Chapter 97: A Sudden Incident

I sprang to my feet at once, drew my revolver, and aimed ahead. Qin Tian, still holding a half-eaten pork leg, thrust out his arm in a defensive posture. But to my surprise, the one who had come was none other than Leng Wushuang, who had vanished without a word several days earlier.

An ominous aura seemed to cling to her. I had no idea what she had come for this time. Murong Xue clearly recognized her identity as well, and immediately eased her guard. At that moment, the Nine-Tailed Fox came up beside me and said in a low voice, "Li Yunfei, be careful with this woman. I have a feeling there is something wrong with her."

Leng Wushuang stood ten paces away, facing us. I could not see what was so wrong with her, apart from being a little more beautiful than she had been a few days ago. I stepped forward a few paces and cupped my hands in greeting. "So it is Miss Wushuang. Since our last parting, several days have passed. I trust you have been well."

The corner of Leng Wushuang's mouth twitched. She looked at me with a smile that was not quite a smile, but said nothing. That gaze made my skin crawl. I began to suspect that something about Leng Wushuang really was off, though I could not say what. Just as I was about to examine her more closely, cries of agony suddenly rose all around us, as though everyone had been struck by unimaginable torment. It was the screaming of the men from the Azure Dragon Gang. I turned in haste and saw that all of them were bleeding from every orifice, rolling helplessly on the ground.

"Old Li, get back!" Yu Jing and Qin Tian called out almost at the same moment, but it was already too late. Leng Wushuang had seized my throat and lifted me off the ground.

What was wrong with this woman? She attacked the instant we met. To my recollection, I had never provoked her. We had even worked together before, and I had given her the Heaven-Demon Manual. I had only just read through it, and the writing would not disappear from the pages. If she moved quickly enough, she should still have been able to learn something from it. She had no reason to repay kindness with betrayal.

In those brief seconds, countless thoughts raced through my mind. Yet the pressure on my throat kept increasing until all conjecture ceased. If this went on, I feared I would be severed from head to body.

I slowly raised my revolver. It was a desperate measure. Leng Wushuang, do not blame me.

Bang!

At the sound of the shot, Leng Wushuang released my neck, and Qin Tian slowly collapsed to the ground.

The instant I pulled the trigger, Qin Tian forced his way into the line of fire and took the shot for Leng Wushuang. I could not react in time; my hand was still frozen in the act of firing. I had actually killed him. I had killed my own dearest brother.

For an instant, I thought I saw a flicker of change in Leng Wushuang's eyes. Then she turned and left, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye. Yu Jing hurried over to support Qin Tian, while Murong Xue frantically fumbled for the medicine bottle at her waist. "Damn it, my medicine is gone!"

"He is not dead yet," Yu Jing said after checking Qin Tian's breathing.

The revolver bullet had struck Qin Tian squarely in the chest. Blood soaked through his white leisure suit. I snapped out of my daze and hurriedly took off Qin Tian's shirt. As long as he was not dead, there was still hope.

I had Yu Jing hold Qin Tian's body down, then took out the dagger I had once used to kill someone in the housing complex from my space ring. I had to remove the bullet first, then stop the bleeding. Whether he could survive would depend on his own fortune.

The bullet had gone in very deep, after all, because it had been fired from such close range. After heating the dagger over intense flame, I began the "operation" on Qin Tian with utmost care.

The blade cut into Qin Tian's muscle, sending up a puff of white smoke. I sliced open the tissue in his chest, revealing a gory wound. I turned my head away, unable to bear the sight. Qin Tian, Qin Tian, do you want me to live with guilt for the rest of my life?

I knew Qin Tian had feelings for Leng Wushuang, and so it was understandable that he would make such a near-mad gesture. But he had been desperate to save her and had paid no attention at all to the direction in which I had aimed. I had intended to shoot her shoulder, only to make her loosen her grip.

The bullet had buried itself too deeply. I could even see Qin Tian's bone. At last, after carefully avoiding a blood vessel and slicing through the final layer of muscle, his bone came clearly into view. The bullet was lodged in the gap between the bones. Through that narrow slit, I could see his living heart beating rapidly. Qin Tian was drenched head to toe in sweat; no doubt he was enduring immense pain at that very moment.

I asked Xiaoxiang Ke'er to fetch a clean cloth and help wipe the blood and sweat from Qin Tian's chest, so they would not touch the wound and cause infection. I was drenched in sweat myself. From the moment I cut open the muscle tissue until now, half an hour had passed. Fortunately, Qin Tian had the constitution for it. If it had been any ordinary man, he would likely have died long before those thirty minutes were up.

This was my first time ever removing a bullet by hand, and I had no experience at all. I had only seen others do it on television, and at the time I had thought it was nothing more than making a little incision and pinching the bullet out with one’s fingers. Only now that I was doing it myself did I realize how deceitful television could be.

I dumped everything from my space ring onto the ground, hoping to find a pair of tweezers or something similar. When I say "dumped," I do not mean I literally tipped it over. I used my will to bring everything in the ring out onto the floor. There was all manner of odds and ends: sneakers, suits, sunglasses, cigarettes of every brand, and even an adult magazine.

The others watched with fascination as I produced a whole heap of things like a magician. Aside from the few Azure Dragon Gang members near Murong Xue, everyone else lay sprawled on the ground, life and death unknown.

At last, after rummaging for a long while, I found a length of stainless steel wire. I wrapped it around my little finger several times, leaving two ends to hold in my hand, then slowly fed it into Qin Tian's chest cavity.

Once, twice. The bullet was jammed tightly in the gap between the bones. I was afraid that if I used too much force, I would tear out a piece of bone with it, so I could only pull carefully upward. In the end, I had no choice but to slip one finger into the gap between the bones and force the two bones farther apart. Only then did I finally manage to remove the bullet.

I told the Nine-Tailed Fox to help sew the wound shut at once. She helplessly admitted that she did not know how to stitch, but fortunately Xiaoxiang Ke'er knew a thing or two about sewing and mending. So she plucked a few strands of hair from her head and, with Murong Xue's silver needle, stitched up Qin Tian's wound. Murong Xue pricked her finger and dripped a few drops of blood into Qin Tian's mouth. This was the blood of a god; I only hoped Qin Tian could endure this.

It had been a sudden disaster. It was all my carelessness. I never imagined Leng Wushuang would become like this. Truly, she lived up to her surname.

When I saw that Qin Tian's wound had been stitched and his breathing was steady, I finally set my heart at rest. Only then did I gather everyone and begin checking the injuries of the rest. Dead. This one was dead too. Everyone lying on the ground was dead. They had all bled from every orifice, their deaths grotesque and miserable.

The instant Leng Wushuang appeared just now, I had felt a surge of extremely powerful energy. When she looked at us, her eyes were also filled with murderous intent. I simply could not understand what sort of formidable power could kill a person with nothing more than a glance.