thefictionvixens Chapter 90 Hell Highway, the King of Hell's Passage
Chapter 90 Hell Highway, the King of Hell's Passage
The dilapidated jeep, like an old man having an asthma attack, bounced wildly on the bumpy red dirt road.
The dust kicked up by the wheels turned the original green body into a tan color, and a teeth-grinding scraping sound came from under the hood, as if it would fall apart at any moment.
Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was even more oppressive than the sweltering heat outside.
Qi Tongwei sat in the back left seat, his body swaying with the car's movement, yet he seemed glued to his seat. He toyed with the photo of the golden peacock badge he had captured from the casino video, his eyes half-closed, but his peripheral vision remained fixed on the man in the black trench coat in the passenger seat.
That guy who calls himself "Zhong Kui".
This person hadn't uttered a single word since boarding the vehicle, clutching a black box that resembled a coffin in his arms, radiating a chilling aura that kept strangers at bay.
The air conditioning in the car was broken, and despite the temperature being over 30 degrees Celsius, this guy didn't even break a sweat.
"Hey, you there," Qi Tongwei broke the silence, stuffing the photo into his pocket, "since this is a collaboration, can you stop making it look like we're going to your funeral?"
Zhong Kui, in the passenger seat, didn't turn around, but his shoulder twitched slightly. His voice drifted from the front, flat and without any inflection: "I'm going to Zhao Ruilong's funeral."
That's pretty arrogant.
Before Qi Tongwei could retort, Ye Cunxin, who was beside him, suddenly moved.
Because the road was so bumpy, she almost slid onto Qi Tongwei.
Today, Ye Cunxin changed out of her eye-catching bodycon skirt and into a tight-fitting, high-end tactical windbreaker. But the clothes had clearly been altered, with an extremely tight waist that perfectly accentuated her supermodel-like S-curve.
She wore black, quick-drying tactical trousers; the fabric was very elastic, clinging tightly to her long, straight thighs and round, pert buttocks. The trouser legs were tucked into short combat boots, giving her a sharp yet rugged look.
She didn't sit up straight; instead, like a lazy cat, half of her body leaned against Qi Tongwei's chest. Her long legs, encased in tactical pants, were pressed tightly against the outside of Qi Tongwei's thigh without any hesitation.
As the car shook violently, the muscles in their legs rubbed and squeezed together.
The texture was firm, warm, and surprisingly elastic.
Ye Cunxin fiddled with a tactical folding knife in her hand, staring defiantly at the back of Zhong Kui's head in the front row, while coaxing Qi Tongwei, "Honey, this road is terrible, my back is about to break."
That one word, "husband," was so sweet and lingering, it was incredibly moving.
Qin Chuan, who was driving, almost drove the car into the ditch because his hand trembled.
"Sit still." Qi Tongwei reached out and put his arm around her waist. The skin under his palm was firm and delicate, without an ounce of fat.
He knew the girl was doing it on purpose.
She is asserting sovereignty.
In this carriage filled with masculine hormones and an atmosphere of violence, she was telling that sinister "Zhong Kui" in this way—this man was hers.
Zhong Kui finally reacted this time. He glanced in the rearview mirror, his gray-brown pupils devoid of any emotion, only a cold indifference that seemed to have seen through life and death.
"The 'Gates of Hell' are ahead." Qin Chuan suddenly slammed on the brakes, his voice turning serious. "Everyone, be on your guard."
Two hundred meters ahead, two wrecked truck chassis lay across the middle of the road, piled high with sandbags and barbed wire.
A dozen soldiers dressed in mismatched camouflage uniforms were lounging on sandbags, smoking, but the weapons they held were anything but ordinary: all of them were AK-47s, and there was even a heavy machine gun mounted in the back of a pickup truck.
The gun barrels were dark and pointed directly in this direction.
"Stop the car! Turn off the engine! Put your hands on your head!"
A one-eyed officer with a burly face and an eyepatch emerged from behind the sandbags, carrying a gilded Desert Eagle and a thick cigar dangling from his mouth, and roared in broken Chinese.
Qin Chuan slowly brought the car to a stop, rolled down the window, and handed over the documents and several US dollars that he had prepared beforehand.
"Sir, we're a transport company, this is our permit." Qin Chuan said with a forced smile, looking like an honest, unassuming businessman.
One-Eyed Dragon took the ID without even glancing at it, stuffed it into his pocket, and then, with a greedy look, bypassed Qin Chuan and stared straight into the back seat.
In that instant, his eyes lit up.
Ye Cunxin's exquisite face, on this dusty border, was like a dazzling diamond that had fallen into a pile of coal.
Especially the curves of her chest outlined by the tight-fitting clothes, rising and falling slightly with her breathing, made the one-eyed man's Adam's apple bob up and down, and he almost drooled.
"The pass is fine." The one-eyed man exhaled a puff of smoke, grinned, revealing a set of rotten, yellowed teeth, "But the rules have changed. The goods are left behind, and the women are left behind too, for a medical check."
The surrounding soldiers burst into laughter, their eyes lewdly glancing into the vehicle, some even whistling, their rifle bolts rattling loudly.
Qin Chuan's face darkened: "Sir, isn't this against the rules? We've already given..."
"Bang!"
The one-eyed man raised his hand and fired a shot. The bullet hit the hood of the jeep, sending sparks flying.
"Here, my gun is the rule!" The one-eyed man grinned maliciously as he walked over, reaching for the back door. "Get out! Let me see if this chick is hiding any contraband!"
Ye Cunxin's body stiffened abruptly, and the knuckles of her fingers gripping the folding knife turned white.
Qi Tongwei did not move.
But his right hand, which was at his side, had already silently reached for the zipper of the black guitar case.
There were two large-caliber pistols inside. In just 0.5 seconds, he could blow the one-eyed man's head off and use the remaining bullets to send the rioting soldiers around him to meet their maker.
A murderous aura permeated the carriage, like a taut string that could snap at any moment.
Just then, the passenger door opened.
Zhong Kui, who had been looking like a dead man, got out of the car.
He was tall and thin, his black trench coat fluttering in the hot wind. He didn't raise his hands or draw his gun, but walked straight towards the one-eyed man.
"Are you asking for death?!" A young soldier cursed and raised his rifle butt to smash it on Zhong Kui's head.
Zhong Kui didn't even glance at him, he just waved his hand casually.
"Snap!"
A crisp sound of bone cracking rang out.
The soldier screamed and flew backward, writhing on the ground clutching his twisted wrist.
Enraged, the one-eyed man raised his Desert Eagle, ready to pull the trigger: "Kill him!"
"Akara, Somi, Taku!"
Zhong Kui suddenly spoke.
This string of words with its strange pronunciation and eerie tone is neither Chinese nor English, but rather an extremely obscure dialect of the local indigenous tribe.
The one-eyed man's finger, which was about to pull the trigger, stopped abruptly.
A flicker of surprise and uncertainty crossed his single eye. These colloquial phrases mean—"The shadow that walks for death greets you."
This is a code word that only the most mysterious and brutal warlord in the north, the "Black Mountain General," understands!
Zhong Kui walked up to the one-eyed dragon, the two of them no more than half a meter apart.
He slowly raised his hand and took something out of the inside pocket of his trench coat.
That wasn't a gun, and it wasn't money.
Instead, it was a black badge only the size of a thumb.
The badge was carved from some kind of unknown ebony, and it was shaped like a lifelike scorpion with its tail raised high and a dark red gemstone at the tip, like a bloodthirsty eye.
The moment he saw the badge, the one-eyed man's arrogant face turned ashen, as if his soul had been ripped out.
The cigar in his mouth fell to the ground with a "thud".
Not only him, but the soldiers around him who had been holding guns trembled with fear after seeing the badge, as if they had seen some monster crawling out of hell.
"Thump!"
One-Eyed Dragon's knees buckled, and he knelt directly in the dust.
"High...High Priest..." The one-eyed man's voice trembled, his head pressed tightly to the ground, not daring to look up at Zhong Kui even once. "I was blind and didn't know it was you..."
Zhong Kui expressionlessly put the badge back into his pocket, looking down at the one-eyed man kneeling on the ground as if he were an ant.
"roll."
He only said one word.
Simple, straightforward, and ruthless.
The one-eyed man, as if granted a pardon, scrambled to his feet and frantically waved his hands at his men: "Let them through! Let them through now! Move the roadblocks! Hurry!"
The soldiers looked like they'd seen a ghost, frantically moving the truck chassis aside, not daring to even glance at the jeep again, for fear that if they looked any longer they would have their eyes gouged out.
Zhong Kui turned around, opened the car door, and sat back in the passenger seat.
The whole process took less than two minutes.
The carriage was deathly silent.
Qin Chuan stared wide-eyed at the figure in front of him, now back to its dead state, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets. He'd been working on the border for so many years, and this was the first time he'd ever witnessed anything like it.
A broken wooden sign was enough to scare these ruthless soldiers into kneeling?
Ye Cunxin was also stunned, and she subconsciously gripped Qi Tongwei's arm tightly.
Qi Tongwei looked at the black figure from behind, his eyes becoming playful.
"Drive," Zhong Kui said coldly.
Qin Chuan swallowed hard, stepped on the gas, and the jeep roared past the checkpoint.
The atmosphere in the car eased slightly only after the car had driven several kilometers and the checkpoint was completely out of sight.
"That's the totem of the Black Mountain tribe," Qi Tongwei suddenly said, his voice not loud but filled with certainty. "They are the oldest and most xenophobic primitive tribe in the Golden Triangle, and the true underground emperors of this jungle. Even the local government army has to give them some face."
He looked at Zhong Kui's profile: "How did you get your hands on that thing? When did the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection's reach become so extensive?"
Zhong Kui kept his eyes closed, his fingers tapping lightly on the black box: "Borrowed."
"Borrow?" Qi Tongwei laughed. "Can you just lend out such a token that symbolizes a priest's status?"
Zhong Kui didn't speak again, but a barely perceptible hint of mockery seemed to flash across his pale face.
"No matter how you got it," Qi Tongwei gently placed his palm on Ye Cunxin's knee, his large, warm hand reassuringly comforting. "As long as you can help me catch Zhao Ruilong, even if you're some kind of demon, I'll accept it."
Ye Cunxin felt the warmth emanating from her knees, and her initial panic gradually subsided. She turned her head to look at Qi Tongwei's resolute profile, her eyes filled with infatuation.
She felt it for a split second.
Just as the one-eyed man was about to reach in, Qi Tongwei's murderous aura was so intense it was almost overflowing.
If Zhong Kui hadn't intervened, the checkpoint would probably be a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood by now.
This man is truly capable of wreaking havoc here for her sake.
"We're almost at Mukang County." Qin Chuan said in a low voice, looking at the gradually appearing building outlines ahead. "That's the Scorpion's lair, and also the biggest den of iniquity in this area. The 'Royal No. 1' casino is located in the center of the county."
"Our current identities are those of suckers who are handing over money." Qi Tongwei looked away, patted Ye Cunxin's hand, and said, "Miss, now it's time to see your acting skills."
Ye Cunxin took a deep breath and sat up straight. She took out a pair of huge sunglasses from her bag and put them on, a slight smile playing on her lips, revealing an arrogant and disdainful expression.
She instantly exuded the aura of a top socialite in Beijing.
"Don't worry." She tossed her hair, her voice carrying a lazy arrogance, "When it comes to spending money and putting on airs, no one can beat me."
The jeep drove into the dilapidated yet strangely prosperous town of Mukang.
On one side of the street were beggars and drug addicts in tattered clothes, and on the other side were glittering casinos and nightclubs. Neon lights reflected bizarre colors in the dirty water, and the air was filled with the mixed smells of alcohol, cheap perfume, and rotting garbage.
This is both the human world and hell.
And they are stepping deeper and deeper into this hell.
Qi Tongwei looked out the window, the photo in his hand crumpled into a ball.
Zhao Ruilong, wash your neck clean and wait.
Grandpa has arrived.