Was it the driver?
Was it the assistant who booked the flights?
Or was it the seemingly honest Xia Dajun?
Many thoughts flashed through Du Zhaohui’s mind as his body became airborne before crashing hard into the seat in front. Du Zhaohui was certain his handsome, high-bridged nose was broken. He let out a muffled groan while reaching under the seat for two guns, tossing one to Xia Dajun:
“Bloody hell, you haven’t forgotten how to shoot, right? Take it! Let’s get those bastards!”
Originally, Xia Dajun couldn’t shoot, but earning Young Master Du’s three thousand Hong Kong dollars monthly meant learning the necessary skills of an attendant. He had learned to use guns in Hong Kong. In Pengcheng, firearms were completely banned – even Hong Kong bosses’ bodyguards couldn’t carry weapons. Leaving Young Master Du defenseless wasn’t an option, but security was self-provided – they kept guns hidden in the car.
In the chaos, Xia Dajun caught the gun.
The car completely flipped to its side. Du Zhaohui curled into a ball, hearing the car door being pulled open. He fired a shot from an extremely awkward position – bang! The attacker fell with a scream.
“They have guns!”
“They’re still alive…”
“We can’t let them live.”
Heh, planting explosives on the road to flip their car – of course the approaching figures were enemies. That’s why Du Zhaohui shot without hesitation.
When the car was blown over, the driver took the strongest impact, his face covered in blood. If not for his seatbelt, that hit would have been fatal. Someone shot at the car. Xia Dajun clutched himself with a groan. Du Zhaohui pushed him:
“Damn it, get out first!”
Being outside meant becoming a moving target; staying inside meant being a stationary target. Both paths led to death, but the first offered a chance of survival.
Xia Dajun was burly. He and the driver pressed against the other side simultaneously, making the car creak twice before crashing heavily to the ground. The impact left Du Zhaohui dizzy. When someone rushed to pull the door open, Du Zhaohui fired blindly.
The attackers retreated again.
When the expected spray of bullets didn’t come, Du Zhaohui’s heart lifted:
“They don’t have many guns!”
Explosives but few firearms? Du Zhaohui couldn’t understand this strange situation.
But these conditions favored them!
Besides the headlights, there were no other light sources, greatly reducing the attackers’ accuracy but also making it difficult for Du Zhaohui’s side to counter-attack. The car’s hood caught fire, and Du Zhaohui heard gasoline sizzling, its acrid smell impossible to ignore.
“Jump out!”
Du Zhaohui found the warped door wouldn’t open. Xia Dajun got out from the other side and pulled Du Zhaohui out by his collar.
Being strong had its advantages. The driver’s leg was trapped – he couldn’t get out. When Xia Dajun tried to help, the driver gritted his teeth: “Take Young Master and go! Young Master…”
Du Zhaohui dodged a downward slash: “Your son’s in primary school. As long as I don’t die, I’ll pay for his university, even send him abroad to study. He’ll become an elite in Central!”
The driver’s bloody face broke into a smile, blood choking his mouth.
“Young Master, run!”
“Damn it, why aren’t you running…”
Xia Dajun, protecting Du Zhaohui, took another bullet in his leg.
Du Zhaohui wanted to abandon this wretch, but thinking of the unknown dangers ahead, he reluctantly supported Xia Dajun. Damn, all that eating made him so heavy!
Only the driver’s continuous firing at the shadows allowed Xia Dajun and Du Zhaohui to run some distance.
They’d barely made it twenty meters when someone shot the driver in the chest. The driver raised his hand and fired his last bullet toward the gas tank.
The world fell silent for two seconds before a massive “BOOM!” The car became airborne, flames shooting skyward!
The massive shock wave threw Du Zhaohui and Xia Dajun to the ground, with Xia Dajun landing on top of Du Zhaohui, who felt like this unlucky fool had crushed all his internal organs.
The explosion was so massive that the remaining two attackers dared not linger. After all, Du Zhaohui and Xia Dajun were armed, while their armed companions near the car had been killed in the blast – who’d dare charge in with just knives?
Du Zhaohui pushed Xia Dajun aside, got up, and held his gun ready for a long while. The enemies were indeed either dead or fled, with some severely wounded on the ground.
“Be sharper next time…”
Du Zhaohui started to curse but noticed Xia Dajun hadn’t moved.
“Young Master, I’m dying.”
Xia Dajun had been brooding. The driver’s son was in primary school, and Young Master Du promised to help him become an elite, so the driver chose to die. Xia Dajun, with his uneducated son, wondered what he should ask from Young Master.
Du Zhaohui realized something was wrong and turned Xia Dajun over, finding a deep metal shard embedded in his back.
He’d just cursed Xia Dajun for falling on him, but now suddenly realized that without Xia Dajun taking this hit, the explosion’s shrapnel might have severed his neck or struck his head… Du Zhaohui knew he’d narrowly escaped death again!
With people dying around him, Du Zhaohui felt uneasy.
Was he cursed with bad luck?
Du Zhaohui cursed, “Die my ass! Don’t tell me you have a son for me to raise – I’m not running a bloody orphanage!”
He helped Xia Dajun up.
“Move! If you don’t want to die, we have to go. Survive this, and I’ll give you another raise!”
Damn it – just wait until he found out who did this. This time, Du Zhaohui wouldn’t let it slide. Even without evidence, he’d kill them first!
Du Zhaohui supported Xia Dajun, walking several miles before finding people.
Xia Dajun was unconscious.
Du Zhaohui cursed him as useless while taking him to the hospital for emergency treatment.
There was no explaining this away – Young Master Du wasn’t some smuggler who’d been attacked; he was now a Hong Kong merchant investing in the Special Zone. Being ambushed on the road from Pengcheng to Guangzhou Airport was extremely serious… Young Master Du had brought money to invest, and being ambushed – wasn’t this sabotaging investment promotion?
While Xia Dajun was in surgery, Du Zhaohui finished getting his wounds bandaged and found Guangzhou Public Security Bureau officers waiting outside.
“Mr. Du, have you offended anyone recently?”
This didn’t seem like a random robbery, but rather a targeted ambush.
Du Zhaohui cursed internally – he’d offended plenty of people. At home, except for his old man, probably everyone wanted him dead. Young Master Du wasn’t sad at all; this was a measure of his success – if they didn’t fear him, these people wouldn’t repeatedly try to kill him.
“Officer, I’m honestly investing in the Special Zone – how could I offend anyone? I saw some robbers were severely injured – you must interrogate them thoroughly!”
Du Zhaohui had wanted to interrogate them himself but had to leave the scene to rush Xia Dajun to the hospital.
The officer’s expression was grave:
“Mr. Du, there were no survivors at the scene.”
All dead?
This was professional silencing.
Du Zhaohui grew increasingly puzzled – this ambush made no sense. If they were professionals, why did some run away? Yet if they weren’t professional, who silenced the wounded?
Did they die from their injuries?!