stonecrandall 21: Murder, the Mysterious Woman's Smile
21: Murder, the Mysterious Woman's Smile
The baseball bat came crashing down with a whoosh, and the man swinging the bat almost grinned wildly with satisfaction!
Become!
But the next second, the solid impact he expected didn't come—Su Chen suddenly leaned back in a flash, narrowly avoiding the blow that could have knocked someone unconscious!
Bang!
The stick eventually hit its target, but it struck Su Chen's hastily raised left arm!
Su Chen has always had quick reflexes; in the past, when playing games, he could even dodge Nidalee's Q without any vision.
In reality, however, the body ultimately couldn't keep up with the limits of consciousness, and was still a step behind.
My left forearm took a solid hit from the blow; with a dull thud, excruciating pain exploded!
Su Chen felt a sudden, sharp pain that made his vision go black, cold sweat poured out, and veins throbbed on his forehead.
The pain was like my bones were cracking, and my entire arm went numb and I couldn't use any strength.
He staggered backward, his right hand instinctively reaching for his waist.
The two people who had been standing at the end of the path to distract him now rushed up quickly and were about to pounce on him!
wow——
The gleaming Nepalese kukri was now in Su Chen's right hand.
His face was so gloomy it looked like it could drip water.
The three men who rushed forward were taken aback by his posture and the long sword in his hand, and they all stopped in their tracks, not daring to go forward immediately.
His left arm was throbbing with pain and numbness, but Su Chen pretended to be fine, putting his left hand behind his back and secretly groping for the gun handle with his fingers. Holding the knife in his right hand, he didn't retreat; instead, his face darkened, he took a step forward!
This one move made the three opponents visibly shrink back.
The two men with the fruit knives even unconsciously took a half-step back.
No wonder they were scared—they only had two fruit knives, which were fine for cutting fruit, but if they really wanted to kill someone? They probably couldn't even cut the bones, let alone kill someone.
But what about the Nepalese kukri in Su Chen's hand? It's a notoriously ruthless weapon, with a sharp and tough blade that can easily cut through bones if you have enough strength.
If Su Chen had swung his knife instead of that stick, his left arm would probably have been severed long ago. Instead, it's just a sharp pain and numbness, at least it's still connected to his body.
But it was precisely this excruciating pain that ignited a fire within Su Chen. He stared intently at the man with the baseball bat.
The other person's face was covered, but just by looking at their eyebrows and eyes, Su Chen vaguely remembered them—wasn't this one of the guys who had been eyeing him greedily in the crowd when he returned from his exploration that day?
Looking at the two people in front of him, Su Chen recognized them both; they were from that group of "good neighbors" back then.
The violence came suddenly, and the standoff lasted only a moment.
Su Chen didn't actually strike with the knife when he took that step forward, and his tense aura gradually relaxed.
The group of men were panting heavily, their eyes fixed intently on each other.
Why?
Su Chen still asked, his voice cold.
"I was the first member of the exploration team to return. You all saw it back then; I didn't bring much with me at all."
It seems that returning in front of everyone that day ultimately sowed the seeds of disaster.
"Why are you pretending to be stupid?"
The short man with the fruit knife spat, revealing a mouthful of yellow teeth. "We've been watching you for two days. You live alone in apartment 1802 of building 2, right? When you came back from outside, your backpack was bulging, and you were carrying something in your hands—what was all that? Canned food? Cookies?"
Su Chen's heart sank.
They not only kept an eye on him, but they also found out where he lived.
"Heh heh, don't be so selfish, kid." The masked man brandished his baseball bat and sneered, "Good stuff brought back should be shared among everyone, how about we get a share?"
"Exactly," said another burly man with a fruit knife, while reaching for his lower back with his left hand and pulling out a kitchen knife. He grinned maliciously, "Brother, how about you take us to your house for a look, let us see what you've got and satisfy our curiosity? What do you say?"
A fire suddenly ignited in Su Chen's heart.
He risked his life to bring back those supplies!
Not to mention that trip with the exploration team, during which he was tricked and kicked.
He almost lost his life while exploring, and now he's going to be robbed when he comes back?
His voice grew even colder: "What do you plan to do if I don't give it to you? Kill me? Aren't you afraid of the Order Squad?"
"Hahaha!" the baseball bat man laughed hoarsely. "Kill you, and the loot is ours, including the stock in your house. In this world, who cares about losing a person?"
indeed.
Su Chen recalled that the total number of people in the community seemed to be quietly decreasing over the past two days.
Some people said they went out to explore and never returned. He was initially skeptical, but now it seems that many people have probably died silently in some corner like this.
A thought struck him, and he deliberately said, "You've been so secretive; ultimately, you're afraid of the Order Squad, aren't you?"
The short man grew impatient and stepped forward: "Kid, don't expect that guy surnamed Chen to come and save you! Even if you die, no one will avenge you! Everyone's busy!"
"Damn it, Lao Lu, shut up!" the burly man growled. "This kid's trying to trick you into talking!"
The man with the baseball bat stopped talking nonsense, stepped forward with a cold smile, and swung the bat a couple of times as if testing his feel for it: "Damn, still trying to pull tricks? You're about to die and you still..."
His words came to an abrupt end.
Because Su Chen's right hand had been raised at some point, and what he was holding was no longer a military knife, but a black pistol.
The muzzle was fitted with a makeshift silencer made from a cola bottle and cotton.
The bullets were already loaded; he was ready.
"No...don't shoot!" The man with the baseball bat froze instantly, his voice trembling. "Big brother, spare me! I'm sorry, please let me go! I have elderly parents and young children to support, I'm just too hungry to take it anymore..."
"Please..."
The other two men were also deathly pale, and the knives in their hands clattered to the ground.
Su Chen's face was icy cold. He quickly released the safety and aimed the crosshair forward.
Without hesitation, without wasting words.
boom! boom! boom!
Three muffled thuds, short and crisp.
He didn't even give the three men time to kneel and beg for mercy before ending it all.
Looking at the three corpses lying on the ground, Su Chen felt unusually calm.
From the moment he received that blow, he harbored murderous intent.
The questions I asked earlier were simply to probe the current living conditions in the neighborhood.
Judging from their answers, the Order Group has at least not been involved in this kind of murder and robbery.
The situation in the neighborhood doesn't seem to have deteriorated to the core yet.
but……
Su Chen looked down at the gun in his hand.
This is the overwhelming superiority of modern weapons over cold weapons.
With a flick of a finger, life or death is decided instantly.
He killed someone, but he didn't feel disgusted or nauseous like in novels. Instead, he felt a bit annoyed—he hadn't drawn his gun fast enough.
We cannot stay here for long.
Although the gunshots were muffled, it's hard to guarantee that no one heard them.
He quickly put away his gun, walked over to the body, squatted down, and searched the person.
The man with the baseball bat had a crumpled cigarette case with three cigarettes left inside; a set of keys with a community access card hanging on it; and half a compressed biscuit that was crushed and deformed.
Besides the fruit knife, the burly man with the cleaver only had a few dirty banknotes and a plastic lighter.
The shortest man was the poorest, with only half a bottle of water. But after digging to the bottom, Su Chen pulled out a folded piece of paper with a few lines of writing crookedly on it in ballpoint pen:
"7-302 (Living alone, available)"
9-401 (An elderly woman, possibly storing food)
The back window of the security room (Old Li, on the night shift, was fast asleep)
Is this... a prey list?
Damn, they're pretty skilled at their job.
Su Chen took out all three of their keys.
After thinking about it, he decided to raid their homes.
They tried to copy me first, so they have to copy me back!
He laboriously dragged the three bodies into the nearby green belt with his right hand and hastily covered them with tree branches.
With his left arm injured, he couldn't treat it any more meticulously and could only hope that it wouldn't be discovered too quickly.
After doing all that, waves of pain shot through his left arm. He rolled up his sleeve and looked down; sure enough, a large patch of dark purple bruises covered his forearm, swollen quite badly.
These kinds of sprains and bruises are the most painful and slow to heal.
He gently pressed the wound with his right hand and immediately gasped in pain.
"hiss--!"
"How should I treat this injury? Should I apply ice or rub some liniment to loosen the bruise?... It really hurts!"
He grimaced as he supported his left arm with his right hand, gently massaging it as he walked out of the path.
As soon as he arrived at the main road of the residential area, he suddenly felt a gaze fall on him.
I looked up.
From behind a window of a building next door, a woman was seen looking in this direction with binoculars.
Upon noticing Su Chen looking over, she actually put down her binoculars and, from a distance, gave him a clear smile.