CHAPTER 79: A MORE LETHAL TRAP

"Do you understand what it feels like to be in so much pain that you wish you were dead?" Yang Yang deliberately drew out his words. Seeing Brother Dari’s pale face breaking out in a cold sweat, his lips curled into a satisfied smile.

He took out a syringe he was carrying, slowly drew water from a mineral water bottle in his hand, and just like that, plunged it into Brother Dari’s body.

"You still don’t know? Huh?"

Brother Dari’s cold sweat flowed profusely. With the third injection, he began to howl. Not long after, snot, tears, and drool streamed down his face, and he quickly confessed everything.

Jing Shu shivered. She knew this infamous reference. Before the apocalypse, some unscrupulous merchants, wanting to increase the weight of cattle to sell them at higher prices, would inject water into the animals. This caused the cattle to swell and become heavier, while the merchants remained completely indifferent to their tormented cries and tears.

Later, some police officers secretly adopted this method to coerce confessions from suspects. It was the simplest, most painful method, and one that left no evidence.

Yang Yang’s leather boots tapped a rhythm on Brother Dari’s neck as he pondered for a moment. "It’s about what we’ve already gathered. Where is the gun that man gave you?"

Seeing there was no way out, Jing Shu sighed silently. "It’s with me."

Yang Yang looked up, seriously sizing up this woman for the first time. Aside from being quite attractive, there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly outstanding about her. Was it really her who set traps at home and killed dozens of people?

"What about the rest of Biri’s men?" Yang Yang asked again. There were only about a dozen bodies at the scene. Could the rest be inside the villa?

Jing Shu led them to a ring of pits at the entrance. Even the Armed Police, accustomed to life and death, drew in sharp breaths. Their expressions changed when they looked at Jing Shu again.

"There are more than forty others guarding other buildings. They might have run off by now after hearing the police sirens."

Gou Yitian, seeing that Jing Shu’s killing spree was confirmed, started shouting frantically, "Officers, you’ve seen it, right? She killed so many people! Arrest her, quickly!"

Come on, even if they have to arrest me, they should take this crazy woman away first! I really don’t want to stay with this woman any longer! Please, save me!

Yang Yang sneered. "We are not the police; we are the Armed Police. This area is currently not within our jurisdiction. If you want to arrest someone, please call the regular police."

Finally, a look of despair crossed Gou Yitian’s face. "Then take me too! Take me to jail! This crazy woman is going to torture me to death! She’s going to kill me!"

Yang Yang ignored him and turned to Jing Shu. "We will take this leader. The gun is your spoil of war; we won’t ask about it. As for the rest of Biri’s people, we’re not interested. If there’s nothing else, we’ll be leaving."

"Wait, you’ve come all this way, such a hard trip. We have some fresh vegetables I can get for you. Divide them amongst yourselves. We’re really thankful you came this time," Mrs. Jing said as she hurried back to the house. She returned with Grandma Jing and Mr. Jing, who were carrying a box of garlic sprouts, a box of bean sprouts, and a jar of pickles.

Yang Yang looked surprised and glanced hesitantly at Niu Mou.

Minister Niu pulled Yang Yang closer, laughing heartily. "Minister Su is the one in charge of agriculture in this area. Take them. As for my part in this, consider it a separate favor I owe you."

"Alright then. My men will be disciplined for leaving their posts today anyway. We didn’t help you much this time. If you need anything next time, just call me directly."

This established a friendly relationship, another asset for the future. They came in haste and left in haste.

Mrs. Jing was genuinely grateful and mentioned she would visit Minister Niu’s house in a few days. After the two shared a knowing smile, the patrol car discreetly departed. They had truly come out this time solely out of respect for Minister Niu.

It seems I’ll have to properly thank my direct supervisor, Minister Niu, and hold on tightly to this powerful connection.

Mrs. Jing reflected with some emotion. Sigh, but in crucial moments, we still have to rely on ourselves. If we had depended on them to save us, we would have died long ago. Even if they had come, we likely wouldn’t have gotten off by just giving them a few boxes of vegetables as compensation for their trouble. She secretly made a decision. I can’t let my daughter always be the one standing at the forefront. She’s at an age where she should be carefree, not solely responsible for guarding this home.

Minister Niu had just left when Wang Qiqi, Young Master Has-a-Kid, and Wang Dazhao emerged from the darkness. It turned out they had been there for a while. They only relaxed after learning the police had arrived, and then they hurried off.

Apparently, when Biri’s people heard the police sirens, they scattered. However, some had directly entered homes and killed the occupants of several houses. Wang Qiqi and the others needed to go check on the casualties.

「...」

After seeing off their guests, Jing Shu’s family began to clean up the battlefield. Restoring the villa to its previous state would be challenging: the vegetable garden had been trampled, and the ground was littered with blood, bits of flesh, nails, glass shards, lime, and other debris.

While cleaning, Mrs. Jing forced herself to adapt. Third Aunt knelt in the middle of the passage, vigorously scrubbing bloodstains with a cleaning ball. Grandpa Jing and Mr. Jing were repairing traps. Fortunately, the interior of the house and the chicken coop were undamaged.

"I originally planned to keep applying wet paper to your face until you died," Jing Shu said, crouching beside Gou Yitian as she placed the first wet sheet on his face. "But now I’ve changed my mind. I want to do this a few more times to vent my anger."

Gou Yitian struggled violently, shaking his head. He felt himself suffocating. The feeling grew worse, becoming incredibly uncomfortable—it was as though his blood vessels were about to burst!

Jing Shu added more layers, one by one. "I heard that in ancient times, the most resilient eunuchs wouldn’t die until twelve layers of paper were applied. How many can you withstand? Let’s start with six."

As she added more layers, Gou Yitian’s veins began to bulge. When she reached eight layers, Jing Shu removed them all. "Not bad," she commented. "Let’s try for nine now."

Gou Yitian gasped for air. He began to tremble and convulse. "Please," he begged, "give me a quick death! Sob, I’m really begging you!"

Jing Shu continued to stick the papers to Gou Yitian’s face, one by one, as if she hadn’t heard him. She whispered softly, "I’m terrified of death, so I despise anyone who puts me in a deadly situation. You have no idea... death is truly horrifying. Do you understand how horrifying it is?"

Gou Yitian began to struggle violently, his veins throbbing as if they would explode at any moment. Slowly, Gou Yitian stopped moving.

Eleven layers. Actually, that’s not bad. Jing Shu disposed of the body. The villa was also mostly tidied up.

After tidying up that evening, the family held a meeting. The world had changed; it was no longer peaceful. If not for Jing Shu’s decisiveness and ruthlessness today, the entire family might not have survived.

Therefore, starting tomorrow, everyone except Grandma Jing would begin practicing with the repeating crossbows to prevent such incidents from recurring. They would also start carrying knives with them at all times.

Most importantly, the villa’s traps needed to be upgraded! They had to be more insidious and much more lethal!

The surveillance cameras remained active. After all the traps in the villa were repaired and reset, the family rested there for the night.

The next day, Mr. Jing, Jing Shu, and Grandpa Jing began to design and implement new, even more formidable traps.

"This net is still too gentle," Jing Shu said, touching her chin. "I’m thinking of using steel plates welded with dense rows of steel barbs. When it falls from above, if it doesn’t crush them, it’ll impale them. Plus, this way, we won’t have to keep replacing arrows."