Chapter 663 — A Flying Car to the Rescue

Wei Zhao frowned deeply after hearing Shen Yushu's words. Gu Mengyao had collapsed for no apparent reason? Her account gave him no way to judge the illness - he would have to see her at the hospital before anything could be said.

"Master, could you drive a little faster, please?" Wei Zhao was worried about the young lady's safety. Living alongside her day after day had bred a certain attachment in him. He had been trained since childhood by his master and the old man to be somewhat cold-blooded, but no one is made of wood or stone - who could remain unmoved?

Gu Mengyao was more than just his employer; Wei Zhao already counted her as a friend. Otherwise he would never have been this anxious. He was indeed her attendant, but he was not her personal physician - when Gu Pengzhan had first hired him, the man had never mentioned any duty to treat Gu Mengyao's illnesses.

But the present situation was different. Wei Zhao's worry for the young lady came from the heart, and that was why he urged the taxi driver to go faster.

They were still some distance from the Second People's Hospital. At their current speed, it would take at least an hour to get there.

"Young man, this car's five years old and past its prime - it's dangerous to drive her fast, and I don't much dare to," the driver said with a bitter smile. "I know you're in a hurry to reach the hospital. Tell you what: once we hit a stretch with more traffic, you switch to another car. As for my fare, pay me or don't, suit yourself."

Wei Zhao shook his head at the driver's words. The busy part of the city was still far off, and he could not wait that long. "Let me drive. You'll get your fare, and I'll give you five hundred extra."

As he spoke, Wei Zhao took out his wallet, counted out seven hundred yuan and laid it on the dashboard. The ride to the Second Hospital would cost about two hundred, so seven hundred was already generous.

The driver hesitated only a moment before asking, "Young man, do you have a license?"

"I do." Wei Zhao took his license from his wallet and showed it to the driver.

"All right, then you drive!" The driver happily pocketed the seven hundred yuan and pulled the car over to the roadside, handing the wheel to Wei Zhao.

The driver's reasoning was simple enough. Even if Wei Zhao's driving burned a little extra fuel, the money more than covered it - enough even to pay any traffic fines. So why not?

Once in the driver's seat, Wei Zhao started the engine, shifted into gear and released the clutch in one fluid motion. The car shot forward, and from there it was a relentless sequence of gear changes and acceleration, faster and faster.

The driver was startled by the way Wei Zhao drove. How much time had passed, and already he was in fifth gear, still pressing down on the accelerator - the car raced along like an unbroken stallion!

Though this was a suburban road with little traffic, the speed limit was still eighty. At this rate, any speed camera would have caught them already - luckily, there were no cameras on this stretch.

Once they entered the urban area, however, Wei Zhao did not slow down; if anything, he accelerated further. As the cars around them multiplied, the driver hurried to say, "Young man, slow down, it's dangerous! And there's a checkpoint ahead - police!"

"We won't hit anything," Wei Zhao said flatly, still accelerating. The car wove through the traffic like an afterimage, nimble as could be. No sooner had he spoken than the car executed a drift, nearly scaring the driver's heart out of his chest.

A drift? Surely not? He had only ever seen that on television - and to think his old heap could do it too! Was this man a professional racer?

Even as he was thinking this, the wail of police sirens rose on all sides of the car. Clearly the surveillance center had spotted the anomaly and dispatched officers to cut them off.

"Young man, the police are after us, stop the car!" the driver said in alarm. This was the end - they'd impound the car for sure! Seven hundred yuan wouldn't even cover the fine...

Wei Zhao frowned slightly. He hadn't expected the police to react so swiftly - locking onto his position in such a short time. He had no choice but to call Qiu Lingshan. Fortunately she was not at the kidney-trafficking ring's headquarters, so her phone had signal. Wei Zhao dialed.

"Hello? Qiu Lingshan?" He didn't wait for her to speak. "My car has caught the police's attention. I'm on my way to the hospital to save someone - call them off."

When Qiu Lingshan answered Wei Zhao's call, she assumed he was asking whether she had already dismantled the kidney-trafficking ring's headquarters. She hadn't expected it to be something else entirely. This time, though, Wei Zhao's command did not provoke much irritation in her, and she did not ask questions. She merely said, "Your plate number?"

"What's your plate number?" Wei Zhao asked the driver.

"Song 8224." The driver was astonished - this man knew Qiu Lingshan? Given his line of work, he ought never to have heard the name, but he had caught a radio news report about the newly appointed criminal investigation captain Qiu Lingshan cracking a bank robbery and capturing the robbers, and the name had stuck. A while back she had nabbed another wanted fugitive, which had convinced him this captain was a force to be reckoned with - and so the name had lodged itself in his memory.

But what he had not expected was that Wei Zhao would actually address Qiu Lingshan directly, and in a tone that seemed far from courteous. Just what was this young man's standing?

Wei Zhao had no time to wonder what the driver was thinking. He simply gave Qiu Lingshan the license plate number.

Qiu Lingshan noted it down and called the traffic police command center. There was no way she could leave the matter of Wei Zhao alone, and besides, he had made himself perfectly clear: he had gone to the hospital to save someone. Wait - to the hospital to save someone?

It suddenly came back to her: a subordinate had reported earlier that a case of mass student fainting had occurred at Songshan First High School. But Qiu Lingshan had been busy with the kidney-trafficking ring case, so she had sent one of her squadron leaders to investigate at the school.

Could it be that Wei Zhao had gone to save those poisoned students? Considering that Wei Zhao was himself a student at First High and had been hired by Gu Pengzhan, it made sense that he would go to the rescue. But this was not within Qiu Lingshan's purview, so she did not press further.

Suddenly it struck her that a moment ago Wei Zhao had called her by her name rather than "brain-dead girl," and for no reason at all her heart skipped a beat. Had he simply been too anxious to tease her, or had his attitude toward her actually changed?

To hell with it! Whatever he thought did not matter - so long as she kept on good terms with him. Qiu Lingshan had no desire to dwell on such tangled relationships, and she put the whole matter out of her mind.