Chapter 5 - Five Shortcomings and Three Lacks (2)

Captain Wu had no choice but to send a group of his men into the Woods of No Return to capture the man. The chosen officers all paled from fright. Captain Wu was also furious.

He pulled Grandpa to the side and said, “This bastard is forcing my brothers to their deaths just for his status. Sir, this is our job. We have to do this since we wear this uniform, but those men have families too. At this time, please, I’m begging. If you have any way to help them come out alive, I, Wu Shaohua, can even be your slave.”

Grandpa sighed. “Captain Wu, I really can’t do anything,” he said. “How about this? I can make some peace charms for them. It’ll probably be useless, but it’ll at least give them some more confidence.”

Captain Wu nodded. “Thanks.”

After this, the chosen officers walked past the ancient stele and into the Woods of No Return, heavily armed and with the peace charm that Grandpa drew for them in their pockets. They all had walkie-talkies so they could contact the outside easily.

At this time, the villagers were all kept on the outside. Because of Grandpa, I was able to stand and watch closer. Captain Wu carried the walkie-talkie and locked his eyes on the Woods of No Return. Grandpa’s expression was grave. Among the group, probably only the man with glasses looked relaxed.

At first, the officers would reply that they were safe when Captain Wu talked to them, saying that everything was normal. But suddenly, there was extreme static in the walkie-talkie. The noise was grating, shaking one’s eardrums.

Captain Wu panicked. “Xiao Liu!” he yelled to the machine. “What’s wrong? Xiao Liu, what happened? F*cking reply!”

But that grating static continued. It mixed in with the cries for help from those officers. Compared to the chaotic noise, their voices sounded so weak. Frightened, I hid into Grandpa’s arms and didn’t dare to move.

Around three minutes later, the static suddenly stopped. Captain Wu was covered in cold sweat. With a pale face, he asked the walkie-talkie, “Xiao Liu? Are you still here? Can you hear me?”

But no more sound came from the other end. All one could feel was suffocating silence.

“Wu Shaohua, what are you just standing here for!” Glasses Man yelled at Captain Wu. “The criminal has a gun! Did they encounter him? Send reinforcement!”

Captain Wu slammed the walkie-talkie onto the ground. Eyes red, he pointed at Glasses Man and said, “Reinforcement my *ss! How many more brothers of mine do you want to kill?”

With that, Captain Wu squatted on the ground and wiped at his tears. The other officers’ eyes reddened too. Furious, Glasses Man exclaimed, “Wu Shaohua, this is an order! Do you know what you’re doing?!”

Captain Wu raised his head and glared at him. “Say one more thing and I’ll shoot you right now!”

Perhaps Captain Wu’s expression was too terrifying. Glasses Man was too scared to speak more. Even though I was scared right now, I still hated Glasses Man to bits. It was because of his stupid orders that those innocent officers entered the forbidden land and lost their lives!

Grandpa silently carried me down the mountain. He also felt guilty for not being able to help those officers. At night, he prepared some paper money and burned them in the yard. It was a memorial service for the spirits of the officers who’d died.

The next day, many military trucks came to the village. Rather than police officers, uniformed soldiers came out of the trucks. The police retreated and the soldiers took over this matter. Grandpa worried that more deaths would happen, so he asked Captain Wu about the situation.

“Before this, it was just a criminal,” Captain Wu said. “I planned on guarding this place for a few days before thinking of a way to solve the case. After all, that criminal would die in there too. But that motherf*cker had to send my brothers to their deaths, so this situation turned more serious. The army guys took over. Old sir, you don’t have to worry. I heard that the leading cadre found someone really powerful. He should be able to take care of the thing in Green Dragon Mountain. I hope Xiao Liu and the others are still alive.”

As Captain Wu spoke, his eyes reddened again.

Right then, I saw the “powerful man” that Captain Wu had mentioned. Dressed in a Chinese tunic suit, he really stood out from the heavily armed soldiers. He was tall, didn’t have a hair out of place, and looked very handsome. He had a strong aura when he walked and gave off a confident feeling.