Chapter 97: Kill the Enemy (Part 2) part 1
Outside the operating room, the silence was terrifying.
Wen Rong didn’t know how those people had lifted President Zhou into the ambulance, nor did he know why he was sitting here. Everything felt like a phantom, a kaleidoscope of blurred images flashing before his eyes.
Bang!
Wen Rong flinched violently, shrinking wretchedly into a ball on the floor.
“What’s wrong with you?” someone asked, reaching out to pull him up.
Wen Rong’s tongue felt thick and heavy. He opened his mouth, struggling for several seconds before a sound finally escaped. “A… a gun.”
“It wasn’t a gun. Something just fell. Look, it’s a bowl. A bowl fell on the floor.”
Wen Rong looked over. He saw a bowl lying tilted on the tiles, a few clumps of rice scattered beside it. It seemed… someone had brought it for him to eat.
He couldn’t remember. His brain simply wouldn’t function.
The dark corridor was hushed. His eyes stung, and suddenly, he burst into tears.
“The one who died is my father. Why are you crying so hard?”
Wen Rong felt an inexplicable surge of anger. “Someone died right in front of you—wouldn’t you cry? He… he just told me not to be afraid…”
“Is that so? His state of mind was pretty good, then.”
Wen Rong was at a loss for words, his tears falling uncontrollably.
“Give me your coat.”
“…”
Zhou Xie repeated himself: “Give me your coat.”
“…”
“There’s my father’s blood on it.”
Like a robot triggered by a switch, Wen Rong stood up instantly, peeled off his coat, and handed it to Zhou Xie.
Zhou Xie paused for two seconds before taking it.
In his state of depression, Wen Rong couldn’t help but wonder why Zhou Xie was so calm. That was, until his hand accidentally brushed against a patch of skin as cold as ice. He realized Zhou Xie’s hand was trembling; he was gripping the coat with agonizing force.
Wen Rong finally understood—Zhou Xie was merely putting up a front.
“The year before last, my father went to sign some treaty. A member of the crowd, disguised as a reporter, stabbed him in the neck. He almost died.”
After saying this, the corner of Zhou Xie’s mouth quirked bitterly. “Luckily, he was tough. He didn’t die then; he was even thinking about buying a fishing rod to go fishing.”
“…”
“This time, he won’t make it. The doctors can only stall for three hours. Half of that time has already passed. If Shi Ye can’t find a way to get Leon down from the sky within the next hour and a half, Leon might never come down again.”
Wen Rong had been immersed in the grief of Zhou Wendong’s passing, but upon hearing this, his attention snapped back. His eyes widened. “Why?”
“Now is not the time for crying. There are many important things to do.”
Without the energy to press for a reason, Wen Rong followed up with, “What can I do?”
“Who knows what you can do.”
Zhou Xie took a deep breath and fell silent. After a few shallow breaths, his back suddenly arched, and he hugged the coat he had just taken with both arms. A low, pained roar escaped his throat.
Wen Rong watched in silence, not knowing how to comfort him.
Zhou Xie was just like him now—he had no parents. He felt that sense of despair as if it were his own.
An hour and a half was long enough to drive two laps around District 1.
When the sunlight streamed into the car, Shi Ye raised a hand to shield his eyes. His chest felt heavy, as if something were pressing down on it. He gave a strained instruction to the driver: “Go back to the hospital.”
The driver made a U-turn up ahead.
“Wait—pull over up there.”
Shi Ye got out by the roadside, went into a hotel to pack two portions of food, and then returned to the hospital.
Zhou Xie and Wen Rong were still waiting at the door of the operating room. Inside, President Zhou was “pretending” to be alive.
Shi Ye could see Wen Rong’s exhaustion, but those eyes remained fixed on the floor, refusing to close. Shi Ye walked over and gently patted his shoulder. “Are you sleepy?”
Wen Rong looked up sluggishly. The area around his eyes was red, and so was his nose. Upon seeing Shi Ye, his mouth wobbled, and tears began to pitter-patter down his face.
Shi Ye wiped away the tears. “Eat something, and then I’ll send you back to the manor to sleep.”
Wen Rong shook his head urgently. “How is Senior Leon?”
“…” Shi Ye said, “He’s fine. Don’t worry.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
“…”
Shi Ye wondered why Wen Rong didn’t believe him. But Wen Rong was right.
Leon’s family had always stood firmly by Zhou Xie’s father. Now that President Zhou was dead, Wang Sichen wouldn’t pass up this perfect opportunity to suppress the Leon family.
After waiting so many years for a chance to take power, news had already spread that Wang Sichen was quietly holding a victory banquet at the Wang residence tonight.
President Zhou was barely dead.
Shi Ye recalled the “scumbag couple” who had the media promoting their “true love” before his own mother had even passed away. A sharp pang of pain shot through his heart. He crouched down, unable to resist leaning his head against Wen Rong’s knee to seek a bit of comfort.
“Right now, no one dares to initiate the procedure to bring Leon down.”
“Then… Senior can’t come down?”
“I’ll think of another way.”
Shi Ye looked at Zhou Xie. “How is the situation on your end?”
Zhou Xie let out a cold laugh. “The Principal doesn’t want things to look too ugly. He just told me to hand over my duties to Lin Jinghang before graduation.”
Meaning, Lin Jinghang was to replace Zhou Xie as the Student Council President.
Wen Rong was confused. “It’s just a change in President; does it even affect the school?”
“Because the new President is Wang Sichen. He’s waited a long time. He’s always wanted to replace everyone in the Federation, from top to bottom, with his own people.”
“…”
To ensure Leon could land safely, Zhou Xie asked the doctors to stall for another two hours. However, no matter how hard they tried, time continued to slip away, second by second.
When the sunlight hit his body through the window, Wen Rong only felt a chill. It felt like a death knell, urging the doors of the operating room to open so the doctors could wheel out President Zhou’s body.
Just as Shi Ye had once described death, everything felt surreal. An illusion that President Zhou wasn’t really dead lingered in his mind.
How could he be dead? He was just talking to me a moment ago.
Amidst his chaotic thoughts, Zhou Xie sighed. “I’m going to announce my father’s death to the public. Shi Ye and I are going to be extremely busy next. You…”
The “you” referred to Wen Rong.
Zhou Xie looked at Shi Ye helplessly. “Shi Ye, find a private jet to send him back to school.”
Wen Rong instinctively refused. “I’m not going back.”
“We don’t have time to take care of you right now. You have no power or influence in District 1, and you’re the only outsider who was by my father’s side. The reporters alone will pester you to death, let alone the other Council members.”
“Your father just wanted me to go back and see the orphanage.”
“No one will believe my father only wanted you to visit an orphanage. They will try their best to make your mouth spit out exactly what they want to hear.”
Shi Ye added, “Zhou Xie is right. Your status is unique right now. You’ll be safer back at school.”
After deep thought, Wen Rong confirmed he truly could do nothing, so he nodded in agreement.
Shi Ye arranged things with extreme speed. In the ten or so minutes it took to settle his emotions, a car was already waiting at the hospital entrance to take Wen Rong to the airport—a different airport.
The gates were heavily guarded, lined with armored tanks. Soldiers in military uniforms marched along the road. Wen Rong didn’t even need to guess what Shi Ye had arranged for him, and he suppressed the faint urge to look back.
However, thinking of Zhou Xie announcing the President’s death, he couldn’t help but open his phone as he got out of the car.
The moment he turned it on, 80% of the apps had turned black and white. Even the pop-up notifications were monochrome. Everyone was mourning the passing of President Zhou Wendong.
Wen Rong felt a slight sense of comfort, as if the pain was being shared.
But the next second, a news headline popped up:
The Three Individuals Involved in the Assassination of President Zhou Have Been Detained by the Military
A terrifying thought surged into Wen Rong’s mind along with the text. He collapsed to the ground, realizing something even more horrifying than President Zhou’s death—it wasn’t just the President who died yesterday.
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