Pursue!

The underground parking garage at Heavenly River International.

Two figures raced one after the other. In just a few dozen seconds, they had run from section A to section D, three hundred meters away.

It was like a hunter pursuing a tiger.

As she rounded a corner in section D, the tiger suddenly stopped, spun around, and leaped high, lashing out with a flying kick at the hunter pursuing her with all his might.

The hunter's pupils contracted. Without a word, he drew his gun and fired.

Clatter!

It was not the sound of a bullet leaving the barrel, but that of a handgun hitting the ground.

After kicking Su Bai's handgun away, Sister Hong landed lightly. Rather than attack him immediately, she asked with interest, "How much did they pay you to risk your life for them like this?"

Su Bai shook out his aching, numb arm. Without looking at the gun on the ground, he kept his eyes fixed on Sister Hong three meters away and asked in return, "How much did the Hunter Guild pay you to risk your life for them like this?"

Sister Hong looked down and smiled, then her expression abruptly turned cold. She seized Su Bai by the collar with one hand and clenched the other into a fist, smashing it toward his temple with the force of a thunderbolt.

Hey, hey, this isn't how it goes in the movies. As a villain, shouldn't you be offering me, the hero, a huge reward or trying to tempt me with your beauty? Then I'd turn you down flat, and reinforcements would descend from the heavens and capture you, the villain, right?

As Su Bai grumbled inwardly, he pulled out the grenade he had prepared earlier and, without hesitation, gently tossed it into the air. At the same time, he stepped slightly to the side, lowered his center of gravity, and pulled Sister Hong by her smooth, tender arm, using her powerful momentum to slam her toward the ground.

Good thing I spent a few idle years learning taekwondo. Even if it's only three-legged cat kung fu, with the boost from my bloodline, it's just barely enough.

Sister Hong lost her balance for a moment, and all the force went out of her punch. She had no choice but to pull it back, open her fist, and grab Su Bai by the neck with both hands before yanking him sharply upward.

Unexpectedly, the move failed to break Su Bai's neck.

Sister Hong reacted quickly, raising her arm and driving her elbow into Su Bai's face. After a sharp smack!, both of them fell to the ground.

Dizzy and disoriented, Su Bai had no time to wipe away the blood trickling from his nose. He rolled like an earth dragon turning over, quickly snatched up the handgun that had fallen to the ground, and used the momentum to roll beneath a nearby vehicle. Calmly raising the gun, he aimed at the grenade just as it was about to land and fired.

Sister Hong had intended to continue pursuing Su Bai, but when she saw where his gun was pointing, a chill of horror ran through her, and her muscles involuntarily tensed. Copying his move, she rolled like an earth dragon turning over and quickly slid beneath a vehicle.

Bang!

The gunshot rang out, but the expected sight of the grenade exploding from the shot did not materialize.

The grenade landed heavily, then bounced seven or eight meters away like a billiard ball.

The tense scene seemed to take on a touch of awkwardness.

After a moment of silence, Su Bai wiped his nosebleed and coughed lightly. "Sorry, I missed."

Lying beneath the car, Sister Hong shot Su Bai a cold glance. Then she quickly crawled out, sprang off a vehicle's hood, and landed beside the door of a black Phaeton.

Su Bai was a little slower. He had only just crawled out from under the car and reached the lane when he saw a black Phaeton racing straight toward him with its high beams on.

The car's initial speed was not high, but its lights were dazzling.

Su Bai simply closed his eyes, held the gun in one hand, and squeezed the trigger repeatedly in the direction of the driver's seat.

Bang!

Bang, bang, bang!

Eight shots in a row, emptying the magazine in one smooth, stylish sequence.

Then.

The Phaeton sent Su Bai flying in a perfect parabola, and he landed more than three meters away.

The Phaeton's taillights flashed incessantly, as if mocking him.

His face covered in blood, Su Bai pushed himself up from the ground and sat leaning against the hood of a red Mercedes-Benz. He wiped the blood from his face, looked down at the Desert Eagle in his hand, and let out a long sigh.

At that moment, Chu Ning and Qingxue finally arrived, late as ever.

In fact, only about two minutes had passed since Su Bai chased Sister Hong into the garage, so it couldn't really be said that they were late. Rather, Sister Hong had run too fast.

Su Bai waved the gun in his hand and pointed in the direction the Phaeton had fled. "She drove off. We don't have a car, so we probably can't catch-"

Before he could finish, he saw Chu Ning kick in the window of a red Ferrari and deftly climb into the driver's seat. After she fiddled around for a few seconds, the Ferrari actually started.

Holy crap, what a badass heroine!

But, heroine, what the hell is with those car-stealing skills???

Chu Ning drove the Ferrari over to Su Bai.

Qingxue sat in the passenger seat, gripping the handle above her tightly with both hands. Looking nervous, she asked, "Brother Su Bai, what were you just saying?"

Su Bai opened the door and climbed into the back seat. "Nothing."

Chu Ning turned to look at Su Bai's pale face and asked, "Are you hurt?"

Su Bai nodded. "Just a minor injury. It's nothing."

He wasn't slapping his face swollen to look well-fed; he was telling the truth.

Although he couldn't use the Oracle, it had still bestowed powerful bloodline power upon him.

A few days earlier, the Little Match Girl had nearly gnawed Su Bai to death. An ordinary person would have had to spend at least several months in bed recovering, but after just three days, Su Bai had been able to get out of bed and bounce around again.

For a Transcendent, getting hit two or three times by a car that wasn't moving fast really was a minor injury, nothing to worry about.

After hearing Su Bai's answer, Chu Ning turned her gaze straight ahead.

"Buckle up... here we go!"

Vroom!!

As Chu Ning's words fell, the Ferrari's engine roared. Its red, streamlined body shot forward like an arrow loosed from a bow, moving at a terrifying speed. The tremendous force slammed Su Bai's head hard against the padded seat, and it was as though a giant mountain were pressing down on him, leaving him unable to move an inch.

Su Bai's face went deathly pale, his head felt ready to split, and blood instantly spurted from his nose.

He hadn't been badly hurt just now, but he really was hurt now.

How to describe the feeling? It was like sitting in the very front row of a vertical roller coaster, plunging several hundred meters in three seconds, and smashing his head hard against a mountain peak on the way down.

As Su Bai's adrenaline surged, realization suddenly struck him.

He finally understood why Qingxue had been gripping the car's handle so tightly with both hands, and why she had looked so nervous.

Heroine, we're just going for a drive. Does it have to be this thrilling?

God, save me.

If I were given another chance, I'd never become a damn Grave Keeper.

"-Aaaah!!"

One person's joy, two people's sorrow.

At the parking garage exit.

Several uniformed police officers stood guard in front of the barrier, chatting on and off.

"I really didn't expect Heavenly River International to be involved in gambling too. Captain Zhang said they caught over a hundred gamblers at the entrance around back, a whole sea of them. They didn't even have enough handcuffs... Such a big company, and now it looks like it's about to go under."

"Go under? I don't think so. I hear Boss Lin of Heavenly River International has ties to plenty of political big shots. His connections run deep. People call him the local snake of Suzhou. Even if Heavenly River International was involved in gambling, I reckon they'll just be fined and told to straighten things out."

"What do you mean, straighten things out? Great Xia has policies on this. These crooked practices and evil influences have to be stamped out completely. If Heavenly River International isn't bankrupted and liquidated, it'll be hard to silence public criticism!"

"Come on, Heavenly River International is a major multinational corporation. Multinational, you understand? It employs so many workers at every level, at home and abroad. Have you even counted how much labor that is? If it really goes bankrupt, gets liquidated, and has its assets put up for judicial auction, the worker brothers will be the ones who suffer."

"Forget it, forget it. We're just shooting the breeze. How they handle it still depends on... holy crap! What's that?!"

Crash!

A black Phaeton smashed violently through the barrier, kicking up a fierce gust as it tore through three police cordons in succession and sped away.

Before the officers guarding the barrier could react, a crimson Ferrari burst through the barrier and cordons as well, racing off in the direction the Phaeton had disappeared.

Running a checkpoint = vicious criminals = earning merit = promotion = reaching the pinnacle of life.

The officers' eyes burned with excitement. Pulling out their radios, they shouted at the top of their lungs:

"Brothers, we've got work! Two cars just ran the checkpoint one after the other at Heavenly River International's underground parking garage. One black Volkswagen and one red sports coupe. Didn't get a clear look at the plates. They're heading toward National Highway 362."

"Get in the car!"

"Grab your gear!"

"Sirens on!"

"Pursue!"