Huo Shaoheng gestured with his hands but didn’t touch Gu Yanran’s neck. He merely smiled. “I can’t realign bones, I can only break people’s necks. Miss Gu, are you sure you want me to help you?”
Gu Yanran shivered with a look of shock on her face. “No way. Mr. Huo doesn’t look like that kind of a person.”
“I’m a soldier, so my strength is difficult to control. One moment of hesitation on the battlefield can spell life or death, so that’s the way I am.” Huo Shaoheng turned around. “Let’s hurry. We only had three minutes, and now we only have one left.”
Gu Yanran didn’t expect Huo Shaoheng to start running and disappear in a blink of an eye. A knowing smile appeared on her face—this Major General Huo was not young but was still a shy person. Gu Yanran was also slightly flushed as she supported her neck and chased after him. Luckily, she had changed into comfortable shoes last night. Otherwise, she would have had no way of running quickly in her usual 100-millimeter high heels.
The only regret Gu Yanran had was her short height. Ugliness could be fixed by plastic surgery, and a small chest could be augmented, but the only solution to short height was to wear 100-millimeter high heels every day. It wasn’t like she could cut her legs then add inserted height!
Gu Yanran stumbled behind Huo Shaoheng to reach a landing pad close to the beach. She saw a giant helicopter landing with its propellers starting to spin and the deafening noise loud enough to cause hearing loss. The propeller created a powerful vortex of air, so Gu Yanran’s hair was blown into a mess, and she couldn’t even keep her eyes open. She still tilted her neck and forced herself to match Huo Shaoheng’s pace.
Huo Shaoheng was already on the helicopter, and the face that appeared at the top of the hanging rope was that of a handsome young man grinning widely to reveal eight pearly teeth. It was Zhao Liangze, who she had previously met back at the Huaxia Empire and was also one of Huo Shaoheng’s personal secretaries. Gu Yanran quickly grabbed the rope to climb up. When she reached the cabin door, Zhao Liangze offered his hand.
“Miss Gu, please take my hand.”
Gu Yanran grabbed his hand and leveraged his strength to climb into the helicopter. As soon as she got in, the helicopter shuddered violently, then slowly lifted up in the air from the currents created by the propellers. After ascending, the helicopter circled above the sea several times before flying back in the original direction. Gu Yanran fell over from the shaking movements and took great effort to slowly get back up.
Zhao Liangze looked at her strange posture and asked, “Miss Gu, what’s wrong with your neck?”
She grimaced. “I slept all night on the floor of my father’s study, so I probably got a crick in my neck because I slept funny.” She glanced around the cabin. “Where’s Mr. Huo? I saw him get in first.”
A young man with strong brows and large eyes turned around from the pilot’s seat with a smile. “Mr. Huo is piloting. Miss Gu can ask Little Ze for anything.”
Gu Yanran froze when she recognized the man as Huo Shaoheng’s other personal secretary, Yin Shixiong. Holding her neck, she stood up in surprise. “Mr. Huo also knows how to pilot helicopters? That’s amazing!”
“Right! Our Mr. Huo knows lots of things!” Yin Shixiong nodded to her with a giggle. “Please sit down. Little Ze, give Miss Gu a spot.”
Zhao Liangze had her sit on the seat by the side of the cabin and put on the seatbelt for her.
Gu Yanran quickly replied, “My neck has a crick and needs to be realigned. Don’t do up my seatbelt yet.”
Before Zhao Liangze could speak, Huo Shaoheng’s voice sounded from the front of the cabin. “Big Xiong, doesn’t your family have a long ancestry of famed bonesetters? Go help Miss Gu realign her neck.”
Yin Shixiong looked at Huo Shaoheng with shock, mouthing the words silently, “When did my family ever have a long ancestry of famed bonesetters?!”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t have to look to know his reaction. A faint smile appeared on his lips as he looked ahead in concentration to pilot the armored helicopter. He replied dryly, “Hurry up and go. That’s an order.”
Military orders could not be refuted. How cruel! Yin Shixiong cast Huo Shaoheng an unbearable expression, but it quickly transformed into a smile as soon as Huo Shaoheng’s eyes glanced over. “Ok, ok, ok, my family has a long ancestry of famed bonesetters. We are the best at bone realignment.”
Undoing his seatbelt, Yin Shixiong squeezed himself out of the front row of seats to stand before Gu Yanran. He cocked his head at her neck and reached out his muscular arms to gesture at her delicate neck
“Miss Gu, which side do you need to be realigned?”
Gu Yanran frowned suspiciously. “Do you really know how to realign bones?”
“Of course. It’s perfect that you asked me to help.” Yin Shixiong lied as he rubbed his hands together, knuckles cracking instantly.
Gu Yanran grew even more frightened, shrinking back and protecting her neck. “No… No thanks, I think I should go have my family doctor look at it.”
“Are you sure?” Yin Shixiong continued his act. “But Mr. Huo gave the order, and military orders cannot be refuted. You cannot simply say ‘no thanks.’ Here, give me your neck!” Yin Shixiong rolled up his sleeves in a brawny way.
Eyeing his thick arms and broad palms reaching toward her neck, Gu Yanran closed her eyes and screamed, “No thanks! Mr. Huo! I don’t need you to realign my neck anymore!”
Yin Shixiong only obeyed Huo Shaoheng’s orders, so he pretended not to hear Gu Nianzhi no matter how shrilly she screamed. Wrapping his large hands around her neck to squeeze, he suddenly pointed behind her and said, “How can there be someone there?!”
Gu Yanran instinctively looked over, and Yin Shixiong took the chance to turn her 180 degrees. A crack sounded, and pain suddenly flashed like a shock from the top of Gu Yanran’s spine throughout her entire body. The incredible pain in her entire body caused her to see white. With a scream of agony, she passed out.
Zhao Liangze crossed his arms as he stood on the side to watch Yin Shixiong play out the little scene and snickered. “Your little trick made her pass out completely. She only got a crick in her neck for sleeping funny? It can be fixed without turning her neck. You just needed to distract her.”
“You do it if you’re so great! You can just shut up if you’re not doing it!” Yin Shixiong waved his fist at Zhao Liangze. “I didn’t hear you say anything earlier, and now you’re gloating after it’s done. My methods are fine as long as they work. Even though it hurts, it’s still better than her turning into a crooked-neck beauty. Isn’t that right, Mr. Huo?”
Huo Shaoheng was focused intently on piloting the helicopter from the front seat. His concentration was solely on the various data on the instrument cluster, so he completely disregarded Yin Shixiong’s blabbering.
Zhao Liangze leaned over to peer at Gu Yanran. “What a timid girl. Why did she faint?”
Yin Shixiong waved his hand with a smile and replied proudly, “My bone realignment skills are good, huh? It hurts enough to make her feel like she’s dying!” This was actually a secret torture technique used during interrogation and originated from bone realignment movements.
Zhao Liangze exhaled sharply and moved away in shock. “How did Miss Gu wrong you? Why did you use such a technique on her?!”
“I don’t know any other bone realignment techniques! Mr. Huo knew this, too. I only know this one.” Yin Shixiong felt wronged and immediately went to sit back down at the front row so he could ask Huo Shaoheng, “Mr. Huo, you won’t blame me for accidentally making Miss Gu pass out, right?”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t even turn around to face him. “What was my order?”
“To help Miss Gu realign her bones!”
“Then did you do it?”
“Yes! Her neck is fine now, but…” Yin Shixiong scratched his head, something felt wrong.
Huo Shaoheng glanced at him slowly. “How are you even a soldier? As long as you completed the task assigned by your superior and didn’t break laws or codes of conduct, then who cares how you completed it?”
Yin Shixiong understood right away! “Mr. Huo! It’s my luck of a lifetime that I can serve you. I want to be your subordinate for my next lifetime and the one after that! My loyalty will not sway for three lifetimes!” Yin Shixiong clutched his heart and acted dramatically in front of Huo Shaoheng.
Huo Shaoheng pulled the lever, and the helicopter instantly circled down. Its entire fuselage spun in the air like a top. Yin Shixiong and Zhao Liangze were spun around madly and got so sick that their faces blanched as they grabbed for the handles and shouted, “Mr. Huo! What was it?! Was there turbulence?!”
Huo Shaoheng didn’t reply. He focused on looking ahead and finally returned the lever to its original position after a while. The helicopter resumed its normal travel without spinning. In the distance, the coastline was materializing as they approached Barbados. Yin Shixiong hugged the garbage can to puke violently.
Huo Shaoheng looked back at him. “Feel awful?”
“That made me so sick! You might as well kill me with one shot!” Yin Shixiong whimpered. “The air currents over oceans sure are unpredictable.”
“Yeah, what you experienced was how I felt when you were telling me those things just now. It had nothing to do with air currents over the ocean,” Huo Shaoheng replied smoothly and even looked back at him.
Yin Shixiong finally understood! Mr. Huo was playing a prank on him! “Ok, Mr. Huo, I was only joking. How am I even qualified to serve you for three lifetimes?” Yin Shixiong arranged his face into an alluring smile as he bowed dramatically at Huo Shaoheng. “It was the disciple’s fault for speaking foolishly! It was the disciple’s fault for speaking foolishly!”
Zhao Liangze also realized what happened and snickered from the side with a shake of his head. He glanced at Gu Yanran before saying, “Luckily, Miss Gu fainted. Otherwise, she would’ve puked her guts out from all that commotion.”
Huo Shaoheng completely ignored Gu Yanran’s condition and replied to Zhao Liangze, “Contact Barbados to tell them we have arrived, and have their military and police be on armed stand by. We still don’t know anything about those shooters, so we can’t relax our vigilance.”
“Roger, Chief!” Zhao Liangze answered loudly and immediately established contact with the Barbados military.
Gu Yanran woke up slowly. The pain remained in her spine. She almost felt entirely paralyzed. However, her neck was fixed and no longer hurt.
“Mr… Mr. Huo, are we almost there?” Gu Yanran asked weakly, “I… I’m really worried about my father’s safety. Mr. Huo, I wonder if you and your colleagues can help me with a favor?”
“It depends on what kind of favor and if I can or cannot help,” Huo Shaoheng said calmly, but it was precisely his plan, so he knew exactly what Gu Yanran would ask for help with.
As expected, Gu Yanran asked, “It’s my father. I want to ask Mr. Huo and your colleagues to help ensure the safety of my father and transfer him to the United States. Barbados is no longer a safe place for him.”
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