One Step, One Kill

In the back of the black Maybach, Li Yu-Lan was unsettled, "I don’t have a good feeling about this. Maybe you should call those underlings back and we go overseas to hide for a while. We won’t know what would happen if they charge out like that. If someone dies we’ll have no way of running away."

Huang Yi-Hu sneered, "When did you become so cowardly? Hide? The idea has never even crossed my mind. I’ve had people killed from the time I was on the streets till now - there’s nothing I have not seen before."

"It’s different this time. Evidence has been posted on the internet. The police will come knocking sooner or later," said Li Yu-Lan.

Huang Yi-Hu didn’t seem to care, "What are you afraid of? Have you forgotten who is backing us? If they want to touch me they will need the Gu clan’s approval. I’ve toiled for the Gu clan all these years and done quite a bit of dirty work for them. They will guarantee my protection. It’s just some bribery - how serious is that? We just need to catch that Xia Lei and Qin Xiang and get the evidence back. We can handle this; we don’t even need the Gu clan to step in."

Li Yu-Lan sighed, still unsettled.

Huang Yi-Hu picked up the binoculars in the dashboard and watched the scene on the site.

On the site, Xia Lei shouted for his people to run away but none of them did. Instead, they picked up wooden planks and rocks and ran towards him. The only ones who ran away were the workers from Forest Man. They had run away in a panic when Huang Yi-Hu’s underlings turned up.

Xia Lei had intended for his people to run in one direction while he ran in the other to draw Huang Yi-Hu’s underlings away but his people did not run away so he could not either.

Xia Lei smiled bitterly, "What are you guys doing? I tell you to run away and you come back."

Guan Ling-Shan, a small wooden plank in her hand, pushed her new spectacles up higher on her nose and said nervously, "We... We aren’t afraid of them."

Yin Hao, Han Bo and the others nodded their heads. They were nervous and afraid but they did not back down.

Liang Si-Yao said nothing and reached out to pat Xia Lei on the back, indicating that she would fight with him side-by-side.

His plans upset, Xia Lei looked at the entrance and thought ’Why hasn’t that Jiang Ru-Yi turned up yet?’

"Xia Lei! Come out!" A youth with hair dyed gold shouted, pointing at Xia Lei with his chopper.

Xia Lei just glanced at him before his gaze went to Huang Yi-Hu’s four bodyguards. The four of them made two teams, one left and one right in a pincer-formation. They had guns - this was what worried Xia Lei. He and Liang Si-Yao would be able to clean the floor with these underlings in under ten minutes if Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguards didn’t have guns!

Liang Si-Yao moved forward, prepared to start fighting but Xia Lei pulled her back and said quietly, "Careful, the four people in the wings are Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguards and all of them carry guns."

"Guns?" Liang Si-Yao became nervous.

"Don’t be reckless. Delay things as much as possible while we wait for Jiang Ru-Yi to bring her men over," said Xia Lei.

Liang Si-Yao nodded.

"Motherfucker! You scared?" cursed the gold-headed youth.

"Dirty-mouthed brat!" Qin Xiang stood with one hand on his waist and one pointing at the youth right at his nose, "How did your mother have you if she didn’t fuck?"

Xia Lei had stopped Liang Si-Yao but overlooked Qin Xiang. What he said was like a splash of cold water in an oil-filled pan.

"Fuck, you still dare to be so arrogant! Beat them up!" The golden-haired youth brandished his chopper and charged at Qin Xiang, aiming to slash whomever insulted him.

Before Qin Xiang could react, Xia Lei suddenly kicked the youth in the belly. The youth screamed in pain and was pushed two steps back before collapsing heavily on the ground.

Huang Yi-Hu’s four bodyguards suddenly cut in close and, almost at the same time, took guns out and pointed them at Xia Lei’s head.

The appearance of guns temporarily halted the impending gang attack.

"Come with us," said a bodyguard icily.

"Where to?" Xia Lei was calm on the surface but inside, he was very nervous.

"Silence! Come with us when we tell you to or we’ll destroy you!" A bodyguard stepped forward and grabbed Xia Lei by the arm, ready to take him away.

Another bodyguard grabbed Qin Xiang.

Xia Lei and Qin Xiang did not dare to make any extra moves as the other two bodyguards had their guns pointed at them.

"What are you guys planning to do?" Liang Si-Yao stood in front of Xia Lei, blocking them.

"Bitch! You want to die?" A bodyguard suddenly aimed his gun at Liang Si-Yao.

BANG! There was a sound of a gunshot.

All eyes went to Liang Si-Yao. Practically everyone thought that Liang Si-Yao had been shot when the gun went off but the one who’d fallen was Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguard.

A bullet had split open the skull of the bodyguard who’d been about to shoot Liang Si-Yao!

The bodyguard who’d been shot fell straight to the ground, the identity of his killer unknown till his death.

The entire place seemed to have been frozen by a minus-ten-degrees wind which had swept past.

The first person to come to his senses was Xia Lei. He looked in the direction of where the bullet had come from and saw a woman in a trench coat and sunglasses with a gun in her hand, like an emotionless killer in a Hollywood shootout.

Jiang Ru-Yi had not turned up but Long Bing had.

Xia Lei felt that he would never in his life forget the scene of her striding towards him, killing a man with every step.

"Fuck!" A bodyguard spotted Long Bing too and turned his gun to her, prepared to shoot.

BANG! Before he could take aim, a bullet went through his forehead. Fresh blood and brain matter splattered - another headshot!

BANG! The third gunshot rang out 0.5 seconds after the second one.

The bodyguard who’d a gun pointed at Xia Lei fell to the ground, a bullet hole in his forehead and a gaping hole in the back of his head.

Three of Huang Yi-Hu’s four bodyguards had died in the blink of an eye.

The remaining bodyguard threw aside the gun in his hands and went to his knees.

Huang Yi-Hu’s many underlings were stupified, their earlier arrogance extinguished. They stood woodenly in their spots, not daring to move, each and every one of them breaking out in cold sweat.

Huang Yi-Hu’s bodyguards and underlings were bullies who targeted the weak and were more cruel than anyone when dealing with normal folk because they believed that they could not be touched by anyone. Now, a woman had appeared out of nowhere, killing three people in succession in the blink of an eye. They had never seen anyone with such an imposing presence and shocking way of dealing with others.

A youth suddenly flung his chopper away and ran back towards the minivans parked by the side of the road.

BANG! He had barely run ten metres when a gunshot rang out. A bullet hit him in the thigh, throwing him onto the ground.

The other youths who’d been about to run were frightened and none dared to run. Can one outrun a bullet?

Long Bing shouted, "Down on the ground!"

There was a flurry of movement and everyone flattened themselves on the ground except for Xia Lei’s group.

Hundreds of metres away, in the black Maybach, Huang-Yi-Hu flung the binoculars in his hand away and cursed, "Fuck! Where did that woman come from? She even dared to kill people! Has she no regard for the law? Argh!"

"Hubby, let’s go!" Li Yu-Lan said anxiously, "Our people have been caught by that woman. She’ll definitely come after us if she knows that we’re here."

"I must find out who she is. She’s finished!" Huang Yi-Hu cursed but he moved quickly, stepping on the accelerator and moving the car into traffic to get away.

Two police cars suddenly came from behind, cutting off the black Maybach’s escape.

The black Maybach turned to try and escape in another direction but it had only managed to turn when two more police cars appeared, surrounding it.

The door of one of the police cars opened and Jiang Ru-Yi hopped out of the front passenger seat and used the door as a shield as she shouted, "You’ve been surrounded! Put down your weapon and surrender!"

The policeman who had alighted after Jiang Ru-Yi tapped her on the shoulder and said quietly, "Chief, the safety on your gun is still on."

Jiang Ru-Yi was embarrassed and quickly unlocked the safety, then shouted fiercely again, "You are under arrest, Huang Yi-Hu! Get out of the car!"

Huang Yi-Hu got out of the car with his hands in the air but he was full of disdain and spat on the ground, "Arrest me? Ha! Under what charges? Bribery? Let me tell you, a whole lot of people will protect me and you can do nothing about it!"

Li Yu-Lan also got out of the car, her face ashen. She looked nervous. She was a woman after all and was not particularly brave.

Two police officers walked up to them and put Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan in handcuffs.

"Chief, who is that woman?" The police officer who’d pointed out Jiang Ru-Yi’s mistake asked curiously, "A whole group of us went after these two people but she went up against so many alone."

Jiang Ru-Yi snapped, "I don’t rank high enough to ask so you have no right to ask either. Come with me!"

The squad of police officers followed Jiang Ru-Yi to the Thunder Horse Manufacturing construction site and they dragged Huang Yi-Hu and Li Yu-Lan along.

The atmosphere at the construction site was still cold. Xia Lei’s group looked at Long Bing nervously, trying to figure out her identity.

Xia Lei walked to Long Bing and asked, "How did you know?"

"I’m investigating you, remember?" said Long Bing casually.

Xia Lei smiled wryly. Knowing her capabilities, what was so strange about Long Bing knowing about this? He suspected that Long Bing also knew about him and Qin Xiang going to New Moon Real Estate to steal things but he was not worried about that. If Long Bing wanted to, she would have stopped him then and not waited till now, even killing three people for him.

"That... um, thank you," said Xia Lei.

"I’ll look for you at your home tonight." Long Bing put her gun away and walked off.

Xia Lei was long used to her style and said, "Come early. I’ll cook some dishes and treat you to a meal."

Long Bing’s steps faltered but she did not say anything; she only nodded.

"Miss Long! Miss Long!" Jiang Ru-Yi called from afar, at the head of her group. She wanted to speak to Long Bing.

Long Bing did not even spare her a glance and sped up, exiting quickly.

Jiang Ru-Yi sighed and looked helpless, "Oh man, that Big Sister just walked off after killing people. What am I supposed to do, huh?"

She dared only say it quietly under her breath though.

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