Rapid Collapse (GL) - Chapter 70

Xiao Chen looked at Shen Xi and asked, “Miss Shen, what’s wrong?”

Shen Xi steadied her emotions, waved her hand, and smiled, “It’s nothing, nothing… my hand slipped.” Han Ning, sitting beside her, held her hand. When Shen Xi turned to look at her, she noticed Han Ning’s expression wasn’t good either. Han Ning spoke softly, “I’m fine… This place is vast and sparsely populated. It’s unlikely that such a coincidence would happen.”

“Xiao Chen, can you tell us more about this country?” Han Ning asked with a smile.

“Of course!” Xiao Chen grinned, showing her white teeth. She took the dessert Han Ning handed her and said, “We were just talking about Miss Nie Lan. Actually, she’s just a figurehead with no real power. Our country needs leaders who can actually get things done.”

After Nie He passed away, Nie Lan naturally became the first heir. But this wasn’t child’s play—Baniya’s people wouldn’t tolerate her messing around. She had already upset many by arbitrarily changing the country’s name.

“Apart from the Nie family, several other families hold power in our country. After the old master Nie passed away, they have been eyeing the position greedily… So as you can see, Miss Nie’s days aren’t easy either,” Xiao Chen said, a hint of worry in her eyes. As an ordinary citizen, she naturally didn’t want to live in a country filled with unrest and war. She looked at Han Ning and Shen Xi with envy and said, “Your country is so much better…”

Han Ning smiled and comforted her, “You’re always welcome to visit!”

“Hopefully…”

They arrived at their booked hotel, got out of the car, exchanged contact information with Xiao Chen, and waved goodbye.

The hotel’s exterior had an exotic, medieval feel, but Shen Xi and Han Ning weren’t in the mood to appreciate it.

Once inside their room, Shen Xi turned on her phone and saw several messages from Shen Fengmei. She quickly recorded a voice message to let her know she was safe.

“You heard what Xiao Chen said just now. This little country is like a small company—its chairman died, the daughter wants to take over, but the shareholders aren’t convinced and are ready to rebel… So, just enjoy your vacation and don’t overthink it~” Han Ning unpacked her suitcase, keeping herself busy in the room. Shen Xi sat on the couch, distracted.

“Are you even listening?” Han Ning walked over and pinched her cheek.

“I’m a little annoyed…” Shen Xi was clearly affected. She looked up at Han Ning, wondering how she could be so carefree! The two of them were like lambs in a tiger’s den—served up on a plate for Nie Lan!

“Annoyed about what? If what Xiao Chen said is true, then the one who should be worried now is Nie Lan,” Han Ning shrugged indifferently.

People don’t always share the same concerns.

“I’m going out for some air…” Shen Xi furrowed her brows, took a cigarette pack and lighter from her bag, and walked onto the balcony.

She smoked, feeling unsettled. Everything here felt oddly suspicious—Xiao Chen had deliberately told them about the country’s situation, as if it were a distraction.

Han Ning was even more suspicious—she was way too relaxed.

A woman’s intuition is often inexplicably accurate.

Sure enough, Xiao Chen wasn’t simple. Under the cover of night, she went to meet Zhang Qing, Nie Lan’s trusted aide.

“Please inform Miss Nie Lan that Miss Shen and Miss Han have checked into the hotel. As planned, I’ll take them on a tour around the island tomorrow. They haven’t suspected anything,” Xiao Chen reported.

Zhang Qing nodded, took a stack of cash from his pocket, and handed it to her. “Good work.

You don’t need to show up tomorrow—take the money and go travel.”

Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up with excitement. She bowed and thanked him before turning to leave.

She had only walked a few meters when a gunshot rang out. A bullet struck the back of her head. Her brain didn’t even have time to process the pain before she collapsed.

Zhang Qing put away the gun and sneered. He bent down, retrieved the stack of money from her hands, patted it twice in his palm, then stuffed it back into his pocket. Snapping his fingers, he signaled two men to step out of the shadows and drag away Xiao Chen’s body.

He then drove to a sleek silver building—Nie Lan’s palace in Baniya. She sat in a swivel chair, watching a surveillance feed of Shen Xi smoking on the balcony. Her eyes burned with hatred, as if she wanted to pierce through the screen.

Zhang Qing entered the room. Nie Lan looked up from behind the monitor, her left eye covered with a black silk eye patch adorned with diamonds.

During her escape from Lingchao back to Baniya, she had been injured before finding Zhang Qing, leaving her left eye almost completely blind.

“That Xiao Chen… handled?” Nie Lan asked carelessly.

“Yes,” Zhang Qing confirmed.

“Good thing you warned me about Shen Xi, or I wouldn’t have installed a tracker in her phone… Even though I was a bit late, it’s still useful.” Nie Lan walked up to him, slid off a ruby ring from her finger, and handed it to him. “This is your reward.”

Zhang Qing hesitated before carefully accepting the ring, his expression unreadable. After a pause, he said, “Thank you, Miss Nie.”

“Those two… fooled me so badly…” Nie Lan’s eyes were filled with unmistakable hatred.

“I will assist you, Miss Nie, in capturing them both for you to deal with as you wish!”

The next morning, Han Ning woke up hugging Shen Xi. She slept soundly, as if nothing had happened, while Shen Xi tossed and turned all night, feeling uneasy, as if something bad was about to happen.

Han Ning noticed her anxiety and took her out to relax. “Xiao Chen might take a while to arrive. Let’s grab something to eat first.”

“Mm…” Shen Xi didn’t want to ruin Han Ning’s mood. She knew Han Ning was already being patient with her. She forced herself to relax as they strolled through the streets, stopping at a stall selling delicate Bohemian-style bracelets.

They looked almost identical to the couple bracelets they had received from Yu Xin—ivory-colored with dangling pink crystals.

“The ones they sell aren’t as refined as ours. Let’s go look at something else,” Han Ning smiled.

“Let’s head back to the hotel lobby to wait for Xiao Chen. It’s about time,” Shen Xi checked her phone.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Back in the lobby, they didn’t wait long before Shen Xi received a message from Xiao Chen:
[Miss Shen, Miss Han, please come outside. There’s a black car at the entrance—I’m waiting inside.]

“Let’s go. Xiao Chen is waiting in the car.” Shen Xi glanced at the message and pulled Han Ning along.

Sure enough, a black car was parked outside. But as soon as they approached, the door suddenly opened. Two burly men jumped out, covered their heads with black cloths, and everything went dark.

Their hands were tied, and they were shoved into the car. Before long, drowsiness overtook them, and they lost consciousness.

Han Ning woke up in a damp underground chamber filled with rats and insects. She saw no guards. Straining her eyes to adjust to the dim light, she anxiously searched for Shen Xi but found nothing.

Her heart pounded. She knew it was Nie Lan’s men who had kidnapped them, but now she and Shen Xi had been separated.

Tightly gripping a broken glass shard she found, Han Ning prepared to fight back…

(Story continues…)