Chapter 1117 — Valentine's Day Special: Xiao Ning's Story, Part 2

"You... what do you want? I've already given you all my money and valuables — why won't you let me go?" The girl had never imagined these people could be so utterly devoid of humanity!

"Little girl, our boss has taken a fancy to you. If you're smart, you'll stop resisting and come back with us — otherwise, you'll be sorry!" one of the big men said with a cold laugh, a submachine gun in his hands.

"Run!" Wei Zhao suddenly seized the girl's hand and, without another word, broke into a sprint.

Against so many armed men, Wei Zhao — whose strength was only at the early Yellow Rank — had no hope of victory. All he could do was take the girl and run first.

The girl was thrown off balance by Wei Zhao's move, and his tug sent her stumbling; but Wei Zhao had no time to care about that. He scooped her up around the waist and ran swiftly in the opposite direction!

As for what became of the others who had come along, Wei Zhao could not concern himself with that; so long as he delivered the girl back safely, he would have answered to Feng Tianlong.

"Put the girl down if you don't want to die!" The big man with the submachine gun behind Wei Zhao had not expected him to actually flee with the girl; enraged and humiliated, he shouted a warning.

Why would Wei Zhao pay him any heed? Right now time was life — the sooner he ran far, the less danger there would be.

"Run again and I'll shoot!" Seeing that Wei Zhao ignored him, the big man grew even angrier and raised his submachine gun, aiming at Wei Zhao.

Wei Zhao ran on, of course — but behind him came the tat-tat-tat of machine-gun fire!

Wei Zhao did not look back; instead he relied on the strength of the warning signals from the jade pendant on his body to dodge the bullets flying after him.

The girl had not expected the armed men to truly shoot — and with a submachine gun at that! Before, they had only used their guns to intimidate; now they had clearly gotten serious.

"Put me down, don't let me drag you into this..." The girl knew well enough who Wei Zhao was — knew he had only come to assist her family in protecting her, and that her life and death had nothing to do with him.

Among all the people who accompanied her, everyone flattered and fawned on the girl as though she were a goddess; only Wei Zhao ignored her, and now and then even voiced a few objections. So the girl's first impression of Wei Zhao had been very poor — she thought him cold as ice, and utterly unwilling to indulge her. Was he even a man?

But now, when her attendants were either kneeling and begging for mercy or beaten unconscious and dead, it was Wei Zhao who, at the critical moment, carried her away to save her life. In the girl's heart, a faint ripple arose...

Not drag him into it? Wei Zhao offered no explanation.

Wei Zhao was a man who kept his promises; what he promised others, he would do. He had promised Feng Tianlong to protect the girl and keep her safe, and he would keep that promise.

"Put me down, they have guns!" The girl was growing anxious. In her mind, with a submachine gun raking fire behind them, neither of them could survive; better to set her down and let her deal with the pursuers herself.

Wei Zhao had no breath to spare for answering her. He had to concentrate, judging the direction of the bullets behind him from the strength of the jade pendant's warning signals; one slip and he could be hit. This was not one shot or two, but continuous automatic fire!

Seeing Wei Zhao unmoved, the girl grew anxious and began struggling in his arms, trying to get down.

"Don't move!" Wei Zhao frowned. The girl's soft body in his arms gave off a faint, delicate fragrance, and it had already shaken his composure somewhat — after all, Wei Zhao was at the age of hot blood, and her writhing made his breathing quicken and his mind grow restless.

Fortunately Wei Zhao's self-control was strong, and he harbored no improper thoughts about the girl; but her movements were already more than he could bear.

"Put me down!" the girl said, in a tone that brooked no argument.

"Don't move if you don't want to die!" Wei Zhao said coldly.

"Put me down and I won't move!" the girl said.

"Bang..."

In the instant Wei Zhao's attention wavered, there was a dull thud — a bullet struck his calf! Though an injury of that degree was nothing much to Wei Zhao, the pain still made him frown. At present his strength was only equivalent to the early Yellow Rank.

Looking at the girl still squirming in his arms, Wei Zhao felt a surge of anger and reached out to smack her backside! Of course, he meant only to teach her a lesson, not to hurt her — otherwise, with his strength, a few blows like that would likely have killed her.

"Ah—" the girl cried out. She had never imagined Wei Zhao would dare to hit her — and on her bottom, no less!

The girl felt aggrieved. She was the little princess of her family — when had she ever been treated like this? And by a man, on her backside!

Shamed and furious, the girl scolded him: "Let me go! If you don't put me down right now, when I get back I'll report you for acting shamelessly!"

"Your mouth is on your own face. Suit yourself," Wei Zhao said mildly.

Wei Zhao was not one of Feng Tianlong's people, nor was he under Feng Tianlong's authority, so no matter how the girl complained, it made no difference to him.

Seeing that she could not frighten Wei Zhao, the girl gave up. Pouting, her face full of displeasure, she let herself be carried onward.

Though Wei Zhao could not run faster than bullets, he was far faster than the big man chasing behind; in no time at all he had left the man far behind.

But Wei Zhao did not slacken for that. The big man might have been chasing on foot, but the armed men had vehicles, and Wei Zhao feared he would call others to pursue by car.

In the snow, running left footprints; no matter how far Wei Zhao ran, they could find him.

After running a while, Wei Zhao stopped.

"Can you... put me down now?" the girl asked when she saw him stop.

Wei Zhao did not answer. Still holding the girl tightly, he leaped up and sprang onto a tree! He did not intend to travel on the snow any longer; he meant to leap from tree to tree, for only thus could he cover his tracks and avoid the armed men's pursuit.

And the reason Wei Zhao chose this spot to leap into the tree was that just ahead lay a cliff! In this way he created the illusion that they had jumped off the cliff, misleading the armed men.

"Ah!" The girl had not expected Wei Zhao to carry her up into a tree, and she was startled. "You... what are you doing?"

Wei Zhao still paid her no mind, choosing suitable footholds among the several trees and continuing on.

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