After ninety-nine online romances, I finally met my ex in person when school started.

Jiang Yao was still chattering away, setting up a defensive network.

Zhu Xun Chuan felt his ears ringing. He sighed, then suddenly reached out, grabbed Jiang Yao's slender wrist, and yanked it sharply.

Caught off guard, Jiang Yao fell directly into Zhu Xun Chuan's arms. Before she could even cry out, Zhu Xun Chuan grabbed the back of her neck, lowered his head, and precisely sealed her red lips with a kiss.

The forceful plundering made Jiang Yao's body go limp instantly, and the butterfly knife slipped from her fingertips and fell onto the carpet.

Taking advantage of this brief moment, Zhu Xun Chuan reached out his other hand and accurately grasped Xia Wan Ying's fingers, which were white with tension. He gently kneaded the back of her hand with the pad of his thumb, bringing a soothing warmth.

A kiss and a handshake silenced all the tense opposition in the living room.

Zhu Xun Chuan released Jiang Yao, whose face was flushed and who was breathing rapidly. He glanced around at these women who were powerful and influential outside, but who were so insecure in front of him.

"The Qu family isn't stupid." Zhu Xun Chuan picked up his teacup, took a sip, and said, "Their choice to kidnap someone right under the emperor's nose, instead of killing her outright, is a test of the authorities' and my bottom line. If we send a large force over there to confront them head-on, or alert the municipal party committee, they will immediately notice, and Pei Yanyu will be in danger."

He put down his teacup, his gaze sharpening.

"The Jianghu Bureau will operate according to Jianghu rules. I'll take Xiaobai with me. I must save the people, and I will also chop off every claw the Qu family has extended into the capital."

Looking into his resolute eyes, Gu Qinghan knew she couldn't persuade him. She gritted her teeth, turned around, and went upstairs to get the specially made tactical communicator.

10:30 PM, second-floor dressing room.

Soft lighting shone on rows of expensive suits. Qu Feiyan took a pure black bulletproof trench coat from the hanger and carefully walked up to Zhu Xun Chuan.

She had changed out of her JK uniform and put back on her more practical, form-fitting tactical outfit.

"Give me your hand," Qu Feiyan said softly.

Zhu Xun Chuan obediently opened his arms. Qu Fei Yan went behind him and helped him put on his trench coat. Her movements were a little awkward, and her fingers inadvertently brushed against his broad back, sending shivers of electric shocks through his shirt.

Qu Feiyan walked around to his front, lowered her head, and buttoned up his trench coat one button at a time, then reached out to straighten his tie.

They were extremely close. Zhu Xun Chuan could see her curled eyelashes and slightly reddened earlobes just by looking down.

After finishing tidying up, Qu Feiyan didn't back away. Suddenly, she grabbed the lapel of Zhu Xunchuan's trench coat with both hands and stood on tiptoe.

Her short, gray-blue hair brushed against Zhu Xun Chuan's chin. Two soft, warm lips unexpectedly pressed against his Adam's apple.

Zhu Xun Chuan's Adam's apple bobbed.

Qu Feiyan quickly took half a step back, her cheeks flushed red as if they were about to bleed. She raised her head, her bright eyes filled with a desperate, all-or-nothing affection.

"If you bring me back alive," Qu Feiyan said softly, yet each word carried immense weight, "I'll give you my life."

Zhu Xun Chuan looked at her, a smile playing on his lips. He raised his hand, his thumb brushing away the moisture from her lips.

"Your life was originally mine." Zhu Xun Chuan lowered his hand. "Let's go. Let's pick up Yan Yu and take her home."

……

Late at night, in the western suburbs of Kyoto.

A black, bulletproof Maybach sped into the night, along a desolate highway towards an abandoned mine deep in the mountains. Xiao Bai sat in the driver's seat, his expression stern. In the passenger seat's storage compartment were two Glock pistols fully loaded with live ammunition.

at the same time.

On a rusty tower in the center of an abandoned mine.

A cold wind howled. A woman in a long black embroidered dress sat on the edge of the railing. She wore a half-silver mask covering her right eye, while her left eye gleamed with a chilling light.

The woman toyed with a pitch-black gu pot in her slender fingers. A faint rustling sound came from inside the pot, the sound of poisonous insects rubbing against the pot's walls.

She looked down at the monitor screen resting on her lap. On the screen, two blinding headlights were tearing through the darkness, heading towards the mine gate.

"Here he comes." A strange smile curved the woman's lips as she tapped her fingers lightly on the Gu jar. "Let me see just how tough the man is, the one who can make a deserter so devoted and who can wipe out the Zhao and Chen families."

Abandoned steel plant in the western suburbs.

A few rays of cold moonlight pierced through the dilapidated factory roof, cutting out mottled areas of light and shadow on the empty concrete ground.

"squeak--"

The black bulletproof Maybach drove straight over the gravel on the ground and came to a steady stop in the center of the factory area.

The car door opened. Zhu Xun Chuan stepped out, one hand in his trench coat pocket. He held Qu Fei Yan's hand with his right.

The young Miao leader had changed into a tight-fitting tactical leather outfit, which accentuated her graceful and explosive figure.

Her short, grey-blue hair fluttered slightly in the night breeze, and she wore military boots. But as Zhu Xun Chuan's large hands enveloped her, her fingertips stiffened, and her palms were damp with a thin layer of sweat.

"Nervous?" Zhu Xun Chuan squeezed her palm, his voice deep and steady.

"Who's nervous?" Qu Feiyan raised her chin, stubbornly retorting, but then gripped the man's fingers even tighter. "This young master is counting how many fearless people are around."

The surroundings were eerily quiet.

On the three-story rusty cooling tower and along the edges of the dilapidated shipping containers piled up around it, faint infrared lights flickered. A dozen female bodyguards dressed in black had completed their encirclement, blocking all of Maybach's escape routes.

Directly ahead, the rusty iron gate of the factory made a screeching sound.

A woman wearing a half-silver mask emerged. She clutched a rough hemp rope in her hand. The other end of the rope was tightly bound to a wooden chair.

Sitting on the chair, Pei Yanyu's face was deathly pale. She was still wearing the haute couture gown she wore to the event at the film studio, though the hem was covered in dust. Her lips had an unnatural bluish-purple hue, and cold sweat dripped down her delicate jawline.

Hearing the car engine, Pei Yanyu struggled to lift her head. Upon seeing the tall, imposing figure, her previously unfocused gaze instantly brightened.

"Xun Chuan..." Pei Yanyu's eyes reddened, her voice hoarse and weak.

She didn't cry for help or scream in terror.

That murmur was filled with an unconditional dependence. She knew that as long as this man was there, he would shoulder any burden, even if the sky were to fall.

Hearing that sweet, coquettish call, Qu Feiyan felt a pang of jealousy. The person she was supposed to save was actually her? Shouldn't she be in Miao territory right now?

"Mr. Zhu is very punctual." The woman in the silver mask stopped and toyed with a purplish-black Gu jar in her right hand.

Her gaze passed over Zhu Xunchuan and fixed intently on Qu Feiyan beside him.

"You little traitor, you've found a good backer." The masked woman sneered. "Hand over the clan leader's bone ring and come here yourself. Otherwise, I'll activate the Heart-Eating Gu in her belly right now."