bodyguard against fate

"Only he could do something like this!" He Yong analyzed. "I don't have any deep-seated hatred for others, but Lao Zheng suffered too much inside and was likely provoked into wanting revenge!"

"Then he could have just taken revenge on you directly, why did he have to kill Xiuli?" Wu Renxing asked.

"Because he lost his own child, he didn't want to see me have one."

Once a person is convinced of something, they will find countless excuses for it. He Yong is somewhat like a wise man who suspects his neighbor.

"But he didn't have time to commit the crime. Didn't he just get out of the mental hospital?" Wu Renxing continued to play dumb.

"He's not alone; he must have accomplices!" He Yongyue's analysis made more and more sense.

"He's in a mental hospital, what kind of help could he possibly have?" He Xiuli asked, puzzled.

"Unless... he's also mentally ill," He Yong suddenly remembered something, "Old Gao said that a mentally ill person who was on good terms with Old Zheng was discharged from the hospital a few days ago, and then you were being followed. The timing matches up perfectly... I really should have asked who that person was!"

"That person..."

Feng Weida really wanted to say that it was him, but Wu Renxing quickly interrupted him.

"That person is definitely a man, maybe even as old as Old Zheng, right, Little Feng?"

When Feng Weida saw Wu Renxing winking at him repeatedly, he remembered Wu Renxing saying he was afraid of being implicated, so he stopped talking.

"Isn't it very dangerous for us to be here?" He Xiuli was a little nervous. It was like escaping from the tiger's mouth and entering the wolf's den.

"In short, everyone be careful. There are so many of us, we'll stay together no matter where we go, I don't believe he'll dare to do anything!" He Yong said.

Just then, they heard a loud "bang" outside, like the sound of the door being locked.

Old Zheng returned, his expression calm again: "It's getting dark, don't leave. Stay here tonight, and I'll help you find a car tomorrow after the rain stops!"

With such heavy rain, thunder, and lightning outside, it wouldn't be unusual to be struck by lightning in the middle of nowhere. Moreover, two of the four people were sick; He Yong had his arm in a cast, and He Xiuli had just twisted her ankle and was still feeling some weight on it, so it was indeed difficult for them to move around. Fortunately, there were many of them, so they weren't too scared.

He Xiuli was afraid that Lao Zheng might set the house on fire while everyone was asleep, which would not only wipe out the entire family but also save on cremation fees. She and Feng Weida exchanged messages and took turns keeping watch. Feng Weida would keep watch for the first half of the night, and He Xiuli for the second half. If they discovered anything, they would wake everyone up. After the black market incident, He Xiuli had lost basic trust in Wu Renxing. If it were before, she would definitely have discussed this matter with Wu Renxing.

Old Zheng laid out the bedding, but no one dared to sleep. Except for Old Zheng, everyone else huddled on the stools and slept fully clothed.

"Mr. He, I don't think Lao Zheng is that kind of person."

Feng Weida knew that Lao Zheng was gentle and refined, articulate, and passionate about the Talmud. He couldn't possibly associate him with the Rain Night Butcher. He couldn't help but send He Xiuli a message, but unfortunately, He Xiuli was already asleep.

According to the division of labor, Feng Weida was on duty for the first half of the night, and He Xiuli set an alarm clock to get up in the middle of the night to relieve Feng Weida. Old Zheng didn't make a sound and slept like a dead pig.

At midnight, the rain had stopped. He Xiuli never expected that there would be such a strange and bizarre night in her life. Old Zheng was also a pitiful man. If he wasn't the murderer, perhaps she could consider giving him some shares of the factory as compensation for the past twenty years. No matter how right He Yong was back then, it couldn't overshadow Old Zheng's contribution to building the factory. Just as she was lost in thought, she suddenly noticed that Old Zheng moved.

In the darkness, Old Zheng silently got up, dressed, and looked at the sleeping crowd. He Xiuli felt her heart leap into her throat, fearing that Old Zheng might pull out a kitchen knife and start wildly swinging it at He Yong at any moment. Just as she was about to scream, Old Zheng suddenly turned around, opened the door, and left.

What's he going to do? Is he going to bring firewood and burn a whole house of people to death?

Despite the pain in her ankle, He Xiuli quietly followed them out.

On a dark and windy night, He Xiuli witnessed a very strange scene: Old Zheng was digging a pit under a large tree in the yard.

What are they trying to do? After killing everyone, are they going to bury them all together?

He Xiuli became more and more frightened the more she thought about it.

"Who?"

Suddenly, Old Zheng seemed to notice someone watching him and shouted in He Xiuli's direction. He Xiuli was startled and hurriedly hid. The house was right behind her, and it would be too obvious for her to open the door and go in. In her haste, she walked along the wall towards the east side of the house. She didn't go to the west side because the west side was the latrine, which was extremely smelly.

After all, no one had lived in Old Zheng's house for twenty years. The courtyard walls were collapsed and dilapidated, practically useless. The yard was overgrown with weeds, not much different from the wilderness. He Xiuli was hiding in the grass, which was taller than a person, so she shouldn't be seen. In the middle of summer, all she could hear were the chirping of insects and the croaking of toads. She didn't seem to hear Old Zheng chasing after her.

He Xiuli squatted for a while and felt that Lao Zheng had left. She stood up to check the situation. Suddenly, a dark figure appeared behind her. The figure was holding a rusty wood-chopping axe and raised it to smash it at He Xiuli!

"Mr. He, danger!"

Hearing the sound, He Xiuli turned around sharply and saw Feng Weida leaping from the side and tackling the axe-wielding assailant to the ground.

"We've got you now!"

Feng Weida came prepared. He pinned the assailant down, all his training over the past few days had paid off, all for this moment of glory. He delivered two punches directly to the face.

"Who exactly are you?"

He Xiuli hurriedly looked at the murderer who was being pinned down by Feng Weida. She turned on her phone and shone the light on the man's face. What she saw was a face that was all too familiar: Wu Renxing!

"Is it you?"

"Mr. Wu... Mr. Wu?"

He Xiuli and Feng Weida were both stunned.

Wu Renxing, who had been punched twice by Feng Weida and ended up with a black eye, looked surprised and asked, "Xiuli?"

"You want to kill me?" He Xiuli looked at the axe lying on the ground in disbelief, then at Wu Renxing.

"What? It's a misunderstanding!" Wu Renxing hurriedly explained.

"What exactly happened?" He Xiuli hoped that Wu Renxing could give her a reasonable explanation, otherwise she simply could not accept that she had been living with a murderer for so many years.

"I...I thought you were that mentally ill person!" Wu Renxing exclaimed in a moment of panic.

"Old Zheng?"

It turned out that Wu Renxing hadn't slept either. Besides worrying that Lao Zheng would launch a coordinated attack and wipe him out, his main concern was how to seize this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to complete his plan. Before dinner, he texted Qiang Ge to tell them to come back, but the shameless guy replied that he'd have to pay more. Feng Weida was truly reckless when he got angry; he was worth three men, and the extra charge was substantial. Wasn't this just extortion? They couldn't be allowed to get away with this!