40 The Hunter Strikes (1/2)

Just when Chu Yue and Bai Ling were about to open the car door, a man with a dry, raspy voice approached them from behind. He came out of nowhere, and it creeped them out.

”Please wait, ladies!”

His voice sent shivers up their spine. They felt uneasy being alone on an empty street with a stranger so late at night.

Chu Yue and Bai Ling turned their heads around to get a look at this weirdo. Was anyone else with him, or was he alone? Dressed in black from head to toe, he was wearing a loose black coat and a wide-brimmed hat pulled down over his eyes. It just so happened that the lights from the streetlamp were shining down at a slanted angle on top of his head, making it impossible to see his face.

Earlier, the girls had checked the street and the area around the car to make sure it was safe. There wasn't a person in sight. Everything looked okay. So when this stranger came from behind them, walking softly without making a sound, they smelled trouble.

”Who are you? What do you want?”

Chu Yue stared at the person vigilantly as she discretely slipped her hand into her purse and grabbed the pepper spray concealed inside a lipstick case. If this person was up to no good, she was ready to spray him in the face or eyes.

”Are you Ms. Chu Yue?” the man in black inquired.

Chu Yue subconsciously nodded but shook her head immediately after. Panic set in.

”He-heh. It looks like I didn't get the wrong person!”

Chu Yue caught a glimpse of the man's hideous devil's grin in the shadows.

Feeling the situation wasn't right, she went to grab the pepper spray. But it was too late. The man waved his enormous hand and threw a colorless and odorless powder in her and Bai Ling's faces. It was devil's breath. After taking a few breaths, the girls started to feel like zombies.

First, they felt dizzy. Then their vision became blurry and clouded.

The two of them tottered a few steps and collapsed like a couple of wet rag dolls, totally zonked.

”W… what have you done to us?” Bai Ling stammered feebly.

”Relax, this isn't poison. It'll make you fall asleep quickly,” the man in black stepped forward and chuckled as if he was admiring two works of art.

Chu Yue struggled to hold herself up. ”W…, who are you?”

”It doesn't matter. What's important is that you're Chu Yunxiong's daughter. If he pays the ransom, I will avert this disaster for him. Just think of yourself as unlucky,” said the man in black.

”L… let go of my friend, t-this doesn't have anything to… do with her…”

Despite having the temperament of a young mistress, Chu Yue did inherit some of her father's traits. She was cool-headed and didn't get rattled as other girls would during a kidnapping. She was even looking out for her best friend.

”My apologies. Aside from money, I happen to like pretty girls, especially students like you two who haven't been, ahem, excavated much.”

The man in black took a deep breath and said, ”The fragrance of your bodies is so...so intoxicating.”

Chu Yue's face was pale. Bai Ling was in despair. For girls, undoubtedly, their bodies were precious. If they were humiliated by this guy who resembled neither human nor ghost, they might as well kill themselves.

”Do not resist. Be a good girl and follow me, hehe…”

With a sinister laugh, the man in black stretched out his enormous hands that looked like a devil's claw and grabbed Chu Yue and Bai Ling on the ground.

But at that very moment, he caught a whiff of someone nearby. Years of stalking exclusive prey for a commission coupled with living on the edge had granted him a keen sense of smell that alerted him to danger.

A threat. He felt his adrenalin pumping.

When he turned his head to see who was there, his chest felt tight.