Chapter 249
Before long, several black cars drove into the abandoned factory area, as silently as ghosts.
The buyers had arrived.
Pei Zhengwei immediately put on an enthusiastic and sycophantic smile, stepping forward to greet them.
The two parties met, and after exchanging brief code words, they popped the trunks of the cars.
The precious antiquities, bearing the weight of history and culture, were now displayed and inspected like ordinary merchandise.
The greed of the transaction was written plainly on the faces of Pei Zhengwei and every buyer present.
In their eyes, there were only monetary figures; they held absolutely no reverence for these national treasures.
As Pei Zhengwei counted the stacks of US dollars handed to him, his fingers trembled slightly with excitement.
Right at that moment, Pei Zhengnian decided the time was ripe and decisively issued the command to move.
"Move in!"
He and his men descended like divine troops from the heavens, charging out from all directions.
The sounds of rushing footsteps and shouted commands instantly shattered the dead silence of the factory!
"Freeze! Police!"
Pei Zhengwei and Jiang Shuyi's faces drastically changed. Seeing that things had gone south, their survival instincts immediately urged them to run for it!
Pei Zhengwei grabbed the money and turned, diving into the complex maze of abandoned equipment deep within the factory, attempting to use the terrain to escape.
Jiang Shuyi was frightened out of her wits, the color draining from her face. She let out a scream and subconsciously ran after Pei Zhengwei.
Little did they know, Pei Zhengnian had already laid an inescapable net.
He personally led his men to block off Pei Zhengwei's most likely escape routes.
After a brief but fierce chase and struggle, Pei Zhengwei was unsurprisingly tackled hard to the ground by the highly trained Pei Zhengnian and his subordinates. Cold handcuffs were snapped onto his wrists.
He struggled, letting out unwilling roars and curses.
As for Jiang Shuyi, relying on her system, she actually managed a thrilling escape from Pei Zhengnian's first wave of pursuit.
Like a frightened rabbit, she fled blindly through a gap in the main factory area, stumbling into the overgrown, desolate weeds on the outskirts.
Her heart pounded wildly, feeling as if it would leap out of her throat, and her lungs burned with a fiery pain.
Believing she had luckily escaped, she couldn't help but speak to her system in her mind as she ran.
"Quick! Block their tracking! Show me the safest route out of here!"
However, the system's response came back intermittent and filled with static.
"Warning... encountering unknown... interference... energy field... unstable... navigation system... offline..."
Jiang Shuyi's heart instantly sank to the bottom of the abyss.
Just as she was feeling smug about temporarily shaking off her pursuers, panting and planning to take a breather to figure out her next move...
...an icy voice, brimming with utter mockery, rang out in front of her.
"Run? Why did you stop running? With your speed, even an old lady strolling in the park could outpace you."
Shen Nanchu stepped out from behind a dead tree, looking at her with leisurely composure. Her gaze was as disdainful as if she were looking at prey that had fallen into a trap and was still struggling in vain.
Jiang Shuyi's pupils violently contracted, and she backed away in terror. "It's... it's you?! Shen Nanchu! Why are you here?!"
"I'm here to collect a debt."
Shen Nanchu approached step by step, her smile cold and venomous.
"And to see what kind of splash a useless piece of trash like you, who can't even walk without a system, can still make."
Jiang Shuyi wanted to rely on her system to shake off Shen Nanchu. "System! Attack her! Use whatever you have! Immobilize her!"
However, nothing happened.
Shen Nanchu was completely immune to all system abilities.
Jiang Shuyi's pathetic little energy blast hit the invisible, intangible defense field set up by Shen Nanchu's higher-level system, dissolving like a drop of water into the ocean without even causing a ripple.
"That's it?"
Shen Nanchu sneered. Moving as fast as lightning, she grabbed the wrist of Jiang Shuyi, who was still trying to retreat.
Jiang Shuyi only felt an immense, entirely irresistible force pull at her. The next second, the world spun around her!
Shen Nanchu cleanly and efficiently gave Jiang Shuyi a shoulder throw!
"Ah——!"
Jiang Shuyi shrieked as she was slammed heavily onto the ground covered in gravel and dead branches. A sharp pain shot through her back, hurting so much she nearly fainted, and tears instantly burst from her eyes.
She had absolutely no power to fight back.
In front of Shen Nanchu, whose combat skills were maxed out and whose physical attributes had been optimized by her system, she was like a broken ragdoll.
What followed was a completely one-sided, crushing beatdown by Shen Nanchu.
Shen Nanchu didn't even bother using any techniques; she just used her bare hands, specifically targeting places that would hurt the most without causing fatal injuries.
The first blow was a vicious slap to Jiang Shuyi's face, making her ears ring and her cheek swell instantly.
"This is for being as stupid as a pig, blind to people's true colors, and following a piece of trash like him!"
The second blow was a punch to her abdomen, churning her stomach and making her dry heave uncontrollably as she curled into a ball.
"This is for being an ungrateful backstabber, helping outsiders steal from your own family!"
For the third blow, Shen Nanchu grabbed her by the hair, forcing her head up, her icy gaze staring straight into Jiang Shuyi's eyes, which were filled with fear and agony.
"And this is for being a toad lusting after swan meat, spending all day having unrealistic pipe dreams!"
However, Jiang Shuyi was too pathetic; both her physical constitution and mental endurance were exceptionally poor.
Shen Nanchu had only hit her three times and hadn't even truly warmed up yet, but Jiang Shuyi's eyes rolled back, and she passed out cold.
"Trash."
Shen Nanchu let go in disgust. Looking at the limp and miserable Jiang Shuyi on the ground, she took out a handkerchief and wiped her hands, as if she had touched something filthy.
She bent down and grabbed the back of Jiang Shuyi's collar, lifting her up like a bag of garbage.
"Let's begin."
She commanded her own system in her mind.
"Right away, host!"
Shen Nanchu's system immediately whirred to life. A powerful suction locked onto the invisible system connection point between Jiang Shuyi's eyebrows, beginning to brutally devour and strip away the source energy and data streams of Jiang Shuyi's system.
The extreme agony brought by the violent tearing of energy far surpassed any physical pain, forcefully jolting the unconscious Jiang Shuyi awake.
She felt something vital being violently ripped from her very soul; the pain was beyond words.
Seeing Shen Nanchu's cold, ruthless face, her terror reached its peak.
She frantically begged Shen Nanchu for mercy, tears and snot streaming down her face as she babbled incoherently.
"Ah—it hurts! It hurts so much! Let me go, Shen... Shen Nanchu..."
"Please, please, I... I know I was wrong."
Unfortunately, it was too late for all that.
Shen Nanchu had zero interest in her pathetic groveling; in fact, she found it disgusting.
She merely watched with cold indifference, ensuring the devouring process went smoothly.
Once Jiang Shuyi's system was completely devoured, leaving not a single scrap of data behind, Shen Nanchu felt her own system let out a satisfied hum, its energy level significantly upgraded.
"All done, host! A massive haul!"
Shen Nanchu curled her lips in satisfaction and tossed Jiang Shuyi—whose mind was severely traumatized by the system extraction and who had fallen into a coma once more—back onto the ground like a piece of trash.
She dusted off imaginary dirt from her hands, turned around, and left the scene without a backward glance.
Her figure quickly vanished into the wild grass, as if she had never appeared there in the first place.
Not long after Shen Nanchu walked away, Pei Zhengnian rushed over with his men. They easily spotted Jiang Shuyi lying unconscious on the ground, looking absolutely battered and miserable.
He frowned. Although he was puzzled as to why she looked like she had been brutally beaten, he just waved his hand.
"Handcuff her too, and take her away."
The cold metal handcuffs locked around Jiang Shuyi's wrists.
This game of cat and mouse had finally drawn to a complete close.
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