Bai Hua hesitated but eventually told him her situation honestly.
"Then, why don't you stay at my place?"
"I don't think that's appropriate." Bai Hua frowned.
"No, I mean, I have an empty apartment. I bought it a long time ago when I was stressed and wanted to be alone. I never use it anymore, but you can stay there. Come to the bar tonight. I'll give you the keys." Feng Yiran quickly saved his image.
Wen Rui watched from afar with his headphones. Bai Hua finished her call and went to find the landlord to pack some of her things.
He messaged in the group chat.
[Rui: It's done]
Ming Chen and Yu Renjia read it.
"You take Rui to Lin Xia and Shen Yuanjun's place today to plant some surveillance. I'll watch over Bai Hua in the meantime."
"No need. Rui can tap their phones later while he was working among the crews. Along with Lin Xia's people inside the crew," Yu Renjia said, "As long as a part of him is there, he can access every device in their home when they got back."
Ming Chen was silent for a while, "Without me realizing, he has become that strong…"
"While you're working at the bar, he always trains himself to push his limit."
"I should learn from him." Ming Chen reflected.
"Your vision is passive, and your telepathy took a heavy toll on your body. I suggest you don't unless you want to collapse again. My ability doesn't involve connecting to other people or touching the laws of heaven. Rui himself hasn't had any significant progress in regards to accessing others' memory. Moreover, we only have one in addition to our psychic ability while you have two. I don't know whether heaven hates you or adores you, to be honest."
Ming Chen listened to his words and felt what he said made sense. It wasn't easy for any guardians to grow their abilities if it was categorized as a heaven-defying ability. Although heaven themselves were the ones who blessed them with it. That was why they put restrictions on how much they could use it.
What he didn't understand was why telepathy cost him more than his visions.
Because his vision was passive?
Telepathy was different from mind-reading, so it shouldn't be a problem though. His visions that saw the future were more problematic if you asked him.
On his way to Sheng group's F City's warehouse, Michelle's eyebrows twitched several times before finally tightening.
What in the world was he hearing?
Visions? Telepathy?
Laws of heaven??
Based on what Yu Renjia was saying, Ming Chen's high fever and collapsing were because he used his telepathic ability to contact them after he received a vision. This vision he got was related to the fire at Bai Hua's apartment.
Were they actually…not in their right mind?
But their actions and attitude were all very normal.
Michelle saw the news about the fire on the television in the hospital. True, it happened not long after Ming Chen's collapse. Based on what he just heard, at that time, Ming Chen wasn't being stubborn for no reason. He wanted to leave his car to contact Yu Renjia or Wen Rui to inform them about the fire.
Instead, because he was there, Ming Chen was forced to use his telepathic ability and collapsed as a result.
So…it was actually his fault that Ming Chen got sick and collapsed?
No, but…was what they are saying is true in the first place?
They weren't intentionally spouting these things because they knew he was watching them, right?
That was unlikely. From their expressions and body language, he knew they were in a relaxed state and in peace of mind because they were in their home. Because they felt no threat around them, they could speak freely as such.
If what they were saying was true, then…what in the world were they?
And what was Bai Hua to them? Why were they protecting her so carefully?
He recalled Yu Renjia's words when they were discussing Ming Chen's resignation.
"How can we not? You always earn money for us in every generation."
Were those words also…?
"Ellie, we're here."
His thought was cut by Wei Linzhen's voice. He looked out the window and put away his tablet, "Let's go."
As Michelle took a step out from the car, at the same time, Ming Chen got another vision.
Yu Renjia noticed it and caught him when his body became sluggish.
"What is it? What did you see?"
Ming Chen held his head and frowned, "I'm not sure. The sky was already dark. A…warehouse? No…warehouses? There were sounds of gunfire everywhere. I saw some people passing by from afar."
"Huh? Gunfire? Are you sure?" Yu Renjia was doubtful.
Would things escalate that quickly? Although Lin Xia has connections with thugs, it was mostly street gangs, introduced to her by her friends. They wouldn't have the ability to own firearms in this country.
And Ming Chen said 'everywhere'. That means the amount of noise was enough to fill up his surroundings.
"Can you describe the warehouses?"
Ming Chen tried to describe it. Yu Renjia searched around for images of warehouses in the country and showed them to Ming Chen one by one.
Ming Chen carefully looked at them and matched them with his memory until he finally pointed to one that looked the most similar.
"F City…?" Yu Renjia read the location.
"F City?" Ming Chen asked.
Wen Rui was in a cafe leisurely doing his job when he got a message from Yu Renjia asking whether Bai Hua planned to go to F City.
F City??
Out of nowhere?
Wen Rui replied with a negative. Bai Hua was just waiting for the bar to open and was planning to go there to meet Feng Yiran.
Reading his reply, Ming Chen hesitated, "Should we go and check? My visions are absolute. It's hard for me to ignore it. But this is the first time I can't decipher its meaning."
Yu Renjia considered for a second before answering, "You sleep first and recover. We'll go there once you wake up."
Ming Chen woke up past noon. They informed Wen Rui about going to F City before hopping on the motorbike.
They arrived at F City after sunset. Yu Renjia followed the GPS and arrived at the location.
"Is it here?"
Ming Chen flapped open the helmet's cover and studied the area, "It's similar, but why does it feel different at the same time?"
"Hold on, let's drive around the whole area first."
Ming Chen nodded.
They swept the whole area until Ming Chen saw something. He pointed at a building, "That logo on the wall. I saw that in my vision but not here."
Yu Renjia braked his motorbike and swirled skillfully before heading to where Ming Chen pointed. He stopped near the logo and studied it.
"If I'm not wrong, this is a crest or something like that," He closed his helmet's cover, "Let's follow this crest."
On the other side of the warehouse maze, gunfire rang in the air. Michelle was taking cover behind a warehouse wall with Wei Linzhen and several of their men. Bullets flew past their vision.
Wei Linzhen motioned to his men and some of them quickly moved to go around. Michelle didn't need to give orders himself. Jack and Jake already moved to get behind the Shang group with several men.
Michelle shot down 2 people in one breath and went back to cover. Wei Linzhen also took out one before he hid back again.
"You're right it's a trap. There are clearly more numbers than Shang Yaolin's people." Wei Linzhen commented.
"Yet you became more excited knowing this is a trap," Michelle shot down another one, "I shouldn't have told you."
"But 2 of the warehouses are real. At least there's a prize. Besides, we can also clean them up once and for all." Wei Linzhen took several shots.
Michelle noticed a strange movement. His eyes became sharp and kicked away Wei Linzhen with all his strength.
Bang!
Wei Linzhen slid on the ground and looked up in bafflement. He heard the gunshot and his face cooled down. He looked at one of his subordinates who just aimed his gun at him.
The subordinate's face was full of tears, "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, Boss Wei. I didn't want to. I don't want to do this. But I don't have any choice…"
He took another shot to Wei Linzhen. His other subordinate moved to protect him while the rest aimed their gun at the traitor.
The traitor opened his clothes and revealed the bomb tied to his body. Everybody's movements including Michelle and Wei Linzhen's froze.
"They…they have my 2 little sisters. I also…don't want to die…" the traitor sobbed.
Suddenly, they heard a roaring sound of an engine from afar which became louder by the seconds.
Thank you for the chapter.