Iris 9

That was Han Li's voice.

After all, of the six people trapped in this orphanage, Han Li was the only woman.

Mu Qin could hear the slight tremor in her voice. She was plainly terrified. Fear had thrown her into a panic, and she kept explaining herself, apparently trying to gain some advantage.

Through the sound of the rain, Mu Qin heard Han Li say, "I left this orphanage ten years ago! I did... do some bad things to one or two of the children... They were too noisy, and they never listened, so I got irritated. Back then I couldn't control my temper, and I didn't know my own strength... But I swear I never killed a single child. I never took anyone's life! Believe me! Ah...!"

Han Li's final words came with a hurried, muffled scream. Crouched beneath the chair, Mu Qin stuck his head out to peek. He could see Han Li's pant legs and shoes. Someone seemed to have shoved her hard; she staggered two steps into the church, then fell to the floor. She was soaked through by the torrential rain outside, and when she hit the ground, there was a wet slapping sound. Mu Qin noticed what looked like injuries on her face. She had probably been beaten.

Right after her, another person entered the church from outside. It was obviously Xu Fu. He too was drenched to the bone, but his manner was still aggressive. His low voice rang calmly through the church. "But you were employed at the orphanage when the incident happened."

Han Li quickly scrambled up from the floor, wringing out her clothes as she backed away. "There were lots of people working at the orphanage then! Besides those of us who looked after the children, there were nuns and priests from the church, janitors, security guards... I couldn't possibly remember all of them. And the orphanage recruited a lot of volunteers too..."

"Volunteers?" Xu Fu seemed to have caught hold of an odd point.

"That's right, volunteers!" Han Li seemed to remember something and cried out, "The police who investigated back then said it was possible that outsiders had used volunteering as a pretext to harm the children at the orphanage."

"But the director had brought in so many volunteers during that time, wave after wave coming and going. A lot of them even started working without registering any personal information. The police searched and searched but never found anyone suspicious. And the children's bodies were discovered rather late, so there were no traces left or anything... I really don't know who did it!"

Xu Fu said, "I believe it wasn't you. You're too weak, and you're a woman."

Han Li seemed delighted to hear that. "Right, it wasn't me! There's no point looking for me! I..."

But before Han Li could finish, Xu Fu suddenly stepped forward and seized her throat with one hand. His grip choked off her words at once; all she could make were broken, suffocated noises from her throat. In agony, she kept trying to pry his fingers apart, beating at his chest and shoulders.

It was useless. Taking advantage of his enormous edge in height and strength, Xu Fu lifted the woman by the neck until her feet left the floor and her legs kicked painfully in the air.

Xu Fu did not seem inclined to show mercy. From beneath the chair, Mu Qin could see his whole body tensed, clearly intending to finish her off. Mu Qin couldn't help wondering whether he should step in and save Han Li from him. Her eyes had already begun to roll back; she probably could not hold on much longer.

But rushing in to save someone carried considerable risk. Mu Qin swiftly sized Xu Fu up. The man really was tall and powerfully built; the strength required to lift a woman one-handed was no joke. Mu Qin was certain he could not beat him. Yet it did not seem right to stand by and watch Han Li be strangled to death.

In the brief fraction of a second, all manner of jumbled thoughts raced through Mu Qin's mind. Then he suddenly noticed where Xu Fu was standing. After entering, Xu Fu had first shoved Han Li. Once she got up, she kept backing away, and Xu Fu had followed her forward. By the time he grabbed her by the throat, he was standing roughly in the middle of the church.

Mu Qin quickly leaned half his body out from beneath his hiding chair and looked up over Xu Fu's head. Sure enough, directly above him was that lamp: the costly all-silver candle chandelier Mu Qin had inspected so carefully earlier. It hung from an iron chain and looked extremely heavy. If it came down, it would be devastating.

With that realization, Mu Qin already had a plan. He quickly glanced at Qiu Zijia, who was hiding nearby. When they had put out the lights and hidden, Qiu Zijia had instinctively followed Mu Qin to a spot close by, so Mu Qin quietly beckoned to him, signaling him to move.

Qiu Zijia did not understand what was going on, but he still crawled out trembling and crouch-walked over to Mu Qin.

Mu Qin patted Qiu Zijia's shoulder. First he pointed at the candle chandelier above Xu Fu's head, then at its iron chain.

The chandelier's chain had a switch beside the church's main doors. It was a wheel-type switch. Mu Qin had checked it while searching the church earlier: if the wheel was turned quickly, the chandelier would not lower slowly. It would drop straight down, all the way to the floor.

"Go to the switch. When I shout, make that chandelier drop straight down. Understand?" Mu Qin whispered in Qiu Zijia's ear. Qiu Zijia understood and nodded.

This string of actions took only a dozen or so seconds. After quickly and simply assigning the task, Mu Qin and Qiu Zijia split up. Mu Qin turned to look at Xu Fu. The woman could no longer hold out; she had slowly stopped struggling, and her head and arms were nearly hanging limp. Mu Qin knew there was no time to lose. Any later, and Han Li would truly die.

Just as Mu Qin judged the moment and prepared to charge... his plan was simple. He would run straight toward Xu Fu and grab Han Li's arm. As he neared her, he would shout to signal Qiu Zijia. Qiu Zijia would pull the chandelier's switch and bring it crashing down. By then, Mu Qin would have seized Han Li's arm and, using the momentum of his run, yank her backward with him as he fell.

Xu Fu might not react in time. He would still be holding Han Li by the throat, so he might be dragged forward and fall facedown with her. He would become Han Li's shield, because when he fell, he would land on top of her, and the chandelier would come down squarely on him, inflicting severe injuries.

That way, he could deal with Xu Fu and save Han Li as well.

Mu Qin had thought it through. He had exceptionally precise control over his speed, angle, and force. During his military service and training, his instructors had put him through all kinds of physical drills specifically aimed at his reaction time and similar abilities, so his chance of success was unquestionably above eighty percent.

But plans never keep pace with change.

Just as Mu Qin was about to rush forward in one burst, Cheng Guoxu, who had been hiding somewhere nearby, suddenly sprang out ahead of him!

He charged almost straight at Xu Fu. In that instant, Mu Qin noticed that Cheng Guoxu was holding something in his hand: some kind of sharp weapon gleaming coldly.

But Cheng Guoxu was not a trained soldier like Mu Qin. He was not fast enough, and his footsteps were too loud. The instant he started running, Xu Fu noticed something was wrong. Sensing danger, Xu Fu casually tossed aside the half-strangled Han Li and turned toward Cheng Guoxu.

By then Cheng Guoxu had already rushed up to Xu Fu, wielding his weapon: a section of steel pipe Mu Qin had broken off a radiator pipe in the apartment building earlier. One end of the pipe was sharp enough to stab someone.

That length of pipe had originally been in Mu Qin's hands the whole time. After entering the church to search it, Mu Qin had needed his hands to light candles, so he had casually set the pipe on a table on the church stage. He had not paid much attention to it afterward. He had not expected Cheng Guoxu to get his hands on it.

Even less had he expected Cheng Guoxu to be so bold. Armed with that battered piece of pipe, he pounced on Xu Fu, intending to stab him to death outright. Of course, he could not succeed. Xu Fu's reflexes and physical strength were both better than Cheng Guoxu's. With a countering martial-arts move, he easily knocked aside Cheng Guoxu's steel pipe. The pipe was badly rusted and snapped in two beneath Xu Fu's bare-handed blow.

Cheng Guoxu had not expected his all-out strike to be neutralized so easily, and he froze for a moment. In a fight, that moment of hesitation was fatal. Xu Fu had already produced a short knife from wherever he had hidden it. His knife work was masterful, every strike aimed at a vital point. With a single motion, he cut open Cheng Guoxu's throat.

Blood immediately gushed from Cheng Guoxu like a fountain. He seemed unable to believe he had failed. Clutching his throat, he stared wide-eyed at Xu Fu, who stared back at him with a savage gaze, unnervingly calm.

Only then did Cheng Guoxu feel afraid. Fear drove him several steps backward, one hand pressed over the bloody wound in his neck. He could not stop the bleeding. Blood flowed back into his windpipe and into his lungs, making blood begin to pour from his mouth and nose as he choked.

He had thought he could really succeed! All he needed to do was rush at Xu Fu with the sharp pipe and strike while Xu Fu was intently strangling that female teacher. Killing someone was that simple.

But Cheng Guoxu had forgotten that being killed... was just as easy.

The instant Mu Qin saw this sudden development, he changed his mind. Without slowing, he shot forward, raced to Han Li's side, and pulled up the woman, whose mind was clouded from suffocation and lack of oxygen. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he half-dragged, half-carried her straight toward the church's main doors.

As he ran, Mu Qin shouted to Qiu Zijia, who was standing beside the doors, "Drop it!"

Qiu Zijia froze. Perhaps the sudden turn of events had scrambled his thoughts. He stood there blankly for a beat before belatedly reaching for the wheel switch beside him that controlled the candle chandelier.

At the same time, Xu Fu noticed Mu Qin suddenly dart out, rescue Han Li, and try to escape. Instinctively, he abandoned Cheng Guoxu and moved to chase them.

If Qiu Zijia had reacted in time, pulling the chandelier's switch the instant he heard Mu Qin shout, the lamp would absolutely have crushed Xu Fu to death.

But he hesitated. He pulled the switch a little too late, and the chandelier fell a little too late. It did not land directly on Xu Fu, but it did strike his foot.