Chapter 936: Chapter 936: Hidden Tragedy
"Are you done talking?"
After a long silence, Huang Jingshou finally spoke.
Holding the gun, he looked at Lin Fan coldly: "No wonder Huo Ben has always been afraid of you and said that your mind is too clever, and Red Flag County cannot tolerate such a smart person. So, even if you threaten me with my mother’s life, it’s useless. Today, even if it costs the lives of the entire village, you must die."
"So determined, it seems Huo Ben offered you a lot."
Lin Fan stared at Huang Jingshou and said, "It’s okay, I’m not saying this to stop you. I’m just telling you a truth: if I die, don’t expect to live, including Huo Ben, because you’ve offended a power you shouldn’t have. But what I can’t figure out is, what on earth did Huo Ben give you that makes you so dedicated that you’d kill so many people for him without hesitation?"
"He gave me a chance to survive, something you could never guess in your life."
Huang Jingshou sneered coldly and sat directly on a rock, a gesture indicating he was indeed not in a hurry to shoot Lin Fan.
"You’re smart, collecting so much from such fragmentary information, but some things you clearly know yourself—the logic doesn’t add up, right? Okay, since you’re going to die, telling these secrets to a dead man isn’t bad. Do you know why my dad beats the three of us whenever he drinks? Because I’m not his biological son."
"Your mom had an affair... gave birth to you and your brother!"
Upon hearing this, Lin Fan couldn’t help but widen his eyes. Unexpectedly, he lit a cigarette and tossed it along with the lighter to Huang Jingshou. This scene looked nothing like a life-and-death confrontation, more like two old friends reminiscing.
And just as Huang Jingshou picked up the cigarette, he suddenly turned his head, pointing the dark muzzle at the riverbank. As he pulled the trigger, countless steel bullets fanned out toward Tang Xiaoshuang, who was attempting to get closer. If she hadn’t reacted quickly and hid behind a stone, this shot would have at least injured her, even if it didn’t kill her.
"Don’t play tricks with me, do you think I can’t kill without a gun? Look at this!"
With a cold smile, Huang Jingshou tossed the shotgun in his hand to the ground, then undid his shirt, revealing another garment underneath, bristling with detonators strapped across his body. With just one fuse, he’d become a human bomb, and nothing within twenty meters would survive.
"A true demolition genius, this trick fits your character perfectly!"
Lin Fan hurriedly waved to signal Tang Xiaoshuang not to approach, then continued to ask, "Since you’ve started talking, you might as well tell everything. After all, it’s uncertain if Huangquan Road even exists, so having one last chat before we go down isn’t bad either."
"Alright, since you want to know so badly, let’s chat then. I’ve lived extra years anyway, I’ve already profited enough. As for who lives or dies after my death, what does it have to do with me."
After lighting the cigarette, Huang Jingshou took a puff with a cold smile and said, "You’re right, I’m the result of my mom’s affair, so my brother and I have always been unable to hold our heads up in the village. Though I’ve been filial in treating her over the years, her absurdity brought me and my brother so much pain, it’s karma. So whether you kill her or not makes no difference to me. If I owe anyone, it would only be Huo Ben!"
"You owe him your life?"
Lin Fan suddenly realized that Huang Jingshou’s secrets didn’t end there, and he nodded with a laugh: "That’s right, what you said earlier was only half right. It’s true I like Xiong Meijiao, but once she went to college, how could she fancy me? So I drank, got hot-headed, and forced myself on her. Afterward, Xiong Baiyan happened to catch us. He picked up a pickaxe from the house to fight me, and before I came to my senses, he was lying in a pool of blood, and Xiong Meijiao, witnessing it all, went mad."
"Murder and rape, you sure went far!"
Upon hearing Huang Jingshou’s account, Lin Fan couldn’t help but narrow his eyes. Connecting all of this, he still underestimated the darkness of human nature, especially the cold-heartedness of someone like Huang Jingshou, who had lived under his father’s fists all his life—indeed capable of these acts.
"Yes, combining those two, I was surely doomed to die, so I panicked. But it was Huo Ben who gave me a chance to live, faking my death with a gas explosion. I could survive, and those who died in the explosion were all people who once humiliated me. Isn’t that a joyful thing? And that self-righteous Xiong Meijiao now can only be at my mercy every night, I do whatever I want with her. Do you still think you can threaten me now?"
Listening to everything Huang Jingshou told, Lin Fan couldn’t help but furrow his brow. Indeed, it all made sense now.
"Then one more question, who is really hiding behind Huo Ben?"
Lin Fan stared at Huang Jingshou, but he gave a grim smile: "That name, I’ll tell you after we go down."
"Squeak..."