Chapter 24: Midnight Street Racing!

Xiao Fen ground his teeth in anger. He sidestepped, grabbed a bodyguard’s wrist, and chopped down at his elbow with a palm strike. A wail of agony immediately rang in his ears.

He threw an elbow backward, making the man spray nosebleed everywhere. He dislocated both of the man’s arm joints, seized the dagger, spun two silver arcs of knife flowers in his hand, and feigned a stab at another attacking bodyguard’s face. While the opponent was stunned, he drove his knee up between the man’s legs and slammed him down with an over-the-shoulder throw.

Wails and screams rose and fell one after another. It wasn’t long before the dagger’s edge was nicked. Xiao Fen swapped it out for five or six more. When he finally tucked the dagger back into his inner wrist and looked up again, he and Fang Si Ting were standing shoulder to arm, looking sideways at the people around them.

Xiao Fen tilted his head and gloated, “Your people aren’t all taken out already, are they?” It had been so long, and they still weren’t here.

“The Fox Hunt Commando Team isn’t as weak as you think,” Fang Si Ting said unhurriedly as he rubbed his wrist. His gaze never left the bodyguards for a moment.

“Thanks for the compliment.” Xiao Fen grinned smugly.

Fang Si Ting looked baffled. “Which ear of yours heard that?”

“Both of them, plus my excellent brain.” Xiao Fen shook his head back and forth. “I’m the man who escaped your encirclement, after all.”

“Not pretending to be an underage boy anymore?”

Xiao Fen’s response was to stomp heavily backward, aiming right for Fang Si Ting’s shinbone.

Fang Si Ting seemed to have been prepared for it. He dodged swiftly, and the two switched positions while their hands kept moving nonstop.

In an instant, Xiao Fen’s dagger flew from his hand toward the arm of an oncoming bodyguard.

Fang Si Ting threw a punch that floored a rushing man, smashing him unconscious on the spot.

“Don’t move!”

“Nobody move!”

A group of Vice Squad Officers in black uniforms burst through the casino doors.

Xiao Fen looked around. There were at least thirty people behind Bai Zhu.

The opponents had only about twenty left.

“Kid, now that you know who we Vice Squad Officers are, what’s with the arrogance? Today is the day you die!” Xiao Fen stood in front of Fang Si Ting, bluffing boldly with his chest puffed out and hands on his hips.

Fang Si Ting: “……”

“You think this many people scares us?” Ji Qinglin sneered. He clapped his hands, and twenty more people rushed out from the same door he’d entered through.

“Young Master!”

Ji Qinglin emerged from the midst of the solemn, black-clad bodyguards with their heads bowed. He flung off the coat draped over his shoulders, and the bodyguards behind him hurriedly caught it, retreating silently to the side while holding it.

Xiao Fen’s face drained of color in dread. He grabbed Fang Si Ting and shuffled a few steps to the side.

The black-clad bodyguards followed immediately.

Xiao Fen grinned awkwardly and shuffled a few steps in the opposite direction.

The black-clad bodyguards followed immediately.

“You say, why do you have to be so serious…”

Before he finished speaking, Xiao Fen snatched up a handful of colorful chips from the table and tossed them out. A dozen round chips struck the elbows and shoulders of the three nearest bodyguards. The hands holding knives and sticks all dropped their weapons with clatters.

The wails of agony mixed with the screams of the other gamblers in the casino, turning the scene even more chaotic as the gamblers fled in all directions.

Hua Nation strictly controlled bladed weapons, and guns were even rarer. Besides, this was just a recorded show—the Pursuit Team had only brought batons. For the moment, they were locked in a fierce melee with the casino bodyguards that neither side could break free from.

【This isn’t a regular variety show? I only missed two days, and now it’s turned into a Vice Squad raid on a casino action movie?】

【Forget two days—I just went to the bathroom for a minute, and wtf is this?】

【Brother Fen is mighty! Beat their asses!】

The Live Stream Chat was full of people stirring up trouble and heckling wildly.

The mighty Xiao Fen was scurrying with his head hugged low just like the other thousand-odd gamblers. He rolled under a gambling table and occasionally stuck out a foot to trip up nearby Vice Squad Officers, providing assists.

Stealth attack successful!

The casino bodyguards were no match for the commando-trained Vice Squad Officers. They all lay collapsed on the ground, with only a few stragglers left.

Ji Qinglin saw that the casino was done for. Without another word, he fled with his men.

Xiao Fen poked his fluffy head out from under the table and looked toward the opposite side. Fang Si Ting was sweeping away evil with one punch after another. When he caught sight of the half-exposed head and the slyly spinning eyes with his peripheral vision, he started charging in this direction.

Seeing that things were bad, Xiao Fen scrambled out in a panic. He gripped the edge of the gambling table and flipped it over toward Fang Si Ting with a heave.

Cards and colorful chips scattered across the floor in a shower.

Fang Si Ting dodged the table nimbly. By the time he gave chase, Xiao Fen had a small knife from one of the casino thugs in hand, with the blade tip pressed right up against Ji Qinglin’s neck.

He grabbed Ji Qinglin’s hair like he was catching a chick, forcing his head back and exposing the carotid artery in his neck. “Nobody move, or I’ll take his little life.”

Fang Si Ting halted his steps and raised a hand to stop the other Vice Squad Officers from advancing.

Ji Qinglin’s face went deathly pale. He yelled in breakdown, “Wait, aren’t you two together?”

“When did I ever say the two of us were together?”

“You called him your man! He waited for you all night, and you left with me—he’d be mad! You said that just ten minutes ago!”

“They’re Vice Squad Officers, and I’m the criminal. Inspector Fang was staking out here tonight specifically to catch me and close the case. If I run off with you, his pursuit fails—won’t that piss him off to death? Don’t worry, they won’t do anything to the casino.” Xiao Fen tilted his head. “But since you assaulted the police, you’ll have to pay up. It’s just the loss of one casino. Cooperate properly with the investigation afterward, and you might get leniency.”

【Brother Fen sure knows how to comfort people. Look at Young Master Ji—he’s so moved he’s about to faint.】

“Let him go!” Fang Si Ting commanded from three meters away, his voice carrying natural authority without a hint of anger.

“No way.” Xiao Fen replied arrogantly.

“I’ll have you know, I’m from the Ji Family…”

“Shut up!” the two of them snapped in unison.

Ji Qinglin: “……”

“You’re ganging up to bully people!” He wailed in breakdown, his entire body going limp from terror as Xiao Fen dragged him into the emergency exit. They went from the negative second floor all the way to the surface.

The Vice Squad Officers chased them up to the ground level. The black-clad bodyguards, having received word from underground, also rushed out from the hotel entrance. Then they all saw Xiao Fen stuff their young master into a shabby little sedan that belonged to who-knows-who.

“Xiao Fen, don’t push it too far!” A hint of anger entered Fang Si Ting’s voice.

“Catch me first, then you can lecture me.” Xiao Fen winked his left hand up and down at the car window. “See ya, Mr. Black Cat.”

With that, he rolled up the window, cranked the steering wheel all the way, and the sedan wobbled off crookedly.

“Boss, what do we do?” Bai Zhu was just about to step forward and ask for the next plan when he saw Fang Si Ting hop into a Vice Squad Officer’s car and floor the accelerator to give chase.

He paced back and forth in place for two steps, then called for his brothers to pile into their cars and follow.

The Ji Family manager didn’t dare slack off either. He called over the casino bodyguards to give pursuit.

A green, beat-up no-name car led the way, with over a dozen cars in hot pursuit behind it. An intense street chase kicked off on the road.

【Holy shit, a live stream and I get to see street racing!】

【This is way more thrilling than a movie!】

Xiao Fen casually rested his left hand on the steering wheel. The sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled up several folds all the way to his elbows, exposing his fair and slender arms. He wore decorative engraved steel rings on his middle finger and pinky, which glimmered faintly under the flashing car and streetlights whipping past the window.

A black sedan appeared in the rearview mirror, repeatedly trying to sideswipe him from the flank.

Xiao Fen barely dodged several times by a hair’s breadth. His heart rate spiked. He undid the top three buttons of his shirt and got serious.

“Sit tight.”

The white sedan whipped into a ninety-degree turn, smashed through the anti-collision barrier, and landed steadily on the lane beneath the overpass.

“Fuck—your mom—aaaaah—” The car filled with Ji Qinglin’s desperate cursing.

“We’re gonna crash aaaah—dodge it aaaah—”

A piercing, shrill horn blared. The flashing lights of an oncoming big truck roared past right in front of them. Ji Qinglin’s scalp went numb—he felt like the Grim Reaper had just grinned at him.

His head buzzed.

The black sedan looped around the overpass and rapidly closed in again before long.

Xiao Fen whistled, excitement lighting up his eyes.

“You can keep up, huh.”

A drone circled in the night sky overhead, twinkling like stars.

“Attention: the suspect is passing Prosperity Peace Bridge, heading for Chessboard Mountain. Please have staff clear the road of personnel and vehicles ahead of time.”

“Suspect has entered the mountain road.”

“Clear road obstacles. Prohibit civilian vehicles from entering Chessboard Mountain.”

“Received.”

By the time Bai Zhu’s car finally made it into Chessboard Mountain, the Wang Ze Work Group had set up mobile barrier barricades at the entrance.

Just one minute earlier, he’d compensated the owner of the car that Xiao Fen had jacked.

Two minutes prior, the local Pursuit Team had raided and sealed the casino under the Ji Family Hotel.

Meanwhile, Ji Qinglin riding in the car had no idea what had happened to his casino. He only felt like his brains were about to be shaken into mush.

“Up ahead are hairpin turns—six or seven one-eighties! You don’t value your life! Slow down!”

Ji Qinglin gripped the handle and seatbelt for dear life. The trees lining both sides of the night mountain road stood like rows of silent demons on display. Thick fog and darkness shrouded the road seven or eight meters ahead, as if the Grim Reaper’s scythe might swing out from the shadows at any moment.

“Shut up.” Xiao Fen’s expression was icy cold. Instead of slowing, he sped up and nailed a beautiful drift past the turn, leaving several streaks of scorched black tire marks on the ground.

In less than ten seconds, the rearview mirror—which had just gone dark—lit up with blinding light again.

That was the glare reflecting off the pursuing vehicles’ headlights.

Fang Si Ting stayed right on his tail, unrelenting.

His car was clearly much better performing. He’d closed the gap several times, nearly drawing parallel with Xiao Fen’s car and inching closer in an attempt to force him to stop.

Xiao Fen wrenched the steering wheel in a half circle and rammed straight into Fang Si Ting’s car door.

Bai Zhu, following behind them, watched with his heart in his throat. He hurriedly keyed his radio. “Boss, that’s enough. Safety first—no need for casualties. This is just a variety show.”

“If there was a real kidnapper in that car, would you back off too?” Fang Si Ting’s cold voice came through amid the static crackle.

“We can’t let a single criminal escape. At the same time, we can’t abandon a victim, not even if there’s only a sliver of hope.”

“Even if this is just a variety show.”

“As long as there’s need, we’ll stand guard beside the masses.”

In the Live Stream Chat, quite a few people fell silent.

【Even if it’s just a variety show, even if it’s fake—Fang Yama treats it with 100% seriousness.】

【Yeah. He’ll rescue every hostage and deliver justice to every victim.】

【That’s Fang Yama for you. Such a sense of security.】

【He’s Yama to crooks and criminals, but to us ordinary folk, he’s our savior.】

【Our nation is so peaceful and safe precisely because countless people like this quietly dedicate themselves to protecting us.】

In that moment, everyone in the Live Stream Chat deeply felt what true loyalty and devotion meant.

The cars were still speeding along the mountain road. The Ji Family bodyguards had long since vanished from sight. Bai Zhu and his team’s three or four cars were far behind on the winding path. Fang Si Ting’s car took the hit and was forced to slow. Once it stabilized, it spun a full one-eighty right there on the spot and charged after him at full throttle again.

Xiao Fen saw the rearview light up once more just after it’d gone dark. He glanced at the dashboard—the car was already warning of engine overheating.

This no-name sedan, who knew how many years old, teetered on the brink of total scrap.

Before that happened, he had to shake Fang Si Ting.

“You’re still coming?!” Ji Qinglin shrieked in madness. His body lurched with the inertia, and his entire upper half poked out the window, tracing a circle in midair.

For a split second, it felt like time slowed. His lips were a mere 0.01 centimeters from Xiao Fen’s cheek. The breath he exhaled brushed the transparent fine hairs on that fair, soft skin.

His nose caught a faint whiff of cool, bitter woody fragrance.

“Ah—” Before he could savor it, the seatbelt yanked him tumbling back into his seat.

“If you puke in this car, you’re dead!” Amid the chaos, Xiao Fen shot him a murderous glare.

Ji Qinglin immediately clamped both hands over his mouth and shrank into his seat. The little thoughts that had just started stirring were instantly strangled out of existence.

Too damn bullying… wuwuwu…

Xiao Fen kept shifting gears and wrenching the wheel, trying every trick in the book. But the black sedan trailed behind like a ghost haunting the dark night, always sticking close.

Truly annoying.

It wasn’t even a few minutes before the fuel gauge flashed critically low.

With only the last two bends remaining, he had to use these sharp turns to shake off Fang Si Ting. Otherwise, once they reached the straightaway, Fang Si Ting’s superior car performance alone would let him catch up in no time.

At that point, he would definitely get nabbed.

The white car’s body began to vibrate faintly; it was already on the verge of falling apart.

The final two bends were less than fifty meters apart, with the tightest angles and no time for the vehicle to recover.

Fang Si Ting knew these mountain roads well. Seeing the car ahead with no intention of slowing down, he frowned.

He grabbed his phone, and the screen lit up. Only then did he realize he didn’t have Xiao Fen’s contact info.

He tossed the phone onto the passenger seat.

“Bai Zhu, have the Program Crew warn Xiao Fen. Don’t let a moment of hotheadedness risk both their lives.”

At the same time, Fang Si Ting leveraged his sedan’s excellent performance to claim the inside line first.

The two cars ran almost parallel.

He rolled down the window and spotted Ji Qinglin on the passenger seat, face pale green. The instant Ji Qinglin saw him, it was like spotting a savior—he was so moved he nearly teared up.

Half-blocked by Ji Qinglin’s frame, a handsome profile flickered into view.

Beneath the high, refined nose bridge and sharp jawline, a hand with prominent knuckles gripped the control stick tightly.

Fang Si Ting only caught a fleeting glimpse.

“Mr. Black Cat.”

Xiao Fen’s light laugh rang through the earpiece, crisp and melodic.

The Program Crew had temporarily linked their earpieces.

“Stop the car,” Fang Si Ting commanded.

“No,” came his reply, the tone petulant like a willful tantrum.

Fang Si Ting’s gaze darkened.

“Mr. Black Cat, this round is our bet—you and me. The stakes…” Xiao Fen stared resolutely ahead, “are our lives.”

The two cars hurtled side by side into the bend at full throttle.

“You…” Fang Si Ting heard Ji Qinglin’s hoarse scream: “Crazy!”

“No, it’s an unrelenting pursuit of victory,” Xiao Fen said calmly, his gaze steady and burning.

The white car’s nose edged over, actively shoving toward the black car. The vehicles began brushing against each other.

From point-blank range, Fang Si Ting could see the white car shuddering, even hear the creaking groans of its frame on the brink of disintegration.

He had to ease off the throttle slightly.

In that instant!

The white car surged forward again, successfully squeezing into the inside!

The two cars tackled the second bend!

Like a ghost, the white car executed a textbook-perfect extreme drift through the turn!

Success!

Fang Si Ting had slowed just that fraction in the bend. The white car shook him off smoothly, speeding away triumphantly and vanishing in the blink of an eye.

Xiao Fen’s voice went silent in the earpiece too.