Chapter 22: Completing Redemption in a World Where People Eat Each Other

  The second update was criticized by a reader for being insufficient, I had plenty of ammunition, but... Ah, no explanation, today's update is increased by one, with over 10,000 words.

  The sky seemed to have leaked a hole, and the rain showed no signs of weakening. The icy coldness of the rain in the western frontier at night was far beyond imagination. In such weather, it's actually unnecessary to arrange people to guard those heavy prisoners. Staying in the house would mean facing an endless wait, while leaving the house with just a few clothes on and walking into the desert on such a night would mean waiting not only for an endless and elusive hope but also possibly for death itself.

  Ye Haodong brought the few people from the original five groups to follow He Ruqiu. Each person took a plastic raincoat and walked into the dark rain curtain, braving the strong wind.

  Starting from the backyard, He Ruqiu led the team to search in a northerly direction. Ye Haodong held an anti-rain flashlight and followed him, with a squad of armed police soldiers walking at the end, and more than 20 people moved forward into the depths of the desert.

  In the front, Gulihan Jiang and Liu Hongsheng were carrying Aiguli, who was struggling to move forward in the heavy rain and strong wind. On the contrary, the three of them were walking against the wind.

  Ye Haodong and his party had a hard time moving forward, and along the way, they also had to carefully pay attention to any clues that might be brought by the spider silk, so their speed was really slow.

  They had been walking for more than three hours, and before that, they had already exhausted most of their energy in the process of being chased by several warriors. They were originally exhausted, and now they had been trekking through the cold wind and rain of Western Xinjiang for so long that their physical strength had been completely depleted. Their bodies were shivering with cold, and Aigul, a young girl, was already scared out of her wits due to the sudden change and the harsh weather. She had become weak and limp, relying on the two men to support her as she walked. The four of them could no longer hold on.

  He held his submachine gun, gazing fiercely at the distant mountains with a desperate look in his eyes. In his mind, he had already begun to consider killing Aigul first and eating her flesh to replenish his energy. After walking for nearly another hour, they arrived at a small thicket of bushes, where he stopped in his tracks, turned around, and looked at the three people behind him with an expression of utter exhaustion and despair on his face.

  "Sly and cruel, Gulihanjiang took a look: 'It's no use, we can't escape anymore. Gulihanjiang, Old Liu, you two kill me, eat my flesh, drink my blood, and you'll still have a chance to get out.'"

  Gul Khan's face changed greatly, unable to speak. Liu Hongsheng sneered: "What nonsense are you talking about, Old Zhou? Even if we were going to kill someone and eat their flesh, it wouldn't be your turn. We have this little girl instead, her tender skin and delicate flesh would be perfect for eating."

  Gulihan Jiang stared at the two internationalist fighters who were supposed to have come from overseas to help them achieve their dreams of freedom and independence, unable to believe his eyes. These two people regarded eating human flesh as a trivial matter. In the midst of a torrential downpour, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky, and in Gulihan Jiang's eyes, these two former instructors suddenly transformed into two devils from hell. He was so frightened that he hastily scooped up Aigul and scrambled towards the thicket, with the sound of gunfire ringing out behind him: "Gulihan Jiang, stop immediately or I'll shoot!"

  Gul Khan Jiang was running forward with all his might, not even thinking about whether he could escape the devil's clutches. A gunshot rang out behind him, which didn't sound particularly loud in the strong wind and heavy rain. The confident shooter lowered his gun, but was quickly shocked to discover that Gul Khan Jiang was unscathed and still running for his life. The Type 81 semi-automatic rifle is a highly adaptable firearm, and even in such harsh weather conditions, it can maintain good combat performance. As an old soldier who had been through many battles and received countless military trainings, he couldn't believe he missed the shot! He was shocked, quickly realized what happened, cursed the dud bullet, and swiftly ejected the third dud from the chamber, making sure to reload with a live round before taking aim again. After another gunshot, Gul Khan Jiang fell to the ground as expected, the bullet piercing his thigh and shattering his leg bone.

  He and Liu Hongsheng quickly ran over, but there was nothing in the rain where Gulanjiang had been shot. It turned out that it was the edge of a very deep sand slope, and Gulanjiang had fallen down with Ayiguli on his back. He and Liu Hongsheng slid down the slope without hesitation, and at the bottom, by a small lake, Gulanjiang was lying quietly, unable to move. There was only Gulanjiang at the scene, and Ayiguli had disappeared. He and Liu Hongsheng immediately launched a search, but ultimately found nothing. The terrain here is a bit complicated, with several small hills, and the visibility in this weather is extremely low. Their physical strength has already reached its limit, so they only searched for a while before giving up. They came to Gulanjiang's body and squatted down, looking at Gulanjiang's body with ferocity and cruelty.

  Aygul was crouching by the small lake, watching with her eyes wide open as the two devils committed an atrocity that made one's hair stand on end. Gulanjiang had already fainted, but was suddenly awakened by a severe pain in his thigh. As soon as he opened his eyes, he saw Liu Hongsheng approaching his throat with his white teeth bared. With all his might, Gulanjiang punched Liu Hongsheng's ribs, causing him to let out an angry cry of pain. Liu Hongsheng grabbed Gulanjiang's fist and bit down on his throat without hesitation.

  In the pitch-black rain, a biting cold wind was blowing. He Ruoxi and her group were advancing with difficulty. They had been walking for more than four hours, and it was now 1 am. This was the limit of their endurance, and if they went any further, they would find it hard to ensure they had enough energy to get back. In such terrible weather, given the freezing cold of a night in the western wilderness, there was a real possibility that they would freeze to death in the desert. Just as He Ruoxi was about to give up, Huo Pingchao suddenly spotted on the ground a small silver bell that Uyghur girls loved to wear, tied to a velvet cord. It was very delicate, and He Ruoxi recognized it at once - it was the same one that Aiyiguli used to wear.

  Facing the vast unknown darkness, He Ruoxi gave a decisive order. With this place as the core, they would split up and search separately. One soldier would be paired with two prisoners to form a small group, while she and Ye Haodong would each be in their own separate groups. Each group would return here after half an hour to report any findings. They were not allowed to take any unauthorized actions. Moved by He Ruoxi's trust in him, Ye Haodong nodded silently to her and turned to walk into the unknown darkness.

  In the strong wind, Ye Haodong's raincoat was no longer effective. He walked against the wind with his head down, carefully searching and advancing. After more than ten minutes, a faint cry of sorrow came into his ears in the strong wind, and Ye Haodong's spirit was shaken. He plucked up his courage and followed the sound to move forward. A few minutes later, he finally arrived at the edge of a small lake, and the one who made the cry was Gulanjiang, who had been eaten by * and Liu Hongsheng but still struggled to survive. Ye Haodong vaguely saw Gulanjiang lying on the ground, and he didn't care about being cautious, running quickly to Gulanjiang's side.

  Gulihanjiang was on his last breath, and the mournful cry he let out was intermittent. He struggled to hold on only because he was worried about Aygul's safety. Ye Haodong approached him, and with the last bit of strength in his body, he pointed towards the northwest mountain range and said: "Aygul is... hurry, I'm dying."

  Ye Haodong did not hesitate, and he didn't go back to meet with He Ruqiu as agreed. The tragic state of Gulihanjiang made him realize what terrible things Aigul was about to face. Gulihanjiang's severe injuries would not last long, indicating that the two escaped prisoners and Aigul could not have gone far. Ye Haodong thought it was too late to go back and report, so he decisively decided to rescue the gentle and lovely Uyghur girl alone.

  With a goal in mind, Ye Haodong's spirit was greatly lifted, and his deep physical reserves were now showing their effect. Others who had gone through the cold night rain would have been frozen to the bone and exhausted, but Ye Haodong still had energy left over, and he ran towards the direction that Gulihan Jiang had pointed out before his death.

  After running for about twenty minutes, three stumbling black shadows finally appeared in the distance through the rain curtain. The middle figure with a slender build was likely Aiguli. Ye Haodong thought that the other party had guns and were extremely cruel to even treat their companions as food, so he didn't dare to catch up immediately. He slowed down his pace, slowly following behind, waiting for an opportunity to strike back.

  Three in front, one behind, four people trudged through the vast desert of Western China on a stormy and rainy night. The distant mountains seemed like ancient giant beasts lying dormant, their destination but at this difficult moment, it also seemed more like a grave that was about to bury them. The icy feeling was constantly eroding Zhou and Liu Hongsheng's confidence, Ah Yiguli, who had been caught by the cannibalistic act of eating people, was getting heavier, as if the little heat she had just consumed had already been exhausted. A stone hut left by a herdsman appeared in front, simple but able to block the wind and rain. Exhausted and spiritually on the verge of collapse, Liu Hongsheng cried out hysterically: "Old Zhou, I really can't walk anymore, it's too cold, let's go there to take shelter from the rain and then continue."

  It wasn't as if he hadn't expected this, he turned his head to look at the endless blackness behind him and thought to himself, with weather like this they would never think that he'd be heading north against the wind, and up till now no one had caught up to them. It seemed those soldiers must have gone in the wrong direction, otherwise with just a few of them, they would've caught up by now. He nodded to himself, his hand holding the gun was tired and he put it down, following Liu Hongsheng as he dragged Aigul who couldn't walk anymore into that small stone hut.

  Ye Haodong followed them from a distance, out of their line of sight. When he got to this point, however, he discovered that they had lost their trail. Ye Haodong calmly observed the surrounding situation and soon found the small stone house. He quietly walked over and crouched behind the small stone house to listen for any movement inside.

  The small stone hut was built with strips of stone, one by one, and the roof was made of large wooden beams covered with thick canvas and layers of thatch, with many thick tree trunks pressed on top, tied down with ropes to hold down huge rocks. It's very simple but it can really keep out the rain. Inside the house, He* and Liu Hongsheng put Aigul to one side, and the two of them leaned against each other, panting heavily.

  After Liu Hongsheng's breathing slowed down, his physical strength recovered a bit. He struggled to get up and walked to Aiguli, saying: "It's really troublesome to bring this woman along. I'm hungry now, and earlier I was afraid of the pursuing soldiers, so I didn't dare eat much. After running for a while, my food is all digested."

  "Just brought her here, first because now there's someone to talk to, second because I have a hostage in hand. Now that you're starving, go ahead and make your move."