Knock! Knock! Knock!

All sounds in the room died away when the gla.s.s was knocked.

"Guys, I'm a worker in this quarry," Ning Tao claimed loudly. "My boss said it was too hot and he asked me to bring you some iced beer. Can you open the window for me?"

No one in the room responded.

"It's weird. I heard someone speak just now. Why is there no sound now?" Ning Tao muttered. "d.a.m.n, forget it. I can have this stewed duck all by myself."

"Wait a minute." Someone in the room finally answered.

After that there were footsteps behind the window, and then the sound of opening the window latch.

Ning Tao suddenly got nervous, clenching tightly the rock in his right hand. It was, after all, the first time he had ever done anything like this, and it related to Su Ya's life. Thus, no matter how good his psychological quality was, he would be tense.

The window opened a little and a bald head poked out from behind it. A fierce-looking man stared at Ning Tao with a look of menace. "Give me the beer..."

Ning Tao had no beer or duck in his hands.

The bald man suddenly realized something and tried to jerk his head back.

Before his head was fully retracted, Ning Tao violently swung out his right hand, which was hidden behind his back, and hit his head hard with the rock in his hand.

Bam!

The bald man's head was suddenly flayed open and torn, and he pa.s.sed out after a groan of pain.

Ning Tao put a hand on the bald man's shoulder and pressed down, and the window was suddenly smashed open by the man. At that moment, Ning Tao pressed the bald man hard and jumped into the room.

Whistling!

There was a sound of wind.

Ning Tao had just jumped into the room when a man with a scarred face hiding by the window suddenly swept a baseball bat at him.

Bang!

In a flash, Ning Tao got hit in the chest. For a moment he felt as if his whole chest had been shattered. The violent shock and pain nearly choked him, but the moment the baseball bat hit his chest, his Niwan acupoint suddenly trembled, and the trace of spiritual power spread like a sound wave, forming a "protective film" for him, protecting his body and consciousness.

Pract.i.tioners' spiritual power was actually a kind of energy, which had spirituality. When the pract.i.tioner was attacked, its knee-jerk reaction was to protect the pract.i.tioner. It was like that one's eyelids would automatically close when the eyes were attacked by flying insects or dust.

Whistling!

The man with a scarred face swung his baseball bat at Ning Tao's head again.

The blow was so sharp and quick that it could even make a hole in a concrete wall, not to mention a human head!

"Woo..." In the corner, Su Ya, tied to an iron chair, made a small sound, but in terms of the intensity of her voice, she should be eager to rip the rag in her mouth apart!

Suddenly Ning Tao crouched down.

Bang!

The baseball bat the man's hand hit the wall behind Ning Tao. With a dull noise, there was a hole in the brick and concrete wall!

Before the man had taken back the baseball bat, which was the moment when the baseball bat hit the wall, Ning Tao swung the rock and threw it at his knee.

There was a crack!

It was the sound of bones breaking.

"Ah!" The man with a scarred face let out a scream. With his kneecap smashed, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

Ning Tao jumped forward on him, and smashed the stone in his right hand into the man's head at that very moment.

Like his companion, the man pa.s.sed out.

Ning Tao rolled off the man and lay on the ground. Only then did his tense nerves relax. Maybe because of too much adrenaline, his heart was racing. It was a fight of life and death, after all, and it was the first time he had experienced such an adventure. How could he not be strained?

"Whining..." Su Ya made a m.u.f.fled sound.

Ning Tao got up from the ground, walked over to Su Ya and pulled the rag out of her mouth.

"Are you, are you all right?" Su Ya was nervous and excited.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Don't panic, I'll get you out of here," Ning Tao said as he unwrapped Su Ya.

As soon as the rope was untied, Su Ya threw herself into Ning Tao's arms and tears came to her eyes.

Ning Tao patted her on the back and said in a soothing voice, "It's all right. Don't be afraid."

"I'm sorry..." Su Ya sobbed. "I shouldn't have dragged you... dragged you into this..."

"Where did you steal the things you hid under your bed?" Having been obsessed by this question, Ning Tao could not wait to know the answer.

"I stole it from a businessman named w.a.n.g Yaoyang..."

"Didn't Jiang Yilong already donate five million to the orphanage? Why did you steal?" Ning Tao felt a little disappointed with Su Ya.

"I stole it before I met you. I don't know what it is. I sneaked into w.a.n.g Yaoyang's house that night to steal something of value, and happened to overhear w.a.n.g Yaoyang on the phone saying it was worth ten million yuan, so I..." Su Ya could not go on, and her face was full of guilt.

Then this event set off a chain of reactions.

Ning Tao clapped Su Ya on the back again. "We'll talk about it later. Now we need to get out of here as soon as possible."

Su Ya nodded and followed Ning Tao to the window. One of her legs got hurt and she walked with a slight limp.

Ning Tao noticed her limp and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay," Su Ya replied, approached the window and climbed up with her hands on the windowsill. However, as soon as she lifted herself up, she let out a cry of pain and fell to the ground.

Ning Tao hurriedly hugged her waist, held her and solicitously inquired, "What's wrong?"

"I got hit in the ribs by that guy, and it hurt when I tried to draw on my strength," Su Ya said with a grimace.

Ning Tao went around to the front of Su Ya, squatted, and said, "Jump on my back. I'll carry you."

"How could I?" Su Ya was a little hesitant.

"Hurry up!" Ning Tao urged in a fierce voice.

Su Ya bit her lip and jumped on Ning Tao's back.

Ning Tao's hand reached behind his back and wrapped around the richest part of Su Ya. A sense of touch he had never felt before came from his hand, and in a moment it penetrated his heart. The touch made Ning Tao secretly nervous, but the situation did not allow him to image. He got up from the ground, carried Su Ya on his back and stepped on the windowsill. Then he jumped down, and ran to the dune where he had hidden.

He ran so fast that Su Ya felt a b.u.mp on his back.

"Ouch..." Su Ya hugged Ning Tao's neck tightly, afraid to fall off his back.

"Hold it a little longer. It will be all right when we leave here," Ning Tao said and quickened his pace.

Su Ya bit her lip and endured not just the pain of the b.u.mps, but some other sensation.

Ning Tao returned with Su Ya on his back by the way he came. After entering the forest, he put Su Ya down. He was tired, and his clothes were soaked with sweat.

He had actually thought about painting a blood lock in that room so as to open the convenient door and go straight back to the clinic. But in that case, Su Ya would know the secret of the Sky Clinic, and the b.u.t.terfly effect would be beyond his control, so he abandoned the idea and chose to escape with Su Ya on his back.

Ning Tao pulled out his phone to call Jiang Hao, but before he dialed the number, his phone rang, and it was an unfamiliar number.

Ning Tao thought of something and answered the phone.

A deep voice came from the phone. "Where are you?"

It was the voice of the taxi driver.

Ning Tao looked at Su Ya and placed a see-through finger to his lips before he answered the taxi driver, "I'm at my house and I've been waiting for your call. Tell me, when, where and how?"

"Take that thing to Red Star Quarry in 40 minutes. I'll kill that girl if you're a minute late! And if you dare to call the police, you just need to come and collect that girl's body!" The taxi driver cried viciously.

"I'll be right there. I warn you not to mess around! If you hurt my friend, I swear you'll never get what you want in your life!" Ning Tao snapped.

"Beeping..." The other end of the line had been hung up.

Ning Tao put down his phone and looked up at the sky. The light was still strong, at least several hours before dark. The timing of the trade was clearly illogical.

"Is that the guy?" Su Ya asked.

Ning Tao nodded and asked, "Do you know who he is?"

"I don't know. I just heard the two guys that guard me call him Brother Meng. He was tough and hit me really hard. And it was him who hurt my ribs," Su Ya stated as a flicker of fear crossed her eyes.

Ning Tao dialed Jiang Hao's cell phone number, and as soon as he got Jiang Hao on the phone, he cut to the chase, saying, "I'm on the hill behind Red Star Quarry. I didn't tell you before because I have a friend in their hands. Now I've found my friend and rescued her. I have a very important thing in my hand that you want. Come and get it. And call an ambulance."

"Are you hurt?" When she heard Ning Tao ask her to call an ambulance, Jiang Hao's first reaction was to care about him instead of asking what was in his hand.

"I'm fine," Ning Tao replied. "The men who kidnapped my friend were wounded."

"You stay where you are. I'll be right over. We'll talk when we meet," Jiang Hao said before hanging up.

Su Ya suddenly got nervous. "Did... did you call the police?"

"I called Jiang Hao, and she is a cop," Ning Tao said.

"I, I have to get out of here. She'll catch me." Su Ya was more nervous, and tried to stagger away.

Ning Tao grabbed her hand and persuaded, "Avoidance cannot solve the problem. When you do something wrong, you have to face the music. Can you escape for the rest of your life?"

"I..." Su Ya was at a loss for words.

"I'll tell Jiang Hao about your situation," Ning Tao rea.s.sured her. "Her department needs my help, and I'm sure you'll be all right."

Su Ya's lips quivered. "Why are you so nice to me?" She finally asked.

Ning Tao thought for a moment, avoided making eye contact with her, and replied, "Li Xiaoyu, and the other children in the Suns.h.i.+ne Orphanage, they can't live without you."

There was a flash of disappointment in Su Ya's eyes, and she fell silent.

The topic seemed to be stuck. Ning Tao felt a little embarra.s.sed. He released Su Ya's hand and walked to a big tree. "I'll climb up and see what's going on in the quarry, and then I'll come down and treat you. You just hang in there for a minute."

Su Ya nodded and said, "Be careful."

Then Ning Tao climbed up the tree with his hands and feet.