My hometown is far away in Moscow.

Chapter 289 A Doomed Couple

"Damn it!!!" Hu Yi cursed. But at this critical moment, fate unexpectedly gifted him an automatic car he'd never driven before.

Fortunately, even if you've never eaten pork, you've still seen pigs run around quite often. Hu Yi calmed himself down, shifted into drive, stepped on the gas, and the car sped off with a "whoosh," knocking down several bandits who had just pounced on him from the side.

There were still seven or eight bandits in the middle of the road ahead, but they had been so focused on chasing the truck that they hadn't figured out what was going on, even though they heard the commotion behind them.

As a car sped towards them, the bandits naturally parted to make way. By the time someone frantically pulled out a pistol to aim, the car was already fifty meters away.

No sooner said than done. Natasha started the truck, Hu Yi rammed the bandits, and then stole Yuri's car. Although the whole process was thrilling, it actually took only a minute. Even counting from when Yabalov woke Hu Yi up, at most only a dozen minutes had passed.

Yuri's car was newer, offering a completely different driving experience from his old manual Opel. When Hu Yi pressed the accelerator hard just now, it felt like riding a frightened wild horse, involuntarily pressing himself firmly against the seat back. But after a moment, he couldn't help but fall in love with the fierce yet smooth acceleration.

Once he broke free of the bandits' encirclement, he slightly lifted the accelerator, and the car had already passed the large house where they had previously taken refuge. In a fleeting glance, he saw Yabalov and Tanya standing in the corner, watching him drive away.

The two of them should be safe for the time being. Their immediate priority was to get to a safe place as quickly as possible, and then figure out a way to come back and get them. Hu Yi wanted to contact Natasha, but it was still pitch black, and he needed to keep his tired eyes focused on the road ahead; he couldn't afford to be distracted by making a call.

He didn't recognize the roads in the area. He had originally planned to follow Natasha in his car, but now he had to catch up with her truck first. The road ended at a north-south highway, and Hu Yi turned south without hesitation, continuing his chase.

The highway was straight, with four lanes in both directions, wider than the narrow road we had just crossed, and streetlights on both sides were sometimes bright and sometimes dim. It was just past four o'clock, and there were very few cars on the road. As soon as Hu Yi relaxed a little, he immediately felt exhausted and his eyelids started to droop.

No, I absolutely can't fall asleep. Hu Yi jerked his head back and slapped his face twice. Just as he was reaching into his bag for a bottle of water, his phone rang.

The call was from Yabalov, who had the most comprehensive understanding of the situation so far, so he was temporarily acting as the liaison to inform everyone. According to his observation, a minibus carrying five or six people had been following Natasha, and shortly after Hu Yi left, a car had also sped off in pursuit.

Hu Yi's heart sank. He looked up at the rearview mirror and saw that all the scattered vehicles that had been left behind along the way had quickly disappeared from sight. Only one car was still following far behind, determined to catch up with him.

Yabalov continued his report, saying there were still two minibuses in front of the warehouse. One was parked next to an old Opel, while the other, carrying the injured bald man, drove off towards the city. He also relayed Natasha's message, instructing Hu Yi to continue south along the road, and once he caught up with the truck, not to get too close, but to follow it from a distance.

Hu Yi and Natasha weren't far apart. Yuri's car had plenty of power, and although he didn't dare drive too fast in the rainy night, catching up with a truck shouldn't have been difficult. However, after Hu Yi sped for nearly twenty minutes, the car that had been following him appeared and disappeared in the rearview mirror, and was finally completely left behind, while Natasha's truck was still nowhere to be seen.

He was secretly amazed, and accelerated for several kilometers until the streetlights on both sides gradually thinned out. Only then could he vaguely see a few taillights in the distance through the rain, which seemed to be two cars, one large and one small, chasing each other.

Hu Yi's spirits lifted, and he was about to chase after her to find a way to help her out of the predicament when the phone rang again. It was Natasha calling: "Anton! Are you behind me?"

"I'm here! But I'm still quite far away!"

"Is anyone else pursuing you?"

"It's gone! We've shaken it off!"

"Okay! Keep your distance! Don't come any closer!" Natasha's voice was urgent and stern. "Our tall friend is here to meet me. We've devised an interception plan! It's dangerous! You must stay away! You'd better stop the car!"

"Danger?!" Hu Yi exclaimed in shock. "What are you going to do?!"

"No time to explain! I'm about to cross a fork in the road! Slow down right now! We'll see how it goes after we stop the minibus behind us!" Natasha spoke very quickly and then threw her phone aside.

Hu Yi nervously lifted the accelerator and lightly tapped the brake, his eyes wide as he stared intently ahead. He saw Natasha slowly moving into the inner lane, driving close to the center line, seemingly slowing down as the minibus behind her drew ever closer.

Suddenly, Hu Yi saw a flash of headlights ahead, and a truck slowly approached from the inner lane from the opposite direction, about to scrape Natasha's car.

"Ahhh!!!" Hu Yi cried out in shock, his soul nearly leaving his body.

In a flash, Natasha's rear brake lights came on, followed by a piercing screech of brakes. The minibus following behind her couldn't slow down in time, swerved sharply to the left, then jerked back after seeing the oncoming truck. The two left wheels immediately left the ground, and the minibus lurched sideways for a distance before finally overturning and sliding flat off the road.

Before this, the two trucks had already passed each other. Natasha sped away with her horn blaring, while the other truck continued driving towards them as if nothing had happened.

"Holy crap!!! Awesome! Absolutely awesome!!!" Hu Yi shouted excitedly, his butt involuntarily lifting off the seat, his head slamming against the roof of the car, then he cried out "Ouch!" and quickly sat back down to steady the car, fastening his seatbelt as he did so.

From the time of the phone call until now, Hu Yi had slowed down for about a minute and had just arrived at the fork in the road Natasha had mentioned. Just as he was about to speed up and catch up, he saw in his rearview mirror that a car was speeding up behind him.

"Damn it, it's really persistent." Hu Yi frowned and muttered to himself. He released the brake and wanted to accelerate, but suddenly a thought struck him: If I keep following Natasha and this car is following behind me, wouldn't it lead them to Dajana's warehouse?

No, absolutely not. Without thinking, Hu Yi saw the car behind him was less than a hundred meters away, so he swerved sharply, making a wide turn and confidently driving straight into the side road. The car behind him also braked sharply and followed suit, turning into the side road as well.

Having successfully drawn away the only pursuer, Hu Yi relaxed a little. However, he immediately tensed up again: this was a narrow, two-way single-lane road carved out of the woods, with no streetlights, so he had to be extremely vigilant to drive fast.

He didn't have time to check the time, but he estimated it was almost 4:30. It should have been early morning, with the sky brightening, but at this time, dark clouds still covered the sky, and the rain was still pouring down. Only a faint ray of light appeared on the distant horizon, and there was almost no visibility on the path. He had to rely entirely on his headlights for illumination.

Fortunately, there were no other vehicles on the road. Hu Yi stared intently at the road ahead, not even blinking. His phone rang on the seat next to him, but he didn't dare to get distracted and reach for it.

The road was winding, and although there was no rush, it was still necessary to slow down and turn carefully in the rain. Yuri's car was clearly superior to the car behind, and the automatic transmission shifted very quickly. After a few turns, the car behind was left far behind again.

After driving for another ten minutes or so, the road ahead gradually straightened, and the headlights of the cars behind could no longer be seen in the rearview mirror. Hu Yi relaxed slightly, reached for his phone, and seeing that Natasha had already called three times, quickly dialed back.

"Anton! Thank goodness, you're alright!" Natasha's voice was filled with both anxiety and joy. "Where did you go? Why didn't you keep up?!"

"The bandits are catching up again, so I turned onto the side road I just took." Hu Yi forced a weary smile. "Don't worry about me. Have you arrived?"

"Just arrived! Preparing to unload! What are you going to do? Can you find this place?"

"This car should have navigation. I'll stop and set it up later." Hu Yi forced open his eyelids, held his phone between his face and shoulder, and while slowing down, reached out to fiddle with the center console. "By the way, what's that place called again? I forgot."

"Shelp..."

Hu Yi only heard Natasha utter three words before he suddenly looked up and saw another bend ahead. In his haste, he swerved and slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. The car slid sideways off the road, plunged down the embankment beyond the shoulder, and crashed diagonally into a tree.

"Damn it..." Hu Yi's head was buzzing, and he carefully moved his body. Fortunately, he had slowed down beforehand and fastened his seatbelt, so he was not injured, but all the bones in his body felt like they were falling apart.

"Anton! Anton! What's wrong? What happened? Where are you?" Natasha shouted hoarsely, but the faint sound coming from the receiver was almost completely drowned out by the sound of raindrops hitting the car roof. Hu Yi struggled to unbuckle his seatbelt and looked around blankly for his phone, but had no idea where he had left it.

The car tilted slightly, and Hu Yi struggled to sit up, looking up to find the interior light switch. Unexpectedly, he saw a flash of light in the distance through the window, and it turned out that the car behind them had caught up again.

"Damn it!" Hu Yi was terrified. He hurriedly opened the car door, then reached for the kitchen knife on the passenger seat, only to find it empty; it must have slipped to the floor. He then reached under the seat and groped around, only managing to grab a backpack strap.

The car behind had already noticed the accident and was slowing down and pulling over. The situation didn't allow him to hesitate any longer. Hu Yi grabbed his backpack, pushed open the door, and jumped out of the car. He slipped and rolled several times on the muddy ground before disappearing into the dark grove of trees by the roadside.

(End of this chapter)