Chapter 393 - 184: Kill

Chapter 393: Chapter 184: Kill

The light from the campfire flickered in the night wind, illuminating four faces, each with a different expression.

They had just escaped. They’d found the blade Xu Mo had left behind. The one with the loosest bonds had felt it first, cut his ropes, and then freed the others.

Now, the four of them sat around the fire, but the atmosphere was even more oppressive than when they had been tied up.

"I can’t let this go."

The speaker was the first one who had woken up, a young man named Chen Hu. He was twenty-three or twenty-four and the youngest member of the Qinglin Town patrol team. Red marks from the ropes still circled his wrists, and the spot on the back of his neck where he’d been chopped still throbbed with a dull pain.

With every throb of pain, his anger flared higher.

"You’ll have to, whether you like it or not," replied the oldest of the group, a man named Old Qi. He was in his early forties, with an old scar that ran from his brow bone to his cheek. He was the most experienced of the four, and the one who had spoken the most with Xu Mo earlier.

"He let us go and even left a blade so we could get free. He’s not the type to slaughter the innocent."

"Let us go?" Chen Hu shot to his feet, his voice cracking. "Was that letting us go? He knocked us out and tied us up! Old Qi, are you out of your mind? We get beaten up, tied up on the ground, and then the guy deigns to leave us a blade, and you’re suddenly grateful?"

Old Qi frowned. "I’m not grateful. I’m just saying..."

"Saying what?" another man, Da Liu, cut him off. "That he had his reasons? That he was framed? Old Qi, did you see those four bodies with your own eyes? I didn’t, but Old Zheng did! Old Zheng saw him standing right next to the bodies, a gun in his hand!"

"Old Zheng only saw him standing next to the bodies," Old Qi’s voice was heavy. "He didn’t see him pull the trigger."

"What’s the difference?" Chen Hu sneered. "Four bodies, one living person with a gun in his hand. If he didn’t kill them, who did? Did the four of them just stab each other to death?"

Old Qi fell silent.

It wasn’t that he had nothing to say, but he knew that in this emotional state, words were useless. Chen Hu and Da Liu were blinded by anger, and although the young man named Kun hadn’t spoken, his expression showed he was on their side.

"Well, I’m going after him," Chen Hu said as he began checking his gun. "The roads are bad in the dark, so he can’t be driving fast. We know the terrain; we can take a shortcut and cut him off."

Da Liu stood up with him. "Right. No taking him alive this time. The captain said to capture him, but the captain doesn’t know how dangerous this guy is. We’ll just open fire. Drop him first and sort it out later."

"You guys..." Old Qi started to say.

"Old Qi." Chen Hu turned his head and stared into his eyes. "Don’t tell me you’re scared."

The words were like a thorn plunging into Old Qi’s heart.

Old Qi was silent for a few seconds, then slowly got to his feet. He didn’t look at Chen Hu. Instead, he stared at the fire, the flickering light casting his facial scar into deeper relief.

"I’m not scared," he said. "I just think we should head back and report first."

"Report?" Da Liu scoffed. "By the time we’re done reporting, it’ll be dawn, and he’ll be long gone. Old Qi, if you want to go back, go back. We won’t stop you. But don’t expect us to be cowards with you."

Old Qi looked up at the three men before him.

Chen Hu’s face was filled with fury, Da Liu’s with disdain, and Kun’s eyes were dark and somber.

He opened his mouth to say something but ended up just sighing.

"Fine," Old Qi said. "You go after him, and I’ll go back to report. But I have to say one thing..."

"Save it," Chen Hu interrupted. "Keep your high-and-mighty principles for the captain."

Old Qi nodded, said no more, and started walking in the direction of Qinglin Town.

After about a dozen steps, Old Qi glanced back. The other three were already in the vehicle, the roar of its engine piercing the night.

Old Qi stood his ground, watching the vehicle’s taillights disappear into the darkness, an indescribable unease settling in his heart.

’Is that man really a monster who slaughters the innocent, just like Chen Hu and the others said?’

He recalled the man’s eyes from when he was tied up. There was no madness or bloodlust in them, only a strange, unsettling calm. And the words he’d said— "If I killed the four of you right now and buried your bodies, would that be the same as me not having killed you?"

It sounded like sophistry, but upon reflection, it was hard to refute.

But it was pointless to think about it now. Old Qi shook his head and continued toward Qinglin Town. The only thing he could do was report back as quickly as possible. As for Chen Hu and the others... ’I hope they’ll be okay.’

...

Xu Mo drove the car, moving slowly through the night.

He didn’t turn on the headlights. Turning them on would be like broadcasting his location. Especially after just making enemies, driving through the wilderness with your lights on was just asking to be a living target.

Fortunately, there were stars out tonight, so it wasn’t completely dark. His own vision was good enough to make out the general road conditions in the gloom; he just had to drive slowly.

It had been almost an hour since he’d left the earthen slope. Xu Mo figured the four men must have escaped by now. He’d left the blade right where he had been standing. As long as they weren’t blind, they would definitely find it.

’I just wonder what they’ll do next. Will they give up the chase, or will they keep coming?’

Xu Mo didn’t know, but he hoped it was the former. He had said what needed to be said and had given them an out. If those four had any sense, they would go back and investigate instead of relentlessly pursuing him, the supposed villain.