Chapter 738
Identity of the Visitor
Because Xu Bo'an dodged at just the right moment, the man in black missed his target.
After his first attack failed, the man in black rolled on the ground and charged at Xu Bo'an again with his dagger in hand.
Xu Bo'an gathered his strength, lifted himself up, and leaped forward, soaring into the air. He then used the wall beside him for leverage, and in the instant of turning around, he lashed out with his other leg, aiming straight for the man's wrist.
The man in black was quite skilled; he instantly realized Xu Bo'an's intention, but the force in his arm had already been unleashed, and there was no time to change his move. In a flash, he followed up with his other hand, attacking Xu Bo'an's face.
His original intention was to ensure that when Xu Bo'an kicked his wrist with his first hand, he could catch Xu Bo'an off guard with his other hand.
And things did indeed develop just as he had expected.
Xu Bo'an kicked the man in black in the wrist. The man in black felt a sharp pain in his wrist, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to clench his fist, preventing him from throwing the dagger. His other hand then lashed out at Xu Bo'an's face as planned.
Xu Bo'an was originally making a leg-swinging motion in the air, making it extremely difficult for his upper body to dodge.
Seeing the opponent's enormous fist, as big as a bowl, hurtling straight towards his face, a strong sense of crisis instantly overwhelmed Xu Bo'an. In a panic, Xu Bo'an raised his hand to block and protect himself.
Xu Bo'an lacked practical experience. Despite initially having an absolute advantage, he hastily engaged in battle and only managed a stalemate with his opponent! He staggered back several steps until he bumped into the coffee table before finally coming to a stop.
The man in black fared better; after bracing himself against the door to steady himself, he charged at Xu Bo'an again.
Having suffered the loss of not having a weapon, Xu Bo'an didn't have time to look for a suitable weapon. He simply picked up a tea table from a nearby square table and threw it at the other person.
The man in black showed no intention of dodging. He raised his arm and slammed his elbow into the tea table, sending it flying to the side. He continued his attack on Xu Bo'an with undiminished momentum. By this time, Xu Bo'an had gradually come to his senses.
They've gone from hastily preparing for battle to developing some critical thinking skills.
Although I lack combat experience, I possess absolute advantages. For instance, I am agile and have hidden weapons at my disposal!
The advantage is mine!
They can fight!
In an instant, Xu Bo'an took out several steel needles that he had previously commissioned to be made from the bonsai world.
They're called steel needles, but they're actually about the size of disposable chopsticks—they're practically steel nails!
As the man in black approached again, Xu Bo'an smiled smugly to himself, and in an instant, a steel needle flew out of his hand and was flung away.
With only a few meters between them and both sides accelerating, even though the man in black was experienced in combat and had sharp reflexes, he couldn't avoid Xu Bo'an's sudden attack with a hidden weapon.
So even though he tried to twist his body to dodge to the side, he only managed to avoid vital areas.
A steel needle the size of a chopstick was driven straight into the man in black's arm. The man gritted his teeth and groaned, then turned and charged towards the large glass window behind him. In an instant, he smashed through the sturdy tempered glass and rushed out.
Although his injuries weren't serious, the man in black wasn't stupid. After a quick assessment of the situation, he quickly realized that Xu Bo'an was not someone he could easily defeat. Who knew if Xu Bo'an had any more steel needles?
If they were to do that again, I wouldn't be so lucky as to dodge it every time.
"Where there's life, there's hope"—this was the man in black's first principle.
Otherwise, if you lose your life, all the money you earn will be useless.
Fight if you can win, run if you can't win, there's nothing shameful about that.
After all, the saying "of the Thirty-Six Stratagems, the best is to flee" is not just a casual saying.
Xu Bo'an originally wanted to chase after them, but he was also worried that the wildfire would not be extinguished and would grow back in the spring breeze.
This guy can't be dealt with completely this time; if he comes up with something even more ruthless next time, then I'll be in real trouble.
Moreover, Xu Bo'an was completely clueless about this sudden assassination attempt. He was also very curious about the background of the attacker and why they wanted to assassinate him.
After thinking it over, I realized that I wasn't exactly an important figure, at least not to the point where I would need to hire a professional assassin to kill me.
In terms of status and position, Xu Bo'an's highest position was no more than the chief engineer of a construction company. Although he was the de facto head at the time, he was just a slightly higher-level employee and could not be considered outstanding.
As for money, Xu Bo'an is not short of money, but the amount of savings he has is actually not among the top in Dongjiang. If you include some hidden rich people, Xu Bo'an is even less noticeable.
So what else could they be here for?
Surely it's not some kind of cheat code?
But it seems I've been very careful to hide this secret all this time, so no one should know.
Could it be that other bonsai owners learned of my identity through some special means and sent someone to get rid of me?
According to the Dark Forest theory, this is indeed possible.
However, the person who came was a bit too weak. If the other party really had the cheat-like identity of Bonsai World, their methods should be more sophisticated.
Xu Bo'an was momentarily bewildered by the sudden assassination attempt and almost chased after the man to grab him and interrogate him thoroughly.
However, Xu Bo'an ultimately restrained his impulse and did not rush to chase after him.
After all, he was staying in the Dongjiang affluent area, where there were countless security cameras. Further out, in the commercial center, there were just as many cameras.
If I chase after this person and get into a fight, the footage will inevitably be recorded by the security cameras. If someone with ulterior motives notices this, I'll have a hard time explaining myself. To avoid trouble, it's better to avoid getting involved.
Moreover, if the man in black becomes enraged after chasing after him and takes a stranger hostage in desperation, Xu Bo'an will attract even more attention.
Therefore, Xu Bo'an ultimately let him go, suppressing his curiosity for the time being and not chasing after him.
However, even though Xu Bo'an wasn't injured, he didn't want to attract too much attention after such an incident, but he naturally knew that he couldn't just ignore it and handle it privately.
Xu Bo'an first called the law enforcement team in charge of the area, and then after thinking about it, he called Bai Shanshan to tell her about the matter. He hoped that having an acquaintance help him would help him find the root of the problem more quickly.
Otherwise, Xu Bo'an would feel awkward too; who would want such surprises to appear in their life from time to time?
Bai Shanshan didn't disappoint Xu Bo'an. Just over ten minutes later, she replied to him and even personally brought people to check on the situation.
Bai Shanshan personally intervened in the matter, which relieved the local law enforcement team of their worries, as the case was directly transferred to Bai Shanshan.
While arranging for people to carefully search for clues, Bai Shanshan and Xu Bo'an sat facing each other at the coffee table.
"By the way, I was so focused on the emergency on the phone that I didn't have a chance to check on you. Are you alright?" Bai Shanshan looked at Xu Bo'an with a serious expression.
According to the information she had, the person Xu Bo'an had just dealt with was a formidable figure who had a history of shady assassinations abroad with a high success rate. He was a very arrogant assassin from the underworld, so Bai Shanshan was afraid that Xu Bo'an would fall victim to his scheme.
Xu Bo'an shrugged and replied casually, "Thanks for your concern. I'm fine. Otherwise, I wouldn't be sitting here chatting with you."
Xu Bo'an clearly sensed that the other party was after his life, and if Xu Bo'an was truly no match for them, he would naturally not survive.
Hearing that Xu Bo'an was alright, Bai Shanshan nodded, but then suddenly noticed a bloodstain on Xu Bo'an's forearm. She hurriedly said anxiously, "What happened to your arm? Is there a wound? By the way, many of those people's weapons are poisoned, so don't be careless. If you think a small injury is insignificant, it will be too late when something serious happens to you."
"I'm really fine, I'm not hurt," Xu Bo'an said.
Bai Susu glanced at Xu Bo'an, then at the bloodstains beside her.
Xu Bo'an understood Bai Shanshan's meaning and explained, "That blood wasn't mine, it was that guy's. I wasn't injured, I'm perfectly fine."
"He's injured?" Bai Shanshan looked incredulous, her mouth agape enough to swallow an egg.
Xu Bo'an nodded and said calmly, "It's only because he ran fast that I let him off so easily."
Bai Shanshan circled Xu Bo'an, and seeing that he was truly unharmed, she was even more astonished. She knew Xu Bo'an was skilled, but she hadn't expected him to be this skilled!
Xu Bo'an thought to himself, "What do you mean by that? It's obvious you don't trust my abilities, making it seem like I'm weak."
However, Xu Bo'an didn't care. This was good, as it saved him from attracting too much attention, which would be detrimental to his plan of quietly developing.
"You're so amazing!" Bai Shanshan looked at Xu Bo'an in astonishment, her tone full of disbelief, which was actually just disbelief.
Can Xu Bo'an, an office worker who started out as an engineer, have a chance of winning against a famous professional assassin?
They were competing head-on, a fight to the death, not some backstabbing office culture. How could Xu Bo'an possibly win?
But the reality is that Xu Bo'an really did win, which sounds unreal to anyone!
Xu Bo'an didn't want to continue the topic, so he casually said, "Actually, I didn't lose anything. Putting aside all the furniture and appliances, the most regrettable thing is that I just took a shower. After all that fuss, I'm covered in sweat again."
Bai Shanshan thought Xu Bo'an was going to say something, but unexpectedly, Xu Bo'an started rambling on.
Bai Shanshan rolled her eyes at Xu Bo'an and scolded him lightly, "Alright, be serious, stop joking around, let's get down to business!"
As she spoke, Bai Shanshan coughed lightly, cleared her throat, sat up straighter, and said formally, "As the person involved, you also have a certain right to know. To tell you the truth, according to our investigation, the person who came to deal with you this time is a notorious international assassin, sent by a tomb raiding group. He is highly skilled and experienced in committing crimes. You should be grateful that you were able to escape with your life."
As Bai Shanshan spoke, she couldn't help but glance at Xu Bo'an's eyes, then quickly looked away, feeling a little guilty.
"No, wait a minute!" Xu Bo'an's eyes darted around, his expression froze, and he raised his hand to signal Bai Shanshan not to interrupt him before continuing, "An international tomb raiding group? You mean, today's incident was caused by that guy I helped you catch before? No way! How could it be one of their people? Didn't you say that as long as I didn't travel abroad and stayed in the country, everything would be fine?"
Bai Shanshan gave an awkward smile and explained, "Originally, it was like this. After all, our country has very strict security. These people wouldn't dare to enter the country under normal circumstances, let alone commit crimes here! But who knew they would value this person so much, willing to take such a big risk to come and find you... Okay, don't try to trick me into revealing anything. Anyway, we've started to surround and intercept these guys from multiple angles, so you're definitely safe now."
“Shout, you said the same thing last time.” Xu Bo’an rolled his eyes dismissively, directly criticizing his distrust of Bai Shanshan.
"This time it's for real! By the way, do you feel like you have any psychological issues? After all, this kind of thing is really scary. Most people wouldn't be able to get over it. The ambulance will be here soon. Otherwise, you should go to the hospital!" Bai Shanshan awkwardly changed the subject.
Xu Bo'an waved his hand and said in a very serious tone, "I'm fine. I don't need an ambulance or to the hospital. I just want to know how many people came! Is it possible that besides this guy, there are others lurking in the shadows preparing to attack me... or even my family?"
Xu Bo'an cared a lot about this point. After all, he had the ability to protect himself, but if those desperate criminals were targeting his family on the mountain, that would be Xu Bo'an's weakness.
Bai Shanshan said with a serious expression, "Don't worry about that. We have zero tolerance for this kind of incident. What just happened has crossed our bottom line. Our law enforcement department has raised the alert level. We have the responsibility and the ability to ensure the safety of every citizen."
I can tell you with absolute certainty that, after our thorough investigation, only one of these people entered the country. Furthermore, I just received information that, with the assistance of our surveillance system, we have already tracked this person's movements.
As she spoke, Bai Shanshan pointed to the miniature earpiece on her ear, indicating that she had just received a message. (End of Chapter)