After a brief discussion, the group finally decided to go in and take a look.
“Remember our mission. We can't get into a conflict with Wang Hu's people. Try your best to rescue our men. If you can't, send someone back to deliver the message, and the rest will hide and wait for an opportunity.”
“Understood.”
After that, they wandered around the empty, pitch-black villa district, searching for clues.
However, fearing they might be picked off one by one, they did not venture too far apart from each other.
Yet, after searching for over half an hour, they found the entire villa district dead silent. Forget Wang Hu—they didn't even see a single soul.
“What on earth is going on? How is there not a single person in sight?”
“This shouldn't be happening. I quietly brought some men over to check this place out not long ago. Even at night, we'd occasionally see people or some candlelight. But now...”
“Something's wrong. Something is seriously wrong!”
Suddenly, someone spoke up. “I've got it!”
Everyone turned to look at him.
“Well? Tell us what you think the situation is.”
“Uh... I think Wang Hu must have gathered everyone in one place, and the twenty brothers who came here earlier are locked up nearby.”
“In other words, they're waiting for us to walk right into their trap!”
Hearing this, everyone fell into deep thought.
Admittedly, this theory was highly plausible.
“So, should we keep looking now?”
“Of course we keep looking!”
“At the very least, we need to confirm where Wang Hu and his men are. That way, we can send someone back to report. Right now, we haven't seen a single person. Even if we send someone back, they'd have nothing to report.”
“True, true. Let's go, then. We'll head to Wang Hu's place first.”
Wang Hu's residence was no secret; everyone in the settlement knew where it was.
It wasn't difficult for Zhao Cheng's men to find out either.
They immediately confirmed their direction and slowly made their way over.
What they didn't know was that on a nearby rooftop, a dark figure stood, staring down at them as they walked away.
“That direction... Wang Hu's place?”
The figure murmured softly, then immediately turned and headed downstairs.
Before long, the figure left the building, darting left and right before quickly vanishing into the darkness.
Zuo Lin'an stood up, stretched, and checked the electronic clock.
10:50 PM.
“Just about time.”
He got up and walked toward the neighboring villa.
However, just as he pushed the door open and stepped inside, he saw a dark figure rush out from nearby.
The two walked inside, one after the other.
Tied to that familiar pillar was another person.
This one was quiet, which was nice.
The dark figure following Zuo Lin'an was indeed Xu Youyou, who had just rushed back.
He walked straight over to the pillar in the living room.
“Your Boss Zhao sent some people over. Looks like they're here to rescue you. I counted twenty of them! He's really generous...”
“Twenty before, twenty now. That makes forty in total. If they get wiped out too, won't Zhao Cheng only have eighty people left on his side?”
“He's really willing to pay the price. It seems you guys are quite important to him.”
“Oh, right, I just saw them heading toward Wang Hu's place!”
The captive's eyes widened instantly, a glimmer of hope flashing within them.
“Are... are you serious?”
Zuo Lin'an knew what Xu Youyou meant. He wanted him to head to Wang Hu's place and pull the same trick again to capture these new arrivals.
But it was almost 11:00 PM, and he had to kill someone first.
Zuo Lin'an stared at the tied-up captive.
“It's almost eleven. I need to go to the basement.”
The captive, who had just felt a glimmer of hope, instantly deflated upon hearing Zuo Lin'an's words.
What did it matter if people were coming to rescue them? Those people didn't even know he was here.
Zuo Lin'an turned and walked toward the basement.
Xu Youyou blinked, watching his retreating figure for a moment before turning to wait by the door.
“Hey! New guy!”
Hmm?
He looked back. It was the man tied to the pillar.
“Is it true? Did twenty people really come?”
Xu Youyou didn't answer. Instead, he was pondering something else.
He thought about the location of those men just now. Traveling at that cautious pace, it would probably take them ten to twenty minutes to reach Wang Hu's residence.
After all, as they approached Wang Hu's place, they also had to remain vigilant of their surroundings to avoid detection.
So, waiting a bit for Zuo Lin'an wouldn't hurt.
Besides, while those men were important, the rules and their execution were paramount to them. They couldn't lose sight of the bigger picture for minor gains.
“What are you trying to say?”
The captive fell silent for a moment before speaking. “Are you two planning to capture them as well?”
Xu Youyou remained silent for a brief moment, then stood up and walked over. He casually grabbed a rag from the table, stuffed it into the man's mouth, and wrapped a strip of cloth around it to secure it.
“Just to be safe, it's better if you don't speak.”
Although this villa was some distance from Wang Hu's place, it wasn't too far. If this man started screaming, there was a real chance the group might hear him in the dead of night.
Xu Youyou then kicked both of the man's legs.
“Mmph!”
The man doubled over in pain, his face contorting.
Seeing this, Xu Youyou was satisfied.
This way, even if the man managed to break free from the ropes, he wouldn't get far.
He checked the ropes. Once he was sure they were secure, he turned and walked outside, staring into the dark night sky as he fell into deep thought.
It had been exactly two days—about forty-eight hours—since they entered Sin Hunter City.
The number of criminals he and Zuo Lin'an had killed had exceeded thirty, and the progress of condensing their specter bodies had reached one-third.
In another dozen or so hours, once Zuo Lin'an's kill count exceeded sixty, the progress should reach two-thirds...
Xu Youyou calculated the total number of criminals.
There were fifteen at the start.
Then they arrived at Wang Hu's settlement, where the total number of criminals was ninety-eight.
The remaining number of people now shouldn't exceed thirty.
In other words, they had captured sixty to seventy people.
Plus the twenty sent by Zhao Cheng earlier to assist, and now another twenty.
Calculating it this way, the total had already exceeded one hundred and twenty.
By tomorrow morning, Zuo Lin'an would be able to reach sixty kills.
As for the rest, he could kill them himself to reach sixty as well.
They might even have two or three left over to take with them on the road to Zhao Cheng's settlement.
“Not bad, not bad at all.”
“Now, the task at hand is to capture those twenty newcomers.”
However... this group was very cautious.
Xu Youyou knew they couldn't just make a direct move. They had to find a way to trap them indoors, just like before.
But how should they go about it?
This time, the newcomers probably wouldn't fall for a simple trick.
Suddenly, a stroke of genius hit Xu Youyou as he thought of Wang Hu's corpse.
Although he had chopped it into pieces, he hadn't thrown them away randomly; they were still in the basement of Wang Hu's residence.
This meant he could go there in advance, piece the corpse back together, and lay it on the bed.
Then, he could use Wang Hu's corpse to lure all of them inside.
Finally, he would lock the door and trap them!
“Yes, let's do exactly that!”
Rate on N.U.
