Chapter 140

Jiang Ning was also startled by this sudden turn of events.

She knew the murderer might be nearby, but she never expected him to appear so quickly, leaving Xu Yunzhuo no chance to escape at all.

With a sickening thud, the butcher knife went in white and came out red. A pool of blood formed beneath Zhang Weiqiang, dripping pathetically onto the hiking backpack.

The murderer, clad in a black raincoat, pulled back his hood.

Xu Yunzhuo’s pupils contracted sharply. Disregarding the wheelchair, she hoisted her adoptive mother onto her back and bolted down the mountain.

Cen Qiuhua was terrified as well.

In just a few brief moments, Zhang Weiqiang was lying motionlessly on the ground.

He was beyond saving.

The murderer snatched the hiking backpack, threw it over his shoulder, and gave chase in Xu Yunzhuo’s direction.

With a pale face, Xu Yunzhuo ran slowly and with extreme difficulty because of the weight of Cen Qiuhua on her back.

"Zhuozhuo, put me down and run by yourself. Quick, don't worry about me."

Xu Yunzhuo gritted her teeth. "I came here to save you, how could I possibly leave you behind? The police should be nearby. As long as we find the police, we'll be saved."

Exhausted, Xu Yunzhuo tried her best to carry Cen Qiuhua toward a more secluded path. She paid no mind to the branches scratching her face, but the commotion behind her was getting closer and closer. Despair crept into her heart, and she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Is anyone there! Is anyone around!"

She could only pray that the police would appear soon.

"Bitch, caught you."

Xu Yunzhuo’s arm was grabbed, and in the struggle, she and Cen Qiuhua tumbled to the ground together.

Just as the knife was about to descend, a thick branch struck the murderer's hand hard.

The next second, Xu Yunzhuo fell into a warm embrace, her nostrils filled with the scent of ebony and agarwood.

Slowly raising her head, she saw Pei Qiaonian looking down at her, covered in sweat. "Are you alright? Take your adoptive mother and go. Leave this to me."

"But..."

"Go! It's fine, I'm a man, I can handle trash like this."

Pei Qiaonian blocked her way.

She couldn't understand why, after such an unpleasant fallout yesterday, Pei Qiaonian had still rushed over to save her.

As a ruthless and merciless villain in a novel, he had actually put himself in danger.

To say she wasn't moved would be a lie.

Yet Xu Yunzhuo knew she shouldn't entangle herself too deeply with him; she was someone bound to leave eventually.

She hoisted her adoptive mother onto her back once more. "I'll go get help for you. Wait for me."

After Xu Yunzhuo left, Pei Qiaonian finally let out a sigh of relief. He looked at the murderer, whom he had already encountered once deep in the remote mountains.

He reached up to loosen his tie, his phoenix-like eyes fixing a fierce glare on the man as he let out an involuntary scoff. "Like a rat hiding in the dark, you've finally decided to show your face after all this time. Looks like I'll have to send you to prison with my own hands."

The murderer let out a bizarre, grating laugh. "What relation is that woman to you? A friend or family?"

"Does it matter?"

"It truly doesn't matter, because she deserves to die, and her whole family deserves to die. It was because her parents bought substandard building materials that my son fell from a high-rise and was dashed to his death. Yet their family refused to pay a single cent in compensation and fled with the money. My poor son still hasn't found justice. I originally thought I had already avenged him, but then another woman with the exact same face as that dead wretch appeared. I must avenge my son; all of them in that family deserve to die."

Pei Qiaonian couldn't help but sneer. "She has no relation whatsoever to the family that killed your son, neither in reality nor biologically. If you want revenge, you need to find the right person, you coward who only knows how to bully women."

Provoked into a frenzy, the murderer's eyes turned bloodshot as he brandished his cleaver and charged at Pei Qiaonian.

Pei Qiaonian drew a pistol from inside his jacket. With a single gunshot,

the murderer collapsed to the ground.