Shen Bitao and the monk fell together. Even as formidable as the monk was, he never expected the other man to let go without a moment's hesitation.
Naturally, the monk knew the name of the Defense Mobile Team as well, but he had never imagined this was a bunch of madmen who would sacrifice themselves without a second thought to complete a mission.
Not only that, Shen Bitao even turned back as he let go to restrain the monk's arm, preventing him from using Flowing Cloud Flying Sleeve again.
"Are you fucking crazy?!"
"Heh."
The two plunged from the roof, slamming hard onto the ground amidst the shocked gazes of the onlookers.
"Descent! Fast! Descend and save people!"
Hearing Shen Bixin's shouts, the pilot prepared to turn the chopper around. Fearing a repeat of the perilous situation just moments ago, the client who had earlier failed to counterkill the monk shouted a frantic prohibition:
"Don't listen to her! Take me away!"
The pilot glanced back, unable to make a quick decision. Shen Bixin drew her pistol and pressed it against the suited client's head.
"I said descend! Now!"
The client shivered under Shen Bixin's fierce threat.
"You—you're crazy! I'm the client!"
"I don't give a fu—"
Before Shen Bixin could finish, her teammate E behind her seized the chance when she was unguarded to pin down her gun, forcing her to the ground with a reverse grip.
"Calm down! Don't do anything stupid!"
Struggling fiercely to break free, Shen Bixin shouted:
"Let me go! We have to go down and save him! Quick! Any slower and it will be too late!"
The others, however, ignored Shen Bixin's cries. After disarming her, they tied her up directly to prevent her from doing anything more foolish.
Seeing that C Team Member Shen Bixin was still struggling hard to break free, teammate B grabbed Shen Bixin and said, word by word:
"You need to face reality. He is not a Qi Practitioner; it's impossible to survive a fall from that height, and you should be well aware of that. What we need to do is ensure his efforts weren't in vain, and escort the client back immediately!"
Seeing that Shen Bixin was still thrashing continuously, B had no choice but to pull out a tranquilizer and inject it into Shen Bixin.
The scene below the helicopter gradually blurred. Shen Bixin did not know whether it was the tranquilizer taking effect or if she simply could not hold back her tears any longer.
Down below the abandoned building, a mortally wounded Shen Bitao coughed up large mouthfuls of fresh blood. The monk had landed not far from him and lay motionless now.
Shen Bitao had once heard his older sister say that jumping from a building was not a painless way to die, and that passing away would be agonizing.
Yet only when experiencing it firsthand did he realize how unspeakably torturous it truly was. Because he struck those partition ledges during the fall, Shen Bitao did not die instantly, but he knew that was only a matter of time.
When was it that he had first been hoodwinked by the company into acting as a self-sacrificing hero?
Risking his life just to save those stupid employers born right at the top? This wasn't being a hero; it looked much more like being an idiot.
Still, the fact that his older sister made it out safely provided a modest amount of comfort deep inside his heart.
Not everything was worth risking one's life to protect, but this time, he figured he had protected the right thing.
Blech—cough cough—
The monk coughed up several large mouthfuls of fresh blood, struggling to climb up from the ground. He raised his head to gaze at the helicopter that could no longer possibly be caught, then turned back to look at Shen Bitao, who was not yet entirely dead, and said through gritted teeth:
"You really had the guts to do that."
He still wasn't dead after all that?
Shen Bitao truly lacked the strength to be surprised any further, and could only watch helplessly as the monk picked up the gun from the ground and limped over to where he lay.
"Throwing away your life for a job... what a truly pathetic tool."
Shen Bitao looked at the distant helicopter as if gazing at the stars in the sky. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he said nothing.
In the past perhaps, but at least not today.
Big sis, I'm sorry.
Bang—
When Shen Bixin regained consciousness once more, she was already inside the company's medical ward.
How she wished everything that had happened was just a nightmare, but reality was always cruel.
Accompanied by two bodyguards, the supervisor led Shen Bixin to the morgue. Inside the cold storage locker lay the corpse of her younger brother, Shen Bitao.
Although severely injured, he had not died from the fall. The fatal wound was the gunshot to the head.
As a medical professional, Shen Bixin knew very well that if the brain had not been damaged, current medical technology might still hold some kind of turning point, but now—
"I'm very sorry, Ms. Shen. The company already dispatched armed personnel to the scene to conduct a secondary search, and only discovered the remains of team member A. The monk's body was not found at the scene, though the company has already filed a police report and issued a wanted order.
"We deeply regret the passing of your younger brother. The consolation money from the company and the client will soon be transferred to your account, and for his heroic feat, the company will spare no effort in promoting his memory."
Shen Bixin did not listen closely to the flowery words spoken by the supervisor. Comfort and money were not precious things to them, but her younger brother was.
Without waiting for the supervisor to finish, Shen Bixin interrupted: "I want to know the information on the man in the suit and that monk."
"I will send you the information on that monk immediately, but as you know, the company must protect client privacy. I cannot disclose the client's information."
Shen Bixin raised a hand to grab the supervisor by the collar:
"My brother lost his life for that bastard, and now I still don't even know who he is?!"
The two bodyguards hurriedly stepped forward to restrain Shen Bixin. Freeing himself from her grasp, the supervisor straightened his tie and said: "I completely understand how you feel, and we have likewise lost a good colleague, but rules are rules. This isn't something I can just hand over simply because I want to."
Knowing that no useful information could be obtained from them, Shen Bixin suppressed her rage and said: "Give me the information on that dead monk first. Additionally, I want to take my brother's body away."
"Of course. At the same time, I have also applied for two weeks of leave for you. Take a good rest after handling your brother's affairs. You are a valued medical professional of the company, so let me offer a word of warning: that monk is an extremely powerful Qi Practitioner. Don't do anything foolish."
Shen Bixin ignored the supervisor's warning, lowering her head to wipe the blood stains off Shen Bitao's body by herself.
After returning, Shen Bixin did not bury or cremate her brother's corpse. Instead, she rented a frozen hibernation pod to preserve her brother's body.
As a medical professional, she understood better than anyone that this was all in vain, but at that moment she simply lacked the courage to put a full stop to her brother's life.
The entire process passed in a daze, because the only thing on her mind was a single thought: how to kill that damned monk.
Through the data provided by the company, Shen Bixin learned that the monk was named Tie Kuang Seng, nicknamed "Golden Body Tathagata", and was originally a Qi Practitioner registered with another trading company. Through her own channels, Shen Bixin also confirmed that the person they rescued that day was none other than the major shareholder of that trading company—likely a fallout over uneven spoils.
True to their word, the company had indeed issued a wanted order, but that bounty sum was hardly going to tempt any fool into taking down a Core Formation Realm lower-tier Qi Practitioner.
Shen Bixin had witnessed Tie Kuang Seng's combat prowess and knew that even if she started spending money on cultivation now, it would be exceptionally difficult to catch up anytime soon.
After weighing her options, Shen Bixin decided to directly pull out all her savings to post a wanted order on the black market, placing a bounty on the head of Golden Body Tathagata Tie Kuang Seng.