DREB CHAPTER 79

At the moment the two cars were about to collide, the black Bentley’s tires screeched as it suddenly swerved. Chen Yu’s car didn’t slow down, and the two vehicles narrowly grazed past each other with only the smallest gap, creating a piercing scraping sound.

Once they had passed, Chen Yu let out a huge sigh of relief, but he didn’t dare to lower his guard, sitting upright. He knew today had pushed his driving skills to the limit, especially since he rarely drove.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Li Yan looked deathly pale. His brows were furrowed tightly, sweat covered his forehead, and his breathing was labored.

“Xiao Yan-ge?” Chen Yu couldn’t afford to take his eyes off the road, but his voice was filled with panic. “What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”

His gaze flicked briefly to Li Yan’s stomach, a sense of foreboding creeping over him. “Xiao Yan-ge! Are you about to give birth?” Chen Yu’s palms grew clammy. Glancing in the rearview mirror, he saw the car behind them still in relentless pursuit.

What should I do!? What am I supposed to do? Should I stop the car now? Can I let Xiao Yan-ge go back there?

No, that’s absolutely not an option…

Chen Yu’s mind raced as the car sped down the highway. Suddenly, a Land Rover shot out from the side.

Chen Yu’s pupils dilated in shock. He slammed on the brakes and swerved, but the two vehicles still collided. The front of the car took the brunt of the impact, though fortunately most of the damage was on the left side. Chen Yu’s head hit the steering wheel, his vision blurring. His first instinct was to check on Li Yan, but all he could see was a haze of blood.

 

It was a bright and sunny day.

Qi Zhen was driving to his regular therapy session at the treatment center, having thoughtfully brought a beautifully packaged treat for his therapist—an apology for missing his appointments for two weeks.

The session went smoothly. Qi Zhen felt like he was finally settling into a sense of normalcy.

As he took the elevator to leave, he whistled cheerfully, walking with a spring in his step.

But as soon as he drove out of the parking lot, he unexpectedly spotted Lu Lianning’s car furiously chasing another vehicle in the distance. Several more cars from the Lu family were in hot pursuit.

Qi Zhen’s eyes lit up. Naturally, he couldn’t resist getting involved. His relationship with Lu Lianning had been tense lately, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to patch things up.

In less than a minute, Qi Zhen had made up his mind and was already rehearsing in his head how he would respond when Lu Lianning awkwardly thanked him.

When the two cars collided, even the vehicles chasing Lu Lianning screeched to a halt.

Sitting in his car, Qi Zhen was confused, wondering if it was a chain collision, but the car he hit only had a broken headlight.

He stepped out of his car, noticing that Lu Lianning, whose expression had turned dark and unreadable, was practically sprinting toward him in a panic.

“Wow, I just came out today and you’re staging some life-and-death chase…” Qi Zhen, still clueless, reached out to pat Lu Lianning on the shoulder. But as he turned slightly, he caught sight of blood trickling down from the gap in the right-side door of the car he had hit.

Lu Lianning ignored him completely and immediately flung the car door open.

Qi Zhen peered through the gap where Lu Lianning had just been standing. His eyes widened in shock. Li Yan’s eyes were half-open, his belly bulging, and the seat beneath him soaked in blood.

The moment Lu Lianning opened the car door, the overwhelming scent of blood hit him, followed by Chen Yu’s desperate scream, “Call an ambulance, now!”

Qi Zhen stood frozen by the scene. Pregnant? It had been so long since he last saw him, and Lu Lianning had hidden Li Yan away and somehow gotten him pregnant.

He watched as the pool of blood on the ground spread, noticing the veins bulging on the back of Lu Lianning’s hand as he braced himself against the car door, his back still turned. He muttered under his breath, “Fuck…”

Li Yan’s stomach had been cramping painfully for a while, but he stubbornly kept silent. He was so close to gaining his freedom that he couldn’t let anything stop him now.

His nerves wound tighter with each passing moment, but he knew he had made the right bet. Lu Lianning wouldn’t let anything happen to him at such a critical time. His previous suicide attempt had clearly shaken him.

Lu Lianning seemed terrified of him dying.

But what had happened next? Li Yan couldn’t remember clearly. Had they crashed into a pole or something else?

Chen Yu still seemed like a novice behind the wheel…

Suddenly, an excruciating pain tore through Li Yan’s body. He couldn’t even cry out before he was on the verge of losing consciousness. Blood filled his mouth, and there was something else… Chen Yu calling his name, the wail of an ambulance, then someone lifting him…

His abdomen felt as if it were about to explode, the pain radiating through his blood vessels and engulfing his entire body as if there was no escape.

He couldn’t even hear his own feeble groans.

It was all too noisy.

He began to wonder if any of this was real. Maybe Chen Yu hadn’t climbed through the window to save him. Maybe Lin Sheng hadn’t apologized. Maybe there wasn’t a car waiting to whisk him away to freedom.

This must be a nightmare—a nightmare crafted by Lu Lianning himself.

Li Yan knew how good he was at that. Giving him false hope of escape, only to drag him back down at the last moment, making the fall all the more devastating.

As his consciousness faded, the pain in his body seemed to ebb away. In a daze, he felt like he couldn’t sense anything anymore.

Lu Lianning stood outside the operating room, half his body stained with blood. He stared at the closed door as if his gaze could bore a hole through it.

His hand hung at his side, trembling slightly with tension. Those usually fair, slender hands were now smeared with blood.

Chen Yu sat behind him, his face streaked with tears. His legs were so weak he couldn’t even stand up. Everything that had happened today was beyond anything he could have imagined.

Two and a half hours had passed, and the light in the operating room was still on. Chen Yu seemed to be at his breaking point. He glared at Lu Lianning’s back and cursed angrily, “Bastard! This is all your fault! If anything happens to Xiao Yan-ge, it’ll be your fault!”

Lu Lianning turned around, his hair disheveled, his expression terrifying as he faced Chen Yu. “My fault?” He stepped forward, a man who had never known the meaning of humility. Grabbing Chen Yu by the collar, he slammed him against the wall. “Now, of all times, you show up to save him? Right when he’s about to give birth?”

“Where were you before? You make me sick with your hypocrisy. Are you on winter break now? Finished the lab report your teacher assigned? Spent all the money I gave you? If you cared so much, why wait four years to come back? After graduation, you’ll have time, right? All that free time to live your own life, and you can spare a moment to come save him.”

Lu Lianning’s eyes were savage as he tightened his grip on Chen Yu’s collar. Chen Yu struggled to breathe, his face turning bright red.

“Li Yan better be fine. If he is, maybe I’ll let you both off the hook. He’s been in a bad mood lately, so I’ll consider this my way of coaxing him.” He gave Chen Yu a final shove, his voice dripping with menace. “Otherwise, neither of you will escape!”

Chen Yu collapsed to the ground, coughing violently. His body was already weak, his legs having given out earlier, and now he could barely stand.

“You… cough… you…” Chen Yu’s eyes burned with hatred, but he couldn’t manage a complete sentence.

Lu Lianning looked disgusted and asked the nurse to take him away. “If you’re going to die, don’t do it here at the door.”

By the time Zheng Zhi opened the operating room door, Lu Lianning didn’t know how long he had been standing there. His legs had gone numb, but it didn’t stop him from stepping forward.

The sound of a baby crying filled the room. His and Li Yan’s child was swaddled in a small blanket and carried out.

Lu Lianning looked at Zheng Zhi, his voice tight with barely concealed anxiety. “Where’s Li Yan?”

Zheng Zhi, visibly exhausted, replied, “The surgery was successful. We saved his life, but what happens next is uncertain.” He glanced at Lu Lianning and added, “If you two keep going like this, I’m seriously quitting.” He shoved the newborn into Lu Lianning’s arms.

Lu Lianning stood there, momentarily stunned, repeating to himself: He’s safe. He’s alive.

It wasn’t until the small bundle in his arms began to wail that he looked down at the child.

An Alpha.

The baby’s face was scrunched up and red from crying, far from pleasant.

Would Li Yan like the baby…

There was no need to think about the answer.