Li Journalist sat on a chair, his body stiff as wood, but his eyes darted around swiftly, observing the surroundings.
On his left was Chen, on his right Mrs. Lao, and Jian Jing sat across from him.
At that moment, he suddenly remembered that today at dinner, Jian Jing had arrived late. Originally it was Kang Mu Cheng sitting across from him.
But she insisted on switching seats and complained to him, "The view is not good over there, I want to switch with you."
At the time, Li Journalist thought it was just a young girl's pretentious whim. But now... He glanced down and what he saw was the pitch-black muzzle of a gun.
"Put your hands up," Jian Jing commanded, her own hands still steady under the table, aiming at his abdomen, "Answer some of my questions."
Li Journalist smiled and slowly put his hands on the table, "You say I'm the murderer, do you have any evidence?"
"Doing a gunshot residue test on your camera and infrared sight will make it clear," Jian Jing said, seeming expectant, "Want to try?"
"I've played with guns before, it probably won't show anything..." Li Journalist said unhurriedly, though his body made a completely contrary move.
He suddenly yanked the tablecloth spread on the table, brushing all the plates away in one sweep, obscuring their view while grabbing Mrs. Lao next to him and holding a fruit knife to her neck artery.
"Don't move, or I'll kill..."
He didn't get to finish the classic hostage-taking line before Jian Jing fired at his arm.
No need to negotiate conditions. Aiming for vitals and firing was simpler.
Blood sprayed out, splattering all over Mrs. Lao's face. But she was also nimble enough, rolling away on the spot and neatly escaping the other's control.
Chen pounced over to twist his arm.
Jian Jing said, "Move again, and I'll shoot you where the professor was shot."
It was well known that people usually aimed for the torso when firing guns. Even at close range, the chances of hitting other areas were very low.
But in just an instant, she had precisely and unerringly shot his arm without harming Mrs. Lao. Her marksmanship was clearly no joke.
Li Journalist did not want to challenge the accuracy of the sharpshooter.
He slowly raised his hands, "Ok, I surrender."
Jian Jing: "Why did you kill the professor?"
"He was in someone's way." Li Journalist had no personal grudge against Professor Lao. He confessed readily, "Because of the existence of this observation station, our hunts failed many times. My boss was very angry. I had no choice, we all had to get started, so I could only ask him to die."
Fei Na was enraged to the point she wanted to rush over and punch him, "You despicable poachers deserve to die."
Li Journalist was unmoved, "People die for money, birds die for food, say what you want."
Jian Jing pressed her lips together, suppressing her anger, and continued asking, "That night, why did you follow him?"
"I wanted to see if I could get Number 21."
Chen asked, "Did you steal the data on Number 18?"
Li Journalist nodded indifferently, "Originally after getting rid of the professor, we were going to prepare to hunt Number 18. A big boss had paid a 100,000 deposit, just waiting to take action."
At this, everyone furrowed their brows tightly.
"I'm going to kill you, damn it," Fei Na grabbed the fruit knife from the table and stabbed at him.
But Jian Jing stopped her, "Don't do this, he's not worth it."
"You don't know, this country is rotten through, even if people like him go to jail, they won't get the death penalty. His boss could probably get him out soon after." Fei Na stared at him through gritted teeth.
Li Journalist just smiled, not denying it.
Jian Jing hesitated, but still did not let go, "It's not worth committing a crime for him."
Fei Na wanted to say more, but Mrs. Lao came over and put her arm around her shoulder, "We can appeal, demand the government increase punishments. You can't..." she said softly, "You can't kill someone."
Only then did Fei Na reluctantly lower her hand and silently sit back down.
Jian Jing was exhausted, "Tie him up and hand him to the police. Did they come yet?"
"Soon probably." Chen was uncertain.
"Tie him up well and lock him first," Jian Jing said. "Li Journalist, I'm warning you, I'll be watching you myself tonight. If you try to escape, I won't be polite."
Li Journalist shrugged, not resisting.
He was locked in the bathroom with his hands and feet bound behind his back to the pipes. At the door was the young knight on his first shift, ears pricked high, looking his way at every sound.
Li Journalist bided his time stealthily, waiting patiently.
The sounds outside continued one after another - the dragging of chairs, voices, pouring water... Lying on the floor, he observed the situation through the crack under the door.
He kept waiting until it was almost 1am, when a man came over and asked, "Hungry? Want to eat something?"
"Hungry," the young girl he was wary of dragged out the word, like a spoiled child, "Didn't eat much for dinner, the instant noodles were so gross."
"Sandwich?" the man intimate with her asked.
She said, "No."
He said, "Cookies?"
"Can I have instant noodles?" she asked pitifully.
He said, "Then wait a bit."
After five or six minutes, the smell of instant noodles wafted over.
Li Journalist heard her footsteps moving away, she had probably gone to the dining area outside to eat.
He couldn't help a sneer - the bathroom and dining area were only separated by a corridor. She must have thought he couldn't escape.
Big mistake.
Between Li Journalist's fingers appeared a small razor blade that had cut through the binding ropes. Then his body suddenly darted out. In the split second the dog was startled, he yanked down the shower curtain and wrapped it over its head.
The knight had not received professional training after all. Disoriented with its body wrapped up, it could only bark madly.
Li Journalist seized the time and immediately opened the bathroom window to slip out through the narrow gap.
Hurried footsteps sounded behind him.
Someone had caught up.
Li Journalist rolled forward low to the ground, not escaping into the woods but crawling into the hollow layer under the cabin instead. The hot and humid southeast Asian climate meant most buildings had an underlayer. He crawled ahead and emerged from another direction.
"Bang."
Just after escaping a few steps, an obstruction came out of the corner. Chen had caught up with a gun.
Li Journalist broke into a run.
In the dark night, the complex terrain of the forest meant having to shine flashlights and search slowed people down considerably. As long as he could get through this wave of pursuit, it would be much easier to slip away after.
"Bang," another shot, from the left rear this time, accompanied by the continuous furious barking of a dog.
He couldn't run into that girl surnamed Jian.
Without hesitation, Li Journalist ran towards the front right.
Like Chen, he had also grown up in the forest, used to running through the bushes. However, he did not wish to protect this primitive jungle like Chen did.
What was good about this remote backwater? He was already sick of it.
Li Journalist yearned for the city, for glamor. He wanted lots of money, wanted to make something of himself, to be looked up to by others. The forest could not give him that.
So he became a guide, specially receiving wealthy tycoons. They sought thrills, wanting to satisfy a conquering impulse in the jungle.
Li Journalist fulfilled their desires, and in return, obtained huge sums of money, with one transaction easily surpassing Chen's decade of dull work.
The footsteps pursued relentlessly, like ghosts in lockstep.
Li Journalist struggled to get his bearings.
He was unfamiliar with this area, after all it was within range of the observation station. If he trespassed recklessly, he could easily be discovered by the veteran hunters, and could only rely on previously gathered intel to orient himself.
East were the monkey territories. The monkeys liked to toy with humans, so he couldn't go that way. South had crocodiles, with complex water systems, very dangerous. He could only go north.
It was also near Point 5, his companions should arrive to help soon.
Gradually, the footsteps faded away, the pursuer seeming to have been shaken off.
Li Journalist remained cautious, not daring to be careless, still hurrying to leave as fast as he could.
After another half hour, his strength was spent.
He had no choice but to stop and rest.
Up ahead was a lush, thick-foliaged big tree. He decided to climb up to rest and conceal himself while observing the terrain.
After a cursory look at his surroundings, Li Journalist started climbing the tree.
This was something he had done since young, getting one and a half meters up in just a few moves. But suddenly, the hairs on his neck stood on end, and goosebumps popped up one by one.
He couldn't help an involuntary shudder, a massive sense of crisis rising from his heart.
His jungle survival experience told him something was off.
He had missed something.
Something that could take his life.
Go down.
The brain issued the order.
Li Journalist fell down awkwardly, letting go. His body heavily fell to the ground, his head all muddy. But he didn't care much about that, he turned around wanting to escape, but it was already too late.
There was severe pain coming from his thigh, and a bloody stench came from behind his neck.
He nervously looked back, and saw a pair of shining phosphorescent eyes.
Then, in the darkness floated up a round and small head, yellow fur, black spots, a mouth lined with whiskers.
A leopard.
The top predator of the jungle.
Yes, Li Journalist suddenly remembered, Chen had mentioned earlier that there seemed to be an Indochinese leopard prowling around nearby.
Number 21's whereabouts were fabricated by the professor, the criminal's escape was made up by him. How ridiculous, the conspiracy to murder was all fake, only the leopard droppings were real.
Despair welled up in his heart.
In the next moment, the pain of torn flesh spread all over his body. Li Journalist painfully wailed "Ah!!"
He wanted to struggle, but how could a mere human resist against the leopard's agility and strength?
The leopard tore at his body.
It hurts, it hurts too much. Li Journalist screamed, struggled, collapsed. In extreme fear, his brain was completely unable to think.
At this time, even regret was too late.
The police would listen to your sophistry, the judge might spare you because of your repentance, but what would wild animals know?
In their eyes there was only prey to hunt and kill.
After some unknown amount of time, several vague shadows appeared in his vision.
"Save me!" Li Journalist begged feebly.
Chen didn't say anything, neither did Fei Na. Holding guns, they hesitated and slowly backed away, exchanging a glance. It wasn't that they didn't want to save a person. No matter how much they hated Li Journalist, normal people would not sit by and watch as he was eaten alive.
However, they were holding real guns without tranquilizer darts.
It was either save this scumbag, kill the protected animal, or...
"Jian." Fei Na mouthed to Jian Jing, obviously wavering, "What should we do?"
Jian Jing showed hesitation.
Of course she didn't have any tranquilizer darts either, but... cough, the system always provided cheats at the right time.
[System: Limited pool unlocked. Draw card?]
Draw, of course draw.
[Limited card drawn]
[Draw complete]
[Name: Status Card - Favor of Animals]
[Description: You caught a criminal who specifically hunted wild animals, avoiding more animal deaths, gaining their heartfelt gratitude and greatly increasing favorability.]
[Note: Try calling them when needed, maybe you can get help]
Jian Jing: What the.
This works too??
She was dumbfounded, slowly putting down the gun in her hand.
The leopard's paws pinned down its prey, fangs covered in crimson flesh and blood, barbed tongue curled out, eyes curiously watching her.
Jian Jing squatted down and called out very unconfidently: "Kitty kitty?"
Leopard: "???"
"Uh," she started negotiating, "Spare him, I'll bring you pork chops tomorrow."
The leopard tilted its head.
Fei Na was scared into a cold sweat: "Jian, come back!"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine." Jian Jing said in a low voice, continuing to try summoning, "People don't taste good, I'll give you half a fat pig."
The leopard stopped its tearing.
Jian Jing: "I swear, same time tomorrow, half a fat pig."
The leopard looked at her, whether it understood the deal, or felt three humans were not easy to take on, it actually stopped gnawing Li Journalist, slowly retreating backwards instead.
Jian Jing likewise slowly retreated backwards, taking small steps.
When both parties retreated a certain distance, the leopard darted into the bushes in a blur, its traces completely disappearing.
