Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-Pierce, Proofreader-adjective
Mo Tiangen didn’t understand what was going on, but he felt that the rope’s shaking was unusually intense. Fearing that something might have happened to Ji Xiao’niao below, he quickly wrapped the rope around his forearm a few times, tightly grasped it, and then pulled it with all his strength.
With this effort, Teacher Dagen immediately sensed something abnormal.
It was heavy, really too heavy.
Ji Xiao’niao was a young male with a slender and well-proportioned figure. Even though his body fat percentage was low due to regular exercise and had a higher proportion of muscles, his actual weight was slightly heavier than it appeared. However, Mo Tiangen, who specialized in strength enhancement, even without using special abilities, could easily lift Ji Xiao’niao off the ground with just one hand.
Not to mention that at this moment, Ji Xiao’niao was still in the water, and the water had buoyancy. When pulling, it should be even easier than on land.
But in reality, when Mo Tiangen exerted force just now, he couldn’t move even a bit.
It was like the other end of the rope was tied to a bag of solid iron, not a person.
——Could he be tangled in seaweed?
——Or stuck in the mud?
Having an imagination like a duck out of the water, Mo Tiangen made a guess.
So he took a deep breath and pulled hard.
With a loud splash, he was able to pull up the rope, and then a figure emerged from the water—it was Ji Xiao’niao, who had been in the water for over a minute!
Under the moonlight, Ji Dong’s lips were pale, his eyes bloodshot. As soon as his head surfaced, he coughed and gasped for air, looking like he had been holding his breath for a while.
“Ji Xiao’niao, are you okay?”
Mo Tiangen quickly pulled him out of the water.
However, when he pulled Ji Dong out of the river, he realized that the child wasn’t tied to the rope at all. The heavy rope remained in the water, stretched straight, and he had no idea what was tied at the other end.
“Xiao’niao, Brother Dagen, what are you two doing?!”
Fan Hemian—still stuck under the bridge—couldn’t help but speak up as she struggled to support herself.
“If you don’t come over soon, we’ll be chopped into pieces!”
Previously, the four of them had already tried it out. As long as everyone left the bridge area, the black figure with the knife would disappear without a trace. To not waste their previous efforts, they had to make sure that there was at least one person under the bridge at all times.
But the space under it was limited. It was a life-threatening task to evade a sharp, big machete in such a cramped environment.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Fortunately, the Fan siblings were twins and had grown up together, with a great bond between them.
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Just now, Fan Luming had to move to a corner to swap with his sister, almost getting cornered by the swinging machete.
Facing one dangerous situation after another, the two of them were now just hoping that Ji Dong and Mo Tiangen could hurry up and come over to swap them out, even if it was just to catch their breath.
At this moment, Ji Dong had just come ashore, gasping for breath and coughing, unable to even speak clearly.
Nonetheless, he still persevered to sit up, lunged forward, and grabbed onto the hemp rope hanging by the shore, pulling and tugging, as if trying hard to drag the rope out of the water.
However, the rope was wet and slippery, making it difficult to get a good grip. Plus, Ji Dong had been soaked in the water for too long. He felt dizzy; there was ringing in his ears, and his heart was pounding. Without catching his breath properly, when he pulled, the inertia caused him to fall to the ground, almost plunging back into the rushing river.
Mo Tiangen immediately hurried over and grabbed Ji Dong around the waist, shouting to the siblings, “Hold on! We’re coming right away!!”
Although Teacher Dagen didn’t know what Ji Xiao’niao was doing exactly, he believed that there must be a reason for him to drag the rope up. Without hesitation, he went up and started helping directly.
“Let’s go!”
Mo Tiangen clenched his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead. He tightened the hemp rope around his arms, kicked off his shoes and socks, and firmly planted his feet on the muddy and slippery riverbank. Taking three steps back, he finally managed to pull the heavy object tied to the rope out of the water, with each section coming out with a loud “thud”!
A tattered and worn-out giant woven bag fell onto the shore.
Ji Dong didn’t have time to think about it. He quickly rushed over and forcefully unzipped it.
Beneath the pale moonlight, the soaked woven bag suddenly unraveled with a “splash,” revealing its contents.
Inside was a pile of clothed-wrapped, equally pale, and scattered human bones, along with seven or eight pieces of bricks, steel rods as thick as two arms, and a rusty long machete.
At the same time as everything was exposed to everyone’s sight, the person holding the knife under the bridge stopped in their tracks.
It stood there motionless, turning its head towards Ji Dong and Mo Tiangen, its eyes cloudy and lifeless. But everyone felt that it was looking at the human bones inside the woven bag.
“Heh…”
The dark figure uttered its first words tonight, apart from humming a tune:
“Finally… someone has found me…”
After saying that, it closed its eyes, let out a satisfied sigh, and in a flash, it scattered into a pile of gray-black dust, dispersing with the slightest breeze.
———————————————
Ji Dong found the poker card “J” inside the rib cage of the skeleton.
Fan Luming, a trainee doctor, examined the pile of bones and found a rope tied around the neck bone, as well as the obvious sharp cut marks on various bone segments. It was concluded that this person was strangled to death and then dismembered with the machete.
The killer then put the body parts together with the murder weapon into a woven bag and threw them into the river.
To prevent the body from floating to the surface after decomposition, the perpetrator also put bricks, steel rods, and other heavy objects into the bag, ensuring that it would remain submerged.
A few people thought about it and believed that the deceased was probably a homeless person. For some unknown reason, they suffered a gruesome murder and dismemberment. No one noticed his disappearance, and no one made an effort to search for him.
He remained alone, immersed in the river water, feeling pain, cold, and hunger…
Perhaps, this victim never even thought about seeking revenge against the killer. All he wanted was to be liberated from this endless suffering, hoping that someone would find him.
Of course, even if this was just a [Film], Ji Dong and the others couldn’t just leave a pile of bones exposed on the riverbank.
Therefore, Fan Luming found the nearest payphone, made an anonymous call to 110, and then the four of them got into the car, stepped on the gas pedal, and left before the police arrived.
When they returned to the villa, it was 4:50 in the morning.
Ji Dong didn’t see the car that Ren Jianmo drove out in the yard, and the lights in the opposite villa were still off.
“Mr. Ren hasn’t come back yet…”
Fan Hemian glanced around and whispered.
Ji Dong was extremely worried. After entering the house, he wasn’t even in the mood to freshen up. He just changed into a comfortable home outfit and draped a towel over his head, his wet hair emitting a fishy smell. He leaned against the window, waiting anxiously.
About 20 minutes later, the lights outside the villa lit up again.
Ji Xiao’niao caught sight of the red mark on the car immediately and jumped, “Mr. Ren is back!”
Before he could even finish speaking, he had already leaped from the window to the entrance hall, opened the door, and rushed out.
So when Ren Jianmo got out of the car, he saw Ji Dong standing in front of him. Ji Dong was wearing home clothes, dragging the slippers on his feet, with a towel hanging around his neck, and his half-wet messy hair sticking out in all directions.
The two of them locked eyes and were both stunned, then simultaneously asked:
“Did you fall into the water?”
“Did you fall into a coal pile?”
After asking, they were both stunned again and then shook their heads with a bitter smile together.
“I never expected to see you in such a disheveled state.”
Ji Dong laughed and tugged at Ren Jianmo’s sleeve, gesturing for him to come inside to talk. As his hand touched Ren Jianmo’s cuff, it got smudged with black.
Ren Jianmo’s current appearance was drastically different from usual.
He was covered in black coal dust and brown soil from head to toe, looking dusty and dirty. His pretty face was almost unrecognizable, with his original skin color barely visible. Even his eyelashes were coated in ash, but his pair of mismatched eyes still shone brightly as ever.
But what reassured Ji Dong was that although Ren Jianmo’s clothes were covered in coal dust and dirt, with a few tears on his elbows and knees, there were no obvious signs of blood, so he shouldn’t be injured.
“And you have the nerve to laugh at me.”
Ren Jianmo reached out and poked Ji Dong’s forehead, leaving a dark fingerprint on it. “Drenched chicken.”
Ji Dong dazedly raised his hand and rubbed the spot where Ren Jianmo had poked him, wiping off a layer of dust. For some reason, he found it amusing and ended up lifting his head, revealing a silly smile to Ren Jianmo.
“Cough, cough!”
Sister Fan, who had been watching the whole time at the door, said, “You two are annoying. Can’t you come inside to talk?”
She raised her hand and pointed towards the distance, where the gaps in the shade revealed the faint glow of headlights on the road, heading towards the villa. “The ones next door are back too, so stop standing in the yard.”
After Ji Dong and Ren Jianmo entered the house, they both took a shower and changed their clothes. They tidied themselves up and then returned to the living room.
“The people over there are back.”
Fan Luming saw the two of them coming down and pointed towards the other villa facing the window. “It’s hard to tell if they’re injured or not.”
This meant that regardless of whether Yin Jun and his Blue Team had obtained a playing card or not, at least they hadn’t lost any members.
Ji Dong nodded and then sat down on the sofa, pulling Ren Jianmo with him.
After they settled down, Ren Jianmo took out a metallic-colored card from his pocket and placed it on the coffee table. “I got a ‘7’.”
Mo Tiangen also took out the “J” he kept. “Now, we have two cards.”
He turned to look at Fan Hemian:
“Are we sure we’ll follow ‘Plan A’ later?”
Fan Hemian nodded firmly.
The action plan was discussed yesterday during the day, and now that they have successfully obtained both cards, they should proceed according to the plan.
The other four also believed that Fan Hemian’s arrangement was the most reliable option they could think of at the moment, so naturally, they had no objections.
Fan Luming looked up at the clock on the wall, 6:21.
“Oh, Mr. Ren.”
He turned his attention to Ren Jianmo, who hadn’t been with them during the operation, and decided to ask him about his experience tonight:
“How did you get that ‘7’ card?”
