Chapter 700: Han Jintong’s Crisis
At Jinbai Hotel, Shanghai’s Hong District. It was a hotel that was barely three-stars. Having an average occupancy rate and mediocre business, only a few guests stayed there.
Han Jintong’s complexion was pale like a sheet, and a bloodstain painted the corner of his mouth. Scars could be seen all over his body as he sat in the corner of the room on the seventh floor, stitching his wounds. Four or five meters from him, a bruised Caucasian woman with blond hair and wearing a tattered robe was also covered with blood.
“Please leave, Professor!”
The Caucasian woman had scarlet pupils and a pair of sharp nails as her white hands gently stroked a concave bronze mirror she took from her left chest.
Han Jintong firmly shook his head and said, “Shanjenna, I may not know why they are chasing you, but you’re the best student I have ever had, as well as my sparring partner for several years. Under such a situation, I won’t… cough, cough… I just can’t leave you alone.”
A desperate expression could be seen on Shanjenna’s face as she said, “You’ve helped me enough, Professor. Now that you have been seriously injured, your chance of living will be very slim if you keep staying with me. I already safely hid that Skull Insignia in the cabinet in the residential building we met at yesterday. I plan to send the Skull Insignia to Salzburg to hand it over to my big brother after ensuring your safety. It’s up to fate whether this only relative of mine can survive.”
“As I said, I won’t leave you alone,” said Han Jintong in a deep voice. “If you want to hand over that Skull Insignia to your big brother, wait for this crisis to pass before you go on your own.”
“The one who is hunting me is Grove Bear, Professor.” Shanjenna bitterly said. “He’s a Gold Badge assassination agent of the Stygian Club. Though the hunting squad he leads consists of only five people, all of them are Silver Badge elites. Two of them are Beastman, one is a Bloodkin, and the last two are from the Wingmen. Those who fought with us yesterday are a Beastman, a Bloodkin, and a Wingman, while the other two Silver Badges did not appear. The most important thing is, Grove Bear himself hasn’t shown up yet. But I’m sure he has must have come to Shanghai. We wouldn’t have a chance to run away had he appeared last night.”
Han Jintong frowned and asked, “Tell me. Why are they hunting you?”
A fierce expression suddenly covered Shanjenna’s face as she answered, “The Shadow Division of the Stygian Club set up a ‘Flesh Mill’. Its members secretly kidnap ordinary humans from all over the world to consume their flesh and blood, devour their souls, and even use them as guinea pigs for their experiments and research in some lethal weapons. I happened to find the specific location of this Flesh Mill, and the note that records its coordinates is hidden in the Skull Insignia.”
Han Jintong’s countenance changed, and he angrily said, “I already knew that the Stygian Club was an evil organization, so I refused to join it. Even when I came back from abroad to live a normal life in China, little did I think that they were so insane as to pursue you to China and even murder ordinary people here.”
“You had better leave now, Professor,” said Shanjenna. “The enemy is too strong. Once they find us here, I’ll take them on myself. Thus, you gotta hurry and escape.”
“Stop persuading me, Shanjenna,” said Han Jintong while gritting his teeth. “There’s no use to go on living without honor when I can’t even protect my own student. However, we won’t be able to deal with these Assassins by relying on our strength. It seems I need the aid of my old friends.”
With that said, he propped himself up with difficulty by leaning on the wall, picked up the mobile phone which had its battery thrown out, and reinstalled the battery again. He immediately took a relieved sigh after seeing that the phone was still functional. Just as he was about to dial a number, he seemed to realize something all of a sudden, and then looked at Shanjenna.
My two old friends have strength comparable to mine, while Shanjenna and I together are not even a match to those three assassins. I’m afraid it would still be useless even if we're to call them over, and will even implicate them instead. But if I don’t ask for their aid, how can I solve this imminent crisis? Han Jintong’s face was constantly changing.
After a long silence, Tang Xiu’s face suddenly appeared in his mind.
Will he help if I ask him? With his identity and ability, it will be easy for him to deal with these assassination agents. But, how much must I pay if he agrees?
He kept thinking and hesitating.
As Han Jintong glanced at the tattered and battered Shanjenna, he finally gritted his teeth and dialed Tang Xiu’s cell number.
****
At the Paradise Club.
Tang Xiu and Ouyang Lulu had just arrived. Before they even got off from the car, he heard his mobile phone buzzing. After looking at the number displayed on the screen, he connected it through and spoke, “Do you have a matter for calling me?”
With a bit of expectation in his tone, Han Jintong said, “Can I ask for your help, Mr. Tang? And, what price I must pay for you to help me?”
“Not interested!” Replied Tang Xiu and directly hang up. If Han Jintong did not say that last sentence, he would probably consider it, yet that old man actually asked what price he must pay in exchange for his help, a notion that he was rather repugnant with.
“Who was it, Tang Xiu?” Ouyang Lulu, who had gotten off the car, asked Tang Xiu.
“An unimportant person who wants me to help him,” said Tang Xiu.
Ouyang Lulu did not ask again and deftly coiled her hand to Tang Xiu’s and smilingly said, “You will be the Boss’s husband of our Paradise Club from today onward. So this will be our family’s business, and you can do whatever you want in managing it. If anything, all the money invested here was hard-earned by myself. So, I got no problem even if it’s completely gone. At the worst, I will just go to my family to ask for money as a dowry.”
The Boss’ husband?
Tang Xiu was at a loss whether he had to cry or laugh. It gave him a quite complicated feeling since it truly made him realize what was the meaning of the saying that: “a woman who has gone out of her family to marry is like something that can never be retrieved again”. Ouyang Lulu had yet to be joined with him in matrimony, yet she had already begun to turn outward.
****
At Jinbai Hotel.
Han Jintong’s expression was that of bitterness upon hearing the beeping tone from the mobile phone. Little did he think that Tang Xiu would be this insensible and heartlessly refused directly without him even asking for what help he needed.
“It’s no use, Professor.”
Shanjenna’s lower lip squirmed, revealing her two fangs. There was desperation in her eyes, before it turned cold all of a sudden. Her gaze shifted toward the door as a pair of broken wings sprouted out from her back. The instance they opened up, she dashed and came to Han Jintong’s side almost in an instant, stretched out her hand to grab his shoulder, and sprinted toward the window to the outside.
Her speed was extremely fast, leaving only afterimages in the air as her figure already rushed to the opposite side of the five-story building.
Clatter…
A silver bullet shot forward in a spiraling forward as though tearing the space barrier and instantly hit Shanjenna’s wing. A flame was then set ablaze across the wings, while Shanjenna screamed out miserably and immediately fell to the top of the building. Fortunately, Han Jintong’s reaction was swift, as he instantly grabbed her and jumped to the other side downstairs the moment after.
He had already been injured, thus affecting his actions at this moment. But since his cultivation level was rather high, his hand instantly grabbed the window on the second floor after the fall, smashing the glass windows with his kick and sprinting while bringing Shanjenna.
He must run away! He was ready to unleash everything he had to escape!
Since the enemy had already caught up with them, they must escape as far as possible, or only a dead end would greet them otherwise.
Never did Han Jintong imagine that these assassins would be this recklessly bold and dared to act in a downtown area in broad daylight. This place was Chinese territory, could it be that these assassins had no fear to annoy the powerhouses residing in China?
Suddenly, a bold idea churned inside Han Jintong’s mind when he sprinted fast down the corridor. He quickly kicked the door to the room at the side and took Shanjenna inside. He then grabbed a chair, dashed to the window and threw it to the floor below.
He had to make noise, and it was best to create a huge mess. He did not believe that those assassins were really that bold to expose their dreadful strength amidst a big incident. Furthermore, he thought that only amidst a confusion would they possibly have a glimmer of hope to escape.
Nearby.
On the streets where an endless stream of pedestrians walked, passer-bys suddenly heard the sound of smashed glass, immediately followed by a chair and glass fragments falling down. Several people were almost hit as they screamed and ran away. The incident attracted a large number of pedestrians’ eyes, as they looked up at the second-floor window of the building.
Under a telephone pole, two young men wearing jackets and smoking cigarettes were standing still and looking around aimlessly. They received orders from the leaders above and went all out to find some strange people. The precise order assigned to them was that what they searched were not human beings, but vampires and Demihumans—Beastman from the Western legends.
“What is going on?”
The two young men exchanged looks and subconsciously walked toward the scene of the accident. They took out their monoculars at this time.
“Brother Ya, look over there!”
Suddenly, the young man’s body shivered. He has just raised his arm, only to find that the flashing figure had disappeared at the opposite side of the building.
“What is it?” The young man called Ya curiously asked.
The young man who just called him wore an excited expression and rapidly said, “I dare to guarantee that was a flashing shadow of someone before, 100% sure! It’s someone who can fly, for God’s sake! That must be the target we are looking for.”
“Hurry up and report it!”
“Got it!”
Inside the five-story building, Han Jintong dragged the seriously injured, retracted wings, and dizzied Shanjenna and sprinted fast toward the window at the end of the left corridor. The moment he opened the window, he instantly jumped downstairs and blended in the stream of people, finally disappearing in the crowd without much effort.
At the roof of the building, a robust, stocky middle-aged man with a scarlet glow in his eyes was looking at the direction where Han Jintong and Shanjenna disappeared. He licked his lips and spoke to himself in a thick tone, “You can run, but you can never escape! I can still smell the Darksoul Scent on you from several hundreds of miles away.”