Kerry Ye didn’t believe his nonsense and continued to ask, “But why do I get the feeling that you’re
stalling? And, you asked me to think it through in this morning, don’t you want to give a further
explanation about it to me, President Chu?”
Xuan Chu said blankly, “Nothing. I just want to remind you to get it straight so that you won’t regret it in
the future.”
“Why?”
“Kerry, you never know. Indeed, I appreciate you saving Yan Chu’s life with the treasure map. But what
if you didn’t like her anymore? Won’t you regret your choice?”
Kerry stared at him and said to him as well as to himself, “Xuan, I’ve ever had eyes for her. Even if my
love faded one day, I won’t regret it. Because to others, the map may be a fortune, but to me, it’s just a
map but nothing.”
At these words, Xuan cast a surprised glance at him. Couldn’t believe that there would be someone
totally indifferent to a huge treasure!
“Kerry, you can’t convince me. Or maybe you know that it’s a fake map so……”
He seemed to have guessed his response and interrupted him directly, “Look, Xuan, I don’t know
whether it is true or not. As for the rest, you can believe or not, but I don’t want to explain. The only
thing I want to do is to save Yan.”
Xuan was lost in thought. Wasn’t it in vain if their great efforts were returned by a mere fake map?
At this moment, the waiter served them two bowls of beef noodles, and Kerry took the one without
peppers and tucked into it.
After living with Venus Mu for a long time, he changed his taste into the one akin to hers and began to
dislike pepper as well.
He felt better after stuffing his empty belly with a bowl of noodles. Kerry paid for it, then he said and
was ready to going out, “Come on, time’s limited.”
The temperature went higher as the sun’s ray became stronger, getting beads of sweat on his
forehead. Kerry bent down to take a cigarette out of the car, lit it, and calmed his mind down in the
puffs.
By then, he could stop the time to save Venus as well as keep the map. But it was too dangerous for
that there must have been under surveillance. Fat chance at killing all of them, after all. What’s more,
Venus had forbidden him from killing others.
Xuan finally came out as he almost finished the cigarette.
The two guys were on the road again. The car compass freed Kerry of guiding the direction, so he tilted
his head to look out the window with dashing eyebrows wrinkled in anxiety.
It just occurred to him that the kidnappers, luckily, proposed this meeting during the daytime because
the mask on Venus’s face won’t work anymore tonight, and once found out that she was his wife after
seeing her face and taking an investigation, they would no doubt hold all the cards.
He didn’t want to place her in such a predicament.
As they went through the last toll station of Sky City after over three hours, a gentle female voice was
heard from the compass and said, “You’re now in S City.”
Followed a few miles drive, Kerry caught a natural lake not far away. Surrounded by thick trees, the
lake, shallow and a bit turbid in summer, was turned into a perfect hiding spot.
Xuan drove in and parked the car by the lake. Here was secluded by the dense trees from the roads,
nothing could be heard except the whizzing sounds from the cars and the chirping of cicadas.
The clock said twenty to two in the afternoon. There were twenty minutes left before the appointed
time.
Kerry wiped the gun in his hand to kill time calmly.
As for the map, it was casually stuffed in his pants pocket.
Xuan lit a cigarette irritably and heard him say, “You stay in the car, if there’s something wrong outside,
go save Yan first.”
“How about you?”
“Since I’ve been in Sky City for quite a long time, certainly I would have my ways to escape even if I’m
caught by them.” Kerry said lightly. He believed that Venus didn’t leak even a bit of his secret to Xuan.
Though with a close relationship with Tianye Mu, she didn’t allow him to threaten Kerry by this, and her
integrity was thus told and became one of the reasons why he had a crush on her.
A jeep came into their line of visions at nearly two o’clock.
Kerry was all tensed up. As the approaching car stopped, he pinned the gun to his waist and got out of
the car cleanly without a tint of fear.
A man in a camouflage shirt and black wide-leg trousers came out of the jeep. Dark skins and firm
eyes, the man looked as young as Kerry with the powerful arms covered a vivid giant dragon in tattoos.
The quick-thinking didn’t get him any clue about this man.
“Oh, I know you, Kerry.” A smile displayed on the man’s face. He recognized that this guy was the man
who talked with him on the phone this morning.
“Where’s Yan?” Kerry didn’t want to waste their time and came straight to the point.
“Where’s my thing?” The man was canny as well.
Kerry took out the map from the pocket. The archaic sheepskin roll rendered it a sense of history.
The man’s eyes lit up the second he saw the map. He curled the fingers to the back, and then two men
jumped down from the trunk with Venus followed them. The poor girl, with her hands tied behind her
back, was dragged off the car in a rude way. Her disheveled hair was tied and her face was red and
swelling, apparently, she had been beaten by them.
Her eyes were instantly covered with a film of moisture as she looked up at him.
Kerry felt his blood was up in a flash, he barely suppressed his anger by taking a breath, and then
looked at the man coldly, “Okey, let her go.”
The man smirked unpleasantly and said, “Kerry, are you fooling me? How could I know if the map is
authentic? What if you just give me the fake one?”
“What do you want?” Kerry asked calmly.
“Well, the main purpose of my coming today is the treasure map, so the woman will be nothing to me
once I get it. You can throw it to me and let me have a look. If it’s true, I will let her go instantly.”
Kerry laughed ironically, “How could I believe in you as I don’t even know who you are?”
The man stretched his hand, dragging Venus in front of him and pinching her neck, and said harshly, “I
can pinch her to death quite easily, do you believe it?”
“Stop!” Kerry thundered.
“Can you throw the map to me now?” Craziness glinted in his eyes.
Kerry didn’t want to venture her life, but at the same time, he could not let the man find out the flaw of
the map, so he had to step back and said, “Well, seems we don’t trust each other.” He split the map
from the middle into two neatly.
This time, it was the man who saw red and shouted at him, “What the hell are you doing?”
“You said you want to check whether it’s authentic or not, right?” Kerry showed him the map and
sneered, “I can show you half of it. If it’s true, you let her go. I know your guys are hiding in the forest,
but I come alone and have no way to run. There’s no need for you to be worried about.”
The man thought for a while, seeming quite confident in his plan, and said, “Okey, I promise you, and
you give the half to me first.”
Kerry threw it over with a wave and the map fell on the ground. The man winked at his followers, and
then one of them hastened to come over to pick the map up and handed it to the man.
As Venus was dropped down, she began to cough violently and reddened her face.
“Yan!” It rent his heart so hard that his first impulse was to hold her in his arms.
The coughing stopped, and Venus turned to look at him and smiled faintly, “I’m Okey, Kerry.”
He was stung by her smile, obviously just a disguise to cover her fears. God knows how much he
would like to see her tears rather than that smiling face.
“Don’t worry, I will bring you back safe and sound.” Kerry gave her comfort.
She nodded and said, “I believe you, but……”
“No, don’t say anything. You are the most important to me. We can talk about other things later.
Venus ran a deep look at him. At this moment, she suddenly got a strong intuition that he knew
anything.
It was indeed a bittersweet moment for her when she heard on the phone that Kerry agreed to bring
her back with the treasure map as the price in the morning. She was glad that Yan was important to
him while feeling sad that only this figure could stay in his heart.
But now, his words, and his eyes, all these signs showing that he was not looking for her resemblance
with Venus but exactly looking at her.
Did he see through her identity?
As the couple’s figures were absorbed in each other’s eyes, the man beside was verifying the
authenticity of the map meticulously. After he finally confirmed that it was true, his face showed
ecstasy.
Kerry looked at him coldly, “Of course it’s true. Now, can you let her go?”
The man raised his head and gazed at the other half in his hand, saying, “Give me the rest of it.”
Seeing that he broke his promise, Kerry took out a lighter and was ready to ignite the map, “Well,
maybe I should let it vanish from the world.”
“No, no, I will let her go.” The man hastened to turn back and push her out. Venus staggered a few
steps, almost falling to the ground, and then Kerry moved forward to hold her in his arms and retreated
to his Cayenne slowly.
“Give me the map.” The man took out a gun, “Or none of you can run away from here.”
Kerry wasn’t worried about it at all. He directly stood in front of Venus, whispering to her to let her get
into the car and shouting at the man, “Let her go! I will stay here. You’ve got guns in your hands, so
what are you worried about?”
The man kept silent for a while, and Venus took the chance to get into the car.
Seeing that she was safe, Kerry threw the other half out, and before the man came to pick it up, he
turned around to get into the car quickly.
62fb1bb41dcb31934bd49bda