Being a night owl for half the night wasn't really an issue.
The main thing was being in the presence of a big shot, having to stay on high alert at all times without daring to be careless, which caused mental fatigue.
After returning home and completely relaxing, it wasn't long before Shi Xiaolei fell into dreamland, letting out a series of snores.
The tense and busy daily routine continued peacefully and uneventfully.
Several more days passed.
With the help of lawyers sent by Stark, Shi Xiaolei finally settled the transaction with the landlord, acquiring the plot of land where his small shop was located, becoming a newly minted small property owner.
Next, it was about time to begin the shop renovation work.
Contacting designers for proposals, finding time to seek advice from Uncle He, plus the necessary recruitment to handle the shop upgrade.
Although he had already shortened business hours, Shi Xiaolei had actually become even busier.
When people get busy, they easily forget the passage of time.
As a result, after some time had passed without him noticing, Shi Xiaolei belatedly realized that he seemed to have missed his "opening blind boxes" day, and the check-in points he had accumulated from daily sign-ins had already exceeded 400 points.
'How did I forget?'
Unconsciously raising his hand to lightly pat the steering wheel, Shi Xiaolei smiled bitterly and shook his head.
"Ah, I've really been overwhelmed."
Since he remembered now, he shouldn't delay any further.
While driving back home, Shi Xiaolei contemplated "finding an opportunity to open blind boxes as soon as he got home."
He happened to hit the evening rush hour, and the traffic volume on the road was quite heavy, making it impossible to pick up speed.
Thinking about his earlier promise to Kanna to return early and teach her how to make pudding, Shi Xiaolei couldn't help feeling anxious.
So to save time, Shi Xiaolei turned the steering wheel and turned into a small alley, planning to take a shortcut.
Indeed, the alley was quite peaceful, with no vehicles passing through and even pedestrians were half as many as on the main road.
With his mood somewhat relaxed, he gently stepped on the accelerator and unconsciously began humming a children song he had just learned from Kanna a few days ago.
"BOOM!"
At that moment, a deafening explosion suddenly came from not far ahead, near the exit of the alley.
Cars parked on the roadside started wailing with alarms, and many glass shards fell from above, landing on the car roof and hood like raindrops.
The sudden situation startled Shi Xiaolei.
He instinctively stepped on the brake, leaving several long black marks on the ground from the tires.
Before he could figure out what was happening, a crowd of people came fleeing from the alley exit, stumbling and crawling.
Judging by their panicked expressions, something terrible had clearly happened on the main road on the other side.
Although he possessed "supreme martial arts" he wasn't the type who liked to get involved in trouble, plus Kanna was waiting for him at home.
After a moment daze, Shi Xiaolei immediately made his choice, shifting the gear lever to reverse, preparing to back out the way he came.
"Where did all these cars come from!"
After backing up only a few dozen meters, the road behind was already completely blocked.
Cursing while sticking his head out of the window and twisting his neck to look back. This glance revealed something serious—Shi Xiaolei suddenly discovered several large armored vehicles appearing at the entrance of the alley.
Seeing those armored vehicles moving forward recklessly, crushing other small cars along the way...
"Damn! What the hell."
Afraid that his own car would also be crushed beyond repair, Shi Xiaolei quickly turned the steering wheel, disregarding a street lamp at the roadside, and drove up onto the curb.
He thought that even if he damaged the front bumper, it could still be repaired and used, which was certainly better than total loss.
But what Shi Xiaolei didn't anticipate was that despite his countermeasures, he still couldn't save his car—after he had driven onto the curb and made an emergency maneuver to clear the path, five or six minutes later, popping gunfire erupted at the alley exit.
Subsequently, an armored vehicle that had been stopped at the intersection as cover was flipped over like it was made of paper.
As bad luck would have it, its landing spot was precisely where Shi Xiaolei car was parked.
It was too late to move to another position.
With no choice, Shi Xiaolei could only push open the car door and jump out, watching helplessly as his car was crushed into scrap metal by the falling armored vehicle.
"My car!"
"Move aside, move aside!"
Before Shi Xiaolei could protest, several fully armed soldiers rushed up from behind him, very rudely pushing him to one side.
Although the soldiers were acting so impolitely and rudely in order to rescue their comrades inside the armored vehicle, from a bystander perspective, there was no reason to blame them.
However...
Having his newly purchased car totaled just like that, Shi Xiaolei was blinded by anger and had no patience to be understanding toward others.
"I'm gonna...!"
Eyes widening, rolling up his sleeves, forgetting what it meant to be low-key and inconspicuous, Shi Xiaolei face turned red with anger, and he couldn't help but explode.
"You're the ones who should get out of the way!"
One by one, like throwing sandbags, he tossed all five or six soldiers who were crowding in front of him.
In the heat of the moment, he forgot to control his strength, and the soldiers flew quite high and far.
When they landed on the ground, each was so dazed and disoriented that they couldn't immediately get up.
Looking at just this scene, it seemed like Shi Xiaolei had the upper hand.
But zooming out the view, the feeling was quite different—being a bit slower on foot, two squads of soldiers who had followed behind saw this situation, immediately stopped, formed combat positions, and all raised their submachine guns, pointing them at Shi Xiaolei.
"HQ, HQ, a dangerous individual has appeared at the exit of 43rd Street! Repeat, another dangerous individual besides the target has appeared at the exit of 43rd Street!"
The soldier responsible for communications in the squad had already picked up the radio and reported the situation to superiors immediately.
"Eliminate immediately!"
"Yes." Receiving the order, the soldier immediately took action, raising his gun at Shi Xiaolei and shouted.
"You! Hands on your head! Squat against the wall! Now!"
The dark muzzles of the guns made Shi Xiaolei somewhat calmer.
After regaining his ability to think, he began to ponder how to respond, but at this moment, another voice came through the Bluetooth earpiece that he had been wearing.
"Rock, where are you? This is Stark! I need your help!"
"Hmm?"
With his hands raised halfway, suddenly hearing Stark call, and judging by his tone, he seemed a bit anxious.
Unconsciously, Shi Xiaolei was distracted again, and his movements stopped.
Because Shi Xiaolei halted his movements midway, the soldiers who were in a tense state instinctively reacted.
"Click-click!"
Several consecutive light sounds that those familiar with firearms would recognize as the sound of safeties being switched off.
Matching the motion of his fingertips, the lead captain made a final warning.
"Put your hands up!"
Should he obey the soldiers commands and surrender? Or ignore the situation in front of him and respond to Stark call first? In a split second of decision, Shi Xiaolei made his choice.
(T/N: Like the story fellow daoist?you can read 20 chapters ahead on my P@treon [[email protected]/DaoistRongyi] Thanks for your support! 😊)