Interrogation

"Are you crazy?!"

Colin growled softly.

"No!"

Qin Ran answered with certainty.

"Then do you know what you're saying?"

Colin's gray eyes seemed to be looking at a madman.

"Of course. I know exactly what I'm saying, and I understand what I want to do. Just as I know that Vulture's lair must be heavily guarded and fraught with danger—but I have to do this... This is an opportunity!"

Qin Ran looked at Colin and spoke with utmost seriousness.

"Vulture sent his men to wipe us out. He clearly has no intention of letting us live, even after this failure! In fact, Vulture will only become more ruthless. Just as you said, only by killing us can that bitch protect his reputation, and showing a vicious side is the best way to do it!"

Seeing Colin's expression soften, Qin Ran took a deep breath and continued.

"And when Vulture sends people again, those guys won't be as easy to deal with as the ones in front of us! Their vigilance alone will make it difficult for us to strike! Don't even think about pulling off another ambush like this! And their equipment will be better too—don't tell me the entire police department relied on these pistols alone to keep the peace before the war!"

As he spoke, Qin Ran gestured at the spoils in his hand.

"B-but..."

Colin frowned as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing.

Because she knew Qin Ran was telling the truth.

Although she had looked down on Vulture before, that could not change the fact that Vulture's side was powerful.

"So, we have to take him out before Vulture can react! Eliminate him completely!"

Qin Ran declared forcefully.

"Fine, fine. I accept your reasoning, Qin Ran, but you need to understand that it won't be easy!"

After thinking for a moment, Colin raised both hands in surrender.

Still, there was persuasion in her voice.

What Colin needed was something she could rely on for the long term. Even if Qin Ran made sense, she still hoped the entire plan—or rather, the whole matter—could be handled more cautiously.

Especially now that they had gained a certain advantage.

Colin would rather trade the spoils before them for supplies, then survive a little longer in this damned war, even if it meant hiding like a rat.

After all, that was how she had lived for the previous four months.

But Qin Ran was different!

Qin Ran was a player!

And he was a player who needed to rely on this game to earn enough money to treat his terminal illness!

So, he needed to grow stronger quickly, kill enough enemy NPCs, acquire weapons and equipment he could sell, and save up his treatment costs as soon as possible.

Therefore, Qin Ran would never let an enemy NPC like Vulture, who was obviously a BOSS, get away.

As for hiding out until the rest of the game was over?

If Qin Ran had been an ordinary player, he would have considered it.

But unfortunately, he was not.

"I know it won't be easy, so we need to make it safer and simpler—Colin, could I trouble you to keep an eye on the surroundings? Oh, and I need to borrow your kitchen knife!"

Qin Ran pointed at the prisoner on the ground as he spoke to Colin.

"All right!"

Colin sighed and walked toward the other side of the ruins.

Not only was there cover there, but the field of view was good enough for Colin to see everything around them. Before leaving, she left the kitchen knife behind as Qin Ran had requested.

The kitchen knife had originally been Qin Ran's spoils.

Qin Ran had given it to Colin as a precaution.

Now that Qin Ran was borrowing it, Colin naturally had nothing to say.

As for what Qin Ran intended to do?

Colin had already guessed, but she remained supportive.

After living through four months of war, Colin had long since changed her original beliefs. She was no longer stubbornly concerned with right or wrong. She only knew that doing this would let her survive better, and that was enough.

That was the wish of everyone living through war!

Colin was naturally no exception.

Watching Colin head to her lookout position, Qin Ran finally turned his gaze to the prisoner before him.

Qin Ran did not know exactly what Colin was thinking. He only knew that she was in the same boat as him and could be trusted.

Qin Ran lifted his foot and kicked the prisoner, waking him from his unconsciousness.

"Please, spare me!"

The gun-toting thug, stripped of his fangs, immediately began begging again the moment he awoke.

"Mm, I can, as long as you tell me everything I want to know!"

Qin Ran nodded and replied calmly.

But that calmness only made the captive gunman more terrified, because he could not tell from Qin Ran's flat tone whether he was telling the truth or deceiving him.

But he had no room to choose.

Because the initiative was entirely in Qin Ran's hands.

"What do you want to know?"

The captive gunman asked cautiously.

"Everything about Vulture, including your lair and your numbers!"

Qin Ran said.

"I don't know much about Boss Vulture. The lair is in the underground warehouse of a mall on Sixth Avenue. There are twenty of us... Aah!"

Before the gunman could finish, he let out a scream.

With a flash of his knife, Qin Ran cut off one of the man's fingers.

"Shut up! You know I'm not asking about things everyone already knows. I want to know what they don't know—you have two chances left!"

Qin Ran held the kitchen knife and looked at him coldly.

The man's scream stopped abruptly. Looking at Qin Ran's indifferent face and the bloodied kitchen knife in his hand, the gunman's fear overwhelmed his pain.

"I really don't know much about Boss Vulture! He had no reputation before. He only suddenly rose to prominence during the war! The lair really is in the underground warehouse, but there are thirty of us—Boss Vulture took in another group a few days ago!"

Pain and fear made him reveal something substantial.

Thirty people?

Qin Ran narrowed his eyes.

Twenty people and thirty people were completely different concepts!

If it had been the former, then after dealing with the two gunmen from yesterday and the seven today, Qin Ran would only have needed to face eleven enemies.

But now, he would have to face twenty-one!

Qin Ran immediately felt the pressure multiply!

But in the next instant, he frowned as a question occurred to him.

"How could you possibly gather enough supplies for thirty people under these conditions? And you people clearly don't lack food or water! The mall where your lair is located is only a department store, not a supermarket! Don't tell me Vulture brought all that out of the police station too! You're lying to me!"

As he spoke, Qin Ran raised the kitchen knife.

Just as Qin Ran had said, supporting thirty people in the current circumstances was extremely difficult.

This was not peacetime, nor was it the beginning of the war.

After four months of war, daily necessities throughout the city had already become severely scarce.

Even though Qin Ran had been here for less than two days, he could sense the value of food and water.

Yet the gunman before him showed no signs of hunger or thirst.

On the contrary, he was not only strong and vigorous, but full of life.

If it had only been one person, that could have been explained by luck. But Qin Ran recalled that every gunman he had encountered had been the same.

Clearly, these gunmen did not lack food or water, and they had abundant stores of supplies. There was absolutely no chance they would run out anytime soon. And that was not simply a matter of supplies for thirty adults.

They needed at least enough supplies to support thirty adults for two or three weeks!

But even if Vulture had the advantage in weapons and manpower, that should have been impossible.

Unless they had looted a large supermarket.

But that was impossible too!

Because when the war began, the city's residents had already emptied them out.

So Qin Ran instinctively believed the man was lying.

"No! I didn't! Boss Vulture has a special channel for obtaining supplies!"

Seeing the raised kitchen knife, the man shrank back and immediately explained.

"What channel?"

Qin Ran asked.

The man hesitated, but Qin Ran did not.

The raised kitchen knife came down sharply.

Another one of the gunman's fingers was chopped off.

"Aah!"

The gunman screamed miserably again.

"It seems you still don't understand your situation. Do I need to remind you again?"

As he spoke, Qin Ran raised the kitchen knife once more.

"The rebels! The rebels!"

The gunman immediately blurted it out.

"The rebels?"

Qin Ran was stunned.

Qin Ran had never imagined that Vulture could be connected to the rebels. After all, according to Colin and the gunman's words, Vulture had merely been a small-time hoodlum before the war broke out!

How could someone like that have connections with the rebels?

"Boss Vulture captured some women. Using those women, he formed a partnership with a rebel major!"

Apparently afraid that speaking too slowly would earn him another cut, the gunman spoke before Qin Ran could ask.

The instant he heard that, Qin Ran clenched the knife handle tightly.

Qin Ran was not stupid. Naturally, he could guess what Vulture's arrangement with that rebel major was.

A surging rage erupted from the depths of his heart.

Then that rage turned into killing intent.

But when he looked at the gunman, he appeared very calm.

"Good. It seems you understand how our conversation works now—next, tell me everything about the layout of the lair and the positions where your people are stationed!"

Qin Ran said.

"All right, all right!"

The gunman nodded repeatedly and poured out everything he knew as if emptying a bamboo tube full of beans.

He did not notice in the slightest that Qin Ran's eyes were growing colder and colder.