Prisoners

Chapter 764: Prisoners

Inside his own bedroom, Li Huowang cautiously pulled back the star-patterned curtain and peered outside, scanning for any suspicious eyes.

Once he confirmed that everything outside was calm, he nodded toward Yang Na behind him. “All clear. Let’s go.”

“Mom! Na Na and I are going out to eat. Don’t cook for us.”

Sun Xiaoqin, who had been dancing in front of her phone stand, rolled up her sleeves and walked to the door, watching the two of them leave.

She couldn’t help but feel a little put out. “Sigh, a wife really makes a man forget his mother.”

Still, despite her words, Sun Xiaoqin was genuinely happy. Her son was starting to act more and more like other kids his age—less and less cooped up.

The two of them reached the entrance of the complex, quickly scanned two shared bikes, and pedaled off toward their rendezvous point.

The place was still Orange Island, but no longer in that abandoned building. This time, it was the half-finished basement of a villa.

The reason they had chosen a basement was simple: after their last clash with those beings, they had come away with a few prisoners.

When Li Huowang and Yang Na reached the entrance, they exchanged a few brief words with Chen Hongyu, who was standing guard, and then walked inside.

The moment he stepped in, Li Huowang saw Qing Wanglai talking to a bearded man tied to a chair.

“O sa na lako dina ki natiko kina ravu?” “O cei o iko?” “E sega ni dua n o au, na ka e a ka se o cei bibi o cei o iko”

“That doesn’t sound like English,” Yang Na murmured beside Li Huowang, already pulling out her phone to record their conversation. “It doesn’t even sound like an Indo-European language.”

Li Huowang walked over to Qing Wanglai and studied the bearded man on the chair. “Well? How’s the conversation going?”

Qing Wanglai frowned deeply. “Not well. They’re extremely wary. No matter what I say, they won’t lower their guard, let alone negotiate.”

Wu Qi, who was sorting through the captives’ belongings nearby, spoke up. “These people all came in with diplomatic passports from some impoverished island nation. Their identities are fake. We’re getting nothing from this side either.”

“How about you?” Qing Wanglai turned to Li Huowang. “Is anyone still watching your neighborhood?”

Li Huowang’s expression was notably more relaxed than before. The tension was gone.

“No. Ever since we raided their hideout, that feeling of being watched hasn’t come back. Looks like I was right—it was them all along!”

Li Huowang shot a hateful glare at the row of bound captives in the corner. It was because of these bastards that he’d been jumping at shadows, made to look like a paranoid lunatic by everyone else.

Now it was clear he wasn’t sick after all.

“But these are all men. I remember there was a woman with an umbrella. We didn’t catch her.”

“A few slipping through the cracks is inevitable. No major loss. As long as we hold the majority, we have bargaining chips.” With that, Qing Wanglai turned back to continue his conversation with the bearded man on the chair.

Li Huowang walked over to the line of captives, studying their faces closely, trying to pick out the ones who had kidnapped him.

But some time had passed, and he had trouble telling foreigners apart. He couldn’t be sure if the ones he was looking for were actually among them.

The captives clearly had no idea what Li Huowang was doing, but when he came close, fear flickered across every single face.

His brutal actions during that last clash had seared a deep impression into their minds.

“Hey! Someone’s here.” At Chen Hongyu’s voice, everyone in the room turned toward the basement door.

Soon, a familiar face appeared. Zhao Lei.

His eyes were evasive. His expression was awkward. But he still stood there, with no intention of leaving.

“Back?”

Qing Wanglai walked up to Zhao Lei, gently patted him on the shoulder, then put an arm around him and turned him toward the others. “Come on, let’s give a round of applause to welcome back an old comrade. If it weren’t for his help, we wouldn’t have caught these people.”

A spattering of applause followed. Zhao Lei’s earlier betrayal was being handled lightly—his merits were allowed to offset his faults.

But Li Huowang didn’t give him a warm look. A man who could betray both sides was hard to trust.

Zhao Lei himself looked deeply uncomfortable facing the comrades he had once betrayed. Still, he ignored the strange stares around him and stayed put.

“You’ve dealt with them before,” Qing Wanglai said, pointing at the bearded man tied to the chair. “Want to give it a try?”

Zhao Lei nodded. But the moment he walked over and got out half a sentence, the bearded man spat a gob of saliva right at him, shouting something angrily.

Even though Li Huowang couldn’t understand the words, he could guess they were some pretty nasty curses.

Zhao Lei backed off. Li Huowang walked up beside him. “See that? No matter which side, that’s how they treat a traitor.”

Zhao Lei didn’t react to Li Huowang’s mockery. Instead, he looked around nervously. “Where’s Qian Fu?”

“Tied up. Waiting for his personality to switch back.”

Li Huowang thought Zhao Lei would follow up on that, but instead the man leaned in, his expression tense, and lowered his voice. “Do you… do you really still think this is real? After everything that’s happened? After all these impossible things—do you still believe this is real?”

“Huh?” Li Huowang shot him a confused look. What the hell is wrong with this guy?

Thinking that, he started to walk away, not wanting to catch whatever Zhao Lei had.

But Zhao Lei grabbed his arm, his expression agitated. “Think about it! Really think about it! Can this possibly be real? How many people have died? Why hasn’t a single cop come after us? Why hasn’t anyone noticed the kind of shit we’ve been stirring up?”

“Think about the contradictions in the details! The little things that don’t add up! The things you’d normally overlook!”

“Zhao Lei!” Qing Wanglai’s voice came from behind. His usually gentle tone had turned sharply stern.

Zhao Lei let go of Li Huowang, took a few steps back with his eyes darting away, and didn’t say another word.

“We’ve got this handled here,” Qing Wanglai said, a faint smile on his face. “Li Huowang, why don’t you head back? If anything comes up, I’ll send you a message.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine. I’ve got nothing else to do anyway. I might as well help out here.”

As he spoke, an idea suddenly struck him. He crouched down beside the row of dozens of captives and began checking their fingers one by one.

Back when someone had kidnapped him, he had bitten off two of their fingers. If that person was still alive, they should be among these people.