Fifth Sister

Chapter 725: Fifth Sister

Li Huowang was still trapped inside the overturned sports car, unable to move.

As he watched the distant figures approaching, a frantic urgency clawed at him. He had to get out—right now. In this position, he was completely at their mercy.

"Break!"

He hammered the glass again and again. When his exposed skull finally slammed through the window, his blood-and-flesh-mashed head burst out, glaring murderously at the two men with tools.

The two men flinched, retreating at the sight of him.

"Jesus, it's a sports car! Run! We'd never afford this thing even if we hauled cargo for a lifetime!"

"I told you not to take this road! But no, you had to save a few bucks on the toll!"

"Shut up and get in the truck! There are no cameras here! They'll never find us!"

While they scrambled, Li Huowang had already crawled out of the wreck. Gritting his teeth, he charged toward the truck.

They rammed him that hard and thought they could just run? No way.

The truck engine roared to life. He pulled out his dagger and dashed to the front of the vehicle.

Leaping onto the iron step ladder, he grabbed the side mirror and slashed at the windshield, leaving only a shallow scratch. "Get the hell out!"

When Li Huowang's blood-soaked, gourd-like head rose from below the window, the two in the cab let out a panicked yell and floored the accelerator.

The sheer force ripped the side mirror from his grip. With nothing to hold onto, he tumbled toward the wheels.

The moment he hit the ground, Li Huowang tensed every muscle, rolling desperately to avoid the massive tires. In the next instant, he threw all his strength into a downward strike—right into the tire.

Clang!

The impact shattered the dagger's tip, and his hand snapped at the wrist. But the tire now bore a long gash.

When Li Huowang climbed to his feet, gasping, the truck was already nothing but dim red taillights in the distance.

"Before, it was just kidnapping and surveillance—at most Wang Wei used a rope. Now they're ramming me with a truck!"

He watched the taillights vanish, his face growing darker.

If he hadn't been so alert, that hit would have killed all three of them at once. Their moves were escalating dangerously. He had to strike back, and fast—no more delays.

"It's okay. I recorded everything. Hit-and-run, their fault." Qing Wanglai, standing nearby, paused the video on his phone.

"How did you get out?" Li Huowang asked.

Qing Wanglai held up a safety hammer.

"Turning off the phone isn't enough. They can still find us through other means. That's how they set up the ambush."

"Forget that for now. Your head injury is the priority." Qing Wanglai pulled off his shirt and pressed it against the wound on Li Huowang's scalp. Within moments, the white fabric was soaked red.

"It's fine, just a scratch. Let's move—I need to regroup with the others. I'm worried about their safety."

"A scratch? Are you joking? Don't move. I'll call someone." Qing Wanglai pulled out his phone and dialed quickly.

"How are you holding up, Nana?" Li Huowang glanced down at Yang Na, finding her eyes brimming with tears, her expression one of heartbroken concern.

Qing Wanglai's contact arrived faster than Li Huowang expected. A beat-up RV pulled up from the front.

A woman with a blue headscarf, dreadlocks, and an eyebrow ring leaned out the window. "Junior disciple! What happened? A car accident?"

"Didn't I tell you? This thing's only got speed going for it. Otherwise, it can't beat my hand-me-down RV."

"Fifth Sister, stop joking. Can't you see there's an injured person?"

Qing Wanglai and Yang Na helped the blood-loss-weakened Li Huowang toward the RV. The vehicle looked small, cluttered inside, but warm.

The woman—Fifth Sister—quickly pulled out a medical kit. With practiced hands, she cleaned, sutured, and bandaged the wound, then splinted his broken hand with a board.

After a smooth, fluid routine, she even produced a syringe and gave Li Huowang two shots.

"Youth is something. Good fire in your veins. Looks like you won't need a transfusion—just think of it as early blood donation." She patted his shoulder with her right hand, nails painted in a riot of colors.

"Thanks, Fifth Sister." Li Huowang stood up at once, ready to step off the RV.

"Where are you going?" Qing Wanglai, now seated, asked.

"Since the wound is handled, I'm joining the others." Li Huowang's tone was matter-of-fact.

Qing Wanglai pointed at Fifth Sister, who was tilting her head back to drink water. "She's one of the eight. We'll take her RV there."

"You're Li Huowang? I'm Wu Qi. Nice to meet you." Wu Qi shook his good hand, then pulled aside the curtain to the driver's cab.

"She's one of them?" Li Huowang stared at her broad shoulders. This woman in her twenties looked nothing like she was mentally unstable.

"Fifth Sister, thanks for your help. You stopped the bleeding so fast. You're amazing." Yang Na walked over to express her thanks to the driver.

"It's nothing. Minor issue. Back when I worked in emergency, I dealt with things way worse. Brought people back from death's door."

Yang Na glanced at Li Huowang, then asked, "Did Fifth Sister used to work in a hospital?"

The moment this topic came up, Wu Qi brightened. "Yeah, you know that saying: 'Persuade someone to study medicine, and heaven strikes you down with thunder'—couldn't be truer."

"You're busy saving lives day and night, the pay's low, and barely any time off. I don't know why I chose it in the first place. Bad days, you watch several people die right in front of you. The negativity is overwhelming."

Li Huowang's eyes swept across the RV's decor. A few travel photos were held to the refrigerator by magnets—the most prominent being a shot of her with the Leshan Giant Buddha. Hanging on the wall next to it was a long, gleaming string of Buddhist prayer beads.

While he studied the layout, the conversation up front continued.

"Then one day, I realized I was so busy my period was almost gone. And I asked myself: What the hell am I living for?"

"A few decades on this earth—is it just to break my back for a few red banknotes?"

"So I figured it out. I had an awakening, you know? From now on, I'm living for myself. Whatever makes me happy. House, car, man, money—none of that means shit."

"After that, I finally understood what it means to have a heart free of things, and the world becomes wide. Without all those rules and cages, I'm way more at ease now than before."

"Sis, you should try it too. Seriously. That's what it means to actually live."