Author Notes: Hello again, everyone! Enjoy this next chapter :)

Beta & Co-author: jeangirlmy

- Chapter Start -

Later that evening, everyone crowds inside Wu Xie and Pang Zi's room once more. The only difference is that they're all soaked to the skin from the heavy rain outside.

Wu Xie, who went out on a motorcycle earlier, is now wrapped up in blankets and tucked into bed. Princess is sitting on his shoulder. She spent the afternoon snoozing on his pillow, sleeping off the effects of the capful of wine Jiang ZiSuan gave her.

"If you still don't do as I tell you, I won't treat you anymore," Huo DaoFu scolds Wu Xie who gives him a placating smile.

"Don't be like that," Wu Xie cajoles him. "What would I do if you don't treat me? But you're so stingy in making the medicine. You said two hours and it was effective for two hours sharp. Couldn't you give me an extra minute?"

"If you'd returned a few minutes later, you might've died," Huo DaoFu retorts.

Pang Zi cuts in, scolding Huo DaoFu for not wanting to treat Wu Xie and then scolding Wu Xie for making all of them worry.

Wu Xie promises not to do that anymore and explains what he discovered; that the entrance to Thunder City is inside Tianlin Hotel itself which is how Wu ErBai and his men disappeared while staying here. They just need to find out its exact location. Mr. Jiao is likely looking for the same thing since he's offering generous compensation for all the guests to check out.

Pang Zi then drugs HongHong to get his room key and they move all their belongings to his room. Thanks to Jia KeZi's hearing, they discover that the entrance to Thunder City is likely inside Jiang ZiSuan's room. They get HongHong to lure Jiang ZiSuan to his room, taser him unconscious and strip him of his outer clothes.

Princess, who's now turning Huo DaoFu's medical bag upside down after he went out to get food, doesn't see the altercation. By the time he returns and chases her away, Wu Xie has already disguised himself as Jiang ZiSuan, complete with face mask and wig.

"Confused as to why there are two Jiang ZiSuans?" Wu Xie teases Princess who keeps looking from him to the unconscious man lying on the bed. "Well, I'm off to find the secret entrance. Wish me luck!"

The good news is, he finds the entrance. It leads down a tunnel to a hole in the ground surrounded with rocks.

The bad news is, he's captured by Mr. Jiao's men as soon as he comes back up and leaves Jiang ZiSuan's room.

- o -

Bai HaoTian watches with some trepidation as Jiang ZiSuan, seated in a chair with hands tied behind his back, slowly gains consciousness. The first thing he sees is the shellfish on her shoulder.

"Princess, you're-" He breaks off, eyes narrowing when he realises he's stripped down and tied up. He raises an eyebrow at Bai HaoTian, Li JiaLe and Jia KeZi.

"Let me guess. You lot are friends with Wu Xie and he asked you to do this," he says slowly. "Does the shellfish belong to him too?"

Princess wriggles two fingers at him, but he ignores her and continues to speculate that Wu Xie took his clothes to impersonate him so he can investigate his room. When Bai HaoTian doesn't reply, he states that Wu Xie is a manipulative person and that his older sister ended up dead because she insisted on following him.

Li JiaLe offers to take over guarding Jiang ZiSuan for Bai HaoTian, but she says she can manage. Jiang ZiSuan starts tearing up as he explains that his late sister fell in love with Wu Xie after working with him on several missions and died because of it. When Bai HaoTian insists that Wu Xie is kind and selfless, Jiang ZiSuan scoffs and insists that it just proves she's already fallen for his tricks just like his sister had.

Seeing the tears running down his face, Princess prepares to leap to him, but Bai HaoTian stops her.

"I wouldn't hurt her," Jiang ZiSuan says. "My vendetta is only against Wu Xie. Besides, I saved her from Mr. Jiao's men, remember?"

Bai HaoTian passes Princess to Li JiaLe and tells him and Jia KeZi to take her out of the room.

Jiang ZiSuan then says he's craving a cigarette. When Bai HaoTian relents and lights one for him, he stabs her hand with the lit butt, knocks her to the floor and cuts his bindings with the knife on the table, all in the space of a few seconds. Wrapping an arm around her neck, he goes out to the other room where Li JiaLe and Jia KeZi are. Pang Zi and Huo DaoFu are there as well, the latter meticulously cleaning his medical supplies with anti-bacterial wipes.

"Stay where you are," Jiang ZiSuan warns, pointing the knife at Bai HaoTian's throat. He inches towards the door. As soon as he reaches for the doorknob, a pink blur leaps from Li JiaLe's shoulder to his.

Bai HaoTian takes advantage of his momentary distraction and slips out from his hold.

"Ow!" Eyes widening in shock and pain, Jiang ZiSuan drops the knife.

Pang Zi grabs the nearest wine bottle and smashes it over his head, causing Jiang ZiSuan to slump to the floor, unconscious. Princess scuttles over and alternates between checking his forehead and his neck, both of which are bleeding.

"Thank you, Princess!" Still shaken, Bai HaoTian tries to pick her up, but the distraught shellfish backs away until she's sitting in the crook of Jiang ZiSuan's arm.

Huo DaoFu rolls his eyes and exhales, shaking his head.

"Never a dull moment with you lot around," he says dryly and nods to Li JiaLe and Jia KeZi. "Carry him to the sofa, please."

- o -

Huo DaoFu spends the next hour cleaning Jiang ZiSuan's wounds and scolding Pang Zi for breaking a bottle over his head.

"Do you know what a pain it is to pick out glass shards?! And these are tiny!"

Pang Zi scowls at him.

"Next time I'll tell him to freeze while I go look for a suitable weapon. He's alive, isn't he?"

Huo DaoFu pauses long enough to glare at him.

"By the way, Princess bit him," Pang Zi adds. "Why aren't you scolding her?"

"Because he deserved to be bitten," Huo DaoFu says with a smirk. "Right, Princess?"

Princess, head still drooping, continues to scrutinise Jiang ZiSuan's gash and point out bits of glass for Huo DaoFu to extract.

"Thank you. At least I have an assistant," he says to cheer her up.

Princess pats his cheek with two fingertips, leaving a few dots of blood on his skin. No one dares to point it out.

"For his sake though, I hope your bite isn't poisonous," Huo DaoFu continues. "I didn't bring any antidotes for shellfish bites."

Princess starts patting Jiang ZiSuan's cheek instead.

Meanwhile, the others are peering outside the window. Jiang ZiSuan's room is directly opposite theirs and they can see Mr. Jiao, his men and Wu Xie who's tied to a pillar.

"We have to do something or Xian San-ye will be killed," Bai HaoTian frets.

All of a sudden, a ruckus breaks out inside Jiang ZiSuan's room. In seconds, people are spilling out into the courtyard, fighting Jiao's men and throwing smoke bombs. Pang Zi catches sight of Er Jing and Liu Sang among them and whoops with joy.

When Li JiaLe, Jia KeZi and Bai HaoTian rush out the door to join the fight, HongHong tries to escape. Pang Zi knocks him out before joining the others, leaving behind Huo DaoFu, Princess and two unconscious men.

Shaking his head, Huo DaoFu turns back to Princess.

"Looks like it's just you and me, huh?"

- Chapter End -

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this chapter :)