Chapter 27: Kiss of Death
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As the car slowed, the soreness in his eyes eased somewhat. In the rearview mirror, Qin Xiao saw the two cars relentlessly pursuing them and suddenly understood why Gu Lingyi had reduced her speed.
She was like a mischievous child teasing a dog with a bare bone.
Gu Lingyi.
Qin Xiao merely moved his lips without making a sound.
The scene of her being summoned and dismissed at will by the others in the racing team already felt like something from another lifetime.
Her ridiculous performance in the bumper cars an hour ago was still vivid in his mind, and now…
What exactly was she…?
“Qin Xiao.” A soft call interrupted his thoughts. Driving at an erratic pace, Gu Lingyi had reached the latter half of the race.
The final ten laps.
She warned him coldly in advance, “Remember, don’t throw up on me.”
Before Qin Xiao could react, the car suddenly accelerated. It went from three hundred to four hundred kilometers per hour in an instant.
For the remainder of the race, she maintained a speed of 420. The blue car became a streak of light, tracing an oval around the racetrack.
Four hundred and twenty was the limit of the car—not Gu Lingyi’s.
Qin Xiao’s face was deathly pale. Beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead. At a speed faster than a bullet train, no ordinary person could endure it.
His lips gradually turned purple, and only sheer willpower kept him from surrendering to the turmoil in his stomach.
His soul was truly being left behind.
What was terrifying was that, at a moment like this, Gu Lingyi actually took out her phone and operated the steering wheel with one hand.
Qin Xiao had endured for a long time, but the instant he saw this, he finally turned his head and covered his mouth.
Along with the nausea, a metallic sweetness surged up his throat.
“Tsk.”
Gu Lingyi spared a glance to assess Qin Xiao’s condition and, before he completely passed out, magnanimously slowed the car.
On the straightaway, Qin Xiao rested his head against the doorframe. In his dazed state, he felt as though the car were turning around.
But they were in the middle of a race. How could they possibly be turning back?
Forcing himself to open his eyes, Qin Xiao saw two cars driving side by side in the distant yellow sands.
Good heavens! Gu Lingyi had gone mad!
He became instantly lucid. The nausea vanished, leaving only terror.
His hoarse voice rang out, “Gu Lingyi!”
The car accelerated, and the blue nose rapidly drew alongside the black McLaren.
Huo Qi’s dynamic vision had adapted to high-speed driving, so by the time he realized the blue car was getting closer and closer, the distance between them had already exceeded anything he could control.
He slammed the brakes down as far as they would go, but inertia sent the car skidding across the sandy ground.
The seat belt dug painfully into his chest.
The blue nose continued to loom larger, drawing nearer and nearer.
“Fuck!” Huo Qi cursed and tried to shift into reverse.
But his weakened hands and feet refused to obey him.
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The distance between the cars continued to shrink.
“Gu Lingyi!” Huo Qi roared as he instinctively squeezed his eyes shut.
At the same moment, Qin Xiao, inside the blue car, also shut his eyes tightly. He did not dare look.
Like Huo Qi’s car, the blue car would have continued sliding for some distance after braking abruptly at high speed.
Yet the collision they expected never came. The blue car stopped with uncanny suddenness.
Feeling the car come to a halt, Qin Xiao slowly opened his eyes. The two cars were so close that he could not even see the other vehicle’s emblem.
Less than thirty centimeters apart.
He turned his head in astonishment, the movement unusually large.
How had she done that? How had she stopped without being affected by inertia?
The questions in his mind remained unspoken. His heart was pounding so violently it seemed ready to leap from his throat, leaving him unable to make a sound.
Huo Qi on the opposite side had the same question.
How had she done it?
Under the astonished, probing gazes of the two men, Gu Lingyi casually opened her phone.
Three minutes earlier, Fu Linyuan had sent her a photograph of the racetrack. Though taken from a distance, it clearly showed all three cars on the track.
She replied with a voice message.
“Well? How do you like the kiss of death?”
After sending it, she put her phone away, turned around, and continued the race.
Yu Liang’s car had stopped in the distance. Once he confirmed that both sides were safe, he started his engine as well.
On the final lap, Gu Lingyi leisurely crossed the finish line.
Huo Qi’s car came in last.
The moment he got out, he charged toward Gu Lingyi. “Gu Lingyi!”
His furious shout was drowned out by a bout of vomiting.
Qin Xiao braced both hands against his knees and emptied his stomach completely.
Gu Lingyi put on a mask, folded her arms across her chest, and called to Qin Xiao from a short distance away, “Seeing as you’re practically dying, I suppose we’re even.”
Qin Xiao was dizzy from vomiting, his ears ringing. He could not hear what Gu Lingyi had said at all.
Yu Liang, who was covering his nose while patting Qin Xiao on the back, paused for a moment when he heard the words “we’re even.”
“And you.” Gu Lingyi turned around. As though she could not see the fury in Huo Qi’s wide eyes, she said coldly, “Last place runs naked.”
“Cough, cough, cough…”
Qin Xiao had barely finished vomiting when those words made him choke and cough.
“Ling—Lingyi.” He struggled to straighten up and stammered, “M-maybe we should just forget it…”
“Forget it?” Gu Lingyi arched a brow. A sharp, icy glint flashed within her amber eyes.
When he met her cold gaze, Qin Xiao’s hair stood on end. His entire body stiffened as though frozen solid.
Had he really…
Seen a sadistic malice on that beautiful, radiant face of hers?
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And the target was…
With sudden realization, his gaze shifted toward the silent Huo Qi.
Qin Xiao immediately felt that his brain was no longer enough to process the situation. Hadn’t Gu Lingyi once been very fond of Huo Qi?
The oppressive silence was broken by a brief ringtone. Gu Lingyi casually opened the new message.
Fu Linyuan’s deep, resonant voice entered the ears of all four people.
“I don’t like it.”
Qin Xiao’s mind conjured Gu Lingyi’s voice:
“Well? How do you like the kiss of death?”
Yu Liang immediately thought of the photograph from the previous night—and the tall man standing beside her.
The roar of an engine approached from afar. The sound of its four-cylinder motor was exceptionally conspicuous.
Gu Lingyi spotted Fu Linyuan and the heavy motorcycle beneath him from a distance.
He wore a black-and-silver helmet, and the motorcycle was adorned with the same sleek, gorgeous silver lines as the helmet.
Leather tactical straps traced the contours of his firm chest over a dark-gray shirt. His cuffs were rolled up, while black armbands encircled his powerful forearms.
Below, he wore a tailored suit and leather dress shoes, with another leather strap fastened around his right thigh.
Riding a motorcycle in formalwear—just what one would expect from a powerful man.
Gu Lingyi’s eyes shone brightly, and her voice was much lighter than before. “Mm. My male model has arrived.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the motorcycle swept up in front of them, sending clouds of dust and sand over the three men. Only Gu Lingyi was spared, a gentle breeze brushing her face.
Huo Qi’s expression darkened as his scrutinizing gaze settled on Fu Linyuan.
Even through the helmet, the man’s overwhelming presence was unmistakable.
He was absolutely not some male model…
Qin Xiao’s eyes were filled with hostility. Only Yu Liang remained relatively calm.
Fu Linyuan picked up the smaller helmet in front of him. First, he removed Gu Lingyi’s mask with one hand and tucked it into his pocket. Then, as though no one else were present, he helped her put on the helmet.
Once it was secured, his warm, broad hand moved to her slender waist. With effortless ease, he lifted her onto the rear seat.
“Why don’t you like it?” Gu Lingyi gripped the shirt at Fu Linyuan’s waist, her voice muffled and soft beneath the helmet.
The engine rumbled. As the motorcycle started, the man’s low, commanding voice followed.
“No matter what kind of kiss it is, you can give it only to me.”
Exhaust fumes billowed into their faces.
Huo Qi clenched his fists, his eyes dark and frightening.
“This is a male model!?” Qin Xiao gritted his teeth and kicked the yellow sand resentfully.
At that moment, Huo Qi finally understood. He shot Qin Xiao an incredulous sidelong glance.
“You like her?”