A City, New Garden Luxury Estate.
The wail of sirens slashed through the stillness, their flashing lights tore through the black night being lashed by torrential rain.
Because of the sudden downpour, the residents who were strolling in the garden had long since gone home, watching from their windows what was happening in the garden.
Shui Yixin couldn’t recall how long she’d been held hostage, drenched by the ongoing deluge, the cold gnawing her last threads of consciousness away. The villain’s gun jabbed insensitive into her temple caused her to sway uncontrollably under the relentless rain, closely following the beating she’d just endured.
The criminal was negotiating something with the police across from them. To her, it had become a distant and indistinct chattering., the only word she could comprehend was: money.
The roar of a helicopter lingered above the residential area. As the heavy rain blurred her vision, Shui Yixin couldn't make out what was happening above.
“If you want money, you have to let me contact my husband, how else would he believe?” she said. Earlier on, they had called Yun Haohan when she’d just been taken, but Yun Haohan didn’t believe her, scoffing at her situation.
The two criminals glanced at each other, then at the police. Finally, one of them handed a wax-paper wrapped phone to Shui Yixin, menacing her to make the call quicker.
As she dialed the familiar number and the call connected quickly, an elegant and mellow voice came from the other end. To others, he was always so refined.
"Haohan..."
"Shui Yixin?"
At the sound of her calling him, his voice turned to disgust. She could even imagine his face was furrowed in annoyance.
"Enough! Shui Yixin, what kind of stunt are you pulling this time? Being kidnapped? Who could possibly kidnap you? Grandpa's hospitalized, and with no one to watch you play the victim, you've found a new method? Shui Yixin, you're completely hopeless!" In the Luxury Estate, who could possibly kidnap her? The thought of this made him feel even more disgusted.
That cruel outburst crushed all of Shui Yixin's persistence. Her face drained of color, could he not hear the rain? The sirens? Or perhaps had he heard them, but still thought it was her dramatic performance?
Feeling drained, Shui Yixin spoke again: "Have you never believed me?"
"Heh, trust you? What's reliable about a woman who spouts nothing but lies? Shui Yixin, your kind only repulses. I don't know how you managed to gain Grandfather's trust, but in my eyes, you're just an abhorrent, hypocritical woman."
Shui Yixin wanted to weep, but found herself unable to squeeze out any tears. In the past three years, words like these had numbed her, but now hearing them still hurt her deeply.
"Hao Han, the meal is ready. Let’s go have dinner."
An enveloping, gentle voice ultimately crushed Shui Yixin's spirit.
Yuan Ruyun, the woman he loved the most. Without the presence of his grandfather, he is so eager to find Yuan Ruyun.
Yun Hao Han ended the call abruptly, dumped the phone on the bed, and swiftly changed his disgusted expression to a pampering one as his beloved walks in. His arm rested lightly on her waist. "Why did you have to cook? You could have had someone else do it.”
"It's your birthday, and I wanted to make it myself." Yuan Ruyun sweetly said as she gently hooked his arm and walked out.
Birthday? A tinge of surprise crept into Yun Hao Han's eyes. Today is his birthday? He glanced back at his phone, but Yuan Ruyun had already lured him out.
At the scene of a kidnapping,
"Chief, we're ready." The sniper on the helicopter targeted the person on the other side and spoke to the man in the driver's seat.
Decked out in a strikingly clean, sky-blue military uniform, he cuts an impressive figure. His shoulders bear the sacred rank of colonel, and its golden symbol gleams brightly in the night. Leng Lie Feng's deep-set features are particularly handsome under the night's rain, his brows furrowed significantly, but his stern face shows no anomaly. His dark, deep eyes like an enigmatic ocean, focused on the kidnapped girl. His grip tightens into a fist, the veins on the back of his hand bulging, belying his seemingly calm exterior.
"Tell me your odds," Leng Lie Feng's voice echoed, as deep as a cello.
The sniper looked up at his chief, seemingly surprised by the question. The chief seldom asked him this during missions because he trusted him. "Ninety percent." The torrential rain robbed him of his ten percent certainty.
"Ninety percent," Leng Lie Feng echoed the probability.
He peered below, his clenched fist slowly uncurling. "But I can't afford that one percent risk," he murmured to himself. Then he returned his gaze to Tiger, "You take the wheel," and with that, he left the driver's seat.
Because he could not afford to lose, even if the probability of failure was only ten percent, he dared not take it lightly. Therefore, in the absence of trust in others, he had no choice but to take matters into his own hands.
Shui Yixin, she was still as beautiful as ever. Although her delicate face was pale now and her whole body was soaked in the heavy rain, her crystal clear eyes still captivated people, just like a few years ago. Only now, everything had changed.
The police were still negotiating with the criminal, but Shui Yixin could no longer hear any sound. She slowly closed her eyes, no longer wanting to struggle or desire for anything.
Her completely relaxed body exposed the criminal's fatal position for the person at a high point.
For the first time, Leng Lieh Feng felt a sense of terror before he fired his gun. His heart was pounding violently, beating against his chest. He took a deep breath and finally calmed down. He worried that a slight carelessness on his part could lead to lifelong regret. The moment Shui Yixin bowed, Leng Lieh Feng's M200 gun in his hand changed from slight trembling to steady in an instant. His finger rested on the trigger, and without any hesitation, he pulled it.
After the gunshot, it seemed as if time had frozen.
Everything in the world seemed to have come to a standstill, except for the rain, splashing ceaselessly, dripping and splashing on the ground.
Shui Yixin, losing the support of the criminal, knelt down onto the ground, covering her belly. She had been confronted with the villain for too long, and now she was powerless, her vision going dark. Finally, she lost all consciousness.
Leng Lieh Feng put away his gun, his hanging heart finally settling. His handsome eyebrows relaxed, he slid down the rope from the helicopter, walked over and took the woman who had been picked up by the SWAT team leader, Dragon Teng. His face was gloomier than the weather.
"I need a detailed account of this hostage case," Leng Lieh Feng said, cradling Shui Yixin in his arms with a doting gentleness on his face.
Watching Leng Lieh Feng's departing figure, Dragon Teng holstered his gun, the corners of his mouth slightly curling up. The most detailed implies everything beneath the surface too, right? Looking at a community which usually had good public security, kidnapping was indeed an ingenious method.
Leng Lieh Feng carrying a woman back caused a commotion in the team, yet no one dared to ask. Who would dare to question the commander's business? That would be courting death.
Back at his own military dormitory, Leng Lieh Feng kicked the door open and walked in carrying Shui Yixin. He quickly and gently stripped off all her clothes, wiped her body dry with a cloth from his desk, and tucked her into bed.
Every move was so smooth that it felt like he was doing something familiar and natural, but a closer look would reveal the blue veins protruding slightly on the back of his hand, indicating his current restraint.
He was a man, a normal man at that; undressing a woman, especially a woman he liked, was bound to stir some feelings. But he was not just a man, he was a soldier, a self-disciplined soldier. What's more, the woman in front of him was someone he wanted to cherish and love for the rest of his life. He would not allow anyone to harm her, including himself.
The order was given for the guard to prepare hot water. The guard quickly came in with the hot water, glancing curiously around, only to be frightened off by Leng Lie Feng's icy gaze, cold enough to freeze a man where he stood.
Closing the door behind the exiting guard, Leng Lie Feng quickly stripped off his drenched clothes, dropping them haphazardly onto the floor. After a hurried wipe down, he wrapped a military-green towel around his waist and sat down at the bedside.
His gaze fell on the unconscious figure on the bed, her once clear and distinct face now creased with worry, and as white as a sheet.
Suppressing a surge of anger, he reached for a towel and soaked it in the hot water. With a degree of caution and gentleness, he applied it to the young woman's face, wiping it gently.
Deep within his somber gaze, a flash of murderous intent surfaced. 'Yun Hao Han, you dare to treat her this way, very well, very well indeed!' he thought fiercely.
