i Ru Xue heard soone shout "Catch the thief," and instinctively felt her pocket only to discover that her phone was unexpectedly missing.
Xu Chunliang noticed her change in expression and imdiately realized sothing was wrong. A surge of anger flared up in his heart; this thief had so nerve to steal from them.
In the past, nothing like this had ever happened in Dongzhou. It was unexpected that upon arriving in Nanjiang, thefts would occur one after another. It seed the provincial capital’s security was lacking.
Monts ago, i Ru Xue had tried to stop Xu Chunliang from chasing, but now, realizing her phone was stolen, she understood that the thief had taken it while bumping into her.
Xu Chunliang had already taken off in pursuit, running with astonishing speed, quickly surpassing the two n who were also chasing. The thief ahead was swift, weaving through the crowd with exceptional agility in his movents.
Xu Chunliang could not let this scoundrel escape before his eyes. Using the Spiritual Snake Eight Steps technique, he weaved through the crowd, moving quickly and skillfully.
The thief glanced back while fleeing, seeing Xu Chunliang catching up and steadily closing in. Although his agility wasn’t as refined as Xu Chunliang’s, his familiarity with the surrounding terrain gave him an advantage.
The thief broke out of the crowd and dashed towards the city wall.
The city wall was closed at night, yet the thief reached the inner edge and began to climb up. He moved as nimbly as a swallow, gripping the gaps between the ancient bricks with hands as a gecko would, swiftly climbing upwards. In the blink of an eye, he was midway up the wall, which stood over fifteen ters high, roughly equivalent to a five-story building.
Xu Chunliang reached the base of the city wall and, without hesitation, began to climb.
The two n who initially chased the thief arrived at the base of the wall, panting heavily. Looking up, they saw the thief nearly reached the top, and Xu Chunliang was midway up, closely pursuing.
The two exchanged a glance, clearly lacking the courage to climb the wall, which was too high for ordinary people.
i Ru Xue, in her high heels, ran up, feeling worried upon seeing Xu Chunliang halfway up the wall. What if he fell from such a high place?
"Chunliang, be careful!" i Ru Xue’s heart was in her throat. She initially wanted to tell him to stop chasing, but now that he had climbed ten ters, giving up was not an option.
A crowd quickly gathered around to watch the spectacle, pulling out their phones to record. In this dim light and at such a distance, capturing anything clearly was unlikely, but for the bystanders, capturing the mont was more important than the content.
The thief successfully reached the top, crouched at the battlent, and then pulled sothing out of his pouch, aiming it at Xu Chunliang’s head.
Xu Chunliang tilted his body to dodge it; it turned out to be a phone, which flew past his right ear and shattered into pieces upon hitting the ground.
To avoid having more items thrown at him, Xu Chunliang began climbing laterally and quickly approached the battlent.
The crowd below gasped in amazent, praising Xu Chunliang’s spider-like agility.
The thief didn’t flee imdiately. Watching Xu Chunliang getting closer, he suddenly took out another item and hurled it over Xu Chunliang’s head.
Xu Chunliang saw a puff of dust rise from the thief’s hand and instantly knew sothing was wrong. He imdiately closed his eyes and held his breath, but still caught a whiff of irritating spice in the air, prompting him to cough.
The thief had thrown ground chili powder; so landed on Xu Chunliang, while the rest, carried by the cold wind, spread everywhere. A small amount fell into the crowd, causing so to sneeze.
Curses erupted from the crowd, condemning the thief for his despicable tricks.
i Ru Xue stayed focused on Xu Chunliang, watching as he successfully climbed the wall and disappeared from view.
Seeing that he hadn’t stopped Xu Chunliang, the thief swiftly scaled over the wall and rapidly descended the other side.
Xun Chunliang, driven by fury, refused to let the thief escape under his watch.
Halfway down, with seven ters between him and the ground, the thief glanced up to see Xu Chunliang catching up. He released his hold and jumped.
Xu Chunliang calculated the thief’s landing spot and leapt himself. Despite his lightweight skill not being fully recovered, his Spiritual Snake’s Hundred Transformations remained intact. He adjusted his posture mid-air, landing a powerful kick on the thief’s back, augnted by his downward montum.
The kick sent the thief flying five ters away before landing on the riverbank. His montum carried him, skidding over the dried grass and sliding directly towards the moat.
Xun Chunliang pursued swiftly, pinning the thief with his knee before he could get up, twisting his arm and retrieving i Ru Xue’s phone from him.
At that mont, the sound of a bowstring vibrated through the air. Instinctively sensing danger, Xun Chunliang shifted his body, narrowly avoiding an arrow that grazed his shoulder.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Two more arrows cut through the air, and Xun Chunliang rolled on the spot to dodge the hidden arrows from the opposite bank.
The thief seized the chance to rise and, enduring the pain, leapt into the moat.
Xu Chunliang did not continue the chase. He looked across the river and saw a knight in a black motorcycle suit gazing back at him, the bright beam of the motorcycle directly illuminating his position.
The other person didn’t stay for long, nodding slightly before hanging the composite bow on his back and turning the motorcycle to ride away into the distance.
Xu Chunliang pulled out the three rubber-tipped arrows one by one from the ground. He found that the arrowheads were made of hard rubber, indicating that the other party’s intention was rely to force him back, not to endanger his life.
However, if he hadn’t dodged in ti, getting hit by these arrows could still result in injury. Could it be that the rider was rely there to assist the thief?
Xu Chunliang felt that tonight’s events were not that simple. Both the thief and the assistant were highly skilled, and their plan was ticulous; tonight’s theft was not a random occurrence.
At this mont, the crowd bypassed the city gate and was heading this way. Xu Chunliang saw i Ru Xue among them. He didn’t make a fuss and quickly removed the rubber arrowheads, wrapped them in a tissue, and placed them separately in his pocket. The shafts, made of aluminum, were casually bent and stuffed into his jacket lining pocket.
After finishing all this, the crowd had co near. Xu Chunliang walked over to the pale-faced i Ru Xue and handed her the phone.
Seeing that he was unhard, i Ru Xue finally felt relieved. She took his arm, quickly left the crowd, and only stopped when they reached a secluded spot. With concern, she asked, "Are you hurt?"
Xu Chunliang smiled and shook his head.
"You shouldn’t do such dangerous things again. If the phone is lost, it’s lost. Do you know how worried I was about you..."
Before i Ru Xue could finish her words, Xu Chunliang pulled her into a tight embrace.
It wasn’t that the mont to embrace hadn’t co yet; once it arrived, he embraced her imdiately. Xu Chunliang had grasped the timing perfectly.
Xu Chunliang hugged her quivering body, tense from anxiety: "I promise you, I won’t make you worry again."
i Ru Xue was montarily stunned. Her hands slowly lifted and rested on Xu Chunliang’s waist. How could he make taking advantage of the situation sound so righteous?
A flashlight beam shone on them, but it was the security guards, arriving late, who interrupted them.
The head of security yelled sternly, "Hey, were you the ones climbing the city wall just now?"
i Ru Xue narrowed her eyes angrily and scolded, "Are you out of your mind? Which eye of yours saw us climbing the city wall?"
She turned away with Xu Chunliang, truly having no words for these security guards. Where were they when they were trying to catch the thief? Now that the phone was found, they ca to accuse them of climbing the ancient city wall. The thief had escaped, the phone was retrieved, and i Ru Xue didn’t want to waste any more ti on them.
Xu Chunliang didn’t tell i Ru Xue about the shooting incident; otherwise, she’d be even more worried about him. Considering the arrows might prevent them from passing security, Xu Chunliang suggested taking a taxi back.
Back at the Party School, after exchanging goodnights, they went back to their dorms. Xu Chunliang closed the door, sat at his desk, and took out the arrows. The shafts were aluminum, light and tough, and the fletching was eagle feathers. Judging by the arrows themselves, they were costly. If equipped with more lethal arrowheads, they could easily be deadly.
Xu Chunliang found the situation increasingly strange. Who on earth were they? With their skills, why would they steal phones? Did choosing i Ru Xue as a target happen by chance or intent?
In the middle of the night, winter rain started to fall, and Xu Chunliang didn’t sleep well. His phone chid with a ssage sound. When he opened it, it was a ssage from i Ru Xue.
—— I have urgent matters to attend to, don’t miss !
Xu Chunliang felt a jolt in his heart. It was three in the morning. He got up, went to the window, and looked down to see i Ru Xue hurriedly walking toward a Maybach accompanied by a man holding an umbrella. The man shielded i Ru Xue from the winter rain, leaving half of his own body exposed.
Before getting into the car, i Ru Xue looked back, just as the lights in Xu Chunliang’s dormitory turned on, and she saw the figure by the window.
i Ru Xue knew that Xu Chunliang must be there to see her off, and standing in the wind and rain, a warmth surged in her heart.
The man in the car also noticed the lit window.
After getting in, i Ru Xue softly asked, "Brother, what made you contact in such a hurry?"
The man’s voice was low and sorrowful: "Dad’s in trouble!"
There was no forewarning of i Ru Xue’s arrival or departure.
The next day, Xu Chunliang called her, but i Ru Xue didn’t answer. She replied with a ssage saying she had encountered so urgent family matters and couldn’t return his calls for the next few days, estimating that she would be away for one to two weeks.
Xu Chunliang realized that i Ru Xue might be in trouble. Since she didn’t want to talk about it, he felt reluctant to press. He discovered that their relationship wasn’t going smoothly, as just when there was so progress, it was abruptly halted by unexpected events.
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