bookbashuk Chapter 66 The black fire that had burned for so many years has finally been extinguished!
Chapter 66 The black fire that had burned for so many years has finally been extinguished!
Before the words were finished, a slender figure stood firmly on the pedestal of the statue of the Virgin Mary high above. Her black hair was neatly tied up, and her eyes were as cold as a tempered steel blade—Lin Yiyi.
Zhang Wanlin glanced up and a smile crept across his face: "Oh, where did this girl come from? She's so pretty you could squeeze juice out of her—perhaps she's taken a fancy to me, Zhang Wanlin, and wants to be my concubine?"
He tried to sound tough, but his palms were already sweating. He knew in his heart that countless gun barrels were pressing hard against the back of his neck.
Today, the world is destined to change.
Zhang Wanlin, one of the three tycoons of Shanghai, and Aoki Takeshige, the head of the Special Higher Police, both died here—the news is sure to shake the entire city of Shanghai!
Lin Yiyi was holding a pistol, but the one that killed the enemy just now was a rifle.
Tian Hu and Zhang Wanlin immediately realized that she wasn't alone in the church; there was also a hunter with terrifying marksmanship hiding in the shadows, waiting to close the net.
"You really don't remember me?" Lin Yiyi lowered her eyes to look at Zhang Wanlin a few steps away. Her voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a nail. "When you massacred the entire Lin family in Hangzhou back then, did you ever imagine that I would be the one standing here today?"
Lin?
The Lin family of Hangzhou?
Zhang Wanlin's face stiffened, then he threw his head back and laughed wildly, his laughter dry and grating: "Ha! So it's the little sparrow from the Lin family who escaped! You think you're worthy of revenge? Do you even know who I am? — The lives I, Zhang Wanlin, have taken are piled up higher than the grass on your grave!"
Before he could finish speaking, Tian Hu suddenly sprang to his feet! His right hand flashed as he drew his gun, the muzzle pointing directly at Lin Yiyi's forehead—just waiting for her to lose focus for a moment!
Naive.
Before the gun was even leveled, a crisp sound cleaved through the air—
boom!
A burst of blood erupted from Tian Hu's left wrist, the pistol clattered to the ground, and he fell to his knees with a scream, his entire arm trembling uncontrollably.
A flicker of light and shadow appeared at the entrance, and Zhou Xiao, carrying a rifle, slowly stepped inside.
To be honest, the ambush was much easier than he had expected.
They thought they would have to lay a trap, filling the stained-glass windows, clock tower, and confessional with gunmen beforehand; but what happened? A few gunshots rang out, and all six men were taken down cleanly and efficiently.
Right now, Zhang Wanlin and Tian Hu are trapped like turtles in an iron cage, unable to escape.
Zhang Wanlin turned around and saw Zhou Xiao's disguised face clearly. He then turned to stare at Lin Yiyi and suddenly sneered, "I knew it! How dare a little girl like you provoke me, Zhang Wanlin? Turns out you have a powerful backer."
Having roamed Shanghai for many years, for the first time, a chill ran down his spine—as if a venomous snake had its vital spot on him.
"Who are you?" He stared at Zhou Xiao, his voice tense. "Are you also one of the people I killed, the offspring of yours?"
Zhou Xiao shook his head: "We're not related by blood or kinship; it was just a casual favor."
He paused, then turned his gaze to Lin Yiyi: "Yiyi, stop dragging it out. Let's get this over with quickly—the longer we drag it out, the more variables will arise."
Villains die from being too talkative, and heroes often fall because of their loose tongues.
In countless finales, the protagonist, having the upper hand, insists on spouting a bunch of道理 (moral principles), reminiscing about the past, and uttering a few harsh words... only to have the villain seize the opportunity to turn the tables, stretching a five-minute ending into a twenty-minute tug-of-war.
Upon hearing this, Tian Hu was terrified.
With a thud, his knees hit the ground, his hands clutching the back of his head, his forehead pressed against the cold stone bricks, his voice trembling and incoherent: "Mercy, sir! I was forced! Zhang Wanlin forced me to do it! Spare my life!"
—As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn.
Zhou Xiao didn't even lift his eyelids: "A mad dog bites people not because it's forced, but because it's a mad dog at heart."
Before he finished speaking, the gun was already raised.
boom!
A muffled thud.
A dark red mark exploded on the back of Tian Hu's head, his body twitched twice, and then he went limp and motionless.
If Zhang Wanlin hadn't promised Lin Yiyi to personally settle his score with his enemies, he would have died long ago along with Tian Hu.
At this moment, Lin Yiyi had already approached step by step, her steps steady, each step placed at a safe distance—she would never give Zhang Wanlin the opportunity to act desperately or take hostages.
"Zhang Wanlin," her voice was hoarse, her eyes red and burning, "today is the anniversary of your death."
Ten years of forbearance, a hundred days of dormancy, all the grievances, fears, and hatred burning day and night burst forth at this moment.
She had waited for this day for far too long.
Zhang Wanlin remained arrogant, having long anticipated his inevitable death, yet he showed no fear whatsoever. He merely glanced sideways at Lin Yiyi, a chilling smile creeping across his lips: "I should have wiped you out back then—sparing your life was truly the biggest mistake of my life."
"This shot is a tribute to my father!"
boom!
The bullet tore through the air and pierced his left knee joint!
Blood splattered, his body swayed violently, and he slammed one knee into the ground, veins bulging.
"This shot is a tribute to my mother!"
boom!
His right knee exploded with a thud, and he collapsed to his knees, but his back remained stiff, like an unyielding iron stake.
"This shot is a sacrifice for my brother!"
"This shot is a tribute to my sister-in-law!"
"This shot is a sacrifice for my nephew!"
boom!boom!boom! ...
Gunshots rained down like a storm, one after another, piercing flesh and shattering bones, but none of them aimed for a vital spot—he was forced to remain conscious, tasting the pain inch by inch.
Fresh blood gushed out, quickly soaking through the velvet robe embroidered with gold thread, the dark red streaks resembling splashed cinnabar.
"Ha...hahaha!" He coughed up blood, his teeth clenched, his laughter hoarse and raspy. "Good! Very good! The Lin family...finally produced someone who isn't afraid of death!"
Lin Yiyi lowered the gun, aiming straight for his heart: "One last shot—to send you on your way for the sake of my Lin family of 327!"
boom!
The bullet pierced the chest, and the heart exploded on the spot.
His tall body lunged forward, crashing heavily onto the concrete ground, where he remained motionless.
Zhang Wanlin, one of the three giants of Shanghai, has met his end. The wronged souls he once crushed in the mud have finally received a belated echo.
The aftershocks of the collapse of the old order have only just begun.
"ah--!!!"
Lin Yiyi roared to the sky, holding the gun in both hands, and frantically poured bullets at the body on the ground.
boom!boom!boom! ...
Click.
The magazine was empty, and the gunfire stopped abruptly.
Amidst the smoke and fire, Zhang Wanlin was already riddled with wounds, his clothes tattered, and his flesh mangled.
Her chest heaved violently, her fingers gripping the gun turned white, and ten years of pent-up hatred was burned to ashes in this torrential outburst.
She waited for this day until blood seeped from under her fingernails.
The blood feud that wiped out his family has finally been avenged.
Zhou Xiao quietly approached and gently pressed her trembling shoulder: "Yiyi, stop. Hatred is not your destiny."
"Brother Zhou!" She threw the gun aside, threw herself into his arms, and burst into tears that burned onto his clothes.
The black fire that had raged for years finally went out.
For her, it wasn't a victory, but a release from constraints.
The person I want to thank the most has always been only him.
"Thank you... really, thank you." She choked up, tears streaming down her face, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light.
Zhou Xiao raised his hand to wipe away the tears from the corner of her eyes, his voice gentle: "I never break my promises to you."
The two then efficiently cleaned up the scene—the bodies of Zhang Wanlin and Tian Hu, along with the two cars, were all sunk to the bottom of the Huangpu River.
From then on, no one knew why Zhang Wanlin went to the abandoned church alone late at night; no one saw him one last time; and no one could find out who did it or what method they used.
Everything remains a mystery.
But another storm has only just begun.
Takeshige Aoki and Ichiro Watanabe—they must die.
Just as Zhou Xiao and Lin Yiyi were cleaning up the mess, the hunt for Aoki Takeshige had already quietly begun.
Chunxi Road.
It wasn't a main street; there were few people and cars, and even patrol officers were hard to spot. The military police's patrol routes always avoided this quiet alley. If one were to fire a shot here, they could easily withdraw without leaving a trace.
A black sedan is driving at a steady speed into the center of the street.
Aoki Takeshige was indeed shrewd. To avoid being noticed, he abandoned the Special Higher Police's bulletproof car and switched to an ordinary sedan—but little did he know that this "caution" would lead him into a deadly predicament.
Zhou Xiao's net is never based on luck.
The four people in the car were: Takeshige Aoki, Ichiro Watanabe, and two bodyguards.
Aoki was dressed casually in navy blue, with his sleeves slightly rolled up. He kept checking his watch, then turned to the driver and asked, "How much longer until Wantai Department Store?"
"About ten minutes," the driver replied calmly.
The wheels rolled silently over the asphalt road.
This straight stretch of Chunxi Road is a prime location for an ambush.
Behind a second-floor window on the street corner, a sniper rifle lay dormant. With a slight adjustment, the muzzle was firmly locked onto the windshield of an oncoming black car.
The gunman is Yu Manli.
Hades Zhou Xiao only gave the order: Kill Qingmu. As for how to kill him, when to kill him, and where to kill him—that was entirely up to Mingtai.
Yu Manli's mission was extremely simple: eliminate the driver and co-driver to create an opening for subsequent operations.
"They're here."
Two faces appeared clearly in the scope. She held her breath and gently pressed the trigger.
boom!
The bullet shattered the window and precisely lodged between the driver's eyebrows, splattering brain matter and blood mist, causing him to lose control of the steering wheel instantly.
The next second, she slightly shifted the muzzle of her gun, her breathing remaining steady.
boom!
Before the passenger in the front seat could even turn his head, a scarlet flower had already bloomed on his temple.
Cleverness backfires – Aoki replaced the armored car in the hopes of stability, but ended up cutting off his last chance of survival.
No matter how tough the Special Higher Police's armored vehicle is, it can't stop people from scheming and plotting.
Bulletproof glass is not indestructible; it can only withstand a sudden attack of one or two bullets in a few critical seconds.
If Aoki Takeshige had been in a special vehicle issued by the Special Higher Police, Yu Manli's shot would most likely have been blocked by the windshield—the glass would have shaken, the bullet would have been deflected, and even if the person inside the car broke out in a cold sweat, it would have given them enough time to catch their breath; and then try to re-lock on the target? The car would have already started moving, and the person would have already hidden themselves, so how could there be any chance to aim accurately?
But unfortunately, he was using an ordinary civilian vehicle this time, with windows so thin they were like paper, unable to even block the airflow generated by a bullet grazing past.
So Yu Manli fired two shots swiftly and decisively, one knocking the driver off and the other piercing the passenger seat—both of them collapsed on the spot, the steering wheel was completely out of control, and the car slammed into the roadside, the tires tearing scorch marks on the asphalt.
Aoki Takeshige and Watanabe Ichiro in the back seat suddenly changed their expressions and felt a chill run down their spines: this was not a chance encounter, but a hunt. Someone had been lying in the shadows, just waiting for them to fall into the trap.
boom! boom! boom!
Yu Manlika was in a blind spot on the street corner, unable to hit the back seat, but she still kept firing at the car body—not to hit them, but to force them out.
Inside the train carriage, Watanabe Ichiro's voice tightened: "Section Chief, get off the train! If we linger any longer, we'll become sitting ducks!"