Chapter 5 Iron Man! Help!

Li Hanzhou stared at him for a long time, the coldness in his eyes gradually fading, replaced by a deeper, more unfathomable emotion. He slowly sheathed his knife.

"That would be for the best." The voice remained cold and hard. "If I discover you have ulterior motives..."

"Absolutely not!" Fang Che quickly assured him, his back already soaked with cold sweat.

His life is temporarily saved!

"Brother Li!" Ah Gui cried out unwillingly, "We can't trust him..."

"Shut up!" Li Hanzhou glanced at him sideways. "Take the brothers who can still move to Pier No. 5 to find Scarface Qiang, clean up the traces, and gather information."

Ah Gui's lips moved, but in the end he didn't refute her. He just glared at Fang Che and turned to lead his men away into the darkness.

Only the two of them remained in the alley.

The faint sounds of firefighting could be heard in the distance, and a tense silence filled the air.

Fang Che had just breathed a sigh of relief when he heard Li Hanzhou groan, his body sway slightly, and his left hand clutching his right abdomen.

In the dim light, Fang Che noticed that the right side of his black vest was a darker color and was slowly spreading.

"Brother Li!" Fang Che's heart tightened. Ignoring the pain in his foot, he leaned closer. "Are you injured?!"

Li Hanzhou frowned, sweat beading on his forehead, but he still forced himself to stand up straight: "It's nothing. Just a minor injury."

"What kind of minor injury is this!" Fang Che exclaimed anxiously, his Northeastern accent returning. "The blood is gushing out... Do you think I'm blind?! Let me see!"

He was about to reach out and touch it when he said that.

"Don't touch it!" Li Hanzhou grabbed his wrist, still with great force, but his breathing was already unsteady. "You won't die."

"Why are you so stubborn!" Fang Che looked at his pale lips and restrained expression, feeling both anxious and heartbroken. "Was it all my fault in the funeral hall...? I set the fire too big and didn't notice you..."

Before he could finish speaking, Li Hanzhou's hand suddenly slipped from his grasp, and he slid down the wall, breathing heavily and rapidly.

Fang Che then saw clearly that his vest on his right abdomen was soaked with blood, which was still seeping out and pooling into a dark red puddle on the ground.

This is no minor injury! It's clearly... a gunshot wound!

The narrow moonlight sparingly illuminated Li Hanzhou's bloodless face.

His face was pale, but his eyes remained sharp as he stared at Fang Che, scrutinizing him with a hint of something unfathomable.

"Don't look at me like that," Fang Che said, feeling uneasy under his gaze. "I'm really not an undercover agent! If I were, I would have finished you off by now. Why would I save you? Do you think I'm after you because you're old or don't shower?"

Li Hanzhou's lips twitched slightly, but he didn't speak; his breathing became heavier.

Fang Che gritted his teeth. Damn it, I can't stay here any longer!

Jiang Tianqi and his gang of bastards are definitely searching for them everywhere!

He looked at Li Hanzhou, who was half a head taller and had a muscular build, and then weighed his own small body, which seemed like it could be blown over by a gust of wind. Tears welled up in his eyes.

Isn't this just asking the impossible?

The soul of the Northeast King Tiezhu roars, but in reality, the body of the weakling Ah Che from Hong Kong Island trembles.

"Brother Li, I'm sorry! We have to move!" Fang Che gritted his teeth, squatted down, grabbed Li Hanzhou's uninjured left arm, and shoved it onto his shoulder, using his waist to push—!

Both of them groaned simultaneously.

Fang Che felt a sharp pain in his ankle, his vision went black, and he almost knelt down.

Li Hanzhou was lifted up by him, and when he heard the soft cracking of bones beneath him, his brows furrowed.

"Put me down."

"What are you putting down!" Fang Che's forehead veins bulged, his face flushed, but he managed to stand up straight, albeit shakily.

Like a stubborn little ant burdened with an unbearable weight, carrying grains of rice several times its own size, it moved step by step toward the alley entrance.

"Ouch... Oh my god... Brother Li, what... what did you eat to grow up like this... This is too... honest..." With each step Fang Che took, his ankles felt like they were being pricked with needles, and the muscles in his legs were trembling wildly. He couldn't help but mutter to himself, "Back in my day... in Northeast China... I could carry two bags of rice up to the sixth floor... without even breaking a sweat... Master... this broken body... what a shoddy construction project..."

Li Hanzhou rested half his face on his thin shoulder, and could smell the mixed scent of sweat and faint fragrance on the boy.

He turned his head to look, and saw Fang Che's face, which was close to his, was covered in sweat. His eyelashes trembled from the pain, his nose was damp with sweat, and his lips were particularly red from the effort.

It's breathtakingly beautiful, but that incessant rambling in a Northeastern accent is just...

"I can't take it anymore... my leg is going to break... Brother Li... when we get back you have to... give me extra chicken legs... ten extra... to compensate me for emotional distress... this is a work injury! This definitely counts as a work injury..."

As Li Hanzhou listened to the buzzing incessant chatter in his ears, his already gloomy and depressed mood, caused by injury and doubt, became inexplicably... even more complicated.

He couldn't help but wonder, what exactly is going on in this kid's head? Northeastern corn porridge?

"Shut up."

Fang Che was just talking about applying for the "Ten Outstanding Young Persons of Hong Kong Island" award to recognize his heroic act of saving the big boss when he heard this and immediately fell silent, like a duck being choked. He could only blink his innocent eyes, tightly shut his mouth, and even his breathing became shallow.

The world is peaceful now.

Li Hanzhou closed his eyes to gather his strength, but he couldn't take his attention away from the young man...

He could feel the other person trembling, hear their suppressed breathing and rapid heartbeat...

Curiosity, doubt, and other unnamed emotions fermented in my heart.

Sudden--

"Over there! There seems to be some movement!"

"Search! Find him alive or dead! Young Master Jiang said there's a hefty reward for capturing Li Hanzhou!"

Footsteps and shouts approached from the alley entrance, flashlight beams swirling erratically.

Fang Che was terrified. He tried to run away with the person on his back, but his legs gave way and he was about to fall.

"My life is over!" he cried out in his heart, closing his eyes in despair.

At the critical moment, a wooden door next to him creaked open, and a thick hand suddenly grabbed his arm.

A voice with a heavy accent whispered:

"Hey bro! What are you doing? Hurry up and get in here!"

That accent...

Fang Che suddenly opened his eyes and, by the moonlight, looked at the owner of that hand—

He was a burly man wearing a tank top, with a stocky build, a face full of fat, but eyes that revealed a simple and honest nature.

But that accent was so warm and familiar! It was from the Northeast! A fellow countryman!

Fang Che was so excited he almost cried on the spot. It was truly a case of "when fellow villagers meet, their eyes well up with tears."

He seemed to see a savior, and with his last strength, he cried out his most heartfelt call since his transmigration:

"Hey buddy! Help!!"