Chapter 273: Silencing?

It was three hours after parting ways with Luo Fei that Wu Haibo finished his follow-up examination at the hospital and returned home.

After opening the door and stepping inside, Wu Haibo felt something was off. He was an elderly man living alone with a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder; since his wife passed away, his OCD had become more severe, which was why he noticed the anomaly in his home.

He lightly brushed the dust off his clothes, hung his coat on the rack by the door, changed into slippers, and placed his leather shoes neatly in the shoe cabinet with the toes pointing inward. While putting the shoes away, he calmly grabbed a Phillips screwdriver with a rubber handle from the corner of the cabinet.

He held the screwdriver reversed in his left palm, his forearm perfectly concealing the blade, which was a full 20 centimeters long, and walked toward the bathroom without changing his expression.

Although his apartment was a bit old-fashioned, it was quite spacious. The bathroom was a large room with a dry-wet separation. He quietly pushed open the plastic-steel door to the outer washroom; it was empty. Further in was the shower stall.

At this moment, his pupils suddenly contracted—his left hand tightened around the screwdriver! He usually only pulled the shower curtain open when taking a bath, keeping it closed otherwise, but right now, the shower curtain was pulled open!

There really was someone in his house! When he first entered, he had noticed the cushions on the living room sofa were misplaced. He had realized then that someone might have been there, but he hadn't expected the person to still be inside!

What did the other party want? He had no assets in his home. Was it for money? I'm afraid not...

He was less than a meter away from the shower stall. Although he couldn't see the person inside, he could feel the killing intent radiating from them!

He hesitated in his heart: should he turn around and leave the house, or push open the glass door in front of him?

After thinking for a while—no more than ten seconds—he made up his mind to leave the room. Just as he was about to turn around, a "thud" sounded from inside the shower stall—an object had fallen to the floor!

His body froze for a moment! He felt a gust of wind rush toward his face! The glass door of the shower stall was pushed open from the inside, and the shower curtain was pulled back with a "swish"!

A black shadow leaped out like lightning! Wu Haibo's nerves had been tightly coiled; the moment the change occurred inside, his right hand had already taken the screwdriver from his left and was waving it in front of his chest to block the opponent's unknown attack!

The person hiding in the shower stall threw some object; Wu Haibo didn't have time to see clearly and could only swing the screwdriver. With a "clack," the screwdriver knocked the flying object down. Only when it hit the floor did he see it was a bottle of shampoo.

"This person has no weapon?" Wu Haibo realized this instantly. His courage suddenly surged! He shouted, "What are you doing? Who sent you?"

The person let out a cold snort, ignored him, looked toward the door, and lifted a leg to rush out!

Perhaps the person looked down on Wu Haibo because of his age, not realizing that although Wu Haibo was a traffic police officer before retirement, he had a military background and exercised regularly. Just as the person was about to rush out, Wu Haibo anticipated the move, lifted his leg, and kicked toward the person's shin!

The shin has no meat; if that kick landed, it wouldn't feel good. Even if it couldn't injure the opponent, the opponent certainly wouldn't be able to run away so easily.

Seeing his agility, the opponent quickly discarded any contempt, dodged the kick with a sidestep, turned his body, and threw a punch with his right hand, aiming straight for Wu Haibo's face!

Wu Haibo held the screwdriver in reverse to block the punch, feeling how heavy the man's fist was; his right arm felt as if it had been struck by a heavy hammer! He knew he was no match and only wanted to use the advantage of his weapon to force the opponent back so he could seize the chance to run out of the house.

In the blink of an eye, both men's thoughts underwent drastic changes. Wu Haibo worried that the man was sent by *that* person; if so, his life might be in danger!

The mysterious man saw that Wu Haibo posed no real threat and became determined to subdue him to complete his mission!

These psychological shifts occurred in a flash. Wu Haibo stepped forward with his right leg, twisted his waist and hips, and swung his right arm, the screwdriver in his hand slashing rapidly toward the man!

The man smiled slightly, shrunk his body, and instead of retreating, he lunged forward, crashing into Wu Haibo's chest until they were almost face-to-face! Wu Haibo's slash missed, but he felt a sharp pain in his right armpit! Before he could react, his entire right arm lost all strength, as if it had gone numb!

By the time he saw the man's move clearly, his right arm joint had been dislocated by the man! The man smiled contemptuously and threw a punch as fast as lightning into Wu Haibo's stomach. Wu Haibo felt his stomach churn, and he curled into a ball, collapsing onto the floor!

The man grabbed his collar, dragged him out into the living room, and said, "I didn't want to touch you, but it's such a coincidence that you forced me to reveal myself. Fine, hand over the item now, and I won't make things difficult for you!"

"Y-you, what are you saying? I don't understand!" Wu Haibo gritted his teeth, enduring the intense pain, and said with difficulty.

"Hmph! Still holding onto wishful thinking!" The man smiled faintly, lifted his foot, stepped on Wu Haibo's right shoulder, and pressed down hard!

"Ah!" Wu Haibo let out a scream, and beads of sweat the size of peas instantly streamed down his head! "What do you want? I really don't know!"

"Heh! You secretly met with that police officer; did you think we wouldn't know?" Seeing him still quibbling, the man pointed out directly that he knew Wu had met with Luo Fei.

Wu Haibo's heart sank! As expected, he hadn't escaped their surveillance! After so many years, his power was still so terrifying!

In this instant, he felt some regret. He just didn't want to live the rest of his life in guilt, which was why he decided to reveal some of the events from back then after the police approached him. He hadn't even named the person behind it all, yet the other party already knew his moves. It seemed that person had never let him go!

In his current physical state, leaving this world could happen at any time, but what about his children? If they took action against them...

Thinking of this, his body went limp, and his heart sank into the dark seabed like a heavy stone!

"I, I didn't reveal anything about the boss, really! I didn't say anything!" Wu Haibo said, trembling.

"Hand over the things you kept back then. The boss said he can spare your life!"

Wu Haibo's brain raced. No one knew about the pharmacy video from back then, and he had wiped the surveillance equipment clean of any traces! But this killer hadn't mentioned the USB drive or the video. Could it be that they didn't know what he had kept? And the reason they sent someone was just out of fear that he would tell the police something!

It seemed that in their eyes, he was a ticking time bomb. The reason they hadn't moved against him for so many years was that they believed he had no reason to speak of the past. But now, he had only had a few contacts with Luo Fei, and they were so anxious to find him. Could it be that *that* person was having some kind of trouble?