"Don’t be afraid," Li Zexi’s hoarse voice rang in Luo Qianqian’s ear. Although he was still suffering from a forcefully grabbed neck, he pulled Luo Qianqian behind him. The force brought Luo Qianqian to the ground.
Seeing him comforting her despite his condition, Luo Qianqian’s eyes immediately reddened, "It’s all my fault... I’ve dragged you into this..." If I had followed the main group, none of this would have happened.
"It’s fate," Li Zexi gently shook his head and, touching his throat, slightly curved the corners of his lips, "At least you still have someone with you."
Hearing Li Zexi say this, Luo Qianqian felt even worse inside. She wanted him to leave her and escape quickly, but under the circumstances, escape was impossible, and the guilt pent up inside made her feel even worse.
"Heh, you’re really like siblings, huh? Don’t worry, I’ll let you hit the road together soon!" Looking at the freshly blood-soaked injury on the bitten man who clenched his teeth, "You dare mess with me, I’ll make you beg for death!"
The car sped faster, and the wind slicing into the cabin grew colder. Luo Qianqian, shivering in a corner, sat on the floor with outstretched legs and pulled the gun closer, touching the bullets in her pocket and clenching her lips tightly.
Luo Qianqian saw that none of the three men made any moves, not even Li Zexi, which somewhat calmed her down.
The person who had forced these three men to change routes must have been Qin Liang’s man. As for whom Li Zexi worked for, that was less important than the clear fact that he was helping her. Now, in a high-speed car on a bumpy road, the chance of escaping safely was too low to risk. Staying alive offered hope.
But deep inside she felt helpless, without a weapon, what could she do with a gun that might as well be disposable? Thinking about escaping seemed like a pipe dream.
The burly man wrapped a few more layers of cotton cloth around the wound, and seeing the bleeding slow down, he suddenly kicked Li Zexi. Li Zexi was sent crashing against the car window, which instantly cracked and shattered into several pieces. Li Zexi also fell inside the car, his face turning deathly pale as he spat out a mouthful of blood, while Luo Qianqian shrank back into the corner.
"Li Zexi!!!" Luo Qianqian’s face changed drastically, seeing the pool of blood on the floor. Did the blood mean internal injuries? Luo Qianqian didn’t dare to think further. But the bitten burly man, still unsatisfied, harshly kicked Luo Qianqian twice more.
Luo Qianqian immediately teared up from the pain but kept silent, every breath she took was excruciating, and her eyes filled with hatred towards the man.
"Heh, can’t take it already? I need to flay you a thousand times over to quell the hatred in my heart!" Her resentment had no effect on the man; rather, it seemed to act like a seasoning that made him more interested in such behavior.
"If you dare, just kill me!" Luo Qianqian, seeing Li Zexi suffer, was deeply distressed. He was suffering undeservedly — if she hadn’t been in this car, he wouldn’t have come either.
"Kill you?" The bitten burly man sneered, "You wish! I want you to beg for life but beg for death in vain!!!"
Luo Qianqian, feeling the desolation inside her, looked at the gun showing its head. A risky but possible idea formed in her mind.
She kept crying loudly, sobbing in the corner, drawing the man’s attention, making him think she was scared and timid. Meanwhile, she took the bullets out, loaded them deftly, pushed Li Zexi forward slightly—the gun was short, but the car was narrow, and she aimed the gun at the driver’s head. Before the three men could react, she fired, blasting the driver’s head open. Red and white burst inside the car, the bullet passing through the man’s head, breaking through the glass, and hitting a tree ahead.
The car suddenly accelerated, heading straight for the tree it rammed into.
Except for Li Zexi lying on the floor, both the burly men and Luo Qianqian were hurled towards the front glass due to the fierce impact. Luo Qianqian did not pass out but dazedly observed the fresh blood dripping, the red blood stains, white brain matter on her own body.
Her face was full of panic, and she unexpectedly began to shed tears.
The car behind was still some distance away. The man who was bitten, since he was sitting in the back, didn’t get pushed to the front due to the impact. Luo Qianqian stood up trying to stop him, so her entire body hit the front car window, covering it with cracks.
"Luo Qianqian..." Shocked by Luo Qianqian’s sudden actions, he recovered his senses only to find he couldn’t get up from the ground, because the bitten man was pressing on his arm: "Are you alright?"
Although the bitten man was subjected to the least impact, he was already injured, and the shock had scared him before he managed to slowly pull his arm out and slowly stand up to look at Luo Qianqian.
However, Luo Qianqian’s condition made his heart almost stop with fright. Blood was on her face, and she stood motionless inside the car, occasionally dripping blood.
He quickly bent down to grab Luo Qianqian, only to find her eyes lifeless, her mouth wide open, and blood constantly flowing from her nose, apparently due to injuries from the impact.
The intense shaking gradually brought focus back to Luo Qianqian’s eyes.
Luo Qianqian suddenly heard someone calling her, which woke her up. She saw Li Zexi’s worried face and slowly said, "I’m fine." Then, looking at the blood inside the car, her face turned pale, and she bent over to vomit. The scent of blood mixed with the acidic smell of vomit filled the car. The car door, misshapen from the severe impact, couldn’t be opened, but thankfully, the already broken window was large enough for two children in their developmental stage to move through.
"Come here." Li Zexi climbed out first through the window, then extended his hand towards the pale-faced Luo Qianqian.
Luo Qianqian instinctively reached out her hand, but seeing the fresh blood and a red and white substance on it, she screamed and began to retreat, wiping her hand on her body, away from the window.
The bitten strongman reacted by now, grabbing Luo Qianqian who had approached him and shouted: "You little brat, I’ll kill you!!!"
Luo Qianqian, gripped by fear in the strongman’s grasp and seeing the blood on his body, felt even dizzier, her entire mind fogging up.
Seeing Luo Qianqian’s state become very strange, Li Zexi hurriedly pulled out a gun without bullets from the window and pointed it at the strongman: "Let her go!"
Unexpectedly, seeing the gun made Luo Qianqian react the most violently—she kept backing away, shaking her head in terror, her tears uncontrollably falling. Her legs gave out, and she sat down on the ground, shivering, afraid to look at the gun.
Li Zexi was taken aback, seeing the blood on her and feeling even more distressed. He put away the gun, looking at the blood on it, aware of what had happened.
"Throw the gun away, or I’ll kill her!" But, aside from Luo Qianqian, Li Zexi and the strongman both didn’t know the gun only had that one bullet. The strongman’s hand reached for Luo Qianqian’s neck.
Li Zexi looked at Luo Qianqian, then at the strongman, refusing to lower the gun: "If you let her go, I will let you go."
He understood that putting down the gun at that moment would mean cutting off his last chance of survival.