Chapter 70: Pursuit
Hearing Huang Cheng’s speculation about Qin Hai, Zhang Xiaoxiao’s whole body stiffened, her pupils trembling in terror. She had previously asked that enthusiastic and straightforward law enforcement officer for help, but she never expected that the kindness he showed might just be a layer of false mask.
“You… but weren’t you just joking with him earlier?” Zhang Xiaoxiao recalled that during Qin Hai’s call with Huang Cheng, the two had briefly bantered with each other, their words quite familiar and intimate.
“This was necessary disguise. If we didn’t do that, it might have made him alert.” Huang Cheng also closed his eyes somewhat heartbrokenly. “I once thought he was my best comrade-in-arms, but I discovered he was actually with those guys.”
Zhang Xiaoxiao was speechless, thinking of herself who didn’t dare confide secrets to her friends, only because she suspected her university friends might also be members of the Evolution Paradise organization. For a moment, she felt a sense of empathy.
“Master, where should we go now?” Xiao Zhang, who had been driving around in circles, asked Huang Cheng.
Huang Cheng thought for a moment and was about to name a place when the corner of his eye caught a black SUV behind them. His expression changed immediately, and he said in a deep voice, “Qin Hai has followed us!”
The other two in the car were startled, their hearts jumping upon hearing this.
“Don’t look back.” Huang Cheng noticed Zhang Xiaoxiao instinctively wanting to turn her head and stopped her in a low voice, saying, “Control your expression. Leave what happens next to me.”
Zhang Xiaoxiao secretly bit her lips and nodded slightly.
Not long after, Xiao Zhang, who was driving, noticed the black SUV driven by the law enforcement officer Qin Hai accelerating from the side to follow them, driving parallel to him.
The SUV rolled down the passenger window, and Qin Hai’s honest and enthusiastic smiling face appeared in front of the three people in the car. He smiled and said, “Hey, what a coincidence.”
“Brother Qin.” Xiao Zhang smiled and greeted Qin Hai.
“Pull over and chat.” Qin Hai said with a hearty laugh, “I just happen to have something to find you for.”
Upon hearing this, all three in the car felt the deep chill in his words. Xiao Zhang was just about to refuse when the corner of his eye noticed that unbeknownst at some point, a car had slowly blocked them in front and behind. Their car was sandwiched on the rightmost lane.
Reality isn’t a movie. If Xiao Zhang floored the accelerator and crashed, it would definitely be car destroyed and people dead, and this might be exactly what these abnormal-minded guys wanted to see.
Zhang Xiaoxiao’s breathing became slightly rapid, her heart filled with fear, nervously clutching her seat belt tightly. Huang Cheng’s facial expression darkened, his forearm stiffening for a moment.
No choice, they should prioritize their lives. After getting Huang Cheng’s nod of approval, Xiao Zhang slowly reduced speed, preparing to stop.
However, as the speed decreased, the three felt a jolt from behind, as if the car had been bumped. Xiao Zhang added some speed back, and they looked in astonishment at the car behind them, then at Qin Hai grinning at them from the SUV beside. It seemed these people wanted them to stop at the place they intended.
Everyone gritted their teeth, all knowing they were likely in a desperate situation next.
In the end, the four cars stopped at a construction site, and the people in the cars all got out.
Huang Cheng, Xiao Zhang, and Zhang Xiaoxiao huddled back-to-back, vigilantly watching the people surrounding them: Qin Hai in his law enforcement officer uniform and a group of people who looked like they were from various professions.
“Old Qin, isn’t this unfair? Why did you bump into your brother’s car just now?” Huang Cheng pretended to laugh easily, but as soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a pain in his chest. Looking down intently, he incredulously stared at a strangely long finger piercing through his heart, then dazedly looked up at Qin Hai who had raised that finger.
Without even a chance to react, Huang Cheng felt himself as fragile as a piece of paper. While feeling his life draining away and the immense pain of his heart being pierced, he was hoisted high up.
“Master!” Xiao Zhang hadn’t even had time to get angry or grieve when he noticed the others closing in had drawn sharp blades hidden in their clothes and were charging at them to kill.
He could only grit his teeth to protect Zhang Xiaoxiao, who was almost scared numb, pulling her to run quickly toward an underground passage in the construction site.
In the midst of being dragged by the arm to run, Zhang Xiaoxiao came to her senses, mustered her spirit, and followed closely behind Xiao Zhang, trying hard not to think about everything that had just happened.
Too fast, everything had changed too fast.
Captain Huang Cheng, such a living person, was brutally killed by the monster Qin Hai who looked human-like. He died just like that, without any chance to struggle. He had clearly just said “firmly believe in hope, strive to live on,” but in reality, how ironic this was.
They rushed underground into a narrow long passage. The two ran rapidly, with people and monsters holding sharp blades chasing relentlessly behind.
Zhang Xiaoxiao just glanced back and almost had a mental breakdown from Qin Hai’s current appearance. She saw that the monster named Qin Hai had almost completely torn off his human disguise: huge hands, long claws, single-handedly carrying something like a carry-on bag, his whole body with skin split open and flesh exposed, revealing the twisted uneven pitted flesh-and-blood body hidden under the skin bag. The other party let out a sinister laugh from his mouth, saying, “Don’t run, don’t run…”
How could they not run, and how could they not struggle?
Zhang Xiaoxiao and Xiao Zhang had almost given up thinking. After continuously running through several corridors and stairs, they finally had to stop, shocked at where they were.
No wonder it felt so familiar. This was actually an underground subway station!
A brand-new subway train was parked at the station, with its doors open.
The two had no other escape routes to choose from and could only rush into the subway, like rats chased and toyed with by wild cats, burrowing into the cage carefully set by the hunters.
As the two rushed into the subway, Xiao Zhang and Zhang Xiaoxiao felt a deep despair, because they had guessed the desperate situation they might face. The subway had ends at both the front and rear; they had almost nowhere to hide.
They ran desperately toward the driver’s cabin, hoping for a chance to hide inside.
However, the moment Qin Hai and the others rushed into the subway, the subway also started moving. Their hearts sank to the valley bottom, following the starting subway into the pitch-black tunnel.
Their last hope was gone.
The subway being able to depart meant there was someone in the driver’s cabin at that moment, and they must be with Qin Hai and the others. They had been playing a cat-and-mouse game all along; they were the two pitiful rats being toyed with.
Qin Hai and the group behind no longer ran but walked slowly forward, with a sense of oppression even more chilling than running.
