Chapter 725: Captive

Chapter 725: The Prisoner

Li Huo Wang gripped the kitchen knife in his hand tightly, his eyes fixed on the man with the slicked-back hair and thick glasses standing at a distance.

Though they had only met once before, Li Huo Wang recognized him instantly—the same man who had been in his psychiatric ward group at Kangning Hospital. If he remembered correctly, this man’s name was Yuan Heping!

“You? So you’ve always been one of theirs!” Li Huo Wang panted, stepping forward with the knife raised.

Seeing the gleaming blade in Li Huo Wang's hand, and the dark muzzle of a gun held by Qing Wang Lai beside him, Yuan Heping swallowed hard. “No, no need to panic! Killing someone comes with a price—death! We haven’t done anything!”

Qing Wang Lai stepped closer to Li Huo Wang and pushed down the knife in his hand. “The guy’s already cornered. No need for a blade.”

At that moment, Qian Fu and Chen Hongyu approached with a rope, tying up both men’s hands.

Only then did Li Huo Wang lower his knife. With the enemy subdued, his attention turned to another object.

“Where did you get that gun?” Li Huo Wang asked Qing Wang Lai, clearly more difficult to handle than a knife.

Such firepower made Li Huo Wang begin to question their identities.

Qing Wang Lai smiled and pointed the gun at Wu Qi’s head. Before anyone could react, he pulled the trigger with a sharp click.

A small red flame shot from the barrel, flickering slightly.

Wu Qi reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a cigarette, lighting it directly off the muzzle of the gun.

“A fake gun?”

“Of course it’s a fake. This is a rule-of-law society—we don’t carry dangerous things like guns. I bought it on Taobao during Double Eleven,” Qing Wang Lai released the trigger and tucked it back into his pants.

“AAAAAAHHH!!” A piercing scream came from outside the alleyway. That familiar voice made Li Huo Wang’s heart skip a beat. “No! It’s Yang Na!”

Li Huo Wang spun around and rushed out. His mind raced through the numbers: four people earlier, two were chasing after them, Zhao Lei was chasing one, and one was hiding in ambush!

He thought the situation was dire, but when he reached Yang Na, he froze. She was indeed screaming.

But she was also holding an electric shocker in her hand, pressing it firmly against an old man’s chest.

The man was convulsing and foaming at the mouth, yet Yang Na didn’t let go.

“Na Na, stop! Let go of your finger—it’ll kill him if you keep shocking him!”

Li Huo Wang shouted several times, and finally, Yang Na let go. She dropped the device on the ground and collapsed into Li Huo Wang’s arms, tears streaming down her face. “Wuwang... I’m scared…”

Li Huo Wang held her gently, his eyes falling on the electric shocker. “Na Na, where did you get this thing?”

He was both surprised and puzzled by her reaction.

Yang Na sobbed, “I... I bought it online with my best friend. It’s dangerous to meet strangers at night, so I brought it for protection. I even brought other stuff.”

Li Huo Wang slipped his arms around her and opened her bag. In addition to the electric shocker, there was pepper spray, a voice recorder, and a mobile phone with a large red button on its back.

When Li Huo Wang pulled out the phone, Yang Na explained in a choked voice, “My grandmother had one of these. Just press the red button and it automatically calls for help—even through the bag.”

“You’ve been carrying all this stuff with you since meeting Qing Wang Lai?” Seeing what she carried, Li Huo Wang felt a slight warmth in his heart. He knew she didn’t trust him, but still, she’d gone to such lengths to protect herself.

Just then, the others caught up. Before they could exchange words, they heard voices approaching from afar, drawn by Yang Na’s screams.

“Let’s go! It’s late at night. If someone films us and posts it online, we won’t be able to explain ourselves!” Zhao Lei grabbed the unconscious old man and tossed him onto the backseat of his motorcycle.

Seeing the growing crowd around them, Li Huo Wang nodded and led the shaken Yang Na toward Wu Qi’s RV.

The RV weaved through narrow streets until it returned to normal roads. Only then did everyone breathe easier.

Qing Wang Lai was driving. Wu Qi was tending to the old man, making sure he didn’t die from Yang Na’s electric shock.

“He’s okay. Not seriously hurt,” Wu Qi said while watching Wang Gang lying on the bed.

Now, Li Huo Wang had time to examine the three captured men. Yuan Heping, with his slicked-back hair and dark glasses, needed no introduction. The old man electrocuted by Yang Na—he knew him too. He was the one who had been with Yuan Heping in the psychiatric ward. His name was Wang Gang.

It looked like the needles in the meals at the hospital were planted by them.

“Who wants to talk first?” Li Huo Wang held his knife and asked.

“No need to ask here. How about we go somewhere more spacious? My RV is secondhand—I don’t want it collapsing under our weight,” said the man.

The RV was cramped as it was, and now with everyone squeezed in, it was barely tolerable. Qian Fu had to sit on the stove, and Chen Hongyu was shoved into the bathroom.

“Go to my place. No one lives there,” Zhao Lei called from outside.

“Is it secluded? Is it safe nearby?” Li Huo Wang asked.

Regardless of their identities, they were kidnapping them. If anyone saw them, it would be hard to explain.

“Don’t worry. This guy’s place is way secluded,” Chen Hongyu called from inside the bathroom, half-exposed, opening the fridge.

Soon, the RV lurched to a stop in the suburbs. The sky was beginning to lighten. When they entered an old house, Li Huo Wang finally understood what "secluded" meant. Zhao Lei lived in a basement in the suburbs.

As soon as Li Huo Wang ushered Yuan Heping inside, a musty smell hit his nose. The basement was huge, but filled with clutter—models, bottles, jars, even organs preserved in formalin, like knee bones and a single eyeball, though it was unclear if they were real.

The strange odor came from the takeout boxes and garbage bags.

Along the wall stood a row of shelves, filled with action figures and models—some unfinished, just heads made.

This guy was odd in appearance, and even stranger in living conditions.

“Good soundproofing here?” Li Huo Wang walked over to the table and tapped a wooden ship the size of a watermelon. Clearly, Zhao Lei was in some kind of business. The ship was incredibly realistic, even the crew on board were lifelike.

“Yeah, good soundproofing.”

“That’s good.” Li Huo Wang immediately rushed to Yuan Heping, kicked him into the wall, and raised the knife toward his right hand.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!!! WUHUUU!!!” Yuan Heping’s scream was muffled by Li Huo Wang’s grip.

“Don’t scream yet—you haven’t lost your hand yet! You’ll have plenty of time to scream later!”

Almost fainting from fear, Yuan Heping looked down and realized the knife was only grazing the palm on the ground.

Before he could catch his breath, he saw the knife lift again, descending like a guillotine toward his fingers.

(End of Chapter)