed, other than her forehead and elbow which were grazed.
He turned to look at the survivors, and his expression turned cold.
He walked over and glanced at them coldly. “Who here knows how to speak Chinese?” He roared.
The few people looked at each other. One of them nodded and spoke in halting Chinese, “I… I know!”
“Cuff up the others!” Tang Hao told Zhao Qingxue as he pointed at the other people.
Zhao Qingxue instantly took out several plastic handcuffs from her car and restrained those people.
Tang Hao brought the Dongying person who knew Chinese aside. He fed him a Truth Pill, after which the person spilled the beans on everything.
According to him, revenge was not the reason why they infiltrated Huaxia. Instead, they were there to rescue Makoto Miki.
Makoto Miki was from the Miki family and held a high position in the yakuza group. Miki Group had dispatched many people to Huaxia to rescue him.
Those included many high-ranked members in the group and also people with supernatural powers.
That person was just a lowly minion, and he did not know too many details. Tang Hao could guess that they were not normal people. After all, he had encountered ninja cultivators on the cruise ship.
If the person said that there were many powerful figures, then the matter would be quite troublesome.
“Dammit, causing trouble on Lunar New Year!” Tang Hao cursed. He slapped the person and knocked him out.
He dusted his hands and stood up. He turned around and noticed Zhao Qingxue was staring at him.
