Chapter 693: Chapter 693: Robbery
The owner only put away the gun on the side when he saw the old customer.
The driver looked at Li Yufei and explained, "There have been continuous wars lately, and many rebel armies have come to rob civilians, so everyone is very tense."
The owner said, "I was planning to close the shop. There have been gunshots outside for the past few days, and there aren’t many guests in the shop. I want to close down."
Li Yufei walked over and gently placed a 200 Lilang banknote on the counter, "We want to temporarily stay for one night, the rain outside is too heavy."
The owner saw the money, didn’t speak, nodded, and gave them the key.
Li Yufei took the key and linked arms with Rong Ling to go upstairs.
Rong Ling turned back and saw the owner and the driver talking, too far away to hear clearly.
This motel was very cheap, but the environment was equally harsh. Opening the door, what met their eyes were extremely shabby facilities, with walls that vaguely bore bullet holes from being shot by a submachine gun, full of scars.
Li Yufei casually locked the door from inside, walked to the bedside, and a foul odor assaulted her nose.
The bed smelled moldy, a mixture of a bloody and sweaty stench, accumulated over a long time.
Adding to that, the whole room was not ventilated, and the mold smell was very strong.
The bathroom was even more filthy and disorderly, leaving no space to set foot in.
However, it was still much better than sleeping on the streets.
Li Yufei put the bag on the bed, looking at that bed, her cleanliness neurosis visibly acting up.
She really didn’t want to lie on such a dirty bed.
Rong Ling took off his jacket, laid it on the floor, then tore down the curtain, folded it into a neat square as a pillow: "Why don’t we sleep on the floor instead?"
The seaside climate was warm, not so cold even at night.
Li Yufei acknowledged with a "Hmm" and lay down on the floor.
She also thought the floor was cleaner than the bed.
Rong Ling lay down beside her.
Li Yufei said, "This kind of place is only slightly better than sleeping on the street in the rain."
Rong Ling: "I’ve slept in places less comfortable than this."
Li Yufei looked at him somewhat surprised: "What kind of places?"
Rong Ling: "Once when the landlord kicked us out, I slept with Xiaoyi on a park bench. In the middle of the night, it suddenly began to snow."
What he remembered most from that night was despair.
It felt like there was no place for them in this big world.
That winter was especially cold.
The snow fell harder and harder.
He had to carry Xiaoyi to the public restroom in the park, taking shelter under the eaves for the whole night.
Xiaoyi was still young, only knowing to curl up in his arms.
Rong Ling held her tightly.
Fortunately.
Xiaoyi had just fallen asleep.
The snow finally stopped.
Li Yufei hugged him: "Are you cold?"
Although the climate was quite warm, the floor was still somewhat chilly at night.
She was dressed, but Rong Ling only had one undershirt, still partially damp.
Rong Ling said, "If you hold me a little tighter, it won’t be cold."
Li Yufei suddenly chuckled and hugged him tighter: "How about this?"
Rong Ling: "Hmm, not cold now."
Li Yufei: "Go to sleep."
With that, she closed her eyes.
Rong Ling wrapped her tightly against him and also closed his eyes.
In the dead of night.
There was suddenly a noise at the door.
Rong Ling slightly opened one eye, instantly alert and waking up.
He faintly heard two pairs of sneaky footsteps approaching the door, one in front, the other behind.
Two men were conversing in low voices.
He recognized one of the voices as the driver’s.
Immediately afterward, he heard the jingling sound of keys.
The door was opened from the outside.
Two heads peeked through the door crack, seemingly surveilling the room inside.
"They’re sleeping on the floor."
"The floor? Why aren’t they sleeping on the bed?"
"Could it be they find the bed dirty? After all, just the previous night, two people died on that bed."
Rong Ling remained motionless, feigning sleep, just lightly moving his hand to his waist.
He hid a small knife, one Yufei bought on Oudh Island for self-defense.
Seeing it, he kept it on him.
Soon, the two people sneaked into the room.
Rong Ling immediately recognized the other person as the motel owner.
Rong Ling could only roughly understand the conversation—
"This woman seems very wealthy."
"She’s from China, of course, she’s rich."
"Did you see that bag? I saw some food, water, and cash in it."
"How much cash is there about?"
"Roughly over 50,000 Dorillan."
Over 50,000 Dorillan is equivalent to more than a thousand US dollars.
For them, it was a considerable sum.
The owner couldn’t help but gasp: "This is a big juicy piece."
Rong Ling instantly realized that the owner and the driver seemed to be in cahoots, already acquainted, and colluding improperly together.
Reflecting on the bloody smell emanating from the bed and knowing from the owner that a person had died on the bed the previous night.
Thinking over the sequence of events, passing by this motel, the driver actively suggested staying for a night.
As the war escalated, fresh food supplies and cash were becoming scarce.
Many stores were robbed.
The driver probably noticed they had cash and food and conceived malicious intent.
Or perhaps, there had already been many victims before them.
Rong Ling still maintained the same posture motionlessly.
Meanwhile, Li Yufei also woke up startled.
Rong Ling gently covered her mouth.
In the dark.
The two exchanged a glance.
Li Yufei’s gaze was slightly puzzled.
Rong Ling slightly frowned, didn’t speak, just gestured with his eyes towards the bed bottom.
Li Yufei gently blinked, understanding what he meant.
Thinking they were sound asleep, the driver and the owner quietly prepared to approach them, looking around for the bag’s whereabouts, only to be surprised to find the bag was being used by Rong Ling as a pillow underneath his head.
To get the bag would certainly wake them.
The driver and the owner exchanged a glance; it was obvious they were planning to go all the way and get rid of them directly.
At that moment—
Rong Ling suddenly opened his eyes, giving them no time to react, and with a spinning kick, sent the owner flying to the door.
The owner grunted, writhing on the ground in pain for a few moments.
Li Yufei immediately rolled under the bed, her hand accidentally touching a pool of blood.
She let out a cry of surprise, "There’s blood under the bed!"
Rong Ling gritted his teeth!
The driver was frightened, fumbling to draw a gun, but Rong Ling sensed movement behind him, glanced over, and with a side kick, powerfully kicked the driver’s wrist, sending the gun flying out of his hand!
The owner, coming to his senses, hurriedly scrambled to get up from the ground, pulling out a gun from his pocket and aiming at Rong Ling!
Just at this moment—
Rong Ling, having anticipated it, grabbed the driver by the throat, locked his arm, and pulled him in front of himself.
"Bang bang," two shots rang out!
Both shots hit the driver’s chest!