Chapter 90

Tong Shu coldly observed the ugly state of the man on the ground, her brows furrowing slightly. She glanced at the green-glowing blade of the dagger, disgustedly wiped away the grime scraped off the man's arm, and then took out a rusty knife from her bag.

A flashlight hung from a branch of the tree trunk, its faint light flickering, enough for Tamura Ichiro to see Tong Shu's movements clearly.

The woman who had terrified him months ago by their appearance now knelt before him like a demon, a rusty knife in her hand, red welts brushing against his bare skin, moving downwards...

"No! Please..." Tamura Ichiro cried, tears streaming down his face, as he tried to wriggle away from Tong Shu's knife.

Even if Tong Shu could understand, she would never stop today. Holding the knife, she slowly and methodically unbuckled Tamura Ichiro's belt, and the loose pants immediately fell open, slightly revealing the skin underneath.

In the apocalypse of natural disasters, conditions are harsh, and even bandits are no exception. Tamura Ichiro followed Higashino Naruhiro in burning, killing, and looting, which was more than enough to make ends meet, but his clothing was just so-so. The trousers he was wearing were taken from a dead body, and as for his underwear... he hadn't worn it for almost two months.

Tong Shu raised an eyebrow, sneered, and the tip of the knife landed straight on that vital spot.

Tamura Ichiro screamed in fright, and the soil beneath him instantly turned dark; he had actually wet himself in fear.

"Now you're scared? How did you treat my sister back then?! How many girls in our country have you harmed? Huh?!" Tong Shu was still not satisfied with the trembling man. With red eyes, she lifted him up from the ground and slapped him hard several times. Looking at the man's cloudy eyes, Tong Shu felt like vomiting. She picked up a small knife from the side and stabbed it straight into his left eye.

Tamura Ichiro let out a terrifying scream of pain.

"Tong Shu... what are you doing?" A clear voice came from not far away. Tong Shu had not yet recovered from her anger. Her eyes subconsciously looked in the direction of the voice, but she could not focus for a long time.

Wen Shaocheng had been observing the situation from the shadows. He had long understood that this was Tong Shu's idea. After these people scattered and fled, in order to prevent anyone from running back to inform others, Wen Shaocheng quickly chased after them and dealt with a few of them. When he turned back to look for Tong Shu, he saw the scene before him.

Tong Shu was seen holding a Japanese man by the hand, whose pants had slipped down to his thighs. Blood was streaming from the man's left eye, and he was so frightened that he was out of his mind. He was howling and trembling as he tried to break free from Tong Shu's grip.

Tong Shu snapped out of her daze, glanced at Tamura Ichiro, then looked at Wen Shaocheng, who was standing there motionless, and her lips tightened.

No matter how much I didn't want to, this person still saw me.

Tong Shu lost interest in continuing the torture. She took out the dagger that was flashing green, her eyes filled with indescribable emotions as she stared intently at Wen Shaocheng, who was looking at her. Her movements were ruthless and decisive.

Blood spurted two meters high, and half of Tong Shu's face was stained red with blood. Thick liquid dripped from her hair. Tamura Ichiro suddenly fell silent, and the entire forest became quiet in an instant.

Tong Shu tossed aside Tamura Ichiro's body, looked away, carefully wiped the dagger clean with the corner of her clothes, and put it neatly into her backpack.

She stood up, exhaled subtly, and then walked past Wen Shaocheng without looking to the side.

Just as the two were about to pass each other, Wen Shaocheng grabbed Tong Shu's wrist.

Tong Shu lowered her eyes, looking at the hand he was holding: "Is something the matter?"

Wen Shaocheng didn't understand his own emotions. He remained silent for a long time before letting go of her hand: "No."

Tong Shu's face remained impassive, but her mind was in turmoil. She should have been happy to have avenged her great enemy, but everything had become bitter and strange because of this man's sudden appearance. She didn't know what she was sad about. Hadn't she prepared herself months ago to never see him again? If that was the case, why did she feel so helpless after showing such a cruel side to him?

Sensing Tong Shu's deliberate aloofness, Wen Shaocheng politely kept a distance from her and silently followed behind her.

"Woof woof woof!" A series of barks broke the delicate atmosphere between the two. Tong Shu picked up the puppy that had jumped up at her feet, a look of surprise flashing across her face: "...Susu? What are you doing here?"

SuSu was initially excited to see Tong Shu, but upon getting closer and smelling the strong stench of blood, it became frightened and wiggled its little body, trying to return to the ground.

Just as Tong Shu put Su Su on the ground, three people walked towards them.

"Sister Hua! I've finally found you!" Tian Zhaozhao, who had recovered considerably after being treated by Wang Jie, stepped forward and, in the dim light, saw Tong Shu's face. He was immediately shocked: "Sister Hua! What happened to you? Your face is covered in blood!"

Wang Jie, who was standing nearby, was also frightened when he heard this and quickly ran over to check on him.

"It's nothing." Tong Shu casually wiped her face with her sleeve. "It's not my blood."

Wang Jie frowned. He knew that Tong Shu had a gun, and logically, she shouldn't have been stained with other people's blood. The fact that half of her body was splattered with blood meant that she must have been standing at a very close distance.

Tong Shu didn't want to explain to him. She immediately noticed the people behind the two of them and then showed a surprised expression: "Sister Xiao? What are you doing here?"

"...I'm worried because of SuSu's voice," Qin Xiaoxiao said hesitantly.

Tong Shu frowned, really wanting to ask, but with Wen Shaocheng behind her, she didn't want to say anything more, so she could only nod and lead the people back to where they had initially ambushed.

"Major Wen killed two and captured one alive, and threw them all by the pit," Wang Jie whispered as he leaned closer.

"My stomach hurts a little, you guys go ahead," Qin Xiaoxiao suddenly said before Tong Shu could speak.

“Then I’ll go with you,” Tong Shu said hurriedly.

“No, no need. You go ahead with them, I’ll stay over there.” Qin Xiaoxiao refused firmly. Seeing that Tong Shu was about to say something more, she pointed to Su Su: “I’ll take it with me, it knows the way.”

“This place has been cleaned up, there’s no one else here,” Wen Shaocheng said from behind, noticing Tong Shu’s worry.

Tong Shu felt a little uncomfortable hearing his voice. She nodded haphazardly and handed Qin Xiaoxiao a pack of tissues, telling her to go and come back soon.

When the group returned to the edge of the pit, Tong Shu immediately spotted Hao Jia, who was tightly bound. She hadn't recognized her at first, but after hiding in the tree and checking her several times with binoculars, she heard Hao Jia's familiar voice and realized with a start that her old neighbor of several years was actually working for the R country.

Hao Jia, lying on the ground, clearly recognized Tong Shu. Her eyes were wide with fury, but her mouth was gagged, so she could only make muffled sounds, and no one could understand what she was saying.

Both Japanese men killed were shot between the eyebrows. Wen Shaocheng's marksmanship was even more accurate than Tong Shu's; the shot was fatal, without pain. Tong Shu smiled self-deprecatingly. If it were her, these two men would have met the same fate as Tamura Ichiro. She would never have let them die so easily.

"...Ten, ten minutes have passed. Should we go find that sister?" The tense atmosphere among the four of them made Tian Zhaozhao feel somewhat helpless. He calculated the time and forced himself to speak up to break the delicate atmosphere.

Tong Shu jumped up and walked into the woods without saying a word, only to see Qin Xiaoxiao walking out of there with a relaxed expression.

"It's close to the river, so I went to wash my hands," Qin Xiaoxiao explained. Her hands and face were wet, so she had indeed washed them with water.

Tong Shu nodded: "It's alright, let's go back."

"Sister Hua, aren't you going to our base anymore?" Tian Zhaozhao asked awkwardly, supporting her injured shoulder.

"No, thank you." Tong Shu glanced furtively at Wen Shaocheng standing by the pit. "We've finished dealing with our business, so we need to take my sister back first." Since Wen Shaocheng is here, Tian Zhaozhao's base should be fine too.

As expected, Wen Shaocheng immediately replied, "My team members are over there. They just received a signal that the base has been cleared. You and I will go back together."

Tian Zhaozhao glanced cautiously at the imposing man and said, "Okay, okay, thank you."

Before leaving, Wen Shaocheng gave Tong Shu a deep look. Tong Shu noticed his gaze and immediately turned around and pulled Wang Jie and Qin Xiaoxiao aside: "Let's go."

The group left the woods in different directions.

Tamura Ichiro's body lay unattended, exposed on the spot. As Tong Shu and her companions passed by, they inevitably saw the same Japanese man who died with his eyes wide open in disbelief.

Wang Jie was startled when he bumped into the corpse, but being a medical student, he quickly recovered. He stared at the corpse's face for a while, then smiled with satisfaction: "You did this? It was this beast, wasn't it?" He whispered in Tong Shu's ear.

Tong Shu's gaze fell on the man's lower body, where blood was gruesome and unsightly. Tong Shu slightly turned her head to look at Qin Xiaoxiao, who showed no reaction whatsoever, continuing to tease Su Su while holding her.

Tong Shu let out a breath and nodded slightly: "It was still too easy for him to die."

The three of them returned to their own courtyard under cover of night. Tong Shu went back to the island to wash off the bloodstains all over her body before going into her room and lying down on the bed.

A crescent moon hung high outside the window, stars densely dotted the night sky, and insects chirped softly. Tong Shu recalled the day she and Wen Shaocheng sat on the deck watching the stars. What did she look like in his eyes back then?

A knock was heard on the windowsill.

Tong Shu sat up abruptly from the bed. Raising her gaze, she saw a sharply defined profile appear in the corner of the window.

Wen Shaocheng turned his face around, looked at Tong Shu's surprised eyes, and smiled slightly.

He made a gesture to her, his lips moving as he spoke. Tong Shu stared at his mouth and slowly read his meaning: Come out.