I agreed to be a kept man, but I'm still being punished by the system.

At the same moment Lin Yang drove away from Tianyue Huafu, Zhou Heng walked out in front of a chain hotel on the other side of the city.

He used the last of his strength to clean himself up from the inside out.

The feeling of hot water washing over my skin seemed to linger, but the moment the hotel door closed behind me, that false warmth was blown away by the night wind.

He glanced back at the brightly lit hotel building, wondering if he would ever have the chance to stay in such a place again in his lifetime.

escape.

That one word was all that remained in my mind.

He waved and flagged down a taxi, and the door opened.

"Master, how much does it cost to open a car in Huahai?"

The driver was a slightly overweight middle-aged man with droopy eyelids, exuding a sense of weariness towards life.

He glanced at Zhou Heng and spoke in a northern accent.

"If you walk from here, it's probably around two hundred."

two hundred.

Zhou Heng's heart skipped a beat; he couldn't find a single penny on his body.

His gaze fell on his wrist.

That was a Tissot watch.

The watch face gleamed faintly in the night; it was the watch he bought when he married Su Man.

This was the only item he was reluctant to give up, but now he had to.

He ripped off his watch and handed it to the driver.

"Master, here's the watch. Take me out of Huahai."

The driver took the watch, examined it closely, and ran his fingers along the dial.

"Is this genuine or a counterfeit?"

Zhou Heng's heart sank, and his voice became hoarse.

"Genuine product."

The driver glanced at him again, as if he understood something from the despair written on his face, and put the watch in his pocket.

"Alright, it seems you're not doing too well in Huahai either, so I'll take you there."

Zhou Heng finally breathed a sigh of relief and slumped into the back seat.

Thank you.

The taxi merged into the traffic and disappeared into the night.

Two furtive men emerged from the shadows at the street corner. One of them immediately pulled out his phone.

"Brother Long, Lao Zhou got into a taxi, should we go with him?"

Long Ge's impatient voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Follow me? Don't even think about it, or you'll lose me."

"Yes."

The man hung up the phone, and the two climbed into a beat-up Santana 2000. The engine roared, and they followed.

Inside the car, the man continued to report the taxi's direction of travel to Brother Long.

"Brother Long, they've gotten on the elevated highway, and they're heading out of the city."

After a few seconds of silence, Brother Long on the other end of the phone sensed something was wrong, a kind of beastly intuition.

"Send me your real-time location."

"it is good."

After hanging up the phone, Brother Long tilted his head at Afei beside him.

"Ah Fei, drive! That bastard's trying to escape."

***

The dark blue Cayenne drove smoothly on the road in Huahai.

After picking up Su Man, Lin Yang drove directly to Tianheng Garden.

The carriage was quiet, with only soft music playing.

Su Man leaned back in the passenger seat, her eyes closed, her beautiful brows slightly furrowed, unable to hide her exhaustion.

"Are you busy today?" Lin Yang broke the silence.

"Um."

Su Man's voice was slightly hoarse.

"This research task is quite demanding."

"So when do you plan to talk to President Qin?"

Su Man opened her eyes, and the streaks of light outside the window flashed by, leaving trails of light in her eyes.

"Let's wait until after the investigation." Her voice regained some decisiveness. "We can't reach an agreement without doing things properly right now; we have no leverage."

"Um."

Lin Yang responded and didn't ask any further questions.

He knew that this woman in the business world always knew exactly what she wanted and when to play her cards.

What she needs is not advice, but a safe harbor where she can dock safely after she takes off all her armor.

Back at Tianheng Garden, Aunt Chen had already prepared food for them.

At the dining table, the two ate their meal in silence. There was no extra conversation, yet a tacit understanding fermented in the air.

After dinner, Su Man curled up on the sofa like a tired cat.

After Lin Yang finished clearing away the dishes, he walked up behind her.

"Let me give you a massage."

Su Man did not refuse, but simply hummed softly and obediently lay down on the sofa.

Lin Yang placed his hands on her stiff shoulders, his warm palms penetrating through the thin silk nightgown to precisely locate those tense acupoints.

The only sound in the air was their intertwined breaths.

***

After driving for nearly two hours, the taxi stopped beside a dimly lit national highway.

"We've already left Huahai. Just two more kilometers over there and you'll reach Jiacheng." The driver pointed ahead. "I can only take you this far."

"Thanks."

Zhou Heng reluctantly got out of the warm car, the cold night wind instantly filling his collar.

He stood by the roadside, looking around blankly. There was no village or shop in sight, only a lonely streetlamp casting a long shadow of him.

He walked aimlessly along the national highway, each step feeling like walking on cotton.

Just then, a blinding beam of headlights shone from behind, and a Santana silently pulled up in front of him.

Zhou Heng didn't pay much attention at first.

Until a man got out of the car and shouted at him.

"Old Zhou."

These two words struck him like a thunderclap.

He turned around abruptly, his pupils suddenly contracting.

run!

This thought overwhelmed everything. Without thinking, he turned in terror and leaped off the roadbed, rushing into the dark farmland beside the road.

"Damn! He's trying to run away!"

The man who had chased after them yelled into the car.

"Quickly send your location to Brother Long and tell him to bring his men over!"

After saying that, he jumped off the roadbed and chased after the darkness.

Half an hour later, several beams of headlights tore through the night as Brother Long and Afei's car caught up behind the Santana.

Brother Long got out of the car and looked at the empty road with a gloomy expression.

Where are they?

Ah Fei crouched down and, using the car headlights, carefully examined the soil along the edge of the roadbed.

"They must have run into the fields."

He pointed to the messy footprints on the ground.

"Hold."

Brother Long spat and paced back and forth irritably.

"Ah Fei, you're good at fighting, you go."

"Um."

Ah Fei's response consisted of only one word.

Without the slightest hesitation, he lowered his body and, like a nimble cheetah, leaped down the nearly two-meter-high roadbed, landing steadily on the soft paddy field ridge.

The farmland under the cover of night was a maze for Zhou Heng, but a clear hunting ground for A Fei.

He didn't even need a flashlight; with just the faint starlight in the distance, his eyes could detect traces that ordinary people couldn't.

The broken crop stalks, the freshly turned soil, even the faint smell of sweat left in the air from running so hard.

He didn't rush to run; his steps were steady and rhythmic, each step landing precisely on the most solid ground, making almost no sound.

Meanwhile, Zhou Heng is struggling in hell.

He trudged through the mud, his shoes quickly filled with icy water, each step feeling like a ton of bricks. Sharp crop leaves grazed his cheeks and arms, leaving stinging cuts.

His lungs felt like they were on fire, and every breath was painful.

Behind him, the deathly darkness terrified him more than any roar.

He dared not stop, dared not look back, and could only rely on instinct to run madly into the deeper darkness.

---

Two hours passed.

Along the national highway, the ground beneath Brother Long's feet was littered with cigarette butts.

Behind him, several more cars were parked, and a few burly men leaned against the cars, silently smoking, making this remote national highway seem extremely desolate.

Finally, in the distant fields, seven or eight flickering flashlight beams appeared.

The light spot got closer and closer, slowly climbing onto the roadbed.

Two people, supporting a man.

That person was Zhou Heng.

He was covered in mud, his clothes were torn to shreds, his face was bruised and battered, and he was panting heavily.

Brother Long slowly walked forward, and without saying a word, swung his arm and slapped Zhou Heng hard across the face.

"Snapped!"

A sharp crack rang out, particularly jarring in the quiet night.

Zhou Heng was knocked so hard he staggered and almost fell to the ground.

"Damn it, Old Zhou, so he knows how to run away now!"

Brother Long grabbed his hair, lifted his face up, and looked at him fiercely.

"Do you think you can escape?"

"grass!"

He abruptly flung Zhou Heng toward his men behind him.

"Take it back!"

Several cars started their engines, turned around, and drove in a long procession toward Daqiao Village in the west of the city.