48 Hours a Day - Chapter 418

Chapter 418: Escaped

Zhang Heng scopped Leah up in one hand, put her in the back seat, and used his other hand to ride the snowmobile. He managed to calmly avoid all the stones as he carved a path through the thick woods. At the same time, he said, “Snowboard.”

When he said that, Leah understood immediately. “Who are those people that are chasing me?” she asked.

“They are from Black Nest. Your brother Edward has key evidence that Black Nest is using CTOS to collect data and violate the privacy of citizens. Once the situation deteriorates to a certain extent, they will use you to blackmail your brother.”

“Black Nest? That technology company?! Many people around me are using their devices. According to what I heard, they come up with pretty high-quality products.”

Zhang Heng swiftly maneuvered the snowmobile along the unmarked track, dodging trees along his way like he would bullets. “Black Nest isn’t your regular tech corporation. They have other motives hidden in the dark. In other words, we are in a perilous situation. They will use every means available to them to prevent the disclosure of their secrets.”

“Dangerous? How dangerous?”

“Just now, one of our people responsible for leading the pursuer away was almost sniped by their assassin.”

“Here? At the ski resort? In broad daylight?!”

“Yes, and they have a dirty relationship with the police. It means they can get police support whenever they want.”

“Does that mean we are on our own now?”

“Hold on tight,” Zhang Heng replied, not answering Leah’s question this time.

He then turned abruptly, and the snowmobile drew an arc. Despite being reminded in advance, Leah was almost thrown off, and she subconsciously reached out to grab Zhang Heng’s waist.

“Why stop?”

Leah’s question was automatically answered after a few seconds. The snowmobile had stopped on the edge of the cliff. Initial visual observation confirmed that they were a good 20 meters above the ground below. Zhang Heng got off and took out the snowboard that he tucked behind the snowmobile, and quickly put it on the ground. “This is as far as the snowmobile goes. There is a way around the cliff, but the forest is simply too dense for the snowmobile to pass through. We’ll have to snowboard from now.”

“Ugh… but I just threw away my snowboard since you asked me to…”

“It doesn’t matter, just cling to my back and hug me tightly. Even if you have your board with you, you can’t cross this path seeing how bad you are at skiing.”

“That’s true…”

Leah was not as hypocritical as other girls, not hesitating to jump on Zhang Heng’s back after she heard what he said.

Zhang Heng paused. “…you are too fast. I haven’t even strapped on my snowboard properly.”

“Oh! Sorry… should I get down then?”

“No need.” Zhang Heng had properly clamped his ski shoes to the snowboard. “Make sure you hold on to me tightly. I can’t take care of you when we begin our descent,” he said.

“Okay,” Leah nodded. To lose all the extra weight on her, she took off the ski shoes on her feet.

As the snowboard started moving, they steadily increased speed, and the sound of wind whooshing past their ears could be soon heard. Zhang Heng wasn’t too worried about the four enemies behind him. Even if they somehow managed to catch up to him, Zhang Heng was confident that he could get rid of them. Hence, he raced against time and risked a safe descent to prevent Black Nest from using the same trail he had carved to get down the mountain.

The good news was that Piercings had not only led the enemies away from Leah but even the squad that Vincent had placed along the foot of the mountain. That way, even if Vincent realized what was going on, it would be difficult for him to go all the way to the other side of the mountain in the shortest time possible.

In fact, Vincent wasn’t really too happy right now. He had done everything that he could do, but the other party was always one step ahead of him. Whether it was Piercings who acted as bait or Leah who chose to ski off the beaten path, he had been caught off guard each time his enemies made a move.

Such an elaborate plan couldn’t have just materialized overnight. The other party had obviously done a great deal of preparation, and they were only waiting for Leah to show up at the ski resort. The two people involved in the operation were also extremely good at what they did, definitely not ordinary folk. This was the worst outcome for Black Nest. It meant an unknown force had interfered in Edward’s business, undoubtedly a situation Black Nest hoped not to encounter.

“What should I do now?” the young man asked with innocent eyes.

“Notify the fourth team, ask them to give up pursuing the target, and intercept Leah instead. At the same time, we will head down the mountain as well,” Vincent said. Still, he knew that this was just a temporary solution, and it wasn’t going to help much with their plan. it appeared Piercings had led the fouth team to a random ravine. It was now impossible for them to catch up with Vincent.

Besides, they were still at the mountainside, and even if they threw away all the equipment, it would still take a considerably long time before they could get to the foot. Vincent regretted the decision he made—the group of people Black Nest assigned to monitor Leah weren’t too good at skiing. From the very beginning, he should have never allow Leah to head to the ski resort and take the risk.

It was now too late for any sort of remorse. Now, Vincent needed to think about how to deal with the aftermath of the whole situation.

Sure enough, when they finally got to the other side of the mountain, they only saw discarded snowboards. Leah and the snowmobile rider were gone. Then, another piece of bad news came along right after this one. Piercings managed to ditch his pursuers behind him and disappeared in the snow.

Not only did Black Nest lose Leah, but they also failed to capture anyone on their list. The mission was a complete failure.

Vincent kicked a trash can next to him out of frustration. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, took out his newly purchased phone, and dialed a number.

“We lost Leah…”

“Yes… we have no options left. Edward has lost control. It’s time to implement the cleanup plan to stop him… I’m pretty sure they have professionals helping them. Otherwise, rescuing Leah wouldn’t have been so easy. It appears that other parties may be interested in her as well. We need to speed up the plan. Right, I understand, I won’t let this happen again.”

The young man raised his eyebrows. “Did they call us trash?” he asked.

Vincent hung up the call. “No, you have watched too many movies,” he said, “but headquarters realized we must be short-staffed and they are sending new people to support us.”

“Oh, you mean the new people that are going to strip you off of your hold on the operation?”

Vincent frowned, “This isn’t the time for internal conflict. We must put our prejudice aside, work together, locate Edward as quickly as possible, and neutralize the threat once and for all.”

“Ah, has headquarters finally made up their mind?”

Vincent turned to look at the young man with sharp eyes. “You seem to share a good relationship with Edward. You are in charge of the safety of his area before. You’ve also apparently played chess with him before,” he replied with a cold tone.

“Do you have a problem with executing him?”

“I have always had a clear distinction between work and life. I even killed my brother-in-law back then. He is just an ordinary friend to me. I have no problem with killing him,” the young man shrugged, “not to mention that my rankings in chess will improve if I kill Edward. I don’t see a reason why I should reject this job.”