Chapter 41: Follow Me If You Want to Live

THWACK!

When the blow landed on Mu Lin's head, Li Xue's heart felt a sharp pang.

'Why? On what grounds? Why should I feel bad for him?'

Mu Lin was only captured because of Li Xue! If he got beaten, injured, or even never returned, it would all be her responsibility.

Li Xue was a kind-hearted person; she couldn't bear such pressure.

As expected, Li Xue couldn't take it anymore. She rushed toward the exit, but Chen Xi quickly stopped her.

"Sister Xiaoxue, you can't go out there!"

Just then, another commotion erupted outside.

The receptionist ran in again.

"This is bad! Boss Yang Jian from the pig farm is here! He's covered in injuries, it's terrifying!"

When Xiaowang heard Yang Jian had arrived, he immediately dropped Mu Lin and scrambled to greet his good buddy.

Mu Lin took the opportunity to feel his head. The spot that was hit ached slightly, but he had been eating strange medicinal herbs given to him by his master since childhood and was incredibly tough. A force that could stun an ox had left no particular mark on him.

If he hadn't clearly seen Xiaowang attack, he might not have even realized his head had been struck.

Chen Xi let go of Xiaoxue and hurried over to check on Mu Lin.

"Brother Lin, are you okay?" Chen Xi asked, lowering his voice.

Mu Lin said, "It's nothing. He didn't even break through my defense!"

Relieved, Chen Xi suddenly raised his voice. "Serves you right! That's what you get for trying to be a hero!"

'Got to commit to the act. Li Xue is still watching!'

'Have to keep up the deception.'

Li Xue waved her hand. "Xiaoxi, that's enough. Mu Lin was just trying to do what was best for me! Don't you scold him for the rest of the day!"

Chen Xi thought, 'You think I actually want to scold him?'

'Now I don't have to. Perfect!'

Xiaowang hurried outside and met Yang Jian in the Li Group's courtyard.

"Brother! How are you?" Xiaowang grabbed Yang Jian's arm and asked with concern.

Yang Jian was shocked. "What are you doing here?! Don't tell me you're here to apologize too?"

Xiaowang didn't hear him clearly and said with great excitement, "That's right, I'm here to demand an explanation. I told them if I don't get one, I'll cut off all supplies! The Li Group will fall apart in a matter of days."

"So, brother? Feeling better now?"

But Yang Jian was trembling with fear. He grabbed Xiaowang and said, "Brother, if you want to live, you need to come with me right now!"

Xiaowang found it laughable. "Brother, did you get your brains knocked loose? I'm completely victorious here. I can destroy this company for you at any moment to let you vent."

"See him? In a bit, I'll find a bucket of cement and bury him in it. I'll make him suffer a thousand, ten thousand times over for how he beat you!"

Xiaowang said excitedly, pointing at Mu Lin.

The moment Yang Jian saw Mu Lin, he immediately fell to his knees and started crawling toward him on all fours. The violent movements tore at his wounds, but he didn't dare stop, continuing to crawl forward.

'Has Yang Jian lost his mind?' Xiaowang thought. He ran over to help Yang Jian up. "Brother, get up! We only kneel to Heaven, Earth, our ruler, our parents, and our teachers! No one else!"

He had no idea that all Yang Jian wanted was to live. Fear? Fear was nothing. Once you were dead, you couldn't even feel fear.

The people from the Li Group couldn't bear to watch Mu Lin be taken away, so they all stood far back.

Chen Xi was restless, his mind completely preoccupied with rescuing Mu Lin. Even Li Xue's repeated reassurances couldn't change his mind.

Lu Yi said, "President Li, don't bother persuading him. Just let him go along. He took part in the fight anyway. If they're taken away together, at least they'll have company on the road to hell."

Li Xue raised her hand to strike him, but Li Yinhe held her back tightly. "Xiaoxue, it's not worth stooping to his level!"

Lu Yi laughed heartily. "They're just two employees from that useless team. If you get so worked up over them, how will you ever accomplish anything great?"

Chen Xi and Mu Lin were the leader and vice-leader of the special projects team, respectively. If they were gone, the team would exist in name only.

Mu Lin had been placed in the company by Li Yinhe; he was within their sphere of influence.

This would be a huge blow to the Li Family.

Once the Li Family's bluff was called, the old geezers on the board of directors would naturally make the "correct" choice.

Chen Xi was still looking around resentfully when he suddenly exclaimed, "Hey, come look! It looks like someone is kneeling in front of Mu Lin!"

'No way,' Li Yinhe thought. 'Mu Lin is just some punk from the mountains. How could he have that kind of influence?'

He stuck his head out to look and was stunned. "My god, it's true! And the one kneeling is Yang Jian!"

Yang Jian! Li Xue remembered the disgusting things Yang Jian had said on the phone. Her expression changed, and she rushed forward.

Unfortunately, she didn't know what Yang Jian looked like, so she could only ask Li Yinhe, "Dad, is that Yang Jian? He's so young to be running such a large pig farm?"

"You bet. The kid is genuinely capable, he just doesn't use his talents for good!" Seeing Yang Jian kneeling, most of Li Yinhe's anger dissipated, and he prepared to go out for a look.

"Dad, it's too dangerous! Didn't you see all those people with weapons? It's better to be careful."

Li Yinhe thought about it for a moment and decided his daughter was right.

Chen Xi, however, didn't care about any of that and dashed out.

Even if it was a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, he had to face it together with Mu Lin.

"Brother Lin!" Chen Xi called out, coming to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Mu Lin.

Mu Lin glanced at him. "You're still wounded yourself. Stop jumping around. What if your cut reopens?"

"If it reopens, I'll bandage it. What's a small injury for the sake of Brother Lin?"

Chen Xi looked down at the heavily injured Yang Jian. "He's hurt so badly and he can still jump around. Why can't I?"

'I'm doing this to save my life! Who else would run around enduring this much pain?!' Hearing this, Yang Jian was furious.

"Brother Lin, Brother Lin, I beg you, please spare me! It's all my fault! I was possessed, I said unforgivable things to President Li! I wish I could just cut my own tongue out!"

'Too bad I can't take him at his word,' Mu Lin thought. 'Otherwise, I really would cut out Yang Jian's tongue and see who would dare say such vulgar, despicable things to Li Xue again.'

Mu Lin scratched his head. "I don't call the shots here! Look, in the project team, I'm the vice-leader. Brother Xi is the leader. And because of you, Brother Xi got hit with a cane by his grandfather. It almost ruined his handsome face. Meanwhile, the President Li you harassed is up in the office building. No matter how you look at it, you shouldn't be kneeling to me."

Seeing that Mu Lin was still thinking of him, Chen Xi was quite moved. "Brother, say no more! I don't care about that. As long as you're okay, that's all that matters."

"Then I'll go find President Li!" Yang Jian immediately changed direction and bolted toward the office building.

When Chen Xi saw Yang Jian completely ignore him, he was so angry his nose was practically crooked.

"So I'm just that unlikeable, am I!"

To the ears of the crowd in the office building, it sounded completely different.

'Chen Xi and Yang Jian are fighting!'

"Hmph. Death is at their doorstep, and they're still talking tough. Elder Chen, I've said it before, keeping this bunch of rich heirs in the company was bound to be a disaster sooner or later!"

The way he said that...

Although Elder Chen was displeased, he had nothing to say. This incident had started because of Chen Xi, and it now looked like it was about to drag the company into an abyss from which it could never recover.

No matter how much he disliked Lu Yi, on this matter, he had no comeback.

"If it's over, it's over," Elder Chen said. "The Chen Family has seen wealth and ruin before. When we were poor, we were so miserable we didn't even have pants to wear!"

"But the Chen Family has never done anything to harm others for our own benefit, and we certainly will not bow our heads to evil. If the company fails, it fails. At worst, the Chen Family will start over from scratch. What's so wrong with that?"

These words... were spoken with such righteous integrity. He had clearly stopped caring about his own safety.

Elder Li burst into laughter. "Well said! At worst, we start over! I, Li Hao, was able to struggle and claw my way up to build this great enterprise, so why can't my son? At Galaxy's age, I was still playing in the mud!"

The situation was clearly desperate, yet for some reason, the atmosphere had become incredibly heroic.

Li Xue couldn't help but be flabbergasted. 'Asking me to struggle and claw my way up from scratch? You might as well just kill me!'

Suddenly, she felt that something was off. In the distance, a figure was slowly approaching, a large dog at its side.