Heaven's Punishment

At night, Lan Mu, dressed in a black hoodie, traversed the rooftops of Pinghu Pedestrian Street with a bow and arrows on his back.

The first and second floors of this street were mostly shops, while the higher floors were residential.

Lan Mu began his search silently. He didn't use his agility to check each shop from the outside.

Instead, he whistled, and a large flock of birds of various kinds appeared behind him, flying around him.

"Search all windows and report the target to me."

With a command, the birds scattered, flapping their wings past every window, looking for the target.

These were birds Lan Mu had forcibly captured. He had absorbed the life force of each bird and then returned it.

This process had transformed the birds, giving them the ability to communicate with him. Through this communication, the birds became the eyes and ears of the natural will.

This was a method he devised to find the killer. Animals and plants raised with Natural Power would be enveloped by the natural will; this was the domain of the Elves.

Although this wasn't his home turf like a forest, it was still somewhat useful for finding someone.

Lan Mu wasn't idle either. The birds' search was still a bit rudimentary, so he also moved across the rooftops of various floors, scanning every person below with his sharp eyesight.

Finally, in the latter half of the night, Lan Mu received a report from one of the birds.

A person suspected to be the target had been found. Lan Mu immediately had the bird lead the way, following closely behind.

His agile form weaved through the concrete jungle, leaping across the gaps between two buildings with ease.

Yu Hetu was indeed hiding in Pinghu Pedestrian Street. The place he hid was unremarkable, just a residential building.

He was sleeping in a room on the third floor, completely unaware that he had been discovered.

Lan Mu stood on the air conditioning unit outside the window, looking at the sleeping Yu Hetu on the bed, and smiled grimly.

He then tapped on the window, startling Yu Hetu awake.

Yu Hetu jumped off the bed abruptly and, in his first glance, saw the black-clad figure outside the window. He was shrouded in shadow, his face covered by a mask and sunglasses. Anyone else would have immediately become alert.

However, Yu Hetu didn't scream. Instead, he tentatively asked, "Uncle Lang?"

This time, it was Lan Mu's turn to be stunned. What the heck? Uncle Lang? Did he mistake him for someone else?

Was this Uncle Lang his accomplice?

Seeing the bow and arrows on Lan Mu's back, Yu Hetu immediately realized this was an enemy!

Instead of running, he pulled out an iron rod and thrust it out the window.

The glass shattered with a piercing sound.

Lan Mu looked at Yu Hetu, who was resisting stubbornly, and shook his head indifferently. With a slight shift, he dodged the attack.

He also casually grabbed the iron rod and pulled it towards himself!

Yu Hetu, pulled forward, stumbled a couple of steps.

Lan Mu moved quickly, grabbed Yu Hetu by the neck, and pulled him directly out of the room.

Yu Hetu's upper body dangled outside, with only his feet still on the windowsill, completely losing his balance.

If Lan Mu hadn't been holding him by the back of his neck, he would have fallen straight down.

Yu Hetu shouted, "Who are you? Who are you?"

Lan Mu ignored him and said indifferently, "Yu Hetu, use your phone to call the police."

"Huh? What did you say? Let go of me! Damn it, let go!" Yu Hetu ignored Lan Mu and struggled violently.

Unfortunately, Lan Mu's hand was covered in a layer of Natural Power, firmly gripping Yu Hetu.

However, he managed to turn his head, looking up at Lan Mu's heavily concealed face from below.

Although he couldn't see his features, he was smart and suddenly realized, "It's you! That pretty boy in sunglasses! You were there that day too!"

Lan Mu's face darkened, and he said grimly, "Do as I say, call the police!"

With that, he let go. Yu Hetu lost his balance and fell out the window.

Lan Mu, with quick reflexes, grabbed his leg. Coupled with Yu Hetu's own instinctive grasp on the air conditioner, he managed to avoid falling.

"I'll say it one last time, call the police."

Yu Hetu knew he was caught and stopped struggling pointlessly or acting foolishly.

Unsure what he was plotting in his mind, he slowly took out his phone, slowly turned it on, and dialed the emergency number.

"Say you are Yu Hetu, and you apologize to everyone you killed!"

"I... I..."

When the call connected and he heard the operator's voice, Yu Hetu couldn't figure out what this guy wanted, but he had no choice but to comply.

"I am Yu Hetu, and... I apologize to everyone I killed..."

After Yu Hetu finished speaking, he heard a commotion on the other end of the line. Clearly, the police had also been alerted to his call. He had his phone turned off before, so the police couldn't reach him.

The sudden call from Yu Hetu, a name from the intelligence report, and an alarm call at that, immediately alerted the police. The operator switched twice within twelve seconds, finally replaced by a deep voice saying, "Where are you? Are you provoking the police?"

Yu Hetu felt like crying, but had no tears. He wasn't provoking the police.

Lan Mu smiled slightly and said softly from the side, "Tell the police your location, and then tell them about the entire process of your crime and your accomplices!"

Yu Hetu frowned and snorted coldly, "Accomplices? I don't have any accomplices!"

Seeing that he wouldn't admit it, Lan Mu didn't care. He hadn't expected Yu Hetu to confess honestly anyway.

However, Yu Hetu had just given up his only chance of survival.

"Fine, if you don't want to say it, then don't."

At the same time, the police, listening to the inexplicable words from the other end of the phone, immediately asked, "Yu Hetu! Who are you talking to? Where are you now? What exactly are you trying to do?"

Yu Hetu felt the increasingly heavy pressure from Lan Mu and his mind was in a mess. He could only say resentfully, "Damn it, I... I'm at Pinghu Pedestrian Street! Someone wants to kill me... Damn it!"

As he said it, Yu Hetu felt ashamed. He was a murderer, and he had killed a police officer not long ago. Yet today, he was miserably calling the police, being threatened into telling them someone wanted to kill him. This frustrating feeling was driving him crazy.

"Wrong!"

Lan Mu suddenly said, "This is heavenly retribution!"

With that, Lan Mu suddenly let go, and Yu Hetu fell directly from the building. His panicked shouts could be heard, followed by a thud.

The third floor wasn't too high, and Yu Hetu had protected his vital areas well during the fall. He didn't die from the impact.

He let out a few screams, then endured his injuries and got up from the ground, limping away.

Many residents opened their windows to look out. They had all been woken up by the commotion.

Some of them shouted as they looked out, "Hey! Someone's jumping off the building!"

A resident living next door to Yu Hetu opened his window. He first looked at the shattered window next to him, then at Yu Hetu, who was fleeing in a panic on the ground.

Not seeing anyone else, he muttered, "I just heard someone talking, about heavenly retribution or something. Where did they go?"

Yu Hetu fled frantically. One of his legs was broken, his hip seemed to be shattered, and his right wrist was dislocated. He could only endure the pain and stagger along.

After walking dozens of meters, he heard police sirens. Clearly, a large number of police cars were approaching, with the damned sirens coming from all directions.

"Damn it! I'm finished!"

"But it's good that guy didn't chase me. It seems he also operates in the shadows."

Yu Hetu kept looking back, but he couldn't see the figure of the person from before. It seemed he had already left.

He muttered, "Falling into the hands of the police is better than falling into his hands."

He could feel that Lan Mu truly wanted him dead.

But suddenly, an indifferent voice sounded from above.

"Speak, who is your accomplice? Otherwise, you won't have a chance to be judged."

Yu Hetu was startled. He looked up sharply and saw a dark figure standing on the streetlight, drawing a bow and arrow, already locked onto him.

"You..."

He had no idea when the other party had arrived. In the darkness, dressed all in black, he had appeared above him stealthily, and Yu Hetu had been completely unaware.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow flew out, hitting Yu Hetu's uninjured left hand.

Yu Hetu screamed in pain and finally became terrified. He shouted, "Help! Police, help!"

"Whoosh!"

Another arrow! This time it hit his right chest, piercing his lung.

He breathed with difficulty, no longer daring to shout. His lungs ached terribly.

"Don't kill me!"

Lan Mu asked indifferently, "Speak, who is your accomplice?"

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! It's Uncle Lang! Uncle Lang helped me!" Yu Hetu surrendered. All he wanted now was to survive. The cold feeling of the arrows piercing his body made him tremble.

"Continue." Lan Mu drew his bow again and shot an arrow, hitting his left leg.

"Stop shooting! Uncle Lang is from my hometown, also from Shandong. I only know his surname is Qu. We met by chance and haven't seen each other many times... Cough cough cough..."

Yu Hetu spoke a few words, and his lungs pained him intensely, but he didn't dare to delay, fearing another arrow. He quickly said, "After Zhang Hong fired me, I complained to him, and he said he could help me get revenge. Then he kidnapped Zhang Hong. When I was with her, she resisted violently, and in a fit of anger, I accidentally strangled her to death... Cough cough cough."

"Uncle Lang said he would handle it and make sure the police couldn't determine the real time of death. Then, I don't know his capabilities, but to avoid suspicion, I deliberately got detained by the police station."

"After that, I found out he dismembered Zhang Hong. He also seemed to have done something, and the time of death the police tested was falsified."

"Cough cough cough... After this incident, I was tied to his ship. Every week, he would kidnap a woman for me to play with, and then give her to him for some experiments... Cough cough... I don't know the specifics. He seemed to have been a doctor and was very skilled with a scalpel."

"He did all the dismembering every time! I just helped out!"

Lan Mu sneered, "But you killed a police officer!"

"I... I had no choice..."

Lan Mu asked, "Is that person named Qu Lang?"

"No, I only know his surname is Qu, and he told me to call him Uncle Lang, but that's definitely a fake name."

"Is there anything else you haven't told me?" Lan Mu asked with a smile.

Yu Hetu looked at the black silhouette standing tall on the streetlight in terror and stammered, "No, that's all I know!"

Lan Mu quickly jumped down from the streetlight, swiftly pulled out all the arrows, and then casually tossed a voice recorder.

He then left rapidly, agile as a gust of wind, and soon disappeared into the night.

The mysterious person left them with only a voice recorder that contained all of Yu Hetu's confession.

The police officers felt heavy-hearted and somewhat lost.