Chapter 435 Just One Step Away
He struggled to pull out a tightly wrapped red plastic bag from the innermost clothes. It was just a small bundle, which he stuffed into my hand and said, “Find a way to give this to a police officer you trust, tell them it was left by officer 051824. They will understand what it is once they get it.”
I took the red plastic bag from him, and he suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood. Seeing him like this, I began to tremble all over, shaking my head incessantly, trying to tell him that I wouldn’t let anything happen to him.
But his situation was getting worse and worse.
I knew I was too anxious, looking around, staring outside the electric fence, hoping that Stanley would hurry up.
Michael’s face grew increasingly pale, and I feared something might happen to him. In my anxiety, I even thought of finding a way to cross the electric fence myself. So, I got up and walked to the edge of the fence, trying to figure out a way to get across.
Before I could think of any solution, I heard a muflled grunt from behind. I turned around abruptly, and when I saw the scene in front of me, I felt as if I had been struck by lightning.
Marguerite, at some unknown point, had walked up to Michael, the sharp curved knife in her hand brutally plunged into Michael’s chest. Michael spat out a mouthful of blood and collapsed onto the ground.
“Michael!” I widened my eyes, never having imagined such a situation.
Marguerite saw Michael fall to the ground, and she stepped back in
panic, her hands trembling as she looked at me and shook her head repeatedly, saying, “I didn’t mean for this to happen, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Watching her stumble away, I fell beside Michael, frantically helping him up, holding back my breakdown as I called him, “Chen… Michael.”
Michael’s breath was faint, fresh blood continuously trickled from his mouth. Looking at me, his voice weak and helpless, he said, “It seems, I really can’t go back.”
I shook my head, unable to breathe smoothly. My throat hurt so much that I could hardly speak, and tears uncontrollably fell down my face.
you
Michael looked at me with a strained smile and said, “Kid, thank for taking care of me all this time. If you can make it back safely, please deliver a message to the Hinton family in River City for me. Tell them that Elliott Hinton has pa*sed away without any regrets, and they should stop searching.”
For a moment, I didn’t react, staring blankly at him, Elliott Hinton?
Walter had said that he had been looking for his father. I didn’t know what his father’s name was, the only thing I knew was that he had come to the border ten years ago and had been missing ever since.
Seeing my confusion, Michael weakly pulled a smile of apology and said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you my real name before, fooled you, kid. Now I still need your help with these things.”
The information was so overwhelming for a moment that I didn’t know where to start.
“Puff…” Michael coughed up blood again, his breathing growing weaker. Glancing at the curved knife in his chest, he managed a wry smile and said, “Kid, pull out this knife, let me go in pain… quickly.”
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I shook my head, trembling all over, overwhelmed by sadness and helplessness.
Seeing me like this, he said, “These years, I’ve been tormented by these things for too long. After death, I hope not to touch these cold things again.”
It took me a long time to find my voice, my throat aching terribly, I said, “Michael, you can’t die, the Hinton family is waiting for you to come back. Walter has been looking for you for many years, he has been waiting for you to come back, you can’t die.”
Hearing me say this, he looked at me, his bloodshot eyes brightening a bit, and said, “You know Walter?”
I nodded, wanting to tell him what the Hinton family and Walter were like now, but after he finished that sentence, he hesitated violently, then suddenly couldn’t catch his breath, and stopped breathing altogether.
He didn’t even hear my last words. I reached out to feel his breath, but I couldn’t feel anything at all. In a panic, I wanted to listen to his heartbeat, but I caught sight of the curved knife stuck in his chest, which was already motionless. Even the blood that was originally gushing out from under the blade was gone.
Time and again, I witnessed them stop breathing in front of me. I tightly gripped the curved knife that had taken their lives, my heart aching like it was being cut with a knife. He was just one step away, just one step, and he could have gone home, could have been free, could have escaped the torment he endured day and night here.
“Michael!” I screamed his name with all my heart, but the echo that reverberated around me received no response.
