Ye Zhong shrieked in horror as he slowly raised his teary face. He screamed out loud again when he saw the big, bright sea of flame in front of him.
"Aaaahhhh!!!!"
His scream alarmed Dai Zhiqiang. He checked on the boy's body but found no injuries. However, Ye Zhong looked like he had lost his mind. Tears trickled down his face as he tried to cover his face on his chest.
"It's hot! Hot! I don't like it here! I want to run away! Waaahhh!!"
"Young Master? Please calm down." Dai Zhiqiang said in fluster. He was so calm just a moment ago. Did the explosion startle him that much?
"I don't like it, waahhh! Mother, Father, Grandpa!"
Only then did Dai Zhiqiang realize. Ye Zhong wasn't afraid of the explosion but of the fire caused by it.
The trauma from the incident that took away his parents' life years ago must have been etched deeply inside his mind. Even though he should still be very young to remember anything back then.
There was no way Dai Zhiqiang could let him be by himself now. He had to bring Ye Zhong out of here first!
***
The fire spread much quicker than he thought. Dai Zhiqiang had to cover Ye Zhong in his windbreaker so the boy wouldn't inhale the smoke or accidentally get burned by the fire sparks.
This mansion was designed to have an exclusive and separate garden inside for the authorized. Both of them were just there a moment ago.
It was made so Ye Zhong could play happily without heavy supervision. However, it became a boomerang to them now because they couldn't escape without going through the burning mansion.
Dai Zhiqiang didn't see anyone while he walked through the blaze of fire. They must have escaped or fallen victim to the huge explosion just now.
He moved as fast as he could, but the thick smoke made it hard to see clearly.
While he nimbly avoided the rubble caused by the explosion, he saw a figure running toward them from ahead. Dai Zhiqiang pulled Ye Zhong closer to him with one hand while the other one pulled out his swiss-knife from his pocket.
"There you are!"
Dai Zhiqiang's shoulder visibly loosened when he saw Lin Xiang. "Senior Lin."
"Do you know how worried I am? These people are really crazy. We'll get them for real this time!" Lin Xiang cursed with a dark expression.
Dai Zhiqiang nodded while continuing to move, followed by Lin Xiang. "We have to secure the Young Master and Boss first."
"I know, the Boss is safe. Young Master was nowhere to be seen, so I got worried. But it reassured me when I heard he's with you. Right, is Young Master alright?" Lin Xiang asked while looking at the bundle covered with a windbreaker in Dai Zhiqiang's arm.
"He was shocked by the explosion and had gone quiet since then. But he had no injuries so far."
"Are you sure? Let me check first," Lin Xiang reached out his hand to check on Ye Zhong.
Normally, Dai Zhiqiang wouldn't see anything wrong with it, but he suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body.
After experiencing so many life-threatening situations, he was susceptible to murderous intent, and he could feel it from Lin Xiang just now.
Even he was surprised by himself. The person in front of him was definitely Lin Xiang, but there was no way he would mistake that murderous intent for anything else. Lin Xiang really planned to hurt Ye Zhong just now!
"Kiddo, what's the matter with you? I just want to check if the Young Master is alright or not. If you don't like it, you should just have said it. Why pointing your knife at your senior?"
Dai Zhiqiang looked at him dubiously. He didn't trust anyone but himself, so he was inclined to believe in his trained instinct more than Lin Xiang's words. "You are not Senior Lin. Who are you?"
"After trying to harm me, you want to accuse me now? Just what did I do to make you hate me so much?"
Dai Zhiqiang smiled upon hearing that. "Got you, impostor. Senior Lin should be the one who knows best why I can't trust him. But you can't possibly know that because you are not him!"
Wasting no more time, Dai Zhiqiang swung his knife in a sweeping motion.
Lin Xiang, or someone who disguised himself as him, stepped back to avoid the slash but got his back cornered on the wall behind him instead, distracting him for a second.
Dai Zhiqiang didn't hesitate and used the opportunity to launch his next attack. The space was too narrow, but he used his leg to land a fierce kick on his belly, causing the other person to cough and stagger.
Dai Zhiqiang didn't give him time to strike back. He brandished his knife and tried to pierce him right in the heart. However, the impostor evaded in the last second, so he stabbed his shoulder instead.
"Argh!" The impostor exclaimed in pain before grabbing Dai Zhiqiang's arm with his left hand to hold it in place and used his other hand to palm-strike his arm from the opposite side.
Dai Zhiqiang could feel his bone-cracking from that attack. The force he used was no joke. His bone would break if he wasn't trained well.
However, he gritted his teeth and used his knee to attack him on the belly again. If he let this momentum go, he would be the one at a disadvantage because he would have to fight while holding Ye Zhong. Dai Zhiqiang had to finish him as fast as possible!
But the imposter was quicker. He caught his knee with his hand before using the wall behind him as leverage for his feet to push Dai Zhiqiang hard, ignoring the fact that it made the knife penetrate his shoulder even deeper.
'This man is crazy!' Dai Zhiqiang thought as he stumbled backward from the push.
The situation has completely overturned. Dai Zhiqiang had his back pressed on the wall behind him while the man pointed the knife covered by his own blood at him.
Blood spilled from his open wound to the floor, but the man didn't even bat his eyes.
Dai Zhiqiang cradled Ye Zhong in his hand protectively while watching how Lin Xiang's face melted down, in the literal sense. The heat from the fire must have done that to the mask he used, whatever that was.
The impostor chuckled before using his other hand to shred the mask. The sight was quite a horror as he looked like he had just skinned himself alive, but the real face behind that mask soon emerged.
Dai Zhiqiang should've seen this coming. Only one person could disguise himself so well while pushing him to the corner like this.
"You are clever, as they said. But I'm afraid you have to give me that kid right now."
With his blue eyes reflecting the hot flame around them, Huang Zhen looked down at him coldly.