Volume 1, Chapter 380 – Heaven’s Justice

When Shi Lan entered the forest, it was still early, and the path into the mountains was not too hard to walk.

In the materials Hao Fei had given her, there was information on twelve people in total. Although their exact locations were not listed, a rough area had been marked out, saving her quite a bit of trouble.

Finding people in mountains like these was no different from looking for a needle in the sea.

…

In the blink of an eye, three days had passed, and Shi Lan had already gone more than one hundred and thirty li deep into the mountain range.

The narrow mountain paths that had once existed had completely disappeared. Everywhere she looked, there was only grass as high as a person’s waist. It was not yet winter, and snakes, insects, rats, and ants were all extremely active.

Fortunately, the combat suit was thick enough, and the insect repellent worked well too, so Shi Lan had not suffered much.

As the sky gradually darkened, Shi Lan looked around, preparing to find a large tree to rest in. Even though she had brought night-vision goggles, traveling through the forest at night was still far too dangerous.

After passing around a stretch of cliff face, Shi Lan suddenly found her view opening up. The terrain in the mountain range varied enormously, and valleys would occasionally appear.

In the valley below before her, there was a village. At first glance, it had only a little over twenty households, with nothing but scattered points of dim yellow light.

Shi Lan took out the map and checked it against what she saw, then ran toward the foot of the mountain. This was one of her targets.

The village was marked on the map as Xiaohun Village. More than half a year ago, the police had come here because of the case involving her, and had rescued two trafficked girls from this place.

Shi Lan did not care about any of that. For the sake of this trip into the mountains, the law no longer had any restraint over her to begin with. She only hoped to find some clues here in Xiaohun Village about that gang of drug lords.

That gang had been dragged out by that earlier case, so there might well be something to dig into here.

An hour later, Shi Lan reached the bottom of the valley and arrived outside the village.

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Xiaohun Village was ringed by mountains on three sides, with only a single muddy path extending out of the valley.

Shi Lan did not take the path. Instead, she slipped into Xiaohun Village through the small grove at the side.

The village was far too cramped; if someone shouted at one end, the people at the other end would hear it clearly.

She had only just reached the side of an earthen house when Shi Lan heard the sounds of cups being raised and set down in noisy toasts.

Light leaked through the earthen house from every side. Shi Lan casually found a corner and saw the scene inside.

It looked like the main room. A square table stood in the center, with five people seated around it, all of them red-faced with drink. At the doorway opposite the room stood two more men.

These two had not been drinking. Their faces were cold and severe, and they were fully armed, dressed in camouflage combat gear. Firearms hung from their bodies, and they were equipped with everything from night-vision goggles to tactical daggers. They even had grenades, and each had a walkie-talkie clipped to his chest.

Shi Lan swept her gaze over the seven of them and recognized five. They were on the police wanted list, and the two at the door were among them.

The topics men talked about over drinks rarely strayed far from money and women.

Shi Lan listened for a few minutes and barely managed to catch some useful information.

Of the seven, aside from the five on the wanted list, one of the remaining two was the local village bully, and the other had ties to the earlier human trafficking ring.

Within this mountain range, “Night Owl” had at least four or five strongholds like this one, spread over a wide area. There were lookouts on all the main routes into the mountains. The moment the police entered, they would know at once.

For Shi Lan to achieve what she wanted on this trip into the mountains, the chances were very slim.

As her thoughts turned, one of the men inside staggered to his feet and lurched toward the door.

Shi Lan lightened her footsteps and slowly retreated, taking the compound crossbow off her back and stringing it with a bolt.

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She circled far around from behind until she reached a patch of wild woods directly facing the courtyard gate.

The two fully armed men stood at the doorway in extremely seasoned positions, one outside the door and one inside it, with half of a wooden door panel covering most of his body.

The two were highly focused and extremely alert. Every few minutes, they reported certain coded phrases into their walkie-talkies, but Shi Lan could not understand what any of it meant.

She did not look at the drunk in the courtyard, who was swaying as he relieved himself. Slowly lowering her night-vision goggles, she sighted through the aiming mark at the doorway.

The compound crossbow in her hands gave her an intensely familiar feeling, as though she had used it hundreds or thousands of times before.

Steadying the fluctuations in her emotions, Shi Lan gently pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The precision steel bolt punched straight through the wooden door, which was two fingers thick. The man behind it dropped on the spot.

Shi Lan did not go to check the result. In an instant, she drew the string and set another bolt, and a second one screamed from the bow.

Whoosh!

The steel bolt instantly pierced the skull of the man at the door. Without losing momentum, it nailed him to the earthen wall behind him.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

Shi Lan fired seven bolts in succession. First she shot down the drunk in the courtyard, then sent the next six all into the main room.

Wails and shrieks erupted from inside the house, and lights came on one after another in many of the village homes.

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Shi Lan withdrew at top speed, circled around again, and came to the back of the earthen house. Lowering her steps, she peered through a hole and observed the situation inside.

The man behind the door had had his neck pierced by the bolt that went through the wood and was stone dead. Of the remaining four, two had bolts through their chests and were already drawing more breath out than in.

Of the two still alive, one had been struck in the thigh and was hiding in the corner of the main room, struggling to crawl into the inner room.

The last one was uninjured. He was the village bully, clutching a submachine gun stripped from the corpse by the door. Terror covered his face as he hid behind the door, hunching up and peeking through the crack to observe outside, while gripping the walkie-talkie tightly in one hand.

Once she had seen the situation clearly, Shi Lan did not delay any longer. News from this place had probably already been sent out. Reinforcements might already be on the way.

Shi Lan strode quickly toward the doorway, her footsteps all but silent, and soon reached the door.

Thump!

Without breaking stride, she sent a bolt through the door panel, then immediately threw down the compound crossbow, rolled into the room, drew a dagger, and lunged behind the door. A flash of steel later, she had pierced the throat of the man before her.

“Ghk…”

The village bully’s eyes were full of terror. The walkie-talkie fell to the ground, and the submachine gun in his arms slipped limply down.

Everything had happened in a split second.

Shi Lan let out a breath. The bolt through the door had pierced the village bully’s arm and bought her a little time.

Sounds of doors opening came from the neighboring houses. Shi Lan picked up the submachine gun, strode out the door, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Rat-tat-tat…

She emptied the magazine down both sides of the road, then threw down the gun and shouted sharply,

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“Get back inside!”

Bang, bang, bang…

A string of doors slammed shut. The lights that had just come on went dark one after another, and the whole village fell silent once more.

“What’s the situation now?”

“Hello?”

A burst of static came from the walkie-talkie lying on the ground.

Shi Lan crushed it underfoot, glanced back at the inner room hidden behind the hanging curtain, quietly recovered the crossbow bolts from inside the house, and then retreated to the doorway.

She bent down, took the two grenades from the corpse’s waist by the door, pulled the pins, threw them into the inner room, then turned and quickly strode out.

Boom!

A deafening explosion rang out, dirt and stones flying everywhere. The entire earthen-tile house instantly collapsed and turned into a heap of rubble.

Picking up the compound crossbow and whatever usable equipment she could salvage from the corpse outside the door, Shi Lan rubbed her slightly numbed ears and rushed toward the forest.

In just a few short minutes, she had killed seven people, and she had done it all as naturally as flowing water. Not only did she feel no discomfort whatsoever, an indescribable exhilaration instead rose within her.

That delight of breaking free from all restraint left her faintly intoxicated.

A life for a life—this was Heaven’s justice. And besides, these were a pack of scum who deserved to die in the first place!