Chapter 10

Chapter 10

“Brother Long-”

I had only just stopped the car when I heard Wang Cheng’s voice.

Where the headlights shone, there was a farmhouse beyond the highway guardrail, and a big truck was parked in the yard out front.

Wang Cheng was straddling the guardrail. He recognized my car and was waving at me like crazy.

“Brother Liu, it’s Huo Yu and Wang Cheng! Their truck’s here too!” Ren Song finally perked up a little.

Liu Xun didn’t say anything. He simply got out of the car with us.

The moment Wang Cheng saw me, he hurried over, limping badly.

Only then did I get a clear look at his left foot. It was bruised, swollen, and he was missing one shoe.

“What happened to you guys?” Dashun moved to help Wang Cheng, but I stopped him and held him back.

“Ugh, just our rotten luck. I don’t know what happened either. Our two trucks rear-ended each other,” Wang Cheng said, holding his head, his expression dazed.

Dashun said in surprise, “When did you crash? Why didn’t you call the police?”

Wang Cheng looked as if he had only just remembered. “Right, we should call the police. I heard from my mom that you were coming to look for me, so I waited by the road.”

“You called your mom?” But after the accident, Wang Cheng’s phone had clearly stopped getting through.

Wang Cheng was dazed again. “I don’t think so. I think my mom called me. Oh, man, I got knocked out in the crash.”

“Stop asking.” I cut Dashun off, then turned back to Wang Cheng. “Where’s your shoe? Why are you only wearing one?”

Wang Cheng looked down at his foot, then glanced toward where he had been sitting. “My shoe’s over there. This foot’s swollen so bad I can’t get it on.”

“Go get it. Put it on!” My tone was commanding, my voice stern.

Wang Cheng clearly didn’t understand, but he always listened to me. Looking pitiful, he turned around to find his shoe.

His shoe had fallen outside the guardrail. He bent down with difficulty to reach for it, and just as he was about to grab it, someone snatched it up first.

It was Huo Yu.

He had been standing outside the highway guardrail the whole time. After picking up Wang Cheng’s shoe, he tugged at the corner of his mouth and said, “My shoes are gone too. Lend me this one, bro.”

Wang Cheng saw that Huo Yu had nothing on either foot and was just about to speak when I stepped to his side. With a sharp swish, I drew the Soul-Whip and pointed it at the tip of Huo Yu’s nose.

“Give Wang Cheng his shoe back!”

My voice was colder than it had ever been. Thin arcs of electricity crawled across my whip.

Wang Cheng froze beside me, unable to understand why I was making such a huge fuss over a single shoe.

Huo Yu stiffened where he stood. He seemed able to sense the power of the Soul-Whip, but he still refused to put the shoe down.

“I’m only going to say this one more time!”

I tightened my grip on the whip, and a blue spark cracked open right in front of Huo Yu’s eyes.

The hand holding the shoe loosened on reflex. Quick-eyed and quick-handed, Wang Cheng caught his own shoe.

“Brother Long, I got it back. I got it back.”

Maybe he was afraid I would get angry, because Wang Cheng hurriedly fumbled to force the shoe onto his foot.

That foot was swollen like a steamed bun. By all logic, there was no way the shoe should have fit.

But after twisting it this way and that, he somehow really managed to get it on.