Chapter 109: Could More Than One Person Be Trying to Kill Me?
As soon as Fang Xiaocao stepped into the hotel lobby, she spotted Zhi Qi eagerly waiting for her, along with Su Wanqing, Wen Shi, and Yun Luoshu standing behind her.
Narrowing her eyes, Fang Xiaocao took in the scene.
All four of them were looking in her direction.
The moment her figure appeared, she instantly attracted their attention.
“Xiaocao?”
“Xiaocao, over here!”
“Caocao, look this way!”
Each of them reacted differently upon seeing her.
Zhi Qi and Su Wanqing appeared surprised, while Yun Luoshu and Wen Shi looked delighted.
Fang Xiaocao keenly noticed their expressions, and Su Wanqing’s reaction particularly caught her attention.
“What is she surprised about?”
A doubt arose in Fang Xiaocao’s mind.
This reaction didn’t match what she expected from Su Wanqing.
Zhi Qi’s shock was understandable—after all, Fang Xiaocao appearing unharmed must have been completely beyond her expectations. Given that Zhi Qi had set up an assassination attempt, seeing Fang Xiaocao safe and sound naturally surprised her.
But why was Su Wanqing also displaying the same expression? That was unusual.
In truth, Fang Xiaocao had only escaped disaster this time by sheer luck.
Zhi Qi, instead of directly hiring an assassin, had used an intermediary to maintain plausible deniability. She hadn’t even provided a photo of Fang Xiaocao, meaning the killers had to rely on real-time coordination and location updates to identify their target.
Fang Xiaocao had figured this out from Tom.
When she first encountered Tom, he hadn’t shown any surprise at recognizing her—he clearly had no idea what she looked like.
That was when Fang Xiaocao first suspected that the killers didn’t know her face.
Later, Tom confirmed this.
So she had let Tom step out of the elevator first, drawing the assassins’ attention instead of herself.
If they had known what she looked like, this trick wouldn’t have worked.
Facing three assassins at once, Fang Xiaocao would have been doomed.
As she pondered these thoughts, Yun Luoshu approached and offered her an arm.
“Xiaocao, let me help you.”
Yun Luoshu grinned.
“Mm, thank you!”
Fang Xiaocao smiled in response.
Among this group, only Yun Luoshu seemed entirely free of suspicion—her straightforward nature made it hard to doubt her.
“Xiaocao, is your foot injury serious?” Wen Shi asked with concern.
“It hurts a lot. I can barely walk,” Fang Xiaocao frowned, lowering her voice.
“But at least it hasn’t swollen up yet,” she quickly added to maintain her cover.
“Ugh, Xiaocao, you’re such a buzzkill.”
“If there’s no swelling, it should be fine, right?”
“Let’s just go have fun already!” Su Wanqing complained.
Hearing this, Fang Xiaocao turned to her, smiling faintly.
“Sorry about that. Why don’t you all go ahead? My foot really hurts, and I don’t feel like going out anymore.”
“Here, take my car instead.”
“I won’t be able to drive anyway.”
With that, Fang Xiaocao took out the keys to her red convertible Land Rover and handed them to Su Wanqing.
She deliberately didn’t give them to Zhi Qi—doing so would have seemed too deliberate.
Zhi Qi had her own car, so even if Fang Xiaocao wasn’t driving, there was no reason for her to take another.
Initially, Fang Xiaocao had planned to drive part of the way and then pretend her foot hurt too much to continue. She’d hoped that Zhi Qi, concerned about the car bomb, would come over to check, giving her an excuse to pass the keys to her naturally.
Now, that wasn’t necessary anymore.
Since Su Wanqing had spoken up, Fang Xiaocao could simply go along with it.
She squinted slightly, watching everyone’s reactions.
Earlier, she had only suspected Zhi Qi and hadn’t considered testing anyone else.
But Su Wanqing’s expression back in the lobby had changed that.
Now, she had two potential suspects.
Fang Xiaocao wasn’t going to take any chances.
If there was any doubt, she would assume guilt until proven otherwise.
Both needed to be tested.
In fact…
Could it be that more than one person was trying to kill her?
What if the person who hired Tom and the one who sent the three assassins were different?
From the start, all communication had been through Zhi Qi, who had tracked her movements and relayed them to the killers.
But…
How could she be sure she had really been speaking with Zhi Qi?
Anyone with access to Zhi Qi’s phone could have been the one messaging her.
After all, their conversations were all text-based—no voice messages, no video calls. She had no way of knowing who was actually behind the screen.
She even began to suspect that the three assassins had been hired separately.
Perhaps they belonged to the same agency or organization, which was why they cooperated.
These ideas might have sounded far-fetched, but the possibility couldn’t be ignored.
So, Fang Xiaocao decided to expand her testing and pull back from the group.
She needed to go back into hiding, observing from the shadows while ensuring her own safety.
It seemed that more people wanted her dead than she had initially thought.
If she continued hanging around Zhi Qi and the others, she might only be putting herself in greater danger.
Better to watch from a distance.
Su Wanqing instinctively caught the car keys, her eyes flashing with a hint of excitement.
Fang Xiaocao’s sharp gaze caught this fleeting look.
That tiny expression of glee confirmed something—Su Wanqing had an ulterior motive for the car.
However, she likely wasn’t the one who had hired Tom to plant the bomb.
Otherwise, holding these keys should have made her nervous, not pleased.
If she had arranged for the bomb, she would be desperate to avoid the car, not eager to take it.
Of course, this only ruled out Su Wanqing as the mastermind behind Tom.
Whether she had any connection to the three assassins was still an open question.
“Well then, I won’t be polite!”
Su Wanqing grinned and slipped the keys into her bag.
“Mm, don’t be. The car has a full tank of gas—drive wherever you like!”
Fang Xiaocao smiled.
But her eyes remained on Zhi Qi.
As expected, Zhi Qi looked a little uncomfortable.
She seemed to hesitate, her lips parting slightly as if to speak, but ultimately, she said nothing.
“So my guess was right—Zhi Qi was the one who hired Tom.”
Fang Xiaocao silently confirmed her suspicion.
“Zhi Qi, you don’t mind, do you?”
Fang Xiaocao asked with a smile.
“N-No… not at all.”
“But actually, my car has enough space for all four of us. There’s really no need to take two cars.”
Zhi Qi quickly replied.
(End of Chapter 109)
