Chapter 227
Chapter 227
With that, Liu Ye broke into a run, pulling the carts behind him.
His strength truly was astonishing. Row after row of coffin carts rolled forward under his power.
The Driver had initially felt uneasy when he thought Liu Ye was about to drive, but then he reconsidered. Liu Ye was pulling carts, not driving a vehicle. Surely nothing could go wrong?
Besides, the human-head lantern they had received from Uncle Bai would guide the way.
Everyone had been tense at first, but the journey remained peaceful, and they gradually relaxed. The diarrhea had left them miserable. Although the carts jolted beneath them, they still drifted off to sleep.
John and the others also fell asleep. They still had a fierce battle ahead of them. When the Driver saw that no danger had appeared, he leaned against a cart and began to doze as well.
He did not normally need sleep, but being around Liu Ye was exhausting.
No one knew how long they slept before Liu Ye shouted from the front.
“Everyone, be careful! We’re almost there!”
At his voice, they opened their eyes in confusion. If they had arrived, they had arrived. Why did they need to be careful?
Then their vision cleared. White clouds drifted beside them, and birds sang freely all around them!
He had indeed brought them to their destination-straight to the mountaintop.
How in the world had he gotten up here?! everyone screamed inwardly.
“Watch out, everyone! I’m stopping!”
“Don’t stop!”
“Huh?”
It was already too late. Liu Ye stopped walking. The problem was that he stopped, but the carts did not. Their momentum flung every person and Fiend into the air.
“Aaaah!”
…
“We interrupt this program with a breaking news report. According to our latest information, leading members of the Zhao Group suffered an unfortunate accident during a family event. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. The cause remains under investigation…”
Click.
John shakily turned off the television. Bandages covered his entire body, and one leg hung high in traction.
There was hardly an uninjured spot on him. Xiaoshuai and the others beside him were in the same condition.
Even the doctors examining them could not hold back their tears.
“Team Leader Zhao and Investigator Xu are truly remarkable. They were injured this badly protecting the public. How many times has this happened now?”
“Exactly. He even dragged his family into it this time. That Fiend must have been terrifying. Not a single member of his family escaped unscathed-young or old, inside or out, top to bottom.”
“It was that frightening?”
“Of course! My guess is the Illuminati retaliated against Team Leader Zhao.”
“Damn the Illuminati! We’ll fight them to the bitter end!”
John said nothing.
Xiaoshuai said nothing.
“From now on, we must never let Brother Liu touch any form of transportation.”
“No, you don’t understand Brother Liu’s intentions. He must know what my grandfather is like. With all of us injured, my grandfather won’t conduct the soul-swapping ritual. He would never want a damaged body. And with the Zhao family injured, the Group is certain to fall into turmoil. The only person capable of stabilizing the situation will be my grandfather. Brother Liu used this method to lure him out and kill two birds with one stone!”
Zhao Teng and the others fell silent.
Did he truly think that far ahead?
Xiaoshuai, however, nodded with absolute certainty.
“That must be it. Brother Liu will stop at nothing. If something benefits him, he’ll do it.”
Unlike John’s worshipful admiration for Liu Ye, Xiaoshuai was utterly terrified of him. He never hesitated to assume the worst of Liu Ye.
“By the way, where is Brother Liu?”
“Oh, someone reported him for speeding and making unauthorized vehicle modifications because he was pulling those coffins. The police took him away.”
Everyone fell silent.
At that moment, John’s phone rang.
John twisted his neck and laboriously turned toward it, then swiped the screen with his tongue.
“Hello?”
“Brother John, your grandfather has appeared.”
John hurriedly tried to turn on the television, only to discover that the remote had fallen onto the bed.
Everyone fell silent again.
“Why did you turn off the television just now?” Xiaoshuai asked ominously.
John had no answer.
When they finally turned the television back on, a vigorous old man was speaking on-screen. He did not look the least bit ill.
“My friends in the press, I know what you all wish to ask. Although the Zhao family has suffered this calamity, I assure you that the Zhao family will not fall! I also have good news. No member of the Zhao family died in the disaster, so everyone may rest easy. The Zhao Group will always stand strong!”
Applause thundered below the stage.
No one there wanted the Zhao Group to collapse. For some people, its bankruptcy would be nothing short of catastrophic.
Watching the television, John asked Xiaoshuai, “How many Substitute Scarecrows do you have left?”
Xiaoshuai immediately understood what he meant.
Reviving through a Substitute Scarecrow would restore them to half their normal condition. Their injuries would remain severe, but at least they would be able to move freely.
That same night, the two of them brought another person to the Zhao family’s old residence.
The moment they entered, an aged voice rang out.
“John, you’re even better than I imagined!”
Xiaoshuai raised an arm in front of John, stopping him from proceeding.
An old man appeared before them in a powered wheelchair, a book held in his hands.
Because this concerned the family’s deepest secrets, he had ordered everyone else to stay away.
“My child, I hadn’t planned to act so soon. But who would have thought the Fiendish World would set its sights on me? I have no other choice.”
John stared at him with icy eyes.
“Grandfather, what exactly are we to you?”
“Spare bodies.”
“All of you are my spare bodies, and you are the most perfect of them all. Your physique, intellect, spirit-everything about you is superior to every one of my other descendants!”
“Do you care about no one but yourself?”
“How can you say that?”
The old man looked deeply wounded.
“I gave all of you lives of wealth and comfort. I let you grow up eating, drinking, and enjoying yourselves. I did not even swap souls as soon as you reached your teens, the way we did in the past. I allowed you to live until forty. You get to enjoy half a lifetime of luxuries beyond the reach of ordinary people. The only price is that after forty, your body becomes mine. What is wrong with that?”
He turned to John.
“So, John, become my body! Give me one more lifetime, and I guarantee the Zhao family will become the ruler of this world. Your name will be remembered throughout history! So-”
Bang!
Before he could finish, Xiaoshuai shot the old man. His body convulsed once, then slumped against the wheelchair.