Just as the thug leader thought he was about to die, he suddenly heard a SNAP.

Gu Jiaojiao released her foot. She had heard the sound of cars approaching in the distance.

The thug leader clutched his throat, coughing violently and looking utterly wretched.

"COUGH! COUGH! COUGH! COUGH..." He coughed up blood. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"I’ll let you go this time. But next time you decide to rob someone, you’d better watch who you’re messing with. Pray you don’t run into me again, or else..."

Gu Jiaojiao snorted, then turned and swung her leg over her motorcycle, revving the engine with a loud VROOOM.

In truth, she hadn’t left. She had slipped directly into her pocket dimension, because several more cars were now converging on the alley.

Several cars had stopped at the mouth of the alley. A normal person might ignore the scene, but if it were the cops, they’d haul every last one of them in.

The thug leader collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air, his heart still pounding in his chest.

He had been just a hair’s breadth away from dying under that damn woman’s foot.

He tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. The night was filled with brilliant, twinkling stars, but he couldn’t feel a shred of warmth.

He had just faced a trial of life and death.

’Did I get lucky and survive, or was that woman actually merciful and let me go on purpose?’

But whether it was by luck or her mercy, he felt nothing in his heart—not even a flicker of gratitude.

"Boss, are we heading back now?" one of his men on the ground asked cautiously.

"Can you even get up to drive?"

"Boss, I’ve got no strength left. I can’t even stand, let alone drive!"

"SOB... I don’t want to die! I’ve still got my old mother and my sister to take care of!"

"Boss, save me... I don’t want to die either..."

"Who the hell was that she-devil? How could she be so powerful?"

"You’re asking me? Who the hell am I supposed to ask?"

"But you’re the boss! How could you not know?"

"Bro, where are we? How did we end up here?"

"..."

"Hey, bro, stop playing dead. Tell me what happened," a thug who had just come to whispered to his companion lying nearby.

"...I... I don’t know either. I was sent flying by some girl who looked like a goddess, and I blacked out when I landed."

"..."

"What the hell happened to me? Why do I feel so weak? And why am I so cold?"

"You idiot. We’re lying on the ground. Of course we’re cold!"

"Weren’t the higher-ups’ orders to assassinate the supervising doctor? Why did the boss get distracted by a pretty face?"

"Are you trying to get yourself killed? How dare you talk about the boss like that?" a young man of about eighteen hissed at his companion.

"We’re about to die anyway! What’s the harm in saying a few words?" the other youth, also around seventeen or eighteen, shot back loudly from the ground.

From her pocket dimension, Gu Jiaojiao could clearly hear the thugs’ scattered wails and complaints. ’So their goal this time was to kill me?’

’Those two teenagers on the ground might seem pitiful, but every pitiful person has their hateful side. They don’t deserve my sympathy.’

’They shouldn’t have joined whatever organization that is. One look and you can tell these aren’t just ordinary street punks.’

The reason Gu Jiaojiao hadn’t left immediately was to avoid encountering the new arrivals. She had no desire to walk into a dangerous situation.

’These twenty-odd guys were weak, but who knows how strong the next wave will be!’

"All of you, shut the hell up! Let me get my damn breath back," the thug leader roared with all his might.

The cacophony of wails and howls from the ground stopped as if someone had hit a pause button, and a sudden silence fell.

"AH!" But then, it was the leader himself who let out a bloodcurdling scream, clutching his head tightly. "No..."

’He never wanted to re-live the agony of being pinned underfoot, a suffering worse than death.’

’That feeling... it was worse than death.’

’He couldn’t go through that again.’

’For the rest of his life, he would rather be poor and destitute than ever return to the organization. He was done with this life of dancing on a knife’s edge.’

He remembered, about an hour ago, how his superior had slapped him until his face was stinging, yet he hadn’t dared to beg for mercy.

His direct superior had roared at him, "We just got word from the hospital. They’re saying Si Jinghao has woken up."

"But you all told me he was in a deep coma, and that it was uncertain if he’d ever wake up!"

"Is this your ’uncertain’? He woke up this fast? Why didn’t you just finish him off back then?"

"Don’t worry, Boss. It doesn’t matter that he’s awake. I’ll take the boys, stake out the hospital, and take care of that supervising doctor!"

"Hmph. Do as you say. Take twenty men and make sure you eliminate that Divine Doctor."

After speaking, the man slapped him twice more and then spat in his face.

He hadn’t dared to wipe it off. He could only imagine the punishment he’d face for failing the mission to assassinate the Divine Doctor.

Recalling his superior’s vicious glare, the look in the thug leader’s eyes, as he lay on the ground, changed from vacant confusion to firm resolve.

"I’m getting you all out of the organization! We’re leaving this city! We have to protect our families."

Unfortunately, his epiphany came too late. The short, sharp sound of a siren—WAH... WAH... WAH...—echoed from the mouth of the alley.

It chirped about once every twenty seconds. For men like them who lived on the edge, it was a sound of warning and oppression.

Before the thugs on the ground could even react, the "WAH..." sound sent them into a renewed frenzy of terrified wailing.

The scene descended into chaos once more, but it didn’t take long for the cops to round up all the howling thugs on the ground and take them away.

From her pocket dimension, Gu Jiaojiao heard the cops’ astonished remarks. The gist was, who could be powerful enough to take down this many thugs?

"Is there even a question? It must have been the Si Family’s bodyguards," one of the cops said with certainty.

"Hmph. In that case, ask them to come with us to give a statement," a man who looked like the captain said to his subordinate.

And so, the three bodyguards from the Si Family were also "invited" to the station to give their statements.

Gu Jiaojiao had seen it all clearly. The Si Family’s car had been the first to arrive at the alley. Several bodyguards got out and saw the thugs on the ground.

After a quick discussion, they sent one person to drive off and call the police.

The other two stood guard at the entrance to the alley, waiting. ’As expected of people trained by the Si Family; they have a decent sense of justice.’

Gu Jiaojiao faintly heard one of the bodyguards say, "Those two over there are Doctor Ye’s apprentices. Should we go ask them why they’re with a bunch of thugs?"

"Let’s have them all taken back to the station for questioning first. The Family Head can decide what to do after that. We shouldn’t be the ones questioning them."

"You’re right. The Family Head sent us out to find the Divine Doctor, and here we are meddling in other people’s business. What if something happens to the Divine Doctor..."

"If something really did happen to the Divine Doctor, there’s nothing we could do about it anyway. Some things are beyond our power to change."

Gu Jiaojiao thought they were absolutely right. ’In the end, you can only rely on yourself.’

’If she hadn’t been capable enough today, she’d surely have been wiped off the face of the earth.’

She waited until the alley entrance had quieted down. Just as she was about to leave her pocket dimension with her motorcycle, she heard another car approaching in the distance.

’It couldn’t be the mastermind, could it?’