Ling Shu bent over to avoid the attack and spun around, sweeping his leg and knocking the other person down. Taking advantage of the momentum, he rolled to the side and jumped up again, waving a wooden stick at him. With a quick and precise movement, the flashlight in Ling Shu's hand was sent flying.

The flashlight landed in the corner and the only feeble light disappeared completely.

The moment he turned around, Ling Shu saw that the other person was wearing a Nuo opera mask, with a short gown that was peculiar and exaggerated.

He was a martial artist.

And a good one at that.

Before Ling Shu's eyes could adjust to the darkness, the other person lunged forward again. The wooden stick roared as it was aimed at his vital points.

At the same time, gunshots sounded again from the front door of the restaurant!

Ling Shu was a bit anxious.

The other person's movements were quick, precise, and professional; he was no ordinary street fighter.

Whenever Ling Shu reached for his gun at his waist, he was always interrupted by the other person's stick, leaving him with no time to pay attention to Yue Dingtang's situation.

Once he lost the initiative, he was at a disadvantage everywhere.

When the other person kicked at him, Ling Shu took the opportunity to roll to the side and, without paying attention to the pain from the broken stones and wood, grabbed a handy stick and swung it at the other person.

With a loud bang, their sticks collided and the one in Ling Shu's hand groaned from the impact before breaking in two. The other person kicked Ling Shu in the waist and he let out a grunt as he fell backwards.

More gunshots sounded from outside.

At the same time, there were also sounds of fighting.

One could imagine that the situation outside must be very intense.

Ling Shu felt that his rib might have been fractured and a piercing pain was coming in waves.

But the assailant's movements did not stop at all. With fists and feet combined with the waving of the stick, every move was aimed at disabling Ling Shu.

The gun had just been pulled out when it was kicked away again. The other person's toes kicked Ling Shu's wrist.

At that moment, he almost thought that his hand was going to be useless.

Yue Dingtang knew his situation was dangerous.

He also knew that if he hadn't reacted quickly just now, the one bleeding wouldn't be his arm, but his heart.

The gunman was so close to him, maybe hiding at the entrance to the restaurant, maybe at the wall. As soon as he showed himself, the gun would be aimed at him.

There was a light source in the distance behind him, and with light comes exposure.

The other person had no hiding place.

As the saying goes, the enemy is in the dark and I am in the light.

The only consolation was that the other person's gunmanship was not very good. At such a close distance, three shots were fired, one hitting Yue Dingtang's arm and the other two missing.

Yue Dingtang thought that this might be a novice, maybe it was his first time killing someone, and he was still very nervous.

There were fighting sounds coming from inside the house.

The other person should not be alone.

In other words, Hong Xiaoguang may have had accomplices.

He and Ling Shu hadn't found out anything yet, but the other person was already in a hurry to come out and kill. Wasn't that too hasty?

Yue Dingtang wanted to help Ling Shu.

But as soon as his figure emerged from behind the column, gunshots sounded again.

A burning pain spread from his cheek. Yue Dingtang touched it with his hand and it was sticky.

He realized that the other person's gunmanship was not accurate enough, and it only took one bullet to kill him.

He had to think of a way.

Yue Dingtang's gaze fell on the stones at his feet.

Ling Shu panted heavily and turned his head to avoid the heavy blow from the other person. He punched the assailant in the heart with his backhand.

At the same time, his head was hit hard with a stick!

He and the other person fell backwards involuntarily.

His ears buzzed and it seemed like countless flies were flying around. After the dull pain spread, his entire head was wooden and he couldn't think of anything for a moment, and his body was screaming to faint in many places.

The assailant seemed to have not anticipated that Ling Shu would act so ruthlessly, his heart was kicked squarely, the pain was unbearable, he could only cover his chest and gasp for breath, while clutching the wooden stick and trying to get up.

He was familiar with the weak points of the human body and was sure that the stick he just used would not have been able to escape Ling Shu’s notice, and he must have been briefly knocked out.

He didn’t want Ling Shu’s life, otherwise with his gunmanship, Ling Shu would have been dead on the spot, and it would have been impossible for him to have been here for so long.

But he was also very angry.

He was angry that the situation outside had not been resolved yet, and he was angry that he had been outwitted by Ling Shu.

The pain in his chest intensified his anger.

The assailant stumbled to his feet, took a deep breath, and walked towards Ling Shu’s direction.

He fumbled in his pocket for a flashlight, took it out, and shone it on Ling Shu.

The other lay motionless on the ground, seemingly unconscious.

He bent down to take a look.

He had to temporarily keep Ling Shu’s life, but he couldn’t let him wake up too soon.

If he didn’t handle the timing well, there would be a slight difference, and the matter would not be resolved satisfactorily, and there would be many aftershocks.

He had already made a mistake, and he couldn’t be careless again.

He put the flashlight aside and reached out towards Ling Shu’s neck.

Gunshots sounded outside again.

The assailant couldn’t help but curse his companions outside in his heart.

Just then, he felt that the body he had touched seemed to tremble slightly, and the muscles unconsciously contracted.

The assailant’s heart was ringing alarm bells, and he immediately snatched up the stick and swung it towards Ling Shu’s head!

It was too late!

Ling Shu caught it firmly, and the other hand was reaching out to him.

Only then did the assailant see that the other was holding a broken stick in his hand, which had been hidden behind him all the time, and he hadn’t seen it.

It was too late to retreat, and he immediately felt a sharp pain in his abdomen!

He didn’t need to look down to feel what it was like for the broken stick to stab into his body.

The broken wood and thorns pierced the fabric of his robe, blending into the flesh and blood, bursting out with a tooth-aching sound.

Especially when this sound was coming from himself.

The face behind the mask showed an expression of disbelief, he couldn’t imagine that after the heavy blow just now, Ling Shu could not only wake up, but also counterattack in time.

After the broken stick was stabbed into his body, the assailant staggered and involuntarily retreated, trying to find a balance to support his body.

But in a blink of an eye, Ling Shu had pulled out the stick and kicked it.

The criminal groaned and fell back heavily.

Ling Shu was not doing well either.

For a normal person, he should have been unconscious by now.

But he forced himself to overcome his body’s instinct. Although he reversed the situation and temporarily suppressed the assailant, his head was getting heavier and heavier, the side of the neck where he was hit just now was almost too painful to touch, his limbs were heavy, his mind was muddled, he was swaying, as long as the lights were bright, the other party would immediately find out his false bravado, and he was actually weak.

Warm liquid flowed out of his nostrils and seeped into his mouth, salty and briny.

Ling Shu took out his gun and walked two steps forward.

The sound of the gun being cocked startled the criminal, who got up and stumbled into the darkness and quickly disappeared through the back door.

The other person might afterwards come to their senses and found it strange that Ling Shu hadn't taken advantage of their victory and pursued them, and perhaps regretted their misstep, but currently they were certain that Ling Shu had the upper hand and didn't want to risk it.

The assailant didn't know that Ling Shu was barely able to hold the gun, let alone aim it.

Another bullet hit the pillar.

The gunshots echoed in all directions, not quietly at all.

But the police hadn't arrived yet, perhaps because it was New Year's Eve and they had all gone to rest, or perhaps the people around didn't want to get involved, as it wasn't strange for anything to happen in Shanghai's nests of dragons and snakes, and ordinary people didn't want to lose their peaceful lives because of their own moment of curiosity.

How many bullets can a gun hold?

The capacity of the magazine varies depending on the model, and if the other person had a spare one, sooner or later, one of them would hit Yue Dingtang.

Light footsteps sounded, but under his full concentration, Yue Dingtang heard them.

He held his breath and suddenly threw a stone from his hand!

Bang!

Sure enough, the other person was startled and fired.

At the same time, Yue Dingtang lunged forward!

Between shots, the gunman surely had more than half a second to react, not to mention that his gunmanship wasn't good, indicating he was a novice.

Yue Dingtang no longer hesitated, he acted according to his judgment and lunged fiercely at the other person.

The two of them tumbled out of the door, Yue Dingtang grabbing the other person's neck with one hand and trying to knock the gun out of their hand with the other, but the other person punched him on the face, forcing Yue Dingtang to lean back, and the gunman took the opportunity to sit up, gun pointed at him!

It was a critical moment!

The gunman was kicked from behind, the gun was knocked off, the bullet grazed Yue Dingtang's ear, and nailed into the wall opposite him.

The gun was thrown out and slid away.

The gunman immediately realized that his companion had failed.

If he made one more attempt now, he might be able to kill Yue Dingtang, but he would also die in Ling Shu's hands.

It took a few seconds for the gunman to make a choice.

Even ants are greedy for life, and he didn't desire death.

He dodged Ling Shu's kick and crawled up, hastily escaping from the scene.

"Where's the person?"

Yue Dingtang asked about the person who had just fought with Ling Shu in the room.

"He ran away."

Ling Shu replied.

He didn't know if he had spoken out loud or just hummed in his nose, his brain only responded instinctively, unable to think any more.

The surroundings were dark, Yue Dingtang was also injured, and he didn't notice the strangeness of his companion, he tried to get up.

"Help me up."

Ling Shu didn't make a sound.

Yue Dingtang turned his head and saw that the other person was still holding a gun, and asked casually, "Why didn't you shoot just now?"

As soon as the words fell, like a city collapsing, Ling Shu fell down and pressed on him.

Including his injured arm.

Yue Dingtang's face changed.

He didn't know if it was because of the pain or because he was shocked by Ling Shu.

"Are you okay!" He reached out and touched only blood.

"...Don't tell my sister the truth and just say I fell down." Ling Shu murmured, not knowing if he heard Yue Dingtang's words.

"Shut up!"

Yue Dingtang gritted his teeth and ignored the injured arm, pulling Ling Shu over onto his back.

The driver was a bit far away and should not have heard the noise here, otherwise he would have come over long ago.

They were careless tonight, thinking they were just looking for clues, not expecting the other person to be prepared.

"We can't even have dinner tonight, my big chicken legs..."

"The packaged cake, you even gave it away."

"My sister will definitely not give me money this year..."

Yue Dingtang could not bear it anymore and interrupted his chatter on his back.

"If you say one more word, I'll throw you down and let you fend for yourself."

Ling Shu didn't seem to have heard it and continued.

"There were two people just now, one wanted to kill you and one didn't want to kill me."

This was a bit awkward.

Yue Dingtang didn't want to talk, but suddenly frowned.

"Do you mean that the person inside didn't have a gun?"

Ling Shu murmured, "He wanted to knock me out, but didn't want my life. Otherwise, with his skill, I wouldn't have been able to survive and rescue you."

"But this person outside wants to kill me," Yue Dingtang said firmly.

If it weren't for his poor aim, he would have been dead by now, and his body would have been turned into a cold dish.

"Killing me but not you, if we're together, can he frame me for another murder...?"

Ling Shu mumbled as if he was not fully awake, but it suddenly made Yue Dingtang come to his senses, as if he had just woken up from a dream, good fortune coming to his heart.

It was as if all the fuzzy connections he had made before had suddenly become clear.

"They don't want us to investigate this case any further, just like how you were framed as the murderer before. Now they have the murderer pinned on you and with one more life taken, you'll surely be sentenced to death, and the case will be over, with no one else pursuing it."

"On the other hand, it also shows that our investigative direction is correct, otherwise they wouldn't have come out to take action."

"The Yuan family, Du Yunning, and Hong Xiaoguang, it looks like the Hongs are almost certainly related to Du Yunning's death."

Yue Dingtang finished speaking but didn't get a response from Ling Shu.

"Hello?"

The hand that had been resting on his shoulder had gone limp.

Yue Dingtang's heart sank.

Author's Note: Happy Thursday, tomorrow is the weekend, let's celebrate, what shall we eat for a late night snack.