Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

A few minutes later, perhaps feeling hopeless and knowing he was going to die today, Song Shuanzhu finally calmed down, panting heavily.

Wang An also made a little noise at the right time to let Song Shuanzhu know that there was someone next to him.

Sure enough, upon hearing the commotion Wang An made, Song Shuanzhu grasped at a straw and pleaded, "..."

"Good sir, have you arrested the wrong person? I'm just a poor farmer, arresting me won't do you any good."

Wang An didn't speak, but fell silent again, as if the slight noise he had just made wasn't intentional.

After a short while, Song Shuanzhu couldn't hold back any longer and pleaded again:

"Sir, please spare me! Arresting me is useless. My life is worthless. My wife is pregnant, and I need to go back to take care of her. Sir, please let me go!"

And so, Song Shuanzhu continued his rambling pleading for a long time before finally stopping. But by the end, Song Shuanzhu had already started crying.

You could tell that Song Shuanzhu, this grown man, was on the verge of collapse.

In fact, not only Song Shuanzhu was on the verge of collapse, but Wang An was also on the verge of collapse.

Yes, Wang An was indeed on the verge of collapse, but he was frozen to the point of collapse!

The main problem is that it's incredibly cold in these mountains, freezing cold, even colder than Song Shuanzhu's courtyard.

The worst part is that as the moon climbed higher and higher, the temperature kept dropping.

With the cold wind blowing constantly and snowflakes hitting his face, Wang An felt that the temperature was probably over -40 degrees Celsius, reaching an extremely cold level.

The main reason Wang An felt cold was because his cotton-padded coat wasn't enough to keep him warm.

If Wang An had worn the fur coat he wore when he was hiking, or at least a military overcoat, he certainly wouldn't have felt so cold.

There's no way around it; although Yandu is also in the north, its temperature is on a completely different level compared to Heilongjiang Province.

It's worth noting that the lowest temperature in Yandu is only around -20 degrees Celsius, which is at most the "Great Cold" level.

Temperatures between -20 and -30 degrees Celsius are called "severe cold," while temperatures between -30 and -40 degrees Celsius are called "extreme cold." Only temperatures exceeding -40 degrees Celsius are considered "extreme cold."

The "extreme cold" is so cold that water freezes instantly when poured on it, so you can imagine how cold the "extreme cold" must be.

Therefore, the cotton-padded jackets sold in Yandu are much thinner than those in Northeast China.

Therefore, it's normal that Wang An felt unbearably cold.

Only after Song Shuanzhu cried did Wang An tighten his voice and speak in a voice that wasn't Wang An's own:
"Alright, it's almost time, I should send you on your way."

After a pause, Wang An continued:
"I almost forgot, well, there's a rule in our line of work: I have to make sure you know the truth before I go to jail, so you don't come looking for me later if something goes wrong, right?"

While fiddling with the pistol, making it emit a piercing "click-click" sound, Wang An said unhurriedly:
"Here's what happened. I was paid to do this. Song Ping told me to bring you to this mountain and kill you, so as not to taint your family's place. He said your wife was pregnant with his child and he still wanted to continue living with her, so he paid me to kill you."

"Well, we have a deal, okay? When you get down there, don't drag me into your complaints to King Yama. If anything happens, go find Song Ping. He's the one who wants to kill you. It has nothing to do with me." Wang An's fabricated story stunned Song Ping, and even his crying stopped.

To be honest, Wang An was quite impressed that Song Shuanzhu, a grown man, could cry like this!
Of course, most people are probably like this when facing death, and it's not surprising that Song Shuanzhu, as an ordinary farmer and a "pseudo-man" who is incapable of sexual intercourse, would behave this way.

However, immediately afterward, Song Shuanzhu burst into a tirade of curses, his voice trembling with tears:
"Song Ping, you son of a bitch! You slept with my wife, and now you want to hire someone to kill me? I'll haunt you for eight generations, you bastard! I'll haunt you even as a ghost!"

Too lazy to listen to Song Shuanzhu's curses and insults, Wang An pressed the pistol against Song Shuanzhu's forehead, pretending to be kind as he said:

"Song Ping said it would take me three shots to kill you. He said it's because you're hogging the toilet and not using it, so you have to suffer a bit before you die. And you know, the first two shots might hurt a bit, so bear with it."

As he spoke, Wang An pressed the gun against Song Shuanzhu's shoulder and pulled the trigger without hesitation.

However, the expected gunshot did not ring out; instead, there was only a "click" sound of the firing pin striking the target.

At the same time, Wang An's somewhat exasperated voice rang out:

"Holy crap! Why isn't this gun working anymore? Damn it!"

But then, a loud "bang" rang out again beside Song Shuanzhu's ear, along with Wang An's startled cry:

"Holy crap! This gun is freaking slow!"

Upon hearing the gunshot and Wang An's curses, Song Shuanzhu shuddered. Immediately afterward, Wang An smelled a faint odor of urine.

It was obvious that Song Shuanzhu was so scared that he wet himself, and he actually peed a really big amount.

It's not entirely Song Shuanzhu's fault that he urinates so much. After all, he came out of the house intending to urinate, but before he could, Wang An knocked him unconscious, and he's been holding it in ever since.

Song Shuanzhu was already about to burst into tears, and he was on the verge of death. Then, the gunshot startled him so much that he lost control and wet his pants.

Upon discovering that Song Shuanzhu had wet his pants, Wang An pretended not to know, mainly because he was too lazy to care. He said in a complaining voice:

"This guy is really freezing cold. He even made my gun unusable because of the cold, damn it."

Extremely cold weather has a significant impact on the use of guns.

However, the reason this scene happened was because Wang An did it on purpose, and his goal was still to scare Song Shuanzhu; he was playing psychological warfare.

After a moment of shock, Song Shuanzhu immediately stopped cursing and hurling insults, and pleaded with Wang An in a trembling voice:

"Good sir, spare me! I know Song Ping has a place where he hides treasures. Please don't kill me. If you don't kill me, I'll tell you."

Wang An was taken aback when he heard this. In fact, what Wang An wanted to ask next was whether Song Shuanzhu had done bad things with Song Ping.

For example, conspiring with Song Ping to commit murder and robbery, conspiring with Song Ping to swindle and cheat, or even poisoning other people's homes. (End of Chapter)