Welcome to the Wasteland

Chapter 23: Captured

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation

Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

The moment Zhou Qingfeng saw the security guard’s body, his first thought was to reverse the car, but his mind quickly registered that if he did that, the thin car body would not be able to withstand the penetrating power of the bullets.

Those scenes where you used a single car door as a shield against bullets only appeared in crappy, B-tier films. If a bullet did not even have the force to penetrate a car door, every weapon designer in human history could just go and hang themselves there and now.

Well, if backing up was out of the question, the only alternative was to rush forward!

Zhou Qingfeng was already going at a fast speed, but he rammed the accelerator further as he approached the parking lot exit. Right then, two of the armed kidnappers jumped out from behind the guardhouse and began firing at him ferociously with their assault rifles. With his head bent low to evade the gunshots, instead of crashing through the barrier gate to escape, Zhou Qingfeng swerved the car toward the guardhouse.

With a loud bang, the aluminum window frame and the glass doors and windows of the guardhouse shattered into pieces. Everyone hastily dodged the glass shards that flew hazardously in the air, and the two gunmen who were firing at Zhou Qingfeng had no choice but to stop their assault and retreat.

There was now a window of opportunity to escape!

Zhou Qingfeng reversed the car and straightened it, and without a second of hesitation, he slammed the gas pedal. However, right at that moment, an armored pickup truck—the type that looked like it transported money—suddenly drove into the parking lot straight at Zhou Qingfeng’s car.

With a loud crash, the two cars collided into each other!

Zhou Qingfeng felt a sharp pain in his chest in the aftermath of the violent crash. The airbag in front of him was automatically deployed and smacked him in the face like a heavy punch, causing blood to drip on his face.

D*mn it, it was the kidnapper’s Ford Ranger!

Zhou Qingfeng pulled off the airbag and instantly saw the driver of the Ford Ranger across from him sticking his head out of the window, a pistol in his hand and a finger on the trigger.

A string of gunshots burst out and what remained of the BMW’s broken windshield was reduced into glass shards spraying into the air. Zhou Qingfeng kept his head below the dashboard, not daring to lift his head. He could only reverse the car and frantically back up as much as possible.

The friction between the car tires and the ground created an ear-splitting screech as Zhou Qingfeng distanced himself from the enemy. With the aid of the rearview mirror, he managed to maneuver into a corner and the BMW slammed into the wall.

Zhou Qingfeng bent over and climbed out of the car before turning to look back at the doctor who was in the same car with him. The unlucky guy was slumped over the front passenger seat, dead as a doornail. Zhou Qingfeng could not help but mutter to himself as he crawled out of the car, ‘Why did you have to follow me? You died anyway.’

Meanwhile, Leila Fox and her bodyguard were fleeing together through the hospital’s fire exit stairway that led to the underground parking lot. After going down two floors, she suddenly cried out and squatted down. “My leg’s cramping up! It hurts, it hurts like hell!” She cried out in pain.

Her bodyguard, Raj, was practically dragging Miss Fox the entire way as they ran, but seeing that his employer was crouching on the ground in pain, he quickly said, “Please hold on just a bit longer, we’re almost at the parking lot now. Here, let me carry you.”

However, when the bodyguard bent down to help Leila up, she suddenly raised her head and, with a bottle of pepper spray in hand, she aimed at the bodyguard and sprayed it in his face.

Hiss… Caught completely off-guard, Raj covered his eyes and howled in agony. His first instinct was to point his gun at Leila but to his astonishment, the young mistress stood up and kicked him in the wrist, sending the gun clattering to the ground.

“You dumb b*tch, what are you doing?” Furious, the bodyguard screamed at her and pulled out a dagger from below his chest as he struggled to keep his eyes open to catch Leila Fox. However, his eyes, nostrils, throat, and skin were on fire, making it impossible for him to do so.

Leila was about to snatch the gun but Raj kept swatting his arm around recklessly with the dagger in his hand, forcing her to back off. With a cold look on her face, she yelled, “Raj, why did you betray me?”

“Betray you? I’m your bodyguard! I’m trying to escort you out of this bloody place!” Raj was close to losing his mind from the pain caused by the pepper spray. He tried wiping his face with his sleeves but it only aggravated the pain and he felt even worse, so he resorted to screaming to vent his frustration and pain.

“Stop treating me like an idiot.” Leila knew that she was no match in a fight against Raj and she immediately decided not to waste any time on banter, so she fled the scene. Instead of continuing on to the parking lot, she turned around and went back up the stairs.

Hearing the clanking of Leila Fox’s heels quickly drifting further and further away, Raj the bodyguard could only stay rooted to the spot as he shouted loudly, “Miss Fox, don’t run away! I’m your bodyguard, you must believe me! Come back!”

Her expression stern, Leila Fox did not look back. After climbing several flights of stairs, she quietly pushed open the fire exit door. Craning her neck to peer out, she discovered that she was back on one of the hospital floors. On this floor, the medical staff were nowhere to be seen, just the occasional few patients who ran past her like frightened rabbits.

Leila paced about as she observed her surroundings. She reached into her bag for her handphone and quickly dialed 91. When the call was connected, the operator’s voice spoke from the other end of the phone, “This is New York Police Department…”

“I want to lodge a police report. My name is Leila Fox, CEO of Fox Finance Group. I’m currently at Lower Manhattan Hospital. I was almost kidnapped just now and my bodyguard, Raj, sold me off to the kidnappers. There are many casualties on the scene now. Please send the police immediately, I need help.”

Although Leila Fox tried to suppress her emotions, she could not help but feel flustered. She had fallen into an isolated pit and she had never felt so helpless in her life. Speaking in a formal, professional tone, the emergency line operator tried to console her and calm her down while she waited for the rescue. Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of something which froze every muscle of her body.

A few of the armed kidnappers had appeared in front of Leila and were staring coolly at her as if they were looking down on a pitiful animal who had walked into a trap. Eyeing the guns that were aimed at her, she wisely raised both hands up and said, “If you want money, I can help you with that, but please don’t hurt me. Killing me won’t do any of us any good.”

The leader of the group smiled as he walked in front of Leila and took her handphone from her hand. He held it to his ear and said to the phone operator, “Miss Fox doesn’t need your help anymore. She has already fallen into my hands like a little chicken.”

With that, the leader gripped the phone in his hand and squeezed so tightly that he smashed it into pieces. Then, he continued with a triumphant smile, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, the legendary 50 billion net worth Miss Fox. I have always dreamed of meeting someone of the upper-class socialites like you. I guess today is my lucky day.”

The man chuckled as he gently traced his finger over Leila Fox’s face. When his hands reached her hair and he started toying with the strands of hair that fell over her face, the young mistress could not bear it anymore and shrugged irritably to break free of his touch.

Leila’s resistance only made the leader of the kidnappers even more pleased. He stepped nearer to her, pressed his face to her ear, and said in a rather obscene way, “I know you’re angry. A high-class lady like you would never set eyes on a fellow like me…but that’s alright, we can become the best of friends in time. As long as you cooperate, you’ll soon realize that I’m very easy to get along with.”

The gang leader’s smirk disgusted Leila to no end, but at that moment, Raj the bodyguard, still suffering from the pepper spray attack, caught up from behind. His face and hands were still thoroughly red and he resembled a cooked lobster.

Raj walked in front of Leila Fox and he planted a slap on her face without blinking. Through the sound of the loud smack, he stared her dead in the eyes and yelled furiously, “You stupid b*tch, how did you find out?”