Chapter 255: Chapter 255: Unexpected

“You two, what on earth are you talking about…? Why can’t I understand?” Sleery looked at Chen Ke and Pankia and asked.

She didn’t know about the grudge entangling these two, or rather, three people.

“Some things I’ve done in the past have finally come back to bite me… Kid, we’ve got to get out of here,” Pankia said.

“Can he come with us?” Sleery asked.

“He? Why?” Pankia was taken aback.

“I…” Sleery’s face turned red.

Pankia understood what Sleery meant, and his expression became somewhat awkward; he found it difficult to accept that his daughter had fallen in love with the man before him.

“Get rid of that idea, you don’t know who he really is,” Pankia said.

“I know he has many names, Dad, I also know he has some strange abilities… but he’s not a bad person,” Sleery said.

“That’s not the point, Sleery, you don’t understand, he doesn’t belong to our era…” Pankia said.

“What does that mean…?” Sleery asked.

“You don’t need to know, it’s no good knowing,” Pankia said.

“When are you two leaving?” Chen Ke stood up, ready to leave; he had no reason to stay any longer.

“We’re leaving after tonight; you’d better not come looking for me in the future. As a final token, take this.” As Pankia spoke, he took out a silver key from his pocket.

Chen Ke took the key and scrutinized it. The key was very new, its silver teeth had not faded, appearing rarely used; the upper part of the key depicted a knight with a sword, with wings on the helmet.

It was hard to imagine such a delicate engraving on such a small key, one couldn’t wonder what lock it was made for.

“This is…?” Chen Ke asked.

“In the Si’s consortium’s building, my office has a secret door. It leads to my grandfather’s office,” Pankia said.

“Grandfather’s office…?” Chen Ke pondered.

“Grandfather’s office has no doors. He usually comes to the company by helicopter from the rooftop of the building; you won’t be able to find him by the ordinary floors. The security access and password to my office have surely been changed, but the lock on the secret door won’t be. If you want to find him, this is your chance,” Pankia said.

“The consortium has many branches in the United Federation; how do I know he won’t be in the building on Raffi Road?” Chen Ke asked.

“Until recently, my grandfather has been in poor health and hasn’t made an appearance; I could only contact him by telephone. But not long ago, he appeared in Opportunity City; it seems he used some means to recover… and now he has to deal with Yasla’s issue, so there’s a good chance he’ll be in the office…” Pankia said.

“You’ve been purged. Your successor should be sitting in your office, right?” Chen Ke asked.

“Correct, his name is Slavin… He has always wanted to replace me. You actually helped him out,” Pankia said.

“I’ve noted the name. If…” Chen Ke said, when suddenly his eyes bulged.

“+5 minutes”

“+5 minutes”

“+5 minutes”

“+5 minutes”

…

The window behind him shattered to the ground, and a rifle bullet entered from the back of Chen Ke’s head and exited through his face.

“pua!”

Chen Ke’s head burst open with the sound; before he could even turn around, his body was swept to the ground by the powerful inertia, and the bullet hit the wooden door opposite, leaving a hole.

“Ah! Ahhhhhhhhh!!!” Sleery screamed in terror at the sudden occurrence before her eyes.

Pankia first showed a trace of a smile, then grabbed the shotgun beside him, grabbing Sleery and pushing her to the ground.

“Sniper… The consortium’s assassins have arrived,” Pankia said.

“Chen… Chen Ke… is he dead…?” Sleery lay on the ground, looking at Chen Ke’s body next to her, still unable to recover from the shock.

“He’s dead, don’t worry about him, we need to go,” Pankia said, crawling to the wall and pulling the curtains shut.

The curtain moved, and another bullet shot in, shattering the mirror hanging on the wall.

“Chen Ke… Chen Ke…” Sleery pushed Chen Ke’s body, tears sliding down her cheeks, still unable to accept the fact.

“Take care of yourself, kiddo, if we don’t go now, we’ll end up like him,” Pankia said.

He reached the door, flung it open with force, and peeked out to survey the hallway.

Sleery wanted to move Chen Ke’s body out of the room, but Pankia stopped her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out the door.

“Listen, Sleery, there are plenty of men in this world, and you chose the very least you should have. Forget him if you want to stay alive,” Pankia said while wiping the tears from Sleery’s face.

Sleery choked up, silently nodded, took another glance at Chen Ke’s body–blood was all over the floor, with a large bullet hole in the back of his head.

“Do you still have your gun?” Pankia asked.

Sleery pulled out a P226 from her pocket and disengaged the safety.

“Good,” Pankia said, turning his head for a last look at Chen Ke’s body.

“This is where your luck runs out, Lin Mo. A corpse can’t be used twice. Whether it’s Chen Ke or anyone else, your journey ends here,” Pankia thought.

The two made their way down the hallway. Pankia had already prepared for an ambush; he’d hidden all his belongings in the trunk of his car, with only a gun and a mobile phone on him.

To avoid attracting attention, he specifically switched to a rundown old car and sank his previous luxurious sedan to the bottom of a lake, having put a lot of thought into his plan.

Today, that preparation finally paid off. The old sedan was parked two streets away, inconspicuous.

“Kiddo, did you drive here?” Pankia asked.

“No… not… my car was blown up by them,” Sleery said.

She followed her father in a run toward the car, passing the 24-hour cafe where Chen Ke had told them to wait; Louis and Rama were asleep in their chairs.

Sleery glanced at them, turned her head away guiltily, hoping they wouldn’t get dragged into this dangerous affair.

Not only they were running through the desolate streets at dawn–in dark alleys, the assassins were also on the move.

They were equipped with silenced pistols, creeping closer in the shadows to Sleery and Pankia.

The distinctive hushed echo of silenced pistols came from a distance. Bullets silently flew toward the fleeing father and daughter, creating tiny holes in street ads, bus stops, and shop walls. Pankia, gripping a sawed-off shotgun, ignored the pursuing assassins and dragged Sleery forward.

Sleery knew only to run forward, feeling intense pain in her abdomen.

She had been interrogated for a long time by a Black People assassin using Fist Tiger, and her stomach muscles and organs suffered severe trauma. She hadn’t engaged in much strenuous activity while with Chen Ke, so she had managed to hold on.

But now that she was running, those injuries erupted in a flash of pain. She bit her teeth, not wanting to slow her father down.

Pankia could see his car parked in the parking lot behind a burger joint–a greenish, second-hand, four-door sedan, a very ordinary vehicle for the working class. At the same time, a bright light suddenly flashed behind him.

Pankia turned around–it was a black sedan driven by assassins!

“Quick… Sleery!” Pankia urged, but he noticed Sleery’s pained expression, heavy breathing, and squinting eyes, seemingly on the verge of collapse.

“Did you get shot?” Pankia asked instinctively.

“No… I… my stomach hurts…” Sleery, clutching her abdomen, fell to her knees.

The black sedan arrived within seconds, only about 20 meters away. An assassin poked his head out the window, holding a silenced MP5HK, ready to spray bullets at them.

Pankia pushed Sleery to the ground, shielding her in front, and raised the shotgun.

In that brief second.

A blue crystal spear shot from the dark alley, whooshed through the air, and pierced the black sedan straight through!

Unable to withstand the impact, the car flipped over to the left, after being penetrated by the Crystal Gun.

The gunman in the back seat had already been bisected by the Crystal Gun; his upper body was flung out the window and crashed onto the cold pavement.

The car rolled over four or five times on the ground before coming to a stop upside down and slid to a halt against a roadside telephone pole. The surviving driver tried to crawl out, but the car quickly sparked into fire.

“Save me! Save me!” the driver’s screams echoed in the night. The gas tank cap in the rear popped off with a bang, followed by a violent explosion.

Pankia hadn’t yet grasped what had happened when he felt a hand grab his arm behind him, trying to pull him up.

Chen Ke’s voice came to his ears: “I never thought I’d be saving you!”