Shen Yi and Li Yuren were in a manhunt. The moment Li Yuren called Shen Yi that he found a verified tip about where Feng Zexian was spotted, Shen Yi immediately left the capital after dropping the twins at his father’s place.

“We’ve burned down the places where he was hiding and startled the snake. Are you sure he hasn’t left the town yet?” Shen Yi asked while watching Li Yuren reload the magazine of his service firearm.

He had never been so scared in his life —when he heard the news of the gas explosion involving his wife. Fear was the appropriate term of what he’d felt that day.

However, right now, his blood was practically singing for a bloodbath, the blood of the man who dared to kill Lu Xinyi. Inhaling deeply, Shen Yi tightened his own grip on his gun as he waited for Li Yuren’s instructions.

“He’s trapped. Unless he could find another way to escape. He’s a goner before the sun rises,” Li Yuren coldly answered him.

“You know this is highly unorthodox.” Long Feng laughed awkwardly, hoping to relieve the tension in the atmosphere between the two domineering men in front of him. He’d never thought that his commander was serious when he said he’d invite the demon king on this manhunt.

Meanwhile, Feng Zexian sat inside an old abandoned apartment complex within the remote town in the western part of the country, allowing his men to fix his wounds. Shen Yi had managed to crippled his left arm for good during their confrontation earlier.

“Curse you, Shen Yi! I should’ve killed your woman when I had the chance!” The pain on his arm was so unbearable; it reminded him of the first time Shen Yi broke and crushed his limbs and forearms several years ago at Saffron Boulevard.

When he got his hands on that woman, Feng Zexian swore he was going to make Shen Yi’s life a living hell. He’d make sure that the demon king would experience what hell felt like.

The plan had been simple. It wasn’t complicated at all, but that old bitch—Sun Mingai—made it complicated when she refused to cooperate and let her adoptive son join his plans instead. Zuo Yin was quite useless in his opinion. The man was weirdly obsessed with Lu Xinyi.

He seethed in anger and pain and swore that he wasn’t going to give Shen Yi a quick death after killing the demon’s bride. Looking down at the blood dripping from his arm, he cursed Shen Yi and Li Yuren again and again. How the fuck did the two manage to find him anyway?

“Boss, Li Yuren blocked all the possible entries and exit of the town. What should we do now?” One of Feng Zexian’s men asked nervously.

They all witnessed how cruel and ruthless Li Yuren and Shen Yi were when they worked together. There were no wasted bullets when they used their guns. It was as if the two could predict the precise location of their targets.

Shen Yi truly lived up to his name as the demon king while Li Yuren was comparable to that grim reaper who left dead bodies on his wake wherever he went.

“How am I supposed to know?! Shouldn’t you be trying to find another way now instead of stalling our escape plan?” Feng Zexian hissed in pain. Shen Yi would pay for this. He would be sure of that!

“Do something!” he yelled at his men. “Don’t tell me you’ll let ourselves die in here. We should leave before that wretched Li Yuren’s men could find us!”

“Yes, Boss!” His men scattered away to do his bidding. The time was ticking, and with Li Yuren’s capabilities, this abandoned apartment complex would sure get his attention.

Even on the dark, twisted deserted roads of the town where the lights didn’t glow so fiercely, two motorcycles stood out on the pavement, rushing at the asphalted road. The motorcycles came into a rumbling stop at the entrance of an old apartment complex, and two pairs of black shoes stepped on the gravel of the driveway.

“He’s here?” Shen Yi asked his companion. Li Yuren only hummed and led the way inside. Long Feng and his men had arrived before them.

Shen Yi let out a huff of annoyance. He should have brought his own men with him regardless of Li Yuren’s opinion. Looking heavenward, he wondered how his wife was faring at the moment.

—

There was this uneasiness that bloomed inside her out of nowhere. Lu Xinyi tuned out everyone around her while the emcee of the competition described the criteria for judging for the semi-finals where she and Han Yixin would participate soon.

A heavy rock settled into her stomach. Something had to be wrong.

“Sister Lu, what’s wrong? You look pale.” Han Yixin’s question caught her off-guard.

Lu Xinyi smiled and ran her fingers on her freed hair. Han Yixin’s brows scrunched together.

“It’s nothing, Sister Han. Probably just tired with today’s round.”

Lu Xinyi could definitely tell something was wrong. She wondered if it had something to do with her husband. She wasn’t able to reach her for five days now, and neither Qiao He nor Shen Xue could answer where her husband was.

“Please be alright.” She prayed in her heart. Had she known this would happen, she shouldn’t have agreed to join this competition.

“There’s still no news about Boss Yi?” Fu Rui asked Zhang Qing. Zhang was the one in charge of the communication between the Shen’s elite guard and Lu Xinyi’s private bodyguards.

“None.” Zhang Qing shook her head. “Mr. Qiao has already sent a party to follow Boss Yi, but they only found Li Yuren and his team injured at the western plains.”

“What the hell are they doing there? Western plains aren’t something Boss Yi and General Li should enter. Even the government is having a hard time stabilizing the peace in that area.” Fu Rui scowled.

Looking at their mistress’ way, of course, Lu Xinyi had finally noticed something was up.

“Should we tell her?” Fu Rui asked again, but his brother disagreed.

Fu Shuren followed his little brother’s gaze.

“It was probably Boss Yi’s idea to disappear. Li Yuren was able to find Feng Zexian, but he surprisingly disappeared when he was about to be caught. Until we see Boss Yi’s dead body, there is no way in hell he’s dead already,” he said.

The apartment complex where Shen Yi’s men found the injured General Li was bombed by Feng Zexian’s people. They surely didn’t want to get caught alive by Li Yuren.