Chapter 282
Chapter 282
The instant I rushed over and grabbed the door handle, it began to move.
Someone inside was trying to open it, and he was strong. He pulled it open a crack, but I managed to drag it shut again.
We fought desperately over the door, wrenching it open and closed.
Fortunately, Anning soon awoke at my shout.
She looked around in bewilderment.
“Run! Someone’s inside that room!”
“What?”
She flinched and sprang off the sofa. Without pausing to think, she turned and bolted out.
Assistant He was still standing there, staring at me in panic. “Mr. Chen, what’s going on? Who’s in that room?”
Anger surged through me, and I shouted, “Just run! Stop asking questions!”
“Oh!”
Coming to his senses, he hurried out of the living room.
I was beginning to lose my grip on the door. Instead of struggling any longer, I simply let go.
Carried by his own momentum, the man inside went sprawling. A loud crash followed, so the fall must have been a hard one.
I had no desire to see who he was. I turned, ran out of the living room, and raced downstairs as fast as I could.
When the Ninth Concubine had turned her head, she had been trying to tell me that someone was in that room. But because she had no pupils, I could not follow the direction of her gaze.
Fortunately, I had still understood her warning.
I had no idea what the person hiding in the room intended to do, but his intentions could not be good.
I had barely reached the ground floor and dashed out the front door when someone suddenly leaped from a second-floor window and tackled me to the ground before I could get far.
He knelt with one knee on my back, trying to restrain me.
I did not know how to fight and had none of Song Xiaotian’s skill, but I was not an idiot. Acting on instinct, I twisted desperately out from under him the moment he exerted his strength, then thrust my leg up toward his face.
This man was far more capable than I was and had probably received formal training. He caught my leg in both hands, swiftly locked it in place, then trapped my right arm and clamped my upper body between his legs.
He squeezed harder and harder, as though he intended to cripple me.
This man was not here to sabotage our investigation. He was here to kill me!
“Fuck!”
“Who sent you?”
I ground out the question through clenched teeth, straining with all my strength to break free.
But the harder I struggled, the tighter his hold became. It felt as though he was about to snap my arm.
He said nothing. His face was twisted savagely, as though he would not stop until I was dead.
Just as despair overtook me, a figure suddenly ran toward us. I soon recognized Anning.
She held a rock high above her head in both hands and brought it crashing down on the man’s skull.
The blow was so heavy that it produced a loud crack.
His head was not made of iron. He immediately released me, dropped to his knees, and clutched his head while trembling all over. Judging by his reaction, the pain must have pierced all the way into his soul.
Anning hauled me to my feet and dragged me away at a run.
After we had gone quite a distance, another figure appeared not far ahead. Anning and I froze in fright.
But we soon saw that it was Assistant He.
He spotted us as well and hurriedly waved. Then he gestured to warn us that someone was waiting in another direction too.
We ran over and asked where the person was.
“I was going to run toward the mourning hall, but I found someone lying in wait on that road too. I slipped back here while he wasn’t looking.”
Assistant He pointed in one direction. “This is the only way we can go now. We should reach the woods and hide there first. I think there are a lot of them. If they cut us off, we’re finished.”
I said, “Then what are we waiting for? Run! These people are trying to kill us!”
Assistant He hurried to lead the way, guiding us toward the woods.
Anning could not help asking, “Who sent these people? Why are they attacking us?”
Having only just escaped, I had just as many questions. “I’m not sure, but they might have been sent by the previous developer. Those people were already lawless. What’s strange is that the Ninth Concubine didn’t die naturally. Someone murdered her.”
The first Soul Summoning method I had used was meant for ghosts who had died peacefully at the end of their lives, but it failed to summon the Ninth Concubine.
The second method was meant for ghosts who had died violent deaths, and that one brought her to us.
There was no doubt about it. Someone had killed the Ninth Concubine.
“So the people who attacked us just now might be the same people who murdered her. But if they were sent by the previous developer, why would they kill a hundred-year-old woman just to stop us from solving Boss Lin’s problem?”
After running for a while, I could no longer think clearly. I had the constant feeling that tonight might end very badly.
Assistant He looked back as he ran. “Let’s find somewhere to hide first. Once we’re safe, I’ll call President Lin and ask him to send his Bodyguards to rescue us.”
By now, we had run a long way and reached the riverbank.
The woods lay across the river, and a stone arch bridge spanned the water. All we had to do was cross it and hide among the trees. Even if someone pursued us, we would have plenty of directions in which to escape.
But before we stepped onto the bridge, an inexplicable unease rose inside me, and my eyelid began twitching without pause.
Perhaps studying divination had sharpened my sixth sense. My instincts told me there was danger on that bridge.
I glanced behind us and saw no one pursuing us.
“Mr. Chen, let’s cross the bridge and rest on the other side. If they catch up, it’ll be easy for them to grab us in the dark.”
When he saw me stop Anning, Assistant He hurriedly urged us to cross.
I looked at him and asked, “Assistant He, do you have your phone? I have mild night blindness. I can’t see the road when it’s this dark.”
Without giving it much thought, he quickly took out his phone and turned on the flashlight.
I pulled Anning forward. As we reached Assistant He’s side, I gave him a push. “Hurry across. We’ll find somewhere to hide first.”
Assistant He ran to the front again, holding up his phone to light our way.
But there was no chance I would fall for this bastard’s trap. The moment we stepped onto that bridge, we would die, and our bodies would be dumped at the bottom of the river.
I immediately pulled Anning around and sprinted back the way we had come.
Anning knew there was something wrong with Assistant He. She asked no questions and cooperated without hesitation.
“Mr. Chen! Mr. Chen!”
“What are you doing? It’s dangerous!”
Assistant He’s shouts came from behind us, but I did not stop. I only ran faster.
That bastard was working with the people who had attacked us!
“He! You’d better pray I don’t catch you!”
“Fuck!”
I cursed over my shoulder. When I saw him chasing us again, I did not dare slow down in the slightest.
I dragged Anning straight toward the mourning hall. As long as we reached it, we would be safe.
No one had been guarding the road to the mourning hall earlier. Assistant He had only claimed someone was there because he knew we would seek shelter at the hall.
He had led us this way because this was where the real ambush lay.
If I was right, the people waiting to ambush us were hanging beneath the bridge.