Chapter 311: The Horror of Silence

Translator: Atlas Studios  Editor: Atlas Studios

The surroundings were very quiet.

Everybody could only look on as Bai Muchuan, Tang Yuanchu and Salimu head into the forest.

Everyone had also heard it clearly earlier.

Quan Shaoteng said that Xie Wanwan was almost naked and she was tied to a tree.

Not to mention, there could also be a bomb strapped onto her.

Under such circumstances, Bai Muchuan’s approach to handling the situation was actually the most appropriate.

There was no need for many people to be present for defusing a bomb. Moreover, having more people would actually mean inviting further danger. Besides, he had to take Xie Wanwan’s privacy into consideration.

However, he brought Tang Yuanchu along.

Perhaps because he knew that he could not stop Tang Yuanchu and having one more person around could prevent gossip and suspicions.

Xiang Wan guessed all of these from Bai Muchuan’s point of view.

It was just that she was not clear why Bai Muchuan brought the young and naive Salimu along…

…

Thump! Thump!

Thump! Thump!

It was the sound of the heartbeat.

They could only hear their own heartbeat!

As the three of them headed toward their destination, no one spoke.

Salimu followed Bai Muchuan toward the deep lake. He felt like his heart weighed the same as a giant boulder.

Finally, he could not help but break the silence.

“Captain Bai, if we failed to disarm the bomb… and it explodes… what should we do?”

Bai Muchuan looked at his terrified face; he was silent for a second.

“There’s only one solution,” he answered.

“There really is a solution?” A glimpse of joy flashed through Salimu’s eyes. “That’s great! Captain Bai, quick, tell me what’s the solution?”

Bai Muchuan gave a light snort; one could feel the chills from his gloomy eyes.

“We’ll keep our best looking pose, and we will cover our faces as the explosion blast our bodies into the sky and then fall back to the ground… when the people who would come to collect our corpses saw us, they would give us a compliment—this man still looks so handsome even when he’s dead!”

“…”

What deadpan humor.

Uh! Salimu was unable to laugh, though.

…

It was now dawn.

The sky near the lake had gotten slightly brighter.

Quan Shaoteng was right. Xie Wanwan was indeed tied to a tree.

The tree looked strange since it had no treetop and was practically bare. It was the only tree by the lake.

It was like a sign.

One could feel crept out just by looking at the tree.

Xie Wanwan was tied on the tree; her body fair like jade.

There were bruises all over her fair skin. One could only feel their heart-wrenched at the sight of it.

Her head was hanging low, her long hair fell loosely around her shoulders. They also noticed how her own bra was stuck inside her mouth, gagging her…

That was almost similar to the victims of the 121 case.

However, it was obvious that this was a disguise.

It was not entirely the same as the 121 case victims; they had only made it look that way.

… Maybe Brother Steel was in a rush.

… Or this was all just an elaborate scheme to provoke them.

“Xie Wanwan?” Tang Yuanchu’s voice trembled.

He had been a detective for more than a year and went through countless cases before, no matter big or small.

This was the very first time… that he felt fear.

Bai Muchuan advanced slowly as he observed his surroundings. He looked grim, cold but pale at the same time. He was much more cautious and wary. Salimu, on the other hand… this was the first time he saw a woman’s naked body in real life. He was not sure what to feel, but he kept looking upward to avoid another look.

“Xie Wanwan!” Tang Yuanchu could finally endure no more as he shouted her name.

That shout had been withheld in his throat for a long while.

He would go crazy if he did not shout her name.

Yes, he almost lost it.

He felt a deep pain as he saw her tied up on a tree like a rag doll.

The Xie Wanwan who was held on a pedestal.

The Xie Wanwan who was always arrogant and headstrong.

The Xie Wanwan who talked cheerfully.

The Xie Wanwan who took liberties of him; she kissed him but remembered nothing of it…

At that moment, she had been humiliated and used like she was not human at all!

Tang Yuanchu felt his heart twisting badly.

Maybe what he was feeling was not purely because he loved or liked her. It could just be sympathy… He could not differentiate his feelings.

“Xie Wanwan, you better wake up! You can’t die just like that!”

“You still owe me the liquor money at the nightclub…”

“And—you kissed me twice; are you not going to take responsibility for that?”

Each sentence coming out of Tang Yuanchu’s voice got louder and louder as he sobbed. Wave after wave, his words echoed around the lake, as though faint ripples were forming on the surface of the lake.

Under the faint and pale moonlight, the woman moved slightly, her hair moving as she faintly bobbed her head.

Slowly, she raised her head.

She heard him.

All these words, she heard them.

Tang Yuanchu looked at her eyes from a short distance. His lips were quivering, but not a single word could come out of his mouth…

Xie Wanwan looked at the three men. Her clouded eyes were wet, but she did not cry nor was there any emotion on her face.

Emptiness and numbness, she was like a broken doll that had her soul removed.

Only the naive Salimu, with his eyes wide-opened at that sight, was overjoyed.

“Boss! She’s alive!”

“…”

Salimu’s excitement made him look like a fool while the tears in Tang Yuanchu’s eyes made him look like a child…

Compared to them, Bai Muchuan’s face was calm.

He was not surprised, or rather, there was nothing to be surprised about.

Those people had no reason to tie a corpse to a tree for only a living Xie Wanwan would be worth rescuing.

An alive Xie Wanwan would be the “perfect excuse” to take out all these detectives in Vulture’s Mouth…

“Did you see the bomb?” Bai Muchuan asked Tang Yuanchu and Salimu.

“… No.” Salimu had been avoiding to look at Xie Wanwan. He was startled for an instant when he heard that and quickly searched for the bomb.

“Yes.” Tang Yuanchu’s voice sounded hoarse and low as though he was crying.

“Take this!” Bai Muchuan gave his assault rifle to Tang Yuanchu.

He swept a glance at him. “If you’re scared, stand further away and guard us!”

Scared?

That word provoked Tang Yuanchu.

How could he be afraid?

Xie Wanwan was right in front of him. Even if he were to die now, he wouldn’t be afraid!

“Captain Bai, how can I help?”

Bai Muchuan put on the surgery gloves that he had gotten from Cheng Zheng and looked at Tang Yuanchu coldly. “Do you know how to defuse a bomb?”

“…”

Tang Yuanchu’s face instantly turned gloomy.

He was a detective, not a bomb defuser.

Those days when he was at the police academy, he had never… even touched a bomb before.

Thus, he had no choice but to forgo the chance to save Xie Wanwan personally.

Tang Yuanchu was a little upset…

“Boss… I won’t go far. I’ll stay right here and protect… all of you.”

Bai Muchuan went straight to Xie Wanwan without a word.

“Hmm—hmm—”

Xie Wanwan saw him.

Her mouth was stuffed with her bra. She could only shake her head vehemently at that sight.

Maybe she felt ashamed or maybe she was trying to warn them… Since she was gagged, there was only pleading and desperation…

“… Don’t… come over…”

“No… don’t… don’t come over…”

She kept shaking her head, trying desperately to tell them that.

However, she was the only one who could understand her own words.

All they had heard was her muffled struggling sounds.

Bai Muchuan looked at her. “Stay quiet!”

Xie Wanwan was weeping bitterly. Her tears flowed down her face. “… No…”

Bomb defusing was one of the most dangerous occupations in this era.

Even professional bomb defusers and bomb disposal police officers would be in their protective gear when they defuse bombs. Moreover, that could not protect them from the risk of dying in the course of duty.

Yet at this moment, none of them had such protective gear on them.

Back in the days when he was in Red Thorn, Bai Muchuan had learned how to defuse a bomb. However, it was just like what Quan Shaoteng said, it had been a long time since he last handled a bomb…

“Boss…” When Bai Muchuan untied the jacket on Xie Wanwan’s body and revealed the bomb, Tang Yuanchu couldn’t bear to watch and closed his eyes.

“Believe in me!” Bai Muchuan said seriously.

“Hmm… hmm…”

With her mouth stuffed, Xie Wanwan could not say anything clearly.

There was hardly anything that could cover her body. There were bruises present on her bare skin. Those bruises were clear indicators on the kind of humiliation she had gone through.

To appear like that before Bai Muchuan under such a situation, Xie Wanwan had totally lost whatever remaining pride left in her; it had been trampled on the ground. Even though Bai Muchuan had tried to protect her privacy by limiting the number of people who came to rescue her, the feeling of humiliation within her was… way beyond the last broadcasting incident of her doll.

That was because the person right in front of her was Bai Muchuan.

Besides Bai Muchuan… there were two other persons—Tang Yuanchu and Salimu.

Xie Wanwan’s sorry figure trembled as she looked at Bai Muchuan’s eyes. She felt like dying.

… She terribly wished she could throw herself into a lake and never surface again.

However, at that moment… even asking for death was wishful thinking.

“Boss… put some clothing on her…” Tang Yuanchu rushed over at this moment.

He took off his jacket and came closer to wrap it around Xie Wanwan.

He could read the hopelessness in Xie Wanwan’s eyes. He knew what she wanted…

However, before he could do that, Bai Muchuan stopped him.

“Don’t touch her!”

This caught Tang Yuanchu by surprise. His eyes reddened as he turned to look at Bai Muchuan.

“Boss?”

A stern look could be seen on Bai Muchuan’s face. “A lot of bombs are not to be moved or tilted…”

His good intention of putting a jacket on Xie Wanwan could end up in getting all four of them… to die of explosion immediately.

Tang Yuanchu felt chilly all over when he heard that. He held the jacket in his hands as he stood frozen, looking at Xie Wanwan’s desperate eyes. “…”

Seeing that, there was a slight change in Bai Muchuan’s usual indifferent expression. “In the face of death, there are no gender differences. There’s only life or death. Remember that!”

Tang Yuanchu retreated aside quietly after he saw the stern look in Bai Muchuan’s eyes.

He felt powerless.

He could not save Xie Wanwan; he couldn’t even help cover her body. There was nothing he could do.

“Will she get her pride back just by putting on a jacket?” Bai Muchuan continued, “Pride is not all about wearing clothes!”

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