Chapter 72  : Untielding Strength

The sound of heavy gunfire ricocheted off the surface of Little Mirror Lake. The bullets ripped through the storm and loudly whizzed by, their echoes ringing through the mountains for a long time. Some of the tourists staying there heard this and thought it was fireworks and firecrackers at first. Soon though, they remembered that it was raining; how could anyone have set off fireworks and firecrackers in this weather? It was only then that people realized that the sounds were gunshots. Everyone became even more scared, but no one was brave enough to check outside. Doors were secured in silence. The guests put up their defenses and began to really for their lives.

…

The storm was heavier on Little Mirror Lake and visibility was nearly zero. Someone with a weaker sense of direction would have only swum in circles and died of exhaustion before they ever got within sight of the shore. Perhaps that was one of the reasons why the Big Circle Boys hadn’t followed Class One into the water. If it hadn’t been for Gu Nianzhi, the students would have suffered an unfortunate fate. Gu Nianzhi had always possessed a strong sense of direction, and although the storm made it difficult to find the way home from where they were currently, she was able to recognize landmarks despite the inclement conditions. Since the night they had arrived, she had swam across Little Mirror Lake twice. This would be the third time. She raised her head from the surface, one hand firmly gripping her classmate’s waist. She raised her other hand, holding her phone up as she wiped the rain from her face. Navigating their way on Little Mirror Lake wasn’t difficult for her because it was surrounded by three large mountains thus making it easy to re-center themselves. She only had to keep her eyes on the overall shape of the mountain peak across the lake to know where she was swimming to. Fortunately, they had already been out of range of the torrent of bullets Yang Dawei and his underlings had directed at Little Mirror Lake. Just the sound of the guns firing behind them frightened the group enough to nearly submerge deep underwater. A few people almost got cramps.

They know we’re crossing the lake.

The same thought crossed everyone’s minds and forced them to swim even faster. Gu Nianzhi purposely fell behind from the front to usher everyone to swim faster, faster, and faster still. Time was running out.

…

“We can’t look for them anymore, let’s take the Managing Director and a few university students from Mingyue Court, then make a run for it!” Yang Daweri stood on the back veranda of Qingfeng Garden and made the decision. “The cops are almost here. If we make it out of here, I’ll make sure to get to the bottom of where things went wrong! Let’s go!”

Everyone then stormed out of Qingfeng Garden and split into two groups: one to take the Managing Director, and the other

to return to Mingyue Court. The weather was getting worse and they were likely to lose their sense of direction in the water. Their guns were their greatest advantage, so they didn’t to go after the escaped C University Faculty of Law students. Once they hit the water, their advantage would be lost. This left them no choice but to retreat and settle for taking the Managing Director and the passed out students from Class Two as hostages. A few underlings returned to Mingyue Court and picked out several unconscious students. They chose well-dressed ones and carried them to back to their black SUV.

The wind had receded, but the rain hadn’t let up. The SUV’s engine revved as it drove up to the the villa’s administrative building. Two men dragged the Managing Director, who was tied up into a ball. They tossed him in and drove onto the main road and out of the villa. There was essentially no traffic and they were anxious to leave.

Thump! Boom!

The driver had suddenly noticed a giant bump ahead and swerved to avoid it! The black SUV crashed and then skidded. The driver pushed his entire body against the steering wheel, trying to maintain control of the car, as it veered sharply to the left and then careened right into a large tree on the side of the road with a bang. The hood let out white smoke and the engine sputtered one last time before the SUV died.

“Motherf*cker! We’ve hit a tree!” The man cursed as he got out and opened the hood of the SUV. The engine was completely beyond repair.

“Boss, get out; this car is useless now.” He bellowed towards the car. A few other Big Circle Boys members crawled out and came beside him to take a look. They knew the car was finished as soon as soon as they saw the engine.

“Motherf*cker! What bad luck! What the h*ll is going on!” Another man kicked the car door open and dragged the hostages out.

“The car is gone, so are we walking?” The driver waited for a response from Yang Dawei.

Yang Dawei’s face was serious as he raised his hand to stop everyone from speaking. He leaned over to listen carefully.

“Godd*mnit…someone’s here! There’s a lot of them too!” Yang Dawei had just finished his sentence when the police siren ahead grew louder and quickly moved closer to them.

“What the h*ll are we listening for? We can clearly see the sirens.” A Big Circle Boys thug muttered as he hauled an unconscious female student over his shoulder, then turned around to ask Yang Dawei, “Boss, how should we move?”

The road ahead was no good; a horde of police cars were closing in on them quickly.

Up the mountain pass? Yang Dawei was just considering the possibility when he heard rustling from the forest and dogs barking.

“Police dogs?! They’ve brought police dogs!” A timid gang member immediately shrunk behind Yang Dawei. “Boss, we can’t go up the mountain! We can’t outrun the police dogs on the mountain!”

“We can’t go up! Let’s go back first!” Yang Dawei waved is hand. “We’ll go back to Mingyue Court!”

Seven Big Circle Boys carried four unconscious university students and the Managing Director of the villa as they made haste and backtracked.

After they left, a young man emerged from the forest. His face was covered in blood, half swollen, with one arm dangling at a strange angle. He sat on the side of the road and spat on the ground. “I might not have a gun, but test me and I’ll smother you with a plastic bag!” The man was Brother Li. He looked desperately for aid to come. He had been hiding in the forest in silence earlier and had multiple injuries. He couldn’t defeat seven people with a broken arm. Now, the criminals were forced back, so Gu Nianzhi and her friends were in even more danger. He could only hope that Zhao Liangze and Yin Shixiong could quickly get there.

Suddenly, he heard the drone of a helicopter. He looked up to squint at the sky, and saw that it was a police helicopter, not a Special Ops one. The sounds of the police dogs grew closer; it looked like they were bringing unyielding strength this time. Little Li wanted to rush over, but the gunshot wound on his arm was bleeding out and his head was getting heavier. The torrential rains fell as he collapsed in a ditch by the road.