EIP 84

Xin Wanjun’s dress, originally a lovely lotus pink, was now crumpled and stained with a spreading patch of blood near her lower back. Her voice trembled, “Zhou Jun… am I bleeding?” She couldn’t see the source of the discomfort, only feeling sharp abdominal pain and a sticky sensation below.

Zhou Jun glanced at the stain and quickly replied, “No… don’t worry, there’s no blood.”

Relieved, she let out a small sigh and relaxed slightly. Following her instructions, Zhou Jun painstakingly retrieved the small knife hidden in her bracelet using his teeth. The process was difficult, but eventually, they managed to free themselves. However, when Zhou Jun checked his body for any self-defense weapons, he found, as expected, that they had all been confiscated.

Xin Wanjun informed him that their captors had been gone for a while but could return at any moment. Zhou Jun scanned the room, but the dilapidated space offered no viable hiding spots. His eyes fell on the ropes that had bound them, and an idea formed.

Handing the knife to Xin Wanjun, Zhou Jun instructed her to hide in the corner. “Once they come back, I’ll attack them. Don’t think about anything else. Just run. No matter what happens, you must escape and never look back. The only chance for survival depends on you.”

Terrified, Xin Wanjun sobbed uncontrollably. Shaking her head, she whimpered, “What about you? What if I don’t make it?”

Zhou Jun clasped her hands tightly and glanced at her leather shoes with modest heels. He bent down to remove them and said, “Run as far as you can. If you can’t escape, find a place to hide. I’ll come for you.”

Unable to contain her fear, the woman burst into tears. She didn’t dare argue further, knowing she had no choice but to trust Zhou Jun, even though she was certain he was lying to her.

She crouched in the corner, watching as Zhou Jun picked up the ropes and concealed himself behind the door. Before long, footsteps approached from a distance, growing steadily louder. The sound of a metal chain being unfastened echoed from outside.

As the door creaked open, one of the captors stepped in, immediately noticing the absence of his prisoners. He shouted in alarm, but before he could react further, Zhou Jun kicked the wooden door with full force. The door slammed into the man, sending him sprawling to the ground.

Zhou Jun stepped out from behind the door. The fallen man, whom he recognized as Xiao Ren, fumbled to draw his gun, only for Zhou Jun to stomp on his injured hand, eliciting a pained howl.

Before he could recover, Zhou Jun looped the coarse rope around his neck, intending to strangle him and drag him into the room. But suddenly, gunfire erupted.

Bang! Bang!

Two shots narrowly missed Zhou Jun.

Zhou Jun gritted his teeth and gambled on a risky move. He pulled Xiao Ren off the floor and used him as a human shield. Standing a few steps away, Allen leveled his gun at the pair. Zhou Jun tightened the rope around Xiao Ren’s neck with ferocity, forcing him further into the room.

If he couldn’t handle even one of them, he and Xin Wanjun truly had no hope of surviving today. He panted heavily, struggling to keep Xiao Ren restrained. Despite Xiao Ren’s desperate attempts to resist, Zhou Jun slapped him hard across the face. A sharp sting was followed by numbness, and Xiao Ren’s face quickly developed a web of purplish-blue veins that spread alarmingly fast.

Soon, Xiao Ren felt his tongue go numb, and his vision was overtaken by crimson. Zhou Jun calmly dragged him to a corner, his gamble paying off. The ring and pocket watch he had strung together hadn’t been confiscated. After retrieving the ring from Yong Jin, Zhou Jun hadn’t inspected it thoroughly, but it seemed to contain a hidden toxin. If it hadn’t, this would have been the end for him.

More gunshots rang out, splintering the wooden door. Zhou Jun turned to Xin Wanjun and shouted, “I’ll draw him away. You run!” Without waiting for her response, he charged out, slamming open the wooden door and rolling to the ground. He grabbed Xiao Ren’s discarded gun, but before he could celebrate, a sharp pain seared through his shoulder. He had been shot.

Blinded momentarily by the agony, Zhou Jun instinctively rolled to another position and fired a few shots in Allen’s direction, forcing him to take cover behind a water tank. The courtyard they were in was dilapidated and overgrown with weeds. To Zhou Jun’s relief, a circular archway to his right led to a path extending beyond, though its destination was unclear.

He yelled, “Xin Wanjun!” and fired a few more shots at the water tank Allen was hiding behind. Suddenly, a piercing scream came from inside the house. Zhou Jun turned back just as Allen seized the opportunity to shoot him in the abdomen. The force of the bullet sent Zhou Jun collapsing backward, and as he fell, he saw Xin Wanjun on the ground, her ankle gripped tightly by another man.

Xin Wanjun’s face was ashen, and she was wracked with increasing abdominal pain. Desperately, she tried to kick the man holding her, but her efforts were futile. Meanwhile, Zhou Jun’s vision blurred as he processed the scene before him. Allen, now looming over him with bloodshot eyes, pointed a gun directly at his head.

In that moment, facing death, Zhou Jun’s mind wandered to odd thoughts. His unborn nephew, yet to be named. The trip to the tailor’s shop with Yong Jin that never happened. The words I love you he never got to say.

He let out a soft chuckle, an unusual smile breaking across his face. Allen froze, staring at him as if he were a madman. “What are you laughing at?” he asked.

Unfortunately, he would never hear Zhou Jun’s answer. A bullet tore through the back of his skull, killing him instantly. His body collapsed forward onto Zhou Jun, who let out a muffled groan under the weight.

The courtyard suddenly flooded with black-clad men, their presence overwhelming. As they parted like a tide, a tall and imposing figure stepped forward, exuding an aura of undeniable authority.

The man didn’t spare Zhou Jun a glance, walking straight toward Xin Wanjun. She was frozen in place, staring up at him from where she lay on the ground. “Mr… Mr. Shi,” she stammered.

Mr. Shi’s expression darkened. His eyes swept over her, lingering on the blood staining her dress. His face turned as black as the bottom of a pot. Dressed impeccably in a suit and overcoat, he stoop down and pick her up, ignoring the dirt and grime that smeared his pristine clothing.

As he carried Xin Wanjun away, she suddenly snapped out of her daze and panicked. “Zhou Jun! Zhou Jun!” she cried desperately. Mr. Shi cast a cold glance at one of his subordinates, and Zhou Jun’s body was unceremoniously dragged aside.

Zhou Jun lay on the ground, alive but weak. A heavy, suffocating pain lingered in his chest. Perhaps it was from blood loss or sheer exhaustion, but the pain throbbed in relentless waves.

On the way to the hospital, Zhou Jun fell unconscious from excessive blood loss. During that fleeting moment of unconsciousness, he dreamed.

In the dream, he took Yong Jin to that tailor shop he’d been thinking about. They returned home together afterward, but as they approached the Zhou family’s door, Yong Jin stopped in his tracks and shook his head at Zhou Jun. Stunned, Zhou Jun opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, the chain around his neck snapped. The pocket watch fell to the ground, shattering into two broken halves.

“Ah!!” Zhou Jun jolted awake, unsure whether he had been startled or woken by pain. He was in a hospital room now, hooked up to a blood transfusion. A doctor was stitching up his wound while a bullet, freshly removed from his flesh, lay in a sterilized tray nearby.

Still groggy, he weakly raised his hand to his neck, fumbling for the pocket watch. Thankfully, it was still there, intact. He hadn’t even had a chance to feel relieved before darkness claimed him once more.

This time, he didn’t dream at all. When he woke again, the room was empty, but faint voices arguing outside drifted into his ears. Moments later, Xiao Fu pushed the door open, pausing when he saw Zhou Jun awake.

Xiao Fu turned to close the door, but before he could, someone shoved it back open. Ming Qi and Zhong Qing stepped in, their appearances just as disheveled and their faces pale.

Xiao Fu’s expression darkened with anger as he tried to force them out, but against the two men, he stood no chance. Their heated voices echoed into the room, unhindered by any obstacle, reaching Zhou Jun’s ears with perfect clarity.

An hour ago, Ming Qi had received an urgent telegram. Yong Jin’s Unit 19 had been ambushed at the fortress by enemy forces. The entire unit was wiped out, and there were no survivors.