Chapter 42: Let Me Protect You (X)

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Chapter 42: Let Me Protect You (X)

“Tell me. Where’s the money?” Once the bald man driving was certain they had shaken off the police pursuit, he turned to Shang Ke in the passenger seat.

“When are you releasing my foster parents?” Shang Ke asked instead.

“Not until I get the money.” That was his bottom line.

Shang Ke remained silent for a moment before naming a place. “Greenmead Farm.”

The location was not something Shang Ke had invented at random. It really had been one of Tobin Syndicate’s former strongholds, but it was relatively secret, and ordinary members of the organization had never known about it. The bald man, however, had clearly heard of the place, and his eyes immediately lit up.

Meanwhile, Rowan, who was still monitoring them, immediately began deploying police in advance along the route to Greenmead Farm.

Greenmead Farm was more than a thousand kilometers from their current location. Even if they drove without stopping, they wouldn’t arrive until the following day at the earliest. The criminals obviously didn’t have the stamina for that, so at eleven that night, they stopped at a motel.

“If you don’t want to drag the people in this motel into this, then behave yourself.” The bald man shoved the three of them into a small room, left behind a warning and one guard, then walked away.

“Bruno, what exactly is going on?” Although the Fergs had been badly frightened, there was no blame in their voices. They looked at Shang Ke with worry and confusion.

“Don’t worry,” Shang Ke reassured them. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Far away in China, Feng Juan had just returned to his room after a Feng family banquet. The first thing he did was turn on his computer, intending to contact Shang Ke, only to remember that it should be the middle of the night in Britain. After wrestling with himself for a while, longing ultimately won out. He decided to cruelly wake Shang Ke up and video-call him anyway.

He called, but the phone rang for a long time without an answer. Refusing to give up, Feng Juan kept redialing while idly browsing British websites.

Suddenly, his hand froze. His eyes locked onto the headline on a news page—Mr. Bruin’s office building attacked by terrorists; three hostages taken, current whereabouts unknown…

Three hostages… The first people Feng Juan thought of were Shang Ke and the Fergs.

His fingers trembled so badly he could barely hold his phone. After a moment of stunned paralysis, he quickly found Rowan’s number and called him.

“What happened? Did something happen to Keke and my foster parents?” Feng Juan shouted the moment the call connected.

There was silence on the other end for several seconds before Rowan answered, “Yes. A group of criminals has taken them hostage.”

“Why would those criminals target them for no reason?”

“Do you know Tobin Syndicate?”

“I do. They were the ones who kidnapped Shang Ke and me back then.”

“Yes.” Rowan’s voice was heavy. “After you were rescued, Tobin Syndicate never intended to leave the two of you alone. To keep you safe, Bruno has been secretly helping the police fight them.” He paused, then added, “He’s been doing it for ten years.”

Ten years ago? Shang Ke had only been seven! Feng Juan’s mind went completely blank. While he himself had still understood nothing, Shang Ke had already begun protecting him? So the reason his life had gone so smoothly for the past ten years was because Keke had been quietly clearing the road ahead of him all along.

Unaware of Feng Juan’s emotional turmoil, Rowan continued, “Most of Tobin Syndicate’s forces have already been dismantled. This is their final retaliation. Their targets are you, Bruno, and your foster parents. Fortunately, you left the country when you did, or you’d probably be one of their hostages right now.”

A bolt of realization struck Feng Juan. Left the country? Could Keke have arranged this trip in advance for precisely that reason? Did he already know there might be danger?

No, Keke, how could you do this?! We’re brothers. We’re family. We should face every danger together. If my safety comes at the cost of your lives, how could I possibly go on living peacefully by myself?

Only now did Feng Juan truly understand just how much Keke cared about him.

“What’s the situation now?” Feng Juan forced himself to calm down, a storm seeming to gather within his dark eyes.

“Bruno helped us monitor their phones. They’re heading toward Greenmead Farm, and we’ll have people deployed there before they arrive.”

“I understand.” Feng Juan hung up, grabbed his documents, phone, and laptop, then rushed straight for the airport.

The next day, the bald man and the others continued their journey with Shang Ke and the Fergs.

The trip remained unobstructed, and traffic grew increasingly sparse the closer they came to Greenmead Farm.

Ten hours later, they finally reached their destination. Dense cornfields stretched endlessly before them beneath an open sky. The farm itself was old and weathered. A combine harvester sat on the flat ground, several haystacks were piled in one corner, and two middle-aged men dressed as farmers were busy in the yard.

“Where’s the money?” The bald man scanned the surroundings warily, his gaze lingering briefly on the two supposed farmers.

Shang Ke looked toward a nearby warehouse. “I only know that part of it was buried beneath the warehouse. You’ll have to find the exact location yourselves.”

The bald man signaled for several of his men to go inside, then glared viciously at Shang Ke. “You’d better not try anything, or I’ll kill them immediately.”

He pointed his gun at the Fergs.

They waited outside for a long time, but none of the men who had entered the warehouse came back out.

The bald man finally sensed that something was wrong. Just as he was about to demand an explanation, fully armed police suddenly burst from the surrounding cornfields and encircled them.

The bald man and the others immediately seized the Fergs. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll shoot!”

The criminals looked tense, yet not one of them dared grab Shang Ke as a hostage, leaving him standing conspicuously alone to one side.

“How did you find us?” The bald man had barely finished asking when realization seemed to strike him. He whipped around toward Shang Ke. “It was you! You had a tracker on you!”

“No. I didn’t have a tracker on me,” Shang Ke replied calmly. “The trackers were on you.”

The bald man froze, then immediately understood. He pulled out his phone with a furious roar and smashed it against the ground.

“I actually forgot you’re a hacker! Hahaha! Fine, fine, you got me today. Then let’s all die together!” The bald man aimed at Mr. Ferg and pulled the trigger.

Shang Ke reacted instantly, grabbing his wrist and wrenching it upward. With a bang, the shot fired harmlessly into the air.

At the same time, the surrounding police opened fire, and the criminals scrambled for cover.

Shang Ke pulled the Fergs aside and placed himself in front of them.

The bald man raised his gun and aimed directly at the explosives strapped to Shang Ke, laughing wildly. “Now let me test how powerful that bomb really is!”

He pulled the trigger without hesitation.

“No!” A terrified shout rang out from nearby.

Shang Ke instinctively turned his head and saw Feng Juan leap out of a car, staring at him in absolute terror.

With another bang, a burst of agony tore through Shang Ke’s abdomen, and he staggered backward.

Yet the explosives on his body did not detonate.

The bald man stared in disbelief. “Your bomb was fake?” He had never imagined Shang Ke would have the nerve to bluff them so calmly without possessing a genuine bargaining chip at all.

“So the money was fake too.” The bald man’s expression darkened.

Holding his abdomen, Shang Ke smiled faintly and nodded.

At that moment, a stray bullet struck the bald man, forcing him down onto one knee. With the criminals’ defeat now inevitable, the police quickly closed in.

Only then did Feng Juan feel a fraction of relief, and he ran forward behind the officers.

Just then, the bald man’s shoulders began to shake, and an eerie string of laughter rose from his throat.

He raised his head and stared fixedly at Shang Ke. “It doesn’t matter. Your bomb may be fake—but mine isn’t.”

He pulled a bomb from inside his clothes. “Even if I die, I’m taking all of you with me.”

With that, he yanked out the safety pin.

At that moment, the approaching police and Feng Juan were less than ten meters away, while Shang Ke and the Fergs were only four meters from the bald man.

A bomb’s lethal radius was generally around seven to ten meters, while its shrapnel could travel dozens of meters farther. If this bomb exploded, Shang Ke and the Fergs had no more than a ten-percent chance of survival.

The instant the bald man pulled the pin, Shang Ke lunged toward him almost on instinct.

“Don’t!” Feng Juan’s voice was filled with boundless terror.

Shang Ke raised his head and looked toward Feng Juan, who was running desperately toward him. His gaze was as gentle as ever, his slightly disheveled hair stirring in the wind, while a smile filled with lingering affection appeared on his face…

Boom! The bomb exploded. Blood and flesh mingled with flying shrapnel, bursting before everyone’s eyes like a dazzling yet cruel firework.

A police officer tackled Feng Juan to the ground. A stone grazed his forehead, and blood trickled slowly toward the corner of his eye. Shang Ke’s final smile froze in his mind before shattering like broken glass, splintering into countless pieces…

【Main Mission in this world failed. Penalty Mission activated. Mission difficulty ×2. Host will be transferred directly into the next world in sixty seconds.】 The System’s voice suddenly sounded inside Shang Ke’s mind.

What? Straight into the next world? At least let me say goodbye to Juanjuan, to the Fergs, to this world!

【This is Host’s first mission failure. The System awards one Curse Halo.】

There’s a reward for failing? What the hell is a Curse Halo? Just the name sounds terrible!

【Curse Halo: indiscriminate curse attacks. Activation conditions are random, duration is random, targets are random, and curse types are random.】

Shang Ke: “…”

【Please cherish the Curse Halo. It will bring Host’s journey the supreme enjoyment of endless thrills and excitement.】

He absolutely did not need any thrills or excitement!

【Host, please prepare to enter the next world. Countdown beginning: nine, eight, seven…】

Shang Ke still wanted to struggle, but the System gave him no opportunity. The moment the countdown ended, he was transferred into the next world.

At last, he understood the consequences of mission failure: no normal rewards, no recovery period, increased mission difficulty, and an inexplicable additional halo effect.

Shang Ke didn’t even have time to process his emotions. One moment, he had just been blown to pieces; the next, he found himself suspended over a seemingly bottomless abyss.

A bottomless abyss? Shang Ke jolted in alarm. Clouds and mist swirled beneath him, concealing any trace of the bottom, while he himself was growing all alone on a tree jutting from the cliffside.

That was right—growing.

He was now a goddamn mushroom!

His entire body was pure white and almost translucent, his cap spread wide as he swayed gently in the wind.

Just then, dark clouds suddenly gathered overhead and thunder boomed. An invisible pressure descended upon him, as though something terrible were about to happen.

Wearing his utterly expressionless mushroom face, Shang Ke was completely dumbfounded.

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