Chapter 280 - You And Me Now

After hearing that Feng Xuan had been shot, there was nothing else on Qing Chen's mind but to wrap things up and leave this place so his wife could get treatment.

"Where is he?" he twisted the arm of the man on the ground. He already had a few bullets in his body from when Qing Chen rained fire in this room.

The man had the audacity to laugh at him. Qing Chen suddenly had flashbacks of The Koala on the bas.e.m.e.nt of their hideout. That man was more than nuts.

"I don't know where he is," answered the man.

Qing Chen twisted the arm more and he heard a bone cracked. The man howled in pain. "That jog up your memory?"

After the man's groans of pain, Qing Chen recognized the laughter in his voice again. Seriously, what was wrong with these people? Were they in an asylum? Why did they react to situations this way? "This is a big house. Have fun opening all the doors. Before you can even get to his room, he would've already escaped!"

Qing Chen decided not to waste anymore time and took a handgun and pulled the trigger. The man's brains exploded on the floor.

He started moving again, breathing through his mouth. He had heard the cavalry leaving. Now, what he wanted to know if The Zookeeper was one of the people who had gotten into one of those jeeps.

He shook his head. They really should've arrived earlier. He already saw this coming. It just meant that they took too long clearing the floors to not see the boss escape.

Qing Chen still did his rounds, his heart racing at the prospect of Feng Xuan getting shot again.

"I'm done with the second floor," Qing Chen said through his mic. "I need to head out to Lok."

"Copy," said Feng Xuan. "I'll just do another clean sweep and I'll head out too."

"Wuming?"

There was no answer.

"Wuming?" Qing Chen repeated. "Goddamnit, Qing Wei, say something."

He was just about to call for his brother again when he heard laughing. "Sorry, Chen. I had to put you on speaker mode for a little while." There was shortness in his breath and a hint of pain in it. "Someone was actually worth killing in this house. I'm with The Fox."

"Well, get over and done with it," Qing Chen answered and started on the stairs. He already pressed a button that called a car to get him from this house. It was already totally deserted. "We have a brother to think about."

"Yes, yes. I'll be right there," groaned Wuming. "Five minutes. Just five minutes."

"Okay." Qing Chen had zero doubt in his mind that Wuming would be able to survive this Fox. By the time that Qing Chen reached the front door of the house, there was already a car pulling in the driveway. He was handed a mask to protect himself from the sand. "Let's go."

**

Feng Xuan was nervous. She was clutching the gun to her chest. She had taken a look at the gunshot wound and she was still bleeding. The least she could do was tear up a part of her pant leg and tie it in place. But that did not seem to help either. The wound was too deep.

The scent of her own blood was really throwing her off the game and was making her dizzy. She was thirsty and hungry—she knew she was not supposed to feel that, not in a time like this, but her stomach was grumbling and her mind was acknowledging this despite the adrenaline in her veins.

She was stepping slowly, not wanting to make a sound. She knew she was supposed to be there with Qing Chen in the middle of the desert, shooting men off their cars. But her gut was telling her that she should be inside this place. The Zookeeper was going to be safer in this house. There were too many rooms here—so much space to hide, why would he go outside?

She opened each door, patiently. She was still on the third floor. This house was bigger than her and Qing Chen's and the Qing's house combined. It was like a maze of some sort. The other rooms were completely empty save for a bed. 

Then everything changed.

The door was as normal as the rest. Feng Xuan was almost convinced that The Zookeeper was not in the house as she was about to give up clearing these rooms one by one.

The moment that she entered the room, she knew that there was something wrong in it. It looked like it was thrice the size of the other rooms. Before Feng Xuan could process the more extravagant room, there was pain on her hand and she let go of the gun.

Then she was being hauled off her feet and she was flying in the air.

Pain exploded on her head and all the way to her back. She pressed her head against the wall as stars danced in front of her eyes. She blinked them away and she saw the person kneeling in front of her.

He had white hair on top of his head. His beard that ran from his upper lip to the rest of his jaw was of the same color. His face had fat in it but he was not as meaty as her father. Did this man just threw her to the wall?

"Hello, Feng Xuan," smiled the old man. 

She made a move to scramble to her feet but she felt a hard punch on her stomach that made her curl. Something was trying to come up her throat. She pressed on her ear and found that her communication device was no longer there. 

Her eyes moved and she was that it was across the room, already broken from the crash. 

The man followed her eyes. "Guess it is just you and me now."