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"Interesting." The leader lowered his gun. "Tell me, which guy lured them here?"
"Actually, these police officers came because there was a murder in our class." Jiang Min endured the pain on her face and recounted the events of the past two days from beginning to end.
From their graduation trip to being targeted by a pervert, then Chi Bo's accidental death, the arrival of the police, the bombing of the bridge, and finally He Xiangxue's disappearance and the reappearance of the embroidered shoes.
"You're saying the embroidered shoes were made by the murderer?" The leader scoffed, his expression contorted. He turned and kicked the old officer hard in the shoulder, his fingers trembling with rage. "You weren't here for us at all?"
"We were just police officers who came to check out the situation after receiving a call. They were from the area at the foot of the mountain," the veteran officer said, which indirectly confirmed Jiang Min's statement.
That's right, they weren't here for this village at all; it was all an accident. But the people on the other side of the bridge might be a different story.
The veteran officer pretended he knew nothing and was just an unlucky cop who had come to check the situation after receiving a report.
The young police officer then put on a 200% performance, looking at them with grief and indignation: "Who are you people? Why did you kill the students?"
The leader was unusually silent, which was incredibly awkward. They had rushed off with the people and money, and were now cleaning up the mess with the resolve to die, only to find out... it was all a misunderstanding?
He had never suffered such a loss in his life. It was as if he had been slapped in the face and didn't even know which bastard had done it. What a disgrace!
After half a minute of silence, the leader raised his gun and pointed it at Jiang Min: "Who? Who's causing trouble on my turf?!"
"It's her!" Jiang Min pointed into the crowd. "It's her. I saw her come in last night and take He Xiangxue away. She must have killed Chi Bo too, and she was the one who arranged the embroidered shoes."
The person she was pointing to was a very low-profile illustrator in the crowd.
The illustrator was taken aback, then laughed: "Seriously, little sister? Even if you want to save yourself, find someone more reliable. Me? I've never met you before, we have no grudge against each other, why would I want to harm you?"
Her attitude was open and honest, and she didn't seem like a murderer at all. Moreover, what she said made a lot of sense; they were meeting for the first time, and had no grudge against each other, so why would she do something like that?
So everyone's attention shifted back to Jiang Min. If it were an ordinary person, they would be speechless in the face of such suspicious looks, but Jiang Min's words left her an out.
"You think I have no evidence?" She pulled her phone out of her pocket and showed a newly recorded video. "I captured your face on video."
The leader had someone bring up the phone, and she actually managed to capture a picture of the intruder.
The intruder, wearing a black raincoat, was covering a girl on the sofa with a white handkerchief. In a short video clip, she glanced towards the phone. Although the room was dark, her features were still vaguely discernible.
"So you're the one who lured the police here?" The leader looked at the illustrator in the crowd, who resembled a gas cylinder about to explode.
The illustrator's smile vanished, and he looked coldly at Jiang Min: "I really underestimated you. You discovered me, but chose to ignore me and let me take the person away. You even put on such a good show this morning. What a terrifying person you are."
The other students' expressions were utterly shattered. The beautiful, gentle illustrator was a murderer? And Jiang Min saw He Xiangxue being taken away, yet chose to conceal it? It was as if they had been living in a false Eden.
Jiang Min shrank back: "I... I was just trying to protect myself."
"Wait a minute. What you're really looking for is the mastermind behind this whole thing, right?"
The illustrator also took out a cell phone: "I admit that I took He Xiangxue away. But that Chi Bo has nothing to do with me. In fact, even He Xiangxue was just bait thrown to me by someone. I was just a pawn."
Another phone call, another explanation. The leader felt his brain wasn't quite working properly, and he was even a little dizzy.
No, do these people really need to complicate things so much? Killing someone involves several intermediaries; are their brains twisted and turned like the Yellow River?
"Speak!" the leader shouted, gripping his rifle tightly. He wasn't very bright, but that didn't matter; he had a gun.
"Although this guy always retracts his messages after sending them, leaving no evidence, I've been on guard against him for a long time. So, I take screenshots of every single message."
The illustrator opened his phone's photo album and tossed it to a junior employee: "About six months ago, this person contacted me and started chatting with me."
The leader glanced casually at his phone, then his gaze froze: "You're a survivor of the XX serial murder case, and... an accomplice?"
What day is it today? Why are all these amazing people showing up? And why have they all gathered in this remote little village?
"Yes," the illustrator calmly tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "The last artwork, which I personally selected, isn't it exceptionally beautiful?"
The illustrator's smile was like a gentle rose, easily winning people's favor, but those around her felt a chill run down their spines and even moved away from the bandits right under their noses.
The thugs completely ignored the students' petty actions because their own values were somewhat shattered. These people were vicious and cruel, but everything they did was for money. It's truly incomprehensible how they could have such a twisted thought process while constantly talking about 'artwork'.
"If this person hadn't told me that there was a gift prepared for me here, I wouldn't have come to this place to visit. And the gift he prepared for me, without a doubt, was the beautiful He Xiangxue."
The illustrator smiled very gently, but his words were quite blunt: "I suspect that this guy is among this group. You can check him carefully."
'Bang!'
A bullet struck the illustrator, but instead of being led astray by her rhythm as she had expected, the leader delivered a bullet to her directly: "I don't care about your affairs, I only care about who attracted these police."
The illustrator stared blankly at him, spat out a mouthful of blood, and collapsed to the ground. The people next to her screamed.
Watching the illustrator being shot dead, the leader sneered, "Since you admit that you stole the embroidered shoes and attracted the police, I'll give you a quick death."
The leader's logic was straightforward: the illustrator deliberately arranged the shoes to divert the police's attention; she was setting them up. Since she was setting them up, killing her wouldn't be unreasonable.
The illustrator was dead, and they thought that was the end of it, but then their leader turned his gun on them: "Who booked this trip? Huh? Are they all dead? You son of a bitch, talk to me!"
None of the students dared to speak. Coming here was the result of everyone's collective vote; who knew it would be such a coincidence? If they had known there were so many dangerous people hiding here, they would have gone to tutoring classes instead of coming on vacation.
"It's me." Seeing that the gang of thugs were getting impatient, Teacher Wang stepped forward.
The driver panicked, but she held him back. Teacher Wang's eyes were red: "I once saw students being hurt, but I chose to ignore it. This matter has always weighed on my heart, like a weight. Today I can no longer ignore it. If I don't come out, I will regret it for the rest of my life."
"You might..."
"Consider it as granting my wish."
"Two people, eighteen steps to send each other off?" The leader was extremely impatient at this point. He walked over in a few steps, pointing his gun at Teacher Wang. "You chose to come here?"
"I chose it. I am their teacher. I decided on the address, and they have no choice but to obey." Teacher Wang's voice trembled, but he remained relatively calm and could look directly at the thug who had already killed one person.
"Very good." The leader sneered, another one who came to his death.
"It's not the teacher! It's me."
Just before the leader pulled the trigger, another voice rang out. The leader felt like a bull with bloodshot eyes. He glared fiercely at the source of the voice: "Who is it now?! Is this never going to end?!"
The speaker was Ren Yifei. He was originally at the back of the group, but somehow he had appeared next to the leader, holding his head in his hands.
"I created Wutong Village, and I killed Chi Bo. I got the poison and put it in his water cup when he had a fever. I hate him, I hate all of them, because of my sister Han Feifei," Ren Yifei said through gritted teeth.
The leader finally lost his patience. He pointed at the students and said, "Which one is Han Feifei? Step forward!"
"Han Feifei is dead. They drove her to her death," Ren Yifei said again. He looked at Jiang Min not far away. "Before I die, there's only one thing I want to know. Jiang Min, did you tell Chi Bo about Feifei?"
This immediately drew everyone's attention back to Jiang Min, even the extremely irritable leader.
Jiang Min convulsed in fright: "I..."
As soon as she uttered the first word, Ren Yifei, who had been silently shifting his crouching position, pounced on the leader who was within arm's reach like a cheetah. The leader reacted quickly as well, raising his rifle immediately.
However, Ren Yifei was too close, closer than the muzzle of the rifle, and he directly took the pistol from the leader's belt.
Load, release the safety, aim at the chin, and fire!
"Bang!"
The recoil of the pistol caused Ren Yifei to lose his balance and fall to the ground. Everyone else was stunned; only two police officers, an undercover officer, and Saman reacted immediately.
Gunfire is a signal. Some people act immediately upon hearing it, seizing weapons, subduing the enemy, and then dealing with other foes. Others, like the bandits in this village, are only three or four seconds too slow and become the ones who are eliminated.
Rat-a-tat-tat, bang-bang-bang, spent bullet casings hit the ground, flames shot out of the barrel, and the smell of gunpowder filled the air.
All of this happened so suddenly that by the time the students on the ground, clutching their heads, realized what was happening, almost all the bandits were dead, and those who weren't were no longer able to hurt anyone.
Ren Yifei stared blankly at his surroundings, where blood was splattered everywhere and corpses lay scattered about. He gagged, and his hand holding the pistol trembled.
Suddenly, he saw Jiang Min. Ren Yifei's expression changed, and he immediately got up from the ground, pointing his pistol at her: "Jiang Min!"
Jiang Min was startled, and everyone else's hearts jumped into their throats.
"It's still the same question: is my sister's death related to you?" Ren Yifei asked, his eyes red and his teeth grinding. "Don't try anything funny."
"I didn't mean to…" Jiang Min cried bitterly, "I didn't know it would turn out like this."
"It really is you." Ren Yifei seemed to collapse. He smiled, but dark clouds floated in his eyes.
Realizing what he was about to do, the veteran officer shouted to stop him: "Xia Chuan! No! Once this shot is fired, there will be no turning back!"
Ren Yifei smiled bitterly: "My father died early, leaving only a younger sister and a mother. But now, my sister is dead, and my mother is dead too. I have nothing left, and there's no turning back."
"Chibo didn't die from poison, nor from drinking poisoned water. Your hands are clean. But once you lay a hand on her, Xia Chuan, you're ruining yourself." The old police officer advised him, not wanting to see this promising young man make a single wrong step and have his life drastically changed. He should have had a very bright future.
"What about my sister's death?" Tears silently slid down his chin, Ren Yifei's voice suddenly sharpened, his hand gripping the gun trembled, his body shook, and his emotions were on the verge of spiraling out of control. "They did nothing wrong, none of them should have died, but my sister deserved to die?!"
"Let go, Xia Chuan. If your sister were still alive, would she want a brother who killed someone?"
Ren Yifei froze, tears welling up in his eyes and falling in a soft pat. He thought of his sister, his face contorted with pain, hatred, and despair, his features twisting into a silent scream.
He looked as if he had fallen into an abyss and couldn't breathe, his expression one of extreme struggle and pain.
The pain was so intensely contagious that tears streamed down Teacher Wang's face as she repeatedly said, "I'm sorry." The other students remained silent, but tears welled up in their own eyes as well.
Finally, Ren Yifei's hand trembled, the pistol fell to the ground, and he knelt down, covering his face with his hands, letting out a desperate sob like a trapped beast.