Chapter 727: Captive

Li Huowang clutched the kitchen knife, glaring intently at the man with the slicked-back hair and glasses in the distance. Despite having met him only once, Li Huowang immediately recognized him: this was Yuan Heping, a psychiatric patient from his group at Kangning Hospital.

"It's you! So you've been one of them all along!" Breathing heavily, Li Huowang stepped forward, knife in hand.

Seeing the glinting knife in Li Huowang's hand and the dark muzzle of the gun in Qing Wanglai's other hand, Yuan Heping swallowed hard. "Don't, don't be nervous! Murder is punishable by death. We didn't do anything!"

Qing Wanglai moved next to Li Huowang and pressed his knife down. "They're already cornered; there's no need for a knife."

Meanwhile, Qian Fu and Chen Hongyu approached from behind with a jump rope to immediately tie the two men's hands.

Seeing their opponents subdued, Li Huowang finally lowered his knife. With the enemies controlled, his attention was immediately drawn to something else. "Where did you get that gun?!" Li Huowang asked Qing Wanglai. Acquiring a gun was far more difficult than a knife. With such capability, Li Huowang began to suspect Qing Wanglai's identity.

Qing Wanglai smiled, pointed the gun at Wu Qi's head, and, before anyone could react, *click*, pulled the trigger. A small red flame emerged from the muzzle, swaying slightly.

Wu Qi pulled a cigarette from his shirt pocket and lit it directly with Qing Wanglai's flame, taking a drag.

"A fake gun?"

"Of course it's fake. This is a society governed by law; how could I possibly possess something as dangerous as a real gun? I bought it on Taobao during the Double Eleven sale." Qing Wanglai released the trigger and put it back into his pants pocket.

"Ahhhh!!" Piercing screams came from outside the alley. The familiar voice made Li Huowang's heart drop. "No! It's Yang Na!!"

Li Huowang immediately turned and rushed outside, his mind quickly recounting the number of people: there were four just now! His side had pursued two, Zhao Lei was chasing one, and one was hiding in the dark, waiting to ambush!

Li Huowang expected an extremely critical situation, but when he rushed to Yang Na's side, he froze. Yang Na was indeed screaming, but while screaming, she held a taser and pressed it firmly against an old man's chest. The man was convulsing and foaming at the mouth from the electricity, but Yang Na showed no sign of letting go.

"Nana, that's enough! Quickly release your finger! If you keep tasering him, he'll die!"

Li Huowang called out several times before Yang Na finally released her hand. Panicked, she threw the taser to the ground and, tears streaming down her face, threw herself into Li Huowang's arms. "Wuwuwu, Li Huowang, I... I'm scared."

Li Huowang embraced her, comforting her softly, his eyes glancing at the taser on the ground. "Nana, where did you get this?" Li Huowang was both surprised and puzzled by her reaction.

Yang Na choked out, "I... I bought it online with my best friend. It's a bit dangerous meeting strangers late at night, so I... I brought it for self-defense. I brought other things too."

Li Huowang reached his arms around Yang Na, opening her bag. Besides the taser, she also had pepper spray, a voice recorder, and an old-person's phone with a large red button on the back. When Li Huowang took out the elderly phone, Yang Na explained, her voice choked, "My grandma bought this kind of phone. If you just press the red button, it automatically calls the police. You can even press it through the bag."

"Have you been carrying these things ever since I started interacting with Qing Wanglai?" Seeing what she carried, Li Huowang felt a touch of emotion. He knew she might not fully trust him, but for his safety, she still followed.

Just then, the others caught up from behind. Before they could exchange many words, they heard people in the distance being drawn by Yang Na's screams. "Quick, let's go! It's the middle of the night. If someone records this on their phone and posts it online, we won't be able to explain it!" Zhao Lei grabbed the limp old man from the ground and put him on the back seat of his motorcycle.

Seeing more and more eyes turn towards them, Li Huowang nodded and, taking the shaken Yang Na, ran towards Wu Qi's RV.

The RV weaved through streets. Once it returned to a regular road, everyone's hearts finally calmed down. Qing Wanglai was driving, while Wu Qi was looking after the old man, making sure Yang Na's taser attack hadn't taken him out.

"He's fine, the old man's okay. No major problems from the shock," Wu Qi said while tending to Wang Gang, who was lying on the bed.

Only then did Li Huowang have time to examine the three captured individuals. There was Yuan Heping, with his slicked-back hair and glasses, and the old man Yang Na had tased, whom Li Huowang also knew from Kangning Hospital. He was with Yuan Heping and seemed to be called Wang Gang. It now seemed certain that they were the ones who had put needles in the food when he was at the mental hospital.

"Who's going to speak first?" Li Huowang, holding his kitchen knife, asked them.

"Let's not do this here, okay? How about we find a more spacious place? This RV is third-hand; don't let it get crushed by you all." The RV wasn't large to begin with; with so many people crammed inside, it became incredibly cramped. Qian Fu was forced to sit on the induction cooktop, and Chen Hongyu was squeezed into the tiny bathroom.

"Let's go to my place; there's no one there," Zhao Lei's voice came from outside the window.

"Is it remote? Is the area safe?" Li Huowang asked. Regardless of who these three were, Li Huowang's group was currently kidnapping them. If anyone saw them, it would be difficult to explain.

"Don't worry, this guy's place is definitely remote," Chen Hongyu replied, leaning half her body out of the bathroom to open the refrigerator.

Soon, the swaying RV stopped in the suburbs. It was already starting to get a little light. When they entered an old house, Li Huowang finally understood what they meant by "remote": Zhao Lei lived in a suburban basement.

As Li Huowang pushed Yuan Heping inside, a strong smell of mildew immediately hit his nose. The entire basement was large but cluttered with various items: models, bottles and jars, and even some organs preserved in formalin, like kneecaps and a single eyeball. He couldn't tell if they were real or not. The strange smell came from takeout boxes and garbage bags underfoot. Along the wall was a shelf with various figurine models, some unfinished, with only heads completed. Not only was this guy's appearance strange, but his living situation was odd as well.

"Is it soundproof here?" Li Huowang walked to the table and tapped a watermelon-sized ship in a bottle with his finger. It looked like Zhao Lei might be in this business; the ship was incredibly realistic, even the crew members were lifelike.

"Yes, it's soundproof."

"Good," Li Huowang said, then immediately rushed to Yuan Heping, kicked him against the wall, and raised the kitchen knife, bringing it down towards his right hand.

"Ahhhhh... wuwu!!" Li Huowang quickly muffled Yuan Heping's screams. "Don't scream yet, your hand isn't broken! You'll have plenty to scream about later!"

Yuan Heping, who was almost fainting from fear, looked down and realized that the kitchen knife Li Huowang was holding had only grazed his palm, striking the ground. Before he could even draw a full breath, he saw the knife lift slightly and then, like a guillotine, press down on his four fingers.