Chapter 33
Chapter 33
When the group outside saw that only one woman had actually emerged from the villa, and that she looked young and wasn’t even carrying a proper weapon, they froze for a moment before bursting into jeering, excited laughter.
“Hahaha! You sent a woman out here?”
“Hey, sweetheart, are all your people dead? Is that why they sent you out to take the fall?”
Li Jianping was also taken aback, but his lips soon twisted into a malicious grin. He waved the lighter in his hand and stepped forward until he was almost pressed against the iron bars, his foul breath spilling through them. “Well, look at that. You actually had the guts to come out. So, have you come to your senses? Open the gate and let us in so we can have a little talk.”
The crowd behind him began shouting over one another, their voices dripping with false sincerity and menace.
“We all saw it! You brought back a whole truckload of food that night! Times are hard for everyone. Why not share some?”
“Exactly. We’re all in the same boat here. We should help each other out. It’s not like we want to pick on a woman.”
“Hand over the food, miss, and we promise we won’t make things difficult for you!”
Emboldened by the chorus behind him, Li Jianping spat on the ground and pointed straight at the villa entrance behind Qingshui.
“Enough fucking around! You hear me? Open that door too! Tell everyone inside to get the hell out here! Bring every last bit of food, water, and supplies to the gate! Otherwise…”
He raised the lighter again and made as if to lower it toward the gas can at his feet. “I’ll set this whole damn thing off, and we’ll all go up together! Nobody gets out alive!”
“Fuck!”
Up in the attic, Chen Yuhui saw that Qingshui was standing outside the villa alone. Her concern won out, and she snatched up the crossbow beside her before racing downstairs.
Qingshui remained completely unruffled in the face of the crowd’s taunts. She even took a small step forward, moving closer to the iron gate, and calmly swept her gaze over Li Jianping and the rabble behind him.
Then, under everyone’s watchful eyes, she reached out and took hold of the gate’s lock.
Delight and triumph flashed through Li Jianping’s eyes. Just as he’d thought, women were timid creatures. One good scare and they caved. He could already picture himself leading the others inside and looting all the supplies they had been dreaming of.
Click.
The lock came open with a gentle flick.
Qingshui slowly pulled the heavy iron gate inward, opening a gap just wide enough for one person to pass through.
Even Ji Feifan was stunned. He hadn’t expected Qingshui to open the gate herself.
“What the hell is she doing?!”
Li Wei’an’s expression tightened. She chose to trust Qingshui and trained her sights on the Scarred Man leading the group.
“Hah! Smart choice!” Li Jianping laughed and eagerly started forward. The people behind him were itching to follow, their eyes gleaming like starving wolves at the sight of an open sheep pen.
But just as Li Jianping lifted his foot and leaned forward, his full attention fixed on the treasure he imagined lay beyond the gate, Qingshui, who had shown no reaction until now, moved.
She was too fast for the eye to follow.
Turning sideways, she struck upward with lightning speed. A streak of icy light flashed between her fingers and vanished!
The next second, Li Jianping’s forward charge came to an abrupt halt!
The triumphant grin froze on his face. His eyes widened in disbelief, and a strange, breathy rasp escaped his throat.
For one second, time itself seemed to stand still.
Then, under the bewildered gazes of his companions, who had yet to grasp what had happened, a thin line of blood suddenly spurted from Li Jianping’s throat!
At first, it was no more than a narrow stream. An instant later, it gushed like a faucet wrenched wide open. Reeking of iron, blood sprayed relentlessly through the gaps between his fingers!
Splurt!
The sound of spraying blood rang with eerie clarity through the abruptly silent air.
Li Jianping clamped a hand over his neck in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. His fingers were instantly dyed red, but there was no containing the torrent. Blood rapidly soaked his palm, wrist, and the front of his shirt.
A wet gurgle rattled in his throat. He tried to breathe, only to choke on a mouthful of bloody froth. Staggering back a step, he stared at Qingshui, who stood expressionless only inches away. His eyes were filled with utter confusion and disbelief, as though even in death, he could not understand what had happened.
His mouth opened as if he wanted to say something, but all that emerged was a string of bloody bubbles.
His tall frame swayed before crashing heavily onto his back, kicking up a cloud of dust. Blood continued to gush from the wound in his neck, swiftly spreading into a glaring crimson pool beneath him. The thick stench of blood flooded the air.
The scene fell deathly silent.
Outside the iron gate, the dozen or so people who had been shouting threats moments before stood as if frozen in place. The greed and contempt on their faces stiffened, then swiftly gave way to boundless terror.
They looked from Li Jianping, whose life was rapidly draining away on the ground, to the young woman still standing straight inside the gate.
The air itself seemed to freeze.
Chen Yuhui came running out of the building, still panting heavily, only to stop dead at the sight before her.
She had seen Qingshui’s smooth, effortless movements and the complete absence of emotion in her eyes. For the first time, a trace of fear rose from the depths of her heart.
Qingshui… Why did she suddenly seem like a complete stranger?
Qingshui did not spare the corpse at her feet a single glance. She slowly stepped forward, and the gathered crowd immediately scattered away from her.
“Does anyone else have something to say?”
She flexed her wrist as she spoke, looking for all the world as though she intended to wipe out every last one of them.
“N-No… Nothing…”
“Run! Hurry!”
The group fled the area in a mad scramble, tripping over themselves in their haste.
Li Jianping’s body lay outside the iron gate, his eyes still staring resentfully.
Qingshui remained where she was, watching until the fleeing group disappeared around a bend in the mountain road. Her face was still devoid of emotion as she bent down, pried the lighter from Li Jianping’s still-warm fingers, and slipped it into her pocket.
Then she picked up the plastic bucket, which still held slightly less than half a bucket of gasoline, and turned back through the iron gate.
Clang.
The gate swung shut behind her and locked once more.
Inside the villa, everyone stood frozen in place, watching her with complicated expressions.