Jia rushed through the crowd while holding onto her earpiece and mouthing commands at the sa ti for her team to be ready at their positions. The cult mbers were dispersing faster than ever and trying to escape the hotel as soon as possible. The commotion from Clover hall had spilled into the corridors as they scattered like ants from a disturbed nest.
"Status?"
"Xiyang’s team is already stationed at the front gate. I am heading towards the back."
"Damn...!" She muttered in frustration. "How co that paranoid man was so sure that he saw cops?" She breathlessly asked, rushing across the hallway.
"He cannot have. We never left our positions and we aren’t even in our uniforms."
The sounds of their haywire breaths from running around echoed through the call. "Keep the exits guarded. I will stop people from leaving here as much as I can."
"And Mingshen?"
Mingshen...? Ah damn I forgot about him!
"I...He is inside, probably chasing after the leader."
"You are not sure?"
"...I was too busy chasing after-"
At the far corner of the corridor, she recognized a man walking hurriedly. She squinted her eyes, recognizing him to be the sa man who ca on the podium with the velvet pillow containing a gemstone pendant.
"I will call you back. The big fish’s right man is here."
She hung up and quickly but silently followed the path the young man was heading to. But it was as if he imdiately felt an unnerving presence behind him that he turned for a mont and in a split second began to flee without a second’s thought.
Shit!
She sped in the man’s direction, twisting and turning across the hallways.
"Stop!" Jia shouted, her voice cutting through the chaos.
But he didn’t look back. Instead, he picked up his pace and he darted around a corner. His footsteps echoed down the marble-floored hallway. She cursed under her breath and sprinted after him, weaving through the crowd.
The young man dodged into a narrow service corridor, hoping to lose her. Jia followed. Her eyes were locked onto his retreating figure and she pushed herself harder.
"Give it up!" she warned again, her voice steady even as her breath exhaled in short bursts.
He glanced over his shoulder and took a sharp right, bursting through a door marked "Stairs." Jia reached the door just as it was swinging shut, slamming her shoulder into it to keep up the montum. The tal door clanged behind her hard.
She leaped down the steps two at a ti, hearing his frantic footsteps echoing below. Her pulse pounded in her ears, and adrenaline coursed through her veins. She had to catch him before she lost him for good.
As she rounded another flight, he opened a door that opened right inside the charity function hall. Jia sprinted five seconds later but as her sharp gaze looked left and right, she couldn’t find the man anywhere.
Damn, no way! I cannot lose him!
She zapped through the crowd, making the crowd murmur in distaste. A woman, out of nowhere, was suddenly springing left and right like so crazy person.
The faraway guests peeked out of their present conversations, drawn by the noise. Jia barely registered their confused faces as she chased the young man down the hall. She skidded to a halt at a junction, montarily disoriented by all the masked guests. Everybody looked alike to her.
Suddenly, she caught a sliver of his mask she recognized him wearing at the cult gathering. Jia dashed towards him, but her high heels were starting to cause much discomfort rather than aiding in her chase.
She paused, took off her heels and was about to toss them away. But reality reminded her that everything she was wearing right now was bought by Mingshen’s money. Very expensive money.
So she neatly kept the heels aside and returned to her seemingly never-ending chase. Her athletic sprint was now becoming the source of entertainnt for all the guests. A woman was now suddenly running barefoot across the charity hall. So took their phones out to record this bizarre event.
"Hey who is she running after?" One whispered.
"Is it so ugly breakup? Is she chasing after her ex to kill him?"
"That woman is H.O.T!" One man whistled. "Just look at the dress she is wearing, man."
"I think she is cool though. Like a superwoman?"
"That dangerous expression on her face is twice as hot. Right, dude?" One man admiring Jia’s sexiness looked down at his friend.
The said friend only held a quiet expression as he watched Jia dart away. Leaving his acquaintance lost in Jia’s admiration, he silently left his place. The man looked back, dumbfounded.
Huh? Where did Syaoran go?
"Where is Bro?"
He jolted and looked back to see a man with a no-nonsense countenance on his face. "Heyyyy Zihan, what’s up buddy?"
"Bro?"
"He disappeared."
The man nad Zihan frowned. "Where?"
"If I knew, it wouldn’t have been such a mystery, hahaha."
It was clear that Zihan didn’t appreciate the man’s humor.
He coughed. "Chill, man. He is an adult. He can take care of himself. Oh by Syaoran I rembered sobody else disappeared too for a long ti. Where is Huo Tengqi?"
—
Exiting the charity hall, Jia caught the sight of the young man, who was way farther than she had expected him to be. The charity function’s guests provided him with a good cover. He was way closer to escaping the hotel. If she lost him here then Huojin, who was stationed outside, was her only hope.
She sprinted with long strides, her chest feeling short of breaths.
How far can he run?
Worry began to set in when she was losing her grasp over the cat and mouse more and more. He was only a few steps away from the exit door.
Shit, no!
Suddenly, a wheelchair ca into view that crashed into the man. The young man looked left a second late and his balance was all thrown off the pace. He stumbled outward.
"Careful!" Jia’s eyes widened with a physically disabled man abruptly crashing in between their dangerous chase.
The man on the wheelchair looked up at Jia with a raised brow, a polite smile lifting his lips upwards. "Hello. We et again."
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