Chapter 1

My eyes went wide, and my ears rang wildly.

Someone was dead.

The female owner I had planned to spend the night with was a murderer.

The instant she fired, she didn’t even blink.

She aimed the gun at my head again, and by then, the barrel had turned scorching hot.

I couldn’t breathe.

In my world, only the pounding thud of my heartbeat remained…

“Have you calmed down?”

Seeing that I didn’t scream or run away in panic, the female owner put away the shotgun and poured me a glass of strong liquor.

She downed a glass herself, smacked her lips, and said,

“Remember this. From now on, you are Victor Kane, the leader of this gang of bandits, with fifty men under you.”

“Your men call you Boss, and the ones close to you call you Vic.”

“I’m Vivian Hart, the boss’s woman, the number three in the gang, and I handle the money.”

“The number two is called the Strategist, and your first task is to fool him, because if he notices anything wrong, you will definitely die.”

“Now you have a day and a half to learn every detail about Victor Kane…”

After drinking the liquor, some of my fear was numbed, and I regained the ability to think.

But my entire body was still trembling nonstop.

I realized I couldn’t run.

The female owner, Vivian Hart, had killed her man.

Her man was a bandit, and so was she.

Now she sat beside a calendar marked June 17, 1992, and spoke to me as casually as if we were chatting at home, asking me to play the leader of a gang of bandits.

I didn’t even dare ask why.

There were two dark shadows in the hallway outside the window, and judging by their silhouettes, they both had guns and were probably Vivian’s men.

If I dared refuse her, I would die right now.

“I… I’ll do it.”

“Heh, smart boy.”

“Help me bury the body, and I’ll teach you how to play him.”

“After this is done, I’ll give you enough money to last the rest of your life…”

But I wanted to stay alive more than I wanted money.

I agreed only to keep her steady for the moment, then find a chance to escape and call the police.

The yellow, sandy ground in the town was especially hard.

I dug for a long time, but still couldn’t dig a pit deep enough to bury the body, and my strength had long since run out.

I looked around desperately at the barren wasteland, and even if someone let me run now, I probably wouldn’t be able to move.

And Vivian still had a gun, a pickup truck, and two helpers hidden in the shadows.

“What are you thinking about?”

“Want to call the police?”

Vivian suddenly leaned close.

Her lips brushed my ear as her warm breath spilled over me. “I won’t stop you. Go ahead.”

“There are only three cops in town and two guns, and their phone lines and telegraph machine have already been destroyed, so right now, this whole town can’t contact the outside world.”

“And we have fifty people and fifty guns, so do you think the police can protect you?”

“Vic, if you want to live, your only choice is to behave.”