harleyscars Chapter 26, The 6th Win or Loss
Chapter 26, The 6th Win or Loss
The person who came was Tang Lin. She hugged Wen Xu and cried louder and louder, making Wen Xu's head ache.
Wen Xu didn't know what kind of ill-fated relationship the two of them had that they could meet in this desolate wilderness. She slowly distanced herself from Tang Lin.
Tang Lin's smooth, shiny, highlighted blonde hair was loose, her white coat was smudged with several black patches, her black leggings were covered with grass blades, and her cheeks were slightly flushed.
Wen Xu also noticed that Tang Lin's hands were wrapped in several layers of gauze, with blood seeping out from the edges, but she didn't say anything. She just listened to Tang Lin recount what happened after Wen Xu left, in fits and starts.
Xia Ziling arranged dinner for the guests. With Wen Xu absent, Tang Lin became their primary target. She had intended to please them, but somehow she had displeased Xia Ziling. On their way back to the city, Xia Ziling abandoned her, leaving her to walk alone. Tang Lin had been walking for over two hours without encountering a single vehicle. Thirsty and exhausted, she could only walk and cry. Later, she saw a blue sign indicating a courier warehouse a kilometer ahead. Hope returned to her, and she decided to go and borrow a phone.
"Without my phone, I couldn't even use Baidu Maps. I thought I had gone to the wrong place."
"Where's your phone? They even confiscated your phone? Who do they think they are?"
"No, I lost it myself."
Under Wen Xu's barrage of questions, Tang Lin's hasty lie seemed clumsy, and Wen Xu took a deep breath.
"To save costs, courier warehouses might be located in the suburbs, but their location must be near highway exits or national roads for convenient delivery, or near train stations or freight stations, or close to the delivery area. This place is a classic example of being in the middle of none. There's no way there could be a courier warehouse within five kilometers, and the chances of finding one within ten kilometers are very low. You wouldn't see any signs along the way. Why are you lying to me?"
Tang Lin's gaze towards Wen Xu changed. Wen Xu had always been her little follower, agreeing with everything she said. But at some point, she could no longer influence Wen Xu's thoughts. However, old habits die hard, and Tang Lin did not believe that Wen Xu could completely disregard their years of friendship.
Tang Lin gritted her teeth and removed the bandages from her hand. There was a bloody, mangled wound on the web of her right hand, with a large chunk of flesh missing, revealing the bare bone.
"Xiao Xu, save me! They can't find you, so they've set their dogs on me! If you just apologize to Lu Heng, we'll all be fine."
Tang Lin reached out his hand to Wen Xu, but Wen Xu dodged it. She was afraid of contracting rabies, and even more afraid that Tang Lin would trick her, since Tang Lin had already tricked her several times.
Why are you here?
"I've been walking for over two hours."
"Really?" Wen Xu sneered. "An adult can walk about five kilometers in an hour, but in your current condition, you'd struggle to even walk three kilometers. The hotel hosting the banquet is more than fifteen kilometers away from the cedar forest as the crow flies. How did you get here? When I arrived, I didn't hear any horses' hooves or vehicles. I think you were already left here, waiting for me to arrive before you started your operation. What a elaborate ruse."
Tang Lin was stunned. Just as Wen Xu had said, she had been arranged to persuade Wen Xu here, but the person who had set the dogs on her and thrown her here was not Xia Ziling, but Lu Heng.
"You definitely have more than one phone. Give me your spare one?"
Wen Xu had a spare phone, and if she hadn't been drugged by Lu Heng with cigarettes, she would have definitely tried to leave it behind. Tang Lin, feeling a bit resentful, reached under the hood of her coat, pulled out her phone from a hidden pocket, and handed it to Wen Xu. Wen Xu took the phone and called the police. She told the police their location, only saying that the two of them had gotten separated from their companions at the equestrian club while playing around, and when they came to their senses, they found themselves in a cedar forest, being chased by a fierce wild dog, and her companion had been injured. The police told them to keep talking and followed the direction they had traveled; they arrived quickly.
Wen Xu handed the phone back to Tang Lin and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Keep the phone on. The police will call 120. You'll be safe once you meet up. Hurry up, rabies has a 100% fatality rate."
Upon hearing this, Tang Lin's face instantly turned pale. She gritted her teeth and grabbed Wen Xu.
"There's no time to wait for the ambulance, I've been bitten for a while now. Xiao Xu, as long as you come back with me and apologize to Lu Heng, the doctor at the equestrian club will give me antivenom."
"I do need to go back, but I won't go with you. He set his dogs on you, and he set them on me too. I escaped because I'm stronger than you. Even if I apologize today, he'll find another opportunity to hurt me. Allying with the devil will only lead to being devoured by the devil."
Wen Xu didn't intend to waste any more words with her. Telling her how to save her life was already a favor Wen Xu had done out of consideration for their years of friendship. If she really didn't know what was good for her, Wen Xu could only send her on her way.
Seeing Wen Xu walk away quickly, Tang Lin wanted to chase after him but couldn't catch up. Her face twisted, and a look of resentment appeared.
"You're going to leave me here? It's because you ran away that they set the dogs on me. You're the culprit!"
Despite the soreness in her legs, Tang Lin quickly ran a few steps to catch up with Wen Xu. She grabbed Wen Xu's arm, but let go as soon as she saw the look in his eyes.
She always considered herself several levels above Wen Xu, but Wen Xu looked at her as if she were an inanimate object.
Wen Xu shook off her hand and continued walking forward. She had to deal with Lu Heng before the police arrived. Was the vehicle that Tang Lin had brought still nearby?
Ideally, it would be a car; no matter how powerful a dog's claws are, it can't bite through a car's metal shell. Wen Xu had already grasped the concealed knife in her hand, adjusting her posture to hide the handle under her wrist. She pinched the blade with her right index and middle fingers. Although this gesture made her right hand look somewhat awkward, it allowed her to hide the entire knife unnoticed. When she needed to use it, she simply slapped her right hand like a slap. If Tang Lin had tried to confront her directly earlier, she wouldn't have held back.
Wen Xu continued walking and found a small rest stop. To the left was a canopy with two rows of chairs for people to rest under. To the far right were two individual toilet stalls, and in the middle were sinks for washing hands and vending machines. Between the toilets and vending machines was a room that served as a storage area for the equestrian club staff.
Wen Xu planned to go into the workroom to look for anything useful, preferably a wrench, but a screwdriver would also do. She entered the workroom, but found only two mops, a broom, and a box of unpacked toilet paper. It seemed this was just the cleaning lady's restocking area. Wen Xu carefully inspected the room. The workroom window had iron bars on the outside, and the door lock was a simple pull-lock from the inside—a small, easily defensible fortress. If she waited here, she could easily wait for the police to come and rescue her.
But Wen Xu sat on a bench at the rest stop, silently counting in her mind, until she heard the sound of a car engine. Lu Heng had arrived alone in his car. As the male lead of the reality show, he could find her more easily than anyone else.
He got out of the car, his once perfectly styled hair now disheveled, and his forehead, neck, and armpits were covered in sweat. Heaven knows how fast his heart was beating.
You lost.