QTIMP -Chapter 19 Character Persona – Greedy (Part 19)

Si Qiu pretended to be utterly terrified, her legs weak and trembling as she staggered forward, constantly bracing herself against the wall for support.

This greatly slowed their escape. With no other option, the tall, burly man holding the gun grabbed her by the collar and dragged her along.

At the same time, he kept threatening her. “Move it. If you keep dawdling, I’ll just kill you on the spot. Dragging a corpse would be faster.”

“Wuu… I—I’m hurrying! Hero, I didn’t see anything, can you let me go? Wuu…”

“Shut up. If you make another sound, I’ll shoot you first.”

The man clearly had some combat training—he had probably already heard the hurried footsteps in the distance.

Si Qiu sighed inwardly. Her deliberate stalling was meant to buy time for the pursuers. But these two were far too cautious.

And that Feng Fan—utterly useless.

Dragged through several alleyways, they soon knocked on a back door. A woman in her thirties, holding a baby, opened it. The three of them quickly slipped inside. So there was someone waiting here to assist them.

Si Qiu didn’t know whether the baby in the woman’s arms was her own. But people tend to lower their guard and show more leniency toward pregnant women or women carrying infants.

Before she could look more closely, she was dragged into a room. A sharp blow struck the back of her neck. She collapsed limply and was tossed into a corner.

The instant his hand struck her neck, Si Qiu used a silver needle to stimulate an acupoint on herself, keeping her consciousness clear.

“Why throw her here? Lock her in the cellar. Or better yet, just kill her—keeping her around will only cause trouble.”

The woman entered the room right after and spat out those vicious words upon seeing Si Qiu. At the same time, she casually tossed the baby onto the heated kang bed. Judging by the careless way she handled the child, Si Qiu’s guess was likely correct—the baby wasn’t hers.

“The most venomous heart belongs to a woman.”

Si Qiu tightly gripped a pill she had taken from her space, ready at any moment. If they made a move on her, she would deliver a fatal strike.

“What’s the rush? A hostage is only useful alive.”

Si Qiu pressed her tongue against her teeth. A pack of beasts. If she didn’t want to see who else was involved, she could knock these three down in minutes.

“Enough talking. Help me bandage this wound before I bleed to death.” The gaunt man sat pale-faced on a chair.

“Yun Niang, bandage him. Then go out and make a round to see if anyone followed us.”

The gunman sat across from the injured man, poured himself a cup of water from the kettle on the table, and drank it in one gulp. Then his gloomy eyes fixed on the outside.

“We’ll leave tonight. Make some food later; once it’s dark, we go. If anything seems off, don’t get entangled—use the tunnel and leave immediately.”

Then, glancing back at Si Qiu, he added,

“Before we go, clean up what needs cleaning. Take everything that should be taken.”

Listening carefully, Si Qiu analyzed the situation. First, there was a tunnel in this house. Second, from their conversation, the other exit of the tunnel was likely nearby and hadn’t been sealed off.

Another point—they intended to deal with her before leaving. But they hadn’t mentioned what to do with the baby, who clearly wasn’t the woman’s child.

Thinking of this, she focused and listened carefully. The baby was indeed breathing—it wasn’t fake, nor was it dead.

As the woman tended to the gaunt man’s wound, she muttered, “This mission failed and we lost so many people. I wonder if this little thing in our hands is enough to make up for our mistake.”

The man holding the gun frowned. “Why isn’t the kid making any noise? He’s not dead, is he?”

The woman replied indifferently, “No. I gave him a bit of medicine.”

“Don’t let him die. Whether we send this little brat back to the country for secret training or use him to threaten his mother, he’s a valuable piece. Don’t ruin it.”

Hearing this, the woman felt somewhat embarrassed. She hadn’t taken good care of the child. Though he was still alive, his condition didn’t seem too good.

Her eyes flickered. “Once we get out, we’ll hand the brat over. After that, it won’t be our problem anymore, right?”

The man with the gun stared at her fixedly. She pretended to be busy bandaging her wound, not daring to meet his gaze.

His voice turned cold and gloomy. “Do what you’re supposed to do. If anything goes wrong again, you wouldn’t want to never see your family again, would you?”

The woman lowered her eyes. “Yes.”

After listening to their conversation, Si Qiu understood there were no other accomplices here. And judging from what they had said, the child on the bed was likely in danger.

Without hesitation, she crushed the pill in her hand. The moment it came into contact with air, it seemed to ignite, turning into faint wisps of smoke that dispersed. Ten seconds later, the three of them collapsed one after another.

The skinny man fell first, then the woman.

The man with the gun quickly sensed something was wrong and reached for his weapon. Just as he tried to stand, he, too, fell.

Si Qiu held on for another three to five seconds before slowly getting up from the floor. Grimacing, she rubbed the back of her neck and stretched her arms and legs.

She kicked the gunman once, then casually picked up the gun from the table and began searching their bodies.

Though she had confidence in her medicine, she didn’t want to risk any accidents.

Sure enough, those who did bad things cherished their lives—each of them carried weapons. The woman had even hidden a blade in her collar.

After collecting everything, Si Qiu hurried to check on the child.

He was wearing ill-fitting, washed-out clothes. Lying there, his face was flushed red. Without even touching him, she could tell he had a fever.

She quickly grabbed his arm to take his pulse. Wind-cold, shock, and fear—and the fever had likely lasted a long time. Other organs were beginning to show signs of strain.

After a moment’s thought, Si Qiu took out her silver needles and inserted them into several acupoints.

It wasn’t that she was overly soft-hearted. The child had been burning with fever for quite a while. If she didn’t intervene, he might suffer lasting damage.

Sigh… At times like this, she couldn’t help but sigh at how well she had been brought up.

Meanwhile, two nearby teams regrouped. Feng Fan’s face and neck were drenched in sweat.

“Captain Xing, I’m sorry. We lost them.”

Xing Huai’en looked at him but said nothing. With a wave of his hand, Wang Kai stepped forward, dragging a disheveled woman along.

Feng Yu was terrified. The moment she saw her older brother, it was as if she had found her pillar of support. Crying and shouting, she pleaded, “Brother, big brother, save me! I’m not a spy, sob…”

Feng Fan frowned at her. “What happened?”

Wang Kai had lost his usual carefree expression. Stepping forward, he explained, “We saw her at the entrance of the west-side alley. She directly called out the captain’s name. Then she said she saw someone acting suspiciously, running toward this side of the alley. I questioned her as a routine check, but she was stammering and evasive, so we found her very suspicious.”