Crimson Instinct

Chapter 109: Showdown at Tianjin (2)

*Xin Lei*

I typed. "And who that party might be?"

Yi Xing shrugged. "It could be any of the six allied parties, but my best bet is Yao Shuang."

Zhang Ning slowly stirred a bit. "Ugh"

"Ning!"

Yi Xing held her in his arms. "Ning, are you alright?"

She opened her eyes. "I...What happened? Where am I?"

Zhang Ning clutched her head and frowned.

"Yi Xing?"

Yi Xing smiled and nodded. "Don't worry, Ning. You are safe now."

She widened her eyes and stepped back. "Yi Xing! What are you doing here? And why"

She looked around her. "...why am I here?"

Yi Xing said, "Ning, you were kidnapped! This man, Bai Li brought you here!"

"What?"

Zhang Ning looked at us in confusion. "I...what is happening?"

Yi Xing said, "Ning, this man has confessed that Bai Li bribed him to bring you here. Ning, do you see his true face now? He wants to blame your kidnapping on me while Yi and Zhang parties fight with each other. He is not any savior. He is working for someone else!"

"Yi Xing! Are you out of your mind? He saved me twice! And you. You have been nothing but trouble for me since the beginning."

"Trust me, Ning. I-"

Zhang Ning ignored him and looked at us. Her gaze settled at Bai Li. "Bai Li. Did you really kidnap me?"

Bai Li seemed unbothered. "I don't have the time to turn into kidnapper, much less work for some political party in the shadows."

Zhang Ning slowly nodded. "If you say so, then I trust you."

I raised my brow. 

On my side, the clients seemed to be confused, and they looked like they wanted to escape, but I had pointed my gun at them.

They stiffened and didn't dare to move.

"Ning! He is fooling you! That goon has confessed!"

"He is lying!" She glared at her.

Yi Xing laughed, but I felt a strong sense of eerieness from it. "But you trusted that man who said that I ordered him to kill you. Now you refuse to believe the man who is saying that Bai Li kidnapped you?"

"Can you compare yourself to Bai Li?"

Silence.

Yi Xing froze, and so did...I.

Her meaning of what she said could be taken in a very different sense.

My instinct was ringing an alarm in my mind. Even Liao Huifang glanced at me, seemingly shocked.

She was already so trusting towards Bai Li. That wasn't the issue. But it felt like she might

I squinted my gaze at her.

Yi Xing was staring at her. "You are comparing me to him? How long has it been since you met him? Just one freaking day!"

"Because on one side there is you, who tried to force himself on me while on the other side, there is Bai Li who saved my dignity!" Zhang Ning's chest was heaving up and down, her breaths being unsteady. "Why shouldn't I compare?"

As if he lost it, Yi Xing suddenly grabbed a gun from one of the men standing beside him and grabbed Zhang Ning's arm.

"Ah!"

Bai Li immediately pointed his gun at his direction.

"Yi Xing! What are you doing?"

Zhao Wenyan seemed panicked. "Sir. Leave Miss Zhang. Don't do this."

But Yi Xing even ignored his assistant's plea.

"How could you be so cruel Ning? I have loved you for so many years. I love you even now. How can you just easily brush me away like that for a man like him!"

Liao Huifang whispered. "He is holding Zhang Ning on gunpoint!"

Bai Li nodded. "I figured as much."

He warned. "Leave Zhang Ning. It won't do you any good."

Yi Xing laughed. "Tell me, Ning. Do you like him?"

Zhang Ning widened her eyes. "W-what...are you crazy?"

I felt the hesitation in her voice to deny it.

Women are really sensitive, especially in the matters of feelings, more so when it concerned the person she liked.

I felt my hunch was becoming true...

Yi Xing pulled her towards him even more. He pressed his gun against her temple. "Zhang Ning, you are mine. I will not let anybody snatch you away from me. Never!"

I panicked. It seemed as if he would really shoot.

But just when Bai Li seemed ready to shoot, we heard a voice.

"Freeze! Don't move!"

Silence.

Everybody was startled. The clients looked shocked. The foreigner said something in Russian.

I recognized it. I had learned some of the Russian language, but I wasn't fluent in it.

"What is happening?" He spoke in his language. But nobody had an answer.

Yi Xing and Zhao Wenyan looked dumbfounded as well.

Bai Li said, "Wait. This voice...Duan Deming."

He was right.

Duan Deming came rushing in with some officers.

"Put your guns down!"

Yi Xing shouted. "Duan Deming. Good that you came on time. Arrest Bai Li! He kidnapped my Ning and brought her here!"

Duan Deming narrowed his eyes. 

Zhang Ning yelled. "No!"

I tugged Bai Li.

Duan Deming looked at us. "Didn't I already warn you to stay away from this case? Why are you here where an illegal deal is taking place?"

Bai Li said, "We already cleared ourselves. I-"

"Don't waste time, Duan Deming!" Yi Xing shouted again.

"First, you let Miss Zhang go." He calmly said.

"No!"

"Mr. Yi Xing. Don't force us to take action against you. You are taking Miss Zhang as a hostage, pointing your gun at her. That is a crime."

"I don't care. You just arrest Bai Li!"

As Yi Xing was yelling, I heard a faint sound ringing from above me.

I glanced up, and it was just a gantry crane, swinging perhaps because of the wind.

I shrugged.

Yi Xing then fired a shot in the air. He started to drag Zhang Ning with him.

"You leave me no choice! Don't dare to come near me."

Duan Deming was in position, and so was Bai Li.

It was a little difficult angle.

Zhang Ning was crying for help. "Let me go!"

I heard the ringing sound once again from above, a little stronger this time.

Huh?

I looked upwards again, and to my shock, the gantry crane was violently moving in place as if it collapse at any moment. The crane was covering a part of the dock and the container terminal where we were standing now.

Oh shit!

But even before I could warn anybody, Bai Li already pushed Liao Huifang and me away at one side.

"Watch out!!! He yelled.

We fell on the ground. 

Liao Huifang asked, "W-what happened?"

Panicked, I looked at Bai Li, but he was already far away on the other side.

With his scream, there was a moment of silence. 

I wanted to rush at his side, but the gantry crane seemed out of control. I didn't have any chance to move from my place.

Duan Deming asked, "What-"

He looked aghast as well when I saw him looking at the gantry crane.

"Fuck! Get away! The crane is going to collapse!"

"Chto proiskhodit!?"

The foreigner screamed in Russian that meant 'What is happening?'

With my heart thudding wildly in my chest, I stared at the gantry crane as if everything happened in slow motion.

The gantry crane, at first, slowly slid down. The hinges at the top were loosening fast until it could no longer hold the crane. As it loosened faster, the crane started to pick up its pace while falling.

"Ah!"

Liao Huifang shut her eyes.

*CRASH*

I covered my ears when a loud, thundering sound echoed throughout the terminal. The ground beneath me shook, and I felt the tremors of it. A strong wind passed. As the crane collapsed, small pieces of it flew everywhere.

A smoke of dust started to rise in the air.

The crane completely collapsed, and it started to break down further, the sound ringing even deadlier than before.

Bai Li... Bai Li... Where is he?

Everybody was screaming and running in any direction they could find.

The crane fell at the center where Bai Li and I separated.

Bai Li is on the other side

What happened? How did it suddenly collapse?

Bai Li...i-is he safe?

"Xin Lei! Where are you! Can you hear me?"

I heard someone shouting my name, but at the same time, I couldn't respond.

All my focus was on Bai Li.

He-he is there. The crane collapsed between us. I-Is he hurt? His shoulder still hasn't healed from the shot

What if he got hit by the crane? What if he is bleeding? What if he is unconscious?

He-he cannot see...How will he move? How will he run away? How will he know if something is falling on him?

'Bai Li!'

I shouted, but no voice came from my mouth.

I felt myself trembling, and something wet touched my palm.

They were my tears.

Bai Li

No...No, no, no! I cannot be so negative! Bai Li is safe! Yes, he must be safe!

I looked at the giant crane that was broken, obstructing the view beyond it.

Bai Li... Please be safe.