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exotoxoxo · 29 days ago

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During the Republican Era, Shen Zhiheng, a member of the Tianjin gentry who happened to be a vampire, offended the Japanese and became the target of an assassination attempt. He was saved by a blind young lady, Mi Lan, and his best friend Situ Weilian. When he went to repay Mi Lan for saving him, he discovered the terrible family situation that Mi Lan was in, and so began to pay more attention to her. Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng’s plan to take revenge on Li Yingliang, the mastermind behind his assassination, fell short of success thanks to Li Yingliang’s Japanese superior, raising suspicions about his identity. Since then, Li Yingliang and the Japanese were in hot pursuit of Shen Zhiheng, determined to dig out the truth about his secret.

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The sky was dark.

Situ Weilian lay on the bed. There was another small bed beside the table, and on the table lay Mi Lan. It was a while since they had eaten their dinner, and the lights in the carriage had been turned off. They had been lying silently until now, in order to let the Japanese soldiers outside the door believe that they had already fallen asleep.

A false image like this was very easy to create. Even if they didn’t, Situ Weilian would sleep then eat and eat then sleep, and Mi Lan all the more resembled a spectre, making not a single sound. Let alone how the Japanese soldiers could not grasp what she was thinking; even Situ Weilian suspected that she had been abused by her mother to the point of stupidity. She looked like she had no thoughts in her head, and had nothing else to her name at all.

Suddenly, Situ Weilian said softly, “Oh, you’re already wearing your shoes?”

A little voice came softly from behind the table, “Yes, I’ve even hidden a pack of biscuits.”

Relaxing, Situ Weilian wiggled his toes in his leather shoes. In the early morning, when the mahjong game had ended, Shen Zhiheng had given him Li Yingliang’s IOU. At that time, he had thought there was something suspicious, and after bringing the slip back to have a look, as expected, two rows of small words were written behind the paper, telling him and Mi Lan to not sleep tonight, and to wait for him to escape together.

He did not know when Shen Zhiheng had written those two lines of words, but he trusted this person unconditionally. This person was quite awkward at being a vampire and was always quite aggrieved about it, but being a human was one of the things he did best and he flourished in it, and Situ Weilian knew that he was far inferior to him in that aspect.

His leather shoes were thick and heavy, and somewhat stifling. It was time to get a new pair. He knew that he was about to go through a narrow escape of life and death, and he should be nervous and solemn at this moment. However, his thoughts had a mind of their own and refused to listen to his direction, thinking about new leather shoes one moment and hopping to Jin Jingxue the next, jumping messily from here to there with not a single focal point.

This was his natural weakness, and so he needed Shen Zhiheng.

At the same time, Shen Zhiheng had already started moving.

Shen Zhiheng knew that if he had enough time, he could win Li Yingliang over. Li Yingliang’s feelings towards him were that of passion mingled with hatred, and this space between passion and hatred was enough for him to take advantage of.

However, he did not have enough time. The train had already passed Fengtian, and perhaps was now about to leave Liaoning, and he was deep in the hinterland of Manchukuo. And judging based on his observations over these two days, before dawn today, or perhaps even earlier, the Asia Express would pass by this train, heading towards Fengtian at high speed.

He could not take Weilian and Mi Lan and walk back to Tianjin, he needed the Asia Express for the journey.

The first step of the plan was to tear a large piece of the blanket on the bed, and stuff it between the window and the metal bars. Spreading out the blanket and covering the glass, he stretched his hands through the bars and pressed outwards, exerting force.

The dull sound of breaking glass was completely masked by the sounds of the moving train. He broke the glass shards off one by one and tossed them out, at the same time, trying his best to hold on tight to the four corners of the blanket. Or else, the night wind would blast in and blow the doors of the train car till they shook. Japanese soldiers stood on guard outside the doors day and night, and they could push the doors open and enter any time.

Then, with a foot on the window frame and a hand grasping the bar, he slowly twisted the bar out of shape. For him, this did not require much effort; it was just that two hands were simply not enough, and he had his hands full busying himself with doing everything. When the space between the bars was finally enough for him to stick his head out, he silently withdrew the blanket. Fortunately, the wind was not as strong as he had imagined, and the doors were still and silent.

Ignoring the remnants of broken glass along the window frame, he first stuck his head out, followed by his shoulders, slipping out of the window bit by bit. The wind was strong outside the train, but fortunately, he was no mere human, or he would have been blown off the train. He climbed and crawled onto the roof of the train car, first looking forward and seeing the locomotive. It wasn’t possible for hostages to be kept in the locomotive, so he turned around, moving quickly towards the back. Four passenger cars were joined together at the back, and behind the passenger cars was an even longer stretch of boxcars. When Situ Weilian had spoken to him, he had mentioned that he and Mi Lan were still living quite well. Since they were living well, then they had nothing to do with the boxcars, and they could only be in one of the few passenger cars.

Walking past this passenger car, he jumped, landing softly on the roof of the second passenger car. The skylight of this passenger car was half open. He knelt at the side of the skylight and cast a glance inside. The insides of the train car were lit. There was a small bed, on which lay Li Yingliang. Li Yingliang had a cigarette between his lips while his hands were behind his head, as he lay on his back in a daze.

Shen Zhiheng continued crawling forward. The third train car also had its skylight open. When he looked in, he realised that this was a dining car, and right below the skylight sat Kuroki Rika and a Japanese officer. Behind the bar counter in one corner of the train car stood a waiter. Very good, there were two train cars remaining up ahead. He knew that he could soon meet the two hostages.

As he was about to continue moving forward, right at this moment, Kuroki Rika lifted her head as she laughed, glancing upwards.

The smile on her face froze, and she immediately stood up. The Japanese officer followed suit and lifted his head, pulling out a pistol and aiming it at Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng first wanted to hide, but nearly at once, he realised that Kuroki Rika could easily walk through the carriages and take control of the hostages in seconds, and so, might as well, he slipped into the train car. The Japanese officer – Major Aoyama – raised his right hand and pulled the trigger, the bullet brushing past Shen Zhiheng. Meanwhile, as he descended, Shen Zhiheng hugged his head and twisted, and even before Major Aoyama’s hand could fall, his head had already twisted around one hundred and eighty degrees.

Standing firmly, Shen Zhiheng turned towards Kuroki Rika, just in time to see her rush behind the bar counter and press a red button on the wall. Alarms immediately sounded in the carriage. She then immediately ran to the train car behind them, while Shen Zhiheng also ran towards the bar counter.

However, he was not there for the alarm; he had seen a small wooden door beside the alarm. Opening the wooden door and taking a look inside, he saw a row of switches and red and green electrical wires. Turning his head, he saw the waiter who was limp on the floor. He snatched a napkin from the waiter’s hands, wrapped it around his hands, and randomly flipped the switches and pulled the wires. Sparks flickered and the alarms went silent, while the five passenger cars instantly plunged into darkness. Shen Zhiheng snatched a dining knife from under the bar counter, before pushing open the door of the carriage and chasing after Kuroki Rika.

He did not know where Kuroki Rika was.

The fourth train car was already in chaos, with Chinese and Japanese alike shouting and screaming. They knew that Shen Zhiheng had come, but in the darkness, they did not know where to fire. Kuroki Rika held her breath and stood in the darkest corner. She no longer had time to take control of the hostages. Even if she could take the lead and barge into the carriage where the hostages were, Shen Zhiheng would follow after her quickly, and she did not dare to fight against him alone.

In the pandemonium, Shen Zhiheng killed a bloody path through, finally kicking open the door of the fifth train car. From the moonlight filtering in through the window, he saw a pair of neatly dressed people before him; they were Situ Weilian and Mi Lan. He did not know how long the two of them had been standing at the door. Situ Weilian was holding Mi Lan’s left hand, while Mi Lan was holding her walking cane in her right hand. Situ Weilian’s eyes were bright and shining, while Mi Lan’s face was cold and stoic.

Shen Zhiheng took Situ Weilian’s hand. “Let’s go.”

Situ Weilian leaned over, wrapping his arm around Mi Lan’s chest, clasping Mi Lan with a single arm just like a little girl clasping her doll with an arm. Right at this moment, the door at the other end of the train car opened, and rows of Japanese soldiers swarmed in, shooting in front of them indiscriminately.

At the point of time the guns started sounding, Shen Zhiheng had also opened the train door. Without any time to notice the surroundings outside the train, he pulled Situ Weilian and jumped. Just when they landed on the ground and rolled, the train screeched to a halt, sparks flying between the wheels and the tracks. At the same time, the standby power system powered up and the insides of the passenger cars shone brightly, lighting up the two sides of the train tracks.

Shen Zhiheng hurriedly crawled, noticing Situ Weilian sprawled on the ground and Mi Lan tossed out to his side. He first ran to hug Mi Lan and propped her up by her shoulder, and then he bent his waist and pulled Situ Weilian up. Without caring if they were injured, he took to his heels, running towards the forest beside the railway.

Stopping a train was a long process. As the speed of the train slowed down amidst sparks, the Japanese soldiers jumped down from the various joints of this long steel snake, streaming into the forest like a tide. Li Yingliang and Kuroki Rika reconvened, the two of them seeming a little terror-stricken. Without any counter strategy, they both simply led their men and started their manhunt.

It was a dark and cloudy night. At first, there was still a sliver of a crescent moon in the sky, but after only shining for a short moment, it had been covered by dark clouds, and it was so dark that one would not be able to see their own hand in front of them. There were moving lights in the forest, these were the Japanese soldiers’ flashlights.

Meanwhile, Shen Zhiheng and Situ Weilian ran on the uneven ground unsteadily. Originally, Shen Zhiheng had not wanted to stray too far from the railway, hiding temporarily in the forest against the direction of the train. However, the current condition was out of his hands. He and the Japanese soldiers had all become headless flies, flying haphazardly together. Situ Weilian had sprained his foot when jumping off from the train, and he was now limping and holding him back. After holding him back for quite some time, he finally recovered his normal gait. Just when Situ Weilian returned back to normal, Mi Lan, who was on Shen Zhiheng’s shoulder, started to struggle.

Burning with anxiety, Shen Zhiheng no longer cared if she was a young lady or a little girl, sending a slap to her buttocks, “Stop it!”

Mi Lan’s small, frail voice sounded beside his ear, “Is the road not easy to walk? Is the sky very dark?”

Situ Weilian replied, grimacing in pain, “It’s so dark we can’t see anything. We’re exactly like you now. Aiyo–” He stepped into a hole, staggering.

Mi Lan straightened her back, insistent on getting off Shen Zhiheng’s shoulder. Both of her feet landing on the ground firmly, she said, “Then let me lead the way. Where do you want to go?”

Shen Ziheng paused, “You?”

Situ Weilian rushed to answer, “Where we want to go doesn’t matter for now. In any case, just don’t let the Japanese soldiers catch up to us.”

Mi Lan extended the walking cane in her right hand, its tip brushing past the wild grass. She tilted her head and listened attentively, and then extended her left hand to the front.

“Mr. Shen.”

Shen Zhiheng took her hand. “Can you do it?”

She turned around, taking a step. “I can.”

She did not know that she, who had lived in a dark world for such a long time, had already stepped into a state of delusion. She even sincerely believed that she could lead Shen Zhiheng out. She had no reason, she just believed it.

A part of his life had been moulded by her. And since she had personally moulded it, she had to personally save it. So, as long as she was still alive, he would not die. Brushing her walking cane through the wild grass, she thought of the biblical exodus she had heard of in the church, and in that moment, she imagined that the vast path in front of her was the Red Sea, and she was like Moses. As she extended her cane through the sea, the seawater separated, revealing a path.

This thought made her giddy with excitement. The more she walked, the faster she went, seeming as if she really knew her surroundings like the back of her hand. The blinking lights faded into the distance, as she led them to escape from the Japanese soldiers.

Suddenly, she abruptly stopped.

Shen Zhiheng supported her at her shoulder, looking around warily.

Situ Weilian was puzzled, “Why have you stopped? Are you lost?”

Mi Lan raised a pointer, going “shh”.

She had never moved about so vigorously before. Hot blood had gushed into her brain, and there was a roaring sound in her ears. Even worse still, strong winds were blowing. They shook the entire forest, causing the sea of trees to sound like waves as they continued to crash against one another, completely disrupting her senses. For a moment, she was confused, and in this confusion, she felt that she had vaguely heard something wrong again. She heard it, but she could not identify it, and this was what made her the most confused and anxious.

Subconsciously, she spread out her arms, blocking Shen Zhiheng who was behind her.

At the same time, a group of people, dressed completely in black, emerged from the front. The one at the lead held a broken flashlight. It was Li Yingliang.

Holding the flashlight that had stopped working halfway through in one hand, Li Yingliang held his pistol in the other. In the brief moment before he and Shen Zhiheng had met head-on, a bolt of lightning had flashed across the sky, casting a blinding light onto the people in front of them. Li Yingliang raised his pistol without hesitation, yet although his finger was on the trigger, he did not pull it.

Shen Zhiheng forcefully pushed Mi Lan, who was in front of him, into Situ Weilian’s embrace. Then, he started speaking to Li Yingliang. Li Yingliang knew that he was speaking to him, but the delayed rumble of thunder drowned out his voice, and he could only vaguely see his lips moving. He had a lot to say.

His right hand, which held the pistol, started to tremble a little. He should fire the gun. Once he did, his subordinates behind him would also follow suit. The dense rain of bullets would be enough to temporarily strip Shen Zhiheng of any form of resistance. But if that were to happen, Shen Zhiheng would be sent to Harbin, where he would be tied to an operating table and dissected and cut into pieces.

After a brief stalemate, another bolt of lightning lit up the sky, and in that flash of light, Li Yingliang suddenly saw Kuroki Rika behind Shen Zhiheng.

She brought a group of Japanese soldiers with her, and he did not know when she had approached. Furthermore, she already had her pistol raised towards Shen Zhiheng.

If he could see her, she could naturally see him as well, and how did he dare to let Shen Zhiheng go in front of the Japanese?

In fear, he fired. Hearing the sound, Shen Zhiheng collapsed, not because he had been hit, but because Mi Lan had pushed Situ Weilian aside and knocked headfirst into him, knocking him down.

At the back, Kuroki Rika made a sound in annoyance. She wanted to provide supporting fire in the darkness, but Li Yingliang’s subordinates opposite her had fired before she could. Their original intention was to shoot Shen Zhiheng and his companions, however, the bullets flew around in a mess, forcing her to retreat. As she retreated, she returned fire, and the target of her returning fire was Li Yingliang. Li Yingliang had really gone mad. He could clearly see that she was behind Shen Zhiheng, and yet he still dared to shoot blindly in the darkness. Did he want to kill Shen Zhiheng, or did he actually want to kill her, who was behind Shen Zhiheng?

Standing in the crowd, Li Yingliang did not know if his earlier shot had hit Shen Zhiheng or not. Another bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and he once again saw Shen Zhiheng. Shen Zhiheng threw a cold flash at him, and he turned sideways to hide from it, but this was followed soon after by loud screams.

The cold flash was a dining knife, which had stabbed into his upper arm. At the same time, large raindrops, accompanied by thunder, pelted down. Kuroki Rika stopped firing, turning on her flashlight to glance at the scene before her. She saw Li Yingliang sitting paralysed in the middle of the rain, while his subordinates surrounded him like idiots. Meanwhile, there was no trace of Shen Zhiheng and his companions.

The heavy rain saved Shen Zhiheng.

After running aimlessly for a while, his foot finally slipped, and they were swept by a gush of muddy water into a small col. As the heavy rain pelted down, Shen Zhiheng sat up, extending his arm to feel around, and found Mi Lan. Pulling Mi Lan to his side, he touched her face, and after confirming that she was safe and sound, he extended his arm again to feel around for Situ Weilian. Situ Weilian was curled on the ground, and when Shen Zhiheng tried to pull him, he did not move. He crawled over to shake him vigorously. This time, Shen Zhiheng heard his feeble moan.

Situ Weilian was no delicate youth. He was used to jumping around, full of energy, and especially now, at this critical moment of life and death, he wanted even less to just lie down shamelessly. Shen Zhiheng’s heart plummeted. He bent down and placed his ear close to Situ Weilian’s lips, hearing this youth mutter and cry, crying that he was in pain, not a pain that was ordinary, but a pain so painful he wanted to die.

At the same time, Shen Zhiheng smelled the whiff of blood. Slowly placing his palms on the back of Situ Weilian’s neck, he felt downwards. The fresh blood had long been washed away by the rainwater, so he could directly feel the distinct bullet holes. One, two, and three.

He had been shot at least three times, and the bullets had created see-through holes in his body. The three bullets had shot through him through and through.

Shen Zhiheng’s blood turned cold.

With no spare energy to care about Mi Lan beside him, he scooped up Situ Weilian, bending his waist and hugging this youth in his embrace protectively. As he combed through his sodden curls with one hand, he wanted to use his body to block him from the rain, to the best of his ability.

“Weilian, don’t be scared. It’s just flesh wounds. Bear with it, I’ll figure out how to bring you home.”

At this point, he paused. His breathing was erratic, and if he continued speaking, his next sentence would be a breathless cry. He hugged Situ Weilian in both of his arms, as if he were an innocent and weak baby. Actually, he would rather that he were really a baby at this moment, confused and ignorant, and unafraid even right before death.

A pair of fists were pounding him at his side. It was Mi Lan, who was telling him, “there’s someone coming”, but he turned a deaf ear to her. Situ Weilian was now trembling slightly in his arms, moaning that it was so painful that he wanted to die. He continuously stroked this youth’s hair, like a father to his child.

“Don’t be scared, Weilian, it won’t be painful soon, very soon.”

As his tears mixed with the rain, he thought that Weilian was about to die. Once Weilian died, he would be alone in this world, and would return to being that lonely man once again. In getting to know him, Weilian had not received many benefits, and had eventually sacrificed his own life.

To die in the wilderness, such a death was not even a good way to go.

At this point, Mi Lan became anxious, pushing him violently, “They’re coming!”

Shen Zhiheng swayed under her push, and Situ Weilian, who was in his arms, rolled down. He hurriedly extended his arms to hug him back, but Situ Weilian rolled in the mud, and slowly sat up by himself.

Not only did he sit up, he even turned his head around, looking at Mi Lan.

Shen Zhiheng did not expect that he still had this energy in him, and was momentarily stunned. Meanwhile, Situ Weilian slowly extended his hand towards Mi Lan, and in the fleeting moment that his fingers and hers touched, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, its light illuminating Situ Weilian’s face, as well as the two Japanese soldiers who were approaching behind Mi Lan with their guns raised. Situ Weilian’s face was ashen, but his two eyes bore a bloody red glow. Brushing Mi Lan aside with the wave of a hand, he stood up shakily.

Shen Zhiheng did not see what he did next clearly, and Mi Lan only felt a gust of wind blowing past the side of her face. The sounds of the wind and the rain were mixed with two short screams. Upon hearing that, Shen Zhiheng stood up and ran one step forward, and immediately ground to a halt.

In the darkness, Situ Weilian, squatting down, was a blurry shadow. One Japanese soldier was sprawled at a side, while the other was held in his arms. His head was buried at that Japanese soldier’s neck, his shoulders shaking as he used all of his strength to suck and swallow. Suddenly, he lifted his head and took a few deep breaths, pushing the corpse in his arms aside and grabbing that Japanese soldier beside him into his embrace.

The corpse he had pushed aside was light, so dry and withered that it did not seem like the corpse of a recently deceased person.

After a moment, the second corpse in his arms was also tossed aside. With his head tilted to the sky, he exhaled a long breath, and said, “Ah… it hurts to death.”

Then he stood up, walking wobbly towards Shen Zhiheng. “Just now, you told me not to be scared. I was in so much pain then that I didn’t have the strength to reply to you. Actually, I should be the one saying that to you. Don’t be scared, I won’t die.”

At this point, the rain suddenly became smaller. The clouds parted, revealing half of the crescent moon. Under the dim moonlight, Situ Weilian smiled at Shen Zhiheng.

Shen Zhiheng took a step back. “Who are you?”

Situ Weilian shrugged, as if Shen Zhiheng’s question had made him impatient. He lifted his head slightly, opening his mouth towards him. His young lips were bright red and soft, and when they opened to a certain degree, a pair of sharp needle-like bones lowered along his canines, their tips so sharp they seemed like silver wires, flashing with a cold glow.

Startled, Shen Zhiheng stared at Situ Weilian. He suddenly shouted, pushing him away forcefully, while moving backwards in a panic. As the ground was muddy, he staggered and fell into a seated position, and when he tried to get up, he ended up falling again.

He struggled to sit up in the muddy water, convulsing with fear, “Who on earth are you?”

Situ Weilian lowered his body towards him. He seemed a little embarrassed but smug at the same time, revealing his secret as if he were presenting a valuable treasure, “Actually, I am your younger brother.”

Shen Zhiheng continued staring at him, his eyes wide with startlement. After staring for a while, he suddenly smiled. The smile appeared suddenly and left in a flash. Then, he lifted his hands to cover his eyes.

Lowering his head, he muttered to himself in a low voice, “How is this possible, I’m really crazy.”

He lifted his head and looked around him. “Where is Weilian?”

Situ Weilian tugged him. “I’m here! Are you also blind?”

Shen Zhiheng glanced at him, and as soon as he did, he turned his head away, as if he had seen something unsightly. Not only could he not face him squarely and look him in the eye, he could not even believe him.

“You are not Weilian.”

Situ Weilian lifted both of his arms, a gesture that made him look as if he were questioning the heavens in an opera show.

“Aiyo, my Shen-xiong, if you want to go crazy, can you go home first and then go crazy? If we don’t escape now, it will be too late! If we get caught by them again, you won’t be the only one going to Harbin, I will have to accompany you there.”

Then, he ran towards Mi Lan. Mi Lan had been lying exhausted in a ditch of muddy water all along. He grabbed Mi Lan’s hand, pulling her up and was about to go. But just as he took one step, he turned his head around, only to notice Mi Lan about to get up from her kneeling position on the ground, but when she tried getting up, her knees softened, and fell back down into a kneeling position.

“What’s wrong with you?” he bent his waist and asked loudly.

As he asked, he touched Mi Lan’s legs. Her legs were fine, and so he continued upwards.

“Does it hurt somewhere? Tell me.”

Mi Lan did not feel any pain anywhere, it was just that her head felt faint, and her four limbs weren’t listening to her.

Meanwhile, Situ Weilian suddenly exclaimed, “You’ve also gotten shot?”

A bloody hole had opened below Mi Lan’s collarbone; it was, without any doubt, a bullet hole. Situ Weilian turned his head to look at Shen Zhiheng in panic and shouted, shouting for Shen Zhiheng to come over. As she knelt, Mi Lan felt Shen Zhiheng run over, and she became both anxious and restless.

Before Shen Zhiheng could say anything, she caught his arm, speaking before he could, “I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt. I’m just tired, I can’t run anymore.”

Without hesitation, Shen Zhiheng pulled her and turned around, wanting to carry her on his back and leave. However, Mi Lan swayed and knelt down, lacking even the strength to sprawl herself onto his back. Situ Weilian gave a hand, pulling Mi Lan onto Shen Zhiheng’s back. As he pulled her up, Situ Weilian celebrated a small joy; Mi Lan looked tall, but she was actually nothing but a bag of bones and was a very light young lady, and would not hold them back while they were escaping.

After arranging her, he asked Shen Zhiheng, “Shen-xiong, where do we go next–”

Shen Zhiheng hid violently aside, still not looking at him.

It was as if by not looking at him, he did not exist, and neither did his real face that he had just exposed exist.

Carrying Mi Lan, Shen Zhiheng started walking, his thoughts clear one moment but blurry the next, knowing only to flee for his life. The edges of the sky glowed faintly with a clear light; the sun was about to rise. This made Situ Weilian very nervous. As he walked quickly after Shen Zhiheng, he continued to ask questions in whispers from time to time. Shen Zhiheng could vaguely hear his voice, but he could not hear it clearly; not only could he not look at this person, he was not even willing to listen to this person.

However, Situ Weilian, ignorant of the elephant in the room, continued to ask Shen Zhiheng despite the latter’s silence, “Is the direction right? Don’t bump into their guns again.”

After a while, he asked again, “Just what route are you taking? Why am I confused?”

And after a while, he asked once again, “Why have the Japanese soldiers all disappeared? Could it be that after not finding us for a whole night, they’ve given up?”

Shen Zhiheng’s ears had filtered out his voice. After asking the heavens and asking the earth, from beginning till the end, he was only talking to himself.

Meanwhile, about two miles from them, Li Yingliang was planning to set the mountain on fire.

Li Yingliang was wearing a long-sleeved collared shirt, and his right sleeve had been cut away after being stabbed with a dining knife in his right arm, which was now messily wrapped with a few layers of bandages. Devoid of any expression, he faced the glow of the morning sun, ordering the Japanese soldiers to bring buckets of gasoline down from the train.

After searching for most of the night with Kuroki Rika, although they had not met with any success, he was sure that Shen Zhiheng had not managed to escape far. Given how heavy the rain had been last night, and that he still had two people holding him back, how could he escape? Even if he could fly, the heavy rain would have beaten him back down.

Last night, the heavens had been helping him. But now, the weather was pleasant, and while finding them was easier, so too was it easier for Shen Zhiheng to escape. So, the method of finding a needle in a haystack could no longer work. The only solution was to form a large circle around the area and then set fire to the forest, to force Shen Zhiheng out.

Force him out, and then send him to Harbin, and let him die there.

He still looked up to Shen Zhiheng, but last night, he had fired his gun at Shen Zhiheng, and Shen Zhiheng had also stabbed him. The relationship they had just started to build between each other – a tiny speck of a relationship that simply could not be explained clearly – had been killed prematurely by these knives and guns. Now, Shen Zhiheng would definitely take revenge on him, and if he wanted to live, he had to strike first.

Besides, he had to answer to Yokoyama Akira.

A large number of gasoline buckets had been brought down, and it should be enough. The train had stopped for a night, and to prevent the traffic from being blocked, it now had no choice but to move slowly towards the front. The Japanese soldiers pushed down the gasoline buckets, letting the gasoline gurgle out. Kuroki Rika walked to Li Yingliang’s side, the two of them having absolutely nothing to say.

A loud rumble came from the distance, and the earth started to shake. Li Yingliang turned his head around to look, only to see a fast, shiny train chugging out from the bright glow of the morning sun. This was the Asia Express. A sleek blue locomotive was pulling a long line of brown passenger cars, passing by at a speed of a hundred kilometres per hour. Li Yingliang watched this line of luxurious cars pass by him grandly and loudly, watching as it headed towards the distance. Very strangely, he was filled with both calmness and despair, as if he were at a funeral.

Suddenly, he raised his sleeve to rub his eyes, feeling as if he had seen the silhouettes of two people. Those two silhouettes jumped towards the Asia Express one after another. They jumped onto it, and then vanished together with the Asia Express.

Turning his head to look at Kuroki Rika, he asked in a trembling voice, “Did you see that?”

Kuroki Rika’s face was colourless. “You saw that too?”

The morning wind suddenly blew in a different direction, and a gust of black smoke engulfed them. Li Yingliang stared into that black smoke, realising that the forest fire had started burning ferociously!

And with the help of the wind, the fire was sweeping towards the railway tracks!

Leaving behind the majority of the soldiers to put out the fire, on just his two legs, Li Yingliang and Kuroki Rika ran to the nearest small train station, intending to make a phone call to the Fengtian Railway Headquarters and get them to stop the Asia Express.

The small train station indeed had a telephone, but the phone line was not long, and could only reach the two stations before and after it. At this point, Li Yingliang was suffering a nervous breakdown, and did not have any ideas at all. Furthermore, his eyes kept rolling up into his head from time to time, as if he was about to faint. Kuroki Rika was utterly disappointed with him, and could no longer be bothered to care about him. She directly took control and ordered each station to pass the message down from one station to the next in the fashion of a relay. Once the message was passed down to a bigger station with a radio station, that station would then send a telegram directly to Fengtian.

Because the reason for stopping the Asia Express involved a lot of secrets, she could only give an ambiguous explanation. And so, although her message was passed down from one station to the next, and it did indeed reach the Fengtian Railway Headquarters through the telegram before the Asia Express could arrive there. Upon hearing such an unclear and unreasonable request, just like how Kuroki Rika could now no longer be bothered to care about Li Yingliang, the headquarters also directly rejected her.

Anxiety burning in her heart, Kuroki Rika once again contacted the Yokoyama mansion station by station, and while waiting for a reply, she stood at the door of the small station, looking at the distance. She first saw the morning sunshine at the edge of the sky, burning like a fire, and then she realised that it was really too much like a fire, and this fire was even accompanied by a few columns of black smoke rushing towards the sky.

“Ah!” She widened her eyes. “Has sthe fire gotten bigger?”

The foundation on which this large fire burned was the large buckets of gasoline that the Japanese soldiers had splashed on order. With such a good foundation, and with the help of the morning winds, the fire naturally burned everywhere, spreading across the sky and blanketing the earth. Out of all the Japanese soldiers who had stayed behind to put out the fire, only a fraction had managed to escape, while the rest had all been cremated to death. And the large fire was still not content, following the railway and moving along in rather high spirits, burning and destroying more than three miles of railway tracks.

As the raging fire was spreading along the railroad crossties, the Asia Express was already pulling slowly into the Fengtian train station. The Yokoyama mansion finally managed to lend a helping hand to Kuroki Rika; just as the Asia Express stopped, there were already a few military police officers waiting outside the train doors. The Asia Express was only at the Fengtian train station for five minutes; the military police only had five minutes to search the entire train. They could not drag it out, as there was no shortage of international dignitaries and the ultra wealthy onboard. Since this concerned the international reputation of Manchukuo, even the Yokoyama mansion could not do whatever they wanted on this train.

After five minutes, the military police, having gained nothing, lined up and got off the train.

Four hours after the military police left, a freight train that was carrying timber slowly passed through the Fengtian train station, headed straight for Tianjin.

And hidden in this freight train were Shen Zhiheng and company.

Back in the forest, Shen Zhiheng had not been walking aimlessly.

Back then, he had shrugged off his shirt and shredded it into strips, tying Mi Lan tightly onto his back. Then, crawling on the ground, he had lain silently in waiting, until the Asia Express passed by as expected. He knew how it was organised, so even before it had passed by before his eyes, he had already gotten up and started to sprint. And when he had leaped towards the Asia Express, its locomotive had just happened to pass by, and he had managed to jump right at the junction between the locomotive and the carriage behind it.

The first carriage behind the locomotive was the luggage car.

The passenger cars of the Asia Express were all fitted with double windows and were fully enclosed. Only the luggage car was slightly shabbier, and that had allowed him to pry the door open to enter. Situ Weilian had followed closely on his heels, and when Shen Zhiheng had sat down in a corner of the luggage car, he had very wisely read the room and kept a distance from him, sitting down.

Throughout the journey, none of them had spoken. It was only when the Asia Express had neared Fengtian when Shen Zhiheng had pried open a few large pieces of luggage, choosing some clean clothes to change into. He had also found a women’s blouse for Mi Lan, in order to hide the gunshot wound below her collarbone. He could not tell if Mi Lan’s wound was serious or not; she had not made a single cry of pain, and had only nestled dazedly in his arms. He also did not know how much blood she had lost; just by looking at her shirt it was not obvious, as the rain had long washed away all of her fresh blood.

Situ Weilian had also found a jacket to put on. Actually, he was also in pain, but with Mi Lan being so resilient, and since the current situation was so dangerous, and given how Shen Zhiheng was still unwilling to give him any face, he had assessed the situation, deciding to bear with it.

Before the Asia Express had entered Fengtian, Shen Zhiheng had carried Mi Lan and jumped off the train.

Situ Weilian still followed closely after him. When Shen Zhiheng had jumped off the train, he had also jumped off the train; when Shen Zhiheng had sprawled in the grass by the railway to wait, he had also sprawled in the grass by the railway to wait. Then, when Shen Zhiheng had climbed onto a freight train carrying timber, he had also climbed onto it. The carriages of the freight train had no roofs and were exposed, with only a waterproof cloth covering the firewood.

As they stayed curled in a corner, Situ Weilian had reached out both of his arms towards Shen Zhiheng, “Let me hug her. You should rest for a while.”

Lowering his eyes to look at Mi Lan in his embrace, Shen Zhiheng had finally given Situ Weilian a small response. “Do you have money?”

Situ Weilian had fished around his pockets, fishing out a crumpled, wet ball of banknotes, which were still quite substantial in denomination. “Yes.”

“This train is headed for Tianjin. When we reach at night, you will pick the nearest train and buy three third-class tickets.”

“Where to?”

“Nanjing is fine, Shanghai is fine.”

“So far? Why can’t we go to Beiping to hide?”

“No. This time, I’ve completely fallen out with the Japanese, and have even alerted the Kwantung Army. I’m not scared of the Yokoyama mansion, but their military headquarters in the Beiping and Tianjin region are too powerful, I’m not currently their match. Besides, I can hide, but Mi Lan can’t. Mi Lan needs to be hospitalised and receive treatment.”

Upon hearing this, realisation had finally dawned on Situ Weilian, and he had understood the pros and cons.

But, glancing at Mi Lan, he had asked again hesitantly, “But what about her? Can she last until Nanjing, Shanghai?”

Shen Zhiheng had shaken his head, “I don’t know, but I don’t have a choice, this is the only way. The moment she shows her face now, she would be caught by the Japanese and be used as a hostage to threaten me. If the Japanese can’t find me, they will naturally not let her go; if the Japanese find me, she will be useless, and the consequences for her then will be even worse.”

Situ Weilian had lowered his head and spread out the banknotes, changing the topic, “It seems like this is enough to even buy second-class tickets. Do you want to get second-class tickets? There are too many people in the third-class carriages, and it’s always smelly.”

Shen Zhiheng had ignored him. He had lifted his hand to sniff his sleeve, and had barked in laughter, “I’m also smelly.”

Whether it was Yokoyama Akira or Kuroki Rika, neither of them had ever thought that this vampire called Shen Zhiheng was as elusive as a shadow, actually daring to return to Tianjin with some timber from Guandong, even openly holding three pieces of third-class tickets in his hand and boarding the train for Nanjing.

The third-class carriage, just as Situ Weilian had described, had too many people. Moreover, it smelled foul, and even the ticket inspectors, unable to squeeze in, did not check the tickets. In a corner, Shen Zhiheng sat on the floor, hugging Mi Lan who was curled up into a ball. Mi Lan’s face was thoroughly red and her body was boiling, she had unknowingly gotten a high fever. Hugging such a small ball of life, Shen Zhiheng was like a father hugging his small, newborn daughter. His heart was impassive and emotionless, he just simply hugged her.

The dirty bottom of someone’s trouser legs brushed across his knees. He looked up along the pants, seeing Situ Weilian’s pale face. Situ Weilian was leaning against a wooden partition as he stood, with his head lowered and a smile on his face. His smile was quite brilliant, without a thought in his mind.

Shen Zhiheng turned his head away.

#snowfall #cdrama #tagged in ❤#q it up

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