What to do if you're forced into love by a powerful man?!

The moment Ma Dong stepped out of the living room, the gentleness on his face vanished completely, replaced by a cold and stern expression. He strode across the corridor, pushed open the door to the duty room, grabbed the walkie-talkie on the table, and shouted, "Attention everyone, listen to my commands!"

He walked to the window of the duty room, his gaze piercing through the night, locking onto the edge of the dark woods.

He heard brief "ready" confirmation sounds from various locations through his earpiece, and he raised his hand to press the earpiece and waited quietly.

At the edge of the woods, the bald, burly man and his first group had reached a point less than a hundred meters from the villa's wall.

He crouched behind a bush, raised his hand, and prepared to give the order to attack—

Ma Dong then spoke up: "Fire."

In an instant, a barrage of gunfire erupted inside the villa.

The sniper on the rooftop fired first, a crisp gunshot piercing the night sky. A gunman next to the bald giant fell to the ground without even having time to scream.

Immediately afterwards, the firing positions behind the wall opened fire, and bullets rained down on the edge of the woods, causing branches and leaves to fly and mud to splatter everywhere.

"Scatter! Scatter!" The bald, burly man's expression changed drastically. He roared as he lunged behind the nearest tree trunk. A bullet grazed his shoulder, carving a deep groove in the bark.

The desperados he brought were caught off guard—in their minds, it was supposed to be a sneak attack, and they were the hunters.

But now they are the prey who have stepped into the trap.

However, the nightmare had only just begun.

Just as they were being pinned down by the frontal fire, another burst of gunfire suddenly rang out from behind them—from the direction they had come from.

Old Mo's men had already flanked them from behind, and bullets came from the darkness behind them, instantly taking down three or four more people.

"There are people behind us! We're surrounded!"

"Damn it! We've fallen for their trap!"

Panic began to spread through the crowd. Some tried to break through to the side, but were forced back by crossfire. One even threw away his gun and stumbled out of the bushes with his hands raised. But in this chaotic situation, no one paid attention to those who surrendered.

Second Master's team was completely thrown into chaos.

The bald, burly man, hiding behind a tree trunk, gritted his teeth and yelled into the walkie-talkie, "Hold on! Hold on! Take cover! Don't run around!"

But his voice sounded weak and powerless amidst the dense gunfire. Although the men he brought were a group of bandits who could be extremely ruthless when they were winning, they collapsed faster than anyone else once they fell into a disadvantageous situation.

Inside the villa, the living room's floor-to-ceiling windows were suddenly rattled by a burst of intense gunfire.

Xie Zhizhou's body trembled violently, and he almost jumped off the sofa.

He instinctively gripped the sofa cushion, his heart pounding. He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, but his fingers still unconsciously clenched the cushion.

Just then, the living room door was pushed open.

Xiao Wu and A Kun walked in quickly, one after the other. Xiao Wu was holding a pistol and looked wary, but he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Xie Zhizhou sitting on the sofa unharmed.

He lowered the gun slightly, walked to the sofa, and asked in a relaxed tone, "Mr. Xie, are you alright?"

Xie Zhizhou looked up and forced a smile: "It's nothing... I was just startled."

Ah Kun walked to the window, stood sideways behind the curtain, carefully lifted a corner to peek outside, then lowered the curtain, turned back to Xiao Wu and shook his head slightly, indicating that there was no immediate threat to approach.

Then he walked to the other side of the sofa and squatted down, his tone more composed than Xiao Wu's: "Mr. Xie, Dong Ge and our people are guarding outside, nothing will happen, please relax, just think of it as—setting off a firecracker."

Xie Zhizhou couldn't help but laugh at his comment about "setting off firecrackers," which eased his tension considerably.

He loosened the crumpled sofa cushion, rubbed his fingers together, and asked softly, "How's the situation outside? Zong Ran... has he arrived yet?"

Xiao Wu shook his head: "Boss is still on his way, he should be here soon. But don't worry, Brother Dong has already taken control of the situation. The gunshots we just heard were fired by our men, which means we have the upper hand."

Ah Kun nodded in agreement, "That's right, can you hear that the gunfire is less frequent now? That means it's almost over."

Xie Zhizhou listened intently and found that the gunfire outside the window was indeed not as intense as before; after a few sporadic shots, it gradually subsided.

He let out a long breath, leaned back, and sank into the soft sofa.

"Thank you," he said softly, then looked up and smiled at Xiao Wu and A Kun. "I'm fine now. You can go about your business. You don't need to watch over me."

Xiao Wu shook his head, his tone firm: "That won't do. Brother Dong instructed us that our mission tonight is to stay with you and not go anywhere else."

Ah Kun grinned and said, "Yes, just think of us as two doorposts, standing here."

As Xie Zhizhou watched the two of them working together in harmony, the last trace of unease in his heart quietly dissipated.

His gaze fell on the gradually returning tranquility of the night outside the window, and a faint smile appeared on his lips.

Gunfire gradually shifted from intense exchanges to sporadic skirmishes. Seven or eight corpses lay scattered on the grass outside the villa, and the air was thick with the smell of gunpowder.

The men brought by the Second Master had lost nearly half their number, and the remaining men were barely managing to organize a scattered counterattack by relying on trees and rocks.

Behind a sturdy old banyan tree, three survivors huddled together, panting heavily.

One of the burly men, his face covered in scars, wiped the sweat and dust from his face and cursed through gritted teeth, "Damn it! Didn't Second Master say their defense was weak?! This is weak?! I almost got riddled with bullets!"

Another tall, thin man, while changing his magazine, chimed in, his voice trembling with barely suppressed panic: "Not just from the front! There's another group behind us! We're surrounded! This isn't some kind of sneak attack, it's a trap they set!"

The burly man spat out a curse and was about to say something when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him.

The three men simultaneously turned their guns on alert, only to see a familiar figure crouching and quickly approaching from the shadows—it was Second Master.

His dark gray jacket was covered in mud, his hair was a bit messy, and his expression was unusually gloomy. He held a pistol in his hand, his breathing was slightly rapid, but his eyes still maintained that fierce light.

The bald, burly man was taken aback when he saw him, and then a surge of anger rushed to his head.

He jumped to his feet, grabbed Second Master's arm, and said in a low voice, but couldn't suppress his anger: "Second Master! Didn't you say their defenses were weak?! Didn't you say Zong Ran's main force was over at the warehouse?! Now we're surrounded! What's going on?!"

Second Master shook off his hand, his face extremely ugly. He peeked towards the direction of the villa, but the dense bullets immediately forced him back behind a tree. The bullets hit the tree trunk with a dull thud, and wood chips flew everywhere.

He gritted his teeth, his voice hoarse and gloomy: "I underestimated Zong Ran."

"Underestimate?!" the bald man almost roared. "We've lost almost half our men! And you just dismiss it with a simple 'underestimate'?!"

"Enough!" Second Master whirled around, his gaze piercing the bald man like a knife. "Now is not the time to assign blame! Find a way to break through! Every surviving one is a chance!"

The bald man's imposing manner diminished after being glared at, but he still had nowhere to vent his frustration and anger, so he could only slam his fist hard against the tree trunk.

The second master didn't look at him again, but quickly observed the surrounding battle situation.

His front was being relentlessly suppressed by the villa's firepower, and he was also being pursued from behind. Although his flanks were relatively weaker, a hasty breakout would easily make him a sitting duck in the open. His brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and his face grew increasingly grim.

He had planned everything meticulously, but he hadn't anticipated that Zong Ran had seen through his entire plan from the very beginning.

The fish he thought had taken the bait had actually been watching him from the shore all along...

Second Master raised his hand to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead, and a scene suddenly flashed through his mind—he had contacted Acheng when the convoy stopped at the fork in the road and everyone was preparing to get out of the car and walk forward.

No one heard.

He glanced at the screen and frowned, thinking that Acheng was probably busy dealing with Zong Ran at the warehouse and couldn't answer the phone. Besides, he had already arrived at his destination, so he didn't think much of it.

Looking back now, that missed call was the biggest warning sign.

He should have been suspicious back then, instead of naively assuming that everything was still going according to plan.

If he had been alert enough and had withdrawn in time, he could have at least saved most of his men and wouldn't be in this predicament of being attacked from both sides and caught in a dilemma.

But it was too late.

It's too late to think about all this now. Ah Cheng is most likely dead, and his men have lost more than half of their strength. Zong Ran is probably already on his way back to the villa.

His second uncle, who had dominated half his life, was ultimately outmaneuvered by a young man two cycles younger than him.

Thinking of this, Second Master gritted his teeth, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them again, all that remained in his eyes was the ruthlessness of someone at the end of their rope.

Since we can't leave, we might as well fight it out and take someone down with us.