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墨書 Inktalez
"I thought a little punishment would make Erhu behave, but I didn't expect him to find so many helpers," Kang Ning said resentfully to Big Head Yang after leaving the hotel.
"What should we do now?" Big Head Yang asked.
Han Shenghui is just a thug at the end of the day; no matter how big he gets, he’s not to be feared. The key point is that he actually calls that Zhang Yang 'Brother Yang,' and that guy next to him doesn't say much, smokes a lot. He doesn't seem like someone from the streets; he looks more like someone from the government," Kang Ning said while recalling the events.
"So what now? Should we agree to his terms?" Big Head Yang seemed a bit timid.
"If I could agree, I would have done so back at the hotel. I've said it before, we can't open this door. First, mobilize others for the demolition, drag things out for Erhu's family. Just send two people to stroll around his house every day, without saying a word, just strolling. Let the bullets fly for a while; it might yield some results," Kang Ning stroked his chin, his gaze becoming distant again.
Kang Ning, lost in thought, felt quite frustrated. After parting ways with Big Head Yang, he went to a well-known club, flashed his VIP gold card, and indulged with two tall models before feeling weary enough to have the driver take him home.
Kang Ning lived in a villa on the hillside in East District of Haizhou. There were many villas around, but each yard was relatively isolated. Kang Ning's wife had taken their three-year-old son back to her parents' home. Only Kang Ning remained at home with Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen, who were responsible for household chores.
Due to the villa's relative independence, Kang Ning kept two Tibetan Mastiffs in his yard. He wasn't particularly fond of dogs; they were purely for guarding the house. Thus, the two Tibetan Mastiffs were not purebred but typical mixes. However, they were quite large and did exhibit some of the imposing characteristics of Tibetan Mastiffs when they roared.
Kang Ning instructed Uncle Chen to release the ropes tying up the two Tibetan Mastiffs and then went straight back to his bedroom to sleep. Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen slept in a room on the first floor while Kang Ning slept on the second floor.
As summer turned to autumn, it was somewhat cool at night. In the middle of the night, Uncle Chen suddenly heard the Tibetan Mastiffs growl twice and sat up in bed, but soon there was no more noise from the yard. "Just sleep; they always bark a couple of times at night," Aunt Chen murmured as she turned over.
Kang Ning pulled up a duck down quilt and quickly fell asleep after a long day. He slept soundly and didn’t hear the Tibetan Mastiffs barking.
Kang Ning had a dream where he became a street performer demonstrating breaking stones on his chest. The large stone pressed against his chest without breaking, causing him discomfort. At that moment, a cold wind blew in through an unclosed window, making dream-Kang Ning shiver and wake up groggily.
Upon opening his eyes, he was suddenly confronted by a massive Tibetan Mastiff head with its gaping bloody mouth.
"Ah, mom!" Kang Ning rolled off the bed in shock as the Tibetan Mastiff's head fell alongside him. Bloodstains from the dog splattered across his chest.
Gasping for breath, Kang Ning got up and grabbed a cup of water from the table, gulping it down quickly to calm himself. Suddenly he noticed that another Tibetan Mastiff's head was hanging from the bedroom door frame. Startled, he lost grip on the cup which crashed to the floor and shattered into pieces.
The terror of waking up from such a nightmare is something that would leave anyone with normal heart function shaken. Kang Ning felt unsteady on his feet as he staggered to turn on the bedroom light only to see a white paper nailed to the wall covered with small cut-out letters from newspapers that formed an impressive five-character quatrain:
The night was quiet and deep as I entered the house alone. Don't do bad things to the end; next time, throw away the grave.
"You are ruthless enough, Han Shenghui!" Kang Ning shouted in a tremble, tearing off a piece of white paper, only to find a five-character quatrain on the back:
Can't guess it accurately, why bother with it? Yesterday's barking dog, today becomes a vengeful spirit.
This is even accompanied by an analysis.
Kang Ning suddenly collapsed onto the ground. A person entered the villa and killed two Tibetan Mastiffs without him noticing. The intruder was very skilled, leaving a message cut from a newspaper, and needless to say, there would be no fingerprints left. After calming down, Kang Ning felt that Han Shenghui probably didn't have such courage...
He rushed to the bathroom to splash water on his face, hurriedly changed clothes, and then went to the study. He opened the computer to check the surveillance footage from that night in the villa.
He discovered that starting from midnight, the surveillance footage was completely dark, clearly having been tampered with. Only one hidden camera could capture some images, but due to its concealment, the angle was poor. In the footage, he could see a shadow darting into the yard like a bird; then two Tibetan Mastiffs lunged forward, about to bark. As the shadow moved, both animals collapsed onto the ground. The shadow then picked up both Tibetan Mastiffs and flew under the eaves like a bird, out of the camera's range.
The entire process was very quick, taking only a second or two; Kang Ning had to replay the footage multiple times to notice it.
Kang Ning suppressed his racing heartbeat and lit a cigarette. The first thing he needed to consider was whether to call the police. Reporting it might not be useful, but it was better than not reporting at all. However, if he called the police, this matter would likely spread quickly, and he would soon become a topic of gossip among Haizhou residents, especially for those living in Ranma Alley who were about to be relocated.
After thinking it over, Kang Ning decided not to report it. Given how meticulously the scene had been handled, solving this case seemed far off. As he left the study, he found two large burlap sacks at the staircase on the second floor, each containing a headless Tibetan Mastiff. Kang Ning calmed himself and placed the heads of the Tibetan Mastiffs into separate sacks, tied them tightly, and then woke Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen.
"Mr. Kang, are you alright?" Uncle Chen looked at the bloodstains on the floor in shock. "Should we call the police?"
"It's fine; I killed those two unruly beasts. Just clean up."
"Huh? How did they get in?"
"I couldn't sleep and wandered around in the yard for a while; they followed me in. When I got to the bedroom and tried to chase them out, they attempted to bite me, so I killed them with a fruit knife."
"But..."
"Stop being so long-winded! Why argue with animals? Hurry up and clean up! Take these two bags that smell like dogs to the yard first!" Kang Ning said, walking out of the bedroom with his hands behind his back.
Watching Kang Ning leave, Uncle Chen and Aunt Chen quickly huffed and puffed as they carried the two bags away. After placing them in the yard, they returned upstairs to start cleaning. Once they finished, Aunt Chen took the clothes that Kang Ning had changed out of to the laundry room to wash.
Amidst the sound of running water, Uncle Chen dared to speak next to Aunt Chen, "With Kang Ning's build, can he really take down two animals at once? I heard barking twice in the middle of the night; it couldn't be him killing dogs, could it?"
Aunt Chen's body trembled slightly. "I can't help but think of that movie... what was it called? Oh right, 'Saw.' Kang Ning wouldn't have gone crazy, would he?"
"No way, he's always been so refined."
"Those psychopathic killers often appear refined on the surface. Old man, do you think one day he might...?" Aunt Chen's words trailed off as Uncle Chen quickly covered her mouth. "Don't say such things; we still need to keep working."
"What's the point of working when our lives are at stake? I think after this month—no, let's not take this month's pay. We should leave quickly; it's safer in the countryside," Aunt Chen insisted while finishing washing the blood-stained clothes and grabbing Uncle Chen's hand.
"This..."
"What are you hesitating for? I'm going to pack our things right now."
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