Yan Jingxing hid in the dense bushes and carefully identified the direction from which the gunfire came. Different sound sources represented bullets fired from different people's hands.
One, two, three... plus the man he knocked down early, this group of thugs had a total of five guns.
Right now, his only option was to retreat into the forest early. Only in a complex environment with a lot of cover, and with the opportunistic help of the Split-Headed Dog, can he have a chance to defeat the opponent.
"This, this gunfire sounds so dense... Where did they get so many guns?"
The detective squatting next to him exclaimed.
Yan Jingxing glanced at him and didn't answer.
To get information, he had to control an insider. Compared with that group of dangerous thugs who may not know the inside story, He Feng, who had investigated the disappearance of the explorer, was a better choice.
But he won't let down his guard against this person because of this. Yan Jingxing hasn't forgotten that this guy tricked them.
"Where's the restaurant owner?"
He turned his eyes to Ji Chunzao beside him, carefully raised his hand to remove the fallen leaves from the girl's hair, and asked in a low voice.
"He drove away and I asked him to help call the police."
Ji Chunzao covered his ears with his hands, his face turned slightly pale, as if he was not used to the sound of gunfire.
"Actually, you can go with him."
"I don't want it." The little girl shook her head stubbornly, "I want to be with you. I think you are safer around me."
Yan Jingxing couldn't help but laugh.
"……Thanks."
"What can I thank you for?" Ji Chunzao opened his eyes wide, as if he felt incredible, "I really think so, don't you have confidence in yourself?"
"You have mentioned this, and my answer is of course 'yes'." He shrugged, "In addition, the Split-Headed Dog has joined the battle, and Yuzhi is probably hiding nearby to observe the situation. With her here, I I feel more confident.”
"...She's here, that's good."
Ji Chunzao showed a reassuring expression, but there was still a little bit of regret in it.
"It's a pity that I can't help you. What are you going to do next?"
"It's okay, your abilities can be used in greater ways. As for what's next..." He patted the girl on the shoulder, "You hide here first and don't make any noise. As long as they dare to enter this forest, I will You can give them a 'surprise'."
After Yan Jingxing finished speaking, he stood up and grabbed the tree next to him with both hands. He was as flexible as an ape and climbed up the tree with a "swish", his figure was hidden by the dense branches and leaves.
He leaned on the branch behind him, checked the condition of the firearm in his hand, let out a breath, and decided to temporarily end his "fighting instinct" and wait until he saw the thugs appear in the forest before activating it again.
However, after waiting attentively for a moment, Yan Jingxing did not see anyone coming to search, and only heard the roar of the car engine.
This time, instead of gradually approaching, the sound quickly moved away.
"Wait, it sounds like they chose to... leave?"
There was no more noisy noise coming from the direction of the restaurant, and it gradually became silent.
After waiting cautiously for a few minutes, Yan Jingxing came down from the tree.
"They just left like that?"
"I don't know." He tightened his grip on the pistol, "I'll go over and take a look first."
"Well, you have to be careful."
…
He hunched over and sneaked all the way through the messy deserted restaurant, and saw that no thugs were left outside the door, including the three cars.
The only person present was a long-haired girl holding an umbrella, with a big black dog following at her feet.
The girl was leaning down, carefully observing the blood stains remaining on the ground, shining in the sun.
After hearing someone's footsteps approaching, she turned her head and showed a faint smile to Yan Jingxing.
"Jing Xing, you're here."
"Hmm. Where are those guys?"
"Escaped. I watched them drive away from this place, along the road, and left in the southeast direction. Unfortunately, none of these cars had license plates. This group of people was quite cautious. I didn't know the tire marks left behind. Is it useful..."
Xie Yuzhi gently turned the umbrella handle in her hand. It seemed that she was already thinking about how to find those guys.
"In addition, before leaving, they also took away all the bullets on the ground, including the person you shot in the chest with the gun. It seems they didn't want to leave any clues."
"That's good. We don't need to deal with the scene anymore."
Miss Xie observed the expression on his face and suddenly asked:
"how do you feel?"
"Huh? What did you say?" Yan Jingxing was stunned for a moment.
"You don't have to hide it from me." The girl said softly. Her tone was neither serious nor too frivolous, but gentle and revealed a trustworthy strength. "You shot someone. This is Isn't it the first time you've ever done something to a human that might kill them?"
"..."
Seeing that he didn't speak, Xie Yuzhi took the initiative to reach out, grabbed his palm and held it, with a hint of worry in his tone.
"Jing Xing, are you okay?"
"Ah?" Yan Jingxing finally came to his senses. He felt the warm touch from his palm and his face turned red. However, he didn't pull away for some reason. Instead, he replied as if he didn't notice, "Of course I'm fine." , it would be better to say that I don’t feel it at all.”
"Yeah?"
"Yes. I was just thinking about whether this 'lack of feeling' itself is the problem. Even if I was in a state of activating my 'fighting instinct' at the time, it was something I did myself..."
"how could be?"
Xie Yuzhi said.
"For the bad guy who wants to take your life, no matter how you resist, it is justice. I am just worried about whether you will have a mental disorder. If not, that would be great. We don't need to think more about it."
"how about you?"
Yan Jingxing looked at the split-headed dog following her.
"This guy was very vicious just now. If the person I shot in the chest had any chance of surviving, the unlucky guy whose neck was bitten off by it really has little hope of survival."
"Well..."
Miss Xie blinked and smiled again. In his eyes, there was even a bit of cunning in this smile.
"Maybe I am the bad guy. I never do it myself, so I don't have any psychological burden."
"Great, no one is here anymore."
Another girl's voice came from the door of the restaurant. The two people holding hands turned their heads and saw Ji Chunzao running towards them.
Xie Yuzhi let go of her hand and handed him the plastic bag she was holding in her other hand.
"Here, the cold drink was promised. But it's been too long, so it may have melted a little."
"It doesn't matter!"
Ji Chunzao opened the bag, took out the juice, opened the lid and drank several sips. His starry eyes narrowed in contentment, like a kitten that had had its fill of the sun.
"Who is this……"
Miss Xie looked at He Feng who was following Ji Chunzao. He walked over slowly, lowered the peaked cap on his head, and showed an awkward smile to the girl.
He was quite sensible and did not choose to run away.
He Feng saw Yan Jingxing's shocking performance when the conflict broke out in the restaurant just now, and knew that he might not be able to escape with just two legs; not to mention that the other party still had a gun in his hand. Judging from his series of performances, he looks young, but he is not the kind of person who is merciful and merciless.
You've already offended once, so it's better to be obedient.
"This is the private detective who is going to contact us."
Yan Jingxing replied.
"However, it was he who helped those thugs set up this trap."
"……is that so?"
The eldest lady's gaze soon became dangerous.
"Ah haha, I have no choice but to do it. Everyone has seen it. They all have guns in their hands..."
He Feng's forehead was dripping with cold sweat, and he quickly tried to defend himself, but his words were quickly interrupted by Yan Jingxing.
"The most critical issue at the moment is that there is an unknown person who knows...'that thing' just like us. Moreover, he also has the ability to mobilize a group of gangsters to carry out a surprise attack, and even provide a large number of guns."
Xie Yuzhi held her chin with her hand, looking serious.
"It's indeed a bit troublesome. We are in urgent need of information now."
"Yeah, that's why I brought him out."
"You made the best choice. However, we are still students, so how to treat him is a problem."
"I promise to tell the truth! If you have any questions, just ask -"
He Feng forced a smile and tried to gain trust.
"It's a pity that we don't have time to listen." Ji Chunzao had already drank the cold drink in one breath, and now he was licking the juice on the bottle ring attentively while replying without looking up, "We still have to go to class."
"ah?"
The little girl's words immediately confused He Feng.
"You're right. So you have to cooperate with us. During this period of time, you can't leave this town or leave our sight."
"But this..."
Xie Yuzhi didn't give him a chance to express his opinion at all, and didn't even listen to him at all, so he directly decided how to deal with him.
"In other words, we still have to take care of him. Coupled with the attack that happened here, there will definitely be subsequent troubles to deal with. With the abilities of several of us minors, it may be difficult to solve them perfectly."
Yan Jingxing looked into her eyes.
"Listen to your tone, do you have any idea?"
"Yes, I do."
Miss Xie sighed in an imperceptible manner, and then she took out the Nokia N95 from her pocket, which was the same as Yan Jingxing's.
Once a decision is made, it will be implemented vigorously and resolutely. This is her style, so Xie Yuzhi pressed the number without hesitation.
"Good afternoon, Dad."
She quickly explained the situation to the person on the other side of the radio wave:
"I was in military training. When I was coming down the mountain, I was attacked by a group of unidentified people near a restaurant. I guessed they might be gangsters. There were fourteen people in total, and they had guns in their hands. Among the people I met , just holding five to six pistols... Well, I'm fine. I'm not injured, but fortunately my friend was around and he helped me."
"Yes, they took the people away after shooting. There was an instigator behind them, and this person also had the ability to mobilize more people. I hope dad will not take action without permission, and help find out who it is first, and then share the information Give me."
"What kind of gang war? Dad, you have watched too many Hong Kong movies. Now is a society governed by law. You might as well contact the police quickly."
"Yes. That's right, I'm just teaching you how to do things. If you still treat me as a child, it will be dangerous, because this time I met gun-wielding gangsters, and the kind with watermelon knives and steel pipes It’s not the same thing as a punk.”
"Why did they attack me...Yes, actually this is the question you should have asked from the beginning, Dad. But I need to discuss it with my friends before I can summarize something I can tell you."
"It's impossible to tell everything. Will you share everything you encounter in your business with your daughter? Yes, my business, of course I have things I want to do... It's my business It’s my business).”
"That's it then. Goodbye."
Xie Yuzhi hung up the phone.
Just, just like that...?
Since his parents are overseas all year round, Yan Jingxing is also the kind of person who has little opportunity to communicate with his biological parents, but even so, he can still hear that the conversation just now is by no means a normal way of communicating with his parents.
"Um, how is your relationship with your father... okay?"
When Yan Jingxing asked this question, he felt it was subtle.
Speaking of which, the relationship between Chun Zao and her family is also a bit complicated, because her biological parents disappeared in the forest and are now adopted by her uncle and aunt.
Compared with most of their peers in school who grew up in normal families, their growing environment seems to be a bit special.
... Could it be that the reason why they got together unknowingly and became obsessed with aliens was because they were subconsciously hugging each other for warmth?
"It's not bad. This is just a very common... conflict between the fathers who have stubborn personalities and the children who want to be independent."
Xie Yuzhi put down her phone and replied calmly.
"Don't worry, the relationship between me and him is actually pretty good, at least it's good now. There are 'historical issues' that we can't let go of, but there are no unexplainable conflicts."
(End of chapter)
