He crouched down again and gently turned Lu Chen over.
Lu Chen was pale, his face covered in mud, looking utterly exhausted. Liu Li and Shangguan Bei wept, but a strange light flashed in Shangguan Yingneng's eyes as he muttered to himself, "Excellent physique, inner brilliance—a good candidate for martial arts. And this aura… I don't think I've ever seen anything like it before. Could it be…"
His voice was so low that only Shangguan Yingneng could hear it.
Then, he raised his voice and shouted, "Call a doctor, then take all those attackers back to Tengyun Manor. Let Leng Guo interrogate them thoroughly and find out who they are! Where did these vermin come from, so bold as to attack me and try to kill my granddaughter?"
His words were filled with murderous intent.
Tengyun Manor was the stronghold of the Shangguan family, occupying two hilltops. It was rumored to even have a private prison specifically for imprisoning the Shangguan family's enemies.
And Leng Guofan, any enemy of the Shangguan family, would tremble at the mere mention of his name!
He was the deputy captain of the Shangguan family's guard. Although not yet thirty, his skills were ruthless, and his heart even more vicious. It was said he had thoroughly mastered various traditional Chinese tortures. Anyone who fell into his hands would be either tortured to death or skinned alive!
At this moment, with the arrival of the main force of the Shangguan family, the seven or eight attackers immediately lost the courage to fight and fled like stray dogs. However, the Shangguan family members were all skilled fighters; how could they let them go? Another brief but fierce battle ensued, and in the end, only one person escaped.
Half an hour later, in a small farmhouse almost submerged in the sea on the outskirts of Yunzhou City, in a charming stilted house, the room was extremely dark. From the doorway, one could only see a figure sitting on the sofa by the window. He was clearly smoking a small cigar, wisps of white smoke rising in the darkness.
A man stood in the doorway, inexplicably hesitant to speak, just standing there trembling with fear.
He was the only one of the seven or eight thugs who had attacked Shangguan Bei to escape.
His voice trembled, seemingly tinged with terror, as he stammered through his report.
Then, there was a silence of about two or three minutes. The thug, listening to his own rapid heartbeat, felt as if his heart was about to burst. Finally, the man inside spoke.
"Eight men, guarding the place for four whole months, spending 300,000 to bribe an inside man for information. Such a rare opportunity, and you all missed it, leaving only you. You've truly been my good helpers, especially you, to be alive and let me hear such a fascinating story."
The voice was extremely hoarse, like that of a seventy or eighty-year-old.
However, judging from the figure inside, it was at most a middle-aged man.
"Brother Peng, those four bodyguards were too fierce! They used their bodies as a human wall to block our crossbow bolts! We actually had our chance... I could have killed Shangguan Bei with one arrow! But the bizarre thing is, I saw the arrow freeze in mid-air less than a meter from Shangguan Bei! In just a second or two, that kid who was eating barbecue with them pounced on her and smashed the arrow down with a beer bottle!"
"Are you telling me something out of a fantasy?" The voice inside turned icy.
The thug, sweating profusely, suddenly knelt down, trembling as he said, "Master Peng, how could I joke with you! I saw it with my own eyes! That kid... that kid did something even stranger. We shot an arrow at him, it clearly hit his forehead, blood was gushing out, but the arrow... the arrow didn't go in, it was like hitting a steel plate, it just fell off..."
The man inside was silent for a while, then said calmly, "Ade, you've been with me for five years, haven't you?"
"Five years and six months, Master Peng, I... I've always been loyal to you, I rarely make mistakes on missions..." Ade seemed to have a bad feeling.
"Yes, rarely make mistakes! But in life, sometimes, one mistake is enough." Master Peng's voice remained calm: "Don't worry, I'll give your wife and son enough money to live on for the rest of their lives."
Ade cried out in terror, straightened up, and turned to run.
Bang!
A burst of blood erupted from the back of his head, and he collapsed forward.
A curvaceous figure emerged from behind the door, a pistol emitting blue smoke in her hand.
"Anyone who falls into Shangguan Yingneng's hands must die. This matter must not be leaked. You take care of it," Peng Ye said coldly. "Also, what do you think of that kid Ade mentioned?"
The one who shot Ade was an extremely beautiful but cold-faced young woman with a very alluring figure.
She slightly lifted her high breasts and said calmly, "I think even if he has martial arts skills, they're rather poor. However, he might have some profound cultivation, which is why he could do those two things. I'll investigate; I'm interested. After all, there are still quite a few martial arts practitioners in modern society, but profound cultivators are becoming increasingly rare, or increasingly hidden."
"Be careful," Peng Ye said calmly. "Don't alert him."
Fourteen hours later, it was already late morning of the next day.
Lu Chen first stretched comfortably, suddenly realizing how incredibly comfortable his bed was—it was exactly like the top-of-the-line king-size bed he had at home! Lying on this bed felt like lying on the soft, bouncy skin of a group of young girls, a sensation that was incredibly pleasurable from head to toe.
So, he stretched slightly to the left, then to the right, then rolled over to the left, giving a long, long leg swing—essentially another stretch. He rolled over to the right, repeating the same movements.
While stretching against the bed, Lu Chen even let out a long, contented sigh.
If a woman were to say that, it would sound very, very... well, very much like...
Finally, he rolled over onto his stomach, arching back and forth, feeling quite comfortable.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes.
Wait, this isn't home. Where am I? How did I end up lying on such a comfortable bed?
He jerked his head back and saw three girls covering their mouths, their faces full of smiles but trying not to laugh out loud. They were Liu Li, Shangguan Bei, and a particularly pretty and innocent-looking nurse.
Instantly, Lu Chen froze, his face turning bright red.
Damn! This is too much! What was I doing? I was twisting and turning, stretching, and arching my back on the bed—they saw all of that? How embarrassing!
Luckily, Lu Chen was quick-witted. He quickly stretched again and lazily looked at them: "Uh, you're all here? What are you laughing at? I just woke up, I don't know anything. What's so funny? Right, how did I get here?"
He remembered the scene: Shangguan Bei had suddenly collapsed on top of him, like the last straw that had crushed him, making him dizzy and disoriented. Then, unable to hold back any longer, she knew nothing more and was plunged into darkness…
Finally, the three girls managed to suppress their laughter. They decided not to expose Lu Chen and would give him some face. A young nurse approached, her face flushed, and said, "Mr. Lu, let me examine you and see if there's anything wrong." She then began fiddling with some strange-looking instruments beside the bed.
Meanwhile, Liu Li and Shangguan Bei recounted the events of the previous night to Lu Chen, one after the other.
In short, it was a close call, but it had left Lu Chen somewhat shaken.
Having said that, Shangguan Bei pushed her wheelchair forward and handed Lu Chen a check with both hands. It contained two million Chinese yuan. She said earnestly,
"Brother Lu Chen, this is a small token of my appreciation. Please accept it. My grandfather said that you saved his granddaughter, and two million yuan is not enough to repay him. If you ever need anything in the future, just let us know. The Shangguan family will always be your strong support!"
Lu Chen scratched his head and said, "Xiao Bei, you treated us to grilled fish, and I saved you. It's all fate. There's no need to repay me with money. Although I'm short of money, I don't want to measure the value of your life with money, right?"
Upon hearing this, Shangguan Bei immediately smiled and took the check back. She said sweetly, "I knew it! How could Brother Lu Chen be a greedy person? He definitely wouldn't want this money. My grandpa even said you would! Humph! Fine, then I won't give it to you. But, if you need anything in the future, you must tell me, and I'll have my subordinates handle it, okay?"
Lu Chen's heart stirred. He remembered that there was something he really wanted to trouble Shangguan Bei with. With the Shangguan family's influence in Yunzhou City, finding that person should be quite easy, right?
The person Lu Chen wanted to find was Gong Jiu. He had been forced to leave due to the demolition, and his leg was so badly injured; he didn't know how he was doing now. And what about his lovely younger sister, Gong Xiaoyi? He didn't know how she was either. He had to find them! So, Lu Chen told Shangguan Bei about it.
Shangguan Bei listened, casually picked up a ballpoint pen and a sheet of A4 paper from the table, scribbled a dozen times on the paper according to Lu Chen's description, then handed it to Lu Chen, asking him if that's what Gong Jiu looked like.
Lu Chen was stunned. It was too lifelike! Although it was a simple line drawing, every stroke captured the facial features and key details, perfectly reproducing the description of Gong Jiu he had given him—at least seven or eight tenths of the likeness.
Lu Chen praised it endlessly, nodding repeatedly.
Hearing his constant praise, Shangguan Bei's face lit up with excitement, like a child receiving candy as a reward. She then said she would immediately have her subordinates find Gong Jiu; if he was still in Yunzhou City, they should be able to find him within a few days.
Then she talked about Lu Chen's current physical condition. He was fine, just exhausted from excessive energy expenditure. Advanced equipment at the hospital had also revealed that his brain cells were in a state of depletion following extremely strenuous activity. However, with a few days of rest and plenty of food to replenish his brain and energy, he would be fine.
Liu Li, standing nearby, found it strange: "Xiao Chen, you should have used up some physical energy last night, so how come your mental energy is also so severely depleted?"
"Yes!" Shangguan Bei interjected, "The doctor said this phenomenon is very rare. Even the mental energy used for a whole night of deep thinking can't compare to what you lost last night. And that... that value again... it's very high!"
"Fluctuation value!" a nurse said, "We used an EEG fluctuation value detector to examine Mr. Lu's brain. Originally, this was just an auxiliary examination, just to see if Mr. Lu's brainwave operation was affected while he was unconscious. The result was that the residual EEG fluctuation value was extremely alarming, like a towering peak..."