"You're such a... little darling!" After holding it in for a long time, Li Tianran finally stopped himself from wanting to spar with Hanhan. He could only comfort himself that children say the darndest things.

Hanhan quickly fell asleep, but Li Tianran couldn't.

He stared at the ceiling, Hanhan's words piercing his heart like a thorn.

Said in jest, heard in earnest.

Ever since returning to the border from Myanmar, Li Tianran had felt uneasy. In the past, his opponents were merely civilian organizations, but after that incident at the border, he had successfully become a public enemy.

If his identity were exposed, he would face penalties even more severe than those faced by Song Zhibin.

"There are still five days until I have enough points to upgrade the shelter. Nothing must go wrong in these five days." Li Tianran was silent for a moment, his eyes flickering. Suddenly, the corners of his mouth turned up slightly.

He thought of something, he knew what he should do now.

...

Lu Chi sat in a dilapidated, abandoned bungalow, leaning against the wall. In front of him, an old stove burned with charcoal and rotten tree roots.

Beside his right hand lay a bloodstained hammer, a double-barreled homemade shotgun, and a sharp steel knife – all spoils of war.

He squinted, and by the firelight, he took out a blood-smeared notebook and used half a pencil to write a crooked "正" (zheng) character.

This page of the notebook already had five complete "正" characters, and one incomplete "正" with only three strokes.

"Twenty-eight..." Lu Chi bit on the end of the pencil, leaving noticeable teeth marks. His brain was racing.

In five days, he had taken out twenty-eight bandits.

In this harsh environment, he set off alone with only a hammer, seized numerous resources, killed twenty-eight hardened bandits, and was still alive and well!

His keen sense of combat was innate.

But he wasn't unscathed. On his left side, below his ribs, was a gruesome wound. It was inflicted when he took out the twenty-eighth bandit, who had slashed him with a knife in a desperate counterattack.

Fortunately, the opponent's attack was a slash, not a stab. Otherwise, Lu Chi might already be meeting King Yama because of a punctured lung.

Lu Chi was silent for a moment, then he opened his thick coat to reveal the haphazardly bandaged wound beneath.

The sterile gauze serving as a bandage was already soaked in blood, and since Lu Chi couldn't find any sterile tape, he had used transparent tape to secure the gauze to the wound. The tape was pulled tightly, enough to compress the flesh of the wound and prevent him from passing out or dying from excessive bleeding.

But this was also extremely dangerous. If the wound wasn't disinfected, it would quickly fester, and if the infection reached his internal organs, it would be game over!

Lu Chi bit down on a towel and slowly tore off the tape, pulling the sterile gauze away from the wound.

The intense pain jolted him, and in the cold night, his clothes were soaked with cold sweat.

The wound was a good ten centimeters long, and the flesh on either side was swollen. The innermost part was even purplish-black, oozing blood mixed with pus, a ghastly sight.

Lu Chi rummaged through his backpack and pulled out a bottle of medical alcohol. His hand trembling, he poured the alcohol into the bottle cap and slowly brought it to the wound, pouring it over.

"Hiss!"

An extremely loud gasp rang out.

Lu Chi's eyes rolled back, and he made a "wuu" sound. The veins in his neck bulged, and his body convulsed violently!

Bang, bang, bang!

Lu Chi pounded the wall with his left hand to relieve the intense pain caused by the alcohol.

Finally, the knife-like pain subsided. He took out some clean sterile gauze from his backpack and wrapped it around his wound. This was his makeshift treatment.

After completing this, he took a packaged braised chicken leg from his backpack and roasted it over the fire with a dagger.

He didn't get the temperature right, and the outside of the braised chicken leg was burnt, while the inside was still cold.

Lu Chi took a large bite of the chicken and washed it down with icy bottled water, letting out a satisfied sigh.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, Lu Chi covered himself with the army coat.

The army coat was also stained with blood, and there was also a strong smell of gasoline – Lu Chi had deliberately poured it on.

In these ruins, there were still some tenacious non-perfected beasts wandering about. Their sense of smell was very sensitive, and the smell of blood on Lu Chi was likely to attract their attention.

Therefore, Lu Chi had to cut open the gasoline pipes of some cars and cover himself in this foul smell.

Terrible environment, poor food and clothing, injured body...

All of this made Lu Chi look like a wandering hungry ghost.

Compared to the life of everyone in the farm, and even compared to ordinary people in the shelter, Lu Chi was living an extremely difficult life.

In these five days, Lu Chi had asked himself if he regretted not simply going with Li Tianran at the time. If he had, he definitely wouldn't have to endure this torment and pain.

But soon, Lu Chi told himself... no regrets!

All the hardships he was enduring now were only for the sake of getting more in the future!

"I will personally prove my greatest value. I will never die in this place..." Lu Chi leaned against the corner, staring at the stove, the dancing flames reflected in his pupils.

It was unclear if the flames came from the stove, or from the depths of his heart.

...

Late at night, Professor Nan knocked on the door of Yu Cheng's temporary residence, looking anxious.

"Is something the matter?" Yu Cheng asked, opening the door.

"Vice Commander Yu, I'm sorry to disturb you..." Professor Nan said politely, then took out a file and handed it to Yu Cheng, saying, "I have something urgent. I have a few questions about this case that I want to ask you!"

Professor Nan had originally wanted to find Yang Yong about this file, but Yang Yong had already been sent to the front lines, so Professor Nan had no choice but to come to Yu Cheng late at night.

"The cult case? The shooting case?" Yu Cheng looked at the file in Professor Nan's hand, a strange look in his eyes, and asked, "What are you asking about this for?"

"I..." Professor Nan was silent for a long time, and in the end, he didn't tell Yu Cheng the truth. He just said, "Some of the information inside is very important to me. I want to ask you, where is Li Tianran in this case now?"

Yu Cheng raised his eyebrows. "You're looking for Li Tianran?"

"Yes! Is he in the shelter now?" Professor Nan's voice trembled slightly.

"..." Yu Cheng was silent for a long time, then handed the file back and said in a low voice, "Too bad, I'm afraid you won't be able to find him."

Professor Nan's heart skipped a beat and he asked, "Wh-what do you mean?"

Yu Cheng took a deep breath and said, "Li Tianran... has been dead for a long time."