"Don't you dare fondle it!"
...
3... 2... 1...
Flames flickered, Sato Kazuma wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, looking at Keli, who was driving the car.
"That was fast this time."
Keli turned his head to look at Kazuma.
"Yes, they started coming down the mountain to find out why I keep appearing."
Keli frowned when he heard Kazuma's words and asked, "They still have people who can come down, so why did they run?"
Kazuma nodded: "Only a small group, probably not many people; those villagers aren't very strong in combat. It's mainly those people with guns and one with a sword; he's as fast as a car. I only managed to hurt him a little with all my might.
And when I was about to die, I think I heard him tell his subordinates to let him take a bite to heal, so I guess he's also one of those Werewolves you mentioned."
"I see." Keli nodded understandingly after hearing Kazuma's words, then fell silent.
Kazuma watched Keli directly turn off the ignition, a little puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
"I have a plan!"
"What's your idea?" Kazuma questioned Keli's words.
Keli looked at Kazuma and smiled mysteriously.
"Burn the mountain."
"Wait, there are still many captured people on that mountain!" Hearing Keli's suggestion, Kazuma waved his hands repeatedly, indicating it was not allowed.
"It's fine, I have another plan!"
Keli got out of the car, picking up a somewhat twisted stick.
This was Jingxin's dropped stick, that battered steel staff.
Then Keli opened the trunk and pulled out a box of items.
Kazuma also got out of the car curiously to check.
"What's this?"
"It should be props they prepared for that ritual or something."
Kazuma watched as Keli directly pierced the cardboard box with his finger, then violently tore open the packaging. Inside, four identical items lay. Kazuma took a second to realize what they were, then remembered.
"Are these fireworks?"
"Yes, they might be planning to hold a Spring Festival celebration in Matsubushi on the day of that ritual." Keli nodded, confirming Kazuma's guess, then Keli whispered the plan into Kazuma's ear.
...
Ten minutes later.
Qi Ren led a few subordinates down the mountain, looking around, but seeing no one.
They were troubled and confused; they were told to find out why people kept coming up the mountain, but how would they know? There was no way to start looking, so they could only try heading towards the village.
As soon as their vision left the cover of the dense tree canopy, they froze. Their familiar and beautiful New Village had already turned into a sea of fire. The village entrance side was still alright, but the side near the mountain was completely engulfed by flames.
"What?!"
Especially the subordinates; they were all villagers, just usually working in the mountains. Many of them only had some relatives who followed Jingxin up the mountain, while the rest were hiding in the village below to escape that madman from last night.
They thought it wouldn't be a big deal, just an unkillable madman in the village. Everyone would just lock their doors, and by nightfall, that madman would know his mistake.
But they never expected that in such a short time, their hometown would be completely annihilated.
Thick smoke billowed in the sky, almost obscuring the original weather, like a grinning black demon swaying in the air.
Born and raised there, every household remembered whose place was burning fiercely, and from time to time, the sound of wooden structures collapsing could be heard.
In that canvas of black and red, the few people couldn't see their village; they only saw a hell.
Just like before, those who were sold to them, transported up the mountain, looked at this village with the same thought.
"Didn't Master Jingxin say... it was just one person with a gun, very dangerous?"
"No! No! There are still hundreds of people in the village!"
One of them, his face filled with hatred, punched his thigh, tears streaming down uncontrollably.
"Find that person! I must kill that monster!"
Qi Ren, who had no relatives in the village, showed no reaction to this scene.
He merely curled his lips. The village's distress calls had probably already reached that old man Yamada. They weren't sent then, but now, for some strange minor issue, they were told to come down.
And they were instructed not to get entangled with the attacker in the village, just to confirm everything was fine and return.
That old ghost, how afraid was he of secrets being exposed? He probably didn't fully pursue the attacker because he considered that the other party could communicate, and likely wouldn't expose the situation here to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. Rather than that, it was better to let him clean up the villagers.
He's probably busy calling the forestry department now, given that such a large fire could probably be seen by satellites. He wouldn't dare let the fire department enter the village; if they encountered that unkillable madman, things would go wrong. It would be a headache for him to suppress such a big incident.
Qi Ren knew that, in fact, ever since they expanded and had branches everywhere, that old ghost Yamada had long wanted to stop working with these villagers.
After all, now that he had money, what the villagers could do, he could just pay people to do. But the villagers would take precious food from his hands. However, before, the villagers were his base. If he proposed reducing quotas or killing villagers who had turned into ghouls, there would probably be a lot of trouble.
He preferred to have a group of people who knew nothing of the ghoul truth, only that important figures lived there and needed to be protected.
"Alright, let's look around."
Ignoring whether his subordinates were grieving, Qi Ren simply spoke.
And with that single word, the people below immediately fell silent and silently followed him, beginning to look left and right for anything unusual.
The few people spread out slightly, looking towards the village, but just looking couldn't reveal anything, so they had to continue forward.
After all, it couldn't be that the ground periodically grew unkillable people, giving birth to one after a while, and they had to go up the mountain to take their dog lives, right?
Just after leaving the forest, not long after, a sudden loud bang caught their attention.
Fireworks!
"Bang!" Looking at the fireworks exploding in broad daylight, the few people were puzzled. The fireworks were a bit far, but Qi Ren, who was leading, still frowned.
"Go, let's check it out!"
On the other side, Keli had quietly crept up the mountain, following the information Kazuma provided.
Yes, this was a small plan of Keli's: first, confirm that all usable cars in the vicinity were damaged, then drive with Kazuma to a distant location, leaving Kazuma to light fireworks at the original spot to see if they could lure people away. Then Keli would drive the car to the foot of the mountain, park it, and approach from another direction.
At this step, it didn't even matter if people left; as long as their attention was attracted, that was enough, because in the next step, Kazuma would commit suicide and revive directly from a confirmed blind spot in the surveillance.
Of course, most importantly, if it succeeded, Keli, who had discovered through Kazuma's several scouting trips that there were no traps all over the mountain, would, while their main combat forces were known to be outside, directly refresh inside their home with a pistol and bullets!
--+--
T/N: Although I'm an inexperienced Editor, I do have a Patreon account! Although it seems like I don't have many supporters right now, my webnovel will be released in full every day, and the advanced chapters will be uploaded to Patreon.
It may not be worth it now, but who knows, it might be different in the future. Who knows!
patreon.com/Greyhounds
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