madman

Gu Jiansheng carried a bamboo basket and a sickle, and slowly walked up the mountain.

He could feel faint footsteps coming from behind him from time to time. As time went on, the other person seemed to be losing patience and stopped trying to cover up. The distance between them kept shrinking, but Gu Jiansheng remained calm and simply walked towards the cliff he had chosen.

He had planned this twice that day, but both times it came to nothing. But this time, Gu Jiansheng had a wild intuition that this would be the end he had simulated countless times in his mind.

As he rounded a towering tree, Gu Jiansheng suddenly started running. The footsteps behind him paused briefly before speeding up and rushing towards him. But before he could catch up with Gu Jiansheng, he tripped and fell straight to the ground.

He Huaizhi turned around abruptly and saw the hemp rope hidden among the fallen leaves between the trees.

His anger flared, and his original plan to explain to Gu Jiansheng the pros and cons of following his instructions to infiltrate the Gu family was completely thwarted, stirring up the sinister malice beneath those sweet words.

"Gu Jiansheng!"

He Huaizhi shouted through gritted teeth, emphasizing each word, as he struggled to get up from the ground.

But with a sudden exertion of force, the ground beneath him sank downwards, revealing another trap hidden beneath loose soil.

The trap was made of simple bamboo branches and covered with loose soil and fallen leaves. It was not visible unless you looked closely. It could barely support He Huaizhi's body at first, but when He Huaizhi tried to stand up, it collapsed.

He Huaizhi was startled again. His hands instinctively gripped the edge, and he actually managed to grab a vine that had somehow grown onto the edge of the trap. He was hanging precariously in mid-air, his eyes staring directly at the sharp bamboo branches in the trap, which sent another chill down his spine.

As expected, Gu Jiansheng wanted to kill him!

That vague intuition became the naked truth at this moment, but the truth that surfaced brought up many questions, making him feel a chill down his spine.

Why did Gu Jiansheng want to kill him?

From the moment Gu Jiansheng stopped showing up in the city on time, the two lost their original bond.

Although He Huaizhi followed the traces of the past all the way to Zhoujia Village, there are too many variables in this life. If we really look at it, the two of them only had hypocritical interactions with each other with their own purposes. Gu Jiansheng should not even know his identity. How could he have designed such a trap?

When were the traps set?

A thousand thoughts flashed through He Huaizhi's mind in a second, but he didn't have time to ponder them carefully.

He Huaizhi heard approaching footsteps.

At this moment, the positions of hunter and prey have subtly shifted.

He Huaizhi exerted his abdominal muscles, and his legs, which were still lying on the ground, straightened into a straight line. He tried to push off the ground firmly, and his hands grabbed the edge of the trap along the vines, managing to turn himself over.

Gu Jiansheng naturally knew that He Huaizhi could not be killed easily, and he also knew that with He Huaizhi's luck, as long as he was careless or negligent, He Huaizhi could turn danger into safety.

So Gu Jiansheng didn't get close, but instead took out the kerosene from the bamboo basket and poured it all over He Huaizhi.

Before He Huaizhi could catch his breath, he was hit by the pungent and nauseating smell of gasoline.

He Huai was taken aback when he saw Gu Jiansheng take out a lighter.

At the critical moment, the almost brand-new lighter suddenly stopped working and wouldn't light no matter how hard you pressed it.

Gu Jiansheng gave a cryptic chuckle, then took out the matchbox and slowly struck each match one by one. Each spark struggled to rise before quickly going out, as if fate was playing a cruel joke on him.

He Huaizhi was initially stunned, but upon seeing this scene, he quickly regained his composure, and the panic in his heart was once again soothed by his certainty and confidence.

"You can't kill me." He Huaizhi wiped his face and spat a few times, but the disgusting taste in his mouth lingered. His anger was churning, making his usually calm face look somewhat fierce.

He Huaizhi got up from the ground, estimated the distance between himself and Gu Jiansheng, and slowly approached Gu Jiansheng in circles: "Did I do something to displease you?"

Gu Jiansheng was still futilely trying to strike the match, his head down, seemingly unaware of He Huaizhi's approach.

"Aren't you afraid I'll call the police and have you arrested if you keep threatening to kill people like this?"

"Actually, I followed you this time just to tell you some good news. We should be friends, there's no need for things to come to this."

“I can help you. You must be having a hard time in Zhoujia Village, right? Everyone makes fun of you for being a fatherless child, and there are always people who want to bully you. Even Zhou Lexing left you. You must be very angry, right? But it's okay, I will help you. I can help you leave Zhoujia Village and give you a lot of money so that you will no longer suffer from hunger. You can just be a young master who doesn't have to worry about food or clothing.”

Gu Jiansheng finally looked up at He Huaizhi. At his feet were unlit matches, and the empty matchbox fell to the ground, along with his cold words.

Why did you come to Zhoujia Village?

He was originally prepared to give up.

Gu Jiansheng had considered letting go of those ugly, hideous, and hateful past experiences during a brief period of happiness, but He Huaizhi still appeared, like a nightmare he could never escape, roaring and trying to extract every last bit of value from him.

He Huaizhi paused briefly.

He carefully examined Gu Jiansheng's calm face, thought for a moment, and then used his original explanation: "I just happened to meet Zhou Li, so I followed him to Zhoujia Village to sketch, see the rural scenery, and experience the local customs..."

"Then how do you know what I was like in the past? And what I will be like in the future?"

The strange feeling in He Huaizhi's heart grew stronger and stronger, but the conjecture was too absurd and overturned his long-held belief that he was the center of the world.

He Huaizhi refused to believe it. He forced himself to control his facial expression, tugged at the corners of his mouth, and said as gently as possible, "Of course I heard it from the villagers. Besides, I really wanted to help you, which is why I was thinking of helping you plan your future..."

He Huaizhi's voice grew softer and softer until it disappeared completely.

He stared intently at Gu Jiansheng, watching as Gu Jiansheng slowly revealed a faint smile.

The smile, combined with Gu Jiansheng's superior appearance, was naturally handsome, but it did not relax He Huaizhi's nerves. Instead, it triggered an alarm bell in his heart. A chilling intuition ran down He Huaizhi's spine, and he couldn't help but take a step back.

Gu Jiansheng didn't really care whether He Huaizhi knew about each cycle of reincarnation like he did. This detail was like a layer of topsoil on a swamp, unable to change the swamp's inherently greedy stench.

But this deception still allowed Gu Jiansheng to see the truth in the details.

"You want to take me to the city?"

When Gu Jiansheng spoke, the chill He Huaizhi had just felt disappeared. It was as if the sensation was just a momentary illusion. However, He Huaizhi did not let his guard down. In that instant, he made a decision: rather than give the other party an opportunity, he should strike first, subdue Gu Jiansheng, and then make further plans.

Zhou Lanhua, the only relative in Zhoujia Village who cared about Gu Jiansheng, has disappeared, and Zhou Lexing, who was protecting him, has been gone from Zhoujia Village for several days. Even if he takes Gu Jiansheng away, no one will look for Gu Jiansheng's whereabouts.

He Huaizhi had originally planned to take a roundabout approach.

After all, a puppet who obeys his orders is better than a ticking time bomb sent into the Gu family. But it doesn't matter. With the Gu family's help this time, he will quickly accumulate both capital and power.

At that time, the Gu family will be nothing more than a pawn to be manipulated by him. Not to mention that various forces within the Gu family are currently vying for power and profit. Even if Gu Jiansheng enters the Gu family, without his help, he will probably have a hard time even gaining a foothold.

Those who risk their lives for survival are not as merciful as he is.

"Yes, I will take you to the city, take you to the department stores, buy you nice clothes, and you can eat whatever you want. I will take care of you..."

He Huaizhi's magnetic, deep voice naturally possessed a captivating charm.

He patiently coaxed his prey, approaching Gu Jiansheng with light and cautious steps, and pounced on him the instant the other blinked.

He Huaizhi's idea was very simple.

He wanted to capture Gu Jiansheng, subdue him, and ideally tie him up with something like a rattan cane, then take him directly down the mountain to the station. Once they left Zhoujia Village, they would have backup outside, and there would be no worries about what would happen next.

During this process, He Huaizhi tried his best to avoid the ground completely covered by fallen leaves, and even took a big step to pounce directly on Gu Jiansheng's location. However, He Huaizhi did not expect that Gu Jiansheng would take advantage of his strength and grab his arm to pull him backward.

This time, the two of them lost control of their strength and crashed through the dense bushes behind them.

He Huaizhi then saw clearly the scene behind Gu Jiansheng.

That was a precipice!

He Huaizhi felt a chilling sense of being suspended in mid-air, and he could also see the fervent desire to die in Gu Jiansheng's eyes.

"Why not give it a try and see how long fate will favor you..."

Those light, fleeting words quickly dissipated in the falling wind. He Huaizhi's pupils constricted, all his strategizing and planning vanished in that dying moment. He couldn't even feel the pain in his arm that was almost being twisted. Only one thought remained in his mind.

That damn madman!

.

The old brick houses that still retain their historical charm and the vast farmland are opposite newly built high-rise buildings. Many factories are set up on the edge of the residential area, forming an encircling trend. Further away, you can also see pedestrian streets.

The area was crowded with people and lined with shops. Many people wore bell-bottoms and dresses, and besides their keys, they carried mobile phones carefully wrapped in leather cases on their waists. Bicycles, which were expensive for the rural people, were also everywhere.

Zhou Lexing set a time to pick up the goods and slowly walked out of the shop. Suddenly, he stopped and looked up at the sky as if he had sensed something.

The sky remained clear and cloudless, with the glaring sunlight casting its intense heat and carrying an unpleasantly sticky humidity as it fell.

There is no wind today, everything is as usual.

Zhou Lexing frowned, feeling that something was wrong just a moment ago. His doubts about the world and the corresponding unease had finally subsided, but at this moment, a seed was quietly planted.

He stood there for a moment, thought about it, and then turned around and went into the shop.