By Hook or by Crook

Phoenix in June was already hot and distracting. Sophia finished her two-hour evening study session and waited for the other students to be almost gone before she rode her bike home. She took the remote alley because this road, although remote, could save more than twenty minutes. However, before she could leave the alley, her keen nose caught a whiff of blood. She was no stranger to the smell of blood, and if it had been any other girl, she probably would have turned tail and run in terror. On the contrary, Sophia was not a normal girl and continued to ride forward as if nothing had happened. And sure enough, five minutes later, to have her see a firefight in this deserted alley? "Shh..." Sophia had one foot on the ground and one on the pedals of her bike, one hand in her uniform pocket and the other holding the bike's handlebars wide, and whistled to get the others' attention. A dozen or so tall men in front of her were besieging a man. There were no streetlights in this alley, and now, by the light of the moon, she swept a glance at the besieged man. The injured one seemed to be the man in front of him. Hearing Sophia's whistle, both parties looked at the young girl in the school uniform. Eyeing a tall, thin girl, the man in the lead burst out, "Get out!" Sophia couldn't help but frown, her eyes were impatient, "Out of the way." The man in the lead got impatient, "Looking for death." It was hard for them to find a chance to make a move on Thomas Ryan. Now, whoever was in the way had to die. After a look, immediately, two tall men walked toward Sophia. Sophia glanced at the watch on her wrist - it was half past ten. Before the two big men could come over to deal with Sophia, they only saw her other footstep on the bike pedal and immediately rushed towards the dozen or so black-clothed men on her bike. At that speed, in less than a couple dozen seconds, the bike hit one of the men with such thunderous force that the man was knocked to the ground. And with her hands braced on the bike's saddle, Sophia spun around and kicked the other man in the face twice. Eyeing this little girl attacking his people, the one leading the group immediately said, "Kill both of them for me." They didn't have much time left. They wouldn't have such a good chance if they waited for Thomas Ryan's men to arrive. Thomas, who was already dying, immediately perked up when he heard him say that, he, Thomas, couldn't just die here. Sophia hadn't wanted to get into a fight, planning to teach these people who were in the way a lesson and leave. However, as she passed Thomas she gave him an involuntary glance, and the bike, which had been rushing out, came to a raw halt. "Damn." Sophia, who had been about to leave, stopped and changed her mind - she'd be the good guy for a while today. The next moment, only to see her quickly turn the bike around and ride towards the dozen or so men. With no weapons in hand, Sophia grabbed the daggers from two of the men's hands and, with the help of her bike, physically wrestled with a dozen men. The other party immediately straightened up when they saw Sophia's hard and violent movements. The man in the lead gave the death order, "Kill them." Sophia made a turn to Thomas' side, "Not dead?" "Not dead." Without giving them time to continue talking, a dozen men attacked the two men again. Sophia's skill was excellent, and she was still comfortable taking on those dozen men by herself, every move cool and valiant. And when she'd knocked out a dozen men, Sophia kicked the ones in her way. "Gone, no thanks." Sophia wasn't going to keep meddling. Getting on her bike, it looked like it was almost eleven o'clock, and it was time for her to go back. Yet she pedaled her bike and it didn't move. Looking back, it was Thomas who had grabbed the back of her bike. A pair of good-looking eyes brimmed with anger - "Anything else?" "Thanks." After saying that, his whole body fainted. "f**k!" Looking at the nobleman who had collapsed to the ground, Sophia couldn't help but curse, but finally helped the man up, and it took a lot of effort to get him onto the back of the bike, and then laboriously lead him out of the alley. Because Thomas had a gunshot wound, Sophia didn't dare take him straight to the hospital. Gunshot wounds were too sensitive, she was doing fine now and didn't want to get caught up in all the right and wrong of the past. And looking at this gunshot wound of his, if not properly treated, he would meet his death in less than tomorrow morning. Taking the man to the medical lab at NYU, Sophia felt her way in throughout with familiarity. The lights were turned on, and he was lifted onto the dissecting table used by medical students for experiments. Sophia opened one of the cabinets, pulled out her scrubs and put them on. She couldn't find any anesthetic at this time, and since he was passed out anyway, any more pain should be bearable. Putting on medical gloves, Sophia used scissors to cut the blood-stained shirt off Thomas. The bullet was positioned very close to the heart, and if not careful, the heart would rupture. She sterilized the scalpel and removed the bullet. Even a hardened man like Thomas woke up in pain the moment the scalpel cut deep into his flesh. He glared at the little girl who had moved the knife on him, "Who are you? Do you want to die?" Sophia hadn't expected Thomas to wake up at this point, but with the flesh cut alive, he was probably about as good as dead if he couldn't wake up. "Don't move if you don't want to die." Sophia didn't bother with him, didn't want to talk to him, and planned to continue the surgery. "Hmm..." The pain of the flesh being sliced through made Thomas grunt, yet that was all it was, and he stiffly didn't grunt a single time for the rest of the procedure. Thomas held on until the end of the surgery before passing out. "Good willpower." To be able to watch her surgery awake without anesthesia, the man's willpower was indeed perverse. She pulled out a cell phone from the man's pocket and edited a text message looking for a name that looked good to her and sent it. Packing up everything in the lab before she carried her backpack, she didn't look at the man for more than a second and simply walked away. Francisco received a text from Thomas and immediately rushed to the NYU medical lab. Seeing Thomas lying on the autopsy bed, Francisco froze. Who didn't want to live? Do they know who was lying on the autopsy bed? It was Thomas Ryan, the young master of the Ryan family in Los Angeles! And by this time, Thomas had woken up and saw Francisco, who had arrived. "Mr. Ryan, who doesn't want to live?" Who had the nerve? Thomas was an existence that no one dared to mess with in Los Angeles. Thomas swept a glance at the chattering Francisco. "Mr. Ryan, who got you here?" From when he learned of Thomas' disappearance until now, Francisco was literally in a cold sweat. If this young master on the autopsy bed died, there would be no telling how many people in L.A. would have to be buried with him! At that moment, he was made to look like that. Francisco was curious as to what the other guy was all about. "The other side is mercenaries this time and they can't wait to get me killed. Find out who saved me tonight."