Chapter 235: Her clever scheme backfired, bringing misery upon herself—Ning Yao regretted it to death!

The Special Operations Team captain licked the split skin at the corner of his mouth, smiling as he told them, 'I can only say this: you are elites picked one in ten thousand from countless candidates, while we are selected one in ten thousand from those elites, then again one in ten thousand—screened in this very way.'

The blond white man froze, his gaze becoming much clearer.

Only now did he realize he had lost fairly, and he was genuinely convinced.

"The foreigners lost! Our brothers-in-arms won!"

The onlooking crowd cheered and jumped for joy.

A group of people livestreaming on their phones had planned to interview the victors, but were all politely turned down.

Although the Raptor Special Forces members accepted their defeat, losing publicly in a foreign land was embarrassing, so they all retreated to the hotel.

"Cousin, sorry, you lost." Ning Jinli looked at Ning Yao with a smiling squint, "You know what to do next, right?"

Ning Yao took a moment to come to her senses.

Lin Lina's face beside them was as grim as it could be.

The mother and daughter instinctively wanted to call for the Raptor Special Forces to keep fighting, thinking they had only suffered minor scrapes—how could they just admit defeat? If they tried harder, they would surely win.

But seeing the grim faces of the blond white man and his companions, and recalling how they had just been loudly berated, the mother and daughter lost their nerve.

After all, these ten people were sent by the M Guo government's high command to fetch them to M Guo; they aren't the mother and daughter's subordinates, and offending them would bring no benefit to the pair.

"Mom… I…" Ning Yao's lips trembled and she burst into tears.

Originally, she had painstakingly planned to humiliate Ning Jinli badly before leaving.

Instead, things turned out like this.

Lin Lina held Ning Yao, gently patting her to soothe, and said to Ning Jinli, "Jinli, Yao Yao is just playing around with you—don't take it seriously."

Ning Jinli replied, "How old are you to still be messing around?"

Lin Lina forced a smile and said, "She's just past twenty, younger than you—still a kid… clueless."

"She's a child—are you a child too? You don't understand anything? At your age you've lived to a dog's belly!" Ning Jinli snapped without mercy. "When she stirs up trouble, you don't stop her; if she messes up and embarrasses you two, you come to her defense? Oh, sorry, I almost forgot what sort of person you are— the beam is warped, the rafters are crooked; mother and daughter are cut from the same cloth."

Lin Lina was doused in a torrent of abuse, fuming speechless, "You… you… I…"

"Cut the 'you you you I I I,'" Ning Jinli lifted her chin, "Hurry up and have your daughter fulfill the bet—if she won't, you can take her place!"

"Ning Jinli!" Lin Lina flew into a rage and swung a slap.

Ning Jinli easily grabbed her wrist, coldly saying, "You're unreasonable, lashing out like a cornered dog? Do you still think I'm the little girl from ten years ago whom you could push around at will?"

As her words fell, Ning Jinli clenched Lin Lina's wrist and used her hand to slap her own face several times hard.

Slap! Slap! Slap!

A sharp slap rang out.

Lin Lina couldn't break free; her face turned bright red from her own hand, her makeup smeared, her sunglasses fell off, and her hat flew away.

This sight made the Raptor Special Forces members resting nearby widen their eyes.

They not only didn't intervene, they watched with great relish.

"Don't hit my mom!"

Ning Yao, eyes red, roared and tried to pull Ning Jinli's hair.

Ning Jinli gave her a casual shove, sending her sprawling face‑up; she rolled several times on the ground before hitting a table leg and stopping.

Lin Lina was already seeing stars from the beating, half her face red and swollen.

"Mom… mom!"

Ning Yao pushed herself up using the table, her fingers brushing the Western knife and fork on the surface.

Without a second thought, she grabbed the knife and fork and lunged at Ning Jinli.

"Ning Jinli! Go die!"

With an angry shriek, the knife and fork flew straight at Ning Jinli's eyes.

Ning Jinli stepped half a pace to the side, at the same time grabbing the dazed Lin Lina.

Swish——

The knife and fork stabbed into Lin Lina's face.

And it was the same half of her face that had been swollen from the beating.

Everything happened too fast for Ning Yao to check her force.

She watched helplessly as the knife and fork sliced Lin Lina's face, leaving several bloody gashes.

"Ah!" Lin Lina clutched her face and screamed.

This was only because Ning Jinli held back, controlling the angle; otherwise she could have let Ning Yao gouge out Lin Lina's eyes with her own hands.

Ning Yao's mind went blank, clutching the bloodied knife and fork, she stood frozen.

Several Raptor Special Forces members exclaimed, enjoying the spectacle even more, and even gave Ning Jinli looks of admiration and appreciation.

This Huaxia Guo woman was not only beautiful and tall, she remained composed under danger and showed real skill; her recent move was incredibly cool, striking deep into their hearts.

Ning Jinli said calmly, "Don't worry, she won't die—at most she'll be disfigured, but medical technology is advanced now, plastic surgery is superb, maybe she can be restored; consider this a lesson for you all to remember today."

The knife and fork slipped from Ning Yao's hand and clattered to the floor.

"How… how did you become like this?" Ning Yao stared at Ning Jinli as if she were a stranger.

Ning Jinli asked, "Become what?"

Ning Yao's eyes held both anger and fear: "You've changed too much; you're not the person I used to know. Now you're… frightening, and I don't like you."

Ning Jinli snorted, "Do I need your liking? Your so‑called liking was only because I used to indulge you and let you bully me. Ning Yao, people grow—except you seem never to have grown up."

"Pain, I'm dying of pain!" Lin Lina's wail brought Ning Yao back to her senses.

Ning Yao wanted to send Lin Lina to the hospital, but Ning Jinli stopped her.

Ning Yao snapped, "My mother's like this, and you still won't let us leave?! Are you even human?!"

Ning Jinli's expression remained flat as she said softly, "Your mother's injury isn't my doing—what's it to me? Of course she can go to the hospital, but your business isn't finished; you can't leave."

Afterwards, the hotel staff, unable to bear it, helped Lin Lina out the back door and sent her to the hospital.

Ning Yao looked dazed, watching the crowd outside the hotel doors that had not yet dispersed.

No need to think to know.

She had spread the word about the bet, and those rubberneckers were still waiting to see the final act.

Ning Jinli stepped back a few steps, the corner of her mouth slowly curling, and made a gesturing invitation to Ning Yao.

Ning Yao's face was ashen, her whole body trembling.

If she really had to kneel and crawl out in public, even if she later settled in M Guo and never came back, it would become an indelible black mark and psychological shadow for her lifetime.

Besides, with the internet so developed, who knows—before she even reaches M Guo, the related videos could already be spreading across M Guo's and even the world's networks!

It would be a world‑level social death; unless she fled Earth, there's no escaping it.

She had originally planned to leave in a blaze of glory, even deliberately making a big scene.

The result… she'd made a mess of things, bringing suffering upon herself.

She regretted it to death.

Why didn't she just leave cleanly with her mother?

Why did she have to stir up this nonsense before leaving?!

At this moment, Ning Yao wished she could slap herself.

"Um… Miss Ning Yao," the hotel manager approached at some point, urging, "Please hurry; today's incident might reflect badly on our hotel. We can't let so many people keep gawking—only when you're done will the onlookers leave."

Having seen the abilities of Ning Jinli and the five people she summoned, the manager dared not make any demands of her.

After thinking it over, he could only offend Ning Yao.

After all, no matter what, Ning Yao was originally at fault, and once this blew over she would be going abroad to settle, so there'd be little consequence for him.

"You're bullying me too?!" Ning Yao pointed at the manager's nose and shouted, "I've been a regular here! Every time I spent tens or hundreds of thousands! Today I even paid double to rent the place out, and you treat me like this?!"

The hotel manager's face wasn't great either, his voice turning cold: "When have we ever failed to serve you satisfactorily? One thing for another! As for the money you paid to rent the place, I could just refund it! I don't even want customers like you who act unreasonably. I hope you never come back!"

Ning Yao was already on the verge of collapse; hearing this, she flew into a rage and slapped the manager hard across the face.

Smack!

The slap rang loud.

"Wow!" the Raptor Special Forces all burst into laughter.

The manager's face instantly darkened; he glared fiercely at Ning Yao, his clenched fists creaking.

Ning Yao stood with hands on hips, eyes wide, "What! You wanna hit me back? Try it! You're just a hotel manager—dare to talk back to me?"

The manager laughed in anger, gave her a thumbs‑up, turned and walked away.

Then he quickly gathered a few staff members behind the scenes, assigning them tasks and ordering them to pour oil on Ning Yao's fire later.

Ning Yao had no idea about this.

She had slapped someone, which vented some of her emotion, and she calmed a little.

"Ning Jinli," Ning Yao exhaled, speaking solemnly, "This time I admit defeat—I really lost to you, I accept that. But you should know the principle of leaving a line of retreat; if you really force me to crawl out of here today, we'll be completely severed."

Ning Jinli almost laughed, "So in your heart we haven't totally broken yet? Where does that illusion come from?"

Ning Yao's face flushed then paled as she stiffened her neck, "I'm giving you a way out… you… don't be ungrateful."

"Did I hear right? You're giving me a way down?" Ning Jinli found it even more ridiculous, "Or perhaps you should think again—who's actually unable to get off the stage now?"

Ning Yao clenched her fists, "Ning Jinli, you mean I have to crawl out today, no choice? Don't push me!"

Ning Jinli sighed, "Am I forcing you? You still haven't realized that everything is your own doing? Or even if you see it, you refuse to bear the consequences of your mistakes? Ning Yao, do you still think you can be like when you were a kid—no matter how big a mess you make or how willful you are, someone will always clean up after you so you needn't take responsibility?"

"Don't lecture me!" Ning Yao, like a dog whose tail's been stepped on, exploded and began blaming Ning Jinli, "When Grandpa and Grandma were still around, they both liked you, and other relatives pampered you! Even when we were little, my parents thought you were more sensible, well‑behaved, and likable than me!"

Hearing that, Ning Jinli was slightly taken aback.

Ning Yao shouted again, "As a kid, no matter what I did, you always did it better—I could never surpass you no matter how hard I tried! Everyone at home praised you, never me! You'll never know my childhood lived in your shadow! You're outstanding, you're amazing! When I got angry and argued or fought with you, you always gave in—yet the family still praised you! I became the most clueless, willful one! Can't you pick on me just once, so my family can scold you?"

Ning Jinli helplessly rubbed her forehead, facing this bizarre logic—she truly felt powerless.

Amid that helplessness, there was also a hard‑to‑describe sadness and melancholy.

We were once a family, yet we've come to this point.

"Ning Yao…," Ning Jinli said calmly, "Have you really never reflected on yourself? Do you truly have no awareness of the problems in the things you've done?"

If Ning Yao could muster even a hint of awakening and sincerely apologize from the heart, Ning Jinli would, for the sake of their shared Ning Family blood, preserve her last shred of dignity.

However, Ning Yao bluntly retorted, "I'm not wrong! It's all your fault! You shouldn't have been reborn into the Ning Family, shouldn't have become my cousin!"

Ning Jinli's eyes turned cold; she raised a hand toward the hotel doors and uttered three words flatly, "Crawl out."

"You…" Ning Yao's pupils trembled, "You just won't let me go?!"

Ning Jinli said, "Not crawling is fine too—after all you swore an oath, how did you put it? Oh, you said—if you play dirty, let your private plane, sent by M Guo to pick you up, meet an air disaster and crash while flying over the Pacific."

Ning Yao froze, a chill running down her back.

Ning Jinli said lightly, "I don't know whether you believe in oaths, but if it were me, I'd have to weigh whether it might come true. After all, our ancestors said the four characters 'one word becomes a prophecy.'"

Cold sweat beaded on Ning Yao's forehead.

If she had sworn back then something like heavenly thunder and earthly fire, it wouldn't have mattered much.

Vague oaths are basically meaningless.

But this poisonous oath… the more she thought about it, the more frightened she became, unable to get past the mental hurdle.

After all, she really was going to board a plane and fly over the Pacific to M Guo.

What if it came true?

Then she'd die without a whole corpse.

She was just over twenty, still young, about to go with her mother to M Guo to reunite with her father, so the family could live the most comfortable, free life.

So, better to live shamefully than die nobly!

"You're ruthless!" Ning Yao's back molars were almost shattered from gritting her teeth, "Crawl then!"

Having said that, she really knelt down, glanced at the bustling street outside, hardened her heart, lowered her head, and crawled toward the hotel entrance using both hands and feet...