Chapter 118: Die Here and Now!

The phone indicated that the email had been sent successfully. Zhang Wenhao immediately set it down, then drew his own firearm from his waistband and placed it on the bed. He removed the assassin’s suppressed firearm from its holster and tucked it into his waistband. Then he took off his gloves, slipped a clean garbage bag over one hand, and put on the assassin’s sheepskin gloves.

Once everything was done, Zhang Wenhao pushed open the door between the bedroom and the balcony and looked down. Seeing that no one was watching, he made a nimble turn and climbed out through the window.

The eighth floor stood more than twenty meters above the ground, yet Zhang Wenhao did not even look down. He reached upward with both arms and caught hold of the concrete ledge outside the ninth floor. With a sudden burst of strength, he pulled himself up effortlessly, then extended his right hand and seized the edge of the balcony window.

Zhang Wenhao had devised a thorough plan. Earlier, he had quietly reduced the airflow from the hotel’s central air-conditioning system. Mo Sinan would surely choose to open a window. If he opened the balcony window, Zhang Wenhao would enter that way; if not, he would move to the bedroom. Even if Mo Sinan left every window closed, Zhang Wenhao was confident he could shoot his way in and escape with ease. After all, there was still an unconscious scapegoat in the room below. He could use that man to create a tremendous commotion, providing himself with perfect cover for his retreat.

As it turned out, everything developed in Zhang Wenhao’s favor. Finding the room somewhat stuffy, Mo Sinan had opened the balcony window. A breeze drifted into the bedroom, dispelling the oppressive air. Mo Sinan could never have imagined that even while sleeping in a presidential suite, his life would be in danger.

Zhang Wenhao silently climbed onto the balcony outside Mo Sinan’s bedroom. At that moment, Mo Sinan was lying on the bed, absorbed in a fantasy television drama. He had no idea that death was already approaching.

Zhang Wenhao stood in the blind spot beside the balcony wall, where Mo Sinan could not possibly see him. He drew the assassin’s firearm from his waistband, gripped the sliding balcony door with one hand, and yanked it open. In the next instant, he slipped inside and stood in Mo Sinan’s bedroom, aiming the muzzle at the stunned man on the bed.

As soon as he entered, Zhang Wenhao pulled the sliding door shut behind him. The double-glazed door opened onto the balcony outside and the suite’s study inside. The television was still playing, so even if Mo Sinan screamed himself hoarse, no one would hear him. As for the gunshots muffled by the suppressor, they would be nearly imperceptible.

Mo Sinan lay rigid on the bed in shock. He could never have imagined that Zhang Wenhao—the man he had nearly run over earlier that day—would suddenly storm into his room from the balcony with a gun. Mo Sinan was not stupid. Given Zhang Wenhao’s manner and the gun pointed straight at him, it was obvious that Zhang Wenhao, like him, had already decided to kill.

“What are you doing?” Mo Sinan shouted in terror.

Zhang Wenhao gave him a cold smile. “Go ahead and shout. The louder, the better.”

Mo Sinan knew that screaming would be useless. If he truly cried out, Zhang Wenhao’s bullet would probably reach him before he could utter two words.

Terrified beyond measure, Mo Sinan hurriedly said, “Wenhao, we’re brothers. What happened today was a misunderstanding. I never really meant to hurt you!”

“Is that so?” Zhang Wenhao laughed. “I didn’t come here to hurt you either.”

Hearing this, Mo Sinan’s taut nerves loosened slightly. He quickly seized upon Zhang Wenhao’s words and begged for mercy. “Wenhao, let’s put this behind us. Name your price, and I’ll compensate you immediately. I swear to heaven that if you spare me tonight, I’ll leave for Yanjing at once. I’ll never trouble you again in my life—hell, I’ll never even appear in front of you again!”

Zhang Wenhao naturally knew that every word was a lie. A sinister man like Mo Sinan was surely thinking that if he could escape the muzzle of the gun, he would do whatever it took to kill Zhang Wenhao later.

Zhang Wenhao sneered. “I don’t want your money. Sorry.”

Mo Sinan hurriedly said, “Wenhao, I apologize! As long as you let me go, I’ll give you anything you want.”

“I already told you. I didn’t come here to hurt you.” Zhang Wenhao smiled faintly, but his voice carried a bone-chilling coldness. “Hurting you would not be enough to satisfy me. I came here for your life.”

Mo Sinan felt the murderous intent radiating from him and was instantly frightened out of his wits. He knelt on the bed and repeatedly knocked his head against it, tears and mucus running down his face. “Wenhao, please, spare me this once! I was wrong—I truly know I was wrong! Please, let me go. I was only confused for a moment. You and Ruoran can live your lives together, and I’ll never bother you again. Please, don’t kill me!”

“It’s useless.” Zhang Wenhao smiled. “I said all this because I wanted to see you groveling in desperation. Now that I’ve seen enough, take your grievances with you and settle them in your next life.”

Mo Sinan suddenly raised his head. His entire body trembled violently, yet he gritted his teeth and said, “If you kill me, the Mo family will never let you go! They’ll kill you, and they’ll kill everyone around you to avenge me!”

“Go to hell.” Zhang Wenhao enunciated each word coldly. “You’re at death’s door and still trying to act tough. Mo Sinan, you’re far too naive. Let me tell you this: there’s an unconscious assassin lying downstairs right now. Three minutes from now, he’ll fall to his death carrying the very firearm that is about to kill you. Let your family and the assassin organization tear each other apart!”

“What do you mean?” Mo Sinan cried in horror. He could not understand Zhang Wenhao at all and asked instinctively.

With a hint of mockery, Zhang Wenhao said, “Your family named you Mo Sinan, probably hoping you would stay in Yanjing instead of longing for your old home in Jiangcheng. But you refused to remain there and came all the way to Jiangcheng to seek your own death. So stop longing for this place. Why not die here instead?”

Without another word, Zhang Wenhao pulled the trigger repeatedly.

He fired four shots in all: one struck Mo Sinan in the forehead, and three hit him in the chest. The blood sprayed toward the headboard, leaving none on Zhang Wenhao.

Mo Sinan died instantly. Zhang Wenhao did not hesitate. He immediately climbed back over the balcony to Room 8018. Just as he had expected, the assassin was still lying unconscious on the floor.

Zhang Wenhao quickly removed the assassin’s sheepskin gloves from his own hands, put his own gloves back on, and then placed the sheepskin gloves on the assassin. Since he had just fired four shots, the gloves would inevitably carry traces of gunpowder residue. If the police conducted a gunshot-residue test, they would be able to conclude that the assassin had worn those gloves while shooting Mo Sinan.

Zhang Wenhao then cleaned the entire scene and returned his own firearm to his waistband. After that, he dragged the assassin’s body to the window. The final act of his plan was about to begin.

He hauled the assassin to the window and carefully observed the surroundings. The street below was deserted in the dead of night. There was no light on the balcony, either, so no one could see what was happening.

Once he was certain there was no problem, Zhang Wenhao turned the assassin to face him and supported him around the waist. First he pushed the man’s legs out through the window, then the rest of his body. He tossed the assassin’s firearm down first. The moment it struck the ground, Zhang Wenhao suddenly released his grip, and the assassin plunged after it.

The ground below was solid concrete, with nothing nearby to break the fall. From such a height, no matter which part of the body struck first, the result could only be death. The instant the assassin’s body crashed onto the ground, Zhang Wenhao turned and hurried away. Even guests who had not yet fallen asleep would be drawn by the tremendous noise. This was the perfect moment to escape.

Zhang Wenhao opened the door to Room 8018 and confirmed that the corridor was empty. He then slipped quietly into the fire stairwell. Once inside, he descended at an unhurried pace, cleaning away any traces he left behind as he went. When he reached the third floor, he opened the stairwell window and climbed out.

The parking lot was deserted. Even the security guards in the booth had begun to nod off. Zhang Wenhao quietly returned to his car, removed his shower cap, gloves, and shoe covers, and placed them beneath the front passenger seat. He did not drive out immediately. Instead, he waited until a Mercedes entered the lot, then started his own car and headed for the exit.

The Mercedes pulled up beside the guard booth on the left. Zhang Wenhao kept to its right and drove out alongside it. The drowsy guard failed to notice the Scirocco, a little smaller than the Mercedes, slipping past. But rather than go straight home, Zhang Wenhao drove around the block and parked on the roadside opposite the hotel.

From across the street, he saw a number of security guards gathered around something on the ground. The hotel manager had also rushed outside. Soon an ambulance arrived. The doctors pushed through the crowd and examined the assassin’s body. A patrol car also pulled up, and after seeing the body and the firearm lying on the ground, the officers immediately contacted headquarters.

Headquarters quickly dispatched a large number of detectives, who sealed off the scene. Once the doctors confirmed that the assassin was dead, they had to abandon their attempt to move the body because of the police intervention. The officers immediately began examining the scene. They had not yet connected the incident with the body upstairs, but it surely would not take long for them to discover it.

Knowing that there was no reason to remain, Zhang Wenhao took out his phone and called Li Nan.

Li Nan was studying late into the night at home, memorizing his history textbook. He was somewhat surprised to receive Zhang Wenhao’s call.

“Wenhao, why are you still awake this late?”

Zhang Wenhao chuckled. “Is anyone home? Have your parents come back?”

Li Nan’s parents spent most of the year traveling for business and rarely returned home, so Li Nan lived with considerable freedom. Zhang Wenhao knew his situation well, which was why he had chosen to call at this hour.

“No one’s home,” Li Nan replied. “It’s just me. What’s up?”

“I’ll come over,” Zhang Wenhao said with a laugh. “I’ll sleep at your place tonight.”

“Sure.” Li Nan laughed. “Come on over. I’ll be waiting.”

Zhang Wenhao hung up, drove to the residential complex where Li Nan lived, and parked in front of another building. He then walked to Li Nan’s building and went upstairs. When Li Nan opened the door, he asked in surprise, “Why are you out so late? Did you have a fight with your parents?”

Wenhao waved his hand and smiled. “My parents went to the countryside today to visit my grandmother. There was nothing to do at home, so I came over to chat with you.”

Li Nan laughed heartily. “Then you should have come earlier. If you had, we could have gone out for a drink.”

As he changed shoes, Zhang Wenhao said, “I came at just the right time. I can help you review your lessons. If there’s anything you don’t understand, I’ll explain it.”

“Forget it.” Li Nan laughed. “I know my own situation. I’ll never catch up in mathematics and foreign languages, so all I can do is spend more time on the humanities. Those are mostly matters of memorization anyway. Since you’re here, let’s just talk. When we get tired, we’ll sleep. We can go to school together tomorrow morning.”

Zhang Wenhao took a shower at Li Nan’s place. After chatting casually for a while, the two of them lay down on opposite ends of the bed. Li Nan soon fell asleep, but Zhang Wenhao remained awake. He repeatedly went over everything he had done that day, feeling both exhilarated and tense, with a lingering trace of fear as well.

The Zhang Wenhao of the past would never have imagined that one day he would kill someone—let alone kill two people in a single night. After all, he had deprived others of their lives. However he looked at it, the feeling was terrifying.

He remembered how Qian Ning had shot Tom without hesitation that day, and he could not help admiring her. Her thinking had been far calmer and clearer than his own. She understood that, provided she was protecting herself, anyone could be killed—and that doing so was entirely justified, without the slightest psychological burden.

Thinking of her gradually steadied him. In any case, everything had a first time. He had not killed any innocent people; he had killed only those who wanted him dead and posed a grave threat to him. If a woman like Qian Ning could do it, why could he not?

Zhang Wenhao slept very little that night. At a little after six the next morning, he climbed out of bed and shook Li Nan awake.

“Go back to sleep for a while. I have to pick up Ruoran.”

Still groggy, Li Nan heard that Zhang Wenhao was going to fetch Su Ruoran and curled his lip. “Look at you showing off. So what if you’ve got a good wife? Get lost.”

Zhang Wenhao smiled without replying. He dressed and left. After retrieving his car, he drove toward the school. As usual, he parked in the residential complex beside the school, then walked to the bus stop to wait for Su Ruoran.

Near seven o’clock, a bus pulled up at the stop. Su Ruoran stepped down and, upon seeing Zhang Wenhao, threw herself into his arms.

“I had a nightmare last night.”

“What happened?” Zhang Wenhao asked soothingly. “What did you dream about?”

“I dreamed about you…” Su Ruoran hesitated before lowering her voice. “I dreamed you were driving when a huge truck hit you and sent your car flying. Then Mo Sinan climbed down from the truck with a smile, and a helicopter came to pick him up. An ambulance arrived and announced that you had…”

She could not bring herself to finish. Zhang Wenhao smiled. “That I was dead?”

“Don’t say it!” Su Ruoran scolded him. “That’s bad luck.”

Zhang Wenhao burst out laughing. “You really are the daughter of a wealthy family. Even your dreams are different from ours. When I was little, I dreamed that a tractor came to take me away. I never once dreamed of a helicopter.”

Su Ruoran flushed awkwardly. “You’re never serious.”

Zhang Wenhao patted her back and comforted her. “Dreaming that someone close to you has died is actually a good thing. Haven’t you ever heard of dream interpretation? My life has always been tough. After a dream like that, I’m bound to become even tougher.”

But inwardly, Zhang Wenhao was thinking that the assassin was dead. Even if the man had learned everything about him, he would never have the chance to pass the information on. And with Mo Sinan dead as well, he could no longer carry out any despicable schemes against Zhang Wenhao from behind the scenes.

The two deaths had been artificially linked together. No matter who investigated the case, no one would ever suspect Zhang Wenhao.

With the assassin’s firearm and the mobile phone Zhang Wenhao had placed in his pocket, the police would surely be able to uncover clues about his identity. Mo Sinan had been staying directly above him, and he had died from bullets fired by the assassin’s weapon. Whether the police conducted ballistic tests or gunshot-residue analysis, they would find a perfectly reasonable “answer” on the assassin.

The messages Zhang Wenhao had sent from the assassin’s phone were intended to suggest that Mo Sinan was the target the assassin had come to kill. In this way, every detail would connect naturally.

The assassin had been in Jiangcheng for several days, and Mo Sinan had also arrived some time ago. Both had stayed at the Hilton for many days, something the police could investigate with ease. That would make it seem as though the assassin had been secretly preparing to kill Mo Sinan for a long time. The fact that he had changed rooms to one directly beneath Mo Sinan on the night of the murder would make his intentions even more suspicious.

Even if the assassin had genuinely changed rooms because of a problem with the hotel system, the police should discover during their investigation that someone had tampered with it. The room change would then appear to have been deliberate rather than caused by a technical failure. More importantly, none of the surveillance footage from that night had been preserved. Not a shred of evidence remained.

With such a major breach in the hotel’s security system, the hotel would inevitably place the blame on the assassin—or on the organization behind him.

Finally, Zhang Wenhao had disguised the assassin’s death as an accidental fall while returning to his room after killing Mo Sinan. There could be any number of explanations for the fall: carelessness, panic after being discovered, or something else entirely. They could puzzle over that themselves.

Moreover, Zhang Wenhao’s cleanup had been nearly flawless. No one could find any evidence that he had ever appeared at the Hilton. No one would imagine that he was the true mastermind behind everything.

Every detail pointed directly to the assassin and Mo Sinan. The clues exposed on the surface could mislead not only the police, but also Mo Sinan’s family and the assassin’s organization.

The organization behind the assassin would most likely follow the trail Zhang Wenhao had laid out and suspect that Mo Sinan had been the one secretly helping Qian Ning.

As for the Mo family, their own son had been killed by an assassin, so their fury would naturally be directed at the organization behind the assassin. They would never transfer their suspicion to an ordinary high school student like him.

Let them tear each other apart.

From now on, Zhang Wenhao could finally sleep without worry.