After inspecting the scene, Hong Kui said to Qingmu, "The technique is very professional; it seems someone is helping you."
Qingmu shook his head in confusion. He couldn't think of anyone who would help him; judging from the scene, it wasn't Crow who did it.
"Let's go. Now that someone's doing a good deed, we can relax. Maybe your friend has already been rescued. If we run into them later, you have to remind me not to accidentally hurt our own people," Hong Kui said.
The two went downstairs and climbed over the old power plant's wall.
The old power plant in the north of the city was the earliest power plant in Wuzhong City. It was built before the liberation. After the thermal power plant was merged in the 1980s, some of the factory buildings were expanded. The terrain inside is indeed very complicated. The factory buildings and boilers are not as regular as modern factories. The roads are winding. Since the thermal power plant was shut down a few years ago, the factory area has become overgrown with weeds. People who are not familiar with it dare not walk in.
While using his phone to calibrate his position, Hong Kui reminded Qingmu to conceal his location and try to use the factory buildings and trees to move along the blind spots of several possible vantage points to the east.
Qingmu's phone suddenly beeped.
Hong Kui glanced at him and said, "You'd better put your phone on silent."
Qingmu smiled sheepishly, took out his phone, turned off the sound, and then opened the message window. He saw a message from Huang Ziqiang.
The sniper was spotted, but had already been taken out.
He showed the phone to Hong Kui. Hong Kui laughed and said, "Looks like you really do have a master helping you. We might have been working for nothing."
However, they didn't dare to relax too much and walked cautiously, just in case it was a trap!
As they reached the central axis of the factory area, Qingmu and Hong Kui spotted a figure at the opposite corner almost simultaneously. Before Qingmu could stop him, Hong Kui pounced like a cheetah. The two shadowy figures moved with lightning speed, and in an instant, Hong Kui had the other person pinned to the ground. However, just as he raised his fist to strike, another shadowy figure appeared before him like a ghost, a silenced pistol pointed at his forehead.
"Stop!" Qingmu shouted softly, "We're on the same side!"
When Hong Kui made his move, he saw more than one person in the darkness. Fearing that the other party had a gun, he used hypnosis. However, as soon as his Mental Power touched the other party, he encountered someone familiar.
Among the group, one person possessed exceptional Mental Power, exhibiting a clear resistance to hypnosis. Qingmu immediately recognized the man as Li Wei, and in the brief moment he relaxed his guard, Li Wei broke free of his control, leaping over the corner and pointing his gun at Hong Kui.
Hong Kui had an intuitive sensitivity to danger, and suddenly his eyes gleamed green.
Qingmu didn't know what would happen next. Whether Li Wei shot and killed Hong Kui or Hong Kui fought back with his bare hands, it was not what he wanted to see.
Fortunately, he had anticipated what might happen when Li Wei was out of control, so he issued a warning almost the instant Li Wei drew his gun and lunged forward at the same time.
Li Wei heard Qingmu's voice, but the command to pull the trigger had already been sent from his brain to his fingers. In this emergency, there was no time to retract his nerves. However, he managed to deflect the muzzle of his gun by half an inch. The bullet grazed Hong Kui's ear and splattered into the grass next to him.
As Li Wei fired his gun, Hong Kui had already pounced. Qingmu felt a massive surge of Mental Power erupting forth, even more powerful than the force Old Wolf had unleashed when he was ill.
Hong Kui possessed immense strength and rammed headfirst into Li Wei's arms, sending Li Wei flying seven or eight meters through the air. Just as he was about to crash into the wall behind him, Li Wei twisted his waist in mid-air, forcefully flipped over, pushed off the wall with his feet, bent his knees to absorb the force, and landed on the ground with a thud. He then performed a forward roll, kneeling on one knee, gripping his gun with both hands and raising it forward, assuming a firing stance at any moment.
Hong Kui was about to give chase when he was stopped by Qingmu, who pounced on him. Qingmu pressed down on his shoulder, but found that Hong Kui's strength was surprisingly great, and the force of his charge almost sent Qingmu flying as well. Fortunately, Hong Kui had already heard Qingmu's words and reacted, stopping his strength, and his eyes returned to black as he slowly disappeared into the darkness.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye. From the moment the two sides discovered each other, to Hong Kui's attack, to Li Wei drawing his gun, Hong Kui knocking Li Wei away, Qingmu blocking Hong Kui, the whole process took only three to five seconds. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Qingmu let out a sigh of relief and said, " Li Wei, I'm Qingmu. We're all on the same side."
Li Wei had recognized Qingmu's voice long ago. He put away his gun, walked over, rubbed his chest, and looked at Hong Kui, saying, "Brother, you two are quite skilled! I almost lost all my strength."
Hong Kui said, "If you hadn't holstered your gun in time, my head would have been blown to bits. Your skills are good enough to be a Navy SEALs instructor. I never expected to meet such a master in Wuzhong!"
Qingmu said, "You two stop flattering each other." Then he introduced them to each other.
Upon hearing that this man was the heir to the renowned Wolf Family, Li Wei naturally held him in high esteem. Hong Kui, knowing that Li Wei was Xia Wenyuan's bodyguard, simply remarked, "No wonder," and was thus relieved by Li Wei's skill.
Qingmu asked Li Wei why he had come.
Li Wei said, " Elder Xia has long told us to keep an eye on your and Professor Mei's safety. Jiang Deguan intends to harm you, and we've been watching him for a while now. He's not very capable, but he's treacherous and ruthless. He has a very capable man named Hou Biao by his side, and this time he even hired a professional assassin from overseas. I was worried that my men wouldn't be able to handle it, so I came here personally to check on things."
Qingmu clasped his hands in thanks. Hong Kui asked, "Did you kill all the people outside?"
Li Wei said, "Yes, the perimeter has been cleared. One of the spies was probably hired by Jiang Deguan from overseas. However, we haven't found Hou Biao, so we still need to be careful."
Qingmu said, "Don't worry about Hou Biao, I already fought him by the river." He then recounted his encounter with Hou Biao, adding, "I think he's a tough guy; he helped Jiang Deguan purely to repay a life-saving debt. If we meet again, we'll just have another fair fight."
Li Wei said, "As long as it's not a sneak attack, we're not afraid. This Monkey is used to jungle warfare and is best at ambushes."
Hong Kui said, "The problem now is that this factory is so big, we don't know where they're hiding people."
Li Wei said, "It's alright, I have an informant who knows the location. Follow me."
They joined forces and followed Li Wei to the back of the factory. After walking for a while, Li Wei pointed to a large factory building with lights shining from it and said, "It should be inside."
They approached cautiously, expecting a tight defense, but encountered nothing.
After passing through the empty factory building, there was a courtyard behind it, lit up with lights. The scene inside left Qingmu, Hong Kui, and Li Wei dumbfounded.
Bi Shenghua was sitting on a broken bench in the courtyard. Several people were lying haphazardly on the ground in front of her, with pistols and knives scattered all over the place.
An old man and an older woman were struggling to tie up a middle-aged man with a rope. Qingmu recognized the old man as Old Wang, their neighbor next door, and the older woman as Auntie Zhang.
In the middle of the yard stood a bare, crooked tree. Crow perched on a branch, wings outstretched, pointing at the people on the ground and hurling insults.
"Who do you think you are? Brother Long is dead, and you're still messing around with the underworld! A bunch of idiots! Guagua..."
"Trying to kidnap me? Don't you even know who you're kidnapping! Quack... That's my boss's wife! Who among you makes better braised pork knuckle than her?... Guagua..."
"And you two— Old Wang and Auntie Zhang —you're no better! Guagua... If you don't treat me to a couple of meals when you get back, croak... see how I deal with you... croak..."