Chapter 294: Suspicion
Ling Feng slaughtered the villagers of Xu Family Town without restraint.
By now, he had completely lost his sanity, and only through killing and bloodshed could he vent his inner frenzy.
When he finally felt a slight relief in his emotions, the ground was already littered with broken corpses.
In his hand, he held two halves of a body, drenched in blood, resembling a demon that had just emerged from hell.
Meanwhile, the villagers were being forced by other special forces soldiers, not allowed to flee.
Ling Feng glanced at the trembling villagers and suddenly felt like he might have gone too far.
He quickly explained, "Look at you all. I just wanted to ask if you saw the culprit. Why didn’t you tell me earlier?"
"You know I've lost so many brothers, and I’m in a terrible mood!"
"It's all right now, no need to be afraid."
Although Ling Feng felt a bit guilty for killing so many villagers, he justified it by reminding himself that his actions were driven by the deaths of his comrades.
With a stern face, he asked the villagers again, "Now, tell me honestly! You must have seen the battle in the village. Who's the culprit?"
The villagers, staring at the suddenly furious Ling Feng, saw only a monster before them, too scared to respond.
Ling Feng, furious, shouted, "If you don't speak, it means you're guilty! If so, then the entire town will die with you!"
At that, one villager finally blurted out, "I saw them killing each other!"
Ling Feng's eyebrows shot up, "You're lying!"
He strode over, grabbed the man by the neck, and lifted him off the ground.
"Our men would never turn on each other! Are you hiding something? Do you want me to kill you?!"
The elderly man's legs flailed as his face turned red from the lack of air. He was on the brink of death.
His daughter couldn't take it anymore and cried out, "My father is telling the truth! The killer was wearing clothes just like yours."
"But he killed everyone else by himself. Oh, and he had a strange cat that could grow as big as a house!"
Ling Feng's eyes widened, "A Superhuman?"
He tossed the old man aside and pulled the woman over, pointing at her, "Listen, I’m a fair man. As long as you tell the truth, I won’t kill you."
The irony of his words was palpable.
As if the murders he just committed were somehow justified.
The woman, trembling, recounted what she had seen. However, the villagers had been too scared to watch closely, and she hadn’t seen much of the fight.
Fortunately, other villagers chipped in to fill the gaps in her story.
After hearing their account, Ling Feng stood in shock, taking two steps back in disbelief.
"A spatial ability... it must be Zhang Yi! But isn’t he supposed to be in the shelter? How did he get out?"
Shen Hong, standing nearby, approached and said, "Captain, could there be another exit?"
Ling Feng’s eyes lit up, "Yes, that must be it! A proper shelter can't have just one way in."
"Our shelter, for example, has at least two escape routes, not to mention the private ones for Chen Xinian."
"If we find that path, we can storm the shelter!"
"D*mn Zhang Yi! You killed so many of my brothers and all those villagers from Xu Family Town. I will kill you!"
After his outburst, Ling Feng addressed the villagers again, "Remember this, it wasn’t me, Ling Feng, who killed your loved ones today. It was Zhang Yi! He’s to blame for all of this."
"I will avenge you!"
The villagers, heads bowed, dared not speak, but in their hearts, they saw Ling Feng as an even more terrifying monster than Zhang Yi.
At least Zhang Yi had only retaliated after being provoked.
But Ling Feng and his special forces team from West Hill Base?
They had done everything they could to accommodate these people, only to be treated like animals by Ling Feng’s group.
Now they were filled with regret, but it was far too late.
They had no strength to fight back against the special forces.
Ling Feng immediately ordered his soldiers to search for traces of Zhang Yi’s escape.
The heavy snow outside would surely leave marks wherever someone had passed through.
By following them, they could find Zhang Yi’s route, and therefore, the secret passage.
At that moment, Zhang Yi had already left Xu Family Town, taking Fatty Xu with him.
Before heading back, Zhang Yi wanted to confirm if Fatty Xu had truly let go of all ties to the town and its people.
"Fatty, think carefully. Once you enter the shelter, you must obey my orders unconditionally."
"Are you really willing to abandon Xu Lili?"
Hearing Xu Lili’s name, Fatty Xu clenched his fists tightly, tears suddenly spilling from his eyes. He shouted, "Of course, I can! Women in the real world can’t be trusted. I will never believe in love again!"
"That’s the spirit."
Zhang Yi started up the snowmobile and took a detour back to the entrance of the mountain passage.
Opening the door, he led Fatty Xu and Hua Hua inside.
Fatty Xu, looking cautiously over his shoulder, asked, "Boss, the tire tracks are pretty obvious. Won’t this passage be discovered?"
Zhang Yi gave him a sideways glance, "If they’re not complete idiots, they’ll definitely find it."
Fatty Xu grew nervous, "That’s not good! If they attack through here, we’re done for!"
A sly smile crept onto Zhang Yi’s face.
"I’m counting on them to come."
Fatty Xu blinked, then quickly understood, "Ah, Boss, you’ve set a trap for them here!"
"I never fight a battle I’m not prepared for."
Zhang Yi led Fatty Xu to the alloy door. After a complex unlocking procedure, they entered the shelter.
…
Meanwhile, Ling Feng’s group quickly found the snowmobile tracks.
Shen Hong, eager for revenge, gritted his teeth and said, "Captain, let’s go! Let’s kill that b*stard Zhang Yi!"
But Ling Feng remained calm, "We’ve fought him enough times—have you ever seen him make a mistake?"
"He’s an extremely dangerous opponent. He wouldn’t leave such obvious tracks unless he had something else planned."
Shen Hong nodded in agreement.
"But we can’t miss this chance. In half a day, the snow will cover the tracks, and we’ll never find that passage again!"
Ling Feng paused for a moment, his voice cold and heavy with sorrow.
"We can’t afford more losses."
Out of their 60-strong elite team, more than 50 had already been killed.
The remaining ten or so were either Superhumans, cyborgs, or engineers responsible for overseeing the project.
The loss of any one of them was more significant than losing thirty regular soldiers.
Ling Feng stood up and said, "Call everyone back."
Shen Hong was taken aback, "But our tunnel project is still underway. Are we just going to stop?"
Ling Feng shot him a deep look, "Think about it. Why did Zhang Yi dare to leave his shelter and attack our base?"
Shen Hong frowned and started thinking.
Moments later, his eyes widened in shock.
"Captain, you mean there’s a traitor among us?"
"Someone leaked our information to Zhang Yi, allowing him to attack us while our defenses were down!"
Ling Feng’s eyes were dark and sharp. "Exactly. Otherwise, given his cautious nature, he’d never have left the shelter."
"And if our plans have been leaked, do you think digging that tunnel is still worth it?"
Shen Hong’s breathing grew rapid.
Did that mean all their work over the past two weeks had been in vain?
The only silver lining was that they hadn’t wasted their own time—Xu Family Town’s villagers had done all the digging.
Wait, hold on!
Shen Hong suddenly realized something and blurted out, "But who could the traitor be?"
They had searched all the villagers in Xu Family Town, confiscating any communication devices they found.
Even if someone had tried to hide something, the special forces had scanned them with detection devices. Sёarᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
And the villagers had no reason or means to communicate with Zhang Yi, given their deep grudge against him.
Could the traitor be one of the special forces?
But most of the special forces were already dead. Could it be someone among the ten survivors?
A name instantly came to Shen Hong’s mind.
The most suspicious person, without a doubt, was Liang Yue, who had joined the special forces not too long ago.
After all, she had publicly opposed Ling Feng’s plan and wasn’t particularly close to anyone in the squad.
The more he thought about it, the more suspicious she seemed.
Shen Hong whispered to Ling Feng, "Could it be Liang Yue?"
Ling Feng narrowed his eyes, "We’ll know once we call them back!"
As long as they got hold of Liang Yue’s phone and had the tech team inspect it, the truth would come out.
Even if she had deleted the communication records, they could recover everything.
It would be impossible for her to hide.
Ling Feng issued an order for everyone across the river to return to Xu Family Town immediately.
The group across the river had already heard the gunfire and knew something was up, so they rushed back.
Liang Yue was puzzled, but she had no knowledge of Zhang Yi’s plan. She only sensed that something wasn’t right.
On the way back, she quietly hid the phone she had used to contact Zhang Yi in the hollow of a dead tree.
Author's Note