C8 A Murder Case!

A throng of people was hot on his heels, rounding the bend at the hill's base within a mere two minutes.

As they rounded the foot of the mountain, there was Xue Lang, stepping into the open, flat expanse of the bee farm.

Unbeknownst to the pursuers, Xue Lang had been following footprints. At the sight of his figure, they let out a shout and charged.

Hearing the commotion behind him, Xue Lang instinctively looked back, then stumbled backward in alarm, seeking refuge by a solitary small tree nearby.

"What do you want?!" he cried out, his voice tinged with panic as he stripped off his sheepskin coat and draped it over the tree, seemingly terrified.

Tao, about ten meters from Xue Lang, came to a breathless halt, gripping his iron rod with a menacing glare. "You had the guts to come out here alone... If you just let me break your limbs, I might spare you," he growled.

No sooner had he spoken than Ye Si arrived on the scene. As Xue Lang took a few steps forward, Ye Si shook out his cloth bag, revealing a crude, homemade gunpowder weapon, which he brandished with a malicious grin. "Little thief, bet you didn't think payback would come this fast, huh?"

Xue Lang's eyes narrowed at the sight of the weapon. With a detached tone, he challenged, "Ye Si, if you were just wielding a knife or a stick, you'd be facing an assault charge at worst. Now, you've escalated things. Are you sure you want to go down this path?"

"Damn you! Facing death and still trying to act tough!"

"You must be sick of living!"

As the insults flew, Ye Si's accomplices unfurled their cloth bags, each brandishing a double-barreled shotgun with a sawed-off barrel, aiming them at Xue Lang with vicious intent.

Confronted with two more guns, Xue Lang's pupils dilated in shock. His hands, clad in a single leather glove, slowly spread open and dropped to his sides.

With the additional guns drawn, Ye Si, feeling he had the upper hand, bellowed with overconfidence, "Tao! Break his legs first, then we can have our fun with him!"

"Alright then!"

Tao brandished his iron rod menacingly as he advanced toward Xue Lang.

The rest of the gang, clutching their weapons, closed in around him, each with a malicious grin, relishing the moment like cats toying with a mouse.

Even as Tao and his crew blocked the gun's line of fire, Xue Lang remained motionless, standing his ground. He was biding his time, waiting for them to strike first, waiting for a justified reason to take them down. The sight of the gun had shifted his initial intent from merely roughing them up.

Tao hadn't anticipated Xue Lang's courage to fight back. To him, it would have been a surprise if Xue Lang hadn't been scared witless. Swaggering with arrogance, he swaggered up to Xue Lang and sneered, "Kid, you're about to get fed!"

With those words, he whipped the iron rod through the air.

In the instant the rod was swung, Xue Lang swiftly stepped back, evading the blow aimed at his legs, yet still refraining from striking back.

"Damn it! He's dodging! Take him down!"

Enraged by the miss, Tao bellowed and furiously swung the rod again.

The gang members encircling Xue Lang, spurred by Tao's command, swung their clubs wildly, raining blows down on Xue Lang in a chaotic frenzy. Those wielding knives joined in, their movements suggesting they intended to carve Xue Lang up.

"Bring it on!"

Xue Lang let out a thunderous roar, his body spinning slickly to sidestep Tao's iron rod, then landed a punch. Before Tao could even react to clutch his bleeding nose, Xue Lang's fists flew, weaving through the mob like a slippery fish. Amidst the thudding sounds, his punches connected with the encroaching thugs.

Yet the punches seemed to lack force; they landed on faces, causing a few nosebleeds but failing to incapacitate anyone. The punches appeared to merely shove the attackers back.

Throughout the scuffle, Xue Lang managed to avoid taking any real hits. The melee drew closer to Ye Si, who was armed with a gun and scanning for Xue Lang.

"Everyone, back off!"

Frustrated by their inability to subdue the young man, Ye Si exploded in rage. He shouted and aimed his gun directly at Xue Lang.

As the melee ensued, a shout caused the brawling thugs to instinctively halt, inadvertently exposing Xue Lang within their ranks. Ye Si quickly zeroed in on Xue Lang and squeezed the trigger.

In the split second that Ye Si's gun barrel targeted him, Xue Lang yanked Tao towards himself with the speed of lightning. As the gunshot echoed and Tao shuddered, his pupils dilated in shock. Xue Lang spun and lunged at Ye Si, who was still peering through the dissipating gun smoke to assess the damage.

The sound of the gunshot left all the ruffians momentarily stunned. Before they could grasp what had happened, Xue Lang was already upon Ye Si, arms encircling and deflecting the weapon. With a decisive click, Ye Si's empty gun was suddenly redirected towards his own face.

Ye Si's vision blurred as a sharp pain shot through his head. Before he could utter a cry of pain, his calf went numb. Another click, darkness enveloped him, and he collapsed to the side with a stifled grunt.

In that brief moment of chaos, Tao's previously silenced voice pierced the air, "Ah! My leg!" Tao had been wounded...

The thugs snapped to attention, their fury erupting as they bellowed and charged at Xue Lang.

Xue Lang, having landed his strike, spun with electrifying agility. He grabbed a sand gun from Ye Si's left side just as another shot fired. Elbow thrusting forward with a sickening crack, he shattered the man's arm. Whirling, he kicked away another gun, then delivered a sweeping kick that snapped the leg of an adjacent thug. Amidst his victim's cries, Xue Lang seized the shotgun.

As another thug approached from behind, Xue Lang swung around, breaking the assailant's arm with a single strike and finishing with a kick.

Having neutralized the three guns, as Ye Si hit the ground and screams filled the air, Xue Lang discarded the shotgun and plunged back into the fray.

His silhouette flickered through the crowd, the relentless snapping of bones and the crescendo of agonized screams and wails sent the wildlife scattering in terror.

In under two minutes, Xue Lang stood alone, the sole figure remaining upright amidst the chaos.

Xue Lang surveyed the hoodlums sprawled on the ground, some unconscious, others wailing in pain. He kicked the three guns aside and strode over to a small tree where his coat hung. Slipping into the coat, he grabbed the new Redmi phone perched on a branch, glanced at it, and switched off the recording. He then turned and made his way back from whence he came. It wasn't until he was a good hundred meters away from the thugs that he paused to sort through the video and send it to a certain number.

He had no intention of giving those goons a fighting chance, especially with three guns still in play.

Nor was he about to let Ye Si and his crew off the hook. His initial plan to use the video as evidence of self-defense was quickly replaced by the resolve to deal with the hoodlums once and for all.

He hadn't waited even a minute when his phone rang.

"Hello, I'm Bai Jun from the sub-bureau's criminal investigation unit. When was this video taken?"

Xue Lang replied with composure, "Captain Bai, the incident just occurred at the bee farm east of C City High School. Everyone's accounted for, not a single person missing."

Before he could say more, he heard the shuffle of furniture over the phone, followed by Bai Jun's voice once more: "What's your name? Where are you now?"

"Captain Bai, I'm Xue Lang, the person involved. I'm still on the scene, and it looks like we'll be needing an ambulance," Xue Lang said, his voice still even.

"Stay put! I'm on my way," came the response.

Xue Lang ended the call and stood there in silence.

The recent skirmish hadn't stirred a single ripple in his emotions. For someone who had faced death countless times, this was nothing.

If it weren't for his current desire to lead a peaceful, ordinary life, he wouldn't have hesitated to retaliate with lethal force the moment they opened fire.

In the stillness of his wait, it wasn't ten minutes before a procession of vehicles materialized in the distance. The lead police cars didn't sound their sirens, but their flashing lights drew the eyes of many onlookers.

The presence of two ambulances and a van in the convoy led more passersby to speculate about an accident at the quarry.

As the first police car spotted Xue Lang, it decelerated and came to a halt next to him with a screech.

Bai Jun leaped out, gave Xue Lang a quick once-over, and immediately inquired, "Where exactly?"

Xue Lang pointed ahead and said, "It's over there."

"Alright, you get in first."

Bai Jun gestured and stepped into the vehicle ahead of Xue Lang.

Without hesitation, Xue Lang followed, taking his seat in the police car.

Despite having reviewed all the footage, Bai Jun was still taken aback by the actual scene. He issued orders to collect evidence and survey the area, all while keeping a watchful eye on Xue Lang from the corner of his eye.

Xue Lang, fully aware of the scrutiny, remained still and seated in the car, not making a single move.

The arrival of the police station, sub-bureau, and medical responders did little to prepare them for the shocking tableau before them.

This was a remote area, small in size with a population just shy of a hundred thousand—nothing like the sprawling cities. The scene resembled something straight out of a gangster movie.

Those familiar with Ye Si and his gang were puzzled to see them in agony or glaring viciously; weren't they all acquaintances? What caused the violent clash?

Bai Jun, his shock compounded by his focus on Xue Lang, felt a surge of urgency.

He had seen the gun and Tao, wounded by a bullet.

For the criminal investigators, knife and club fights were routine, often overlooked unless there was a complaint—such was the way in a small town. But a gunfight was a different matter entirely; it was a case of significant gravity.

As the weapons were secured and the thugs were loaded into the ambulances, Bai Jun pulled out his phone and dialed the sub-bureau chief.

The chief, learning of the gunfire and injuries, was invigorated by the news. Despite the oversight in management, capturing the perpetrator would be a feather in his cap.

"Interrogate them swiftly! Follow the trail to the source!"

With his brief directive issued, the chief's face broke into a smile, content to await the interrogation results before making his report.

Unaware of the details involving the suspects, the chief was in the dark, but the scene's witnesses knew all too well.

As they tended to the wounded, it became clear that each man on the ground had a broken leg or arm. The exception was a muscular man who had been sent off earlier, his leg gruesomely exposed, his knee shattered—condemned to a life dependent on crutches.

The scene was nothing short of stunning, akin to a blockbuster movie come to life. Yet, no one linked the young man who appeared to have discovered the scene and called the police to the chaos. In his twenties, dressed in worn and somewhat outdated clothes, he seemed completely innocuous. It was unthinkable to blame him for the incident.

Bai Jun's gaze faltered as he watched the injured figures being lifted one by one. He turned and slid into the car, settling beside Xue Lang with a heavy heart.

Fear crept over him. Not because he was faint-hearted—after all, he had served in the military. He understood the gravity of a single person taking on and severely wounding a group of twenty without sustaining a scratch. The video's footage was telling; the movements were efficient and decisive, without a hint of hesitation or excess.

Xue Lang was, without a doubt, a man to be wary of.