Chapter 166 — A Big Gift (Please Cast Your Monthly Votes)

Wei Zhao was hardly going to assume that Li Cihua would let the matter drop. The car had not gone far before the jade pendant at his neck began to warn him...

Wei Zhao smiled faintly and glanced at the rearview mirror. Sure enough, before long a black van came up behind him. It had only just entered his field of vision, and it was not following especially close, but with the pendant's warning Wei Zhao could be a hundred percent certain that the van behind him meant him no good.

Without the pendant, from the moment the van began following him to the moment he determined whether it was really after him, Wei Zhao would have needed a certain amount of time to judge; he could never have been so certain. But this cheat of his saved Wei Zhao a great deal of precious time. In the city it was not much use, but on a battlefield, knowing of the enemy's existence one second earlier could be the key to victory or defeat, to life or death.

Since Wei Zhao had confirmed that the van behind him was tailing him, he was in no hurry to go straight home. He turned the wheel and drove onto another road leading away from the villa district. Wei Zhao was not familiar with the map of Songshan City, but he did know this road: further ahead lay the shantytown where Tang Yun's home was, and past the shantytown, heading toward the outskirts, was the national highway that ran through a stretch of mountain forest. Wei Zhao had passed this way when he first came by train, and he had a fairly deep impression of the places he had passed through.

"Brother Long, the kid actually changed route. You think he's spotted us?" Li Yao asked Zhang Long beside him.

"So what if he has?" Zhang Long said with some disdain. "Spotted or not, he has to die. Killing him is no more than lifting a finger."

Zhang Long had previously observed Wei Zhao's strength in secret and felt the man was far beneath him. That Li Cihua had sent both Li Yao and himself to finish Wei Zhao struck him as using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, as making a mountain out of a molehill.

In Zhang Long's view, never mind himself — Li Yao alone could have done the job. And yet Li Cihua had sent the two of them together. Was that not plainly a doubt of his ability? Or had he overestimated Wei Zhao's strength?

So Zhang Long was quite displeased. Toward Wei Zhao he held an attitude of lofty superiority, and he could not even be bothered to lift a hand. If the chance came later, he would let Li Yao do it; he himself would not trouble to move.

Hearing Zhang Long's words, Li Yao did not take them for boasting. After all, Zhang Long's strength was plain for all to see: he himself was only early Yellow Rank, while the other man stood at the very peak of late Yellow Rank. They were both Yellow Rank, but the gulf between them was as wide as heaven and earth.

"Then should we report to Brother Cihua?" Li Yao asked.

Though Brother Cihua had no martial skill whatsoever, he was a man the boss valued, so both Li Yao and Zhang Long had to obey his orders.

But Zhang Long, whose strength was plainly far greater, rather looked down on Li Cihua. He would carry out Li Cihua's orders, yet in his heart he held the man in contempt.

"No need. Brother Cihua only told us to finish Wei Zhao off. He said nothing about how or where," Zhang Long said.

"All right, then I'll follow him," Li Yao nodded.

Once past the shantytown and out of Songshan City, Wei Zhao picked up speed. The Beetle's performance was really quite good — at least faster than the van trailing behind.

"That beat-up Beetle can really move. I should have known better than to take this van," Li Yao grumbled. He had not expected Wei Zhao to change lanes on the spur of the moment and head for the outskirts. Inside the city, speed gave little advantage, what with all the traffic, but once out of town it was a different story.

"The kid wants to shake us off?" Zhang Long frowned.

"I don't know, but our vehicle is at a disadvantage. Catching him won't be easy," Li Yao said.

"Hm?" Zhang Long was about to say something when he saw, in the distance, that Wei Zhao's Beetle had pulled over to the roadside, and that Wei Zhao himself had gotten out and was standing in the middle of the road, walking toward their vehicle. "What the hell does he want?"

"Ha, he's announcing to us that he's spotted us. He's going to stand in the middle of the road, block us, and have a talk?" Li Yao guessed.

"Idiot." Zhang Long nodded at Li Yao's explanation — it was the only explanation there could be. Otherwise, what fool would stand in the middle of the road to stop a car? Was he not afraid of dying?

"Brother Long, should we stop and talk to him?" Li Yao asked.

"Stop? Stop my ass." Zhang Long sneered. "Since the bastard's looking for death, don't blame us for being unkind."

"You mean..." Li Yao was startled, and asked, not quite certain.

"Just run him over. Run him dead." Zhang Long gave a humph, a mocking smile sliding across his face. "A fine fighter at the peak of early Yellow Rank, dying in a car accident. Tsk tsk. How pitiful. He'll die with his eyes open."

"Ah... heh..." Li Yao understood. He had to admit Zhang Long's idea was simply vicious. A martial artist could die in battle, but he could not die for nothing. To fall to an enemy's dirty trick for no reason at all — he would not close his eyes in death.

With the two of them joining forces, killing Wei Zhao should not have been difficult. Yet Zhang Long could not even be bothered to lift a hand; he simply ordered that Wei Zhao be run over.

If Wei Zhao knew, he would surely weep without tears.

"Brother Long, that trick of yours is really vicious," Li Yao said, and made to accelerate.

"Don't accelerate," Zhang Long waved a hand.

"If we don't accelerate, how do we run him over?" Li Yao asked, startled.

"Pretend you're slowing down to stop. Then, when you're about twenty meters from him, floor it and run him down, catch him completely off guard," Zhang Long said. "Don't underestimate him. He is, after all, a fighter at the peak of early Yellow Rank. Let me ask you: if a car came at you, how sure are you that you could dodge?"

"If I knew in advance, at least eighty percent," Li Yao nodded in sincere agreement. "But if I didn't know, and it caught me off guard, then it'd be trouble... Brother Long, you really are careful and cautious."

"To run him over, of course we have to confuse him first," Zhang Long said. "Ha, it's funny just thinking about it... A fine Yellow Rank fighter, dying in a car accident... Ah, the world is fickle."

"Yeah, it really is funny," Li Yao said. "And this way, even less chance anyone suspects anything. The police will just call it a traffic accident, an accident..."

As the van drew near Wei Zhao, it began to slow and flicked on its turn signal, giving the impression that it meant to stop.

Wei Zhao stood in the middle of the road, quietly watching the van come toward him, the faintest smile on his lips the whole time.

He had warned Li Cihua before, but the man still would not open his eyes. Right after he refused him, he had sent men to make trouble for him. Then he could only give him a big gift...

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