DTTM 36

Chapter 36: Farewell, Jiang Man

The hunt had only just begun, so it was unlikely that the hunters would have made any long-distance movements. Of the three hunters on the first floor, one must have come down from the second floor. Including the one I killed in the Mirror Hall, there were probably no hunters active on the second floor right now.

As the main floor of the Baroque building, the second floor was the most central and luxurious living and reception space. Nobles spared no effort in displaying their wealth and power on this floor, yet they also placed great importance on privacy. The reception room enclosed the living room, then the master bedroom, and finally a small study. The more private the space, the more deeply it was concealed.

Even more secretive than those private spaces were the hidden passageways reserved for servants. In stark contrast to the spacious and bright main passageways, these passageways, like a spider web, were crisscrossed and hidden within the wall creaks. They were narrow, cramped, dimly lit, and covered with cheap wooden planks that creaked with every step.

This might be the roughest and simplest place in the entire mansion, but it was precisely the ideal place to play hide-and-seek, the crisscrossing paths meant that one can move freely and was highly mobile; the narrow space meant that only one person can pass through at a time, which was more conducive to hiding; the old floor made it easy to detect any slight movement, which was convenient for escape.

I grabbed A-Qi’s wrist and we moved quickly through the interconnected rooms, eventually hiding him in the secluded servants’ passage behind the study.

“Keep this dagger for self-defense.”

I took the dagger off my leg, stuffed it into his arms, and was about to leave. Just as I stood up, I felt a tugging at the hem of my clothes.

I looked down and saw A-Qi looking up with his tear-streaked face, his eyes full of caution.

“Ge, could you… could you help me find my sister?” His voice grew softer and softer as he said the few last words, and he slowly loosened his grip.

His sister had been missing for four months, and frankly, her chances of survival were slim. But how could the Good Shepherd remain indifferent to such a lost lamb?

“What’s your sister’s name?”

His eyes suddenly lit up, and he said with teary eyes, “Her name is Xiaomin, and she looks a lot like me!”

I reached out and patted his head, telling him I would keep an eye out.

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Although the servants’ passageway was dark and disorienting, it was not difficult for someone like me, who was used to walking through such passageways since childhood and had a very strong sense of direction, to get to where I wanted to go without any obstacles.

After walking to the end and exiting the servants’ passage, there was a spiral staircase connecting the wing and the main building.

As I climbed the stairs, I heard two more muffled, distant gunshots.

I quickened my pace to reach the third floor, where the corridor was a mess, littered with plaster and rubble from fallen picture frames. Several crossbow bolts, each about half an arm’s length long, were also stuck in the floor.

I pulled one out with difficulty and examined it closely. I discovered that it was a short arrow specifically designed for hunting large prey, featherless, with an aluminum shaft and a thick, heavy metal tip that was sharp and triangular. When it hit, the blade would automatically spring back, easily penetrating any hard skin, making it extremely lethal.

As I bent down to examine the short arrow, the distance between me and the red carpet suddenly decreased, allowing me to clearly see a line of blood dripping down the ground in a winding path, slowly extending in one direction.

I stood up abruptly and chased after the trail of blood, my footsteps making a dull sound on the third-floor corridor.

If the second floor was a shared area for both hosts and guests, with spacious rooms nested within more spacious ones, then the third floor was a completely private domain for the aristocracy, with a maze of sidewalks and corners in the corridors, densely packed with exquisite home spaces such as music rooms, home classrooms, and collection rooms.

The bloodstains ended in front of a large door decorated with gold patterns. In the crack of the door, at about chest height, was a blurry bloody handprint, like a hastily marked signpost.

I gently pushed open the door, and a musty smell of formaldehyde assaulted my nostrils. I frowned and slipped inside silently.

The entire space was divided into two floors. The first thing I saw was a large number of animal skull specimens hanging on the walls of the first and second floors—deer, rhinoceros, wildebeest… Each one is lifelike, as if time has been suddenly paused.

The second thing that caught my eye was the array of transparent glass jars of all sizes scattered on the ground. The formaldehyde solution had a disgusting pale yellow hue, and the animal carcasses inside were either curled up in a ball or floating. Their skin was swollen and discolored from being soaked in the solution, and even their original outlines were blurred, making it difficult to tell at a glance what kind of living creatures they once were.

This was without doubt a collection room, but it had nothing to do with elegant works of art or precious cigars and teas. What was piled up and displayed are the bloody spoils after the hunt.

I walked around a glass jar more than two meters tall that was filled with an unknown fish and moved to the center of the room.

A row of warm-colored light strips shone vertically down from the towering ceiling, illuminating the glass jars stacked in the center, resembling a fruit canning section in a grocery store, making them crystal clear.

The light pierced deep into the liquid, illuminating the plump, round, yet lifeless, fiery red eyeballs within the jar.

Those were the eyes of Wo people.

My stomach began to churn when I realized that.

The glass jars formed a pyramid, with each layer decreasing in size until only one jar remained at the very top.

The jar was larger than the others, about the size of a basketball, and inside was a strange black mass. I adjusted my angle and moved a little to the side. When I could see what was inside, I held my breath for several breaths.

Inside the glass jar was the head of a young girl, with a round face and a small nose; she was A-Qi’s older sister.

“Hmm…”

Suddenly, a painful and weak groan rang in my ears.

I immediately raised my gun and aimed, but froze before pulling the trigger—behind the glass jar, a hunter wearing a white mask was tightly holding a wounded Wo boy in front of him, as if he were a human shield. The boy’s face was as pale as paper, his forehead was covered in cold sweat, and half of his body was stained red with blood; his injuries were not optimistic.

Just then, I heard a strange noise coming from behind me.

“Put the gun down, Jiang Man.” The other person didn’t alter his voice, so I could clearly hear the pleasure and relaxation in his words.

I kept my gun pointed forward, but looked behind me.

A young man in a red suit stood five meters behind me, holding a crossbow and smiling. Despite not having seen him for many years, I recognized him at a glance; it was Wuxi Chen.

Tsk, the last two hunters not only reunited, but also took a hostage. I pursed my lips and sighed.

“This is my favorite collection room, you can’t fire here,” Wuxi Chen said, tossing the mask aside.

“Young Master Wuxi, what a coincidence that we run into each other here?” I smiled at him, my gun remaining in place.

“You’re still as glib as you were when you were a kid.” He sneered. “Stop playing dumb. You only have a hunting rifle, you can’t beat the two of us. Give up and I’ll make sure you die a decent death.”

“Not going to gouge out my eyes?”

“I will.” In just a moment, he completely overturned what he had just said. But there was not a trace of guilt on his face; he was completely arrogant and fearless.

“I’m not only going to gouge out your eyes, I’m going to cut off your head and send it to Zong Yanlei.”

Hearing him mention Zong Yanlei, the corners of my lips slowly drooped: “That’s not a good idea.”

“Before you kill him, I need to have some fun with him first.” The purple-clad hunter standing in front of me suddenly interjected, his mechanical electronic voice was filled delight “I’ve watched his matches; he’s a cheerful kid. I love seeing kids like him cry their eyes out, trembling with pain.”

“Of course, no problem.” Wuxi Chen readily agreed. “Jiang Man, I’ll count to three. If you don’t put down your gun, we’ll both shoot you at the same time.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of a white figure flash by on the second floor. I didn’t look in that direction, but instead following Wuxi Chen’s words, “Alright, of course. I’ll count, 1, 2…”

“3.” Accompanied by a long electronic sound, the white figure, like a lithe giant bird, swooped down from the second floor and landed directly on Wuxi Chen, the huge impact knocking him to the ground.

Caught off guard by this sudden turn of events, the purple-clad hunter hastily turned his gun to shoot the mysterious white figure. At that critical moment, I darted towards him like a cheetah, swung my rifle, and smashed it into his hand with all my might.

He had to hold a human shield while also gripping a gun, so his grip strength was already insufficient. With one blow, the hostage screamed as the gun slipped from his hand, and he slid to the ground.

“Wait…wait! Do you know who I am?” He gripped his broken hand and kept backing away.

“I know.” I raised my gun high and brought it down again, smashing it into his temple. “Someone who wants to play with me.”

He collapsed to the ground without a sound. I lifted his mask and saw that his eyes had rolled back and he was foaming at the mouth.

I checked the pulse of the boy next to me. Although it was weak, he was still breathing.

On the other side of the battlefield, Wuxi Chen had already been knocked unconscious when the WRA soldier jumped down. At this moment, the other party roughly grabbed his hair, stuck a needle into his neck, and then threw him into a corner like a corpse.

“All done. Send a helicopter over.” The man said, pressing the communicator on his earpiece.

“What did you inject him with? Why didn’t you kill him?” I picked up the gun from the ground and walked over.

He silently blocked my way, without answering, but instead looked down at my arm and said, “You’re injured.”

I paused, looked down, and then noticed a cut on my arm from a crossbow bolt. It must have been when Wuxi Chen pressed the trigger before being knocked down, accidentally grazing me.

“I…” I felt a sudden wave of dizziness, and staggered a couple of steps. I quickly grabbed the arm of the man in front of me.

Oh no, the arrow seems to have been coated with a sedative.

“Jiang Man?” The masked man held me firmly.

“It’s nothing, it’s… a sedative.” The drug affected my nervous system, making my tongue a little tied.

I could almost hear his sigh. The muscles that were holding me relaxed, and he laid me flat on the ground.

Just then, a series of gunshots suddenly rang out outside the building, mixed with the dull sounds of doors being slammed shut.

The man’s back tensed up again.

“Is someone coming to rescue us?” I focused on the commotion, guessing that Yu Xuan’s men had arrived, but on the surface I pretended to be innocent.

“I’ll go take a look,” the man picked up a hunting rifle from the side and walked towards the door.

About five or six minutes later, he returned and confirmed that everything was complete.

“They really came to rescue people, it’s a group of Wo people, do you know them?”

“Wo people?” I thought for a moment, then gently shook my head. “I don’t know. Are you sure they’re not ones of yours?”

He silently stared at me for a long time.

I let him look at me, completely at ease.

Suddenly, darkness enveloped my eye, and cold gloves covered my eyelids.

I blinked, this time genuinely surprised.

What is this?

“You……”

I abruptly stopped as a soft, slippery tongue barged into my mouth, like a wild and audacious robber brazenly entering and disrupting the world.

He plundered everything he touched, saliva, breath, even my flesh and blood.

My lower lip was bitten and bled. I snapped out of my shock and raised my hand to push him away, but he easily captured me and held me even tighter.

The act, which was more like “eating” than kissing, gradually filled my mouth with the salty taste of blood. I tilted my head back, struggling to breathe, and just as I managed to break free, he bit my Adam’s apple again.

“Ah…” I gasped for breath, trembling with pain, and regretted not shooting him dead in the kitchen.

He licked my trembling Adam’s apple, straightened up, and after a while, removed the hand from my face, allowing me to see again, while the other person put on the mask once more.

“Consider it payment for saving you,” he whispered, his glove brushing intimately against my lower lip. His fingertips landed on my bite wound.

Didn’t he say he wasn’t interested in people like me?

Although he’s not a real hunter, he is definitely a real pervert.

The stinging pain felt like fine silver needles piercing my nerves bit by bit. I frowned slightly and turned my face away, too lazy to even maintain any expression.

The other person withdrew his hand, and chuckled as he said goodbye, “Farewell, Jiang Man.”

I lay on the ground. I followed his retreating figure with my eyes, watching helplessly as he carried the unconscious Wuxi Chen and disappeared out the door.