"Oh heavens, I am in such pain!"
Huai Shi looked up to the sky and let out a mournful scream, bursting into tears, the tears streaming down uncontrollably… At the same time, two hoarse cries of grief rose stubbornly:
"Juan'er, daddy is sorry!"
"Mother, your son is unfilial and cannot be at your side in your last moments…"
Under this effect, similar to Tear Gas, the two burly men who had barged into the house were crying so hard their noses and tears were about to flow out.
In the midst of their weeping, the three men looked at each other. They seemingly felt the world was so cruel, and they were so alone. At that moment, a feeling of empathy seemed to arise in their hearts... Fat chance!
Even if one's mother had died, one's daughter was lost, or one had bad luck all their life, the work that needed to be done still had to be carried out, and the tasks that were supposed to be completed were still unfinished.
Wiping away the tears and snot, the two weeping strong men suddenly pounced forward, and the three of them started grappling with each other. Crying, they pulled at each other's hair, slapped faces, kicked at the lower body, and twisted little fingers – like chickens pecking at each other.
Crying and crying, Huai Shi really started to cry.
It hurt like hell.
"Damn it, be gentle!"
He cried out as he punched one of the men in the face, hitting him in the eye. The man's tear-stained, scarred face lifted and he suddenly bit into Huai Shi's arm. The other man took the chance to grab Huai Shi's hair and began pummeling him senselessly while crying.
"Old Six, kill him!" The man under Huai Shi, who was getting fiercely beaten, cried out between sobs, "Kill him!"
Old Six, behind Huai Shi, responded with a sob. He then forcefully punched Huai Shi on the back of the head. Huai Shi's vision went black, and he was knocked to the ground.
Then, in the corner of his eye, Huai Shi saw Old Six pull out a sawed-off Shotgun and aim it at his face.
With tears streaming and still sobbing, Old Six took aim, disengaged the safety, and placed his finger on the trigger.
Huai Shi only heard a muffled BANG.
Then he saw Old Six's head explode.
For a moment, hard, soft, red, and white matter rained down like a shower, with a few drops even landing on Huai Shi's face, startling him so much he couldn't cry anymore.
As the headless body slowly fell, he finally saw the Teenage Girl standing at the top of the stairs.
Ai Qing leaned against the wall with one hand on her cane, the dust on the banister and walls rubbing gray marks on her white dress.
And in the other hand that hung down, she held a gun.
Wisps of gun smoke were faintly rising from the barrel.
"You took the bait so quickly."
She looked at the man struggling under Huai Shi and then cleared the staircase entrance. "Leave one alive."
Behind her on the stairs, Liu Dongli walked up with a complicated expression, glanced deeply at Ai Qing next to him, and couldn't help but feel a chill run down his spine.
He never expected that Ai Qing's confidence would be in Huai Shi.
On the way here, led by Ai Qing, he finally understood what was going on: everyone thought that after attacking the police station, the criminal would take the Border Relic and disappear to avoid drawing attention.
But Ai Qing had a different opinion. Her reasoning was based on the several newly discovered bodies from yesterday morning—though equally horrific, they showed signs of torture and abuse.
They had suffered great pain before dying.
Under the cover of so many gruesome deaths, this clue was overlooked by most people.
But looking at the other bodies, it was clear that although the murderer's killing methods were cruel, they were swift and efficient, never dragging their feet or wasting time on irrelevant matters.
Even if they had a strong sadistic streak, they wouldn't waste time here. Sublimators aren't invincible, especially in a harsh refuge like Current Circumstances. Even those with High Stage Stigmata can't do whatever they want.
If they left clues that led the Astronomical Society to track them, it would certainly end badly.
But if the box was all they were after, and they'd found it, why bother torturing others?
Weren't there enough bodies already?
An internal purge? Eliminating dissidents? Assigning blame? Or were these simply two unrelated cases?
Then, among the countless guesses, there might exist a possibility close to the truth:
—They hadn't found what they were looking for.
Apart from the Border Relic in the box, they had lost something else as well. Therefore, even if they retrieved the box, they would not stop.
If that was the case, then among their next targets, there might be one person...
The one who reported it, the first person to discover the box: Huai Shi...
With only such a useless card in hand, it was amazing this woman dared to play so big, calling all-in in front of everyone. What was more terrifying was that she actually pulled it off.
Originally, Liu Dongli thought Huai Shi was let off lightly because Ai Qing, considering their childhood friendship, had gone easy on him. Now, however, it seemed this woman truly lacked any humanity...
And thinking that his own leverage was in the hands of such a person made Liu Dongli's heart grow even colder.
Now that Ai Qing had issued an order, he dared not make excuses to slack off anymore. He sighed, flicked his hair back, lifted his eyes, and looked towards the corridor floor where the two men were crying, struggling, and tangled together.
"—Room check! IDs out!"
As soon as Liu Dongli started posturing, Huai Shi had a bad feeling. Now that Liu Dongli was repeating his old tricks, there was no way Huai Shi would fall for it again. He immediately turned his head, squeezing his eyes shut as tight as possible.
Even if killed, he didn't want to lose face like last time.
But the man, unaware of this, lifted his head in astonishment and looked over.
In the darkness of his tightly closed eyes, Huai Shi suddenly heard strange, rasping sounds, and the force pulling at him abruptly let go.
It seemed like the person was rolling around on the ground.
In confusion, Huai Shi cautiously opened his eyes a slit. He looked down at the man, only to see him staring blankly towards the staircase behind Huai Shi. The man was scratching his throat as though unable to breathe, his face turning blue and purple.
But his expression was not one of despair; rather, it was filled with surprise and admiration...
Good heavens, what kind of divine technique is this?
Huai Shi's heart thoroughly chilled; he dared not look back and closed his eyes even tighter.
Huai Shi kept his eyes closed until he heard a THUD as the man fell to the ground, unconscious. Even as Liu Dongli came over, lifted the man, found a chair, and tied him up securely, Huai Shi remained with his eyes shut.
Only after he was certain of his safety did he breathe a sigh of relief. Although this newcomer, Liu Dongli, had barged in uninvited much like the two bandits, Huai Shi still offered a polite word of thanks for the rescue.
Finally, he looked at Ai Qing, who had just boldly fired her gun to save his life, only to find that her gaze upon him was rather strange.
In his confusion, he heard Ai Qing sigh.
"Huai Shi, long time no see."
"...Uh."
Huai Shi was stunned for a while and couldn't help scratching his head, asking awkwardly, "Sorry, who are you?"
"..."
In the prolonged silence, Liu Dongli, standing beside them, couldn't hold back and chuckled, turning his head away.
But Ai Qing remained expressionless, her finger merely pulling back the hammer of the gun once again.
"Hey, long time no see!"
Under the terrifying pressure of imminent death, Huai Shi quickly slapped his forehead as if he had an epiphany. "Look at my memory, now I remember!"
"Oh?" Ai Qing slightly raised her eyebrows, lifting the gun barrel an inch. "Then tell me, who am I?"
"Aren't you that... that..."
Huai Shi's face turned green with fright, yet he couldn't for the life of him recall where he had seen such a pretty, cane-wielding lady.
Seeming to lose patience with him, Ai Qing simply used her cane to walk past him. She directed Liu Dongli to lift the guy on the chair, find a more spacious place to set him down, and then doused him with a basin of water, startling him awake from his faint.
My floor...
Looking at the large damp patch on the floor soaked with water, Huai Shi's eye twitched, but he wisely chose not to speak.
Never mind what kind of weirdos these two are. The sooner they finish, the sooner they leave. Just as long as they don't kill anyone else in my house.
And precisely when he needed it most, that damn Raven had vanished without a trace...
The man's eyes flew open, and he saw Liu Dongli in front of him.
Liu Dongli had already smoothed back his hair. He leaned in close, stared into the man's eyes, and in an instant, activated his eerie Ability.
The man fell into a stupor, mumbling 'oh-ho' continuously to Liu Dongli, drool trickling down his chin.
But Liu Dongli's expression suddenly turned to one of disappointment, as if he had discovered something.
"It won't work; he has no more Source Substance."
He turned his head to look at Ai Qing and shook his head. "This guy's mind is probably long gone. He's just a drained walking corpse; we won't get anything out of him."
Ai Qing's expression also darkened.
"Ask first—"
After a while, she spoke, "If we can't get an answer, we'll deal with it then."
Liu Dongli nodded reluctantly and turned back to ask, "Name?"
"Zhao Baozhu."
The man was grinning foolishly, looking at Liu Dongli. "Young man, you're so handsome, awfully dashing; I really like you..."
As he spoke, froth began bubbling up from his mouth.
He trembled violently, the chair he was bound to emitting sharp squeaking noises, the ropes nearly snapping.
Liu Dongli's face changed.
And then everyone heard the crisp sounds coming from within his body, CRACK, CRACK, CRACK, like snapping strings.
Yet Zhao Baozhu's expression became ever more frenzied and joyful.
"Yi— I'm going to heaven!" He was grinning widely, laughing. "The Heavenly Father is coming for me... Seventy-two Angels, as handsome as you, young man, are coming... coming to take me..."
In his hoarse shouts, the man convulsed violently, blue smoke rising from his mouth and nostrils. Then, flames quickly erupted, burning through his flesh and bones and raging fiercely.
In the blink of an eye, his whole body was consumed by fire.
He was reduced to a pile of ash mixed with fragments of bone, yet the ropes and chair that bound him remained undamaged, stained only by a dark scorch mark.
"HISS!"
Huai Shi took a step back instinctively, his scalp tingling at the sight.
Liu Dongli rubbed his face, shaking his head and sighing. "The lead's gone cold again..."
But Ai Qing's expression remained indifferent. After a long silence, she finally spoke, "Not necessarily."
"Hm?" Liu Dongli didn't understand, but he saw Ai Qing looking toward Huai Shi.
"He is still alive," Ai Qing said, sizing up the astounded Huai Shi. "Although I don't know why those people wanted to kill him, as long as this bait is here, I should be able to catch their trails."
"You want me dead!"
By now, Huai Shi could clearly understand her cunning plan and became furious. "There's still half a month of summer vacation left, and I'm still short four thousand for living expenses! Since I'm going to die anyway, I might as well die poor!"
"Really?"
Ai Qing cut him off, raising the object in her hand and showing him the dark muzzle of the gun.
"Huh? So this is your whole routine, huh?"
Huai Shi was scared enough to keep leaning back but still retorted staunchly, "I, Huai Shi, even if you shoot me dead today, or if I jump from this place, I will never..."
Just as he was about to express his unyielding spirit, he saw Ai Qing lift another item—her phone.
On the screen, the bank balance showed a long string of zeros, more than Huai Shi could count.
"—All for one, and one for all!"
Huai Shi enthusiastically patted his chest, speaking with solemn integrity, "Cooperating with the government investigation is the inescapable responsibility of every Dongxia citizen! Please do not spare me for being a delicate flower. Come on, Davarish, what's your game?"