Chapter 71: Live-in Lover - Part 35

"Wake up, shit bastards."The cold water splashing on them, followed by buckets hitting them squarely in the face, woke Trud and five of his henchmen.

Still restrained—hands and feet tied, mouths sealed with duct tape—Trud, Henry, and Francis groaned in pain from the damage Jeff had transferred to them, while the other three writhed in panic and fear of being restrained inside the van where they had done despicable things to their victims.

Jeff, Kris, and Marc could have ended the operation without waking Trud and his men, but their anger for the girl they knew who had been victimized by those shit bastards wouldn’t be quelled if they didn’t at least tell them what would happen.

"Cut their feet loose, Minion A," Jeff said as he stood outside the van with Kris and Marc, where the bastards could see them.

—"Who are you calling Minion A?"—

It wasn’t that Jeff was acting smug ordering his friends. Although Trud and his henchmen couldn’t see Kris and Marc’s faces thanks to the mask and night-vision gear they were wearing, it was safer not to mention their names.

After Jeff pointed to Marc as Minion A, Marc took a pocketknife from his backpack and cut loose the duct tape binding each of the six bastards’ feet.

Trud and his men thought they would be free—or at least allowed to run away—but what happened next crushed that hope.

"Now, Minion B."

At Jeff’s cue, Kris, understanding he was Minion B, drew his hunting crossbow and shot each of the other three bastards in the leg.

—"Arghhh!"—their groans grew even louder.

With all the preparation done, Jeff finally began explaining to Trud and his henchmen what would happen to them.

—Bamm!—

"Listen up, shit bastards—" Jeff said after kicking the side of the van to get Trud and everyone else’s attention. "—this is how things are going to go from here."

Earlier, while Kris and Marc finished their preparations, Jeff edited a few videos of Trud’s crimes on his laptop. To avoid humiliating the girls any further, he blurred their faces before uploading the footage online using a dummy account.

Those videos included four other things.

First: a list of all the girls who fell victim—or at least their first names. That would be enough for their families to identify them without exposing them to unrelated parties.

Second: a list of all the criminals, mainly Trud and his five henchmen—with their full names, of course.

Third: the current location of the criminals, or more accurately, the location of Trud’s warehouse.

Fourth and last: a picture of the criminals beaten and tied inside their van, just waiting to be picked up.

It didn’t even take half an hour for the video of Trud’s crimes to go viral. Along with it came a flood of threats on his life and his men’s—threats saying they wouldn’t be alive to see the next sunrise.

"Do you think they’ll come?" Jeff asked, doubting the plan he’d come up with.

"If one of those girls is my relative, then I will absolutely come here and kill these shit bastards," Kris replied, restraining himself from putting an arrow in the bastards’ heads to finish the job.

"Are you sure, though, about giving them a chance to run?"

As Marc had said, Jeff had asked him to cut the duct tape on the bastards’ feet so they could run after the three of them left. But that didn’t mean he was giving them a fair chance—considering Kris had shot them all in the leg.

Jeff wanted them to run, to be chased, to feel fear at least similar to what their victims felt, and for them to die without him or his friends being directly involved.

It wasn’t that he was trying to avoid blame. Jeff was more than happy to take the sin and stain his hands blood-red.

Of course, Jeff knew there was a chance Trud and his men could survive and later come after him, his friends, and family—especially Jess. But that wouldn’t be a problem. After all—

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[RETURNER FANTASY SYSTEM]

[Returner Eternal Curse – Vengeful Karma]

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"We need to go now," Kris said, warning Jeff and Marc that people were possibly on their way for the manhunt.

"What about the loot?" Marc asked, referring to the money, drugs, guns, ammunition, and the logbook and laptop that were hard evidence of Trud’s crimes.

As they had agreed, they would take the money for themselves and for the victims’ families. They also took a gun and ammunition for each of themselves for self-defense. Everything else would be dropped at a certain location to be picked up later by their police-officer senpai who had arrested Trud before and would use it as evidence in case Trud survived the manhunt.

"Then let’s end this operation with a big bonfire."

The sight of Jeff lighting a matchstick sent Trud and his henchmen into panic. The stench of gasoline in the air made them think he was going to burn them alive.

Annoyed at their reaction, Jeff flicked the burning matchstick toward them, only for the bastards to wet themselves again.

"Did they really think I’m gonna burn them alive?" Jeff said. "I just said they would be in a manhunt."

"With that murderous look in your eyes, even I thought you were going to burn them," Kris replied, followed by Marc. "With that much piss, I doubt they’d even burn."

Once again, Jeff lit a matchstick and flicked it behind the group.

The instant the burning matchstick landed on the ground, a fire ignited, snaking rapidly to the warehouse Kris and Marc had drenched with gasoline that Jeff had siphoned from the van.

Burning the warehouse might erase other evidence that could be used against Trud, but erasing all trace that Jeff had been there—especially his blood spilled while he was getting beaten—was more important.

"I guess that’s everything we need to do."

"We still need to drop this evidence, so let’s go already."

"I hope you all die in the manhunt, shit bastards."

Right before dawn, Jeff arrived home safe and sound, with a few bruises on his face. Otherwise, he was completely unharmed.

There was a scheduled message on his smartphone that had been sent to Jess when he was abducted so she wouldn’t worry about him. Jeff even messaged her that he was camping with Kris and Marc after he was rescued by them, then sent another message when the three of them were in the car on the way home.

She shouldn’t have gotten worried with those messages, Jeff thought—only to find Jess waiting right in the foyer when he opened the door.

"Where have you been, idiot?!" Jess cried as she rushed on Jeff and embraced him.

"What happened to your face... sob, sniff, sob..." she said, then cried and buried her face in his chest.

After she had calmed down and been bridal-carried toward the couch in the living room, Jess explained to Jeff what had made her so worried.

Although he had been constantly messaging her, when the news about Trud’s crimes spread online like wildfire—enough that Jess’s friends Mira and Mina woke her with a worried call—Jess had been scared Trud might come after Jeff, given how truly dangerous he was.

"Dangerous?... That Poop-Lord? Pfft—Hahaha..."

"Don’t laugh. This is serious—"

Jeff silenced Jess with a simple, gentle kiss, then immediately pulled away before she could turn it into something intimate and passionate. It earned him a slightly annoyed and disappointed glare from Jess. Still, Jeff set that aside for now.

"Didn’t I tell you before? I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even that shit bastard."

"You didn’t say anything like that, idiot."

"Are you sure?"


"Mhm..."

While slowly and gently being pushed down onto the couch, Jess realized Jeff wasn’t only trying to calm her worries.

"Then I’m making a promise now, so you don’t have to worry... We could just go to the storehouse after I take a shower."

"Pervert..."