At dusk, at Whiteville Funeral Home.
Apart from a few on-duty staff, everyone else had left on time.
At six o’clock, a funeral home worker dressed in cleaning attire dragged a cart filled with various cleaning tools straight to the end of the corridor.
His eyes fell on the wall-mounted television, watching the police analysis of Samuel’s brutal death and the accusations against Seven Wolves.
A hint of mockery appeared at the corner of his mouth before he shifted his gaze to the third-to-last morgue room, where two policemen stood guard at the door.
The masked man ignored their presence and approached at a steady pace. The two guards turned their heads slightly at the sound but paid no attention.
They glanced briefly before resuming their conversation, their eyes carrying a hint of amusement. They then took out cigarettes and moved a few steps to the stairwell, assuming a stance away from the morgue to smoke.
The masked man’s expression remained unchanged as he gripped the cart handle more firmly.
The fierce glances from the two men were reflected back by a mirror on the wall, all captured by the masked man’s eyes.
Something was off!
The masked man’s heart trembled, and his eyelids twitched a few times. He then mixed several bottles of cleaning agents together and continued forward calmly.
Suddenly!
He sped up, pushing the cart faster. As he passed by the morgue, he twisted his hands and shoved the cart with all his might.
The cart shot into the slightly ajar door like an arrow. There was a loud bang as it first hit the door open and then collided with something hard inside.
A heap of tools crashed to the floor with a shattering sound, followed by a burst of flames rising from within.
The acrid fumes of burning cleaning agents began to spread.
Contrary to what the two smoking guards expected, after ramming the cart into the morgue and causing flames to erupt, the masked man did not rush in to kill anyone.
Instead, he maintained his forward momentum and sprinted towards the ventilation window at the end of the corridor. The two guards’ faces changed drastically.
They drew their guns and shouted menacingly at the approaching masked man:
“Don’t move! Don’t move!”
Their authoritative shouts had no deterrent effect. Rather, they provoked the masked man’s ferocity.
He grinned viciously behind his mask and extended his arms. Two extendable batons flicked out, striking the wrists of both armed guards.
Smack! Smack!
Their wrists throbbed in pain, causing them to drop their guns.
Seizing the opportunity, the fierce masked man lunged forward, knocking both men off their feet with unstoppable force.
One crashed into a wooden door of an adjacent morgue room. Another slammed into the door frame of an emergency exit.
Both spat blood upon impact and lost their combat abilities immediately.
As they fell, five more men emerged from the emergency exit, surrounding the masked man.
Bang!
Seeing so many people closing in on him, the masked man showed no fear. Instead, he laughed heartily and twisted his hands to grab two men’s wrists before snapping them fiercely.
Crack! He dislocated their joints instantly and then flipped his wrists upwards, sending them flying into three other companions.
“Don’t move!”
The doors on both sides of the morgue swung open. Over twenty policemen armed with knives and guns emerged menacingly. Clearly, they had been lying in wait.
However, having lost their initial advantage, they had no chance to surround him. The masked man rolled on the ground and threw out two extendable batons, knocking several people down.
He then grabbed two police guns and fired at those approaching him.
Four officers were hit and fell to the ground screaming in agony.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The dual-wielding masked man fired continuously like a madman, emptying both guns’ magazines.
More than twenty people instinctively reacted by either ducking into corridors or hiding in nearby morgue rooms.
Bullets tore through white walls leaving exaggerated marks. Debris flew everywhere while dust filled the airspace around them making it impossible for anyone to raise their heads up.
The masked man, armed with just two guns, managed to suppress dozens of people while skillfully maneuvering his back against the window.
“Take him down! Take him down!”
At that moment, Judith slipped out of the smoke-filled morgue, her pretty face marked by a hint of murderous intent and regret. She waved her hand at a few people to extinguish the flames.
Her cold gaze fixed on the masked man near the window, her fists slightly clenched, a flicker of unwillingness in her eyes. “Bastard.”
Somewhere along the line, things had gone awry, and Seven Wolves, curious about Samuel’s wounds, hadn’t fallen into the trap.
Darnell had told her in the morning that as long as the police pinned the blame on Seven Wolves and highlighted the wounds along with the hidden daggers, Seven Wolves would surely come to investigate the situation.
Given their nature, they would never take the fall for someone else, so using Samuel’s death to set a trap was a perfect plan.
As Darnell had predicted, their unwillingness to take the blame led them to investigate during the shift change.
If only the masked man had stepped into the morgue, it would have been perfect. Not only could they capture the murderer, but they could also pin the murder on Seven Wolves.
As more than twenty police officers approached, the masked man surveyed the area. With bullets firing, he was like a blade drawn from its sheath-cruel and sharp.
“Click, click!”
Just then, his gun ran out of ammunition. The masked man discarded the two empty police firearms and extended his left hand.
A dart with a rope tightly wrapped around a doorknob shot out, and with a push off the windowsill, his movements flowed like water, seamless and swift.
Seeing that he had run out of bullets and was attempting to flee, the others immediately pulled the trigger.
“Bang, bang, bang!”
Countless bullets shattered the window and walls, but none hit the rope, and smoke filled the air.
Noticing this, Judith fired two shots to cut the rope tied to the doorknob.
At the same time, she darted to the windowsill to check, shouting, “Catch him, catch him!”
Just then, the murderer, having lost the rope, fell awkwardly to the ground, unable to use the momentum to assist his landing.
Despite quickly getting back up and appearing agile, his limping gait indicated that the masked man had sustained injuries to his legs.
Nevertheless, he vanished quickly, blending into the crowd, making him hard to identify.
Judith wanted to fire a few more shots but found her gun empty. She could only descend the stairs with her team to continue the pursuit.
“Damn it! The police are so cunning. Once I escape, I’ll definitely blow up the police station.”
Removing his mask and putting on his clothes backward to flee, the murderer revealed a fierce, square-jawed face. “I’ll load up a truck with gas and blow it up.”
“I’ll send you cunning bastards to meet God. I always keep my word.”
The man named Noah vowed to teach the Whiteville Police Department a lesson.
Just then, Noah suddenly felt a sharp pain in his toes. Someone stepped on his foot. Instinctively turning, he saw a grinning face.
“Hello!”
The person offered him a stick. “Are you Noah?”
Noah instinctively grasped it, preventing the stick from advancing. “Who are you?”
Before he could finish speaking, Noah let out a scream, his wrist trembling, and then he was sent flying.
His palm felt scorched.
Darnell sidestepped, slipping behind Noah like an eel, and in the next second, the stun baton jabbed fiercely into Noah’s lower back!
Another flash of blue light shot through the air, accompanied by a crisp sound.
“Ah-”
Noah screamed, stumbling forward, and Darnell jabbed him again, another burst of blue light following.
Noah reluctantly collapsed forward.
Darnell didn’t stop there. He used the stun baton to deliver two more jolts to Noah’s limbs.
The smell of burnt flesh rose!
Noah gritted his teeth, struggling for a moment before lying on the ground motionless, his face twisted in resentment as he managed to squeeze out a word, “Shameless!”
Darnell smiled brightly, retrieving two hidden daggers from Noah’s possession. “Now, can we talk about where your accomplices are?”
“Do your worst.”
Noah’s face was defiant. “You want me to betray my brothers? Dream on!”
A real man could be killed but not humiliated. Noah thought that even if he ended up in a gutter, he would still maintain his dignity.
“Pfft!”
Darnell shot the two hidden daggers into Noah’s legs, then yanked them upward, blood spraying out as Noah howled in pain.
The barbed daggers were perfect for bloodletting, and blood splattered across the floor on either side.
“Which is more important, your brothers or your legs?”
Darnell gathered the two daggers like an umbrella and then plunged them mercilessly into Noah’s ankles.
The daggers pierced deeply, their tips spreading out and catching Noah’s veins.
“I’ll give you another chance!”
With this yank, Noah would be left permanently disabled.
Furious and distressed, Noah spat, “You’ll die a horrible death, kid.”
Darnell replied calmly, “Speak plainly.”
“Sunflower Hotel.”