Chapter 238 - 232: Worse Than Death

Jiang Li was at the police station, telling Ji Qinghe about a couple that had been following her for the past few days, when she overheard a call from Lu Xingye.

She shot to her feet. ’Is it because of me that Kun Sha is targeting Lu Xingye and his sister?’

"I’m going too." Jiang Li rose and looked at Ji Qinghe. ’Lu Xingchen is innocent.’

’Isn’t she Kun Sha’s target? If worse comes to worst, she’ll just go and trade herself for Lu Xingchen.’

"No. If you go, you’ll be walking right into Kun Sha’s trap."

"But if I don’t go, what if Sister Xingchen dies?" Her thoughts turned to the warm, gentle Lu Xingchen, and to Lu Xingye.

’If something happened to them, it would be worse than death for her.’

While Ji Qinghe was still hesitating, Jiang Li had already left. She drove home and asked Wu Ming to do a divination.

"You can do the reading on the way." Jiang Li ushered them all into the car.

Wu Ming sat in the passenger seat. The car had just started moving when Wu Ming found the location and began to give directions.

Jiang Li floored it, racing toward the location.

Meanwhile, Ji Qinghe had his hands full, keeping an eye on traffic while on the phone with Lu Xingye.

Looking at the surveillance footage, it was an all too familiar scene.

"Just like with Shi Xingchao. It’s an obvious trap to lure us in, but we have no choice but to walk into it."

Zhou Tiancheng took a deep breath, his fists clenched at his sides.

When they arrived at the destination, Jiang Li only saw Lu Xingye.

"Jiang Li, what are you doing here?" Lu Xingye looked awful. The wound on his abdomen had split open again, and blood was faintly seeping through his clothes.

Jiang Li rushed forward and immediately smelled the stench of blood.

"Lu Xingye, you’re hurt."

"It’s nothing, just a scratch." Lu Xingye scanned the area. The kidnappers’ car had stopped at the side of the road, but from there, the trail went cold.

"Wu Ming, quick, can you find my sister’s location?" Lu Xingye looked at Wu Ming and immediately rattled off Lu Xingchen’s birth details.

"Got it." Wu Ming immediately began his work.

"To the southwest. We need to keep going."

"Okay, I’ll drive." Lu Xingye got into the driver’s seat.

Jiang Li got into the back seat. Just as the car started, a wave of drowsiness washed over her.

’This was the first time she’d ever hated her ability, the first time she’d ever fought sleep so desperately.’

But in the end, she couldn’t fight off the exhaustion and drifted off.

Seeing Jiang Li fall asleep the moment she got in the car, Lu Xingye tightened his grip on the steering wheel, his heart sinking with a sense of panic.

Jiang Li opened her eyes to find herself in a dream, a rope in her hands, wrapped tightly around a woman’s neck.

The woman thrashed wildly, her sharp nails digging bloody furrows into Jiang Li’s arm.

In the vision, she calmly dragged the woman until she was dead, then drew two overlapping triangle symbols beside the body.

Then she woke up, her eyes meeting Lu Xingye’s worried gaze.

"It wasn’t Sister Xingchen."

Lu Xingye let out a breath of relief and focused on the road.

Jiang Li replayed the vision in her mind, then sent a text to Ji Qinghe, asking him to have someone look into it.

"This is it!" Wu Ming’s voice shattered her train of thought.

They all got out of the car and followed Wu Ming forward.

"Sis!"

Lu Xingye saw Lu Xingchen dangling from the edge of a cliff. His heart leaped into his throat, and he immediately sprinted toward her.

He’d only taken two steps before a sense of alarm flared through him. ’His sister is the only one here. Where are Kun Sha’s men?’

Jiang Li looked at Lu Xingchen and started forward, her heart tight with worry.

Lu Xingchen’s eyes fluttered open. Her body twitched uncontrollably. Remembering what those men had done to her, she bit down hard on her lower lip, her eyes bloodshot as she fought back a total collapse.

"Xiao Ye, leave me! All of you, get out of here! Kun Sha grabbed me to get revenge for what happened years ago."

"He already injected me with..."

Lu Xingchen bit her lip, struggling to keep her composure. "Don’t... don’t worry about me."

"Kun Sha brought a lot of men with him this time."

Lu Xingye, on the verge of breaking, surged forward to untie the rope. "Sis, it’s okay! I’ll help you through the withdrawal."

His lips trembling, Lu Xingye worked frantically at the rope.

The next second, his pupils constricted. It was a trick with two ropes. The moment he undid the first, the second one went slack. He could only watch in horror as his sister plummeted from sight.

"NO!" Lu Xingye screamed, lunging forward, but someone else was even faster.

Jiang Li snatched the rope just in time, while Yu Huannian grabbed her by the ankles from behind.

With everyone’s help, they managed to haul Lu Xingchen back up.

Ignoring the searing pain in her palms from the rope burn, Jiang Li moved to check on Lu Xingchen.

"Sis." Lu Xingye swept Lu Xingchen into his arms, tears of terror streaming down his face.

He clung to the trembling Lu Xingchen, his voice a desperate plea. "Sis, please, don’t leave me. Don’t leave me."

’That Kun Sha is a monster!’

Jiang Li clenched her fists. Watching the two of them, she wished she could storm Kun Sha’s den and destroy him and everything he had.

Catching a dark figure move in her peripheral vision, Jiang Li paused for a second before turning to Lu Xingye. "We should go. It’s not safe here."

Lu Xingye got up and carried Lu Xingchen toward the car at the side of the road. Just as they reached it, Zhou Tiancheng arrived.

"His men were already gone. My sister... she’s not doing well," Lu Xingye said, swallowing the bitter taste of despair.

"Let’s get her back first."

Zhou Tiancheng pulled open the rear door for them.

Back in her own car, her nerves stretched taut, Jiang Li suddenly had an idea. She took out her phone and called Luo Jingheng.

"Mr. Luo, have you ever met Kun Sha?"

Jiang Li was taking a shot in the dark by calling Luo Jingheng, but compared to her own father, she was more willing to trust him.

"COUGH, COUGH... Did something happen?" Luo Jingheng asked, sitting up in his hospital bed.

Hearing his weak cough, Jiang Li felt a little bad for bothering him. "My friends were targeted by Kun Sha in an act of revenge. I need to find him."

If Luo Jingheng didn’t have any leads, she wouldn’t hesitate to use herself as bait again.

"I’ve never met him, but I’ve heard that Kun Sha has a wolf’s head tattoo on his right shoulder."

"Okay, thank you. You should rest and take care of yourself."

Jiang Li hung up. The wolf’s head tattoo was practically public knowledge.

But the Kun Sha of today had a completely new identity and face, which made finding him exponentially harder.

Luo Jingheng stared at the disconnected call on his phone’s screen, then looked up at his new assistant.

"Contact our people in C City. Find out what’s happened with Jiang Li and her friends."

"Yes, sir!"

The man turned smartly and left to carry out the investigation.

Luo Jingheng looked at his computer screen. ’I need to get control of the assets Grandfather left me, and I need to do it fast.’

Jiang Li clutched her phone, feeling like a headless chicken. She had no idea where to even begin her search.

At the hospital, Lu Xingye stood guard outside his sister’s room. The lab report came back quickly: Lu Xingchen had been injected with a new type of designer drug from overseas.

Lu Xingye slammed his fist into the wall. ’Sooner or later, I’ll hunt that bastard Kun Sha down.’

When Jiang Li heard the news, her mind went blank for a second. ’Lu Xingchen is a narcotics officer...’

Jiang Li looked through the door at Lu Xingchen in the hospital bed, her heart aching. Her hatred for Kun Sha intensified.

Her phone rang. It was Cheng Xiangyu, and he sounded rushed. "Hey, Jiang Li, are you absolutely sure you saw a symbol of two overlapping triangles in your dream?"

"Yes. Two overlapping triangles."