The moment the trap was broken, Kang Muru retaliated against Yang Yuanyuan.
If the primary target of their revenge hadn't been me, and if they hadn't intended to frame me and drag me down completely, I have no doubt that Yang Yuanyuan would have been stripped naked in the room earlier.
As I was contemplating how to escape and reveal the hidden truth to Yang Yuanyuan...
Bang bang!
The instant two muffled thuds echoed, I saw Kang Muru and the person who had ambushed me both black out and fall to the ground!
Immediately after, Xianyu, wielding a brick, descended like a divine soldier, flashing out from a dark corner ahead.
After knocking down both of them with a brick, Xianyu made no superfluous movements, directly strode up to me, and pulled me to my feet.
"Brother Xiang, I saw someone chasing you earlier. Did you get caught cheating on Ying Baolin's gambling boat?"
To be willing to take the risk to save me under such circumstances, I must say, Xianyu's actions touched me deeply.
But at this moment, I didn't have time to explain the cause and effect. I grabbed Xianyu and we ran out.
We hadn't run far when I heard hurried footsteps behind us, mixed with various curses starting with "c".
Upon hearing the commotion behind him, Xianyu looked back, and a look of shock welled up in his eyes.
"Brother Xiang, how much money did you cheat them out of? Why are so many people chasing you like their lives depend on it?"
Hearing this, I could only shake my head with a bitter smile, unable to answer.
Money? Heh!
I knew very well that this was no longer a problem that could be solved with money alone.
Kang Muru wouldn't let me go because of personal grudges.
The people behind me wouldn't let me go because they wanted to silence me!
How do you silence someone?
The answer is simple!
You just need to make them shut up forever, and that's it!
Once the "killing the fish" scheme was exposed, it would be their turn... to be silenced forever!
I surmised that after the trap was broken, Kang Muru initially intended to use Yang Yuanyuan to eliminate me.
This way, he would achieve his revenge and deal with me effortlessly.
But he never expected that I would wake up and escape before the bodyguards entered!
Seeing that his framing attempt failed, Kang Muru simply resorted to a direct confrontation, wanting to fight me to the death!
This was the real reason why almost everyone who followed Kang Muru was relentlessly pursuing me!
...
After only a few minutes of catching my breath, I, along with Xianyu, embarked on the endless path of escape once more.
I don't know if it was because this fish of mine hadn't been caught yet, or if Xianyu's actions had thoroughly angered and provoked the person in charge of the gambling boat.
While escaping, I discovered that the number of people chasing us this time... was almost double what it was before!
More people meant more eyes.
More eyes meant that places that were once hidden might no longer be so.
Seeing the available hiding spaces being continuously compressed, and as I was getting anxious and feeling trapped with nowhere to go...
As we passed the deck on the first floor of the gambling boat, panting, I saw what seemed to be a lifeboat floating on the river ahead.
On the lifeboat were Cheng Minglang and Han Jinlun, those two scoundrels!
This sight immediately made my blood boil, and just as I was about to curse them out, I heard Cheng Minglang shout at me first, "Stop dawdling! Jump down quickly!"
Hearing this, after exchanging a glance with Xianyu, without any extra words or actions, I, with him, leaped directly from the deck!
Splash! Splash!
After swimming about ten meters in the bone-chilling river water with Xianyu, we finally managed to climb onto the lifeboat.
Once settled, Cheng Minglang directed all of us to paddle together, rowing the lifeboat away from the gambling boat...
Having escaped and completely distanced ourselves from the gambling boat, I released my tired and numb hands, gasping for breath, and asked, "Why were you guys in the lifeboat?"
Upon hearing this, Cheng Minglang and Han Jinlun looked at me with distinctly different expressions.
The former had an angry look.
As for the latter, he had a lewd grin.
Before Cheng Minglang could speak, Han Jinlun said with a sly smile, "I never expected our Brother Xiang to be into that kind of forceful approach!"
"I have nothing more to say, please accept my kowtow! From now on, Brother Xiang... you are my elder brother!"
Hearing Han Jinlun's words, I immediately realized that to capture me, the person in charge of the gambling boat had falsely accused me of "rape."
For outsiders who didn't understand, it didn't matter whether this accusation was true or false.
What mattered was that the person in charge of the gambling boat could use it as an excuse to arrest me openly.
It seemed they had gone to great lengths to keep me on the gambling boat.
Fortunately, I had already escaped. Otherwise, they would have likely made this charge stick to me permanently!
Because all of this had happened so suddenly, I was somewhat uncertain at the moment... whether Yang Yuanyuan would believe it to be true?
After all, I was no longer on the gambling boat, and all the truth and falsehoods regarding this matter could only be left to others to smear me with.
If she believed it, then my painstaking escape would not be much different from staying on the gambling boat.
The reason was that Yang Yuanyuan was currently someone I could not afford to offend.
Thinking of this, I immediately took my phone out of my wet pocket, intending to call Yang Yuanyuan to explain.
My intuition told me that if I left without saying a word and didn't call Yang Yuanyuan to clarify, then I would most likely end up taking the blame!
However, what I didn't expect was that at such a crucial moment, the supposedly waterproof Phelps phone... had gone black screen!
Just as I was feeling despair, Cheng Minglang handed me his phone.
Seeing this, after nodding slightly to Cheng Minglang, I quickly recalled Yang Yuanyuan's phone number and dialed it...
Although the call connected, it was regrettable that Yang Yuanyuan did not answer.
Clearly, she was the type who never answered calls from unknown numbers.
Leaving the gambling boat without a word, and without even settling the payment.
If I were Yang Yuanyuan, the moment I remembered collapsing on the bed, completely unaware of what had happened next, no amount of intelligence or calmness would be of any use!
At this moment, I knew I was finished!