Villain Rescue System (IV)
"Don't you think he looks familiar?"
Shang Li said to Luo Qinglin, his voice becoming a little hoarse.
Upon hearing this, Luo Qinglian quickly turned the skinny man over, twisted his arms that were timidly covering his face, and examined him for a long time before he suddenly recognized:
"Twenty-two years ago, the murderer of the teenage serial murder case that shocked the whole country was Hu Ma."
Shang Li was the first to answer for her.
"He abused and killed fifteen children under the age of twelve over three years. He was eventually killed by a child who happened to have awakened superpowers in a town under the jurisdiction of Yan City. He was sent to the Superpower Bureau and sentenced to death that month."
His tone was grim, and his hand on the control panel unconsciously displayed crimson blocks representing data errors.
And now, Hu Ma is still alive and is on the yacht safely.
Luo Qinglian suddenly felt a chill run down his spine.
She opened and closed her eyes, and the bright red ghost that had been hiding behind the scenes appeared before her.
Shang Li, who had left the control room and arrived directly under surveillance, had a cold expression on his face. The edges of his body kept disintegrating into scattered data, and then quickly reorganized, like flowing blood dissipating in the air.
"You are the only one who shouldn't be alive..."
The ghost floated in the void, its scarlet eyes gazing at the skinny man from above.
"No! I'm not Hu Ma!!"
Hu Ma struggled in Luo Qinglian's hands, "Brother and sister, I beg you not to kill me!!"
"I didn't do those bad things in the past and they have nothing to do with me!! I ended up in this body for no apparent reason!!"
Hu Ma wanted to cry but had no tears. He was devastated and thought in his heart: Why am I so unlucky?
Others who traveled through time were all handsome men and beautiful women, but I was an ugly, skinny middle-aged man.
I started off in tears behind bars. I finally found a chance to leave the prison, only to be faced with the elimination round at sea. Just when I was thinking of finding a place to lie down and kill time, I was tied up. How could a powerless little trash like me compete with the big guys with superpowers?
After hearing those words, Shang Li's eyes changed when he looked at Hu Ma.
"Are you a time traveler too?" he asked.
Hu Ma was stunned for two seconds, then nodded frantically.
Luo Qinglian saw the two people opening and closing their mouths as if they were talking, but no sound came out. He couldn't help but look puzzled, "What are you talking about?"
The ghost glanced sideways, then smiled softly at the woman.
Luo Qinglian's eyes suddenly darkened.
The senses that received information from the outside world were instantly distorted, and her consciousness seemed to sink into the lightless seabed. She fell asleep quickly in the darkness.
After doing all this, Shang Li turned his gaze back to Hu Ma, whose body was freed from the restraints.
"Since you said you are a time traveler, let's talk about time traveler matters." He slowly approached the skinny man with an extremely cold expression, without even a hint of a smile.
"I have a question."
Shang Li's tone was calm, without much sense of oppression, but Hu Ma felt more pressure than when facing a woman.
"Why didn't I get the system after coming to this world as a time traveler?" he asked.
"Uh, this..."
[It is possible that the system is temporarily dormant in the host due to lack of energy, or it may be unbound like me.]
The 568 in my mind rushed to answer.
[Host, are you finally willing to admit that you are a time traveler? ]
Shang Li ignored 568.
He stared at Hu Ma with his head tilted up in a daze for a while, as if he had asked his system in his mind, and then he shrunk his neck and said to himself: "My system told me that... it is indeed possible for the system to go into hibernation."
"At this time, you need to use a command to wake up."
After saying this, he added silently.
"I don't know what yours is, but my default password is 'all for master system'."
Shang Li lowered his head and remained silent for a while, then repeated in a low voice:
"Everything is for the main system."
【Ding Dong! 】
As the words fell, a mechanical sound rang out from an unknown source.
[Host startup password detected, system activated. ]
【Good evening, host! 】
【I am Villain Rescue System 031. 】
[I'm so happy to see you again after so many years. Let's continue to save the villains! ]
“…”
Shang Li was silent for a moment.
In his mind, 568 and 031 had already started arguing.
【What saves the villain? 】
The plot correction system was very dissatisfied, [Sure enough, the host of thoughts was poisoned by your broken system! ]
031: [? ]
031 screamed in a mechanical voice: [Who are you, the one who speaks so arrogantly? ]
[I am Plot Correction System 568, born to save the broken plot line. ]
568 introduced himself with great momentum: [Now the host wants to revise the plot with me, so I won’t save any villains! ]
[How can you, a common heir who inherited from someone else, be qualified to be in charge of me, the legitimate heir! ]
031 also became angry, [Host should have listened to me! ]
However, Shang Li just turned a deaf ear to the quarrel between the two systems.
The data of 568 is wrapped by its own body and stagnated in the chip, but where is the data of this villain's rescue system 031 hidden?
He meticulously searched every line of code in the body, but found nothing.
I can't find where 031 is hiding.
Maybe it's in some unknown corner, or maybe 031 is so powerful that it has blocked the search.
All in all, he couldn't determine when 031 got on his body.
"031."
Shang Li shouted in his heart, interrupting the quarrel between the two systems.
[I am here, host. 】
Villain Rescue System 031 responded happily and said "lululu" a few times proudly to 568.
"Give me the original plot and setting."
Shang Li said: "I forgot."
【OK!】
[The system is transmitting data——]
While waiting, the ignored Hu Ma's eyes rolled quietly.
He unknowingly had a bomb in his hand behind his back.
While Shang Li was still thinking about the system, he suddenly threw the bomb at Shang Li's feet.
“Drip, drip—”
The bomb exploded.
A corner of the cabin was instantly blown open by the hot breath, and black smoke rolled out from the gap opened by the gunpowder. Hu Ma took advantage of the pitch-black sky and ran quickly to the deck.
“Haha…hahaha.”
As Hu Ma ran away, he couldn't help laughing with a distorted face, "How could I die here? How could I!"
He had escaped from prison and finally gained the freedom he deserved, and it couldn't end here.
Hu Ma thought.
I will never believe in time travel and counterattack to change my destiny again!
If he had not traveled through time, he would still be leading a peaceful life with his daily routine, and his biggest worry would be his monthly salary of 3,000 yuan, instead of wasting all his energy just trying to stay alive like he is now!
He ran unhindered onto the empty deck.
In the dark night, Hu Ma saw a long-haired man wearing a black sweater.
The man was leaning against the railing at the edge, folding his arms and looking up at the stars, completely oblivious to the flames on the cruise ship in front of him, as if everything had nothing to do with him.
Hearing Hu Ma's panting, the man turned around and looked at him.
I thought there was no one on the deck. It seems we can't stay here anymore.
It is better to have less trouble than more, so Hu Ma immediately decided to turn around and leave to find another hiding place.
However, the moment he turned sideways, a long knife suddenly pierced through his shoulder.
When Hu Ma came to his senses, he found that he was nailed firmly to the wall of the cabin.
"flax?"
Cui Lan took off his baseball cap, raised his eyelids and carefully looked at the skinny man who came to him, "I didn't expect you were still alive."
Earlier in the dance hall, he didn't pay attention to the appearance of the guests, but now he realized that there was an acquaintance hiding among them.
"In that case, let's settle old scores."
Cui Lan's tone was cold.
Even now, he still remembers that incident as clearly as if it happened yesterday.
The moment I saw the man, the past memories in the depths of my mind came flooding back like a tide.
Just twenty-two years ago, Cui Lan thought.
All the tragedies should start from there.
On that day twenty-two years ago, he and Shang Li left the town primary school together and headed towards home.
The two lived in a small bungalow with a yard on the edge of the town, which required walking a long and bumpy road to reach.
On the way, the young boy Shang Li kept rolling around and wanted to hold hands.
"Xiao Cui, please help me——"
Cui Lan was a little annoyed by the noise, so he threw his arms away and said stiffly, "You are already a ten-year-old boy, isn't it shameful to walk hand in hand?"
He ignored Shang Li, whose eyes were as red as poached eggs from crying, and walked quickly in front of him.
"Xiao Cui, Xiao Cui, I want to eat the cakes in Aunt Liu's shop."
Shang Li quickly caught up with him, grabbed his school uniform from behind, and said in a sticky voice: "Come buy it with me, you like me the most, please accompany me."
"Who likes you the most?"
Cui Lan pulled out the clothes in silence, thought about the location of the cake shop, and then decisively refused, "No, it will be dark when we go there and come back home."
"And the news a few days ago said there are bad guys who specialize in catching children."
He made up an excuse and tried to make Shang Li give up.
Xiao Shangli's expression remained unchanged, but his obsidian eyes were filled with tears.
“…”
Seeing that he couldn't persuade her, Cui Lan could only sigh and said, "Anyway, I won't accompany you, you go by yourself."
"All right."
Shang Li humphed and accepted it reluctantly.
Cui Lan stood there helplessly, watching the child's back running away step by step.
As soon as the figure completely disappeared, he took out his homework from his schoolbag and started writing.
There's nothing to do waiting on the road anyway, so why not use the time to do something?
Soon, Cui Lan was immersed in the questions in the exercise book. He did not look up from the book until the sun went down and the light dimmed.
"Why haven't you come back yet?"
Cui Lan, who had only a little bit of homework left to do, glanced at the sky which had turned grey-blue, "I hope he won't get lost. There's really nothing we can do about him."
He thought that as the older brother, he should take the responsibility of taking care of his younger brother, so he turned back decisively to look for his younger brother.
"Shang Li?"
He shuttled between the rooms of an old building that had long been deserted, shouting everywhere, "I'm not playing hide-and-seek with you. If you hear me, answer me."
No one responded.
At this time, Cui Lan finally became a little anxious.
He started running, trying to look around for Shang Li, until he arrived at the deserted old building. Before passing the alley next to the building, he heard a strange sound.
The sound was like a butcher processing an animal carcass on a chopping board, the heavy boning knife breaking the hard bones as it fell, and bringing up the sticky flesh as it was lifted.
Who would slaughter animals at this time?
Ten-year-old Cui Lan quietly stuck half of his head out to look deeper into the alley.
Then I encountered a scene that I will never forget in my life.