The expanse of Yanming Mountain was vast, yet the SUV they were in drove relentlessly upward, the road narrowing with every meter, the surrounding trees growing denser.
“Are we there yet?”
Tang Xiaolan felt an unsettling wrongness, making her fidget the entire journey.
“Please bear with me a little longer, ladies. Our campsite is further up the mountain.”
The man in the front passenger seat turned, offering a slight smile, and spoke.
Tang Xiaolan’s furrowed brow refused to smooth out. To her, that smile held a profound strangeness; the man showed no trace of the anxiety one would expect from someone rushing to aid a critically ill friend.
“What exactly was your friend suffering from, you mentioned earlier?”
The Old Madam Yan gently took Tang Xiaolan’s hand and suddenly interjected.
“The plague, didn't I tell you just now?”
The man replied casually.
The Old Madam Yan frowned deeply and pressed further, “Could you describe his symptoms first? That way, I can think carefully about how to treat him once we reach your friend.”
“Oh, my friend? He just got up this morning, suddenly collapsed, and hasn't woken up no matter how much we call him.”
The man answering sounded somewhat impatient, his tone lacking the initial urgency, coming across as purely perfunctory toward the Old Madam Yan.
“At first, we thought he just hadn't rested well last night, so we didn't wake him. Who knew that by noon, he still hadn't stirred? When we went over to check, his body had broken out in countless red blotches, and he was ice-cold to the touch. No matter how we called him, he showed absolutely no reaction, like a corpse!”
“Nonsense!”
Hearing this, Tang Xiaolan’s eyes snapped wide open. She gripped her seatbelt tightly, her face paling slightly, and her voice rose considerably as she stared at the two men in front.
“Just a moment ago, you said your friend was unconscious, occasionally convulsing, with his body fluctuating between hot and cold. How has it suddenly become blotches all over his body, ice-cold, and completely unresponsive like a dead person!”
“Oh, did I say that?”
The man in the passenger seat couldn't help but glance back at Tang Xiaolan, scratching his head. By this point, he couldn't even be bothered to maintain his fabricated story. He simply smiled at her, “Perhaps I misremembered?”
“Hahahaha!”
Hearing this reply, the driver burst into unrestrained, booming laughter.
“Who exactly are you people!”
Now, the Old Madam Yan understood completely: they had walked into a trap. Yet, the elder couldn't grasp why someone would go to such elaborate lengths to target a solitary old woman like herself.
“Don’t rush. Once you meet our brother, won’t you know everything?”
The man in the passenger seat chuckled as he spoke to the elder.
“You…”
Tang Xiaolan was choked with anger. She pointed at the two men ahead, shouting, “Let us out! You don't have a patient, why bring us here?”
“Auntie, please don’t get agitated. This is Yanming Mountain. If you jump out of the car now, I guarantee you’ll die on the spot!” The man completely dropped his pretense, grinning cheerfully.
Tang Xiaolan’s face went ashen, leaving her speechless.
“You two, though you look unfamiliar, you must be from near North Suburb County. Whoever arranged for you to bring us here—when the police start investigating, you won't escape, will you?”
The Old Madam Yan, far calmer than Tang Xiaolan, fixed her gaze on the men ahead and continued, “I advise you to turn us back before anything happens. Because whatever fate befalls us, neither of you will have a good end.”
“Are you trying to scare us, brother?”
The man in the passenger seat turned to give the Old Madam Yan a longer look, then muttered, “Who are you trying to scare? You two? Aren't you just a couple of widows whose husbands are dead? You think we don’t know? See this SUV? It’s easily worth hundreds of thousands—that’s our payment from the other side. Even if something happens to you, we just need to lay low for a while, and you’ll be quickly forgotten. By then, my brother and I will take this payment and live it up abroad without any issue!”
“Screeeech—”
Just then, the SUV abruptly stopped.
The two men opened their doors, ignoring the Old Madam Yan and Tang Xiaolan, and stepped out alone.
The road ahead of the SUV had ended; they were deep within Yanming Mountain.
Tang Xiaolan leaned against the window to peer out. She then noticed that the person conversing with the two men was a short man with a small, pointed mustache. Seeing this short man, Tang Xiaolan suddenly felt a bizarre sense of familiarity.
“Ah, Mom, look! That looks like the Japanese man who came to our clinic a few days ago!”
Tang Xiaolan suddenly recognized the short man and cried out.
The Old Madam Yan also looked out the window. Seeing the short man, she too recalled who he was. Not long ago, this man had visited her practice. She had a deep impression of this Japanese individual. He hadn't presented any major illness, yet he insisted on a complete physical examination. Afterward, he had invited her to Japan to practice Traditional Chinese Medicine, offering an extremely attractive salary—an offer the Old Madam Yan had flatly refused.
The two young men who had lured them here stood before the short man, their faces obsequious, speaking rapidly while gesturing toward Tang Xiaolan and the Old Madam Yan inside the car.
The short man occasionally nodded, glancing toward them in the vehicle with an expression of clear satisfaction.
“Mom, what do we do? What do they really want!”
Tang Xiaolan was frantic, her heart pounding with uncertainty.
“Don’t panic. We’ve seen this man before. It’s manageable, as long as it’s not targeting our Fei’er, it won’t be catastrophic.” The Old Madam Yan had long made peace with life and death; what worried her now was whether her grandson in Changjing, Yan Liangfei, had made enemies, leading them to use her as leverage against him.
Tang Xiaolan immediately covered her mouth; the elder's speculation was the possibility she least wanted to consider.
“Don’t worry too much. Perhaps it isn’t about our Fei’er…”
The Old Madam Yan quickly tried to comfort Tang Xiaolan. “Look, the person involved is that Japanese man. Maybe he wants to force me to go to Japan with him, or perhaps he has some illicit business that requires our help? Maybe he’s a criminal whose friend has a serious illness, and he needs people like us who understand medicine?”
In voicing these comforting words, the Old Madam Yan was essentially consoling herself, but just then, the situation outside the SUV drastically changed!
The two men took two notebooks from the short man, their faces beaming with smiles, and turned back toward the SUV. But at that very moment, two sharp blades suddenly pierced their backs, emerging through their chests!
“Ah!”
“Ah!”
Inside the car, the Old Madam Yan and Tang Xiaolan both cried out simultaneously. The perpetrator had acted with chilling decisiveness; it was obvious he had never intended to let the two men who brought them here live.
The two avaricious men gasped faintly and collapsed to the ground, their eyes wide open in death.
The short Japanese man snorted, stepped over their bodies, deliberately stamping hard on the faces of the two corpses, and walked toward the SUV.
He opened the rear door and looked with a grin at the Old Madam Yan and Tang Xiaolan inside, making an inviting gesture.
The Old Madam Yan gripped Tang Xiaolan’s hand, and they slowly stepped out of the vehicle.
Facing the short Japanese man, the Old Madam Yan fought to maintain her composure and asked, “Why have you tricked us into coming here?”
Had the killing not occurred, the Old Madam Yan might have tried to reassure herself, but with bloodshed, this was no longer a simple kidnapping.
Now, a much larger suspicion filled her mind: Could members of the Jiang family still be alive, having found these Japanese individuals, and were now seeking revenge against her?
If that were true, the Old Madam Yan had already decided in her heart: she would seize the first opportunity to bite her tongue and commit suicide, refusing to give the other side even a sliver of a chance to threaten her grandson!
“Ladies, please relax. We just need you to accompany us; our superiors wish to speak with you both.”
The short man politely made another gesture.
At this point, the Old Madam Yan and Tang Xiaolan had no choice but to follow the short man forward.
After they left, several figures suddenly emerged from the woods. They efficiently dragged away the bodies of the two men and disposed of the parked SUV.
Every trace of their arrival was meticulously wiped clean; even if the police came up the mountain with tracking dogs, they would never find this spot.
The short man led the Old Madam Yan and Tang Xiaolan into the rear of the mountain. Upon seeing the ruins and scorch marks here, the two women exchanged a look, seeing absolute shock reflected in the other's eyes!
Now, they simultaneously connected this to the Jiang family seeking vengeance.
“Xiaolan, look for a chance, and we’ll kill ourselves immediately. We absolutely cannot give these people an opportunity to threaten our Fei’er!”
The Old Madam Yan stood beside Tang Xiaolan, her expression resolute, murmuring quietly to avoid drawing the attention of the short Japanese man.
Although Tang Xiaolan’s expression was equally grim, she nodded firmly upon hearing the elder’s words!