Chapter 32: A Holiday from Heaven
It all happened in a second.
Qi Mo had just reached the outer gate and taken one step out when he suddenly whipped around and turned back; right at that moment, Li Xin had been walking alongside him and instinctually dove towards the front. Their bodies crossed each other in the air as they flew in opposite directions and landed on the ground. He ended up behind her, and she in front of him.
When the gunfire started, Li Xin"s body had just slid in front of Qi Mo, yet instead of backing up, she kept going forward. Qi Mo"s eyes flashed momentarily with astonishment and shock, and then he reached out and grabbed her, pulling her to him and bringing both of them back behind the safety of the gate.
Li Xin lay in his arms, gazing up him and noticing her own surprise reflected in his eyes. A moment later, she suddenly felt pain slowly spreading through her chest. When she looked down, she noticed belatedly that she was bleeding, and the red liquid was blooming across her chest area, staining her shirt. She looked back up at Qi Mo and frowned. Seriously, why did she have such bad luck? And to think she"d been trying to avoid getting hit to begin with…
Qi Mo watched her slip into unconsciousness and didn"t stop to think; he picked her up and saw Yellow Falcon sprinting towards them. "Call Black Falcon for backup. Be quick," he ordered hastily before rushing out the gate, running into the parked vehicle with Li Xin in his arms.
~~~
Back in their villa, Qi Mo"s personal physician quickly attended to the pa.s.sed out Li Xin. His hands were visibly shaking as he held a pair of forceps and sweat trickled down from his forehead, trailing down the contours of his face. Qi Mo stood beside him, wiping the doctor"s sweat off with a towel and said, "Relax."
The doctor knit his brows together, his entire body tense and anxious. It wasn"t that he didn"t want to relax, or that he intended to shake. It was the fact that next to the patient"s bed, Qi Mo"s terrifying presence — the deadly, threatening stare that was fixated upon him, that made him so anxious that he couldn"t find it within himself to relax. He was terrified, having never seen Qi Mo in such a state before.
"If she lives, you will live," the overlord informed him icily. "If she dies, you will join her."
The doctor shuddered inwardly and felt his entire back stiffen.
Qi Mo was indeed surrounded by an aura of death. Red Falcon had killed their attackers as ordered, but still, the overlord was furious. He"d decided that they all had to die. Backup was coming from North America — he had a.s.sembled everyone who was eager to get their hands on Southeast Asia"s drug lords. This time, they were going to be wiped clean.
He turned his attention back to Li Xin, who was still pa.s.sed out, walking closer to the bed and staring down at her with his brows furrowed as questions swirled around his mind. This woman had saved his life for some reason. Specifically, she had risked her life to save him. He was sure of what he had witnessed: she had dove in front of him to block the bullet that had been intended for him. The question was why?
His thoughts were interrupted by Red Falcon, who burst into the room. "Boss, we found out who was pulling the strings behind those attackers today. I"ve already ordered our men to kill them all. Do you…" His voice trailed off.
Qi Mo"s face darkened. He glanced at Li Xin again, then whipped around and walked out the door. "It won"t be so easy for them to die," he said.
Red Falcon and Black Falcon shared a look. Their boss was really furious this time if he was choosing to deal with things personally. Red Falcon couldn"t help throwing a look back at the unconscious woman on the bed, then turned and followed Qi Mo.
~~~
Time pa.s.sed swiftly; another day faded peacefully into the horizon without a trace. However, Southeast Asia was not so peaceful during this short timeframe. Unbeknownst to most, it underwent a tremendous change that was life-altering for many people. One did not just meddle with the Qi Clan"s people and it was not wise to get into a power struggle against the centuries-old syndicate whose influence ran far and wide and deep. They were not a group that any new hot-headed organization could hope to contend with.
The famed Qi Clan, long-established arms dealers in the Western world, was like a dormant lion. Once provoked, it woke up and pounced on its enemies, sinking its sharp, talon-like claws into their flesh. It was only until then that these enemies understood what a huge mistake they had made, because they would lose everything to pay for what they had done.
Yet at this critical, life-threatening moment, the interior of the rural villa was calm and peaceful.
Pain was the first thing Li Xin became aware of as she woke. Searing pain ripped across her chest, dragging her up from the depths of her unconsciousness. The first thing she saw when her vision cleared was Qi Mo"s eyes staring directly at her.
He was sitting next to her bed. The second he saw her scrunch her face and regain consciousness, a brief glint of relief flashed across his eyes, though his face remained impa.s.sive. "Drink," he said, reaching for a gla.s.s of water on the bedside table and bringing it to her lips.
She eyed him for a moment, wondering at the expression on his face, but then her thirst won over. She stretched her head out, her dry lips reaching for the gla.s.s, and then winced at the sudden pain that seared through her body. Every tiny movement induced so much pain that sent her into a fit of heavy panting.
Qi Mo frowned at her discomfort and stepped onto the bed, pulling her over to lean against him. He smoothed a hand gently down her back and brought the water gla.s.s to her lips once again. She began gulping the water down frantically.
"Slow down—" Qi Mo began, but it was too late. Li Xin choked and sputtered, coughing desperately. Qi Mo pulled her into an upright position and began patting her back in an attempt to clear her lungs.
The coughing sent pain throbbing across Li Xin"s chest. Her face turned purple from the exertion. Qi Mo"s patting was making it worse — his movements appeared light, but were actually incredibly forceful. Li Xin felt like her back was splitting along with her chest. She grabbed his hand to make him stop. "Don"t," she said in between coughing. "It hurts."
At the sight of her face turning shades of red and purple from pain, Qi Mo"s face hardened and he let out a noncommittal grunt, though his hand stopped. He grabbed one of her hands and let her lean back against him.
Now that her back pain was gone, Li Xin rested with her back to Qi Mo"s chest, taking deep breaths to control her breathing.
He watched the woman in his arms quietly for a long moment before reaching up to wipe the beads of sweat that clung to her face. The bullet had missed her heart by a mere two centimeters. To them, that kind of injury was nothing, but to her, it was likely a major wound.
The doctor entered the room with numerous medical supplies in his arms. "Boss, it"s time to change her dressing," he said. The man showed no reaction to seeing Li Xin lying in Qi Mo"s arms. The overlord"s murderous gaze was embedded deeply in his mind and he had no desire to provoke him.
"Put it down and leave us," Qi Mo ordered.
The doctor furrowed his brows, but complied. Briefly, he wondered who was going to change the patient"s bandages. Unless the boss himself was going to? His lips twitched, but he kept his mouth shut as he left the supplies by the bed and quickly turned around and fled the room.