Beauty and the Bodyguard

Chapter 165 - Threats and Counter-Threats

"I'm a representative, a spokesperson pushed onto the stage." Cihua said a little pridefully. "I'm sure you've a good idea of my position and name in Songshan. You should be able to figure out the extent of strength my boss holds."

"I know how to boast too." Lin Yi said. "Would you believe me if I told you that my shifu's a world-class king of assassins?"

"......" Cihua, naturally, didn't believe Lin Yi, rolling his eyes at him instead. "Alright, let's not talk about that. Let's talk about you. What exactly are you with Chu Mengyao for? Money, right? Well, as for the other stuff…… Heh, Chu Mengyao's a very beautiful girl, true, but she's just that- a girl. They're not on the same level as women, who know all about pleasing men. You'll be able to have any woman you want with money, isn't that true?"

"Ha……" Lin Yi waited for Cihua to continue.

"Let's talk about this cooperation." Cihua continued. "You see, our boss has never lacked money! Work with us, and you'll have more than that- women, power… everything, as long as the job's done. You'll have everything! Just like me."

You think you're really something, don't you? Lin Yi wanted to laugh, but couldn't- it was just too sad. What kind of man prides himself over being a pawn of someone else? Lin Yi hadn't the interest and time to bother attacking pride like that.

"Cooperation how? You want me to go to your side? Or do you want me to play undercover for you?" Lin Yi asked.

"Both work, as long as you're willing." Cihua answered. "Your skills… I've heard they aren't inferior to Li Yao's?"

"Who's Li Yao?" Lin Yi didn't know the exquisite man's name.

"The man whose arm you stopped earlier." Cihua explained.

"Ah, maybe." Li Yi answered, dodging the question.

"You're pretty much one of a kind in Songshan, with ability like that. You come help me out and I'm sure my boss'll pay a high price for your services." Cihua said. "Of course, you can also continue as undercover beside Chu Mengyao, and enjoy your life of women and riches, and we'll compensate you as well. You'll only need to answer when the timing is right, and crucial."

"The way you say it makes it seem so easy…… but it's extremely difficult in practice." Lin Yi said, rejecting it directly. "Firstly, I'm very satisfied with my life as it is, and I've no shortage of money with just the amount Chu Pengzhan's paying me. I'm actually living a life of peaceful comfort as of now, and I'm not really interested in high-level undercover missions. So, sorry- I can't take you up on that."

"Mister Lin, I hope you think it over carefully before speaking." Cihua said. "Do you think you have any other option, at this point?"

"Another threat?" Lin Yi asked as he raised his head to look at Cihua.

"You can see it that way." Cihua said with as mile. "You can treat it as advice or a threat, it's up to you."

"Okay, I understand." Lin Yi said, standing up. "Anything else? I'll be going if we're done here- I need to get home for bed soon."

"So is that a yes or a no?" Cihua asked. "Or are you asking for time to think it over?"

"No need for that- it's a no." Lin Yi said. "I've made my position quite clear. We'll meet again next time."

"I hope you don't regret your decision as you walk out that door." Cihua said with a frown, not expecting Lin Yi to pass on the better offer. It seemed that he'd been mesmerized by Miss Chu- that 'get home for bed' must've been a hint on Lin Yi's part.

Cihua's mind was simply too full of dirty corruption.

"Hah……" Lin Yi pushed open the door, and was just about to leave when Cihua's face distorted and changed.

He'd been full of confidence earlier, even telling Lin Yi to come meet him in person, even opening up and admitting that he was the man behind the bank robbery. It was all for the sake of getting Lin Yi onto his boat!!

To him, every person had their price, and as long as Cihua offered a rich enough profit, he was sure that Lin Yi would've abandoned Mengyao for his camp.

Yet Lin Yi never even bothered asking the price, rejecting it blatantly! Cihua wasn't sure if he was underestimating or overestimating Lin Yi anymore.

Was he overestimating him for his needless loyalty, or underestimating him, thinking that he was only after the beauty?

"I see. Tread carefully, Mister Lin." Cihua said, understanding that all room for bargaining had been closed- Lin Yi had made up his mind, and thus worthless to him.

"I will. You tread carefully too, Cihua Bro- don't do anything unwise." With that, Lin Yi walked out the office. He didn't know the identity, but there was one basic thing he'd understood today: the man clashing with Chu Pengzhan was the man backing Li Cihua up.

The bank robbery, on the other hand, had been planned by Cihua… Yet there wasn't a whole lot the police could do to him, from what Lin Yi had seen of the man's confidence and fearlessness.

It meant that simply apprehending the robbers meant the end of the robbery case as a whole.

Lin Yi wasn't one to follow proper procedure, but Cihua hadn't touched on his bottom line yet. Chu Pengzhan had yet to respond to this, as well, and Lin Yi decided to let Cihua go this time around.

After all, it was no difficult thing to off Cihua- the man had said so himself, Lin Yi would be fine if he killed him without leaving evidence.

Li Yao and Jiaonang weren't making any movements to stop him at the door, allowing Lin Yi to step through and leave. It seemed that these two wouldn't act on their own accords without direct orders from Cihua.

Lin Yi got into Yushu's yellow Beetle, and left the Solid Cloud bar.

Mengyao's Audi S5 was gone, most likely sent back by one of Li Fu's men.

"Fucking hell, counter-threatening me, is he?" Cihua waved his hand at the skinny man only after Lin Yi had left. "Zhang Long, get rid of this man with Li Yao. He'll only be a thorn if he doesn't join me."

"Yes!" Zhang Long answered faintly, and left the room without saying anything else.

Zhang Long was the master Cihua had mentioned before, the peak late phase of the golden class his boss had assigned to him. He had an epic name, sharing the 'Zhang Long' with Zhang Long Zhao Hu from Seven Heroes and Five Gallants.

Zhang Long remained silent about it, but he thought that he was more than enough to handle Lin Yi alone. He was under direct orders from Cihua, however, and he had no intention of disobeying him.

Li Yao acted as the driver as he went on the move with Zhang Long- there wasn't much he could do about that, since the man was stronger than him, after all.

They tailed Lin Yi's Beetle directly as Lin Yi made his way home.

Chapter 166 - Generous Gift

Lin Yi, naturally, wasn't expecting Cihua to just let him go- the jade on his neck started signalling him soon after he drove out.

Lin Yi smiled faintly- as expected, a black SUV started following him a while later. It had just entered his field of vision, quite some distance away, too- but Lin Yi had received a warning from the jade beforehand, and was absolutely certain that the vehicle was hostile.

While it wasn't impossible for him to have determined the nature of the follower, he'd still have to have spent a certain amount of time for that. This golden finger of his, however, saved him that precious time. It wasn't too useful in the cities, but a mere one second earlier or later in detecting the enemy in a warzone made all the difference between life and death.

Having confirmed that the SUV was indeed tailing him, Lin Yi decided to change routes- he wasn't too familiar with the city's layout, but he started driving away from the villa's direction. He'd been on this route before: the slums Tang Yin lived in was just ahead, and there was a forest past the slums and in the city outskirts. He'd passed the place on the train he'd come in the very first day, and locations Lin Yi had been through oftentimes had a stronger impression on him.

"Long Bro, that kid's changed his route! You think he's spotted us?" Li Yao asked.

"So what if he did?" Zhang Long said, evidently not thinking much of the situation. "Doesn't matter if he's seen us or not; he needs to die, and killing him is a piece of cake!"

Zhang Long had observed Lin Yi from the shadows earlier, and felt that he was too far weaker than him- he couldn't help but find Cihua's orders a waste of personnel and ability.

From what he'd seen, even Li Yao was enough to off Lin Yi, let alone him! Wasn't CIhua clearly doubting his abilities? Or was he overestimating Lin Yi's instead?

Zhang Long was irritated and pissed off to the point that he wasn't even interested in fighting Lin Yi anymore- he believed himself to be on a caliber far higher than Lin Yi was, and decided that he'd let Li Yao handle the job, if possible. It simply wasn't worth his time.

Li Yao didn't see Zhang Long's words as a boast, or anything of the sort- after all, Zhang Long's strength was there for all to see; the guy was two phases ahead of him in the golden class, and that meant a world of difference, even if they were in the same category.

"Should we report this to Cihua Bro, then?" Li Yao asked.

Cihua Bro himself didn't know kung fu, but he was a man the boss saw value in. As such, both Li Yao and Zhang Long were required to obey him.

Yet Zhang Long was on a level so high that Cihua wasn't too much of a figure to him anymore- he'd follow through with his commands all the same, but the disdain towards him was there.

"No need. Cihua Bro only told us to kill him- he didn't say anything about the method or location." Zhang Long said.

"Alright, we'll follow him then." Li Yao nodded.

Lin Yi increased the speed of the car as he went past the slums and out of the city, finding the yellow Beetle quite nice to drive in- at the least, it was better than the SUV in terms of speed.

"Fuck, that Beetle's pretty fast. Shouldn't have gotten in this damn SUV!" Li Yao complained, not expecting Lin Yi to change routes to the outskirts. After all, speed wouldn't have made too much of a difference in the city.

"Is he trying to shake us off?" Zhang Long frowned.

"Dunno, but we're at a disadvantage in this terrain. It won't be easy to catch up to him." Li Yao said.

"Hm?" Zhang Long was about to say something when he saw the Beetle parked at the side of the road- Lin Yi was walking towards them right in the middle of their path. "The fuck is he doing?"

"Ha, he's telling us he's spotted us- maybe he wants to talk with us?" Li Yao guessed.

"Fuck." Zhang Long nodded, thinking that it had to be the only explanation- what sort of idiot would stop a car from the middle of the road like that?

"So do we stop the car and talk to him, Long Bro?" Li Yao asked.

"Stop the car? Stop my ass!" Zhang Long said with a cold laugh. "The kid wants to die, why would we deny him that?"

"Long Bro… Are you saying….?" Li Yao asked, stunned and uncertain.

"We're ramming him." Zhang Long hmphed, a mocking smile forming on his lips. "Peak early phase, golden class master- killed in a car accident! Hahaha, what a fucking tragedy!"

"Ahh…… Heh...heh……" Li Yao grinned, understanding Zhang Long's intentions- what an evil idea! A practitioner, after all, would gladly die in battle than from something out of place like a car crash!! Even falling to some evil scheme would've been preferable for a practitioner!

It shouldn't be a difficult thing for Li Yao and Zhang Long to take Lin Yi down with their combined abilities, but Zhang Long was planning on killing Lin Yi without even getting out of the car, ramming him dead instead!

Lin Yi would absolutely be crying if he ever learned of what Zhang Long was planning!

"Damn, you're baad, Long Bro!" Li Yao said with a smile as he prepared to speed up.

"Don't speed up!" Zhang Long stopped with a wave of his hand.

"How do we ram him down if we don't speed up?" Li Yao paused.

"You gotta act like you're slowing down, and then speed up suddenly twenty meters away from him! Ram him down when he isn't prepared!" Zhang Long explained. "Don't underestimate him now- he's still an early phase golden class, a master. Lemme ask you this: how confident are you of dodging a car ramming at you from this distance?"

"At least eighty percent if I knew what the car was gonna do." Li Yao nodded deeply. "It'd be pretty troublesome if I didn't though… You're so much more cautious than I am, Long Bro!"

"Exactly, you need to trick him if you wanna kill him like this." Zhang Long said. "Hah, hilarious- a golden class, dead in a car crash!! Man.."

"Yeah, it's really pretty funny isn't it!" Li Yao said. "The cops won't be suspecting anyone of anything, too; they'll think it was an accident…"

The SUV started slowing down as it neared Lin Yi, its signal lights flashing as if the car were about to stop…

A faint smile formed on Lin Yi's lips as he watched the nearing car silently.

He'd warned Cihua, but the guy hadn't listened… He had only himself to blame for the generous gift he was about to send him...

sounds a bit boring but im feeling lazy today so...