Chapter 68

"Careful, there are patrol guards ahead."

After leaving with David, the two of them stuck to narrow alleys and crawled through holes in walls. If they hadn't crossed a bridge—and Lin Tu clearly remembered its position, using it to reorient herself—she would have had no idea where she was by now.

The town was under curfew, and the night was far more dangerous than the day. Patrol soldiers shot anyone they saw on sight.

David was experienced at this, avoiding patrols from a distance so effectively that Lin Tu never even caught a glimpse of them.

"Another squad up ahead. Once we get past them, we'll be at my friend's place." David pointed at a hole in the wall on the right, signaling for Lin Tu to crawl through first. He was quite pleased with how quick she was. He'd thought this girl, sick and barely able to eat, would slow him down—but she'd dodged danger several times and even pulled him along smoothly.

Lin Tu slipped through the alley and into the hole without a sound. After entering, she waited for a long moment, but David didn't follow.

She cautiously poked her head out to look. David stood there, staring into the distance as if turned to stone.

"Go!" she urged.

David snapped back to reality. "My friend!" He pointed anxiously to one side, about a hundred meters away. Lin Tu saw patrol guards dragging three people. "They've been caught!"

"Already got six, three more to go!" a patrol guard reported in the distance.

"Three rats left? Strengthen the patrol. I want those three rats found!" Another man, who looked like an officer, kicked the captured man. "Tell me, who are your three companions? What were you doing gathered together during curfew? Speak! Are you spies of the rebel army? Plotting a revolution?"

"I didn't..." The man was kicked until his speech was slurred, unable to explain.

"Still trying to lie!" The patrol soldier flipped him onto the ground and stomped on his face. A dark liquid sprayed out, and two hard teeth clattered to the ground.

"Luo Te!" David started to pull a knife from his pocket, but Lin Tu grabbed his hand.

His anger surged like a volcano about to erupt—until he heard a ghostly voice from behind them—

"Huh? There's something here?"

As the sound of military boots crunching on the ground approached in the silent night, David saw Lin Tu's gaze fix on a single point. His hot blood froze, and his heart sank to the pit of his stomach.

Just then, he saw Lin Tu dart out of the hole with lightning speed. She ran toward the alley mouth, pulling out a sharp dagger—more precisely, a fruit knife.

Was she insane? Trying to fight a government soldier's gun with a fruit knife?

David tried to grab her, but missed. He didn't dare make a sound. Just as he expected blood to splatter and himself to be caught in the blast, he saw Lin Tu toss a candy into her mouth. In the next instant, her speed became so fast it was almost impossible to track.

The government officer had just stepped into the darkness of the alley when Lin Tu appeared behind him. She covered his mouth and made a quick, sharp motion. A spray of warm blood splattered onto David's fingertips.

*Holy shit!* David screamed internally.

The girl, whose head only reached the officer's shoulder, laid him flat on the ground. She moved on her tiptoes, quick and graceful, without making a sound—like a scene from an elegant silent play.

Before David could even form words, Lin Tu pulled him back into the wall hole. He wouldn't hold her back now; he scrambled after her into a safe corner among the ruins.

While his heart pounded, Lin Tu had already carefully checked their surroundings. It was a ruined building with its entire ceiling blown off, uninhabited. There were many such houses in the town.

"What do we do now?" she asked calmly. "He'll be discovered soon. We can't stay here."

The bad news was that the special plant item she'd eaten to boost her agility, [Night Blueberry], only lasted thirty seconds, and its effect had long worn off. Worse still, this item was only the second she'd bought from Professor Lü—the other being [Barbed Wire]—and she hadn't had time to cultivate it. She only had three... no, two berries left.

"We've been betrayed," David said through gritted teeth, keeping his voice low. "Those damn officers knew we'd be here. They've probably sent patrols to every entrance and exit nearby—which means, worst case, we can't go back."

He wasn't wrong.

They were in Government Army territory. To head south, back to the neutral zone not controlled by either side, they'd have to cross the bridge. Lin Tu remembered the map well: a large river cut through the entire town, with two bridges—east and west—as the only connections between the two landmasses.

Lin Tu had a curse word she wanted to say.

What rotten luck—she'd been betrayed the moment she arrived.

But she knew this was normal. The game clearly wasn't going to give her a safe place to hide from the disaster. The fact she'd landed here meant this shelter was doomed to collapse eventually. David, as a member, might be just the beginning.

"Do you know anyone else around here?" Lin Tu asked quickly. The patrol wouldn't waste forever hunting down a few insignificant people. They just needed to lie low for a while and slip out once the patrol relaxed.

"No one reliable," David shook his head.

Lin Tu frowned. Players' shelters were all in the neutral zone, so naturally, she knew no one here either.

"You know this area well. Is there anywhere we can hide?" she pressed.

David furrowed his brow and gave a bitter laugh. "No. Otherwise, why would we bother meeting a middleman with a house in Government Army territory? The government destroys abandoned houses for taxes—leaving only four walls. Whether anyone's there is obvious at a glance. No one on this land can escape the government's control."

"But..." David suddenly thought of something. "Except the waste warehouse. To keep the rebel army from scavenging, the government dumps all the trash there. They don't patrol a garbage dump that closely."

That place was, in fact, their destination all along—if they said they were gathering supplies, they meant picking through junk.

"And tomorrow morning, Uncle Abel will come to the army kitchen for leftovers. If we hide in the waste warehouse tonight and leave with Abel in the morning, we can slip past the patrols and get out cleanly!" The more David thought about it, the more excited he got. "It's just Luo Te and the others..."

"Wait," Lin Tu interrupted. "I don't think it's that simple."

The problem was that someone had snitched. David came in and out of Government Army territory during the day too. Not everyone knew him, but plenty did. How could the snitches not know who he was or where he came from? And even if they didn't, the captured ones would.

Sure enough, a moment later, a patrol guard dragged a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old boy out of a civilian house.

"Dad!" The moment the boy saw Luo Te, he finally understood why he'd been yanked out into the street in the middle of the night. He screamed and struggled. "Let my dad go!"

"Please, don't hurt my son..." Luo Te said in agony.

"Then tell me, who are the other three rats? Where are they?"

A boot pressed down on Luo Te's already swollen face. He stared at the ground, a mess of dust, spit, and melted snow, clenching his jaw.

"Don't hurt my dad! Dad, please, just tell them what they want!"

"Hear that?" The boot ground down harder. The officer had already drawn the dagger from his belt. "You think I won't kill you just because you won't talk? You're worthless. The only ones worth a bounty are outsiders. They'll be hung up, limbs cut off, eyes gouged out, used by dogs—until they spill rebel secrets. Then my twelve brothers and I can collect a fat reward. Only then can they beg for death."

"So consider yourself lucky. You're a resident of this garrison, so I might let you live, worthless as you are—just tell me where those rats are. Otherwise..." The officer crouched down, scraping the dagger across Luo Te's face. "Everything I just described will happen to you first."

"No! Dad!"

"Or maybe... to your son?" The officer turned his head with interest, the cold blade sending a shiver down the spine.

"No... please!" Luo Te screamed in despair. "I'll talk."

Even though they knew Luo Te had no choice, the moment those words left his mouth, Lin Tu and David hidden in the corner both felt their hearts sink.

"In that case, there's only one option now." Lin Tu tightened her grip on the fruit knife.

David looked at her. In the dark, silent ruins, he could only make out the girl's silhouette.

"He said twelve men. So there should be eleven left waiting to split the reward. We just kill them all."

David: "...?"

The confession continued in the distance: "Two are on Charlie Third Street. They call themselves brothers, code names Cheese and Carrot. One's pudgy and wears glasses, the other's skinny... And there's one you know too—he's acquainted with Officer Boluo's old mother. A guy named David. He said he wanted to see Officer Boluo. Should we check with him first?"

Boluo?

At the mention of that name, the patrol guards exchanged glances and suddenly laughed.

"Boluo~" A mocking, drawn-out laugh. "Almost forgot about him. The son's dead, and the old man's still causing trouble."

"If he's Boluo's friend, he deserves to die even more."

"Tsk. Looks like Boluo was too soft on you lot, making you think you could negotiate with us officers." The officer crouched down, grinning maliciously. "You haven't heard? Boluo's dead. The charge? Treason!"

Lin Tu suddenly felt David's grip on her sleeve tighten; his whole body was trembling.

"And me? Pulusi. I officially took over his jurisdiction this morning." The officer was in a good mood. "From now on, there's no Officer Boluo. Only Officer Pulusi. All your valuables go to me from now on. Don't bother begging anyone else—I'll tell you, it's not just Boluo. Everyone who needed to die is dead. The Holy War is about to begin. Hand over your good stuff, and I might find a way to keep you alive."

What he said was clearly classified. No one else should have heard it—because Lin Tu could feel David beside her shaking as if he had Parkinson's.

"It's over... it's all over..." David suddenly thought of something, grabbing Lin Tu's arm like a man dying of thirst in a desert spotting an oasis. "They don't know you exist. You have to get out. You have to spread the news—that Boluo's dead, that war is coming! I'll cover you. Once they catch me and the other two, they'll stop paying attention to you. Run south, keep running, to the bridge—"

"I'm not running," Lin Tu said, patting his arm. "Eleven men. We kill them all."