Chapter 68

Chapter 68

This small town was underdeveloped, and the remote villages were even more isolated. Li Xiujin was extremely concerned that without him, Lin Ze would be targeted by Liu Cheng at home or might even be imprisoned.

Thinking of Lin Ze alone with the child...

He couldn't just stay here waiting for the axe to fall.

"We leave tonight," Li Xiujin said.

"But Liu Cheng's men are guarding all around us now. There are three of us, or more accurately, only two capable fighters. Leaving like this would be like throwing an egg against a rock," Li Wei complained. "Don't drag me into your suicide mission."

Li Xiujin ignored him. "Yang Yu, go get a map."

Yang Yu immediately went to do so.

The map was spread out on the table. Li Xiujin studied it intently, circling several routes. Next, he went to scout each possible path and identified the one with the fewest guards, confirming their route.

Yang Yu said, "Even though there are only two of us, with the element of surprise, we should be able to handle these men. But General, we don't have any guns."

"Use knives. As for guns, we'll take theirs when the time comes."

"When do we set off?"

Li Xiujin glanced at the sky; it was only morning.

"Tonight."

Li Xiujin went to find Mokan to see if his family had any light weapons.

Yang Yu went to find Mokan's wife, giving her his valuables and asking her to prepare some food and medical supplies for them.

Li Wei, not daring to speak directly to Li Xiujin, could only ask Yang Yu, "Are you guys really leaving?"

"Including you," Yang Yu said. "You have to come with us."

"You two aren't generals or colonels anymore, you have no subordinates, going it alone—oh wait, not even a single gun. Why take the risk? Why not wait here until they stop looking for you before leaving?" Li Wei was utterly perplexed.

Yang Yu gave a short laugh. "If your husband was missing, wouldn't you be worried?"

"So you're both in such a hurry to get back because you're worried about your wives and children at home?"

"What else?"

"So that general has a wife and kids too?"

"Yeah, they got married less than two years ago, and the child was just born not long ago."

Li Wei was somewhat shocked. "He looks so cold and cruel, someone actually married him and had his child?"

"Was it an arranged marriage? It must have been a family alliance. You've mentioned your wife along the way, but he hasn't said a word about his."

Yang Yu snorted a laugh. "Our General dotes on Colonel Lin, and Colonel Lin loves our General very much too."

"Colonel Lin? So he's also in the military like you guys. What does he look like?"

"Why are you asking so much?" Yang Yu shot him a look.

"Isn't gossip human nature? What's wrong with asking?"

"Then go ask him yourself," Yang Yu jerked his chin, indicating he should ask Li Xiujin.

Li Wei shuddered. "Forget it."

Mokan was a fisherman. The only weapons in his house were fishing spears, nets, and fish-gutting knives. In the end, Li Xiujin took two of the fish-gutting knives.

After nightfall, to thank Mokan's family for taking them in, Li Xiujin and Yang Yu gave them all their remaining valuables. Then, after disguising themselves, they set off on their journey.

Choosing to avoid a fight if they could, they took remote backroads. The small paths were unobstructed, but when they reached the only road leading to the airport, they saw Liu Cheng's men again.

"General, there are only four of them. Let's take them."

The three of them found a hidden spot to observe.

Li Xiujin's expression remained calm. "Not yet."

After another twenty minutes passed, confirming there were no other soldiers lying in ambush nearby, Li Xiujin finally nodded.

Just then, one soldier went behind a tree to take a leak. Yang Yu, having received the order, silently approached the man from behind, then suddenly covered his mouth and swiftly slit his throat before he could react.

The other three, sensing something was wrong, rushed over to investigate. Li Xiujin quickly subdued all three.

"Take off their clothes."

The three of them changed into the soldiers' uniforms, took their guns, and continued on their way.

Not long after they left, one of the soldiers who wasn't quite dead opened his eyes and reported the situation to their Chief Commander.

With changed clothes and guns, Li Xiujin and Yang Yu acted much more boldly and moved faster. However, they hadn't been off guard for long. Yang Yu suddenly flattened himself against the ground.

"General, there are vehicles chasing us from behind."

Li Xiujin surveyed the surroundings. There were no mountains or rivers here, only overgrown paths and stretches of woods. The three hid in the woods. Before long, they saw several black vehicles plowing through the grass.

Watching them drive ahead, Yang Yu hadn't even let out a sigh of relief when he heard the sound of vehicles getting closer again. They had turned back. After returning, the vehicles stopped right in front of the woods where they were hiding.

The car doors opened, and men began to pile out. Li Xiujin counted them—sixteen in total, all heavily armed. Having a rough idea of their chances, Li Xiujin and Yang Yu exchanged a glance.

Yang Yu understood instantly.

He picked up a small stone and threw it in the opposite direction. Hearing the noise, the Chief Commander immediately opened fire in that direction. After a volley of gunfire, he sent two soldiers over. They parted the grass—no one was there.

"Colonel, there's no one here—" Before he could finish, the arm holding his gun was shot, and the weapon clattered to the ground. The other soldier reacted, quickly firing towards the direction the bullet came from, but soon a bullet struck him right between the eyes, and he fell straight down.

Seeing this, the Chief Commander ordered, "Search the area."

The remaining men entered the woods, firing bursts at any sound they heard.

Both Li Xiujin and Yang Yu were soldiers who had participated in many dangerous battles. Although outnumbered in this situation, they could still handle it. When only about five or six opponents remained, Li Xiujin and Yang Yu were still unharmed.

After using another feint to take out two more enemies, the Chief Commander's face darkened. He went to the vehicle for a moment and returned wearing a vest lined with explosives. At any sound, he would throw one.

Yang Yu, unable to dodge in time, was hit in the leg by an explosion. Seeing this, Li Xiujin quickly fired a shot at the Chief Commander. The shot went wide, failing to incapacitate him. The Chief Commander found Yang Yu, who was temporarily unable to move, and pounced on him.

Seeing that the Chief Commander intended to take Yang Yu with him, Li Xiujin's expression darkened. After finishing off the last two of Liu Cheng's men with gunshots, Li Xiujin slowly approached the Chief Commander who was about to detonate the explosives.

The Chief Commander tightened his arm around Yang Yu's neck while his other hand fumbled with his vest. Yang Yu, seeing Li Xiujin approaching, exerted all his strength, forcing the Chief Commander to press down on him, creating an opening for Li Xiujin to shoot.

After Li Xiujin shot him several times in the back, he swiftly yanked the Chief Commander away, grabbed Yang Yu's arm, and ran. They hadn't run far when the bomb exploded, blasting both of them several meters away.

Li Wei, who had been hiding nearby, only dared to come out once everything had gone completely quiet. Seeing Li Xiujin and Yang Yu lying on the ground covered in blood, his first instinct was to flee. But after thinking it over, he gritted his teeth, walked over, confirmed the two were still breathing, and dragged them, with great difficulty, to a safe place...

*

Lin Ze hadn't slept all night and headed out first thing in the morning with the guide.

The market bustled with vendors selling all kinds of wares.

Lin Ze had no interest in anything else, only looking for fish merchants.

To get these merchants to be more honest, Lin Ze would first buy their fish.

Yet each time, the answer was the same: they hadn't seen the person in the photo on Lin Ze's phone.

Before they knew it, they had asked from one end of the market to the other. Just as Lin Ze was losing hope, a kind-looking fisherman looked at the photo, then stared at Lin Ze and said something different from the others.

"He asked who the person in the photo was to you?"

"He is my... husband," Lin Ze replied, his voice trembling.

Lin Ze followed the fisherman named Mokan to his home.

The guide translated for Lin Ze: "They pulled three people from the river. Luckily, all three were fine. They came to after a day unconscious at his house, but they didn't stay long before leaving."

"Left? When did they leave?" Lin Ze asked anxiously.

"Two days ago."

"Which direction did they go?"

Mokan fetched a map from inside the house.

Lin Ze quickly looked and found that someone had drawn a route in red on it, a route that could lead to their country.

It was getting late. Mokan and his family warmly urged Lin Ze to stay the night. Lin Ze shook his head, paid the guide his agreed-upon fee, told him his services were no longer needed, then returned to the market. There, he paid a premium for a used car, purchased a lot of food, medical supplies, and gasoline, and set off without a moment's delay.

The back roads he took were rugged and bumpy, and the area was desolate and uninhabited. Lin Ze was extremely vigilant, not daring to relax. Just before dawn, with a loud *bang*, the car jolted violently.

Thinking he had hit an animal, Lin Ze quickly turned on the headlights to check. It wasn't an animal, but a corpse, dead for who knows how long, already starting to rot. Lin Ze searched the body's pockets and found a gun and an ID.

He then confirmed the person's identity: he was one of Liu Cheng's men.

Grabbing a flashlight, Lin Ze walked a few more steps forward, discovering several more bodies. With each body he found, Lin Ze broke out in a cold sweat. He would look at their faces, and only after confirming it wasn't Li Xiujin's face would the knot in his stomach loosen...

Soon, Lin Ze found several more vehicles. He smashed the windows; inside were only guns, nothing else.

A scene flashed into Lin Ze's mind: Li Xiujin and Yang Yu reached this place, were caught up by Liu Cheng's men, and then a fierce firefight broke out, resulting in heavy casualties on Liu Cheng's side.

What about Li Xiujin...

Was he injured? Did he continue forward, or...

The sun slowly rose. It was only then that Lin Ze noticed a dense grove nearby, with faint traces of burning visible within. Lin Ze took a gun, slung a medical bag and some food over his shoulder, and entered the grove.

Along the way, he found several more corpses. Lin Ze checked each of their faces; none were Li Xiujin or Yang Yu.

Deep in the grove, Lin Ze saw a foot in the grass. As he pushed aside the grass to see the face, he was suddenly startled to realize it was a severed limb...

The cross-section was a bloody mess. Lin Ze hadn't seen such a scene in many years. A wave of nausea hit him, followed swiftly by fear. Li Xiujin's group might have had guns, but they certainly didn't have bombs. So the bombs must have belonged to Liu Cheng's people...

He hadn't seen Xiu Jin's face among these corpses. Could it be because...

Lin Ze's face suddenly turned deathly pale. He then began searching the grove for other body parts, but only found another leg and some chunks of flesh and blood.

Lin Ze continued deeper into the grove but found no new corpses or body parts.

Two thoughts warred within Lin Ze. One: Liu Cheng's men seemed to number at least over ten, while Li Xiujin and Yang Yu were only two. With so many of Liu Cheng's men dead, it was possible Li Xiujin and Yang Yu had also met with disaster. But the other: because he hadn't seen their bodies, he felt they might still be alive...

His heart feeling as if pierced by a knife, Lin Ze walked a bit further. Suddenly, he heard a rustling sound. He quickly crouched down and saw a man in black clothes—the same black clothes worn by Liu Cheng's men.

Lin Ze stared at him intently. The man seemed to be trying to catch something, but due to his lack of agility, he failed several times. After confirming there was no one else around him, Lin Ze quietly approached and pressed a gun against the small of his back.

"Hands up."

Li Wei complied.

After confirming he had no weapons on him, Lin Ze yanked the hat off his head. Seeing his face clearly, Lin Ze's pupils contracted sharply, and he grabbed Li Wei's collar tightly.

"Where is Li Xiujin?"

Having been starving for several days and trying to find some herbs while also catching a rabbit to stave off hunger, Li Wei swallowed hard upon seeing Lin Ze, a living person. "You're Li Xiujin's wife, right?"

"Hurry up and tell me where he is."

"Don't rush, don't rush, I'll take you there," Li Wei said hastily.

The nearest village was far away. Li Wei couldn't drag two unconscious people that far. Luckily, there was a dilapidated temple near this grove, so Li Wei had dragged them there.

"We got here and were caught up by Liu Cheng's men. Your husband and his subordinate are quite formidable; they killed almost all of them. But we didn't expect the leader of the other side to strap a bunch of explosives all over himself."

Seeing Lin Ze's abnormally pale face, Li Wei quickly added, "But don't worry, your husband and his subordinate aren't dead. However, both are seriously injured."

"I see you're carrying a bag. Are there medical supplies inside? If not, then it's over. Although their injuries aren't immediately life-threatening and didn't hit vital spots, if the wounds aren't treated, they'll get worse and worse."

Li Wei rambled on, while Lin Ze behind him remained silent, lips pressed tightly together, face devoid of any color.

Soon, they reached the temple where Li Wei had placed them. As soon as Lin Ze walked in, he saw a layer of dry grass spread on the ground, with Li Xiujin lying there, eyes closed, his upper body soaked with blood.

Lin Ze's mind went blank with a buzzing sound, and his eyes burned hot.

"Xiu Jin..."

Li Xiujin slowly opened his eyes. Seeing Lin Ze, for a moment he thought he had already died.

Only the pain from his wounds made him realize this was real. He shuddered all over.

After Lin Ze stumbled to kneel and sit beside him, Li Xiujin first said with a dark expression, "How did you get here? Do you know how dangerous this place is?"

But Lin Ze remained silent, trembling as he examined his wounds.

Only when Lin Ze let out a soft sob did Li Xiujin's anger instantly transform into deep guilt and self-reproach. He pulled Lin Ze tightly into his embrace...

"Your husband is fine..."