Chapter 11 - 7: Accident

When the villagers from Li Family Village saw this...

They stood stunned for a few seconds. Then, one man, with the reckless abandon of someone with nothing to lose, stuck out his neck, pointed at his own head, and shoved his way forward.

"Go on, hit me! Right here! Just kill me!"

"The police are murderers!"

"Sons of bitches! So what if you’re cops? Does being a cop mean you can just pull a gun on people?!"

"..."

The villagers, who had just been placated by Xu De, erupted again. In an instant, they swarmed the two car doors and began smashing the vehicle with whatever they were holding.

The handful of officers were completely penned in. Even Li Xiang brandishing his gun had no effect.

Meanwhile, outside...

"Fuck! You goddamn old bastard!"

Li Erniu snapped back to his senses, his face contorted with rage.

He scrambled up from the ground, looking around frantically before snatching a wheat-reaping sickle from another villager’s hands and lunging at his opponent.

The well-honed sickle glinted with a sinister, cold light.

Wang Qiang instinctively threw up a hand to block.

SMACK.

By a hair’s breadth, his hand caught the fist holding the sickle. Veins bulged on his arm and his face flushed crimson with effort as they wrestled for control, the tip of the blade wavering between them.

THUD.

A sudden blow from a club struck him from behind, making Wang Qiang’s legs give out as he collapsed to the ground.

He dragged Li Erniu down with him. The surrounding crowd surged forward, swallowing the two men in the blink of an eye.

In an instant, the scene descended into utter chaos.

The air filled with the sounds of curses and fighting.

Until...

BANG!!!

Suddenly, a sound like a clap of thunder exploded next to their ears.

After the shot, everyone flinched. The chaos ceased in an instant. They stopped what they were doing and whipped their heads in unison toward the source of the sound.

It was...

A gun!

"Nobody move! I said, nobody move!"

Li Xiang’s face was furious as he re-aimed the muzzle, still wafting the smell of gunpowder, at the crowd.

"That was a warning shot!"

"Back up! Drop whatever you’re holding on the ground!"

’He... he actually dared to shoot...’

The expressions on the faces of the Li Family Village villagers froze. Their earlier bravado vanished, replaced by meek submission. They slowly backed away, dropping the sickles and hoes they were holding.

Li Xiang’s face was grim as he advanced, gun in hand.

As the villagers retreated, Wang Qiang and Li Erniu, still on the ground, came back into view.

Wang Qiang was on his back, with Li Erniu straddling him. They were locked in a stalemate.

Li Xiang frowned, tilted his head slightly, and issued another warning.

"Back up! Get back!"

His words fell on deaf ears; the two men paid him no mind.

CLINK...

In the daze, the sound of metal hitting the ground made everyone freeze.

Immediately after, Wang Qiang hastily struggled out from under the other man and got to his feet beside Li Xiang. His face was a ferocious mask, his eyes were bloodshot, and his breaths came in ragged pants like a heaving bull.

Li Erniu, however, remained kneeling on the ground, not getting up.

Li Xiang glanced at the ground. Near Li Erniu lay the fallen sickle, its blade slick with blood.

"Blood?!"

He then noticed that the abdomen of the seemingly crazed Wang Qiang was also covered in blood, which gave off a foul, coppery stench.

Li Xiang lifted Wang Qiang’s shirt.

But he saw no wound.

"It’s Li Erniu’s blood!"

Inside the car, Xu De glanced through the window. His pupils suddenly contracted as he spoke without thinking.

’Li Erniu’s blood?’

Everyone froze, their eyes snapping in unison toward Li Erniu.

They saw him kneeling on the ground, trembling all over. The sound of his ragged, gasping breaths filled the air.

Then, trembling and staggering, Li Erniu clutched his abdomen and forced himself to his feet.

His eyes were vacant and his face was a mask of confusion, but no one was looking at his face. Everyone’s gaze was fixed... directly on his stomach!

The razor-sharp sickle lying on the ground... it had fallen out of his stomach!

Li Erniu’s clothes had been sliced open, and his stomach along with them, torn into a gaping hole!

GURGLE~

A strange gurgling sound escaped his throat. He clutched his abdomen as fresh blood seeped through his fingers. His eyes stared blankly as he trembled and took two staggering steps.

But with that simple movement...

A torrent of blood poured onto the ground. A tender, red, octopus-like length of intestine slithered out from his abdomen. Li Erniu reached down, cupping his own guts, trying to stuff them back inside.

But then, his vision suddenly went black...

The next second.

THUMP!

He pitched forward, his face hitting the dirt. The focus in his staring eyes slowly faded.

The blood pouring from his abdomen soaked into the soil, staining it dark brown and spreading rapidly in a pool around him.

He was... dead.

The sight plunged the entire scene into an instant, dead silence.

After a long moment...

Liu Cui covered her face and let out a piercing shriek.

"Murder!!!"