Chapter 820: A Million Times for You (182)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Xiao Bai shook his head. “They are used to being submissive. Habits can be dangerous things, especially when those women were harmed since young and even strike a vicious blow onto their own children.”
An Xiaoning quivered. “That’s really terrifying.”
“When such customs have been deeply embedded, it’s more than just terrifying already.”
The three took turns to bathe, and Xiao Bai went out to buy the tents and mosquito coils while An Xiaoning and Fan Shixin continued to discuss further plans.
After their discussion, they still decided to make a trip back to the mansion again this evening.
As they had not gotten a proper night’s rest yesterday, after Xiao Bai came back from buying the tents and mosquito coils, he and Fan Shixin laid a bed for themselves on the ground while An Xiaoning lay on the bed. The three of them then caught some sleep.
When she woke up, the two of them were already awake and were chatting as they lay next to each other. She sat upright and asked, “What time is it?”
“It’s seven.” Fan Shixin got up immediately. “Shall we go now?”
“Alright.” She got down from the bed and rinsed her face in the bathroom before going out with Fan Shixin. As for Xiao Bai, he went around the area trying to interact with those living around it so as to fish for more information.
The two had just left the house when they ran into the tenants living opposite them. It was a local woman along with a three- to four-year-old child. She greeted them in a friendly tone, “The two of you just moved in, right?”
Fan Shixin used his fluent knowledge of the local language to reply, “Yes, we’ll be neighbors from now on. Please take care of us.”
“No, no, don’t say that! Is this your wife? She’s beautiful.”
“Yes.”
An Xiaoning reached out to shake hands with her. “My name’s Nainai, how do I address you?”
“My name’s Fei Niao.” Seeing the stunned look on their faces, Fei Niao laughed. “When my mother gave birth to me, she had been harvesting wheat in the fields and a bird had flown across the sky. Hence the name.”
“I see.”
When they were walking on the streets, Fan Shixin explained that people’s names were all rather strange here and that that lady’s name, Fei Niao, was already not that bad in comparison.
Every place had their own conventions; it would just be a matter of time for them to get accustomed to it.
The two arrived at the middle part of the mountain and did not go down to the front gate of the mansion but went a bit further.
They then walked downhill through a shortcut through the woods.
When they arrived outside the walls of the mansion, the sky had darkened completely and, apart from the lights coming from within the walls of the house, it was pitch black outside.
An Xiaoning stepped on Fan Shixin’s shoulders to peep over the walls. With a pair of binoculars in hand, she looked into the house carefully and saw that there were not many people standing guard. There were only a few people scattered around and they were a distance away from the house.
They probably thought that there was no need to be so serious about their guard duty.
After all, there was nothing inside the mansion and they did not have to guard it so tightly.
This would allow them to get inside easily.
It was not difficult to avoid those who were standing guard.
They drew closer to the house, which was brightly lit, and the two held their breaths as they arrived via the back of the property.
This part was where the wooden house that had not been burnt by the fire stood.
It was not the same wooden house as before.
When the two arrived there, they heard an angry voice from inside the originally quiet house.
“Boss used to treat us very well. It’s evident that this was done by someone. If we don’t take revenge for Boss, how can we do him justice?”
“Exactly. Yesterday, Second Brother tried to stop us. Now, you’re trying to stop us again?”
“Third Brother, Fourth Brother, the two of you are too rash. Since the other party can kill Big Brother, how are we their match? Moreover, we don’t even know who the other party is,” Second Brother remarked seriously. “If we take action, it will pose as a hindrance. I think we should just let this incident pass.”
“I disagree! It’s exactly because we don’t know who we’re facing that we can’t just let it go. Moreover, the other party may have some other ulterior motive.”
“How big can this place be? Won’t it be easy for us to find the murderer? I think Second Brother just can’t wait to replace Big Brother’s position. Right?”
“…”
There came another round of intense argument.
It was only after ten minutes that their argument stopped. It ended with Second Brother conceding, “Since all of you insist, let’s send some men to find the murderer, then. We’ll start checking from the territory of the foreigners, we can’t let any suspicious targets get away. But…” His tone changed all of a sudden, “The other party must understand us well, right? Otherwise, how come Big Brother didn’t even get the change to inform us? I just feel that this thing isn’t that simple. Also, could the person have taken revenge for someone Big Brother had killed?”
“I don’t care if the other party was here for revenge. We’ll catch him or her before we see about that. No matter how powerful that person is, can he or she hold a match to so many of us?”
“Third Brother is right. Back then, when we spread the treasure map around, don’t forget why we did so, Second Brother. It was to attract a steady flow of people who come to find the treasure so that we can enjoy their blood supply. Who would have expected that because of hearsay, fewer and fewer people are coming here. I still think that Big Brother must have died because of a slip on his part. Given his skills, ordinary people are not his match at all. Better not let me catch that bastard, I’ll definitely make him or her die horribly!”
“Then, I’ll hand this matter over to you guys. Pass on this instruction: nobody is to leave Ekerum Town.”
“Alright, Second Brother. We’ll get it done now.”
“Go on, then. I’ll be leaving soon as well.”
There came the sound of footsteps, followed by a door opening then closing and a series of other noises.
An Xiaoning stretched her head out to look and saw that those who were originally standing guard had followed the Third and Fourth Brother out. Which meant that in that house, only the Second Brother and a few of his underlings were left.
As the Second Brother, who originally said that he was leaving, remained there for some time, An Xiaoning and Fan Shixin did not even dare to make a breathing sound and stood there quietly. Their feet were about to go numb any time soon.
After a while, a light shone in from a distance away and a group of people started striding in carrying gunnysacks.
Slowly, they entered the wooden house.
“Second Brother, we’ve captured five back. They all went through our careful selection. Their tongues have been cut off already.”
“Umm…” the Second Brother replied monotonously. “Get people to clean them up.”
“Yes!”
An Xiaoning and Fan Shixin did not know what five things they were referring to, so they could only listen on.
After they’d been waiting for half an hour, there came the sound of rustling movements and the screeching sounds of a woman’s voice.
As they could only hear and not see what was inside, they were unsure of what was going on exactly.
“All of you get out,” Second Brother ordered.
Then, the thudding sound of the door closing sounded.
Inside the room, there was probably only the Second Brother and those five women who could not make a sound left.
Was he actually going to fight those five women?
An Xiaoning overturned this idea almost immediately.
Because all of a sudden, a terrifying scream broke out from the room. It was only the beginning.
Very soon, shrill cries of the five women were ringing in the air, and they grew increasingly piercing. From being loud, they turned into low, sluggish squeals, then into weak and helpless cries within a short time.
At last, the terrifying screams ended, and all that could be heard sounded like the slurping of water with rather loud gulps of swallowing.