"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.