Chapter 412

Chapter 412 On the Eve of Battle!

“You took me on a detour?”

　　Zhang Ziwei had been driving in circles on Ninghai’s outer ring road for thirty minutes.

　　Yamamoto Gokusen, sitting in the passenger seat, was using his ancestral techniques to tend to his injuries. He seemed to sense something was off, opened his eyes, and said, “Are you deliberately stalling for time?”

　　”Do I have any reason to stall for time?”

　　Zhang Ziwei showed no fear, responding coldly.

　　”I don’t know whether you have a reason or not, but I can already tell — you’re taking a detour.” A dangerous glint flickered in Yamamoto Gokusen’s eyes. “Keep this up, and see if I don’t cut you down right here.”

　　He was a true beast. Even gravely wounded, he still radiated terrifying menace.

　　”I really have no reason to take a detour.” Zhang Ziwei said helplessly. “No matter how many detours I take, my life is still in your hands, isn’t it? So what are you worried about?”

　　”But you are taking a detour.” Yamamoto Gokusen glanced outside. “This is the outer ring. You don’t need to go this far out to reach Ninghai Airport.”

　　His face bore several small charred pits, all caused by white phosphorus burns. Half his face was blackened and disfigured, making him look utterly horrifying.

　　If Yamamoto Taichiro, the towering figure of the Eastern underworld, knew the miserable ordeal his son had suffered on this trip to China, one wondered whether he would regret it.

　　”You’re not Chinese — you don’t understand Ninghai’s traffic.” Zhang Ziwei appeared remarkably calm right now, with a composure that seemed almost out of place for a girl her age. “This is one of the three most congested cities in all of Asia. If you don’t take the outer ring, you could easily be stuck inside for over ten hours.”

　　”Over ten hours?” A sneer crept across Yamamoto Gokusen’s grotesque face as he said coldly, “There’s a limit to how far a lie should go. It’s nighttime — you’d be stuck for over ten hours?”

　　”Same at night. The East can never compare to China.” Zhang Ziwei said with a touch of stubbornness.

　　Yamamoto Gokusen suddenly realized he had no advantage whatsoever in a war of words with her, so he decided to play to his strengths instead. “If we don’t reach Ninghai Airport within twenty minutes, I’ll kill you on the spot.”

　　Zhang Ziwei said nothing, only pressed her foot harder on the accelerator.

　　She turned to look at the badly weakened Eastern jonin, her gaze momentarily stilling.

　　Zhang Ziwei was quietly calculating her chances of escape. After running the numbers for a good while, she finally decided to give up — the odds were simply far too low.

　　”Thinking of running?”

　　Yamamoto, who had appeared to be resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them, and two razor-sharp beams of light shot from his gaze like something tangible!

　　”No. I still have some sense of the gap between us.” Zhang Ziwei said evenly, her tone unruffled.

　　”Don’t think that just because I’m badly wounded, you can do as you please.”

　　Yamamoto Gokusen let out a mocking laugh, then made a move that sent Zhang Ziwei’s heart lurching!

　　He produced a short blade and slowly inserted it into the wound on his shoulder, then pried upward with force!

　　A grenade fragment was levered out, striking the windshield and leaving a chilling streak of blood!

　　This was practically scraping bone to cure poison. No anesthetic, just a blade driven raw into muscle to dig out shrapnel — what kind of courage and iron will did that take?

　　And throughout the entire process, Yamamoto Gokusen did nothing more than furrow his brow slightly. He didn’t even let out a single grunt of pain!

　　Zhang Ziwei then heard several more sounds that set her teeth on edge. Since he could only use one hand at a time, Yamamoto’s methods were brutally crude. At one spot where the blade couldn’t get enough leverage, he simply reached in with two fingers, shoved them into the wound, and pinched the fragment out bare-handed!

　　Zhang Ziwei watched from the side, her brow furrowing slightly. The sensation was absolutely unbearable — goosebumps rose all over her body, and her stomach churned with the urge to vomit.

　　After treating several wounds this way with such raw, rough methods, the interior of the car was thick with the sharp, pungent smell of blood!

　　Yamamoto Gokusen seemed entirely unbothered, wiping the blood from around his wounds with tissues from the car.

　　”Doesn’t it hurt, pulling out the fragments like that?” Zhang Ziwei couldn’t help asking.

　　”Hurt?” Yamamoto Gokusen was not usually much of a talker, but right now he felt a strange urge to speak. It was an odd impulse — perhaps with a major battle looming, chatting with this woman was actually a decent way to unwind.

　　He knew that even though he hadn’t let Su Rui and the others follow, in an era where China’s surveillance network was everywhere, tracing the whereabouts of a single car was the simplest thing in the world.

　　As long as he could board a plane and take off smoothly, then fly out of Chinese airspace, everything after that would take care of itself — his father and the others would handle it all.

　　”Compared to losing your life, what does a little pain matter?” Yamamoto Gokusen pried another bullet fragment from his thigh with the tip of his blade, furrowed his brow slightly, and said coldly, “Once you’re dead, nothing else matters.”

　　”Are you planning to board a plane and fly straight back to Japan?” Zhang Ziwei studied Yamamoto Gokusen’s expression, thought for a moment, and asked.

　　”Are you trying to get information out of me?” Yamamoto Gokusen shot Zhang Ziwei a cold glance — just that one look was enough to make her whole body shudder involuntarily. The killing intent in his eyes seemed capable of shaking the very soul.

　　How many lives would it take to cultivate a killing intent like that?

　　”Not exactly.” Zhang Ziwei worked hard to steady herself. It had to be said — the fact that she could hold herself together this well was already remarkable. Any other girl in her place would probably have gone weak in the knees and dissolved into tears long ago.

　　”No harm in telling you, since there’s no way you’re slipping out of my grasp.”

　　Yamamoto Gokusen glanced at Zhang Ziwei’s figure, his eyes showing little in the way of desire. He knew that when your very life was uncertain, beauty only brought greater danger.

　　At that moment, he yanked the pendant from around his neck and crushed it in his hand, tipping the powder inside into his mouth.

　　”What is that?” Zhang Ziwei asked. Throughout this whole journey, she seemed to have been constantly probing Yamamoto Gokusen.

　　”A sacred healing medicine from Japan.” Since he had already written Zhang Ziwei off as good as dead, Yamamoto Gokusen had nothing left to hide. “I need to get myself back to peak condition — even if only for a short time.”

　　”A short time?” A look of puzzlement crossed Zhang Ziwei’s eyes, and she asked almost instinctively, “How long does the medicine last?”

　　”Permanently.”

　　Yamamoto Gokusen gave the woman beside him a long, searching look, a flash of mockery crossing his eyes. “Let me give you a word of advice — a woman shouldn’t be too clever. It’ll get her killed sooner.”

　　With that, he closed his eyes to rest and paid Zhang Ziwei no further attention.

　　What Yamamoto Gokusen failed to notice was that the phone sitting beside Zhang Ziwei’s seat had its signal light blinking steadily. The device was in the middle of a call, faithfully transmitting every word of their conversation.

　　Before getting in the car, she had already quietly dialed Su Rui’s number at the very first opportunity!

　　…………

　　Ninghai International Airport.

　　Su Rui was listening carefully to the call coming through his phone, then said coldly, “They’ll be here in twenty minutes. Zhang Ziwei can’t hold on much longer. Is everything ready?”

　　”Sir, everything has been arranged exactly as you instructed. The plane is on standby, and Luo Feiliang is waiting nearby, ready to act on your orders at any time.”

　　”First, everyone proceeds according to the pre-established plan — not a single step can be missed. Second, Victoria is in command on the ground, and everyone else is to follow her orders.”

　　Su Rui gestured toward the alluring figure nearby, wearing a platinum mask.

　　Very few people knew that the platinum-masked warrior among the Twelve Divine Guards of the Temple of the Sun was none other than Victoria, who carried the blood of the British royal family!

　　Among the Twelve Divine Guards, everyone called her “Platinum.”

　　Upon hearing this order, the others showed little surprise. It was Victoria herself who seemed slightly caught off guard. “Why me? Why aren’t you commanding, Sir?”

　　Ever since she had made her feelings known during her last time in China, Victoria found it a little difficult every time she called Su Rui “Sir.”

　　”Because… I have something more important to take care of.” Su Rui looked up at the pitch-black night sky, a sharp gleam flickering in his eyes!

　　Twenty minutes later, the car Zhang Ziwei was driving slowly pulled into the airport.

　　Half an hour earlier, Ninghai International Airport had already issued an emergency notice, evacuating passengers on the grounds that a control tower malfunction had caused all departing flights to be delayed and all incoming flights to be temporarily diverted to airports in nearby cities.

　　Many airlines were frustrated by Ninghai Airport’s decision, but few were particularly suspicious — because in a country where flights were routinely delayed by ten-plus hours, a control tower malfunction was hardly anything out of the ordinary.

　　By now, a large number of officers had already disguised themselves as passengers, some reading, some on their phones, scattered throughout the terminal, all watching the car as it slowly approached.

　　In the surrounding windows, at least three concealed sniper rifles were locked dead on the vehicle. The moment Yamamoto Gokusen dared to show his head, they would pull the trigger without hesitation!

　　”What do I do now? We’ve reached the airport.” Zhang Ziwei turned to ask Yamamoto Gokusen.

　　At that, Yamamoto opened his eyes. His complexion seemed slightly more flushed — it appeared the healing medicine he had spoken of truly lived up to its name. “Stop the car.”

　　The moment the car stopped, Yamamoto Gokusen roughly seized Zhang Ziwei by the shoulder and yanked her toward him!

　　Though the pull was painful, Zhang Ziwei didn’t make a sound. She was wound to the absolute limit of her nerves.

　　The passenger door swung open and the two of them stepped out together. Yamamoto Gokusen clamped his hand tightly around Zhang Ziwei’s throat, his body almost entirely concealed behind hers!

　　The two moved forward slowly. Zhang Ziwei stared straight ahead, her fists clenched tight. At this point, all she could do was hope for a miracle!

　　And in this place, only that one man could create a miracle!

　　The three snipers had made attempt after attempt but still couldn’t get a clean lock on the target. If they fired recklessly like this, Yamamoto Gokusen — with his skill — would very likely use Zhang Ziwei as a human shield!

　　”Let him board the plane.”

　　At that moment, Victoria’s ice-cold voice came through in everyone’s earpiece!