111 Nightmare Attack (1/2)
Sam Luo stood expressionless before the corpse. He tossed the bow to his bodyguard Sandro, then took out a handkerchief and blew his nose forcefully. He tossed the dirty handkerchief on the corpse and turned to leave.
After two steps, however, Sam Luo suddenly grabbed the bow from Sandro and rushed back, aiming at the corpse. He pulled back frantically, ”F*ck, they, f*ck…”
Twang! Twang! Twang! Twang!
As everyone held their breath, he emptied a quiver of arrows. Furious, he slammed the quiver onto the ground and yanked on Sandro’s collar. Dragging the man to his face, he roared, ”Dig another ditch and get those *sses who saw the demon! I want to see them in the ditch tomorrow night, understand? Otherwise I want to see you all in there…”
Seeing his stormy expression, Sandro gulped and nodded stiffly.
Light laughter traveled with the wind. It had come from behind Sam Luo.
”Who is it?!” the Pyramid King spun around, staring at the dancing darkness behind the withered tree. ”Who’s there? Get the f*ck out!” he roared in anger, glaring at the vague shadow. As the shadow laughed, Sam motioned for his men to investigate.
Sandro gulped and shook his head, ”Boss, there’s nothing there.”
”No f*cking way!” The Pyramid King raised his bow, and under everyone’s confused eyes, emptied another quiver at the tree in the shadows. In the end, the dancing darkness finally shattered, and everything looked how it should.
Panting, he threw down the bow. He grabbed a torch and marched over, but there was nobody there. There was only a shattered tombstone. The Pyramid King looked at the tombstone in shock. Putting the torch closer, the flame illuminated the name on the tombstone, as well as his deathly pale face.
Beside him, Sandro yelped and stumbled back as if he had seen a ghost.
--
The words on the tombstone were menacing under the flame’s light, ”Here lies Sam Luo.” There were also a few lines of an epitaph below it:
”Buried here is a traitor, someone blind with greed, a rat.”
”Anta? Anta’s back!” Suddenly remembering something, Sandro became pale. ”Boss, Anta’s back! He came back to…”
”Shut up. Anta is dead.” Sam looked at him emotionlessly. Seeing those dead eyes, Sandro trailed off. Anta’s name was definitely familiar to the senior members of the Pyramid Scheme. When the group was first created, it was not called the Pyramid Scheme. Sam was not born as the leader either. At that time, it was called the Brother Gang. Anta was the leader, and everyone respected him, uniting under him.
Anta had fled from Romulus. He had werewolf blood in him, and no one in downtown could win against this man marked by demons. He did not say much and was never greedy. He would share his profits with those who called themselves his brother and felt that he had a family like this. Sam was part of his ‘family.’
Anta had protected this bankrupt merchant. Treating him like a brother, Anta pulled him out of his quagmire of debt. Sam considered Anta as his brother too. The man had treated him so well and never asked for anything in return. Even his own father could not compare.
But then Sam no longer wanted to be Anta’s brother anymore. Anta was an obstacle, the elites told him. And then Anta died. He died in an alley, shot to death by his own brothers’ arrows. Until he died, he had never used his inhuman strength and skill that had given him his status in downtown, winning him the respect of his brothers.
Anta had been surrounded by those he thought was his family, humiliatingly turned into a porcupine, but he did not die then. Instead, he growled furiously like a true werewolf.
”Aren’t we brothers?” Anta finally asked Sam, who had planned it all. ”We’re family. Why did you do this to me?”
”We are family.” A little upset, Sam used a dagger to dig out Anta’s heart, ”Can’t you sacrifice a little for family?” And so Anta gave up his heart for his family’s success.
”I will not forgive you,” Anta had said. Then he died, his eyes wide open.
Later, Sam buried Anta to placate the others, or maybe to placate himself. But Anta’s tomb had been dug up. Some said that homeless men dug up his tomb to steal the burial items. Others said that it was opened from the inside. Everyone who had been there would describe to others how there were countless scratches on the coffin. There was blood and flesh all around. They all formed the same name over and over again:
”Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam, Sam…”
”I will not forgive you,” the murmur suddenly sounded in his ears again. Sam spun around, blood drained from his face. But there was not a decaying corpse staring at him in the deathly pale moonlight. There was nothing there except for the new members of the Pyramid Scheme. They watched Sam in shock, whispering amongst themselves, unable to hide their fear.