But life is often unpredictable. Just as Lu Chen carefully entered and was even enjoying a few moments of pleasure, Shangguan Wan suddenly and roughly pushed him away.
He was stunned for a moment, then heard Shangguan Wan's terrified voice: "Lu Chen, no! I... I feel he's already here, very close... You have to leave!"
"What about you?" Lu Chen asked urgently.
Shangguan Wan said sadly, "I...I'm fine. Anyway, I gave you my most precious thing, so he wouldn't dare hurt me too much! But if he knew you possessed the Seven-Life Flower, he would definitely kill you! You can't fight him. Go quickly, don't worry about me..."
Lu Chen's blood rushed to his head: "No, you gave me everything, I have to protect you!"
Shangguan Wan smiled happily and kissed Lu Chen's forehead hard: "I knew it, heaven let me meet you in my most critical moment, it's because I met the right person."
She paused and added, "Lu Chen, once your superpower is activated, remember to find me. Otherwise, not only will you not be able to protect me, but you'll also be in danger yourself! Also, you must keep a low profile. Whether we can meet again or not, in this life...I will always be grateful to have met you. Lu Chen, tell me you love me!"
Although Lu Chen had been surrounded by countless beauties, he was like a little bee, not an alien prince guarding only his own rose. Therefore, he had never said "I love you" to a girl.
"I love you!" he said without hesitation.
Shangguan Wan burst into tears, forcefully covering her mouth and pushing Lu Chen hard, urging, "Go! Go!"
Lu Chen gritted his teeth, quickly packed his things, and left the hotel. Just as he stepped out of the gate, he saw three or four SUVs parked on the street. The doors swung open quickly, and a dozen burly men emerged.
Their faces were sinister, their eyes gleaming with a sharp light; they were clearly no weaklings.
As a martial arts practitioner, although Lu Chen's skill was mediocre, he could tell they were all experts. He might be able to barely handle one of them, but if two attacked him together, he knew he'd be beaten to a pulp. He quickly suppressed his aura and walked past them with an air of composure.
The dozen or so men strode into the hotel. As soon as Lu Chen saw them go inside, he immediately took off running…
By this time on the third day, Lu Chen had already arrived in Yunzhou City.
Yunzhou City was in another province, and separated from Jiaying City, where Lu Chen was located, by a full three provinces. For Lu Chen, this cross-provincial escape was, for the time being, a safe haven.
The moment he stepped out of the station, he excitedly shouted at the azure sky and the passing traffic, "Haha, Yunzhou City, you're my home now!"
This startled many people around him.
Yunzhou City was completely unfamiliar to Lu Chen, but he had a brother there, a brother he had never met. Five or six years ago, Lu Chen became obsessed with the game Warcraft. In the game, there was a guy named Gong Jiu, who was his sworn brother. Gong Jiu had given him his address, inviting Lu Chen to visit him whenever he had time.
Since he stopped playing that game, Lu Chen and Gong Jiu had gradually lost contact, but he always remembered the address.
He hailed a taxi and gave him the address Gong Jiu had given him.
The driver looked puzzled: "Everything's been demolished there, what are you going there for?"
"Demolished?" Lu Chen was taken aback: "How could it be demolished?"
The driver said, "It's part of the old city redevelopment. What city doesn't do this now? Changing the old to give it a new look! Almost everyone's left. I reckon the person you're looking for has moved away! Uh, wait, there are still a few protesters. Maybe the person you're looking for is one of them?"
The driver was right. Lu Chen found Gong Jiu, one of the protesters.
However, Gong Jiu's situation was dire. His building was mostly demolished; from below, the seven- or eight-story structure, reduced to a small section, looked like a crumbling pagoda, on the verge of collapse.
Lu Chen had hoped to save money and shamelessly stay at Gong Jiu's place for a few nights until he found a job that could provide accommodation. Looking at the building, his heart sank.
At Gong Jiu's home, Lu Chen completely abandoned the idea. In the old, dilapidated apartment, two elderly people looked distressed. Gong Jiu, meanwhile, lay in bed, unable even to get up.
His leg was broken.
Gong Jiu's leg was broken by thugs of the real estate development company for resisting demolition. Despite the broken leg, the family refused to move, stubbornly enduring the situation.
"Houses in Yunzhou City cost at least seven or eight thousand yuan per square meter, even secondhand ones aren't much cheaper. Those heartless bastards only compensated us three thousand two hundred yuan per square meter! How much did they swallow? With so little money, where are we supposed to live? Rent? Because of this, my son's leg was also broken..."