Chapter 4: WuYi's last call
Faced with his two teammates looking at him with a complex gaze and wasn’t speaking, Nie Xiao was still expressionless as he let the little hamster on the phone greet the two teammates as usual.
This casual attitude showed the majesty of their captain.
If they didn’t know the inside story, Wu Wenqi and Xiao Yan would’ve certainly been fooled by this look.
“Boss, you continue talking. I’ll take a shower first.” Xiao Yan didn’t disturb Nie Xiao’s hamster sniffing. She removed her scarf and coat and walked straight into a room.
This time, the hotel they booked was a luxurious suite with a room for each of them.
Wu Wenqi also felt sticky and smelly from the travel, so after putting down his luggage and greeting Nie Xiao, he also went to tidy himself up. After a long night, stubble had grown all over his jaw.
“I’m going.”
Nie Xiao nodded slightly and indifferently walked to the window with his mobile phone then live-streamed the snow-covered white world to the little hamster at the other end.
Looking at the little guy’s small round eyes appearing shocked, Nie Xiao lightly chuckled with affection. “Daddy didn’t lie to you. You would’ve frozen into a small ice sculpture if you had followed here.”
“Chi!” Daddy should keep warm, oh!
Although Nie Xiao couldn’t understand what the little guy said, it didn’t prevent him from feeling his deep concern. He continued to chat with the little hamster, which, as usual, could also be seen as talking to himself.
After he finished tidying up, Wu Wenqi walked out of the room and saw that Nie Xiao wasn’t finished yet. He couldn’t help but talk quietly with Xiao Yan, “If the boss gets married and has children, he would be a silly father. He would raise his son like he raised WuYi.”
Xiao Yan glanced up and down at Wu Wenqi with disdain. “I think it’s much better for you to be a sister.”
Wu Wenqi: “……”
Seeing that both teammates had come out, Nie Xiao finally stopped “talking to himself” and said goodbye to the reluctant little hamster, and ended the call.
Wu Wenqi took the heavy backpack Xiao Yan brought and dumped out a bunch of disassembled guns and ammo. The three of them sat together and finished assembling all the weapons in under 3 to 5 minutes.
“I don’t think these guys will be needed for this mission.” Wu Wenqi wiped down the cold gun in his hand and loaded it with bullets.
“It’s better to bring it than have nothing.”
Xiao Yan said casually as if the weapons she had brought across half of China were just some souvenirs. “However, I didn’t bring Ning Feng’s “baby eggs”. This isn’t that big of a region; there’s no need to make such a big move.”
“Then he’s really going to have a holiday ski,” Wu Wenqi couldn’t help but utter, “but it’s guaranteed that even if you don’t bring them, he wouldn’t be able to stop his hands from itching to do strange and weird things to replace them, so even if there’s no equipment, he can still make a big move for you.”
“Then let’s go out and take a stroll later.” A smile flashed across Nie Xiao’s eyes. “Don’t give the little maniac a chance to make trouble.”
“We’re really not waiting anymore? Haha, that won’t hold him back, he said to do it quickly, but he was exactly the one who came up with most of the mission’s estimates!” Wu Wenqi smiled indifferently.
On the side, Xiao Yan thought of Ning Feng’s hair looking like it had been bombed, and her eyes couldn’t help but curve.
***
On the other side, at the Beijing Airport transfers to Harbin Airport, a certain “little egg-making expert” suddenly sneezed while following Duan Wenyu, who was lining up to prepare for boarding.
“Wu Wenqi must be spouting bad things about me again.” Ning Feng huffed.
Duan Wenyu heard the words and couldn’t help but smile in response. “Then, you have to reflect on yourself more.”
***
In the afternoon, at Mohe Township.
Nie Xiao and the other two took a short break after eating lunch in the hotel before going out together. Although Duan Wenyu and Ning Feng had not arrived yet, that did not prevent them from beginning to find traces of the mission target in advance.
The three disguised themselves, and at first glance, they looked like any ordinary holiday tourist group consisting of two handsome men and a beautiful woman.
In terms of finding people, Duan WenYu was a lot better, but Mohe isn’t a particularly large area, and there aren’t many local residents. If the police wanted to catch any wanted criminals, they could not avoid creating a commotion.
In fact, even before Nie Xiao could inquire about the situation, it was directly presented to him.
A police car with a roaring siren passed by, and pedestrians and travelers couldn’t help but look over. In the face of this urgently dispatched police force, Nie Xiao glanced in their direction and knew they had to take a look.
In order to avoid attracting attention, Nie Xiao and the others deliberately drove the car in circles before getting off at a nearby farmhouse. Afterward, they quietly shook off people’s eyes and entered a police-barricaded snow-covered forest from another direction.
From a distance, Wu Wenqi found a slightly higher location and concealed himself; he took out his binoculars and looked at the place where the siren sounds were coming from.
The red stains on the snow were quite conspicuous.
“Tch, it was probably a tour group.”
Nie Xiao also looked at the incident with binoculars, his brows furrowing tightly. Because of the broken limbs, it was impossible to tell who is who, and it was so far away, but it seemed that he could already smell the fishy and rusty scent of the blood that was saturating the snow.
A younger policeman on the side seemed unable to bear such a hellish scene and was leaning on a tree. He kept on vomiting, while the older policeman that was with him didn’t look good either.
Such a big case occurred in a small place like this border zone; almost no one would’ve thought about such a thing happening.
“That wouldn’t be our dried fish, right?” Xiao Yan couldn’t help guessing, and then said calmly, “I reckon that such a large murder case would cause the whole city to be under martial law.”
“The tactic is too arrogant. He actually dared to kill so many people in broad daylight.” Knowing that Wu Wenqi’s beast-like intuition has always been accurate, Xiao Yan caught the point and said, “It’s too unlikely for another murderer that pervertedly kills just like our target to appear in such a small local area. The probability is that it’s the same person; how incredibly insane, it’s really a pity.”
Nie Xiao also nodded, looked up at the sky, and said, “Wait until it gets dark. Then we’ll move and take a closer look to see what specific method was used to kill these people. So many bodies have been torn apart, except for wild animals, ordinary people wouldn’t be able to do this barehanded.”
Listening to Nie Xiao saying this, Wu Wenqi and Xiao Yan subconsciously touched their guns and became alert.
Fortunately, night comes earlier in February, so it didn’t take long for the sky to darken. As the three of them walked stealthily through the dark and quiet snow-covered forest, there was a very low-pitched conversation.
“It seems that it’s clear of rain tonight, huh.” Wu Wenqi looked at the stars in the sky, then at the footprints left on the snow, and couldn’t help but complain about the troublesome work afterward.
The three people sneaked into the scene like ghosts, and the police outside who were blocking the scene and patrolling with lights in a circle found no clue.
A young police officer on guard was shivering from the frigid wind and could not help talking to the senior beside him to help relieve the cold’s chilling atmosphere, “Brother Wang, are you afraid? I, myself, dare not look back at the scene even now. I thought that if I stayed in a small place like ours, it wouldn’t be possible to encounter such a major case in my lifetime.”
“Brother Wang? Brother Wang, don’t stand there and take a nap!”
The young police officer couldn’t get a reply, so he couldn’t help but walk over and try to push his senior, whispering, “It’s too cold to sleep upright like a stick during such a cold day.”
However, before his hand could even touch the person, Brother Wang abruptly opened his eyes. His black eyeballs scared the little policeman, causing the little policeman to speak in retort, “So you didn’t fall asleep. I was talking to you, why didn’t you answer!”
The young police officer didn’t realize that there was something wrong and turned to prepare to return to his original post, but at this moment, a violent force hit his back and threw him onto the snow, causing him to roll on the ground until he saw golden stars.
The little policeman had no time to cry out because when he turned his head, he was facing a pair of lifeless eyes that had black pupils glowing with a strange light, and a mouth containing pale blue fangs bit straight at him.
“Aaah!—”
A wailing scream cut through the silent night sky, and then, chaotic footsteps and loud shouts could clearly be heard from outside the circle of policemen with the beams from their flashlights waving around.
In the forest, Nie Xiao, who had already found some clues with the others, was not looking very good at this time. Hearing the screams from outside, he suddenly became alert and hid his body behind a big tree.
“What’s the situation?”
Wu Wenqi’s voice was extremely low as the words passed through the headset.
Xiao Yan suddenly felt a little sick; her face and lips were becoming pale, her arms clenched tightly together, and her voice was weak and came out in gasps. “Wenqi, Boss, I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m suddenly feeling a bit cold.”
Nie Xiao looked back instantly and turned to look at Xiao Yan’s pale and weak appearance as he heard the word “bite” from time to time outside, while a very bad hunch suddenly took place in his heart.
He doesn’t know why, but he intuitively felt danger.
Wu Wenqi had a serious expression and couldn’t help looking at Nie Xiao. Both men with beast-like intuition suddenly reached an unexpected agreement on the situation.
“Withdraw first.”
As soon as the words fell, Wu Wenqi picked up Xiao Yan and retreated. Nie Xiao frowned deeply and finally stopped looking in the direction of the chaotic area. He was one step behind the rest and returned the same way.
The trail they left behind was erased as if it was never there in the first place.
***
At 10 o’clock in the evening, Harbin Airport.
In the airport’s medical office, Duan Wenyu made a helpless expression as he was guarding Ning Feng, who suddenly had a high fever. “Say, you usually jump up and down like a small iron cow, how can you suddenly get sick!”
“I’m thirsty.”
Ning Feng lay limply without even the strength to pour water for himself. After all, he was just like any other teenager who seemed fragile and well-behaved when they got sick.
“I’m about to die, so uncomfortable.”
“Nonsense.”
Duan Wenyu listened to his nonsense and couldn’t help patting Ning Feng’s head before he got up to pour some hot water to serve the little ancestor.
If it weren’t for his sudden high fever before boarding, the two would already be on the flight from Harbin to Mohe Gulian Airport, ready to meet with Nie Xiao in less than a few hours, but it’s a pity that the plan will never catch up with changes.
Duan Wenyu made Ning Feng drink some water and sat beside the hospital bed. It was better to do something while he’s idle. He took out his laptop and went to check the position of the mission target.
However, this investigation revealed the incident instead.
***
Yuncheng, Fengshan villa area.
A small milk-tea-colored dumpling was sitting on the bay window’s velvet blanket holding some nuts, occasionally glancing at the electronic screen next to it as he looked up at the stars in the sky, his little thoughts floating around.
Up the quiet night sky.
Even the stars look like Daddy.
The little hamster was sullen as he looked down. So late, why was Daddy not starting the video yet?