Chapter 278 - 149: Disposition

Chapter 278: Chapter 149: Disposition

Xu Mo nodded and readily pulled another bottle of water from the car, handing it to him.

The young man took the water and thanked him again. After unscrewing the cap, he drank while sneaking glances at Xu Mo’s expression out of the corner of his eye.

After finishing the water, he set the bottle down. Wringing his hands, he spoke in a tone laced with hope and caution, "Xu, look, I’ve finished digging the pit for you. Can I go now? I promise, I’ll leave immediately and never show my face to you again! I swear!"

At his words, Xu Mo’s brow furrowed slightly. "Go? If you leave, what am I supposed to do with this pit?"

"Huh?" The young man froze, not understanding what Xu Mo meant. "What do you mean, ’what are you supposed to do’? The pit’s dug. It’s right here."

Xu Mo looked at him and explained calmly, "What I mean is, a corpse needs to be lying in it. Otherwise, why would I have you go to all the trouble of digging it?"

"’A corpse needs to be lying in it?’" the young man muttered. At first, the words didn’t register. But as he looked into Xu Mo’s placid eyes and connected the phrases "dig a pit" and "lie in it," a soul-shattering thought slithered into his mind like a venomous snake. ℯℯ𝑙.

The young man’s face instantly turned white as a sheet. His eyes bulged with sheer terror and disbelief as he pointed a trembling finger at Xu Mo. "You’re going to bury me alive?! No—you’re going to kill me and bury me here?!"

Xu Mo didn’t answer directly. Instead, he walked to the edge of the pit and sized it up, then glanced at the young man’s height and build. He nodded as if inspecting a finished project. "Hm, the dimensions are perfect. Almost six feet deep and three feet wide. Pretty spacious, too. Oh, right," Xu Mo pointed to the half-empty bottle of water on the ground. "This is for you, too. Take it with you when you lie down. You might need it for the road."

"No! Xu! Don’t! I was wrong! I really know I was wrong! I’ll never do it again! Please, spare me! My girlfriend is waiting for me back at the camp! I have companions! I’ll give you all of our camp’s supplies! I’m begging you! Let me go!" The young man completely broke down, dropping to his knees. Snot and tears streamed down his face as he begged incoherently.

Xu Mo listened quietly to his wails and pleas, as if watching a farce that had nothing to do with him.

"When you’re out there making your way, you always have to pay your dues. You said so yourself, right?" Xu Mo waited for the man’s sobs to quiet down a little before speaking slowly. His voice was like a parent reasoning with a child.

"Come on. Lie down in there yourself. Find a comfortable position. And then, remember to say ’thank you.’"

"’I have to say thank you?’" The young man looked up, his face a mask of mud and tears, as if he had just heard the most absurd thing in the world.

Xu Mo looked at him, shook his head, and sighed. "So impolite."

The instant he finished speaking, Xu Mo stepped forward. His left hand shot out like an iron pincer and easily clamped onto the young man’s shoulder, which had gone limp with fear.

The young man felt an irresistible force. All his struggles were laughable and futile against that grip. The next second, the world spun. Xu Mo lifted him up and, as if tossing a bag of trash, gently "placed" him into the earthen pit he had dug with his own hands.

The young man’s body shuddered as if scalded the moment it touched the still-warm dirt at the bottom. Lying on his back, he looked up through the opening of the pit. All he could see was Xu Mo’s face, silhouetted against the light and impossible to read, and a small patch of blindingly blue sky and white clouds.

The sun was still scorching hot, but he felt a chill deep in his bones, as if his very blood had frozen. An endless darkness and the fear of death completely overwhelmed him.

"Find a comfortable position, then say thank you." Xu Mo’s voice drifted down from the mouth of the pit, as casual as if he were making small talk.

There was no response from the bottom of the pit, only stifled, broken sobs and the chattering of teeth.

Xu Mo waited a few seconds. Seeing the man had no intention of "thanking" him, he decided not to wait any longer.

He raised his AK-47, aiming the muzzle down at the trembling, curled-up figure in the bottom of the pit.

To prevent the young man from turning into a zombie, he was even kind enough to give him a headshot.

BANG!

The gunshot sounded jarringly loud and brief in the empty wasteland.

The sobbing and trembling from the bottom of the pit came to an abrupt halt.

Xu Mo lowered his gun, bent down to pick up the dirt-caked entrenching tool, and walked back to his SUV.

’As for why he didn’t fill in the pit? He hadn’t been the one to dig it, so why should he be the one to fill it?’

Settling into the driver’s seat, Xu Mo started the engine.

The SUV’s engine rumbled as he turned the vehicle around and drove off in the direction the young man had pointed out.

The scorching sun still hung high in the sky. The wasteland was silent, save for a single, impolite young man lying in an earthen pit—one who had refused to say thank you.