Chapter 52: Chapter 48: Incineration Disposal

[1:46 AM, 14 minutes past the deadline]

Reuben, under the influence of a hallucinogen, felt weak all over, with less than 20% of his usual strength.

However, KK was even weaker in physique, unable to fend off even the extremely weakened Reuben.

In a critical moment, he could only use his arms to protect his vital areas as Reuben’s fists rained down, leaving his arms covered in bruises.

Amidst the intense scuffle, the communicator in his ear was shaken loose.

He struggled to crawl over, attempting to seek help from Su Mo.

But before he could reach the communicator, his slender neck was gripped tightly by a pair of large hands.

Reuben, eyes bloodshot, choked KK’s neck and roared, “I’ll kill you! How dare you mess with me? I’ll kill you!”

KK, unable to breathe, felt his consciousness blurring from the suffocation, which simultaneously triggered his survival instinct, causing him to struggle violently.

The two turned into a tangled mass, rolling and crashing around the bedroom, knocking over many pieces of furniture, scattering all kinds of random objects everywhere.

Ultimately, KK could not match Reuben’s strength, and was once again pinned to the ground, those large hands like iron clamps gripping his neck.

Severe oxygen deprivation caused snowflake-like noise to fill KK’s vision, his consciousness gradually disintegrating, while his hands and feet flailed desperately.

At the brink of death, he blindly grabbed at anything within his reach, and without knowing what he held, he threw it at Reuben’s face.

However, it only elicited even more furious roars from Reuben, without any actual effect.

Just as KK’s consciousness was about to slip away, his hand felt a cold metallic object on the floor.

Almost unconsciously, he gripped it tightly, and with the last of his strength, jabbed it toward Reuben’s face.

“Bang!” Without warning, a loud noise erupted.

Smelling the scent of gunpowder, KK felt his face splattered with a lot of warm liquid.

The pressure on his neck rapidly dissipated, and Reuben toppled to the side, landing on the floor with a “thud”.

“Huff… Huff…” KK finally regained the freedom to breathe, gasping for air, as oxygen rushed into his lungs, bringing a hard-to-describe sense of rebirth.

He squeezed his eyes tight, and as his blurry vision started to focus, he finally saw the scene before him clearly.

Reuben lay dead in a pool of blood, his eyes wide open, with a thumb-sized bloody hole slanting through his skull, completely lifeless.

And in KK’s hand was a handgun, knocked off the bedside table, with smoke still wafting from its barrel.

Stunned…

Bewildered…

Then fear…

KK trembled helplessly, crawling over to pick up the communicator and plug it back into his ear, his voice choked with sobs, “Big brother… are you still there…”

“Bang!”

Su Mo burst in through the door, “Are you okay?!”

KK couldn’t stop his tears, curling up into a ball, his emotions on the verge of collapse, “I… I killed someone… Reuben is dead… What do I do… The people from the Eagle Claw Association… won’t let me go… I… Ugh!…”

The first time killing someone, coupled with the fear of being hunted, made KK’s stomach churn violently, and he lay on the floor vomiting profusely, sobbing as he pleaded for Su Mo’s help, “Big brother… please save me… Big brother I’m begging you to save me…”

Su Mo placed a hand on his shoulder, “KK, KK! Calm down first, listen to me!”

KK remained curled up, shivering non-stop, biting his teeth hard to try and control his emotions, but his breathing remained erratic.

Su Mo said, “Don’t be afraid, I’m here, I won’t let anything happen to you. Calm down now, and we’ll clean up the situation together.”

KK sniffled and murmured in agreement.

Su Mo looked KK over from head to toe.

Having shot Reuben at close range, KK was splattered with blood all over his body and face, large patches of crimson red.

Su Mo found some of Reuben’s clothes in the wardrobe, put them in the bathroom, and said, “First take off your clothes and leave them here. Then go to the bathroom, wash your face and body clean, and change into the new clothes.”

Overwhelming fear and panic had long deprived KK of his ability to think; he treated Su Mo as his lifeline and did whatever he was told.

KK scrubbed his skin raw in the bathroom, only then did he change clothes and come out, trembling all over.

Though Reuben’s clothes were not a perfect fit, they sufficed to cover his body.

As KK emerged, he saw Su Mo moving several boxes inside, all filled with alcohol.

Su Mo called out to KK, “Quick, go to the kitchen downstairs and find some alcohol. Check the labels, the alcohol content needs to be at least 38%, the higher the better, bring as many as you can, move fast.”

Reuben was a notorious alcoholic, and the kitchen was stacked with alcohol, including some spirits over 60% proof.

KK had just brought up a box when he saw Su Mo pouring bottles of spirits everywhere.

KK finally came to his senses, “Big brother, you’re going to burn this place down?”

Su Mo replied while splashing, “Yes, you guys fought for so long, the traces left can’t be cleaned up by conventional means, the only way is to burn the bedroom to the ground, otherwise the people from the Eagle Claw Association will eventually track you down.”

At the mention of the Eagle Claw Association, KK started trembling again in fright, “Will this really work? If those guys check the surveillance, I…”

Su Mo placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “The place I arranged for you to encounter Reuben was a carefully designed surveillance blind spot.”

“When you returned to the villa, I followed the whole way, keeping an eye out, that route is quite secluded without any surveillance equipment.”

“This means, if we burn the entire bedroom, there won’t be any trace left, the Eagle Claw Association could turn the whole frontier upside down and still won’t find you.”

“So calm down, help me soak the bedroom with high-proof alcohol, set it on fire, and we’ll make a run for it with the boxes, then this will all be over.”

Su Mo’s words provided KK with significant psychological comfort, and he earnestly assisted Su Mo in handling the scene.

To ensure it all burned down, the two doused everything flammable in the bedroom with spirits.

Finally, Su Mo picked up a silver briefcase, led KK out of the room, struck a match, and tossed it into the bedroom.

“Woosh——” Flames quickly spread, in a short period engulfing the entire room.

The bed and floor blazed with roaring flames, the walls and ceiling charred by tongues of fire, and Reuben’s corpse emitted sizzling sounds in the flames, gradually dehydrating and shrinking, everything consumed by the flames.

Heat waves hit them, gazing at the ferociously burning bedroom, KK couldn’t help but weep, knowing that his past life was now far behind him.

He was once a small mouse on the frontier, underfed and poorly clad, yet a free mouse, able to live openly under the sun.

But now, having caused such a catastrophe, even with the traces in the bedroom burnt away, he dared not face anyone openly again, confined forever to the shadows of the sewers.

The two left the villa, Su Mo’s motorcycle was parked outside.

He patted the back seat, “Hop on, you sit in the back.”

KK sat on the back seat, his expression vacant and disoriented, “What should I do in the future…”

Su Mo placed the case in the motorcycle’s back trunk, patted KK’s head, and gave a gentle smile, “Why worry with me around? Come on, let’s get out of this damned place first.”

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