Book One, Chapter 21: At the Critical Moment, the Savage Hunter!!

When Su Ming heard that Wang Hu had died, a flicker stirred within him. At the time, he had struck hard, but only to the point of leaving the man half-dead; Wang Hu had been rescued and was recovering. Now, with Wang Hu’s sudden death, a signal was sent—one that spoke of the Chen family eliminating witnesses. Moreover, it was likely that new moves were afoot. Just the thought of this made Su Ming worry for his sister’s safety, so he ignored Yan Rou’s inquiries. If she truly had evidence, she wouldn’t be alone but would have brought the SWAT team to arrest him.

“My personal privacy, no comment!” Su Ming said coldly, turning away and waving his hand as he prepared to hail a cab.

“Su Ming, I warn you, whether or not you killed him, you are under serious suspicion now!” Yan Rou called after him angrily.

“Three years in prison for reform, yet apparently that was too light for you. If I catch any evidence of your crimes, I swear you’ll never see the light of day again!” she shouted, stepping forward with fury in her eyes.

But Su Ming remained indifferent, ignoring her completely. Soon, a taxi slowly pulled up beside him.

“Su Ming, did you hear me? You’d better be honest, or else…” Yan Rou stomped her foot in frustration as she watched him get into the cab. She was anxious, yet utterly powerless against him. Her anger boiled over.

“Shut up, you noisy pest!” Su Ming snapped.

“Remember this: without any evidence, what you’re doing is slander and harassment!” he warned. “I will sue you at any moment!”

Opening the car door, he slid inside and spoke coldly.

At that moment, Yan Rou was nearly furious enough to explode, but she could do nothing but watch the taxi speed away.

“Damn bastard! I want to see how you’ll sue me!” she muttered fiercely.

“Your silhouette matches exactly the scene of the massacre where thirty-six people fought to the death. You must be the Blade Demon!”

“Don’t think you can escape my grasp!”

With those words, Yan Rou mounted her motorcycle and chased after the taxi.

Twenty minutes later, the taxi stopped at a cluster of temporary housing units. Su Ming did not get out but stared intently at the gate.

The motorcycle caught up, and Yan Rou stopped beside the taxi. Su Ming’s mind stirred. He rolled down the window and said, “Take my sister to the Criminal Investigation Unit. Ensure her safety, and I will bring the killer who murdered Wang Hu right to you.”

“Why should I trust you?” Yan Rou asked skeptically.

Hearing this, her conviction that Su Ming was the murderer wavered. Could it be that he really hadn’t killed Wang Hu? But as a former convict, driven by greed and hatred, he had every motive to commit a crime.

“Because I cherish my sister’s life… and I’m entrusting her to you,” Su Ming said solemnly.

For a moment, their eyes met, and in his gaze, Yan Rou saw the anxious worry of a brother for his sister.

“Fine, I’ll trust you this once. But if you fail, don’t blame me for being ruthless!” she warned.

Then, she nodded, dismounted her motorcycle, pushed open the gate, and went inside.

Su Ming rolled up the window and spoke to the driver, who had kept his head lowered all along.

“Take me to the entrance of the crematorium in the East Second District.”

“Got it!” the driver’s hoarse voice responded.

With a sudden acceleration, the taxi sped away.

An hour later, just before dawn, the taxi stopped at the crematorium’s entrance in the East Second District.

“How much do I owe you, driver?” Su Ming asked, pulling out a bill.

“No charge. You can pay with your life!” The face beneath the driver’s cap twisted with lethal intent.

Suddenly, the driver spun around, aiming a gun at Su Ming, finger tightening on the trigger—

In the next instant, the bill in Su Ming’s hand sliced across the driver’s wrist, cutting it and causing blood to spatter.

The driver howled in pain as the gun slipped from his grasp. He instinctively clutched his bleeding wrist.

Su Ming kicked the chair beside him with brutal force.

“Crack!”

The chair snapped under the impact, pinning the driver’s body and bending it into a grotesque angle.

“Crack!”

The sickening sound of bones breaking filled the air as the driver screamed in agony.

A cruel smile curved Su Ming’s lips as he raised his foot to strike the bent chair again and again—one kick, two, three, over a dozen brutal blows—until the driver and chair vanished into the car’s front compartment.

Thick blood oozed, trailing down the chassis and seeping onto the ground.

“Bang!”

Su Ming opened the door and stepped out, walking over to the window and casually tossing the bloodied bill back inside.

“Paying for a taxi is only fair,” he muttered.

“Why risk your life over a simple fare?”

He shrugged coldly, a faint smile playing on his lips, then strode forward.

Ten meters ahead, his ears twitched—click!

The taxi behind him suddenly exploded in a roaring fireball.

From the moment he got in, Su Ming had noticed a timer bomb hidden inside the vehicle. He hadn’t expected it to detonate so far from the starting point.

The crematorium was halfway up the mountain. Turning his gaze downward, Su Ming saw a convoy of a dozen cars speeding up the hill.

“No wonder there was a signal—they’ve been following me all along.”

A faint smile crossed his face. Whoever planted the bomb was clearly unprofessional, unable to control the timer and detonating prematurely.

Su Ming lit a cigarette and calmly pushed open the massive iron gates, stepping inside.

Though the crematorium had been shut down for years, his arrival reignited the long-dormant incinerator.

Meanwhile, Yan Rou summoned a police cruiser and instructed two officers to guard the entrance, ensuring the girl’s safety inside.

She herself mounted her motorcycle, preparing to follow the tracker and locate Su Ming.

Earlier, she had installed the tracker on the motorcycle.

“Senior Yan, who is this girl that we have to personally protect?” one officer yawned.

“Don’t waste time with nonsense. Stay alert! If anything happens to that girl, I’ll make sure you regret it!” Yan Rou snapped.

After reprimanding them, she mounted her bike and prepared to leave.

Suddenly, the officer standing guard at the gate was sent flying backward, blood spilling from his mouth and body.

“Boom!”

The distinctive blast of a shotgun echoed as the police cruiser’s lights shattered.

The door was riddled with holes, and the other officer inside was silenced instantly.

Out from behind the cruiser stepped a hulking figure—a burly man clutching a machete in his left hand and a shotgun slung over his shoulder.

His face was marred by acne scars, and a gruesome slash cut across from his eye to the corner of his mouth like a centipede’s path.

He exuded a murderous aura, resembling a monstrous humanoid wolf that chilled the blood of anyone who saw him.

Yan Rou was stunned, eyes wide with shock as the giant man raised the shotgun with one hand, the dark barrel aimed straight at her, radiating a deadly threat.