Black Gale, blood gushing from his mouth, looked intently at the archangel before him and suddenly laughed, "Old... boss, I want to know your name."
"Lucina..."
"Good, you go first."
Black Gale showed a smile of release. His body, as if in a final burst of energy, leaped fiercely. Despite having only one hand and one leg, his madness managed to block several waves of attacks. The archangel, seizing the opportunity, leaped and escaped the combat zone. Just as everyone thought she had left, she suddenly executed a whip-like maneuver, heading straight for Murong Yanran.
"Not good!"
Li Haochen shouted in alarm. In a flash, he pushed Murong Yanran aside. In that instant, a tiny knife, swift as lightning, shot towards them.
With a soft '噗,' the small knife pierced Li Haochen's body. He didn't even feel the pain, only watching as blood spurted from his chest. His consciousness began to blur.
"Ah... Haochen, Haochen, don't scare me, someone, someone help..."
Murong Yanran, overcome with grief, fainted. The archangel, seeing her attack fail, felt a touch of regret and was about to launch another assault. Unfortunately, Alice and the others had arrived, forcing her to abandon her mission and flee the scene.
The archangel pushed off the ground with her feet, her body acting as if it had sprouted wings. She flashed through the air and vanished from within the villa.
The archangel sprinted through the dense mountain forest behind, her speed astonishing. But soon, she stopped, her gaze warily fixed on the eerily silent surroundings.
Silence. A terrifying silence. She, who had shown little fear when facing so many people just moments ago, now felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down her back. "Who's there? Come out."
After a few seconds of continued silence, she felt a sliver of doubt. "Could I be imagining things?"
Wiping the sweat from her forehead, she was about to step forward when a figure limped slowly into view from a distance, their movements comically awkward yet filled with an unsettling strangeness.
The archangel's eyes narrowed, and she fearfully assumed a fighting stance. "Crippled Chen!"
"I haven't offended you, I'll leave now..."
"Hehehe, you caused me to lose a customer for my late-night snack stall. Do you think you haven't offended me..." Crippled Chen hobbled closer, his pace agonizingly slow, but to the archangel, he seemed impossibly fast.
The archangel drew the weapon from her back. Sweat on her brow was larger than soybeans, and a slight tremor in her body betrayed her current fear. She knew he was merely looking for an excuse to attack; the talk of losing a late-night customer was ridiculous.
She refused to wait passively for death. Although Crippled Chen had a formidable reputation, no one had ever seen him fight. Perhaps he was all talk. The archangel suppressed her fear, gripping her weapon tightly, waiting for him to enter her attack range.
Suddenly, she moved, faster than before. Even she managed a small smile, realizing she had broken through at a critical moment. But soon, she felt something amiss. Glancing down, she saw a fine red line across her chest, and then blood slowly began to seep out.
She smiled bitterly, realizing the legends were true. Crippled Chen was indeed too powerful to overcome. It wasn't that no one had seen him fight, but rather that those who had were all dead.
"Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, go ahead, I'm quite approachable."
"Why did you kill... me?"
"Why? Didn't I just say? You have so little sense, how do you manage in this line of work? Really. I have to go pick up my daughter from school. Heh heh!"
Mentioning his daughter, Crippled Chen's face softened with affection, a stark contrast to the god-like expert he had been moments before.
"Damn it!"
The archangel watched as the wound widened, feeling her life force ebb away. She cursed with utter unwillingness. Then, her body fell. Upon closer inspection, her chest had suddenly exploded, a testament to the ferocity of Crippled Chen's attack.
If Li Haochen were present, he would surely have recognized Crippled Chen as the limping stir-fried snail stall owner he had once patronized in an alley.
No one knew why he had appeared there. Perhaps it was because Li Haochen had helped him once, perhaps it was because China's dignity could not tolerate foreigners acting arrogantly here, or perhaps... simply on a whim!
Inside the villa, Murong Yanran and Li Haochen had already been sent to the hospital. Alice, holding Huang Yanrong, who was only left with her upper torso, wept silently.
Hao Jin looked at himself and his subordinates. Eighteen men had come, and now only six remained. Who said men don't shed tears unless deeply moved?
"Boss, the mission was a success... completed!"
With that, the phone in Hao Jin's hand slipped silently to the ground. Looking at his brothers, who could no longer rise, he wept...
In the hospital, Murong Yanran suddenly woke up and rushed out like a madwoman, but Li Qianqian held her back forcefully. "Yanran, Yanran, don't get so agitated. He might not be dead, they're still working on him."
"Ah... Aunt, tell me he's okay, he's okay..."
Murong Yanran fainted again. Fortunately, Li Qianqian supported her. "Doctor, quickly..."
In the emergency room, Li Haochen had been undergoing surgery for several hours. The doctors involved in the rescue found it utterly incredible because his heart had been pierced by a sharp object, yet it had not ceased to function.
Meanwhile, Li Haochen had fallen into a dream, a long dream initiated by that round bead...
More than ten hours later, the operating room door slowly opened. Murong Yanran, looking utterly haggard, rushed forward, clutching the doctor's arm. "Doctor, how... how is it!"
"The surgery was very successful, but..."
"But what?"
"The patient's injuries are severe. He may have entered a self-protection mode. Currently, he retains only some basic instinctive nerve reflexes and the ability to metabolize substances and energy. His cognitive abilities are completely lost, with no voluntary actions whatsoever."
"What... does that mean?"
"In layman's terms, a vegetative state."
"Vege... tative state?" Murong Yanran's breath hitched. Tears welled up, and she suppressed her sorrow, asking, "What are his chances of waking up?"
"It's hard to say. He might wake up tomorrow, or it could be a very long time. You can talk to him about familiar things by his ear; this can help the patient wake up."
Murong Yanran slumped down, as if the world had lost its color and her heart had turned to ash.
"Yanran, don't be too sad. Think about the child in your belly; this is his flesh and blood. You must..."
"Child...?"
These two words reignited a flicker of light in the darkened heart of Murong Yanran. Yes, there was still his flesh and blood inside.
Suppressing her tears, her ashen gaze came alive again. She stroked her belly and murmured, "Husband, I will take good care of our baby."