Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

“In my life, there have been more than one very important dark night... Emerging from the darkness is like being reborn, both physically and mentally. The black color makes me feel safe, like returning to my mother's womb, where I don't have to think about anything. The fetus in the womb has no concept of this complex civilized world, it simply follows its instincts and exists in the simplest way.”

Wendigo's hand gently caressed the cold, black wooden wall, leading him to the only color in this darkness.

dining table.

When will Ms. Dietersdorf arrive?

“She’s still putting on an exhibition.” Zhang Renfeng didn’t stand on ceremony, pulled out a chair, and sat down at the dining table, casually making up a story, “She’ll come after it’s over.”

“Okay, I understand.” Wendigo was not surprised by the answer. He casually picked up a flower from the table, held it to his nose, and smelled the serene and elegant blue aster. After determining that it was no longer fresh, he held it in his palm. “I will send someone to the Outer Light House to pick her up.”

"Send someone?" Zhang Renfeng keenly grasped the key phrase.

“My personal employees are usually responsible for handling some paperwork and data. You must understand that these days, there are still many lawless areas outside of White Torch Town. I need a group of employees with certain combat capabilities to ensure that the goods or information delivered to other towns are not robbed on the way.”

He turned around with a smile. "Mr. Bruce, there's still about an hour before the dinner starts. Waiting here like this would be too boring."

“I can help you out,” Zhang Renfeng said with a forced smile. “As long as you don’t mind a rough man like me coming into your kitchen.”

“I appreciate your thanks, but no need,” Wendigo said with a smile and a shake of his head. “It’s not that I mean anything by it, but I have some specific requirements for the food at the dinner. And these requirements are probably only something I can meet. As the head chef, it’s my responsibility.”

“I know from Sheriff Gordon that your literacy skills don’t seem to be very good, so books are out of the question… I have a book of Monet’s paintings, all Impressionist works. Please let me go upstairs to get it for you to pass the time.”

Wendigo nodded slightly to him, turned around, and slowly walked up the stairs. Whether he was intentionally controlling his steps or not, the wooden stairs, which are usually the most prone to creaking, did not make a sound. He seemed to float up the stairs like a ghost, his feet not touching the ground.

Outside the window, the fog grew thicker and thicker, gradually obscuring everything.

The wait in the darkness made his mouth dry. The large room was silent, save for the metallic tinkling of an old-fashioned clock, each strike seeming to resonate in his heart. His hand, which had been resting on the volcano pistol, hesitated for a moment before withdrawing it and instead gripping the knife and fork beside the plate.

This guy has accomplices, so the less noise we make, the better. We won't fire unless absolutely necessary.

"call……"

Zhang Renfeng took a deep breath, walked to the edge of the stairs, and first completely relaxed his shoulders, as if he wanted to expel all the impurities in his body through deep breathing.

He immediately used his lightness technique, skipping the stairs and instead stepping directly onto the handrail, repeatedly pushing off the wall, jumping left and right, and landing on the handrail, then repeating this process continuously. In a very short time, Zhang Renfeng used this method to reach the second floor without making the slightest noise on the stairs.

After climbing over the railing, he instinctively rolled on the floor, and once he got up, he already had his knife and fork in his hands.

The room was furnished much like the one on the first floor, with most doors closed except for one that was ajar. Standing at the top of the stairs, one could vaguely glimpse inside the room, but it seemed no one was moving about.

Zhang Renfeng suddenly had a bad feeling. He didn't care whether he should walk quietly or not. He strode over and pushed open the half-closed door!

"Boom!"

This appears to be Wendigo's study, with documents, books, and letters neatly organized into various cabinets. It perfectly embodies everything one might imagine of an upper-class intellectual—it has everything, except for Wendigo himself.

The window was opened from the inside, and half a handprint remained on the window frame.

"Hell..."

A note was left on the table, the ink still wet, clearly written just now.

----

Mr. Bruce.

Alkaline water is harmless to the human body, but it's still best to wash it off as soon as possible.

----

……

Holding the note, Zhang Renfeng stood there stunned for a long time, feeling a rare sensation of sweating profusely and his heart racing.

While inspecting the sheep intestines in the cellar, I did touch them, and naturally picked up the smell of the sink. Later, I found Sean in the cubicle, rushed him to the clinic, and then hurried to the police station to finalize the plan to capture Wendigo with Gordon and the others... So many things happened in one day, it was too rushed, there was no time to consider the details.

Haste makes waste, and waste leads to unforeseen changes.

Coincidentally, Wendigo was exceptionally sensitive to changes in smell; he could even smell the earth on his own clothes, and never realized that they were camping in the wild. This oversight, however meticulously planned, ultimately created an opening, causing the entire plan to fail!

"Damn it... I've been tricked!"

"boom----!!"

With a kick, the black walnut desk slid three or four meters across the floor like an ice hockey puck before crashing into the bookcase against the wall, denting it completely. Letters scattered like snowflakes, drifting and landing on the ground.

Zhang Renfeng didn't look down. Knowing Wendigo as he did, anything truly containing secrets wouldn't be placed here; it would have been burned immediately after being read. On the contrary, anything placed here was probably something that wouldn't matter if others saw it.

For Wendigo, these things on the surface are more like harmless decorations, mere embellishments to maintain his "human skin".

"Hiss...ha..."

Close your eyes and inhale.

With just one deep breath, Zhang Renfeng quickly calmed down. The person had already run away, and there was no point in getting angry anymore. No matter how unwilling he was, he could only admit that he had won this confrontation.

……

"Want to play, huh? Fine..."

Zhang Renfeng muttered to himself resentfully, striking a match, "Then let's have some fun!"

----

"Boss, boss, look!" the underling's voice was filled with panic. "It looks like something's on fire!"

A bad feeling rose in Quilla's heart. She put her legs down from the table and looked in the direction from which the thick smoke was rising. In the thick fog, a faint black column of smoke seemed to be rising, and screams of alarm came from afar.

"Isn't that the direction of Wendigo's hometown?" he wondered to himself. "What kind of trouble is that old man... up to now?"

……

Just then, a tall, all-black man pushed open the tavern's main door and strode in.

"Mayor Lecter?!" the tavern owner exclaimed, "You... how could you..."

“You know me?” Wendigo stopped and glanced at him.

To be honest, in an era when there were no other media channels besides newspapers, even though he was the mayor of White Torch, not many people actually knew what he looked like. For most ordinary people in the town, Wendigo was just a name, a background figure they might never encounter in their entire lives.

That's why his eyes twitched slightly when the tavern owner announced his name.

"You can't say that. I... didn't you give the opening speech for the charity event on the 16th? I was listening to it just now..." The tavern owner scratched his head, a little embarrassed. "Your speech was so wonderful that even God would be moved by it."

“…Sir, could you come over here for a moment?” Wendigo completely ignored his words, loosened his tie, and waved him over.

"What?" The tavern owner was stunned, not understanding for a moment how the conversation had led to this result, but he still subconsciously did as he was told and stepped forward a little.

"Please come a little closer."

Wendigo gripped his tie with both hands and said in a deep voice.

Chapter 181: Fog and Cicada Song

Wendigo instinctively tightened his neck; this was probably one of the few times he had been disheveled in public.

Without the restraint of a tie, the collar became somewhat out of shape, drooping loosely on the shoulders.

The red-striped tie... was tightly wrapped around the tavern owner's neck, tied in a knot—he lay supine on the inside of the bar, his body twisted grotesquely, his face ashen, his eyes bulging, foaming at the mouth, his body already beginning to stiffen. His fingers were frantically digging into his neck, leaving several vertical bloody marks—a common physiological reflex when someone is strangled.

"So, you mean..." Quira rubbed his forehead, his head throbbing. He wanted to get angry, but he didn't even have the strength to. "Your identity has been exposed. It's only a matter of time before everyone knows you're a cannibalistic psychopath, right?"

“That’s true.” Wendigo’s voice was chillingly calm, showing no sign of having reached a dead end.

"Then why aren't you running away... what are you doing here?" Quira was almost laughing in anger. She glanced at the bar and said sarcastically, "You can't expect to have one last good meal before you leave, can you? That owner reeks of alcohol and doesn't have much meat on him."

“Burning down my mansion was their way of hoping I would panic—'You have nowhere to go back to; your only way out is to run away.' That’s the message they wanted to convey to me. If I ran away in a panic, I would definitely be caught in the end,” Wendigo analyzed. “As for this boss… unfortunately, I have no personal grudge against him.”

“He saw my face and was able to connect my face with my real name, so I had no other choice.”

Wendigo tightened his collar again. To him, strangling a complete stranger would not bring him any moral burden; it would only make him feel a little uncomfortable around his neck without his tie.

"You expect us to help you escape this town?" Quira scoffed, her tone turning contemptuous. "Why? Even a fool knows that an ogre can't continue to be mayor. In other words, you're no longer of any use to our business."

"So why should we waste our time playing guessing games with you?"

"Mr. 'Oshu Shrike'?"

……

It's perfectly normal for people to drift apart after they leave. The Cold Cicada Gang... or more accurately, the EU behind the Cold Cicada Gang, is cooperating with the "Mayor of White Torch Town".

Once this position is lost, the two sides will become complete strangers, and Wendigo has no hope of persuading them with words.

Negotiation is always an art of applying pressure and compromising. Even in an extremely unfavorable environment, Wendigo still found the precise points to apply pressure.

“I don’t expect you all to help me escape White Torch Town.” Facing these gang members who had been living on the edge of a knife, Wendigo remained calm and composed. “However, there are a few troubles that I must deal with before leaving White Torch Town.”

"The first to be affected is Mr. Bruce Zhang and his cronies. Right now, he is our enemy. The damage he can cause is far greater than we anticipated."

"Hahaha!!" Quira slammed her hand on the table as if she'd heard a ridiculous joke. "Isn't it that lewd guy? Didn't you want to recruit him before? What, now that you've been bitten back, you can't take it anymore? You brought it on yourself..."

"When I recruited him, I explained to him in general terms what kind of work he would be doing, and the background of the business. Of course, this also included the details of this industry chain, who our upstream and downstream partners are, how it operates, and what he would need to do..."

"In other words, he can already be considered to have one foot in our 'game'."

"Can you imagine what someone who knows the truth but can't be used by me would do?"

……

The laughter stopped instantly.

He killed the game with just one sentence.

"Wendigo Lecter—!!" Quira, initially shocked, suddenly drew his Colt Viper revolver from his belt, slammed it on the table, pressed the barrel against his head, and growled, "Are you fucking begging me or threatening me?!"

"...Does it make a difference?" Wendigo said calmly. "Killing me here won't change anything. We already know what we need to know. The only solution now is to turn the tables and completely eliminate him and all his comrades who have gathered around him."

"To achieve this in White Torch Town, we need to work together."

"Fuck your head!" Goat Eyes, even more hot-tempered, immediately flipped the table aside, pointed the gun at Wendigo's head, and said, "Boss, stop holding back! This bastard is playing us for fools. He's asking for it and wants us all to die with him! Let me shoot him, and we'll all be in peace!"

Seeing this, the other members of the Cold Cicada Gang also drew their guns and aimed them at Wendigo.

Wendigo calmly picked up his glass, took a sip of his Aperol liqueur, and seemed completely unconcerned about what was about to happen.

He knew very well that any team sent out to handle matters would have at least one person who could grasp the big picture.

In this situation, the boss behind the Cold Cicada Gang can clearly understand what is more important.

……

After a moment of silence, Quira waved his hand, signaling them to put their guns away, and said in a sinister tone, "What do you want? Just say it."

“It’s simple.” Wendigo pointed in a direction not far away. “Hostages.”

"hostage?"

“A direct confrontation is unlikely to be successful. We need to take a hostage who he cares about and bring his people over.”

"Coincidentally, I have a perfect candidate here. We'll split into two groups. I'll take one team to take care of the hostages. Once we have them, we'll have the initiative regarding the time and place. We can arrange a suitable place for the assassination and wipe out Bruce Zhang and his men in one fell swoop!"

"Ha...haha..." Quira laughed coldly in anger, "We'll clear away all the obstacles for you so you can escape smoothly, is that what you mean?"

"Time is running out, Mr. Quilla. The fact that they set my house on fire is a powerful declaration. From this moment on, there is no room for negotiation."

After finishing his drink, Wendigo slowly rose and looked down at Quella from his elevated position.

The aura of someone in a superior position was unmistakably displayed at this moment.

"There are three noteworthy people around Bruce—one is the experienced retired mounted police officer, Il Ilan; one is a girl with a scar on her face; and the other is a smaller girl. If he placed someone with that hostage, it would probably be one of these three. Old people and children shouldn't be too difficult for your Cold Cicada Gang, right?"

"In order to ensure that the EU's investment in White Torch Town can be implemented smoothly, everyone, it would be better to act quickly."

Chapter 182: Stabbing the Enemy with the Pointed End

Cactus Tavern.

Looking at his boss lying on the ground, his face contorted in a grotesque expression, Zhang Renfeng remained silent, only clenching his fists until they cracked.

After burning down Wendigo's mansion, he naturally began gathering men to conduct a thorough search of the surrounding area. But before anything could happen, cries of alarm came from the roadside, and a crowd gathered in front of the Cactus Tavern. Zhang Renfeng had a premonition, and after pushing aside the onlookers, he witnessed this horrifying scene.

Zhang Renfeng was no stranger to the Cactus Tavern; it was usually his and Jimmy's meeting point in White Torch Town. Although they hadn't exchanged many words, he was fairly familiar with Jimmy's face. He never imagined that this man, whom he'd met a few times, would be so abruptly dragged into this vicious battle and become a casualty.

"Don't get stuck on the details, you've done all you can."

At times like this, it was Mike who could keep things in check. He patted him on the shoulder and said, "You're not a god. Don't take other people's sins upon yourself."

“…Understood.” Zhang Renfeng nodded, deeply engraving the boss’s image in his mind. “Once we catch him, we’ll settle things with him once and for all.”

After escaping from his home, Wendigo didn't linger for a moment and went straight to the Cactus Tavern—this didn't even require deduction; just looking at the unfinished wine glasses on the table, one could roughly estimate the number of people.

There are at least 20 people, and they should be the "employees" Wendigo mentioned. Their true identities are still unclear, but their next step will inevitably be to tear a gap in the encirclement of White Torch Town and find a way to escape.