Chapter 482: One Madness, One Uncertain Life‑or‑Death

Gu Zhiyan received Ke Zhongyu's four words: "Get out of the way."

Gu Zhiyan gritted his teeth and could only stand aside.

At this moment Ke Zhongyu spoke again, saying to Jiang Lai: "That speedboat's actual fuel won't reach the border line; it will stop about two hundred meters out, with police behind and a chance to survive ahead. What do you think Gu Yinxue would choose?"

Jiang Lai's eyes flickered: "Abandon the hostage and swim over?"

Ke Zhongyu: "Two hundred meters—an ordinary person would need about ten minutes at sea; that mercenary Lu Si would probably need only half that time."

Jiang Lai: "They might also stop and continue negotiations."

Ke Zhongyu: "The time for us to catch up with them is about the same as the time they need to swim over."

Hearing that, Jiang Lai understood; at such a life‑or‑death moment, the choice is obviously to survive, especially since Gu Yinxue is desperate to escape.

Jiang Lai suddenly thought of a question: "Gu Yinxue has heart disease; she might not be able to swim, but with a helper she could, though the swimming speed would be slower, right?"

"Hmm." Ke Zhongyu narrowed his eyes: "Then it depends on whether the helper Gu Yinxue brings wants to keep that half of the money or wants to live."

"I bet they want to live."

You need life to spend money; having money without life is useless.

At that moment.

Realizing he was being toyed with, Lu Si kicked the alert Song Shiwei several times, cursed, then looked at the bewildered Gu Yinxue and immediately decided: "Swim over."

Gu Yinxue stared ahead, less than two hundred meters away.

She glanced back; the police were almost catching up.

The chance to survive was within reach; Gu Yinxue's heart hardened: "Forget them, jump!"

Splash splash, the two leapt into the sea.

Lu Si indeed swam fast, but Gu Yinxue couldn't last more than a couple of strokes, so she had to let Lu Si swim back and bring her along.

No one expected this situation: it was raining at sea, waves rolled in from time to time, and Lu Si, carrying a person, swam slowly.

So the police and Jiang Lai's group reached the stopped speedboat while they hadn't swum far themselves.

Back in the water, and there was no hostage.

Completely at a disadvantage.

Gu Yinxue was shivering all over, urging Lu Si to go faster; the police boat drew nearer, its lights already shining on the two of them.

In the current situation, Lu Si could escape alone, but with a burden he couldn't get away.

His own life was priority, Lu Si tossed out: "I don't want the other half of the fee."

He dropped Gu Yinxue and plunged into the night sea, frantically swimming away.

When the police hauled Gu Yinxue onto the deck, she was less than a hundred meters from the border line—less than a hundred meters!!!

Hope was right before her, within reach.

But the police had shackled her hands.

The pier was too far from the city; Gu Sen woke briefly, then fell into a coma from his injuries, bleeding nonstop, and was placed on the yacht where Jiang Lai and Ke Zhongyu were; Chi Ce arrived immediately.

Gu Zhiyan also tried to lift Song Shiwei onto it; passing the shackled Gu Yinxue, Song Shiwei stopped, turned his head.

She didn't board the yacht but walked toward Gu Yinxue, fierce, blood dripping from her mouth corner, wet hair hanging, looking like a death‑seeking female demon.

Slap!

The slap sound was still crisp in the rainy night.

One slap wasn't enough; Song Shiwei turned and gave Gu Yinxue a second slap, striking with full force, causing even himself to stagger slightly.

Gu Zhiyan didn't intervene.

But the police intervened.

Song Shiwei was speechless; the grievance and pain bottled up for two days erupted at that moment. She shoved the police, clutched Gu Yinxue's collar and wouldn't let go, her eyes bulging red.

At the moment she was seized, Gu Yinxue knew she couldn't get away; even without a death sentence, she couldn't endure prison life.

She had lived in luxury for twenty‑eight years, being served for twenty‑eight years, and only in the past few months had she known hardship; now they wanted her to go to jail?

Especially since Song Shiwei slapped her twice in a row, further igniting Gu Yinxue's inner rage.

She had said it before.

If something happened to her, she could take one away at a time!

Gu Yinxue struck back swiftly, lunging forward, choking Song Shiwei's neck and pinning her down, using all her strength.

She hated.

She hated the biological mother who gave birth beside a trash can, didn't even have time to cut the umbilical cord, then fled hurriedly.

She hated Jiang Lai for coming back and taking away her original life, snatching the position of Gu family's eldest daughter, stealing the father and brother who loved her, and even Ke Zhongyu was taken away!

Since they had taken her back and treated her as a biological daughter, why still have to acknowledge Jiang Lai?

This mother who only acknowledges her and not Jiang Lai never truly only acknowledges her nor truly loves her; she just uses her to avoid something, to serve as a substitute!

The father is a tool the mother uses to cling to wealth and status; the brother is a tool the mother uses to consolidate her position; she herself is a tool the mother uses for self‑deception after making a mistake!

"Gu Yinxue, let go!" Gu Zhiyan rushed forward and tore Gu Yinxue away from her mother; the police helped Song Shiwei to her feet.

The mother and daughter, who had always seemed so affectionate, completely tore off their pretenses after the kidnapping; they stared at each other, as if to pour all their fury onto the other.

Gu Yinxue struggled in Gu Zhiyan's arms, kicking a stone with her foot.

The sharp stone was kicked toward Song Shiwei's foot.

A lingering pain persisted in Song Shiwei's neck and chest; when the stone hit her toe, it seemed her foot also hurt.

Whether the physical pain or the emotional anguish, both stem from Gu Yinxue, the daughter she raised in her palm, the daughter she always trusted, who in the end kidnapped her, pressed a knife against her neck, and pressed the blade against her heart.

She caused her husband to fall into a coma, made her son contract a visceral disease, failed the medical exam, and prevented a marriage alliance with the second miss of the Qu Family.

Each and every incident flashed through her mind.

Rainwater mixing with seawater chilled her entire body; Song Shiwei shivered, lips trembling, and when everyone thought the mother and daughter would call a truce, she bent down, picked up the sharp stone from the ground, and hurled it at Gu Yinxue's chest.

Song Shiwei knocked the person down again, lifted a stone with both hands, and smashed it onto the spot over Gu Yinxue's heart, then began scraping it back and forth, up, down, left, right, venting her resentment like a grinding mill.

"Ahhhhh!!!" A pig‑squealing howl echoed through the rainy night.

Chi Ce arrived just in time and saw at a glance the disheveled woman raising a stone with both hands, bringing it down high, and smashing it onto Gu Yinxue, who was restrained by silver handcuffs.

Like a madwoman.

Although Gu Zhiyan and the police had dragged the madwoman away as quickly as possible, Gu Yinxue's chest was still scraped by the sharp stone, covered in wounds, blood pouring out incessantly.

Song Shiwei, who had been voiceless, suddenly could speak.

"Why don't you just die!"

"Why don't you just die!!"

"Gu Yinxue, go die for me! Die!

Just hearing it made people's hearts jump, and seeing it did too.

Song Shiwei was completely out of control, still trying to deal with the dragged‑away Gu Yinxue, but Gu Zhiyan held her fast.

She would cry one moment, laugh the next.

Chi Ce had studied Chinese medicine since elementary school and Western medicine later; just a close look at Song Shiwei told him that under the violent blow she had already lost her mind.

It was exactly what Gu Yinxue had just endured—no one knew if she would survive.

This mother‑daughter pair—one mad, the other's fate unknown,

This wasn't his concern, but he hurried off to check on Chief Ke's future father‑in‑law.