Mutated Tao

Chapter 727: Captive

Li Huowang held his cleaver tightly and glared at the tall man with glasses.

Even though Li Huowang had only seen him once, he still recognized the man. The man was in the same group as Li Huowang at Kangning Hospital. He recalled the man’s name—Yuan Heping.

“It’s you?! You were one of them?” Li Huowang’s breathing quickened as he gripped his cleaver.

Yuan Heping swallowed his saliva nervously when he saw Li Huowang’s cleaver and Qing Wanglai’s gun. “Wait, don’t be rash. Murder is a crime, and we didn’t do anything!”

Qing Wanglai walked towards Li Huowang and pushed the cleaver down. “We’ve surrounded them. There’s no need to use your cleaver for now.”

Qian Fu and Chen Hongyu then appeared with a rope. They tied the two people's hands together.

Li Huowang finally put down his knife when the two were tied up. He only focused on the gun after they had been subdued.

“Where did you get a gun? Those are harder to come by than knives.”

Li Huowang started to doubt Qing Wanglai and his background.

A small fire lit up from the muzzle of the gun.

Wu Qi took out a cigarette and lit it up.

“It’s fake?”

“Of course this is a fake gun. This is a world with laws and regulations, so how could I get a real gun? I bought it online during a sale.” Qing Wanglai released the trigger and placed the gun-shaped lighter into his pocket.

“AAAAH!” Someone screamed from the other alley. The familiar voice made Li Huowang’s heart jump.

“Oh no! It’s Yang Na!”

Li Huowang ran down the alley and quickly counted the gazes he had sensed just now. There were four, but we only found three! One of them must’ve been hiding to ambush us!

Li Huowang thought the situation was dire, but he was stunned when he reached Yang Na.

Yang Na was indeed screaming, but she was using a taser to shock an old man as she did.

The old man’s mouth was already foaming, but Yang Na continued to press her taser into the old man.

“Nana, wait, that’s enough. Let go of the trigger. If you keep going, he'll die from electrocution.”

Yang Na only let go after Li Huowang reassured her repeatedly. She released the taser and hugged him as she cried. “Huowang, I’m scared.”

Li Huowang calmed her down and looked at the taser on the ground. “Nana, where did you get it?”

Li Huowang was both shocked and surprised.

Yang Na sobbed and said, “I… I bought it online with my friends. We were worried about our safety when we walked at night, so I… I… also bought some other personal safety devices.”

Li Huowang opened her bag and saw she had indeed prepared many other tools. There were pepper sprays, spare tasers, a recording device in the shape of a pen, and a phone with a big red button on the back.

Li Huowang took out the phone, and Yang Na explained as she sobbed, “My grandmother bought this phone before. If you press the red button, it will automatically call the police. You can press the button even from outside the bag.”

“Have you been carrying all this stuff ever since I met Qing Wanglai?” Li Huowang was touched. He knew Yang Na might not believe him, but she was still willing to risk her life to accompany him.

Everyone else finally caught up to Li Huowang. They quickly exchanged words, but soon noticed that Yang Na's shout had drawn in some of the residents.

“Quick! We need to move now! We won’t be able to explain ourselves if they capture a video of us and upload it online!” Zhao Lei grabbed the unconscious old man and placed him on the back of his motorcycle.

Li Huowang nodded as he sensed more and more people staring at them. He quickly pulled the startled Yang Na into the RV.

The RV snaked around the roads as they tried to shake off any pursuers. It wasn’t until they reached the main road that they sighed in relief.

Qing Wanglai was driving the RV while Wu Qi was looking after the old man who had been electrocuted by Yang Na. She was worried that the old man would die.

“Don’t worry, he’s still doing fine. The electrocution won’t kill him.” Wu Qi looked at Wang Gang lying on the bed as she reported.

Li Huowang finally had the time to look at the three people they had captured. One of them was Yuan Heping, while the old man Yang Na had electrocuted was also familiar. Li Huowang had also met this man at Kangning Hospital—his name was Wang Gang.

It was clear that they had been the ones who placed the needles in his food.

Li Huowang pointed the cleaver at them. “Who wants to talk first?”

“There’s no need for that. Let’s find another place to interrogate them. My RV is already a third-hand car. I don’t want you to destroy it.”

The RV wasn’t large to begin with, and it felt cramped after so many people entered it. Qian Fu had to sit on the induction stove while Chen Hongyu was forced to sit in the toilet.

“Let’s go to my place. There’s no one there.” Zhao Lei’s voice came from outside.

“Is it remote and safe?” Li Huowang asked.

No matter who the three people were, Li Huowang was technically kidnapping them. It would be hard to explain to other people if they saw what they were doing.

“Don’t worry, he lives somewhere very remote.” Chen Hongyu stretched out from the toilet as she opened the fridge.

The RV bounced along the road until they stopped near the city's outskirts. It was already starting to get bright outside when they entered an old home. Li Huowang finally understood what they meant by Zhao Lei staying somewhere remote. Zhao Lei was actually staying in an underground basement on the outskirts of the city.

Li Huowang pushed Yuan Heping underground before he caught the scent of mold. The basement was huge but covered in many objects. There were bottles and cans of various sizes, as well as organs preserved in formalin. Li Huowang saw a kneecap and a single eye in the jars. He wasn’t sure if they were real.

A strange moldy smell came from the takeout boxes and trash near his feet.

There was a shelf on the wall lined up with various toy models. Some of them were incomplete, with only their heads.

Zhao Lei’s fashion was weird, and his place was weird too.

“Is this place soundproof?” Li Huowang walked to the table and tapped the bottles on the table. There were wooden boat models inside the bottles. It seems that Zhao Lei sells these for money. It’s so real. He even carved out the sailors inside the boat.

“Yes, it’s soundproof.”

“Good.” Li Huowang approached Yuan Heping and pinned him to the wall before bringing the cleaver down on Yuan Heping’s right hand.

“AH! MMGH!” Yuan Heping tried to scream, but Li Huowang covered his mouth.

“Stop! Your arm is still intact! You can scream later!”

Yuan Heping almost fainted from shock when he saw Li Huowang’s cleaver planted on the ground right beside his hands.

Just as he managed to catch his breath, he saw Li Huowang swinging the cleaver sideways onto four of his fingers.