Chapter 521

Answering "no" would completely contradict his persona of absolute loyalty to Prison Warden Qian.

If he answered "I don't know, I defer to Madam's judgment."

This might seem like a clever response, but in reality, it would certainly arouse suspicion that he was playing mind games.

So, there could only be one answer.

"Lou Duan definitely participated; otherwise, why wouldn't those two Zone Chiefs look for someone else, instead of specifically coming to find Lou Duan in the middle of the night?"

Feng Mu spoke into the phone with murderous intent surging,

"I'm right downstairs at their building now, Madam. With just one word from you, I'll lead men to charge in right now, and before dawn, I guarantee I'll place those three heads on your desk."

Feng Mu's answer was crisp and decisive, his reasoning blunt to the point of brutality, causing even Li Hanyu on the other end of the phone to feel a trace of suffocation.

"Worthy of being the knife my son chose, full of killing intent, simple-minded!"

Li Hanyu couldn't help but feel her trust in Feng Mu rise another notch.

A knife without too many thoughts of its own is the easiest to control, and the most worthy of trust.

Li Hanyu had originally worried Feng Mu wouldn't dare kill; now she not only didn't need to worry, but had to turn around and soothe Feng Mu instead:

"Feng Mu, don't be impulsive. Lou Duan cannot die."

After Li Hanyu finished speaking, she immediately followed up with a supplementary explanation:

"There is currently no evidence that can prove he has any connection to the explosion."

The other end of the phone fell into a moment of deathly silence, as if even the air had frozen solid.

Li Hanyu's feelings were complex and hard to fathom; on one hand she was moved by Feng Mu's eagerness to avenge her son, on the other she couldn't help but feel a bit of a headache.

A knife that's too sharp, too bloodthirsty, also causes its master worry.

At this moment, Li Hanyu experienced the same feeling her son Qian Huan once had.

Feng Mu was very satisfied with Li Hanyu's dissuasion; he was now even more certain that Qian Huan took after his mother — both equally suspicious and cautious.

He deliberately let out a long breath, letting his voice fill with suppressed anger and unwillingness:

"Madam, then the remaining two people, can I..."

Li Hanyu actually also wanted two live captives; that way they could yield greater value.

But hearing the suppressed breathing in the phone receiver, she didn't dare persuade further; if she kept persuading, she feared Feng Mu might misunderstand and think she was also an accomplice in the explosion case.

She finally ordered in a cold voice: "Bring their heads back."

Laughter came through the phone, carrying a trace of bone-chilling madness: "As you command, Madam."

Li Hanyu's heart tightened, and she hurriedly added:

"Wait until they leave Lou Duan's house before acting, don't alert the enemy. Also—"

She paused for a moment,

"Bring back the evidence of their conspiracy as well."

Although Li Hanyu thoroughly despised Wang Xinfa's cold-blooded pragmatism, she could still learn from his way of thinking.

Just as the call was about to end, Li Hanyu asked a soul-searching question:

"Feng Mu, Hou Wendong tasked you with handling matters, yet you chose to report to me. Have you ever considered the consequences?"

She deliberately slowed her speech, conducting a final verbal probe of Feng Mu,

"You should know, Councilor Wang Xinfa has always most hated being defied by subordinates."

A brief silence came from the other end of the phone, only the faint sound of static.

After a long while, Feng Mu's voice came low and firm:

"Prison Warden Qian's kindness to me is heavy as a mountain. I don't care what Councilor Wang thinks; I only want the people who harmed him to die. But my brain is stupid, I don't know how to do it best.

And you, Madam, are Prison Warden Qian's mother. So, just as you said to me earlier, you trust me..."

Feng Mu paused, then replied with a determined tone:

"On the matter of avenging Prison Warden Qian, the only one I can trust without reservation is you, Madam."

The power of language struck a critical hit on Li Hanyu's heart through the receiver at this moment.

Compared to Feng Mu's unreserved trust, Li Hanyu suddenly felt that her saying she trusted him while secretly investigating him behind his back was, to some extent, rather despicable.

Under the double critical hit of shame and emotion, her trust in Feng Mu skyrocketed to ninety-nine percent!

Only the final one percent short of achieving one hundred percent absolute trust!

(Of course, since it hasn't reached one hundred percent yet, none of the follow-up investigations that should be done can be skipped.)

Li Hanyu's voice held nine parts genuine emotion and one part deliberate promise:

"Feng Mu, you just go ahead and do it. If there's any dissatisfaction from Wang Xinfa's side, I'll naturally shoulder it for you."

However, before Li Hanyu's words were finished, she heard some clamor coming from outside the ward.

Then, the ward door was gently pushed open.

A man in a crisp uniform, wearing black-rimmed glasses, walked in slowly.

The man's face was cold and stern, yet revealed a few parts of refinement; he bowed slightly to Li Hanyu, greeting her in a low and polite voice:

"Madam, good evening. I couldn't set my mind at ease, so I came over to check on Prison Warden Qian again."

At the same time, a voice identical to the man before her came from the phone, speaking closing words:

"I trust you, Madam. I'm going to handle things now!"

These two voices poured into Li Hanyu's ears almost simultaneously. Her gaze fell on the man walking toward her, and her keen mind suffered a momentary crash.

Is the man who came here Feng Mu?

Then who is the man in the phone?

There are two... Feng Mus?!

"Feng Mu, don't hang up the phone yet..."

Li Hanyu woke with a start, wanting to speak into the phone, but the call had already been disconnected; all that answered her was a string of cold blind tones.

"Beep... beep..."

Feng Mu disliked being doubted—even by a mere one percent—and such doubt would prey on his mind.

So late at night he sent Li Hanyu a "surprise," delivering the killing blow to that small suspicion of hers!

And the Feng Mu before her was all too cooperative, striking a suspicious expression.

But to Li Hanyu, that expression carried an indescribable stiffness and Qiyi.

"Madam, are you calling me? But I didn't hang up on you?"

The "Feng Mu" before her slowly raised his head, still smiling, but his voice suddenly turned cold and cloying, exuding a bone-chilling mockery:

"After all, I never... called you at all, right!!!"

Li Hanyu's pupils contracted to pinpricks.

No, her pupils did not contract to pinpricks—rather, a silver needle was truly and sharply enlarging upon her pupil.

"Hiss—"

A faint sound of tearing air, then, like a nail, it pierced into the center of her pupil.

The surface of her pupil cracked and shattered in an instant, the vitreous body bursting with a crisp sound that echoed within her skull; Li Hanyu's head felt as if struck by an iron hammer, and she fell backward, toppling the sofa with her to the ground.

"My eyes, ahhh—"

Li Hanyu was terrified out of her wits, as if the breath of death enveloped her whole body.

She let out a sharp, piercing scream, and warm liquid from her right eye socket slid down her cheek.

Her remaining left eye was bloodshot, with resentment and fear wildly intertwined within it.

She scrambled up from under the sofa, her voice hoarse and distorted:

"Who are you? You're not Feng Mu?"

End of Chapter