Li Guaizi was indeed skilled with his hands; he opened the study door in just a few moves.

"Be careful going upstairs, don't break Mr. Matsumoto's things." The butler's voice suddenly came from the stairs.

Li Guai Zi shuddered in fright, and the iron pestle in his hand looked like it was about to fall to the ground.

!!

In that instant, Li Guaizi's eyes almost popped out of their sockets, as if he had already anticipated a hundred ways he would die.

Fortunately! Chen Zhuo caught the iron pestle in one go—

Then, he glanced at Li Guaizi with disdain, spread the newspaper on the floor of the study, pushed Li Guaizi inside, and closed the door behind him in one smooth, effortless motion.

Li Guaizi was so provoked that he opened his mouth wide and leaned against the door, breathing heavily.

Soon after, the sound of searching footsteps came from the corridor behind them.

Li Guaizi's heart, which had just calmed down, suddenly jumped again. He looked at Chen Zhuo and asked, "Can your brother and the others really handle this? Why are the patrolmen searching right up to the door?"

Chen Zhuo ignored him, stood up straight, put his feet on the newspaper, and took down the pipa that he had been carrying on his back. Seeing this, Li Guaizi quickly came to help, and the two of them quickly switched the real pipa on the wall with the real one.

Meanwhile, the footsteps of the searchers were getting closer and closer to the study door.

"The captain doesn't have it here."

"We've searched this one too, but it's not there."

"Ahead, hurry, there's another one ahead."

The moment those words were spoken, the doorknob of the study was turned.

"Hiss!" Li Guaizi gasped for a deep breath and then held it in.

"Hey, Captain, this room is locked and can't be opened."

"Go tell the housekeeper to come and open the door."

·······

The waiting time passed second by second.

Li Guaizi's face turned bright red, and beads of sweat dripped from his forehead, trickling down his cheeks.

As time passed, in this tense atmosphere, even the usually calm and collected Chen Zhuo held his breath.

Li Guaizi's whole body began to stiffen. Even though no one could see him, he didn't dare to turn his head at all, and could only steal a glance at the ticking clock on the wall.

9:10.

Their passes will expire in ten minutes, and then they won't be able to leave!

Because of the recent chaos, time-limited passage has been implemented in the concession. Once the pass expires, anyone who wants to leave will be investigated and questioned.

If they accept the investigation and questioning, wouldn't that be like catching a turtle in a jar?

"Tap tap tap..." The sound of hurried footsteps rang out, accompanied by the guard's reply: "Captain, the steward said that room doesn't need to be checked, the thief can't get in, and told us to go check the other side."

"Let's go!"

After a series of hurried footsteps, the corridor fell silent again.

"Huff...!" Li Guaizi, who was behind the door, immediately started breathing heavily. "Damn it, only a minute has passed, but it feels like an hour. I almost suffocated!"

Chen Zhuo rolled his eyes at Li Guaizi, "Who told you not to breathe? Even if you were panting like a dog behind the door, they might not hear you."

As he spoke, Chen Zhuo carefully turned the doorknob from the inside, opened it a crack to look outside, and after confirming that no one was there, he told Li Guaizi to take the newspapers to stand on and leave the study.

Downstairs, Chen Ke gave Xu Manling a wink, and Xu Manling immediately clutched her chest, looking like she was in great pain.

"What's wrong, Miss Xu?" Chen Ke quickly asked in a loud voice.

"...Ugh, Mr. Chen, I feel terrible..." Xu Manling's voice was broken, clearly indicating that she was extremely uncomfortable.

Chen Ke stood up anxiously, "Then, then quickly call a doctor!"

"Ah, right, right, call the doctor." At this moment, the housekeeper was also worried that something might have happened to Xu Manling here, so he stood up and wanted to call the doctor.

Xu Manling, clutching her chest, weakly refused, "No, no need. Please, Mr. Chen, take me to Maria Hospital. The doctors there know about my condition..."

"This, this... but here..." Chen Ke looked at the housekeeper and then at Xu Manling, looking anxious and at a loss.

"Ah~!" Xu Manling groaned in pain again.

Seeing this, the butler disregarded everything else and said directly to Chen Ke, "Then Mr. Chen, please take Miss Xu to the hospital quickly. You don't need to worry about things here."

"This, however—"

"Hey, Mr. Chen, stop 'saying it' and let's go!"

And so, Chen Ke scooped Xu Manling up in his arms and, urged by the housekeeper, walked towards the car…

Seeing that Chen Ke was holding the nearly unconscious Xu Manling and couldn't free his hands, the housekeeper quickly took two steps forward to open the car door for him. Chen Zhuo and Li Guaizi, who were already hiding in the car, immediately tensed up.

"I'll do it, I'll do it." Fortunately, the driver, Li Gang, reacted very quickly. The moment he opened the car door, he stood in front of the butler, blocking his view as he opened the door.

The butler paused for a moment, then quickly helped Chen Ke into the car while saying, "Hehe, Mr. Chen, your driver is quite skilled; his reactions are quick."

Chen Ke looked extremely anxious, and upon hearing the butler's words, he casually replied, "Oh, really? Young people need to be quick and efficient!" With that, he put Xu Manling into the back seat, then got in himself and closed the car door behind him.

As a result, he almost bumped into the head of the butler who subconsciously wanted to peek inside.

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry, did I hit anything? Look how worried I am..." Chen Ke opened the car door a crack and apologized repeatedly, but his voice became even more anxious.

Seeing this, the butler didn't say much and waved his hand, "It's alright, Mr. Chen, you should take Miss Xu to the hospital quickly."

"Alright, then I'll take my leave first." With that, he slammed the car door shut.

"Hey, well—" Before the butler could finish speaking, the car sped off, leaving him with a mouthful of exhaust fumes.

·······

The atmosphere inside the car wasn't very relaxed, because the time was almost up.

"Two minutes left, Li Gang, speed things up."

"Yes, sir."

Li Gang stepped on the gas. Fortunately, it was late and there were few people on the road. The car sped along and finally arrived at the checkpoint before 9:20.

The guard checked the pass and curiously peered into the car. "Your timing..."

Chen Ke rolled down the car window. "Excuse me, we just came from a party with Mr. Hebrew. Miss Xu isn't feeling well, so we're rushing to take her to the hospital." As he spoke, Chen Ke half-helped Xu Manling, who was leaning against him, up, revealing her pale face to the guards at the checkpoint.

When the guard saw Xu Manling's face covered in three pounds of powder, his heart skipped a beat. He took a step back and quickly waved to his companion to signal them to let them pass, "Quickly, let them through."

His tone was even more anxious than Chen Ke's, as if he were afraid that if he was a step too late, the people in the car would die at the checkpoint.