Chapter 1854 - 2046: Heaven’s Net (5)

All the SUVs in the convoy were destroyed by the explosion. This place is far from any village or store, and to leave, I must get a vehicle.

Chen Younian waved his hand, and the car slowly stopped by the roadside. Then, the window rolled down, and a man in his thirties poked his head out, glancing at the approaching Chen Younian. His face changed dramatically, and he hurriedly started the engine, ready to leave. Under the high beams, he had only vaguely seen someone in the middle of the road and couldn’t make out Chen Younian’s appearance. But now, seeing Chen Younian’s charred state up close, he was shocked, thinking he’d run into a ghost, and scrambled to leave.

However, Chen Younian didn’t give him the chance to escape. Before the car could restart, Chen Younian was already seated in the back.

"Drive, take me to Beijing," Chen Younian said coldly.

The man swallowed, his voice trembling as he replied, "Please... I’m begging you, I... I have old and young ones to care for, my whole family depends on me alone. I... I don’t want to die... Let me go, I’ll give you all my money." As he spoke, he hurriedly took out his wallet from his pocket, intending to hand it to the backseat Chen Younian.

"Rest assured, you’re useful to me now, I won’t kill you. But if you don’t start driving soon, I can’t guarantee you’ll stay alive," Chen Younian said. If he knew how to drive, this guy would be dead already. Someone of his status typically has transport arranged and doesn’t need to touch a steering wheel.

Upon hearing this, the man slowly relaxed and hurriedly started the car, driving down the road toward Beijing. Considering the strange passenger behind him, he was extremely nervous and soon felt dry-mouthed, unable to resist picking up a bottle of mineral water and drinking. Thinking of the odd man behind him, he hesitated briefly before retrieving another bottle, cautiously asking, "Do... do you want some water?"

Without a word, Chen Younian reached out and grabbed the bottle, gulping it down. After the explosion and fire, his whole body hurt immensely, and his throat had long felt parched, craving water. It wasn’t long before the bottle was empty.

Throwing away the empty bottle, he leaned against the seat, eyes closed, contemplating how to find those who ambushed him. Now, the Guardian clan was wiped out by him; only the Dragon Tiger Hall was left. Last night at Qiu Nanshan’s, he wanted to kill all the people from Dragon Tiger Hall to eliminate future trouble, but that group was so cunning that they escaped early.

The attack just now was likely Dragon Tiger Hall’s revenge.

As he pondered, Chen Younian suddenly felt intense cramping pain in his abdomen, as if his internal organs were being squeezed together, unbearable.

Cough, cough! He coughed twice, discovering his mouth was full of blood. Not only that, his body seemed to go numb, becoming rigid.

How could this be? Realizing the changes in himself, he was astonished. Although damaged by the explosion and fire, these were external injuries and couldn’t threaten his life. However, the pain inside was so obvious that something must be wrong physically.

At this time, the moving car suddenly stopped. Before the engine was off, the man at the wheel already pushed the door open and ran out. Chen Younian wanted to catch up, but his limbs didn’t respond well, taking a long while to force the car door open and slowly step out.

At this point, the pain intensified, fresh blood kept coming from his mouth, and he seemed completely exhausted, collapsing to the ground, only able to breathe.

Watching the man running away in the distance, Chen Younian suddenly realized, just now... he drank a bottle of mineral water. Could it be the water was to blame? It must be! There’s no other explanation. Everything was fine before drinking that bottle, then his body reacted so intensely.

Turns out... turns out it was all a trap; he just blamed himself for being too careless, actually trusting the driver easily.

At that moment, a beam of strong light shone over, and looking along this beam, he saw a large truck approaching slowly and stopping by the roadside. Soon, several people jumped off the truck, walking slowly toward him. As they got closer, Chen Younian lifted his head, glanced at the group, finally resting his eyes on a young man.

"Who... are you?" In intense pain, his speech felt weak and labored.

"I’m Zhu Hong, wonder if you’ve ever heard my name. Of course, given your status, maybe even if you’ve heard, you wouldn’t bother with someone of my stature," Zhu Hong said, chuckling.

Chen Younian thought carefully, "Zhu Hong... I remember, you’re from the Heavenly Dragon Sect."

Zhu Hong nodded with a smile, saying, "Mr. Chen indeed has a good memory."

"You did all this?" Chen Younian stared at Zhu Hong’s eyes, gritting his teeth and asking, "Why?"

"Why do you think?" Zhu Hong squatted in front of him, smirking, "Honestly, until today, I didn’t know such miraculous things existed in this world. The Soul Stone, give it up."

"You think you deserve the Soul Stone?" Chen Younian sneered, "Even if I gave it to you, could you handle it?"

"That’s not your concern," Zhu Hong replied indifferently. "Originally thought it’d take more effort to eliminate you, never expected a bottle of water would ruin you. You’ve lived this long, yet have no sense of alertness, trusting a stranger so easily"

Upon hearing this, Chen Younian bit his lip, speechless. When he stopped the car, he clearly saw the man’s fear, which is why he didn’t question his identity. Thinking back, just blame the man’s acting skills for being too good, completely deceiving him.

"I prepared a little gift for you, curious if you’ll like it." Saying that, Zhu Hong gestured, and his subordinates immediately brought over a wooden box, placing it beside Chen Younian.

"What’s this?"

Zhu Hong chuckled, opened the wooden box himself, took out a transparent bottle. It contained some liquid, he unscrewed the cap, bringing the bottle near Chen Younian’s face, letting him smell it.

The pungent odor invading, fear finally flickered in Chen Younian’s eyes.

Is this... sulfuric acid?

"What are you trying to do?"

Zhu Hong laughed smugly, "I know minor injuries and pain can’t affect you, unless you’re burned to ash or melted into water, that’s the only way to completely erase you from this world, so I specifically prepared this sulfuric acid for you."

"You..." Chen Younian widened his eyes, raging with fury but also deeply terrified, hesitated briefly before retaliating, "Release me, I can repay in any form."