The underground parking garage blurred behind them as Lu Shen drove deeper into the sleeping city.
Rain continued hammering against the windshield, turning every streetlight into streaks of distorted color. Xiaoyu sat frozen in the passenger seat, her breathing still uneven from the chase.
Her hands wouldn't stop shaking.
Every gunshot still echoed inside her head.
Every scream of tires.
Every second she thought they were about to die.
Lu Shen drove in complete silence.
One hand on the wheel.
The other pressed tightly against the blood soaking through his side.
Xiaoyu noticed immediately.
"You need a hospital."
"No."
The answer came instantly.
"You're injured."
"I said no."
His voice wasn't harsh.
Just final.
That scared her more.
Xiaoyu looked out the window again, trying to steady herself, but her thoughts kept spiraling.
Who were those people?
Why did they want her alive?
And why did Lu Shen look less surprised by all of this than he should?
The car finally turned away from the main roads and entered a quieter part of the city. The buildings here were older, darker, almost forgotten compared to the bright towers downtown.
Lu Shen slowed near an abandoned-looking warehouse surrounded by locked gates and rusted fencing.
Xiaoyu frowned immediately.
"Where are we?"
He killed the engine.
"Somewhere safe."
Nothing about the place looked safe.
The warehouse stood in complete darkness except for a faint light glowing from one of the upper windows. Rainwater slid down the cracked walls while thunder rumbled far above the city.
Lu Shen stepped out first.
The moment he stood, Xiaoyu saw him lose balance slightly.
Just for a second.
But it was enough.
"Lu Shen—"
"I'm fine."
He wasn't.
Blood had already started dripping onto the wet pavement beneath him.
Xiaoyu quickly got out and moved closer despite herself.
"You were shot?"
"Grazed."
"That still means you got shot!"
A faint breath escaped him that almost sounded like amusement.
"This really isn't the time to panic."
She stared at him in disbelief.
"You almost died!"
His eyes met hers in the rain.
"No," he said quietly. "I made sure you didn't."
The words hit harder than they should have.
Xiaoyu immediately looked away first.
Because right now, emotions felt dangerous.
Lu Shen unlocked the warehouse side entrance and pushed the heavy metal door open. Dust and cold air drifted out instantly.
The inside surprised her.
It wasn't abandoned.
Far from it.
Lights flickered on automatically as they entered, revealing a massive hidden space beneath the warehouse.
Computer monitors.
Weapons.
Maps pinned across walls.
Stacks of files.
The entire place looked less like a hideout and more like the center of a private investigation.
Xiaoyu slowed to a stop.
"What is this?"
Lu Shen removed his soaked coat carefully, revealing the blood staining his shirt more clearly now.
"My father's old base," he said.
Her eyes widened slightly.
"This place still exists?"
"Only because no one knows it does."
He walked toward a metal table near the center of the room, but his movements had become noticeably slower.
The blood loss was getting worse.
Xiaoyu noticed immediately.
"Sit down."
He looked at her.
"That sounded like an order."
"It was."
For the first time since the chase began, something softer flickered briefly across his face.
Small.
Almost invisible.
But real.
Without arguing further, Lu Shen sat.
Xiaoyu quickly searched through nearby cabinets until she found medical supplies. Her hands still shook slightly as she carried them back.
The moment she lifted his shirt enough to see the wound—
Her breath caught.
The bullet had grazed his ribs deeply, leaving blood running down his side.
"That's not minor," she whispered.
"I've had worse."
"That's not comforting."
Lu Shen watched her quietly as she cleaned the wound.
The room fell silent except for rain hitting the warehouse roof above them.
Up close, he looked exhausted.
Not physically.
Something deeper.
Like someone who had spent years carrying pressure without ever putting it down.
Xiaoyu focused carefully on wrapping the bandage tighter.
"You should've left me."
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
Lu Shen's gaze sharpened instantly.
"What?"
"Back there," she said quietly. "You could've escaped alone."
"I wasn't going to do that."
"But why?"
The question came out weaker than she intended.
Because she genuinely didn't understand anymore.
Everything between them had become too complicated.
Too tangled.
Lu Shen stayed silent for several seconds.
Then finally—
"Because losing you was never an option."
Her hands stopped moving.
The air between them shifted immediately.
Dangerously quiet.
Xiaoyu slowly looked up.
He wasn't joking.
Wasn't manipulating.
Wasn't hiding behind calm words this time.
He meant it.
That realization made her chest tighten painfully.
Before she could respond—
A sharp alarm suddenly echoed through the warehouse.
Both of them froze instantly.
Red warning lights flashed across the walls.
Lu Shen stood immediately despite the injury.
"What happened?" Xiaoyu asked.
He moved quickly toward one of the monitors and activated the security cameras.
Then his expression darkened.
Xiaoyu walked closer—
And felt her blood run cold.
Black vehicles had surrounded the warehouse.
At least eight men stepped out into the rain.
Armed.
Waiting.
One of them slowly lifted his head toward the security camera.
And smiled directly at it.
Lu Shen's voice turned deadly quiet.
"They tracked us faster than I expected."
Xiaoyu's pulse slammed violently against her ribs.
"How?"
He didn't answer immediately.
That hesitation terrified her.
Slowly—
Very slowly—
Lu Shen reached into his pocket and pulled something out.
A tiny blinking tracker.
Hidden inside the car keys.
Xiaoyu stared at it in shock.
"They planned this," she whispered.
Lu Shen crushed the tracker in his hand instantly.
But his expression remained cold.
Because both of them understood the truth now.
It was already too late.
They weren't trapped in the warehouse.
They had been led there.