Huoji walked toward An Zhenyue, his gait unsteady yet carrying a deliberate sense of menace, as if he might stab someone in the back at any moment.
"What do you want? My family has money—you can have it all! I beg you, just let us go." An Xiaoni pleaded. At this moment, money was the least important thing in the world to their family.
"I can die, but please, let my daughter and wife go!" An Zhenyue’s body began to shake violently and uncontrollably. His teeth chattered, and he forced the words out through his gritted jaw. He could feel millions of ants gnawing at his flesh.
An Xiaoni’s mother shook her head desperately. Her mouth was muffled, and she could not speak; tears streamed down her face, but with her body pinned down, she was helpless.
"Why couldn't you just leave our business alone? You had to go and develop that medicine. You’re just asking for death!" Huoji lifted his chin, signaling for them to continue.
The man holding An Zhenyue produced a syringe. An Zhenyue’s pupils dilated to the limit; he knew exactly what it was. He roared, wailed, and struggled on the ground, but it was all in vain.
The needle was plunged directly into his arm.
"Taste it. See what a 'heavenly paradise' really feels like. You were always so meddlesome, trying to stop people from finding this kind of ultimate pleasure! You deserve to die!" Huoji gritted his teeth, his sinister little eyes filled with malice.
Less than two minutes later, An Zhenyue’s body began to curl up uncontrollably, then snapped straight, curled up again, straightened, and curled again. He repeated this agonizing motion over and over. His face was a mask of torture, his features twisted in pain, and his once-kind expression had become horrific.
"Dad—"
"Dad—"
An Xiaoni screamed in collapse. The drug was too potent; there was no resisting it.
Beads of sweat the size of peas rolled down An Zhenyue’s forehead. He clutched his chest tightly, trying to claw that bone-deep agony out of his body, while vague, pained groans escaped his throat. The villains surrounding them watched with evil delight, grins plastered on their faces.
"Dad—" An Xiaoni’s face was covered in tears. She bowed low to beg, turning to Huoji. "Sir, please, can you let us go? What do you want in exchange for our lives?"
Huoji let out a wicked laugh that made one's skin crawl. The title of "sir" changed nothing. Huoji moved out of habit, running a finger lightly across An Xiaoni’s cheek. Her skin was soft and delicate, causing her to flinch back in terror.
Huoji laughed smugly. "Little treasure, you’re coming with me in a moment. I’ll show you the real world. As for your parents, they’re going where they belong. The boss said that everyone involved in developing the V3 Anti-Drug Medication must die."
"Since your father is the founder of An's Pharmaceutical Company, he has to die first!"
"No! Please, I beg you, don't kill my father!" An Xiaoni pleaded bitterly, sobbing in despair.
"Haha, little treasure, you didn't know, did you? Your family is bankrupt. Your father’s pharmaceutical company is gone, and this little villa is no longer yours," Huoji said.
"Let me go! Let me go!" An Xiaoni struggled with everything she had, hands and feet flailing as she kicked and punched the man holding her. But her strength was negligible.
Suddenly, An Zhenyue began to foam at the mouth, convulsing on the floor.
"Ah—Dad! Let me go!" An Xiaoni only wanted to rush over and hold him.
Huoji raised an eyebrow. Seeing the little treasure crying so miserably, he signaled for his subordinate to let her go; she wouldn't be able to escape his grasp anyway. An Xiaoni scrambled over and threw herself at her father.
"Dad." She felt as if her world were collapsing.
"Ni... ni." An Zhenyue squeezed his daughter's name out.
"Yes, I'm here, Dad." An Xiaoni cradled her father’s head, wiping the foam from the corner of his mouth.
His body slowly stopped shaking, and his struggles grew weaker. An Zhenyue opened his blood-red eyes, gripping An Xiaoni’s hand tightly with both of his. He struggled to open his mouth, and An Xiaoni’s tears splashed onto his face.
"Nini, my precious daughter, you must... survive."
An Xiaoni’s panicked and helpless expression shifted for a fraction of a second when she felt an unknown object pressed into her hand by her father. Quick-witted, she instinctively clenched her fist, looking at her father with a piteous gaze.
"Survive." An Zhenyue forced out these final words.
An Xiaoni understood the meaning in her father’s eyes and gave a slight nod. It was her promise.
An Zhenyue was at his last breath. His life signs were fading, and his eyes, glazed and unfocused, were about to close forever.
"Mmph, mmph!" An Xiaoni’s mother struggled with all her might. Suddenly, she was shoved impatiently by one of the thugs. She fell to the floor, too shaken to stand, and crawled desperately toward the father and daughter.
"Zhenyue—"
The scream was heart-wrenching. As she drew close, she threw herself forward, arms wide, and collapsed onto An Zhenyue’s body. Her face pressed against his chest, her hair disheveled and scattered across her face.
"I beg you, let us go! We won't research or make that anti-drug medication anymore. Our family will leave the Capital, we’ll go abroad, we’ll never come back—can't you just let us go? Please, I beg you!"
"Zhenyue, Zhenyue, how are you?"
"Zhenyue, don't go!"
An Xiaoni’s mother searched frantically through An Zhenyue’s pockets. "Do you have any V3 Anti-Drug Medication on you? Let me get it for you."
An Zhenyue held her hand down and shook his head in agony.
"Ha! All the V3 Anti-Drug Medication has been confiscated by us. Not a single pill will make it to the market now!" Huoji stood there brazenly, one leg shaking with a cocky, thuggish air.
An Zhenyue’s body began to convulse uncontrollably once more, his back arching high as the mother and daughter tried in vain to hold him down. Suddenly, his movements stopped. His body went rigid. One hand clutched Nini, the other held his partner of half a lifetime.
He died with his eyes wide open.
An Xiaoni and her mother knelt by the body, sobbing uncontrollably as their tears broke like a dam.
While she was hunched over, An Xiaoni used her body to block their view. She held the object in her hand and purposely covered her chest, sliding it into her bra. The dress she was wearing had no pockets, and even if it did, anything hidden there would be easily found. She had felt it—it was a small slip of paper—and she had tucked it away in an instant.
If her father had given it to her at the moment of his death, it had to be vital. No matter what, she could not let it be discovered. Unless someone tried to strip her clothes—and if it ever came to that, she had already decided: she would ram her head into something and end it all.