Chapter 75 – Infiltration

Clang——

The iron gate that had been opened shut again tightly.

Lu Yuan watched as the headlights of the two cars at the bottom of the slope sped away into the night. He turned his head, a peculiar expression on his face.

“Is this guy being held under house arrest?”

The term “house arrest” didn’t seem quite accurate.

This man named Wang Zhichao seemed more like he was trapped in a situation he couldn’t escape from but also didn’t want to drag others into.

His behavior at the door just now clearly showed he was protecting Lu Xinghua and the other two, not wanting them to be caught.

“It seemed out of goodwill.”

“So what would happen if he got caught?”

Lu Yuan squinted, starting to carefully examine the four-story rural house in front of him.

The house stood alone on a small dirt slope.

It seemed to be quite far from the nearest village, in a rather desolate location.

The house looked grand, but it was actually quite simple.

The exterior walls weren’t even painted; only the second floor had some tiles, while the third and fourth floors were bare concrete walls.

The roof was also bare, with the outlines of a water tank and a solar water heater faintly visible.

The house was surrounded by a two-meter-high wall, forming a large courtyard, with two locked black and gray iron gates.

As Lu Yuan moved a few steps closer, he immediately smelled a strong, pungent stench.

The stench was like accumulated bird droppings, mixed with the smell of rotting animal corpses.

Instinctively, he glanced at a wild pomelo tree behind him.

“Is it the smell of crow droppings?”

Lu Yuan pondered.

He couldn’t help but think of the chemical plant explosion in the south district some time ago, which also involved a lot of crows.

For a moment.

Lu Yuan felt like he was very close to the truth of the matter.

“Let’s go in and take a look.”

Lu Yuan’s eyes flickered as he silently moved to the left side of the house.

Standing at the base of the wall, he didn’t rush up but closed his eyes to use his “meager” superpowers to observe a bit.

Confirming that there was no one at the base of the wall inside.

Then he lightly leaped upward.

With 12 agility points and the explosive power of 13 strength points, Lu Yuan easily jumped over the nearly two-meter height.

Lu Yuan gently gripped the top of the wall with both hands.

In rural areas, it’s common to have anti-theft measures on top of courtyard walls.

This house was no exception.

The top of the wall was lined with broken beer bottle shards, with their sharp edges facing up to prevent people from climbing over.

Fortunately, Lu Yuan had used his “720-degree closed-eye holographic imaging” ability to scout ahead, allowing his fingers to find gaps between the shards, preventing injury.

Using only the strength of his ten fingers, Lu Yuan slowly hoisted himself up, first peeking his head over to survey the situation below.

From his vantage point, he had a clear view of the house’s side door.

The front yard was a mess, with two farm tricycles parked haphazardly and various farming tools and pickling jars scattered around.

No dogs, no surveillance cameras.

However, he did notice several dark bird shapes perched on the ground, the tricycles, and the jars.

Lu Yuan frowned.

After a moment of hesitation, he decided to grip the wall tightly with his fingers.

With a move resembling a “goat jump,” he gracefully vaulted over the wall, landing lightly in the courtyard.

Thud!

A slight landing sound.

Two dark shapes perched at the base of the wall flapped their wings and flew up to the wall’s edge, glancing down at Lu Yuan before quickly losing interest.

As soon as he landed, Lu Yuan darted over to the house, crouching close to the wall.

He waited for a good half a minute, but no one came out, indicating his presence hadn’t been noticed.

Even so, Lu Yuan’s heartbeat began to quicken.

“Infiltrating at night really is thrilling. It’s like being in one of Uncle Long’s movies.”

Although even if the men inside the house did discover him, Lu Yuan was confident he could handle them and then walk out the front door with ease.

But who knew what other strange things might be hidden in this house?

Lu Yuan became even more cautious, crouching as he moved lightly to the front of the house, near the first-floor windowsill.

Bam!

He heard the sounds of fists and feet striking, mixed with shouts and curses, along with painful groans and moans.

Lu Yuan closed his eyes slightly, extending what he could call his mental power bit by bit into the house.

“Spit!”

Lu Yuan saw the man in a vest, who had earlier opened the door for Lu Xinghua and the others, now pressing his foot firmly on Wang Zhichao’s chest, spitting in his face and cursing angrily.

The man in a vest looked to be in his fifties.

His skin was dark and sallow, his face lined with deep wrinkles, resembling a typical farmer who had labored for many years.

He spoke with a thick regional accent.

Lu Yuan couldn’t understand a word he was saying, except for a few words like “death,” “crow,” and “can’t escape.”

Wang Zhichao lay curled up on the ground, blood seeping from his nose and mouth, looking utterly miserable.

It was clear that he had just been severely beaten for letting Lu Xinghua and the others go.

“I didn’t want to hurt them, I didn’t want to hurt them,” Wang Zhichao kept repeating, his face filled with terror and pain.

Seeing this, the man in the vest suddenly became furious. He stood up and kicked Wang Zhichao hard in the lower back.

He roared something loudly, again mentioning “death.”

Wang Zhichao groaned in pain.

The men surrounding him resumed punching and kicking him.

The man in the vest stood aside, watching coldly. At this point, someone turned to ask him a question.

The man in the vest stared at Wang Zhichao with a cold, sinister look for a long time before shaking his head and saying something.

Then he walked over to the side and started smoking.

Lu Yuan abruptly opened his eyes, his brows furrowed.

The behavior of the people in the house was reminiscent of being in a cult, their actions and words filled with an inexplicable fervor.

“Let’s check the second floor first.”

Lu Yuan retreated to the wall where he had entered and noticed a few small windows above the side door of the house.

The lowest window was open, just over a meter above the side door.

He quickly calculated in his mind, then sprinted towards the courtyard wall, leaping off it with his right foot to gain momentum, and like a parkour move, propelled himself towards the window.

Smoothly, Lu Yuan gripped the windowsill and easily climbed inside.

The window led to a staircase that went from the first floor to the second floor. The hallway was dark.

Lu Yuan slowly ascended the stairs and soon reached the second floor.

The second floor had four or five rooms in a row.

The nearest one had an open window, but it was tightly shut, with curtains drawn, making it impossible to see inside.

Lu Yuan walked to the room’s door and was surprised to find it unlocked.

Gently pushing it open…

In an instant, blinding light and a strong, metallic smell of blood assaulted Lu Yuan’s senses.