"Stop!"

Just as Gu Shen leaned against the wall in the alley and breathed a sigh of relief, preparing to tidy up his clothes and leave, a stern shout suddenly came from behind, followed by the sound of fast and close footsteps outside the alley.

Were they calling him?!

At the moment the voice sounded, Gu Shen's heart suddenly became tense.

With the guilty conscience of a thief and the thought of not running for nothing, he immediately started to speed up as soon as the voice sounded.

He had just tricked Cui Zhongcheng, who knows if this Mr. Cui would change his mind and send someone to chase him back and take back the mysterious E-grade watch.

Hastily turning his head, Gu Shen caught a glimpse of the figures darting out from the shadows. They were all tall, about 1.89 meters, dressed in black suits, with solemn faces, and each wearing a pair of black sunglasses... Most importantly, the collars of their clothes were ironed with the black flag symbol.

These were members of the Zhao family.

As he ran, the voices behind him grew angrier.

Someone shouted angrily, "Don't run!"

Gu Shen ran even faster.

If it weren't for using the Truth Ruler twice in a row, Gu Shen would even consider using the ruler to escape... In fact, this was purely a biological instinctive reaction.

No matter what happened, when someone chased after you, you couldn't help but run.

The faster they chased, the faster he ran.

The alley was not wide, and it was filled with discarded baskets and other obstacles along the way. Gu Shen stumbled and bumped into things as he ran.

What was even more frustrating was that this seemingly secluded and quiet alley was actually a dead end. After running for more than ten seconds and turning a corner, Gu Shen saw the wall at the end of his line of sight and felt despair.

"Step on the baskets... and flip over!"

At this moment, a slightly anxious reminder came from behind.

"???"

Gu Shen then realized that there was still a figure closely following him. The person was not tall or strong, easily overlooked in his peripheral vision, but upon closer inspection, he was quite eye-catching.

This guy was wearing a thin floral shirt in the cold weather, had a shaved head, and was wearing a pair of flip-flops. He ran fast and urgently, but unfortunately, the alley was narrow, so no matter how urgent he was, he could only be blocked by his own butt.

There was no time to think about who the other person was or to ask in return.

Gu Shen almost instinctively followed the other person's instructions and jumped on the baskets with one foot, using the wall as leverage to bounce back. Fortunately, his physical condition had always been good, but this was the first time he climbed a high wall in this way...

"Snap!"

His five fingers slapped heavily, barely gripping the edge of the wall, but at least he held on. He swung his body to gain momentum and felt like a gymnast as he managed to support himself without any danger.

Then, Gu Shen turned his head slightly and saw a scene that left him dumbfounded.

The man with the shaved head, wearing a thin floral shirt, didn't bother to step on any baskets or other objects to boost himself up. He ran about four or five meters with a short run-up, and his final two meters of takeoff seemed like he was flying, with an incredible hang time and a graceful and soft arc in his jump.

Gu Shen estimated earlier that the wall was at least four meters high.

With just a short run-up, he could easily step on top of the wall.

Was this guy... still human?

The man with the shaved head didn't stop. After leaping onto the wall, he immediately jumped down, this time with a posture more like a bird... Gu Shen suspected that this guy had grown a pair of wings. He could even see the trajectory of the wings gliding through the air.

"What are you standing there for?"

The man with the shaved head landed on the ground and turned around. "Aren't you running anymore?"

Gu Shen was taken aback. The pursuers behind him had already arrived with murderous intent. The coordination among these strong men was quite tacit. Some of them had started to run, while others leaned against the wall and crouched down, using their backs to build a human bridge.

"Damn it..."

Gu Shen snapped back to his senses and quickly jumped down from the wall. As he landed, the man with the shaved head generously reached out a hand to help. The two of them ran through the alley like two ostriches burying their heads in the wind and sand, flipping and charging forward. After crossing the high wall, the alley was no longer a straight line but a network of interconnected alleys. The man with the shaved head led the way, running at the forefront. Not only could he jump high, but he also ran extremely fast. No wonder he was anxious when Gu Shen was blocking him earlier.

It turned out that the economic development of East Continents still had room for improvement. Even in the most prosperous city in Jiangnan, there were old neighborhoods with dilapidated and crisscrossing alleys. After the man with the shaved head led Gu Shen through a series of twists and turns, their original straightforward trajectory immediately became complex and branched out... It would be extremely difficult for the pursuers behind to catch up.

It wasn't until the shouts behind them were no longer audible that the man with the shaved head gradually slowed down.

"Hoo... hoo..."

Gu Shen supported his knees with both hands and asked with difficulty, "Did we shake them off?"

"We've shaken them off by a thousand miles." The man with the shaved head sneered disdainfully. "With their intelligence, it'll take them another eight hundred years to catch me."

He had excellent physical fitness. After a burst of running, he only took a few deep breaths before returning to calm.

Song Ci patted the dust off his floral shirt. He was a very clean person, but after running all the way in the narrow alley, it was inevitable that his clothes would get dirty. After patting his shirt, he suddenly realized... that the development of the situation seemed a bit off.

"Wait a minute... why were you running?"

He looked at the guy in front of him with a strange expression. He looked very young, about seventeen or eighteen years old. Although he looked a bit disheveled now, he had managed to keep up with Song Ci's speed, indicating that this kid had quite good stamina.

Gu Shen's expression was equally strange.

Because the lines he was supposed to say were stolen by the guy in front of him...

The Zhao family's bodyguards should be chasing after him, so why was this man running?

Was there a possibility that the group of 1.9-meter-tall strong men were not chasing after him?

But... him?"Do you know those guys just now? Why did you run if you didn't do anything wrong?"

Song Ci furrowed his brows, asking, "Did you steal something? Or owe some debts? Why did you run so fast?"

"Bullshit... I'm a law-abiding citizen!" Gu Shen quickly denied, "Those burly men were chasing me, of course I had to run. Besides, their insignia was so conspicuous, they're from the Huazhi Group... who knows what they would do to me if they caught me!"

The bald man stroked his chin, finding Gu Shen's explanation somewhat amusing.

Gu Shen retorted, "I ran because it's a normal reaction! On the contrary, why did you run?"

The sudden counter-question left the bald man speechless, his hand that was about to take out a cigarette froze in mid-air.

"Just like you said, it's normal to run when being chased." He took a puff of his cigarette and calmly replied with a somewhat forceful tone, "Just one look and you can tell, I... I'm also a law-abiding citizen."

Gu Shen cast a doubtful glance at him.

Bald head, floral shirt... this outfit didn't look like that of a law-abiding citizen at all.

"Hey, hey, don't judge a book by its cover." The bald man fumbled in his shirt pocket and pulled out a flint wheel lighter. He tried to light it but failed, then grumbled unclearly, "Do you think I can't understand the meaning in your eyes?"

Just as Gu Shen was about to say something.

"Found him... over here!"

A familiar voice echoed from the end of the alley.

The towering figures reappeared, persistent as ever.

The bald man's face changed. He furrowed his brows, focusing on the flint wheel lighter. Then, with a flick of his finger, the base of the lighter was shattered, revealing a chip the size of a fingernail glued inside.

"Is this... a tracking chip?" Gu Shen's eyes narrowed.

"Yo... boss, you know your stuff." The bald man looked up in surprise at Gu Shen's words. He gave a small smile, expressionlessly pressed his thumb against the chip, and crushed it into dust.

Clean and neat.

"Now..."

He chuckled softly, extending his hand to Gu Shen, "Whether you're a law-abiding citizen or not... you have to run with me now."

"???"

Gu Shen slapped away the bald man's hand, "I can run on my own!"

He gritted his teeth, looking back at the burly men in suits.

Run, he could only run.

The scene of the two of them running together had been seen. He would definitely be considered an old acquaintance. If caught, no one would believe that he had only exchanged a few words with this guy.

So, the two ostriches continued to run headlong.

After running at full speed for thirty minutes.

Explore the extended edition on pawread dot com.

"I can't... I can't..." Gu Shen leaned against the wall, panting heavily, "I can't run anymore... let me rest..."

The bald man, who had been running as fast as a whirlwind in his flip-flops, finally slowed down. He crossed his arms with interest, calmly saying, "Actually, we lost them twenty minutes ago. I just wanted to see how long you could run."

Gu Shen: "???"

If he wasn't outmatched, he really wanted to beat this guy up.

Upon closer inspection, the bald man had a very strong physique. Under his thin shirt, the contours of his full chest and abdominal muscles were faintly visible. Judging from his performance when jumping over the wall just now, this agile body was hiding a great explosive power.

"Good brother, you're loyal, you didn't betray me." Seeing Gu Shen's expression, the bald man touched his nose and laughed, "There's a really good noodle shop nearby. I'll treat you to some noodles later."

Gu Shen's face twitched.

He did want to betray this bald guy, but he didn't even know his name. If he was caught, he would be at a loss for words.

"By the way..."

The man casually extended a hand, "My surname is Song, Song Ci, Ci as in mercy."

Song Ci... this name was quite unique.

Gu Shen silently repeated the name. A gust of wind blew through the alley, stirring the thin shirt. At that moment, he accidentally caught a glimpse of a small black pattern on Song Ci's chest.

The eerie black pattern formed a broken heart, with hibiscus flowers blooming amidst thorns. Just a small part was revealed, but it was enough to confirm the full picture of this tattoo... it was the symbol of the Chengxin Society.

Gu Shen averted his gaze.

He extended a hand, shaking hands with Song Ci, slowly saying, "Gu Shen, Shen as in cautious."