Chapter 51 – Ambushed

The moment Su Lian heard someone coming to her rescue, she immediately crouched down, trying to hold Su Lifeng back. “Bro, someone’s calling me! Someone is calling! At least let me say something to them. If you keep this up, I’m going to scream!”

“Hello,” Xie Yu said as he caught up to them, stepping in front of Su Lifeng. “Sir, I understand this is a family matter, but Su Lian is already an adult. She’s also the captain of one of our club’s outstanding exploration teams. If you take her away just like this, it won’t only affect her. It will affect a lot of our members as well… Oh, right, I haven’t introduced myself. My surname is Xie-“

Before he could even say his full name, Su Lifeng cut him off. “If you know it’s a family matter, then get out of the way.”

“…” The smile on Xie Yu’s face froze instantly, and all the words he had prepared got stuck in his throat.

Su Lian had been nodding along nonstop while Xie Yu spoke, but she was stunned when she heard that. That forceful tone, those blunt words, had they really come from Su Lifeng’s mouth? Now that she thought about it, her brother really did seem very different today…

“Well, Mr. Su, you’re not your sister’s guardian. Being this overbearing is-” Xie Yu was starting to lose face. He frowned inwardly, wondering how this man could be so uncultured, but with so many club members watching, and especially with Su Lian right there-he couldn’t very well lose his temper. So he forced another slight smile onto his face.

But what he never expected was for Su Lifeng’s response to be even more direct this time. “Get lost.”

With that, Su Lifeng dragged the completely stunned Su Lian along and stuffed her into the car.

Gouzi, ever so “dedicated,” glared at Xie Yu with a look of utter contempt, then spat at his feet. “You think you can block Brother Su’s way? Bah! Why don’t you take a look at what you are first!”

Xie Yu stood where he was, his face livid as he lowered his head to look at the spit splashed across the upper of his shoe. Then he raised his eyes toward Su Lifeng, who had already gotten into the car, and slowly clenched his fists. A series of sharp cracks immediately rang out from his knuckles.

“Good. Very good. You dare act this arrogant in front of me…” The more Xie Yu thought about it, the harder he clenched his jaw. In his eyes, Su Lifeng was nothing but an ignorant fool who didn’t know his own limits. And someone like that actually dared interfere with what he wanted to do, even speaking to him in that tone.

“That vicious streak of yours… I do hope you can keep it up for a little longer.” At that thought, Xie Yu suddenly relaxed both his fists and his jaw. A faint smile appeared on his face as he waved at Su Lian. “Don’t worry, Su Lian. Your brother is doing this for your own good too. Once he calms down a little, I’ll come visit you in person!”

Through the windshield, Su Lifeng looked at him coldly and gave a sneer. “I’ll be waiting.”

Su Lian hadn’t expected Su Lifeng to say something like that either. At last, she couldn’t hold back anymore. “Bro, what is wrong with you?”

“You keep quiet. I haven’t even settled accounts with you yet.” Su Lifeng smacked her on the head and said.

Meanwhile, Gouzi happily slid into the driver’s seat. Before starting the car, he even remembered to turn back and say, “Hello, young miss.”

“…” Su Lian opened her mouth to speak, but after looking at Su Lifeng’s icy expression… she gave up.

“Su Lian.”

“What, what?”

“Seat belt.”

“… Tch.”

After watching Su Lifeng and the other two leave, the smile on Xie Yu’s face slowly vanished.

The club members standing around exchanged glances, their expressions turning awkward.

One girl finally couldn’t help saying in a low voice, “Um, isn’t Su Lian’s brother a graduate student at the School of Life Sciences? How is his temper that explosive?”

“Maybe people who do scientific research all have weird tempers.”

“Actually, he was pretty handsome. He looked even better in person than in the photos…”

“Handsome, my ass. You just had your eye on the luxury car he was driving, didn’t you? And he even has a lackey as his driver! But I heard Su Lian’s family background is pretty average. Her parents…”

“All right, all right, don’t talk about someone else’s private family matters. Xie Yu is still the better person. He didn’t even get angry after all that.”

Listening to their chatter, Xie Yu gave a cold snort, then turned around and smiled. “Everyone, don’t let what happened with Su Lian affect you. Please continue inviting the exploration enthusiasts you know. Tell them that I, Xie Yu, will provide all the equipment. Those who decide to go will receive a bonus, and members who successfully invite people will also receive a bonus. We will definitely complete this project. Even if it costs me everything I have, I will complete this great undertaking. In addition, I can promise all of you that at tonight’s mobilization meeting, I will definitely bring Su Lian back!”

By the time everyone had heard the whole thing, they immediately let out a cheer. Then, one after another, they said they had friends who were interested in joining the expedition too. As they kept talking, it almost turned into a contest to see who could bring in more people. After all, every spot represented a huge cash bonus!

Xie Yu didn’t stick around to listen to them keep discussing it. He got on his luxury motorcycle, and moments later, vanished from everyone’s sight amid the roar of the engine.

“Xie Yu must be going to the Su Family, right? I wonder if he’ll be able to convince Su Lian’s brother.”

“Of course he will. Have any of you ever seen anyone turn Xie Yu down?”

…

Gouzi had no idea those people had already labeled him as a “bootlicking” driver, but even if he did, he would only have corrected them in outrage: Was following a big shot who could fight monsters called bootlicking? That was called hope for survival, got it?

At the moment, Gouzi really was the only one who understood that truth…

“Bro…” Su Lian couldn’t hold back for long.

The moment she opened her mouth, a document slapped against her face.

As the paper drifted down from in front of her eyes, Su Lian caught it with wide eyes and asked in confusion, “What’s this? Huh, Xie Yu? Why are you investigating him?”

“Read it yourself,” Su Lifeng said.

“This… You mean how his uncle’s whole family died, and right after that he suddenly had assets from an unknown source? From the file, it does look suspicious, but the police’s preliminary investigation hasn’t reached any conclusion, right? Look here. They couldn’t even find a reason to investigate Xie Yu, because his uncle’s family looked like they all died of natural causes. And he had no motive. His uncle’s family treated him very well,” Su Lian said as she read through the documents.

“No. The fact is, he killed his uncle’s family. Then he took their money and used it to recruit professional and amateur explorers like you. As for the reason, maybe it’s because your physical fitness is far beyond that of ordinary people. The file also says that he’s recruiting at several gyms at the same time, and his success rate there is just as high,” Su Lifeng said.

“But all of that is just speculation…” Su Lian said.

Su Lifeng turned to look at her and said, “Su Lian, I’m your brother. You have to trust me. I’ll put aside the fact that you’ve been hiding things from me for now, but from this point on, you are going to do exactly as I say. This isn’t about restricting you. It’s for your personal safety, because this world is about to-“

Just then, a motorcycle suddenly shot out of a side alley and came charging straight at them.

Gouzi immediately wrenched the steering wheel, and Su Lifeng’s words were cut off.

“Damn it, I used to street race back in the day!” Gouzi shouted.

The car narrowly avoided the collision by a hair, while the motorcycle looked like it was about to slam straight into the wall across the road. But the rider suddenly leaped up and swept a hand toward them.

Bang!

One of the car’s rear tires instantly blew out. The motorcycle toppled onto the ground as well, skidding forward for some distance under its momentum.

Sparks flew as Gouzi hurriedly brought the car to a stop.

“Ah!”

The change had come too suddenly. Su Lian couldn’t help crying out. She looked up and realized that, at some point, Su Lifeng had already pulled her into his arms.

But before she could say anything, Su Lifeng had already opened the car door and jumped out.

“Not bad. You’ve got some moves. Too bad I didn’t smash you straight into a vegetative state.” Xie Yu had already landed lightly on the ground. He took off his helmet, and his handsome face now wore an utterly unrestrained, savage grin as he looked at Su Lifeng with disdain.

What delighted him most was that Su Lifeng’s expression looked very, very angry…