Feng Jianyu and Xiu Mei left for the North City early in the morning. He took out his most advanced military-grade SUV and two of his trusted bodyguards along with him. He wanted to do his best to ensure her safety and let her do whatever she wanted to do in North City.

There initial 2 hours of the journey was smooth, but later it turned out to be a little b.u.mpy drive when they pa.s.sed through rocky terrains and dangerous curves running through the mountains. This was the shortcut only known to a handful of peoples. She has seen Butler Xavier commuting through this route whenever he brought her to his home to celebrate New Year with his family.

Xiu Mei was sure of this route because of her photographic memory. Even if the whole North City is blown up, she can recognize it in a blink of an eye.

After a 14 hour long drive, by the time they entered the North city, it was dark.

She looked outside the window, to her horror, the city was in much worse condition then she could ever imagine. It was no more beautiful but turned into an eerie, abandoned, apocalyptic world. As the car approached nearer to the city, she saw smog in the air, burning vehicles on road, bullet holes on trees, her stomach churned as she saw a headless man lying on his stomach on the pavement, while his head was rolled at a distance.

Before she could see anything more a warm hand covered her eyes and pushed her head on his shoulder, "Don't pay attention. In the war, the first thing that's annihilated is humanity" She heard him whispering.

 Xiu Mei realized their car stopped abruptly and everything went eerily quiet around them. Feeling confused she tried to lift the hand off of her eyes, "Shh…. Quite" He whispered but kept her eyes covered and wrapped his other arm around her shoulder.

Next moment she heard ear-piercing gun firing noise, painful screams of man and woman, a loud voice of engine and something heavy moving on the ground, probably a heavy vehicle like a tank.

Suddenly everything went quite.

By the time he pulled back his hands from her eyes, their vehicle was already moving ahead. Out of curiosity she looked back craning her body but regretted her decision very next moment. On the street, all kind of corpses fell on to the ground in a b.l.o.o.d.y mess, like butchered animals.

This is called war…

She hates it…

Humanity lost its meaning…

It was a sinister environment and saying she is not scared would be a lie. But she is more worried for the man sitting beside her, clasping her hand tightly, refusing to let go of her for a single second. Her heart beating like jungle drums as she tries to catch her breath from mouth feeling breathless. She jerked her head to stop her brain from thinking anything wrong, inauspicious, fateful…

Looking at the scary condition of the city Feng Jianyu and Xiu Mei shared a glance. They were aware that North City was in ruins but the situation was this serious, turned out to be the discovery not only for them but for the two bodyguards who have grown up in this part of the city.

Looking at their stunned faces she realized that people living in the South City have no idea what's happening here. It's was though every news from North City was suppressed to stop being spread to the outside world. But why? Why President Pang was not taking any actions? Why military was not helping their local citizens? Why no one is allowed to enter the city? Who are these man killing innocent people?

Feeling something wrong, she checked her phone and not so surprisingly it showed 'NO NETWORK'. This means all communication channels have shut down… She checked her watch; thankfully it doesn't depend on any towers or network but on the exclusive satellite owned by Phoenix Enterprises. They are still connected to Feng Junjie as a backup if anything goes wrong.

Xiu Mei looked at the computerized sketch of Butler Xavier on her phone and rubbed her fingers over the screen, "I don't think he is here. In this tattered city, no one can live peacefully" She lips drooped into a downward curve, "Either he is hiding somewhere along with his family or o-or or might be kil…."

She choked on the word 'Killed' and silently looked at his picture.

Feng Jianyu caressed her hair, "I'm sorry. But I share the same thoughts. Let's go back… This place is too risky for you. How about I send a team of mine to look for Butler Xavier later?"

When he noticed she is fidgeting with her hands and holding onto her silence. It didn't take him another second to understand she has some alternate motives too. He pinched the s.p.a.ce between his brows, "What are you hiding? Or should I ask where else you had planned to go?"

"Kong's illegal business base" She looked up at him and without any hesitation explained all the information she had inquired till date. "I don't know but I have a feeling that all this chaos is connected to that illegal base. Otherwise, why would Kong's be able to run their business so smoothly from North City? I checked the pictures clicked by satellite, they have not stopped even for a single day"

Thinking about Kong's large influence over military and political powers, it is possible that they are pulling the strings behind the curtains. However, who is the one pulling Kong's string is a mystery.

"How about we go back now and come back prepared with our special forces?" Feng Jianyu suggested and Xiu Mei came to a decision after a beat or two, "You are right. Let's go back as of now"

Looking at the horrible situation of the city she doesn't have the heart to risk her husband's life again. He is too precious for her and her mission holds zero value in front of him. She will look for some other way to dig information about this secret base.

Feng Jianyu didn't expect her to give up so easily. He asked again to make sure she won't take any reckless step later, "Are you sure? Don't even think about coming here alone. I'll break your legs if you dare"

She rolled her eyes, "Rest a.s.sured, I won't come here witho….. Ouchh"

The car suddenly took a sharp turn and she b.u.mped into Jianyu.

"Boss, we are being followed" One of the body guards looked into the rear-view mirror and warned.

Feng Jianyu and Xiu Mei also found out. They both turned their heads and looked at several vehicles following them.

He frowned.

When they were driving, street lights were broken, no vehicles, all they could depend on the light source was the car's long-range head lights to move ahead. Probably they were discovered because of this.

"Speed up" Feng Jianyu ordered and buckled Xiu Mei securely to her seat. He took out some guns from the front compartment and gave one to her along with some magazines. "Don't think twice before killing someone in this war zone. Don't trust anyone. Always remember, your own life comes first and then other's"