Chapter 00113: Confrontation
# Confrontation
Chapter 113
Novel: Above Destiny
Chapter 113: Confrontation
Without warning, bullets rained down from the sky.
Chen Yubo lay on the ground, his vision darkening, chills creeping into his heart.
But Ji Jue felt an even colder dread, as icy as the dual-door refrigerator he had just bought.
He instinctively analyzed the trajectory of the bullets relative to the shooter, only to realize that among all those people, the gun was aimed solely at Chen Yubo, who had been chuckling next to him just moments before.
It’s over, they’re coming for the boss!
The roar of engines echoed across the mountains, and as soon as they landed, a silent Kunpeng burst forth with thunderous noise before Chen Yubo could even react.
With the engine running at high speed, it burned rubber on the spot, kicking up dust and dirt.
Following Ji Jue's command, it expelled plumes of thick smoke from incomplete fuel combustion.
At the very moment Ji Jue slammed his hand on the ground, the streetlights around them abruptly went out.
The sudden darkness took the distant shooter by surprise.
Yet, when he brought the scope to his eye again, he found that the two individuals who had been lying on the ground had vanished without a trace.
The scope moved through the chaotic scene and scattered crowd before locking onto a vehicle hastily reversing and speeding away.
With two loud bangs, an empty sports car flipped over onto the ground.
An explosion erupted, flames roaring.
Not a single person emerged from within.
Meanwhile, in the gutter beneath the fallen leaves and muck, Chen Yubo gasped violently, pinned down by Ji Jue with no way to move.
Thank the heavens the gutter had no cover!
Grateful for the road work!
Ji Jue’s other hand reached into his backpack and dialed a number.
Simultaneously, near the starting point of the racetrack, beside the slowly emptying DJ stage, the bell from a three-wheeled cart rang out, like an alarm clock signaling it was time to wake up.
The moment music blared, the cow-horse packed with goods opened its eyes.
The dazzling headlights pierced through the darkness.
A thunderous roar erupted from the engine, surpassing any sports car!
Before anyone could react, it sped out, surging onto the road, weaving effortlessly between the sports cars with a frenzied speed that overshadowed Kunpeng.
It easily left a group of stunned young masters behind and smashed through the barrier, leaping over ditches, crushing stones as it climbed against gravity through the mountains and dense forests.
Straight forward, heading towards Ji Jue!
In three minutes.
At most three minutes, the cow-horse could rush over, carrying its share of firepower.
Feeling the distance between them swiftly closing, Ji Jue finally breathed a sigh of relief—this path of embers indeed excelled at utilizing external forces.
Nevertheless, without those external forces, his own abilities had been reduced by ninety percent.
Even if Xiao An or Wen Wen were here, they would definitely not be this passive, even if they were at Ji Jue's level.
One was agile and evasive, the other had unmatched defense.
Charging straight into the bullets and punching through would solve everything.
In contrast, Ji Jue didn't even dare to expose himself to the drone hovering above, actively pulling back to observe the blurred shadows through the camera’s zoomed view.
He soon noticed that after continuously locking onto several targets, the cautious sniper hiding at the high point had decisively aimed his gun at the direction of their gutter!
Did he gain some kind of clarity?
An instant lock?
Or… was it possible that among the panicked crowd, there were accomplices of theirs?
“How high was your gamble?!”
Ji Jue glared at the panicked Chen Yubo, unable to hold back his questioning, “If the other side can’t afford to lose and hires a sniper to shoot, what are they trying to do?!”
“It’s impossible!”
Chen Yubo shook his head resolutely, “Absolutely impossible!”
Seeing Ji Jue’s disbelief, he hurried to explain, “Even if the stakes ruin Mu Jiang, the worst he’d face is a beating at home, and he has already settled his debts. Besides, you said he takes drugs and drinks to crash into people—perhaps he did, but to hire a hitman to kill me? He wouldn’t dare! If I lose a hair, he wouldn’t leave Cliff City alive!”
Ji Jue was momentarily stunned.
Had he underestimated just how wealthy these second-generation scions were?
“Then who’s out to kill you?”
Then he saw a familiar glint of clarity in Chen Yubo's eyes, pure and yet foolish: “I don’t know!”
“Don’t you even know who you’ve offended?!”
“Hey, a person just lives and offends others. Sometimes just breathing can be a crime. The richer you are, the more friends you have and the more enemies you gather…”
After the initial panic faded, Chen Yubo displayed an eerie calmness, as if he were used to it: “It’s probably because of my family.”
“What does your family even do?”
Ji Jue could no longer hold back.
Could a trading business really attract such formidable enemies?
“Oh, you don’t know?”
Chen Yubo looked just as shocked, as if not knowing the family business while hanging out with him was a strange thing.
He said, “My brother is Chen Xingzhou.”
“Crap!”
Ji Jue felt his world darken.
Chen Xingzhou!
Two months ago, if Ji Jue had heard that name, he might have asked which foolish person it belonged to, though it did sound familiar.
But after becoming a Chosen One and slowly getting to know the other side of Cliff City, he truly realized how terrifying that name was in the city's dark corners.
His business card would often bear titles like industrialist, financier, or vice president of the Spring City Association, flaunting his brilliant aspects.
Yet in truth, that was merely a glorious facade.
In the underground of Cliff City, he was a towering figure, a big boss from the bad parts of town, who had started from the bottom, managing gamblers and prize fights, and six years later founded Cliff City’s largest betting company, swiftly becoming a guest in high-level circles.
Besides accumulating an unknown number of muscle men, he also handled much of the business distributed in this underground world.
Moreover, he was the biggest information broker, middleman, and go-between in all of Cliff City.
Among his numerous clients was one Ji Jue’s beloved teacher, Ye Xian, master craftsman and host of the Tide Sound Workshop!
Now, Ji Jue began to sense that tonight’s entire competition might be a trap!
Just the thought of getting involved with someone like that sent chills down his spine; he could end up dead and buried!
“Why didn’t you say so earlier?”
“I didn’t want to cause a fuss, you know? With such an identity, it’s not something you just spill out.”
Chen Yubo rubbed his hands awkwardly, “Besides, I started my business on my own… along with all my brother’s effort over the years…”
As he spoke, he held Ji Jue’s hand, eyes brimming with tears: “I’m a legitimate entrepreneur! I’ve never done anything shady, you can’t just abandon me!”
Brother, you’re my brother!
If there weren’t a sniper outside aiming at them, Ji Jue would have probably jumped up and ran for it.
In earlier years, Ji Jue had heard an ancient saying that fate has already marked a price on every gift.
He long believed it, but he never expected that this time the price would be set out in the open!
He knew well that money that disregards human life is hard to earn!
Now, karma had come to collect.
He forced words through clenched teeth: “I need more money!”
“Double it, I’ll double it! No, make it twice as much! Wait, I can’t pay up with cash right now; how about shares?” Chen Yubo seemed to clutch at a lifeline: “Can I pay in virtual currency? Stocks or futures?”
“Shut up already!”
Ji Jue pressed his hand against Chen Yubo’s face, glaring in warning: “Don’t say a word!”
The sound of vehicles speeding from afar drew near.
They burst into the venue.
But to Ji Jue’s dismay, it was not the cow-horse that was still traversing mountains but a van with no license plate.
With a screech of brakes, the vehicle stopped, and then five masked men jumped out of the open doors.
They didn’t pay any attention to those fleeing in panic or huddled in corners, nor did they care about the scattered luxury bags or valuables.
They walked straight towards Ji Jue and Chen Yubo.
Some were tall, others short, some were fat, and some were lean.
The only thing they had in common was what they held in their hands, wrapped in black plastic bags that outlined a shape Ji Jue recognized all too well.
Handguns!
But do you guys have guns?!
Leaning against the gutter, Ji Jue expressionlessly drew his Deer Hunter, silently counting down from the sky's view: 5, 4, 3, 2—1!
The moment a stranger appeared at the edge of the gutter, he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger.
Before they even realized where he was, one fell back, lifeless.
When the remaining men instinctively retreated, they heard the nearby roar of engines!
A few scattered sports cars suddenly lit up their headlights, then fully showed the assailants what terrifying acceleration below three seconds to a hundred kilometers looked like.
In an instant, one was knocked flying, while two others were caught under the spinning tires of the cars, becoming a mass of blood and chaos.
As screams erupted, the fallen survivors froze in place, instinctively turning to flee.
Then they saw the cold lights shining down from behind as the sports cars accelerated!
Within a hundred meters, they transformed into meteors, sending whoever was left soaring into the sky!
Finally, a dull thud rang out.
In the silence that followed, only the roar echoing between the mountains remained.
The sniper pulled the trigger again.
The bullet whizzed past Ji Jue’s head, embedding itself in the earth, vanishing from sight.
Ji Jue fell back, gasping for breath.
In that fleeting moment, he wanted to leap out of the gutter amid the chaos, but he didn’t expect that the sniper was unwavering in their aim, coldly targeting them without any sign of faltering due to the demise of their comrades.
They had locked down any possibility of escape.
Under the cover of gunfire, the free world outside the gutter was already saturated with waiting death.
“Blocked at the doors.”
Ji Jue whispered, looking up at the night sky.
Amid the countless stars, the sky's eye gazed down at the figure hidden among the mountains.
In this silence, they locked eyes.
Just like they were standing against each other.
Motionless.
As if turned to stone, they could hold their ground until the ends of the earth.
Until the engine roared once more from the distant mountains.
The cow-horse charged!
(End of Chapter)