The two old women looked at the unfamiliar face at the door and shouted, "What are you doing? Can't you see we're putting makeup on the young mistress? Men can't just come in like that!"
Qingmu shuffled into the room and gently took the unconscious Yu Meiren into his arms.
Yu Meiren closed her eyes, her face adorned with exquisite makeup, her cheeks flushed, like a drunken little princess.
"Hey, this is the woman the general wants. How can you, a man, just hug her like that?" The old woman didn't know who he was and thought he was sent by Wu Suotun or Mu Ka.
Qingmu lifted the Beauty's arm, pointed to the tiny red dots on it, and asked, "What's going on?"
The old woman said somewhat awkwardly, "She was so disobedient, so I pricked her a few times with a needle. Oh, it's alright, it's alright, I'll just put some makeup on her and you won't be able to tell."
"And here?" There were obvious injection marks on the Beauty's intravenous injection site.
"Ahem, well, injections didn't work, so I had to give her some medicine." Seeing she couldn't hide it any longer, the old woman confessed honestly. "But it was only a tiny bit; the effects will wear off in a while. Besides, Mu Ka approved it, and the medicine was a new one he brought."
Qingmu was a little angry. He rarely got angry, and even when he killed, he remained calm because those who died at his hands always knew they were committing crimes and were always trying to escape and cover up their crimes. Even if Qingmu didn't kill them, those people would eventually be punished.
Here, all evils occur in broad daylight: drug trafficking, rape, murder... These depraved individuals openly commit crimes, yet no one can punish them. There is no justice or conscience here; people only know opium. Whoever has the most opium and the most guns can be the boss.
People like Wu Suotun are beyond the reach of even the Mianyue governments. He is the local tyrant, and any woman he sets his sights on is destined to become a slave.
It's unimaginable what would have happened to the Beauty tonight if Qingmu hadn't crossed the river to rescue Beauty, and if he hadn't encountered Madman. What a tragic fate this kind girl would have faced from then on!
Qingmu was truly furious!
"What kind of needle did you use to prick her?" he asked.
The old woman took out a long iron needle and said, "This is it."
Qingmu gently put the Beauty down, then grabbed the old woman's hand, flipped it over, and stabbed the needle into the old woman's eye.
"Ah--" The old woman screamed, covering her eyes, as blood seeped from between her fingers.
Qingmu let her scream, not worried at all about attracting the attention of the people in the villa. He needed to vent his anger; he wanted to burn this place down with his fury and send all these criminals to a fiery hell.
He stepped forward, pulled the long needle out of the old woman's eye, and with a "plop," inserted it into the other eye. Then he pulled it out and walked towards another old woman.
The old woman was terrified. She immediately knelt on the ground and kowtowed, pleading, "Spare me! We didn't want to administer the medicine! We've served the general here for years, and many young girls did the same thing before! The general has never blamed us..."
Before she could finish speaking, Qingmu inserted the needle into the Dazhui acupoint at the back of her neck. Due to excessive force, the long needle pierced through the cervical vertebrae and emerged from the front of her throat.
Just then, someone came in after hearing the blind old woman's screams. "What's going on? What are you yelling about?"
The man saw two old women, one lying on the ground with her eyes rolled back, seemingly dead, and the other covering her face and screaming like a pig being slaughtered, her face covered in blood.
He pulled out a gun and pointed it at Qingmu: "Who are you? What are you doing?"
Qingmu bent down and gently lifted the Beauty from the bed, letting Beauty head rest on his shoulder, before slowly walking towards the door.
"Halt! What are you doing here?" the man at the door shouted, brandishing a gun.
Qingmu ignored him and shuffled over.
The man suddenly felt his heart pounding wildly. He wanted to fire, but his hand wouldn't obey him, and he couldn't pull the trigger. He tried to turn and run away, but his legs suddenly cramped up and he couldn't move.
Qingmu walked up to him, holding the Beauty in one arm, and with his other hand took the gun from the man's hand, firing a shot into his head.
A woman in a white coat carrying a tray happened to walk by. Seeing this scene, she screamed in fright, dropped the tray, and spilled syringes and medicine all over the floor.
Without a word, Qingmu shot her dead with another shot.
He walked out unhurriedly, his slippers clattering against the smooth floor.
The servants in the villa ran around in a panic. Qingmu didn't have the time or energy to distinguish who deserved to die and who didn't. As long as someone seemed to be deliberately blocking his way, he would end their life with a single shot.
The gunfire attracted the attention of the guards on the perimeter, who rushed into the villa one by one, carbines in hand. A hail of bullets lashed out at Qingmu, but their usually impeccable marksmanship suddenly went blank, as if all those days of training under the scorching Sun had been a dream. Little did any of them realize that they were the ones truly dreaming at that moment.
Qingmu's pistol quickly ran out of bullets. He picked up a carbine and started shooting his way out.
Perhaps it was because Wu Suotun's villa was very secluded, or perhaps it was due to his confidence in his power in the Masuba area, or perhaps the security personnel were all top-notch, but in any case, there were not many guards at the villa.
Qingmu easily reached the jeep parked outside, where the guards were all killed, leaving only the driver inside the vehicle.
Qingmu pointed a gun at his head and asked, "Is there any explosives in the car?"
The driver shook his head. "No, only grenades and rocket launchers."
Qingmu said, "Oh, you move them all into the villa, and then detonate them."
The driver nodded, obediently drove the car to the villa's entrance, and then unloaded the two boxes of grenades and several rockets, struggling to carry them into the villa.
Actually, Qingmu had already left by then and wasn't holding a gun to him. But for some reason, he had a thought that was deeply imprinted in his mind like a stamp—to blow up the villa and himself.
Qingmu carried the Beauty slowly towards his motorcycle. A loud bang came from behind, whether from a shockwave or the wind, it was unclear whether it was his trench coat that was blown up, and it also made the Beauty's white princess dress flutter.
Yu Meiren was awakened by the sound of the explosion.
She only remembered being in a room filled with flowers, waiting for the prince from afar to send someone to fetch her. She found herself perched on a man's shoulder, and panicked, wanting to jump down. However, when she heard the clatter of slippers, her heart calmed down completely.
She leaned on Qingmu's shoulder, looking at the collapsed houses amidst the rising dust in the distance, and hugged Qingmu's neck, saying, " Qingmu, Yeye think I just heard gunshots."
Qingmu brushed the dust off the Beauty's white dress and said with a smile, "You're dreaming!"
"Yes, I also dreamed about my garden, and there were so many flowers in it."
"That must be beautiful!"
"It's beautiful! But there are a lot of poppies inside, and I don't like poppies."
Why?
"Because the poppy is a harmful flower."
"Then Yeye will take you to cut down poppies, to cut down all the poppies here, so they can no longer harm anyone, okay?"
"Good!"
The clattering footsteps continued forward, and Yu Meiren smiled happily. Although the needle pricks on her arms and buttocks still throbbed faintly, the warmth of Qingmu Yeye's embrace felt like that of being held by her father, melting away all the hard wounds.