Wang Jiming was somewhat distraught. "What if we're caught after escaping? Will we face even harsher punishment?"
Qin He's expression turned serious, her voice growing cold. "Wang Jiming, the reason I chose to take you all away tonight is because if we don't leave now, it will be too late."
"What do you mean?"
"Shen Yicong plans to kill you tomorrow morning! Tonight is our last chance, you must come with us!"
Wang Jiming trembled as he followed Qin He. Seeing his unsteady footsteps making noise, Li Fengrui stepped forward and supported him.
"Quietly!"
The three of them quietly left the corridor. When they reached the villa's main gate, Qin He gestured backward, and Gao Lang and the other two immediately stopped.
Qin He hid behind a pillar, her clear eyes sharp with determination.
There were four guards at the villa's main gate. From her observations two days prior when accompanying Shen Yilin on a walk through the garden, she knew there were likely many more patrolling.
Finally, there was the main gate of the villa estate.
After disabling the surveillance, she would have to pass through these three checkpoints to escape successfully.
Qin He turned to Gao Lang. "You three wait for me here."
Gao Lang was anxious. "Miss Qin, there are too many of them. Let me help you!"
Qin He shook her head and crouched down, moving towards the gate.
She had to escape before dawn. As she approached the main gate, Qin He was separated from the four guards outside by only a wall.
She waited patiently. These four guards couldn't possibly stay by the gate all the time.
After a short while, Qin He's hand was suddenly touched. Her heart tightened, and she immediately turned back, only to see Gao Lang standing behind her, holding a bottle of agent.
Qin He looked at the label on the agent. It was a misty anesthetic capable of causing unconsciousness.
Gao Lang offered a soaked towel with his other hand.
Qin He looked at him gratefully, then covered her mouth with the towel. She quietly opened the agent bottle, extended its mouth over the threshold, and stealthily sprinkled the agent on the ground.
The highly concentrated misty anesthetic quickly took effect. The closest guard mumbled, "What's going on? I feel a bit dizzy."
The other three laughed at him. "You weren't that drunk tonight. Two cans of beer can't be making you feel sick this late."
Another guard said, "I'm feeling a bit dizzy too. What's happening?"
As they spoke, the first guard collapsed to the ground with a thud.
The other two immediately became alert. Seizing this opportunity, Qin He burst out of the room and swiftly dealt with the two of them.
The furthest guard looked at Qin He in terror and opened his mouth to call for help.
A dark gun muzzle pressed against his head.
"Shut up! Or die!" Qin He's voice was quick and low.
The man shivered all over.
Her face was still covered by the damp towel, and the atmosphere became tense.
Qin He, holding the gun to the man's forehead with one hand, turned to look behind her. "Gao Lang, bring them out."
Gao Lang quickly brought the other two out.
All three of them had damp towels covering their faces. The man Qin He was holding at gunpoint could no longer hold on. He swayed and collapsed to the ground.
Qin He looked at the four unconscious men on the ground.
"There's a patrol team in this estate. They pass by every fifteen minutes at most. We must reach the main gate before 15 minutes are up!"
Qin He searched the four men and found four mobile phones.
She handed each of them a phone. "After we leave, call the nearest police station immediately! Throw the phone away after you call. Their phones definitely have tracking systems."
The three took the phones. Qin He led them forward immediately.
Wang Jiming was nervous. "Shouldn't we drag these four into the house? What if someone finds them?"
"If the patrol team walks by here and sees no one, they'll know something is wrong! Our priority now is time. We don't have time to deal with the aftermath." Qin He gritted her teeth, her footsteps not slowing.
Following the widest path, Qin He and the other three quickly reached the main gate.
To her surprise, she saw several cars parked by the road outside the gate.
Having cars was even better! Even if Shen Yicong discovered their escape, it would take him time to track them!
There were guard posts on both sides of the gate, equipped with bulletproof glass. The glass had a round hole, clearly for guards to shoot outward.
Qin He frowned and turned to look at Gao Lang.
"Do you still have the anesthetic from before?"
"No, should I go back and get some?"
"No need. We don't have time to go back now," Qin He said in a low voice.
Her gaze fell on the wall not far away. The wall was very high. With the help of a nearby tree, she could climb over it, but the other three were clearly not agile enough.
It seemed they had to go through the main gate.
Qin He stealthily approached a guard post. Although the guard post had a blind spot about half a person high, there were guard posts on both sides, allowing them to see the entire area.
As she was struggling to figure out what to do, her gaze fell on a gap behind the guard post.
The gap was very small, squeezed between the gate. A person couldn't pass through, but because the villa was old, that section of the courtyard wall had become somewhat mottled.
They only needed to push open the wall by another two centimeters and have enough space to crawl through!
Qin He explained her idea to the three. Wang Jiming, who had been trembling, and Li Fengrui and Gao Lang, who were also present, all agreed with the suggestion.
The spot was in a corner, making it unlikely to be discovered.
"We're running out of time. It took us seven minutes to get from the villa to here. In at most eight more minutes, those guards will be discovered by the patrol!" Qin He said in a low voice.
"I'll do it! I'm strong," Gao Lang volunteered, lying on the ground and desperately pushing at the edge of the mottled wall.
Minute after minute passed. Qin He was counting the time, and less than five minutes remained, yet Gao Lang had only managed to dislodge a single brick.
Qin He gritted her teeth. She hadn't expected the edge of the wall, which looked weathered and mottled for so long, to be so sturdy!
There was no more time!
Sounds could be heard from a distance, indicating that the other side had already discovered the unconscious guards at the entrance.
"Gao Lang, there's no time! We'll force our way through!" Qin He pulled Gao Lang up.
She raised her gun, intending to deal with the guards.
But her peripheral vision caught sight of a manhole cover on the ground nearby.
She fired a few shots directly at the wall and then tore off a piece of Wang Jiming's clothing, hanging it on the wall.
The two guards in the posts rushed out. Qin He efficiently took them down. Seeing all of them fall, she grabbed Gao Lang, Wang Jiming, and Li Fengrui and rushed towards the manhole cover.
The manhole cover was almost completely hidden by weeds, which was why Qin He hadn't noticed it immediately.
She pulled open the manhole cover and let Li Fengrui descend first, followed by Wang Jiming and Gao Lang.
After all three had descended using the makeshift iron ladder along the inner wall of the sewer, Qin He went down last. The moment she covered the manhole, she saw lights illuminating in the distance.
The entire villa was instantly lit up!