Chapter 81 The Most Familiar Stranger
Time seemed to stand still at this moment.
Lu Jingyan looked at her, at the face that had appeared countless times in his dreams.
Familiar, yet strange.
His face bore a six or seven-tenths resemblance to hers, especially his eyes, which were exactly the same as Su Wantang's peach blossom eyes. However, at this moment, there was not a trace of the warmth he was familiar with in them, only an icy coldness and wariness that kept people at a distance.
His heart felt as if it were being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, causing him unbearable pain.
It wasn't her.
But why... do they look so alike?
A profound sadness and a strong sense of incongruity surged within him, almost driving him mad.
He slowly raised the gun in his hand.
The gun was pointed at the woman in front of him.
His arms were trembling slightly, and his voice was hoarse, as if every word was being squeezed out of his throat.
"Who are you?"
Faced with the dark muzzle of the gun, Su Wantang's heart skipped a beat, her blood rushed to her head, but she forcibly suppressed it with extreme rationality in an instant.
From the moment Lu Jingyan stormed in, she knew that the most difficult test of the night had begun.
She saw the bloodshot in his eyes, the hideous wounds on his body, and the murderous aura emanating from him that seemed to burn the entire world to ashes.
This man has changed.
He was no longer the Lu Jingyan who would hold her and say "I'm here" in a deep voice.
He became a lone wolf driven to the brink of despair, driven only by the instinct for revenge.
And she, Bai Shu, was no longer the Su Wantang he knew.
She can't panic; she can't afford to make a single mistake.
Bai Shu discreetly shielded the extremely heavy lead box behind her back, raised her eyes, and met Lu Jingyan's gaze, which seemed to want to devour her whole.
Her face showed no fear, only a hint of offended indifference and just the right amount of surprise.
Immediately, a slightly stiff, hoarse female voice with a distinct Hong Kong accent rang out in the deathly silent office.
"Commander Lu? What do you mean by this?"
She tilted her head slightly, her sharp suit accentuating her slender yet powerful waistline, creating a striking contrast with her classically beautiful face.
"Pointing a gun at me, a law-abiding businessman, in the middle of the night—is this the rule in your Beijing?"
Lu Jingyan's body jolted violently.
This sound... is not right.
That's not her voice.
Wan Tang's voice is sweet and gentle, like the soft Wu dialect, with the warmth of the Jiangnan water vapor. Even when she's angry, it sounds like she's being coquettish.
The woman's voice in front of him was hoarse and cold.
But those eyes... those eyes don't lie!
He was frantic, trying to find even the slightest trace of Su Wantang in those eyes—a trace of tenderness, a trace of familiarity.
No.
There was nothing there.
There was only cold vigilance, mocking eyes, and a detached indifference as if looking down on ants.
It was as if, in her eyes, Lu Jingyan was nothing more than a trivial trouble.
That look in his eyes caused the suppressed rage and grief in his heart to surge up again, almost overwhelming his reason.
Just as he was about to lose control—
"Bang!"
The office door was kicked open again!
"Boss!"
"Miss Bai!"
Two urgent voices rang out at the same time.
Li Hu led several fully armed soldiers into the room. Upon seeing the scene inside, they froze and instinctively raised their guns.
Meanwhile, the thugs sent by Zheng Kai blocked the doorway, their menacing auras evident as they saw their "Miss Bai" being held at gunpoint.
Without saying a word, several dark weapons were pointed at Lu Jingyan and his men.
In the cramped space, a dozen gun barrels were locked onto each other.
The atmosphere was tense; a single cough could trigger a bloody shootout.
The two groups of people who arrived were completely dumbfounded.
Li Hu and his men stared blankly at their usually calm and composed regimental commander, who was now pointing a gun at a woman like a madman.
Meanwhile, Zheng Kai's men, looking at "Miss Bai" who remained unfazed even when facing the gun barrel, and even with a hint of amusement, felt not only awe but also a surge of fanaticism.
This is the kind of important figure they want to follow! Unfazed even if Mount Tai collapses before them!
Bai Zhu seized this fleeting opportunity.
She didn't even glance back at her subordinates, but merely curled her lips in a mocking smile and sneered at Lu Jingyan.
"Commander Lu, what a big commotion. Are you planning a bloody battle here?"
She took a step forward, her high heels clicking crisply on the ground.
"I don't care, I'm just a worthless life."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it reached everyone's ears clearly.
"I'm just worried that if this gets out, it will affect your promising future, Commander Lu. Hmm, let me think... a high-ranking military officer breaking into a foreign company's office at night and causing a gunfight... that news would be quite sensational, wouldn't it?"
Every word was like a precise scalpel, stabbing hard into Lu Jingyan's weak spot.
He can't fire here.
He cannot engage in armed conflict with a "Hong Kong businessman" without any solid evidence.
He represents not only himself, but also the Lu family and the face of the entire military.
Lu Jingyan's hand holding the gun began to tremble slightly.
Reason and emotion were locked in a fierce battle in his mind, tearing at his nerves.
On one hand, there was overwhelming grief and a near-mad intuition, screaming, "It's her! It's her!"
On the other hand, there was the cold and cruel reality that reminded him, "Su Wantang is dead!" The woman in front of him gave him a fatal sense of familiarity, but he could not find any evidence.
She was a stranger from head to toe.
In the end, the madness that had almost consumed him gradually died out in the face of reality, leaving only boundless coldness and deathly silence.
He slowly, inch by inch, lowered the gun.
The moment the gun barrel dropped, it was as if all his strength and soul had been drained away.
But his hawk-like eyes remained fixed on her, showing no sign of relaxation.
"Hand over the stuff."
His voice no longer contained the roar from before, but only an unquestionable command.
"I can pretend that what happened today never happened."
Upon hearing this, Bai Shu suddenly smiled.
That smile, like a night-blooming cereus blooming in the dark, was breathtakingly beautiful, yet carried a deadly poison.
She took out the lead box that she had been protecting behind her back, casually weighed it in her hand, and looked at it with a playful gaze, as if she were teasing a caged beast.
"want to?"
She parted her red lips slightly and uttered two words.
"sure."
As Lu Jingyan's pupils suddenly contracted, she took another step forward, almost touching him.
In a voice that only the two of them could hear, he uttered the second half of the sentence, word by word.
"Would you... trade your life for mine?"
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