Chapter 67: Arrival at Jindian

"Wh... What?!"

Grandmother raised her head in disbelief, then began to retch uncontrollably.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and she stared fixedly at Gu Tingchu.

"You... you will surely die a horrible death!"

Gu Tingchu crossed his arms with a leisurely expression, "Weren't you enjoying it quite a bit? Why are you putting on this act now?"

Grandmother never imagined that the bowl and chopsticks she had always used for leftovers contained my ashes.

She retched so violently that it seemed as though she might throw up her very stomach.

Yet, having barely eaten anything all day, she produced nothing at all.

Grandmother fell to her knees, tears falling to the ground one by one.

"Yunzhou, my Yunzhou! You beast, you will certainly die a wretched death!"

Hearing this, far from being angered, Gu Tingchu simply laughed.

"Well, that's bound to disappoint you. Not only am I not going to die, but I'm living quite well. As for your grandson—tsk, tsk—he died a terribly miserable death!"

Grandmother glared at him fiercely. Seizing the moment while Gu Tingchu was momentarily distracted, a flash of cold light gleamed before her eyes as she charged straight at him.

Looking closely, I realized she was holding a fruit knife, aiming it straight at Gu Tingchu's throat!

As it turned out, she had been waiting for an opportunity all along.

However, advanced in age and lacking her former quickness, Grandmother's movements were soon detected by Gu Tingchu.

The strike merely grazed a layer of skin on Gu Tingchu's neck, missing any vital areas.

Gu Tingchu raised a hand to touch his neck, and upon discovering he was bleeding, a flash of cold light crossed his eyes.

With a cold chuckle, he viciously kicked out at Grandmother.

As a grown man, his kick sent Grandmother crashing to the ground, where she lay unable to rise for a long while.

"You old hag, you actually thought you could kill me? Hahaha, what an absolute pipe dream!"

I rushed anxiously to Grandmother's side, my hands trembling endlessly as I looked at her tightly closed eyes.

"Grandmother, what's wrong? Are you alright? Please don't scare me like this..."

Gu Tingchu's face darkened, looking as though he intended to finish her off.

At the sight of his expression, I threw myself directly in front of Grandmother. "Gu Tingchu, if you have a grievance, take it out on me! I know you hate me, so come and kill me, but leave my grandmother alone!"

Yet Gu Tingchu walked right through my incorporeal body.

Step by step, he strode toward Grandmother lying upon the floor.

Gu Tingchu picked up the fruit knife from the floor, raised his hand, and thrust it viciously toward Grandmother!

"Ah!"

A sharp scream pierced the air, causing Gu Tingchu to instinctively pull back his hand holding the knife.

At the doorway, I saw Mother Qiao appear.

Seeing Grandmother sprawled on the floor, her face betrayed an unmaskable terror.

"Mom... Mom, what has happened to you?!"

The room was in utter chaos, with shattered plates littering the floor and Grandmother lying motionless.

Startled, Mother Qiao rushed forward immediately.

With trembling hands, she reached out and placed her fingers beneath Grandmother's nose.

Only then did she exhale a heavy sigh of relief.

It seemed Grandmother was still alive.

Seeing her relax, I let out a breath of relief as well.

Gu Tingchu was utterly depraved; I had been terrified that something might happen to Grandmother.

Upon seeing Mother Qiao arrive, a fleeting trace of hatred flashed through the depths of Gu Tingchu's eyes.

Yet a moment later, he masked it, adopting an expression of frightened innocence.

Naturally, Mother Qiao noticed Gu Tingchu standing there and asked with a puzzled look, raising her head, "Tingchu, why are you here?"

Gu Tingchu blinked with feigned awkwardness, "Yanxin said you were both going to Jindian to look for Brother Yunzhou, and I was worried it wouldn't be safe for Grandmother to be home alone, so I thought I'd come check on her. But I never expected..."

As he spoke, a few tears welled in the corners of Gu Tingchu's eyes. "For some reason, Grandmother suddenly flew into a rage and attacked me, even coming at me with a knife to try and kill me! She must have accidentally tripped herself, which is why she fainted."

A bloody scratch still marked Gu Tingchu's neck.

Coupled with his swollen face, it lent a certain degree of plausibility to his story.

Mother Qiao's agitation was far from feigned. While helping Grandmother up, she pulled her phone from her pocket. "Then why haven't you called the police?!"

Gu Tingchu hesitated for a moment before pulling out his phone with a guilty expression. "I was too frightened just now and didn't think of it."

I sneered inwardly. He had been plotting how to murder Grandmother; how could he possibly call the police?

Mother Qiao shouted, "Nurse Zhang! Nurse Zhang, come quickly!"

The ambulance arrived shortly, and she and Nurse Zhang helped wheel Grandmother into it.

Seeing Grandmother's tightly shut eyes, my heart filled with unrelenting worry.

Yet, unable to accompany Grandmother to the hospital, I was forced to remain at the Qiao residence.

Lingering at the Qiao home was no solution either. A thought crossed my mind, and in the next second, my form instantly manifested in an entirely different place.

Flames of war raged here; collapsed buildings littered the landscape, and not far away lay a charred corpse.

This place was Jindian.

A fierce, unprecedented gun battle was erupting in Jindian at this very moment. Blinded by the lust for slaughter, bullets had no eyes, sparing no one regardless of who they were.

Father Qiao and Qiao Yanxin sat inside a bulletproof off-road vehicle as Father Qiao handed Qiao Yanxin a boxed meal.

"Eat something. We should reach our destination soon."

Murmuring an acknowledgment, Qiao Yanxin took the lunchbox and opened it, only for a stark, pale expanse to meet her eyes.

At the sight of the whitish slices of meat, Qiao Yanxin seemed reminded of something, and she closed the box with a frown.

"Never mind, I'll eat later. I have no appetite right now."

A sorrow that seemed impossible to dispel lingered between her brows.

Observing Qiao Yanxin clutching her stomach, I figured she couldn't have eaten much during the flight either.

With the destination drawing closer, she must have been extremely anxious.

She longed to find me, yet feared what might happen to the Qiao enterprise in her absence.

That was why Mother Qiao had stayed behind at the Qiao home rather than joining them to Jindian.

Qiao Yanxin was afraid—afraid that Qiao Zhuxin might resort to underhanded tactics.

Yet, in truth, Qiao Zhuxin was not that kind of person at all.

Though I barely knew her, having only met her a few times, something in my heart told me she was entirely incapable of taking advantage of someone's misfortune.

The driver was a Chinese man who had lived in Jindian for quite some time; he was lean and dark-skinned, with a scar running across his entire face.

Despite being Chinese, his speech carried a heavy local Jindian accent.

Not one for idle chatter, the driver immediately started the engine and drove forward once they finished eating.

According to him, another day's drive would bring them to the industrial park they sought.

Hearing this, Qiao Yanxin leaned back against the seat, intending to catch some sleep.

Feeling idle and listless, I gazed out the window and abruptly caught sight of a passing off-road vehicle.

The window of the vehicle was half-rolled down, and a familiar figure sat inside.

It was Qiao Zhuxin.