Chapter 283: Killing the Hostage [666+18]

Erik had never slept so comfortably in his life; he knew this was called deep sleep.

It might have only been for a short time, but it had the effect of a long rest. He thought of that girl, and it seemed as if a force was flowing through his body.

He opened his eyes, but he was somewhat confused—this was not a hotel suite.

He quickly realized his situation was quite dire; he was tied to a chair.

He hurriedly lifted his head to look around, a movement that caused his neck to stiffen instantly!

He had been sleeping with his head down for a long time, and his cervical spine couldn't handle such a large movement all at once.

But this also allowed him to see clearly what kind of place this was: a garage.

A layer of waterproof tarp was spread under his feet. The pale red tarp gave him an uncomfortable feeling; he had never seen a tarp of this color.

Some old car repair tools were hanging on the wall, like wrenches, rulers, and screwdrivers.

There was a smell of rotting wood in the air. This place must be quite remote, and the air was very damp.

"Is anyone here?" he shouted loudly twice. The side door of the garage opened, and someone walked in.

The sunlight outside was a bit blinding; summer sunlight was just like that, so bright it made one unable to open their eyes.

He watched that dark silhouette walk into the garage, revealing his appearance.

"Lanse?!" He suddenly began to struggle violently. "Are you fucking crazy?"

"You actually tied me up like this! Fucking let me go!" he shouted excitedly. "Otherwise, I'll make you suffer a huge disaster, I promise!"

Lanse just walked up to him. Just as he thought Lanse was going to untie the ropes binding him, Lanse punched him.

With one punch, Erik was left only coughing, unable to even speak.

Tears and snot were all coughed out!

Erwen walked in from outside, his arms somewhat damp.

This was a small house on the edge of Angel Lake that he had found someone to rent.

Before the legends of Angel Lake had spread, many people would come here to swim, dive, or fish.

After all, the scenery of Angel Lake was indeed very beautiful, especially when standing on some hills; when the weather was good, looking toward the lake surface, the shimmering water made the entire lake sparkle with golden light!

Its beauty was something even poets could not describe with verses. Perhaps this was one of the reasons why Jincheng was also called the City of Angels—because of this Angel Lake!

It was like an angel fallen into the mortal world, breathtakingly beautiful!

But as many people discovered that this place had become Jincheng's largest dumping ground for corpses, the number of tourists here was no longer that high; only some clueless outsiders would come.

In recent years, the legends of Angel Lake had spread wider and wider, to the point that even outsiders wouldn't come here anymore.

Once, someone didn't believe it and dived into some dangerous waters marked as having "chemical leaks," discovering countless oil drums at the bottom of the lake...

These small houses originally built around Angel Lake to be rented out to those tourists were also gradually abandoned.

Erik took a punch; the intense pain and spasms made him unable to continue shouting. Lanse stepped back two paces, sat on a chair, and lit a cigarette.

"You don't seem that important to your father, Erik." He took a newspaper out of his pocket, unfolded the first page, and placed it on the ground.

This was a supplement of the *Jincheng Today*, printed in an emergency. It only had four pages, the price hadn't decreased, but it had already sold out!

Erik looked at those paragraphs, and he began to feel fear. His eyes no longer carried the confusion and arrogance from just a moment ago; at this moment, he became pitiful.

"Lanse... I... I won't tell anyone it was you, I promise, I swear on my mother!"

"Including my uncle, no one will know what happened. I will tell people that I wanted to go out for a stroll by myself and then forgot to tell them."

"Everything will return to normal. No kidnapping, no ransom note. I will prove it was just a joke!"

As he spoke, he couldn't continue, because although he was a bit stupid, he wasn't stupid to the point of being beyond saving.

That ransom note.

His body trembled slightly; he seemed very afraid. Lanse turned the cigarette around and stuffed it into his mouth. He inhaled greedily, as if the cigarette could soothe the fear in his heart!

He was very nervous, looked up to steal a glance at Lanse, and then lowered his head again. "I don't want to die, Lanse, spare me..."

Lanse shook his head slightly. "This isn't you."

Before Erik could understand what this sentence meant, Lanse smiled and said, "I liked the way you took my five-hundred-dollar check that day, Erik. That was the real you."

"Arrogant, reckless, with no one in your eyes except your uncle—including me!"

He was about to cry!

"Lanse, listen to me, listen to me, I didn't mean it, I... I did a stupid thing, I don't want to die!"

Tears appeared in his eye sockets. Erwen stood by the side with his hands on his hips. "You didn't treat that girl like this last night."

Erik suddenly reacted; he froze for a moment. "You are in this together."

Using a declarative sentence, Lanse did not deny it. "Actually, it's not that easy to secretly kidnap you without letting people know who did it."

"I considered kidnapping you on the road, but that wasn't very good. You have too many lackeys around you; I would have had to slaughter them all."

"But once shots were fired, it would be hard for me to hide you. That dog of yours, Jonny, might search the whole city to cater to your uncle."

"Controlling you where you live isn't realistic either. You live in the Mayor's estate, where the defenses are very tight. I couldn't bring you out without alerting others."

"So, I had to make you leave them voluntarily."

"Do you regret it?"

Lanse asked.

Erik nodded with a tear-streaked face, "Yes, yes, I regret it."

He could only go along with what Lanse said, but Lanse smiled. "Maybe you are thinking right now about how to take revenge after you leave."

Erik was shocked. "I didn't, I swear I really didn't think that!"

He saw Lanse stand up, and his voice went out of tune!

"Please, don't kill me, help, help, I am Erik, someone wants to kill me..."

Lanse looked at him. He shouted for a good while, but the surroundings were as quiet as... the wilderness.

"This is Angel Lake, Erik," Lanse said. "There is no one around. Even if you shout for a whole day, no one will hear you."

He turned into a crying face again because, in his shouting just now, he had said Lanse wanted to kill him.

Perhaps feeling the approach of death, fear began to well up. He cried with snot and tears, and even peed himself!

"Please, I don't want to die..."

Lanse took a piece of steel wire from his pocket and walked behind Erik. He began to struggle violently again, but the moment the cold steel wire tightened around his neck, he fell into despair!

"You bought yourself a one-way ticket to hell with five hundred dollars, Erik!"

"This is what you deserve!"

The end of life seemed to arrive in an instant. Erik cried and begged for mercy with a mental breakdown, but it was meaningless.

Lanse tightened the steel wire in his hands. Erik struggled violently again; his face turned red, unable to make any sound.

It didn't take long—not even a minute—and all the struggling stopped.

Erwen looked at the waterproof tarp on the ground. "I thought you were going to get it everywhere."

Lanse shook his head. He rolled up the steel wire again and put it back in his pocket. "Just to be safe."

Erwen looked at him. "What now?"

Lanse smoothed his hair and lit another cigarette; the previous one had been smoked by Erik.

He lowered his head, struck a match, and took a deep drag; the smoke rose. "Send him back. Aren't they looking for Erik?"

Then give him to them!

The two simply cleaned up. The waterproof tarp was washed in the water. The water stains on Erwen's body just now were from him washing the things in the car by the water, trying as much as possible not to leave evidence in the car.

Now the waterproof tarp also had to be washed, and then used to wrap Erik.

He was placed in the back seat of the car, and the two drove back into the city as if nothing had happened.

At this time, some citizens had spontaneously launched a "Find Erik" campaign. They searched everywhere for Erik's tracks, whether in the city's inner rivers, some ponds, or any hidden place.

But undoubtedly, Erik couldn't possibly appear there.

In fact, the more they couldn't find him, the more the Mayor understood that Erik was already dead. He had to use Erik's death to make a big fuss.

Actually, it wasn't just a portion of citizens spontaneously searching for Erik; the people from the Five Great Families were also looking for Erik, but obviously, they couldn't find him.

After Lanse returned, he heard that Alberto had called him, and he immediately returned the call.

"Damn it, have you seen Erik?"

"No, I went out to handle some business. The news says he was kidnapped. Is it true?"

"He was indeed kidnapped. It's terrible, Lanse, I'm a bit uneasy."

"About what?"

"Things are developing step by step in an unknown direction. Since... I don't know when, everything has become uncontrollable."

"Once the situation gets out of control, I'm afraid..."

He didn't say what he was afraid of, but it could be heard that he was indeed very anxious.

Lanse comforted him, "Everything will be fine, just like every time before."

"And even if something really happens, it's the Five Great Families and those masters watching. What does that have to do with us?"

Alberto sighed. "I don't know. Anyway, be prepared. I feel the storm has already arrived."

It had to be said that his feeling was very accurate.

It was past three in the morning, and there were few people on the street. Lanse was driving, and Erwen was sitting in the back seat.

When the car passed the City Hall, Erwen pushed open the car door, pushed Erik out, and then the car quickly disappeared into the darkness...