Seizing Fate by the Throat

In this world, schools had swimming classes, and most students could swim for several tens of meters. This "ordinary" included Kong Hanyue, Liu Manman, Hu Lianglu, and Yuxue, but did not include An Siyao.

An Siyao did not attend physical education classes in school at all, as it was said that An Tianfeng was afraid of accidents happening during such lessons.

After entering the sea, An Siyao hugged the airbag tied to her back and drifted in the water.

Seeing An Siyao carefully treading water, occasionally startled by the waves, Xia Yu felt that he needed to do something.

He looked around and fixed his gaze on Liu Manman.

Liu Manman was wearing sunglasses and drinking cola.

Below her was a large inflatable scallop shell, which was open. She sat inside the inflatable shell as if sitting on a sofa, floating on the water.

Xia Yu silently moved behind Liu Manman and submerged himself in the water.

He grabbed one side of the inflatable shell and pushed it up slowly.

The shell began to tilt slowly. Realizing something was wrong, Liu Manman made a puzzled noise:

"Hmm? Hmmm?"

Liu Manman hurriedly twisted the cap back onto her cola bottle. At that point, the inflatable shell had tilted more than thirty degrees, and she slid into the water.

Fortunately, the tilting speed was not too fast, so she had some time to prepare.

As she resurfaced, Liu Manman wiped her face and looked towards the location of her inflatable shell, but there was no trace of it on the water.

Where's my shell? Where is my big shell? It was just here!

Confused, she looked around but had to accept the fact that her inflatable shell was gone.

Liu Manman thought that maybe a wave had come and swept her off the shell, taking it away.

Helplessly, Liu Manman swam to the shore, threw her cola bottle on the beach, and looked around again in search of her shell, but she found nothing.

Luckily, she had alternatives.

Entering the villa, Liu Manman opened her suitcase and took out a large bag.

Carrying the bag downstairs, Liu Manman found the only maid who stayed in the villa and asked her if there was an inflator.

The maid led her to a small house near the beach and waved to the maid on the high platform near the house.

The maid on the high platform, who was watching everyone on the beach, threw down a bunch of keys.

Opening the door of the small house, Liu Manman found the inflator and filled the rubber boat in her hand with air.

She and the maid pulled the rubber boat to the sea, where Liu Manman excitedly began to row.

Seeing this, Kong Hanyue and Yuxue also climbed into the rubber boat.

The rubber boat could seat four people, so the three of them were not crowded.

"Where are Xia Yu and the others?" Liu Manman looked around with confusion, not seeing any other people.

"They might be on the shore. An Siyao can't swim," Kong Hanyue replied.

Liu Manman nodded her head. It made sense that An Siyao couldn't swim, so Xia Yu and Hu Lianglu followed An Siyao to the shore.

Originally, there was room for one more person in the boat, and she had intended to call Xia Yu, but now it seemed that she didn't need to.

"Let's go and occupy that reef!" Pointing at a reef about a meter high not far away, Liu Manman said.

On a slightly lower reef nearby, a maid was sitting, who was not only a maid but also a lifeguard, paying attention to the situation of everyone.

Kong Hanyue and Yuxue looked at the reef and were very excited.

There was an odd number of people on the rubber boat; Yuxue sat in the middle, Kong Hanyue and Liu Manman paddled hard, and soon, the group came to the side of the reef.

First, they looked at it from the front, and it seemed somewhat difficult to climb. Liu Manman and the others decided to check the backside of the reef.

The rubber boat slowly passed through the shadow of the reef and came to the other side. Seeing the scene on the other side, Liu Manman's expression froze.

She saw Xia Yu and An Siyao.

There were two more people playing together, she should have been happy, but at this moment, she was very angry.

It was because Xia Yu and An Siyao were sitting on her inflatable scallop.

Seeing this, Liu Manman understood everything.

Her chest heaved violently, and she said to Xia Yu, "I wondered how my scallop suddenly flipped and disappeared, it turns out that you were behind it!"

Facing Liu Manman's anger, Xia Yu responded with innocent eyes, "Actually, I picked it up from over there."

"Do you think I believe you?" Liu Manman snorted, not pursuing the matter further. She had been tricked by Xia Yu before and was almost used to it.

Yuxue and Kong Hanyue showed calm expressions, acting as if they were not surprised at all.

"Since you're all here, where is Lulu?" Yuxue asked.

"I'm here." Hu Lianglu, holding an airbag, floated out from the shadows on one side.

Even Xia Yu was startled and hadn't noticed Hu Lianglu hiding there.

"Let's start climbing now that we're all here!" Kong Hanyue brought everyone's attention back to climbing the rocks.

"I can't climb this," Xia Yu replied. "I've already checked it before."

"Ah?" Liu Manman and the others were very disappointed.

Seeing their expressions, Xia Yu pointed behind him, "There's a cave over there."

"What kind of cave?" Liu Manman and the others became excited again.

Xia Yu looked at the maid on the reef. The information about the cave came from her, and he hadn't been there himself.

The maid took off her coat, jumped into the water, and led the way for the six of them.

Following the direction of the reef, it took the group three minutes to reach a low cliff, and beneath the cliff, there was a cave that couldn't really be called a cave.

The cave was not deep; it didn't look like it was formed naturally, but rather like it was dug out by someone.

"This was dug out by the master," the maid explained.

It really was dug out, just how bored was An Tianfeng?

"He and his friends like to swim with this place as the endpoint," the maid said about the recessed wall's significance, "There is a grill inside, where you can barbecue."

Xia Yu and the others didn't want to barbecue here, as it was too dark and somewhat depressing.

They went back into the sea, returned to the beach, packed their things, and entered the villa.

It was now noon, and the sun was fierce.

After taking a bath and having lunch, Xia Yu returned to his room. Yawning, he lay on the bed and fell into a deep sleep.

He was awakened by a knock on the door, and Zhu Mei got up from the bed.

Covering her throbbing head, it took her two minutes to fully wake up from the dream.

She had just dreamt of the time when she was still in the mountains and the brown bear.

Looking at the pendant beside the bed containing a bit of the brown bear's ashes, Zhu Mei sighed.

Knock knock knock

The knocking on the door sounded again.

Wearing the pendant, Zhu Mei opened the door, and Li Hua was outside.

"What's the matter?" Zhu Mei asked.

"Something happened," Li Hua replied, "It's the Fifth Prince, he beat up a leader of the Grey Reef Company."

The security in Zone 26 wasn't very good, and there were still some forces walking on the edge of darkness. The Grey Reef Company was the largest underground organization in the city, entrenched in the counterfeit street.

"What should I do?" Zhu Mei asked Li Hua.

"Let the Prince apologize and spend some money. If they target us, it will be very troublesome and may expose our identity," Li Hua analyzed.

Zhu Mei nodded, indicating that she would follow Li Hua's advice.

The two went to the third floor together. In the elevator, Zhu Mei couldn't help but ask again: "How did Bing get into a fight with the people of the Grey Reef Company?"

"The Fifth Prince often frequents the counterfeit street, trying to get along with the people of the Grey Reef Company. Today, there was some progress. He connected with a middle-level leader and went for dinner together. At the dinner table, they met an opposing leader, who verbally humiliated the middle-level leader. Without investigating the situation, he stepped in, and then this happened," Li Hua explained.

Zhu Mei rubbed her still aching head and frowned, "I've said it before, don't mess around with such things!"

"The Fifth Prince is just trying to revive the royal family, only being a little reckless," Li Hua replied.

Zhu Mei knew that her brother Zhu Meng Bing wanted to ally with the Grey Reef Company, which was rumored to have a channel for firearms, to make a comeback in Zone 232.

She didn't agree with this plan. Zone 232 was divided between the rebel army, the fake government, and the imperial guards. What could they do by going back there?

"I told you not to do these boring things!" Zhu Mei was a little annoyed. What she wanted was a peaceful life, not seeking excitement when idle.

"Your Highness!" Li Hua didn't call Zhu Mei by her nickname, which represented her seriousness, "Don't say such things."

Zhu Mei opened her mouth but didn't say anything in the end.

The two arrived on the third floor and saw Zhu Meng Bing, who was sitting on the sofa and unable to sit still.

Following Li Hua's plan, Zhu Mei talked to her brother.

Afterwards, Zhu Meng Bing took three people, including Li Hua, to the bank. They went to withdraw money first and then apologize.

Watching them walk away, Zhu Mei left the third floor and returned to her room on the 23rd floor.

She lay on the bed, feeling a little uneasy.

Zhu Meng Bing always wanted to recapture their homeland, and so did Li Hua and the others. They were bound to cause trouble continually and bring disasters sooner or later.

However, Zhu Mei had no means to stop them. Even though this team was ostensibly led by her, in reality, these people were just using her to manage the disobedient Zhu Meng Bing.

Rubbing her temples, Zhu Mei lay back down on the bed and fell asleep.

About half an hour later, her door was knocked on again.

The knocking on the door was urgent. When Zhu Mei opened the door, she saw a panicked Zhu Meng Bing.

"What's wrong with you, where's Ah Hua?" Zhu Mei had a bad feeling in her heart.

"She's down there, injured." Zhu Meng Bing replied.

"What happened?" Zhu Mei's head hurt even more.

"We went to apologize, but they lured us into an ambush. They planned to capture us, but fortunately, Ah Hua discovered it early, and we managed to escape." Zhu Meng Bing was furious as he spoke, those people from Hui Jiao Company were really despicable.

Pushing Zhu Meng Bing aside, Zhu Mei went to the third floor and saw Li Hua dealing with her wounds. There were gunshot wounds, three in total – one in her abdomen, one in her leg, and one in her arm.

None of these injuries were fatal, so Zhu Mei breathed a sigh of relief.

"This place has the tightest security in District 26, nothing will happen." The butler said while sweating. The Hui Jiao Company would not let them go, so he wasn't comforting others, but rather comforting himself.

The top ten districts all had a robust security system, without any powerful evil organizations. However, the situation in the lower-ranking districts was different – those organizations were not afraid to tie them up and throw them into the sea.

"Now we can only hide here." Li Hua said with difficulty. The doctor accompanying them was trying to remove the bullet from her leg, and she had to suppress the pain, or else she would cry out.

"Do we need to leave?" Zhu Mei asked with concern.

"They only have two guns, which proves that the security in Hai Ming City is indeed good. We are right next to the city government and various embassies, so they won't dare to shoot. On the contrary, leaving would be very dangerous." Li Hua replied.

Zhu Mei didn't say anything else, and the matter was settled like that.

After the wounds were dealt with, Zhu Mei helped Li Hua to the bedroom and let her lie down on the bed.

Standing up, Zhu Mei looked at Li Hua's pain-stricken expression.

"Is it necessary?" She asked, "So many people have already died, first my father, my mother, my bear, and my brothers and sisters, then Ah Wei, and the soldiers of the Imperial Guard..."

Zhu Mei's voice stopped, and she clutched the pendant on her chest: "And even Bear Bear, who had nothing to do with all this, I dragged him into this..."

Covering her face, Zhu Mei cried softly.

"Mei Mei, District 232 has always been our territory for generations." Li Hua said, "We must take it back."

"Territory, all you think about is territory!" Zhu Mei stared at Li Hua wide-eyed.

"I didn't..."

Zhu Mei interrupted Li Hua's words: "You did! I wanted to bury Bear Bear's ashes in the mountains, but you wouldn't allow it!"

"Although the enemy has left, who knows if they left any traps behind? Going back to the mountains is too dangerous..."

Zhu Mei didn't want to hear Li Hua's explanation anymore. She kicked over a stool next to her and ran out of the room.

Back in her own room on the 23rd floor, Zhu Mei threw herself onto the bed and hugged the teddy bear by her pillow.

In his sleep, Xia Yu felt something tickling his nose. He reflexively reached out to scratch it and grabbed something. A crisp cry of surprise followed.

Opening his eyes, Xia Yu saw Liu Man Man, whom he had grabbed by the neck. Liu Man Man's hand held a bunch of hair, and she had just been teasing Xia Yu with her hair.

Next to Liu Manman, An Siyao, Kong Hanyue, Yuxue, and Hu Lianglu stood neatly in a row.

The four of them giggled, feeling very happy about teasing Xia Yu.

The only one who wasn't happy was Liu Manman.

Liu Manman slapped Xia Yu's arm that was gripping her neck and struggled slightly, "Let go, why are you holding my neck?"

"You brought it upon yourself," Xia Yu let go of his hand.

Annoyed, Liu Manman swung her hair at Xia Yu's chest. Her hair was soft, so even if she used more force, it only tickled Xia Yu.

"You, I was already prepared to stop you from attacking where you shouldn't, but you ended up choking my neck! How did such a lovely scene become a murder scene when it comes to you!" Liu Manman grumbled.

Ignoring her, Xia Yu looked at Kong Hanyue, "What are we going to do this afternoon?"