Chapter Eight: "Red Seven"

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Chapter Eight: "Red Seven"

Inside the bandits’ car, Chen Xiao sat with a gun pressed to his side by the fat bandit, his mind racing with thoughts.

His worry was not unfounded.

Although, when he got in the car, the fat bandit had warned him, “Don’t move and you’ll be fine. When we reach a safe place, we’ll let you go.”

But on the way up the mountain, the two bandits sitting in the front had already taken off their masks, as if they didn’t care about exposing their faces to Chen Xiao, their hostage.

Smart as he was, Chen Xiao immediately realized the danger he was in—unless the police caught up with them and saved him, even if the bandits managed to escape, they’d still kill him to silence him, since he had already seen their faces.

He silently prayed, hoping the police would drive faster. If they caught up, at least he’d have a chance at survival.

Unfortunately, the bandit behind the wheel was an excellent driver and seemed to know the terrain well. The car careened through the landscape, and the sound of police sirens grew fainter and fainter behind them.

What rotten luck.

Chen Xiao saw the fat bandit beside him glaring in frustration. “Hey, kid, what are you rolling your eyes for? It’s all your fault I forgot a whole bag of money! If you don’t behave, watch yourself…”

Chen Xiao looked at him in silence, meeting his gaze with resignation.

“Huh? What’s that look supposed to mean? You looking down on me? I can’t stand people looking at me like that!” The fat man flared up, “You made me lose a whole bag of money, and you still dare to despise me!”

Glancing at the gun in the fat man’s hand, Chen Xiao finally sighed. “You were the one who dragged me into this car, weren’t you, boss?” After a pause, he couldn’t help but find it a little funny. “Besides, you’re holding a gun and I’m unarmed. How could I possibly look down on you?”

“You are! You didn’t say it out loud, but you’re looking down on me in your heart!” The fat man shouted, nearly hysterical. “I hate pretty boys like you more than anything!”

“It’s not my fault I look like this,” Chen Xiao answered as calmly as he could, worried the man might get too agitated and accidentally fire the gun.

But the fat man only got angrier. “So you mean it’s my fault I’m ugly?!”

Chen Xiao was speechless—of all the bandits he could’ve run into, he had to get stuck with this one.

“Idiot!” The head bandit in the front twisted around and smacked the fat man hard on the head. “You still have the nerve to complain? That was a whole bag of cash! At least a couple million! You fool!”

The fat man yelped in pain, sulking. “You’re the one who said we had to be professional! Real bandits always take hostages, otherwise how do we show our professional standards?”

“Professional? Standards? I’ll show you professional! I’ll show you standards!” The bandit chief, furious, bashed his gun butt against the fat man’s head several times, making him howl. Finally, the fat man shouted, “Hey! The others are here too, give me some face! And you’re my brother-in-law, for heaven’s sake!”

Taking advantage of their quarrel, Chen Xiao quietly observed. He kept his eyes on the window, and when the car suddenly swerved, the fat bandit beside him staggered. Instantly, Chen Xiao uncoiled his tense body, ramming his elbow into the fat man’s nose and grabbing his gun hand, twisting it up violently—

Bang!

A bullet whizzed past Chen Xiao’s ear, shattering the window next to him.

Blood streamed from the fat man’s nose—although Chen Xiao was only eighteen, he was in excellent shape and trained in karate, preparing for his black belt exam. The bandits, fooled by his scholarly, delicate appearance, had let their guard down, allowing him this chance.

The attack was calculated and took the fat man by surprise. Though Chen Xiao himself was nearly scared to death by the bullet grazing past his ear, he quickly twisted the fat man’s wrist, turning the gun on him.

“Damn it!” the bandit in the front cursed.

“Brother-in-law, he hit my nose!” the fat man wailed, tears streaming down his bloody face.

The other bandits now had their guns pointed at Chen Xiao. His heart pounded, but he gritted his teeth and pressed the gun harder against the fat man’s head. “Let me out, and I won’t kill him.”

“Hmph!” The bandit chief sneered coldly and barked at the driver, “Keep driving! Don’t stop!”

He turned back, smirking at Chen Xiao. “You think you can play hero just because you know a few moves, kid?”

Chen Xiao shook his head, struggling to stay calm. “I don’t want to be a hero—I just want to get out of the car.”

“Hah! You’ve seen our faces, and you think you can leave alive?” The bandit chief’s eyes glinted with cruelty—Chen Xiao’s heart skipped a beat. This man was clearly ready to kill them both, and cold sweat streamed down his brow.

“Good, less to split the money with!” the chief sneered. “If you can’t even watch a hostage, you’re useless… I’ll kill you both!”

The fat man’s face changed. “You bastard! After all I did introducing my sister to you, and you’d kill your own brother-in-law?”

The chief grinned viciously. “Don’t blame me, brother-in-law. With one less, the rest of us get a bigger share!” He barked at his men, “What are you waiting for? Do it!”

But just as they were about to open fire, the car screeched to a sudden halt. The violent stop sent everyone lurching forward.

“What’s going on?” the chief roared.

The driver turned, his expression odd. “Boss, there’s a woman blocking the road with her car. We can’t get past!”

All the bandits looked ahead in shock. Sure enough, just a few meters away, a black Buick blocked the narrow road completely. In the middle stood a young woman in red, smiling with a serene, almost indulgent air—like an adult watching children misbehave. She yawned lazily. “You’re slow, not very professional, are you? Let the hostage go, and maybe I’ll let you live.”

“…”

“……”

“Haha! Where did this crazy woman come from?”

“Must’ve gotten her brain stuck in a door! Hahaha…”

But the bandit chief snapped, “What are you laughing at? There’s no time to turn around! Deal with her, and take her car!”

The other two bandits scoffed, guns ready, getting out of the car.

Unfortunately, they soon stopped laughing.

—

Chen Xiao had a strange feeling—the woman in red standing before the car seemed to wink at him, as if signaling.

It was hard to describe the subtlety; after all, he was sitting in the back seat, separated by the driver, the other bandit, and the windshield. Yet, he was certain she was directly warning him.

In the next instant, the woman in red took half a step back, spread her arms, and took a deep breath—striking a pose as if preparing to let out a scream.

Suddenly, Chen Xiao felt his mind go utterly blank. An urgent, primal instinct screamed that something terrifying was about to happen.

Without thinking, driven by pure instinct, he grabbed the backseat seatbelt and buckled it tightly.

Click! The moment the buckle snapped in, he braced himself for impact.

And then, his whole body jolted violently.

Boom—

The woman in red screamed, unleashing a visible shockwave of energy from her mouth, crashing into the car’s front.

In that moment, Chen Xiao felt as if time itself had slowed. The shockwave slammed into the car, and the windows, unable to withstand the force, buckled and shattered with explosive cracks. The vehicle rocked wildly—

Suddenly, the car bounced high into the air, flipping end over end, tumbling violently for over twenty meters before finally coming to a rest—upside down, wheels spinning uselessly.

The car’s frame was mangled, every window shattered.

Chen Xiao’s vision darkened; the violent jolting and impact was unlike anything he’d ever experienced. His whole body ached terribly. The pain was the only thing keeping him conscious. Looking around, he saw that the two bandits who’d been in the front were soaked in blood—one with a broken neck, the other’s head caved in, blood pouring out and staining the seats and their corpses.

Poor devils—bandits never had the habit of wearing seatbelts.

The driver had it worst—his compartment had been crushed flat by the shockwave, and there was nothing left of him but mangled remains.

Oddly, the fat bandit beside him still clung to life, perhaps because his thick layer of fat absorbed some of the shock. Though his face was covered in blood, he moaned softly, not quite dead yet.

Struggling, Chen Xiao tried to move. He knew he was badly hurt, and the pain left him weak. At that moment, he heard a sound—

Click, click, click—the sound of a woman’s high heels.

A figure in red strolled slowly to the wreck, peering coldly through the shattered window at him.

“You…” Chen Xiao’s voice was feeble.

His mind played back the events—this woman had just screamed the car into the air. What on earth was she?

With a sharp crack, the woman grasped the bent car door. It seemed stuck, but she merely raised an eyebrow and, with a slight exertion, wrenched it free with a screech of tearing metal.

(Her strength is terrifying!) Chen Xiao stared, stunned.

“You’re not dead, are you? Can you get out by yourself?” Her expression and tone were as harmless as before, but after what he’d just witnessed, Chen Xiao felt the true menace behind her calm.

He fumbled with the seatbelt, managing to get halfway out before his injuries left him trembling and weak. The woman sighed, reached in, and hauled him out, helping him to sit.

By now, the sound of approaching police sirens could be heard in the distance.

“I’m leaving. Take care of yourself… When you get home, check your freezer—there’s a surprise waiting for you.”

She glanced at the gasping Chen Xiao, her eyes twinkling with an enigmatic smile.

“W-wait!” Chen Xiao gasped, slumped against the wreck, eyes fixed on her. “Who are you? How do you know—”

The woman in red smiled, got into her black Buick, and with a stylish turn, sped off like an arrow from a bow.

“My name is Red Seven. Remember that.”

Her words drifted back on the wind.

Chen Xiao sat in a daze, his heart pounding with a nameless agitation.

But just then, a weak voice came from the ruined car beneath him:

“Hey… Help… There’s still someone alive in here…” The fat bandit moaned, pleading, “Please… You’re not just going to leave me, are you? Even bandits… even bandits have human rights…”

And the fat man broke down in tears.

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