Shadow Heir II: Dark Glory - Chapter 31: The Scent of Gunpowder on His Hands
The off-road vehicle screeched to a violent halt.
The driver flung open the door and all but tumbled out, face white as paper, panic etched across every feature.
It was Su Wuji.
“I… did I hit someone?”
He shuffled over to the Ducaro hunter sprawled on the ground, stared at the blood streaking the man’s face, and checked for breath. The instant he touched him, he jerked his hand back as if shocked by a live wire.
“Oh God… I killed him…” His voice trembled, the fear in his eyes raw and unmasked.
Jiang Wanxing jogged up, crouched down, and pressed two fingers to the killer’s carotid artery. His neck was twisted at an unnatural angle. She shook her head.
“Too late. He’s not coming back.”
She straightened, casting a sidelong glance at the ashen man sitting collapsed on the pavement. “Hey, Boss Su—so you killed someone. And? With nerves like that, you sure don’t look like the man who dared to snatch the Eastern Club from Bai Xuyang.”
“Stealing business and… killing a man—how are those the same?” Su Wuji stayed slumped on the ground, voice hollow. “I’m going to prison for this…”
“It’s fine. All you need is the victim’s forgiveness, right?” Jiang’s tone turned mocking. “But it looks like the victim’s a little too dead to forgive you.”
He looked like he might cry.
She pulled out her phone and made a call.
“Boss, intercepted three Ducaro assassins—two dead, one heavily injured.”
The voice on the other end rose in pitch. “Knew you wouldn’t let me down, our top ace of the Special Ops Training Division! Even on vacation you manage to bag terrorists. I’ll put you in for a commendation first thing. You really—”
“Boss,” Jiang cut him off, “save the praise. Those guys were unnaturally strong. I barely made it out. If your sniper hadn’t backed me up, you’d be attending my funeral.”
“Sniper?” A pause. “I didn’t send any sniper. You’re the only operative we have in Linzhou.”
“You didn’t?” Her brows knit. “Then it must’ve been the Linjiang Provincial Special Affairs Unit?”
“They’re on another assignment tonight—none of them were involved.”
“What?” Her frown deepened. “So whose sniper was it? Local SWAT?”
She shrugged it off quickly. “Doesn’t matter. Let National Security handle cleanup. I’m on vacation—don’t bother me unless the sky’s falling.”
“Fine, fine. Our ace gets what she wants… but I do have one suggestion—”
“I suggest you keep it to yourself.”
“You’re not getting any younger. Use your downtime to find a boyfriend—someone to keep you in line. I mean, keep you company.”
Click. She hung up.
Su Wuji tugged at the heel of her boot like a chastened schoolboy. “You know, if you hadn’t hijacked my car, I wouldn’t have chased them here. I wouldn’t have… run that guy over. You’re responsible for me now.”
“A grown man acting like this—pathetic.” She gave him a light kick. “Where’d all that swagger go? You were flashing me the peace sign through the window earlier.”
She’d spent most of her life in the army. Local power games bored her, and she’d never paid attention to declining old families like the Su clan. The name Su Wuji—infamous in Linzhou nightlife—was one she’d only heard days ago from her childhood friend Bai Xuyang.
“When you beat up my brother, you weren’t shaking like this, were you?”
She grabbed his hand and hauled him upright, grinning. “If killing a man scares you this much, wait till Bai Xuyang gets here—you’ll piss yourself.”
“Bai Xuyang… is he really that dangerous?” Su Wuji wiped the sweat off his forehead.
Her smile tilted into something between a smirk and a sneer. “Dangerous? They call him the capital’s most ruthless young master. Cold-blooded, kills without blinking. Terrifying.”
For some reason, seeing his pitiful expression lifted her mood. The barroom irritation from earlier had evaporated.
“I… I want to get out of here.”
He glanced at the corpse, his knees unsteady. Leaning against the car, he doubled over, dry-heaving until his throat burned.
He sold it well. She didn’t suspect a thing.
“Then go. I’m not stopping you.” She leaned back against the door, arms crossed—pressing curves into a shape that could make a man forget to breathe.
“If I just leave, does that count as fleeing the scene?” he asked uncertainly.
She nearly kicked him again.
Instead, she sighed. “Fine. I’ll clean up your little manslaughter problem, but you’ll owe me.”
“Hey, that’s not fair! You dragged me into this mess—at most, we’re even!”
Then his gaze fell to the blood speckles on her clothes. He swallowed hard and said nothing more.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Her tone turned almost cheerful. “The man you hit was an international terrorist. With my testimony, neither the local cops nor National Security will give you trouble.”
“…Who are you, exactly? National Security? Special Forces?”
“Close enough. But I can’t tell you.”
He twitched a smile. “How does someone like you have such a useless, arrogant little brother?”
After chatting a while, he found she wasn’t bad company—at least she wasn’t unreasonable.
“And you,” she countered, “act like a coward, but dared steal a woman from Fang Jingyang and snatch business from Bai Xuyang. That’s gutsier than my brother.”
“Mu Qianyu roped me in as a shield—did I have a choice? You don’t live in Linzhou, so you don’t get how much weight the Mu family name carries.”
If Mu Qianyu had been there, she’d have called him a scumbag to his face.
Jiang gave him a considering look. “For once, you make sense.”
Distant sirens began to wail.
National Security hadn’t arrived yet, but Linzhou’s SWAT trucks pulled up first.
From the armored vehicle stepped a squad of fully armed officers—one of them was Park Yanxi. Even with goggles, those striking brows and eyes couldn’t be hidden.
She checked Su Wuji over for injuries, then approached Jiang Wanxing. “I’m Park Yanxi, Linzhou Lakeside Precinct. Here to assist. Which of you is Major Jiang?”
Su Wuji grinned. Two people here, and she still had to ask? Sister Park’s acting could use work.
“I am.” Jiang gestured toward the scene. “Three Ducaro assassins—two dead, one…”
She glanced toward the injured man Su Wuji had shot in the gut. He’d been stirring before, but now lay still.
“Correction—three dead. But I can’t confirm there aren’t more.”
“We’ll sweep the area immediately,” Park promised.
Jiang clapped Su Wuji on the shoulder. “This civilian acted bravely, ramming the suspects’ vehicle. Significant contribution to the operation.”
The praise caught him off guard. Maybe she wasn’t the kind to confuse right and wrong after all—certainly better than her brother.
“Yes,” he said quickly, “I was full of courage. In moments like that, not everyone dares step up. Definitely commendable.”
She shot him a sidelong look. Shameless.
…
Jiang had no car in Linzhou, so she kept the Tiguan for herself. Su Wuji didn’t argue.
The matter wasn’t over. Whoever the sniper was—whether from a Chinese agency or a foreign mercenary unit—remained unknown.
Back in her room, she sniffed unconsciously. Outside, she hadn’t noticed. Indoors, the scent was stronger.
She lifted her right hand to her nose.
She knew this smell all too well.
The metallic tang of gun oil—
and the faint, acrid breath of burned powder after a shot.
Her mind rewound the night’s events. Aside from fighting the assassins, she’d grabbed Su Wuji’s hand to haul him off the ground.
She pulled out her tablet, sketching the battle layout from memory—marking the sniper’s perch, the killer’s escape route, and the spot where Su Wuji had rammed the car.
No way…
Her eyes narrowed, the memory of his pale, trembling face overlaying the lines on her map.
