CHAPTER 75: CHAPTER 75 INFILTRATION_1

CLANG—

The open iron gate swiftly shut again.

Lu Yuan watched as the headlights of the two cars down the hillside swiftly disappeared into the darkness. He turned around, his face revealing a degree of intrigue.

This guy... Could he have been held captive?

’Held captive’ may not be the most accurate term.

This man, Wang Zhichao, seemed more like he had fallen into a predicament he couldn’t escape from, yet he also didn’t want to involve others.

His behavior at the door just now clearly showed he was trying to protect Dad—Lu Xinghua—and the other two, not wanting them to get caught.

It’s like he’s doing it out of kindness...

Then what would happen if he were caught?

Lu Yuan squinted, beginning to closely examine the four-story rural house before him.

The house stood alone on a small earthen mound.

It seemed quite far from the nearest village, its location rather remote.

The house looked imposing but was actually quite crude.

The exterior walls hadn’t even been plastered. Apart from some tiles on the second floor, the third and fourth floors were just bare concrete.

The roof was also bare, with only the faint outlines of a water tank and a solar water heater visible.

A two-meter-high wall enclosed a large courtyard, with two dark gray iron gates locked tight.

Lu Yuan took a couple of steps closer and was immediately hit by a pungent, sickening stench.

The odor resembled accumulated bird droppings, yet it was also mixed with a smell like rotting animal carcasses.

He instinctively glanced towards a wild pomelo tree somewhere behind him.

Is this the smell of crow droppings?

Lu Yuan mused.

He couldn’t help but recall the recent chemical plant explosion in the south of the city, which had also involved a large number of crows.

For a fleeting moment, Lu Yuan felt he was very close to the truth of the matter.

I should go in and see.

A flicker in his eyes, Lu Yuan silently circled to the left side of the house.

Standing at the foot of the enclosure wall, he didn’t rush to climb it. Instead, he closed his eyes and used his "meager" supernatural ability to observe briefly.

He confirmed there was no one at the base of the wall inside, then made a light leap.

With 12 points in Agility providing nimbleness and 13 points in Strength providing explosive power, Lu Yuan easily cleared the nearly two-meter-high wall.

His hands lightly gripped the top of the wall.

Rural courtyard walls usually have anti-theft measures on top.

This one was no exception.

The top of the wall was embedded with a layer of broken beer bottle shards, sharp edges pointing up, specifically to prevent people from climbing over.

Fortunately, Lu Yuan had scouted ahead with his "eyes-closed 720-degree holographic vision" ability, so his fingers landed precisely in the gaps between the shards, avoiding injury.

Relying solely on the strength of his ten fingers, Lu Yuan pulled himself up bit by bit.

He first poked his head up slightly, squinting to observe the situation below.

His current position faced the side door of the house.

The front yard was cluttered. Two farm tricycles were parked there, with various farming tools, pickling jars, and other things strewn about haphazardly.

No dogs, no surveillance cameras.

He could, however, see many dark bird-like shadows perched on the ground, on the tricycles, and on the jars.

Lu Yuan frowned.

After a moment’s hesitation, he finally decided to exert force with his ten fingers...

Like someone vaulting in leapfrog, he cleared the wall and landed lightly in the courtyard.

THUD!

A faint landing sound.

Two dark shapes roosting at the base of the wall flapped their wings and flew to the top of the wall. They glanced down at Lu Yuan from their high perch but quickly ignored him.

The instant he landed, Lu Yuan darted towards the house and crouched down.

However, after waiting a full half-minute, no one came out from inside. It seemed he hadn’t attracted any attention.

Even so, Lu Yuan’s heart rate began to quicken.

Nighttime infiltration... it really is exciting. Feels like I’m in one of Uncle Long’s movies...

Even if the men inside discovered him, Lu Yuan was confident he could handle them and swagger out the front door.

But who knew if this house hid any other... strange things?

Lu Yuan grew more cautious.

He crept quietly to the front of the house, approaching a first-floor window.

THUMP... UGH...

He heard sounds of punches and kicks from inside, mixed with curses, pained grunts, and moans.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes slightly, extending... what he tentatively called his Spiritual Power, bit by bit into the house.

...

PTUI!

Lu Yuan "saw" the man in the tank top, who had opened the gate for Lu Xinghua’s group, now viciously stomping on Wang Zhichao’s chest. He spat on Wang Zhichao’s face while cursing fiercely.

This tank-topped man looked to be over fifty.

His skin was dark and sallow, his face deeply lined—the typical appearance of a man who had toiled for years as an ordinary farmer.

He also spoke with a thick local accent.

So much so that Lu Yuan couldn’t understand what he was saying at all.

He could only vaguely make out words like "die," "crow," and "can’t escape."

Wang Zhichao lay curled up on the floor, blood trickling from his nose and mouth, a truly wretched sight.

Evidently, because he had let Lu Xinghua and the other two go, he had just suffered a brutal beating.

"I didn’t want to harm them... I didn’t want to harm them..." Wang Zhichao kept repeating this, his face filled with intense fear and anguish.

Seeing this, the tank-topped man suddenly became agitated. He stood up and viciously kicked Wang Zhichao in the lower back.

He roared something, again mentioning words like "die."

Wang Zhichao let out a pained groan.

The men surrounding him resumed punching and kicking him.

The tank-topped man stood aside, watching coldly. At this point, someone turned and asked him a couple of questions.

The tank-topped man stared coldly at Wang Zhichao for a long while before finally shaking his head and saying something.

Then he walked to the side and started smoking.

...

Lu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes, his brow deeply furrowed.

The behavior of these people in the house was as if they had joined some kind of cult; their words and actions carried an air of inexplicable fanaticism.

I should check the second floor first...

Lu Yuan retreated to the wall he had come from. He saw several small windows above the house’s side door.

The lowest one was open, just over a meter above the side door.

He quickly calculated in his head.

Then, he took a short run-up towards the courtyard wall, leaped, and used his right foot to push off the wall for leverage.

Like a parkour move, his body lunged towards the window.

It went very smoothly.

Lu Yuan grabbed the windowsill with both hands and easily slipped inside.

Inside the window was the unlit stairwell leading from the first to the second floor.

Lu Yuan slowly ascended the stairs and soon reached the second floor.

There was a row of four or five rooms on the second floor.

The nearest room had a window, but it was shut tight, and the curtains were drawn, obscuring any view inside.

Lu Yuan walked to the room’s entrance and was surprised to find the door unlocked.

He gently pushed it open...

Instantly, a dazzling light, accompanied by a thick, bloody stench, assaulted his senses.