Chasing the Wife
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Zhou Jiao vaguely said, “…It’s just a kind of illness.”
But Jiang Lian was not fooled by her.
He lowered his head and took another deep breath at the hollow of her neck. Because his entire face was pressed against her skin, his deep, cold voice was somewhat muffled: “Why would skin be hungry and thirsty?”
Zhou Jiao really wanted to hand him a mirror and sincerely say, ‘Take a look yourself, and you’ll know why.’
But she didn’t dare.
She could only continue to be vague: “The human body is relatively fragile and prone to all sorts of strange illnesses… I once saw a person who, after drinking factory wastewater, would glow green in the middle of the night…”
Jiang Lian was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Humans really were quite fragile.
Ever since he no longer wanted to kill her, he had been careful not to use too much force on her. Last time, when he wrapped his tentacle around her waist, he had used only one-thousandth of his strength, yet her face had turned as pale as if she were about to die.
Thinking about how other things could also make her look that deathly pale, his expression became uncertain again.
Why did he care about such a fragile creature?
She couldn’t even withstand one-thousandth of his strength, let alone high-temperature alloys exceeding a thousand degrees or bullets that, upon entering her body, hadn’t even released their ultra-low temperature liquid yet—no, she wouldn’t even feel the high temperature. The impact alone would instantly kill her.
Why would he need such a useless creature? As a subordinate?
Jiang Lian paused and thought, so the numbing feeling in his chest was because he wanted her as his subordinate?
Why did he suddenly want a human subordinate?
He had lived for so many years without ever having a subordinate. This human was small, fragile, short-lived, and couldn’t even withstand water pressure of around a hundred meters.
What made her qualified to be his subordinate?
Zhou Jiao saw that he wasn’t asking any more strange questions and let out a long sigh of relief.
She didn’t trust the company. There was no way she would entrust her life to them based solely on the company’s words.
Since there was still a week left, she planned to continue investigating the identity of “When will BioTech go bankrupt”—ideally, she could uncover the organization backing him and set up a three-way battle where they fought each other like dogs.
If she was lucky, she might escape from this situation unscathed, taking the money and running away. If she was unlucky… Zhou Jiao narrowed her eyelashes, gazing coldly into the distance. No matter what, she would make sure to drag someone down with her.
At that moment, Zhou Jiao’s back suddenly turned cold—she couldn’t describe exactly what she felt, but her instincts screamed danger! Run!
It was only thanks to her experience working in the Special Bureau that, at the critical moment, Zhou Jiao abruptly turned her body and, with lightning-fast reflexes, grabbed hold of Jiang Lian’s tentacle.
At the tip of the tentacle was a long, sharp sting, gleaming with a chilling cold light.
This damned thing was trying to kill her again for some unknown reason!
Holding onto his tentacle, Zhou Jiao’s temples throbbed furiously. “What… exactly… do you mean by this?”
—Too slow.
Jiang Lian coldly judged in his mind. Her awareness was also inadequate; she only reacted when the sting was about to pierce the back of her head.
What exactly did he see in her?
Jiang Lian looked at her, his gaze as cold as ice and as sharp as a blade, his brows filled with suppressed irritation and hostility.
He didn’t like her frailty and low alertness.
“……” Under his icy gaze, Zhou Jiao’s face was full of confusion. She had no idea what kind of madness he was pulling.
Jiang Lian stared at her coldly for a long time before slowly speaking:
“If you can escape my pursuit within three days, I will allow you to live. If you fail to escape, I will personally end you.”
If she couldn’t even escape the chase he deliberately held back on, then dying at his hands was still better than dying at the hands of some filthy thing.
Zhou Jiao: “……………………”
Wait, what did I ever do to you???
She completely couldn’t keep up with his thought process. There was still a week left, and she had no interest in playing this ridiculous survival game with him.
Forcing a polite and mild smile, she wanted to ask him what the hell he was up to.
But Jiang Lian cut her off and spat out a cold command:
“Run. Don’t make me say it a second time.”
…Holy fck, you bastard!
Zhou Jiao had no choice but to grit her teeth and run!
If she had been hesitant before—unsure whether to side with the company or Jiang Lian—she had no doubts now!
Sure, the company was incredibly evil, every pore oozing blood and filth, but at least they were living humans. They had human thoughts, could communicate like humans. Jiang Lian, on the other hand, was completely impossible to reason with!
One second, he had his face buried in the crook of her neck, obsessively inhaling her scent like a cat sniffing catnip. The next, his expression turned cold, and he wanted to play a goddamn death chase with her.
…With his terrifying sense of smell, he could probably track her from the other side of a surveillance camera. How the hell was she supposed to escape his pursuit?
Zhou Jiao seriously considered lighting a fire, igniting the methane from the trash heap, and dying together with him.
But no matter what she thought, all she could do was lower her head and charge forward.
There was too much trash around—cans, plastic bags, instant food containers, shards of glass—all reflecting a blindingly cold light under the winter sun. Swarms of green flies buzzed through the air.
Some piles of garbage, possibly left to rot for too long, had spontaneously combusted, sending thick, rolling smoke into the air, stinging her eyes.
She had no idea how long she had been running, but when she glanced back, she could still see Jiang Lian’s figure.
This wasn’t going to work. Right now, he just wasn’t moving at full speed. The moment he got tired of this slow pursuit, he would catch her in an instant.
She needed a vehicle.
Zhou Jiao slammed to a stop and scanned her surroundings.
As she searched for a way to escape, she kept Jiang Lian in her peripheral vision, her heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of her throat.
It had been so, so long since she had felt this kind of sheer terror, every pore on her body tightening in alarm.
—Too thrilling. If she got caught, she was dead.
It was the most exhilarating game of hide-and-seek she had ever played.
If only she weren’t the one at risk of dying, she’d have given this game a perfect score.
Jiang Lian’s figure was still closing in.
She didn’t know if it was because she had stopped moving, but his expression turned chillingly terrifying. The deep purple-black tentacles behind him flickered in and out of sight, emitting a low, eerie hum that sent shivers down the spine, carrying an overwhelming psychological pressure.
Time was limited. Zhou Jiao gritted her teeth, no longer looking at Jiang Lian’s figure, and bent down to rummage through the garbage pile.
She needed a motorcycle that wasn’t too damaged.
If this were the central city district, she would have given up searching right away. But this was a garbage dump in the slums—aside from money, anything could be found here.
It was as if an urgent countdown had started in the air. Time ticked away, second by second. With every passing moment, the shadow of death crept closer.
—There it is!
Zhou Jiao’s spirits lifted as she dragged a motorcycle out of the pile and quickly inspected it.
Luck was on her side. The only issue was the engine, which wouldn’t take long to fix.
In Yucheng, buying a car was cheaper than repairing one. If a vehicle had issues, most people would choose to replace it rather than spend money on repairs.
If she had the time, she could have refurbished this motorcycle into a new one. But right now, she could only use a crude and destructive method to ignite it.
Zhou Jiao propped the motorcycle upright and pulled out a connection cable from the port behind her ear, preparing to link it to the motorcycle’s engine.
—Jiang Lian’s figure was getting closer.
The air around her was growing colder, a bone-chilling frost that momentarily blanked her mind, almost making her fumble the connection cable before she could insert it into the motorcycle’s port.
After much effort, she finally hooked it up to the engine and began trying to start it. Each attempt sent blinding white sparks flashing before her eyes.
—Shit, at this rate, the bike wouldn’t start, and her brain would be fried first!
At that moment, something cold and slick coiled around her ankle, slowly creeping up her calf.
Jiang Lian’s tentacle had arrived.
Zhou Jiao’s scalp tightened. Ignoring any safety concerns, she desperately kept trying to start the engine, again and again—ten, twenty times—until finally—
—Vroom!
The deafening roar of the engine erupted!
She yanked the tentacle off her ankle, swung her leg over the motorcycle, and slammed the throttle to the max—shooting forward like an arrow loosed from a bow!
Almost the instant she sped off, an earth-shattering explosion erupted behind her!
—Boom!
A scorching shockwave blasted outward, thick black smoke billowed into the sky, and the flames ignited the surrounding methane gas, triggering a chain reaction of explosions. Raging fire spread uncontrollably!
Jiang Lian stood amidst the dense smoke and blazing flames, his expression unreadable behind his gold-rimmed glasses. He cast her a cold, indifferent glance.
Zhou Jiao shivered under his gaze.
His eyes seemed to be saying:
Keep running. Don’t stop.
—If you stop, I will kill you.