Burn the Bridges

The car stopped at the entrance of the factory building.

The iron gates were covered in rust, exuding a stale, cold hardness.

The driver honked the horn, the piercing sound echoing through the empty factory grounds.

The boom gate at the entrance quickly lifted.

A man walked out of the security booth. With a look of anticipation on his face, he jutted his chin toward the car and shouted, "Hey! Xiangzi! How did it go?"

The driver did not respond. Inside the car, there was only dead silence.

The man clearly hadn't realized that the person he was calling out to was no longer capable of responding.

The car windows were tinted with a heavy black film, blocking all lines of sight and preventing anyone outside from peering in.

Just as the man took a few steps closer and prepared to pull the car door open, it was violently yanked open from the inside.

A foot shot out like an arrow releasing from a bowstring, carrying the sound of rushing wind, and viciously struck the man in the chest.

Before he could even let out a complete scream, the man was sent flying backward like a torn burlap sack, crashing heavily into the metal door of the security booth.

The door panel instantly caved in and deformed before collapsing with a loud crash.

The man lying on top of it was left in an unknown state of life or death.

"That kick was much cleaner and sharper," Xie Yuling commented.

Jiang Yunlu simply pulled her leg back. Compared to her previous strike, it seemed she was getting used to this.

"My mom said that when fighting others, you can't hold back, or else it's easy for things to go wrong."

"Auntie is right, which is why we can't hold back." Xie Yuling nodded, her tone calm.

She wasn't in a hurry to get out of the car. Instead, she motioned for the driver to keep moving forward so they could probe deeper for the target's location while ensuring their safety.

Her divine sense still had a limited range.

When the car approached the first floor of the factory building, Xie Yuling finally sensed it.

"In the room upstairs. Wang Qin is tied up, but it's not a big deal. She has no wounds on her; her eyes and mouth are just covered."

Hearing that Wang Qin was safe for the time being, Jiang Yunlu's tense nerves relaxed.

She couldn't help but turn her head to look at Chu Miaomiao beside her.

"Miaomiao, can you help me bring Wang Qin down? We have to ensure her safety first."

Jiang Yunlu's tone carried a hint of pleading; this was her greatest concern right now.

Chu Miaomiao naturally understood this.

After all three of them got out of the car, Xie Yuling pointed out the exact location.

Chu Miaomiao made no unnecessary movements. She simply used her divine pen to lightly draw a circle in the air.

The space seemed to twist under an invisible force. The next moment, Wang Qin, along with the chair she was tied to, fell directly from the floor above.

However, Wang Qin was still unconscious and completely unaware of what was happening.

Jiang Yunlu leaped up in a flash, steadily catching the falling Wang Qin.

Wang Qin was tied to a sturdy wooden chair. From the outside, there were indeed no obvious injuries.

"Can you wake her up?" Jiang Yunlu checked on Wang Qin's condition and looked up at Xie Yuling.

"There's no need. We'll talk about it after we leave. It's actually better to let her sleep right now." Xie Yuling's tone turned somewhat solemn.

The reason she said this was because Xie Yuling had already discovered something bloody, those six corpses...

She tilted her head up, as if she were seeing through the air itself.

"It seems they've noticed too."

The first to notice something was wrong was Li Huan.

He heard the sound of the car and the noise of people getting out.

But the people downstairs kept talking and didn't come up.

So he stood up abruptly. "Something's not right. What are they doing down there?!"

Everyone had heard the car, but they hadn't cared. It was only Li Huan's sudden vigilance that put everyone on high alert.

Even Zhou Nianqian's attention was drawn.

Zhou Nianqian frowned and looked at the person beside him.

"Bring that woman out, and wake her up while you're at it."

A member of the kidnapping gang immediately walked toward the room.

But as soon as he opened the door, he exclaimed, "Oh no, she's gone!"

Li Huan had already sensed something. He shouted loudly.

"Downstairs!"

He then sprinted down the stairs.

The others exchanged blank looks, not quite as dedicated as Li Huan.

However, if the hostage escaped, they wouldn't get the rest of their payment, so they all followed behind him. After all, Li Huan had a gun, so it was safer to follow him.

There was also a very serious issue they hadn't considered.

Namely, how did Wang Qin disappear from the room?

They were confused about this but didn't think too deeply about it; they just needed to follow along.

Meanwhile, Zhou Nianqian walked into the room and opened the door.

It was indeed completely empty inside.

He frowned, encountering such a bizarre situation for the first time.

Could it be some kind of illusion?

He walked around the room, inspecting everything, but couldn't find a single clue.

"What a hassle."

Meanwhile, downstairs.

Watching Wang Qin being loaded into the car, Xie Yuling let out a stale breath, her tense nerves relaxing slightly.

"We can actually leave now. It's best to let them handle the rest."

"Them" referred to Situ Dingyi and his people.

Jiang Yunlu nodded. They really had no need to take unnecessary risks. She reached out and pulled the somewhat dazed Chu Miaomiao over, preparing to get into the car.

Only a fool would try to take out all these people in one go.

Right at that moment.

"Bang!"

With a muffled yet sharp explosion, a round hole suddenly blasted open in the center of the windshield, and spiderweb-like cracks instantly covered the entire glass.

In the driver's seat, the driver, who had a puppet talisman stuck to him, jerked violently. A bloody hole appeared right in the middle of his chest, and he slumped over the steering wheel like a puddle of mud without even uttering a scream.

Without a driver, the car couldn't go anywhere.

In a split second, Xie Yuling didn't even have time to turn around. She reached back and shoved Chu Miaomiao down beneath the car seat.

"Miaomiao, hide! Leave this to me and Jiang Yunlu."

Before she even finished speaking, she had already pulled the car door open and ducked out.

She extended her divine sense outward but failed to touch the enemy.

It was out of range.

She needed to get closer, or wait for the opponent to come closer.

However, her divine sense wasn't her only weapon.

Xie Yuling crouched beside the front of the car. At some point, a yellow talisman had appeared between her fingers. With a flick of her wrist, the talisman flew from her hand, spontaneously combusting in midair without a flame.

A thick, silver snake of lightning materialized out of nowhere. Emitting a blinding light, it tore through the air and shot straight toward the nearby staircase.

In the shadows of the staircase, Li Huan, who was just preparing to lead the charge, suddenly felt his scalp go numb. A fatal sense of crisis made the hairs on his body stand on end. Without a second thought, he executed a highly ungraceful roll, throwing himself awkwardly to the ground.

The burly bald man following behind him wasn't so lucky.

The lightning struck his chest with pinpoint accuracy. His massive body was instantly enveloped in electrical light. He convulsed violently a couple of times before turning into a charred human silhouette. Emitting green smoke and the foul stench of burning meat, he fell straight backward.

Fortunately, the stairs were made of poured concrete; otherwise, the residual power of that strike might have skewered the people behind him into a string of roasted meat.

Jiang Yunlu stared in astonishment at the talisman held in Xie Yuling's hand.

She hadn't expected Xie Yuling to be this formidable.