Chapter 764: Weapons

In the unfinished, abandoned basement, Li Huowang patiently examined the captives' fingers, trying to identify the person who had kidnapped him earlier.

However, after a thorough search, Li Huowang was surprised to find no one matching the description; everyone there had all their fingers intact.

“How is this possible? It doesn’t make sense,” Li Huowang muttered, his brow furrowed in thought. Just then, Zhao Lei’s words from earlier resurfaced in his mind.

Li Huowang shook his head, looking at the row of bound captives on the floor. A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes as he noticed their relatively unafraid expressions.

Suddenly, an idea struck him. He quickly crouched down again to re-examine their fingers. This time, instead of just looking, he pressed each finger.

This time, he finally made a discovery. When Li Huowang felt that two of the fingers didn't have the normal feel of skin, he glanced at the person, reached out, and gently pulled off the two prosthetic fingers.

“So, it was you all along,” Li Huowang said, looking at the somewhat unfamiliar man before him.

Seeing Li Huowang take his prosthetic fingers, the man began speaking to him, his expression indignant, but it was clear Li Huowang didn't understand a word.

Li Huowang turned to Qing Wanglai, who was standing some distance away. “What’s he saying? Can you translate?”

Qing Wanglai, who had been talking with Zhao Lei, walked over and listened for a few seconds. Then he said, “He’s cursing you. Do you still want me to translate?”

“Forget it,” Li Huowang said, after forcefully kicking the man in the abdomen. He then turned to Qing Wanglai and asked, “Is it really okay to keep so many people tied up here? And so many died earlier.”

“It’s fine. As I said before, I have quite a few connections. Besides, these people aren’t exactly legitimate citizens.”

“Don’t worry, leave these matters to me; you don’t need to be overly concerned. But if there’s a next time, you’d better not be so reckless.”

“That was a truck. It’s made of steel, and you’re flesh. You still dared to jump on it? Even a slight misstep, and you might not even get a complete corpse back.”

“I know, you don’t have to tell me,” Li Huowang said with a hint of impatience at Qing Wanglai's lecture.

“Since we’ve captured them, keeping them indefinitely isn’t practical. We have so few people. What if they refuse to cooperate?”

“Then we’ll use them as leverage to negotiate with the people outside. We should try to find out their purpose, and how much they know about the ‘projection’ side.”

Li Huowang frowned, deep in thought for a moment. He couldn't immediately come up with a plan for dealing with these mysterious people.

“That thing on your foot—you can probably call and ask about getting it removed now. It’s been a while,” Qing Wanglai asked Li Huowang with concern.

“I already asked. They said at least two years. I’m forbidden from going near any school for two years.”

“Two years is too long, that’s not standard procedure. I’ll ask my lawyer friends for you.”

Li Huowang looked at Qing Wanglai, a little surprised. “You’re a grad student, but you seem to have a lot of influence. How do you know everyone?”

“Haha, are you complimenting me?”

“You continue the interrogation. I’ll go check on Qian Fu. Fifth Sister, give me the RV keys.”

Taking the keychain with a multi-tool knife attached, Li Huowang walked out of the basement and headed towards the RV parked nearby.

Glancing at Qing Wanglai's luxury car, Li Huowang patted its surface before using the key to open the RV door.

As soon as he entered, Li Huowang saw Qian Fu, who was tightly bound. Qian Fu was straining his neck, trying to pick up a dagger from a nearby table with his mouth.

Li Huowang reached out, picked up the dagger, and tossed it onto a pile of weapons on a nearby table. These were all collected from the previous group's stronghold.

Seeing his escape plan foiled, Qian Fu immediately became frantic. “What do you want?! I beg you! Let me go!” he cried.

Li Huowang walked over to the pile of weapons and began sifting through them. “Qian Fu, quiet down. This is for your own good. They’re clearly after us. If you run off on your own, they’ll definitely catch you. Although we’ve dealt with one group, we don’t know yet if they’ll send more people.”

Qian Fu stared at Li Huowang with a crazed look. After taking a few deep breaths, he blurted out, “Did Qing Wanglai tell you that? He lied! He’s a big liar!”

Seeing Li Huowang pick up a crossbow and close one eye to aim at him, Qian Fu’s face instantly went pale.

“Don’t let his good-guy act fool you! It’s all fake! I was in the same hospital as him before! Every time, he’d trick the doctors into thinking he was cured, only to relapse and get readmitted!”

“Don’t believe him! Don’t you dare believe him!”

Li Huowang lowered the crossbow. He looked at Qian Fu and said, “If I don’t believe him, am I supposed to believe you? Just stay put.”

“We don’t want to keep you tied up. Once this trouble is over, you can go wherever you want. Even if you want to pick trash off the street to eat, I won’t bother.”

With that, Li Huowang ignored Qian Fu and focused on selecting his spoils of war.

Qing Wanglai couldn't get guns, but others had delivered them. Li Huowang picked up a heavy weapon, carefully examining it.

Holding the weapon made Li Huowang feel much more secure. However, despite having it, he still didn't know how to use it.

Although he had previously commented on Qing Wanglai's methods not being very effective, Li Huowang knew that Qing Wanglai's strategic approach had played a crucial role in successfully capturing them all this time. Otherwise, just with their few numbers, capturing them without injury would have been nearly impossible.

Li Huowang fiddled with it for a while, only to realize he didn't even know how to eject the magazine or disengage the safety. So, he put it down. He decided to wait for Qing Wanglai to be free and teach him later.

Li Huowang picked up a military knife and examined it. It was a kukri-style knife, wide at the blade and narrow at the handle, but he quickly put it back down. This type of blade was better suited for hacking, not precise killing. Unless it hit a major artery, it would easily give an adrenaline-fueled enemy a chance to escape.

After some searching, Li Huowang contentedly picked out a pointed dagger.

The entire knife was black, 30 centimeters long, with an I-beam shaped handle. Its blade was dangerously thin and sharp, and the handle was thoughtfully wrapped in hemp rope to prevent slipping even when soaked in blood.

He picked it up and made a direct thrust at the dining table in front of him. The sharp blade easily pierced a hole through it.

He pulled the knife out, looked at the deep gash, and nodded in satisfaction. He then selected another one and tucked it into his clothing behind his back.

This kind of weapon was much more practical. It was simple, portable, concealable, and required no special training.