Plan A
Mist Map 21
“With our kind of friendship1, your niece is my niece, of course. Leave it to me, I’ll fly over tomorrow.”
“Alright, I’ll give my niece a heads-up2 first, then call the people over there to pull some strings.”
Otherwise, if it happens once, it will happen again. If some people still couldn’t recognize the facts, they might retaliate even more aggressively. The best method was still to solve it from the root; only by becoming strong oneself could one avoid being bullied by others.
It was gradually transitioning from summer to autumn. The temperature was still very hot, but when night fell, it brought a hint of coolness.
Liao Qingjie put her phone back in her pocket, intending to go in and tell Su Xin about this. The killer probably wouldn’t contact them so quickly; after all, there had been a long interval last time.
Liao Qingjie saw a man standing next to her, smoking. His expression was one of unconcealable joy, yet also very anxious.
The man saw Liao Qingjie looking at him and gave a friendly smile.
“My wife is due today, she’s going to give birth today, but her health isn’t too good. I’m anxious but there’s nothing I can do, so I came out for a smoke.”
The man was simply sharing his joy with someone else.
“Wishing mother and child peace and safety.”
“Thank you, ah, and I wish you peace and safety too.”
Liao Qingjie stepped onto the stairs and entered the hospital. The hospital was a good place, connecting life on one side and death on the other.
When Liao Qingjie returned to the hospital corridor, she saw Su Xin and the Captain sitting there. The situation seemed a bit off.
The atmosphere was strange.
“What’s wrong? What happened? Why does everyone have such a worried look3? Could it be that the killer has already contacted you?”
“Yes, he just called us. He said the next one is already arranged, location in R City, and we only have three days.”
“So fast this time?”
“We were negligent this time. Because it’s not our home turf, I didn’t send anyone to watch that park. For the killer to know so quickly that we succeeded in the rescue, his accomplice must be nearby, or perhaps, he himself is nearby.”
The Captain sighed. Not being on one’s own turf was truly a pain.
Liao Qingjie couldn’t help but marvel at how wondrous the world’s coincidences were.
“Have you bought the plane tickets already?”
Liao Qingjie looked at Su Xin.
“Yes.”
“I need to go there to take care of something first, so for the first day, can the Captain protect you? Or you could come with me, it won’t take much time.”
“Go do what?”
The Captain asked.
“To vent some anger for a little girl.”
Liao Qingjie sat down on a green chair in the corridor, her expression not particularly pleasant.
“About how long will it take?”
“Half an hour at most.”
“Then I’ll go with you, no need for the Captain to stay with me.”
Su Xin tilted her head, her tone perfectly natural.
“You dislike me that much?”
The Captain put on a hurt expression.
“Sorry, I currently have a bit of a phobia towards male creatures.”
Su Xin said this, but she didn’t make others feel like that was what she truly thought at all.
Although each memory was blurred, equivalent to a format, some things were still inadvertently remembered in the depths of her mind.
For example, habits.
She was increasingly repulsed by men’s contact, feeling that even being near them was troublesome. If unnecessary, she didn’t want to interact at all. Of course, it wasn’t a repulsion towards all men; it still depended on their character and personality.
The Captain was a bit dumbfounded listening to this; Liao Qingjie wanted to laugh out loud.
Wow, really really really!
“Alright, alright.”
“Actually, I’ll be fine on my own. I’ve said it before, he won’t come near me, much less kill me, until the very last round of the game.”
Hmph, to be honest, she’d rather he came to kill her first. Wouldn’t it be better to have a decisive battle sooner? Why all this fussing? Why is it so troublesome?
“What’s the keyword?”
“Withered vine.”
Liao Qingjie seemed lost in thought, but in this situation, she couldn’t figure anything out.
“Starting tomorrow, the time limit is three days, even tighter than last time. I think the difficulty of the game is judged by the time, so will this time be a bit simpler than last time?”
Su Xin voiced her speculation. If she put herself in the killer’s shoes, if the game was too difficult and the participant hadn’t even found a clue before being eliminated, it would be too uninteresting. A truly interesting game should have enough interaction.
The result of this game, one could say, was saving a life, although the answer from the killer’s mouth was not what Su Xin wanted.
The three of them stood outside, looking at each other without speaking. They waited for a long time. Originally, Zhang Shuyi’s parents wanted them to sit in the ward, but the general ward was already quite crowded with no empty seats, so the three of them decided to sit outside. When Zhang Shuyi was sent in earlier, it was still empty. But after an hour or two, it was basically full.
More than two hours passed, and Zhang Shuyi inside finally woke up.
When Zhang Shuyi opened his eyes, he was still a bit dazed, somewhat unsure of what day it was4. Because he had been trapped in a small space for too long, seeing the spacious room and the crowd of people now felt like a hallucination.
Were these really not his delusions?
Was it a hallucination from being trapped for too long, was he still dreaming, or had he truly been rescued?
After being stunned for several minutes, his thoughts gradually began to clear. Seeing the furnishings of the hospital room and his parents’ faces full of concern, Zhang Shuyi’s eyes reddened.
He really wanted to hug his mom and cry his eyes out, who cares if he was a 27-year-old baby right now, he was truly aggrieved to the max.
Was it easy to live? Was it easy to work hard? Was it easy to walk home at night?
Why was he inexplicably kidnapped? Why did that Clown target him? He didn’t rob him of money, nor did he assault him sexually. After kidnapping him, he didn’t say anything.
“Let’s play a game…”
“Hide-and-seek, oh.”
“You are just a part of our game, you are the treasure, understand? I will hide you. If the other person finds you, you’ll be saved. If she doesn’t find you, then your life is mine to take. I will send you to hell very gently, and then offer your head to the one I love.”
The Clown’s voice narrated these things very calmly, even with a hint of a chant-like tone, full of a joyful flavor, yet it made him shudder with fear, feeling deep terror and anger.
But that anger had already been worn away during his confinement, leaving only fear, not knowing tomorrow, nor the future.
“Son, son, what are you spacing out for? Where have you been these past few days? What happened? The police comrades said you were kidnapped. How could you be kidnapped? What on earth happened? Tell Mom and Dad, don’t cry.”
Zhang Shuyi was somewhat dazed. He wiped his face, only then realizing that tears had indeed fallen.
“Dad, Mom, who rescued me?”
“It was this young lady, our family’s benefactor. Thank her properly.”
Zhang Shuyi saw Su Xin. Su Xin looked at Zhang Shuyi. Zhang Shuyi looked at Su Xin. Neither of them felt that the other was very familiar.
“You saved me? Are you the one playing hide-and-seek with that Clown?”
Although Zhang Shuyi was very grateful, the question he asked before expressing his gratitude revealed suspicion.
“That’s right, he’s the one playing this deranged game with me. And you’re just the first one. I have to go rescue the second one later.”
Su Xin hugged her arms. What could she do? She was in a bitter predicament too.
“Why are you playing this disgusting game? Don’t you think it’s too much, to so brazenly disregard human life?”
Zhang Shuyi was finding it hard to control his emotions. His mother quickly patted his shoulder.
“Comrade, please calm down. And please, get your facts straight, okay? I saved you. If I hadn’t found you in time tonight, you wouldn’t see tomorrow’s sun. He would have sent you to see God, understand? Is this how you treat your lifesaver?”
“But if you weren’t playing this game, would I have been dragged into it?”
Zhang Shuyi knew Su Xin was right, but he just couldn’t control his emotions.
Why was he the one who almost brushed past Death?
“Firstly, this game was started unilaterally by him; he made me play. I didn’t actively play with him. Secondly, the seeds you sow yourself, you naturally have to taste the fruit thereof.”
The hospital ward had curtains separating the beds. Su Xin’s voice wasn’t very loud.
“The seeds I sowed myself?”
“Do you remember, six years ago, you participated in an unusual exploration activity.”
Zhang Shuyi thought for a long time this time. He had just woken up, and his mind was already in a blank state. His emotions could collapse at any moment. It was difficult for him to recall things from four or five days ago, let alone six years ago.
“I don’t seem to have much impression of it.”
“What a coincidence, my impression isn’t very deep either. But we did meet once six years ago, and we spent at least about a week together. At that time, we participated in an exploration activity together and saved a strange boy in a cave.”
“That seems vaguely familiar.”
Special events always leave a deeper impression. Zhang Shuyi had participated in many exploration and archaeological activities, big and small, a few years ago, but they were all ordinary. Either they found something, or they didn’t. Nothing particularly special happened. Only once, it seemed he had saved someone, along with a group of people.
“Could it be?”
“That’s right. The Clown you saw that day, or more accurately, the killer, is the boy we saved six years ago.”
“Then isn’t that even stranger? Since we saved him, why would he come back to do this to me?”
“That’s a good question, and a complicated one. To sum it up in one sentence: our good intentions led to a bad outcome; we ruined someone’s feudal superstitious ritual, leading to a very tragic outcome for that boy.”
“…”
Zhang Shuyi thought of the smiling face of the Clown, whose true features he couldn’t see, and his whole body shivered.
“You should be glad your outcome is still very good. You should also be glad he’s willing to play this kind of game with me, because four people before you were killed and dismembered.”
Su Xin said this sentence in Zhang Shuyi’s ear, so only Zhang Shuyi could hear it.
Zhang Shuyi trembled even more violently, clamping his mouth shut and saying no more.
“Th… Thank you…”
Liao Qingjie didn’t know what Su Xin had said to the boy lying in bed, but she could guess. After all, the boy’s already pale and unruddy face had completely lost its color.
“Do you remember anything else, or have you engaged in any research over these years?”
Zhang Shuyi shook his head.
“I’ve been behaving myself for many years. My parents don’t let me run around outside anymore. They think a man of my age should have a stable life.”
“Then you should thank your parents for making that decision, lest you stir up some trouble again unknowingly.”
“I don’t know anything now. I didn’t see what the Clown really looked like. After he knocked me out that day, when I opened my eyes again, I was inside that statue. My mouth was taped shut, unable to speak, and my limbs were tied tightly. I don’t know if he injected me with some strange stuff, but anyway, I had no strength at all. And then it was like this.”
Nothing was found out. Zhang Shuyi knew much less than the original owner of the body.
“I’m not going to die, am I? He won’t come back to kill me, will he?”
“Logically speaking, no.”
This matter was considered to be over for now. Saving a life was still a good thing, but other than that, there was no f*cking5 useful information.
They didn’t linger there. After the Captain briefly said goodbye to Old Mo, they flew to another place.
R City.
Chen Jiaxi sat in her seat, her expression somewhat absent-minded. There was a visible finger-width gap between her desk and her deskmate’s.
Ever since that incident two days ago, coupled with the homeroom teacher’s ridicule, she had been isolated in class. That feeling made her very uncomfortable, yet also very powerless.
She used to be a very ordinary girl, not particularly popular, but not particularly unpopular either, just average. She only had a few good friends and got along well with her front and back deskmates.
She was rather shy and easygoing, so many people in class would ask her to do things, like bring breakfast, or lunch, and she was also easily bullied. Every time she was bullied, no friends stood up for her. She was very sad, but she would still play with those girls because she needed friends too much.
Growing up without parental companionship, she cherished friendship very much and liked a communal life.
But she was subjected to a rather malicious prank by the naughtier boys in class, and what made her feel even more terrible was the homeroom teacher’s targeting and indifference.
It was disgusting.
Because of what the homeroom teacher said, the whole class looked at her with colored glasses6. She was extremely nervous and stammered, feeling embarrassed, which resulted in even more unbearable humiliation.
It was now the long break between classes; the rest period after the second class was longer than usual. It had rained a little today, so they didn’t have to go out for morning exercises. The weather was gloomy, and her heart was gloomy too.
She couldn’t be bothered to talk to the people around her. Annoying.
Her uncle said he couldn’t fly back from abroad today, he was very busy, but he would send an older sister over to help. That older sister was his good friend and would definitely stand up for her.
Chen Jiaxi was only thinking about how to bully back those who bullied her. She didn’t want to forgive them anymore. Why should she be treated like this? As for the consequences, she wasn’t thinking about them anymore. Her family’s financial situation was good enough to support her transferring schools. Although she had never made such a request before, if things really blew up, she would transfer.
She really hated that menopausal7 homeroom teacher to death. It was as if all the boys in the class were her sons, and she really disliked the girls, unless they were those with exceptionally good grades who could bring her glory, or those who had connections with her, or those who had greeted her and given her gifts. This was a liberal arts class with more girls and fewer boys; she was all smiles and pleasantries towards the boys.
She didn’t fit any of those categories, because her parents simply didn’t have time to do those things8 for her, and she herself was even less likely to do them.
Isn’t it a teacher’s basic responsibility to teach and educate? Why did she still have to do those things, why did she have to give gifts and curry favor with her? Isn’t it right to treat every student fairly and justly?
“If you ask me, those girls who are into girls9 are definitely virgins. They’re like that because they haven’t tasted a man. Anyway, my last girlfriend was like that, she wouldn’t let me pursue her at first, but later wasn’t she…”
Laughter spread through that corner.
Two people appeared at the classroom door. One of the girls was particularly tall, at least 1.7 meters.
“Excuse me, where is Chen Jiaxi?”
Both girls were very pretty, instantly attracting the attention of all the boys in the class and most of the girls. Except for a few who paid no attention to what was happening around them, basically everyone was looking up at the situation here.
“I’m here.”
When Chen Jiaxi saw the two people, she felt a moment of doubt. Didn’t he say there was only one older sister? Why were there two?
Chen Jiaxi walked from the side to the doorway. The three of them stood in the corridor.
“I’m your uncle’s friend. He should have told you already, right?”
“Mm-hmm… But, sister, are you really my uncle’s colleague? You don’t quite look like it… too pretty.”
Chen Jiaxi vaguely knew what her uncle’s previous job was and held them in high esteem.
“Of course. It’s perfectly right to seek help from family when you’re being bullied. Who are the two boys who bullied you?”
Chen Jiaxi stood at the classroom door. There were a total of 14 boys in her class; seven or eight were in one group, and the others were scattered in different places. She pointed out two boys.
Chen Jiaxi’s academic performance wasn’t particularly good. After the class division, she was assigned to an ordinary class. It was quite chaotic here; most of the boys were rather unruly, and some were already studying sports or arts.
Those two, realizing they had been singled out, stood up very arrogantly.
One of them was the person who had just been speaking loudly. Su Xin frowned.
“You two students, could you please come out for a moment?”
“Probably wants to treat us to a meal and say some nice words. So uncreative. But since these two young ladies are so pretty… tsk, Chen Jiaxi is quite sensible after all.”
The two boys stood up. One of them was about the same height as Liao Qingjie, and the other was a bit taller than Liao Qingjie.
Liao Qingjie still had a smile on her face. Just like that, at the classroom door, she gave one of the boys two slaps.
The sound was crisp and loud. Not only were the two boys stunned, but the whole class was also dumbfounded.
This… she just directly started hitting?
“Your motherf*ckers…”
The boy who was hit didn’t care if there was a girl in front of him and directly lashed out.
Liao Qingjie completely disregarded such petty tricks. She directly grabbed the boy’s attacking hand, then twisted it back, kicked him in the waist, and as he stumbled backward, she grabbed his hand again, pulled him back, and executed a clean and efficient shoulder throw.
It all happened in less than half a minute. The boy fell to the ground. Liao Qingjie stepped on his chest, let out a disdainful laugh, and then kicked inward a bit more.
“With such pathetic skills, you dare to bully people? Just for bullying a little girl, it shows you’re a coward, trash.”
Liao Qingjie usually didn’t speak, but when she did, her taunting ability was formidable.
“You.”
Liao Qingjie didn’t want to block the way, so she directly dragged the person into the corridor to deal with him.
Dealing with the two of them took less than two minutes in total. The fight ended in an instant.
The homeroom teacher, hearing the commotion, came rushing over, the sound of her high heels clattering—*deng deng deng* Su Xin saw a middle-aged woman with poorly applied makeup.
“What are you doing? Who are you? Why are you causing trouble in our school?”
If the incident were to be characterized, it would be as outsiders coming in to cause trouble.
Even if the students were the first to bully, in a broader sense, they could be considered a vulnerable group.
Liao Qingjie rubbed her fingers. Old Liu had told her to go ahead and deal with it, not to worry about repercussions; he would handle it.
“You’re the homeroom teacher of this class, right?”
“I am, what’s wrong? Go call the dean.”
A student next to the homeroom teacher nodded after hearing this.
“Chen Jiaxi, you’re the one causing trouble, aren’t you? Wasn’t the matter from two days ago already dealt with for you? It was just a small joke, do you have to get outsiders to come to school and cause trouble?”
The homeroom teacher looked extremely angry, pointing at Chen Jiaxi as she spoke.
Chen Jiaxi had a cold expression, like someone who’d given up on herself in a desperate situation10. She had been quite stimulated these past few days anyway.
The worst punishment would just be expulsion, right? So be it.
“So you’re that female teacher with the rather dirty mouth11? The teacher with no professional ethics, no respect for students?”
“What nonsense are you spouting here? I can sue you for slander.”
The homeroom teacher had clearly heard such remarks before, but perhaps from other channels, or by eavesdropping. Being pointed out so openly for the first time made her exceptionally furious.
Liao Qingjie didn’t hold back, directly slapping her twice. Anyway, she was taller than the homeroom teacher even with her high heels on.
Everyone present was dumbfounded. The students in the classroom wanted to burst out laughing, but, given that the consequences could be severe, no one dared to laugh out loud. Instead, they all kept their mouths shut, burying their heads under their desks, shaking with laughter.
Those two slaps were truly satisfying and what everyone had hoped for. They had wanted to do this for a long time, but because the other party was a teacher and they were students, they couldn’t possibly do such a thing. The class had long been full of complaints and dissatisfaction with this homeroom teacher, who was always grumbling and finding excuses to give female students a hard time12. It was disgusting to death.
She was already a middle-aged woman, why did she still put on makeup every day? Alright, putting on makeup wasn’t her fault, loving beauty is every woman’s nature, but could she at least act like a teacher? What was with her talking to boys in such a soft, affectedly sweet voice every day? She clearly wasn’t Taiwanese, so she shouldn’t force a Taiwanese accent, okay?
“You… you actually dare to hit me?”
“Do you know why I hit you and not others? Do you think this feeling is great? Be more mindful of your words when you speak.”
Liao Qingjie, feeling satisfied after dishing out the punishment, smiled at Chen Jiaxi.
“Actually, I’ve wanted to do this for a long time too. Teacher, I really hate you, very much. Do you know you’re a failure as a person, and even more of a failure as a teacher? Does your husband know about your daily antics at school? What’s wrong with a girl wearing nail polish? You even had to mock them, saying they were going out to sell themselves. Ridiculous, disgusting.”
Chen Jiaxi seemed to have become fearless, venting all the resentment in her heart at once.
“You all…”
The department dean also rushed over at this time. Seeing that the situation was not right, he quickly asked what was going on. Although he didn’t particularly like this colleague of his, for the sake of the bigger picture, he still had to stand on his colleague’s side. This colleague seemed to have some kind of relative connection with the principal; in short, it was very troublesome.
But before the dean’s questioning could even begin, his phone in his pocket rang. It was the principal calling him.
After finishing the call, the dean wiped the sweat from his forehead.
“Is there some misunderstanding here? Can everyone sit down and talk calmly?”
The principal’s meaning in the phone call was already very clear: abandon this teacher and focus all efforts on appeasing the other side.
“Thank you, sis. I already feel much better.”
Mr. Lu Xun13 had a saying: erupt in silence, or perish in silence. So, Chen Jiaxi erupted.
The onlookers had already packed the corridor. The department dean hurriedly shouted, asking teachers from each class to maintain order.
After the teachers from each class herded their students back into their classrooms, they leaned against the wall, silently watching the drama unfold.
How could they miss such an exciting gossip show? Even teachers who weren’t usually interested in gossip couldn’t help but want to see how things would develop.
“Let’s go to the office to talk. You few, come with me.”
The department dean pointed at the boys who were helping each other up.
Liao Qingjie’s actions were very measured. She could make them hurt a lot, but not cause serious external or internal injuries. In short, if they were to go to the hospital for an examination, it would be impossible to establish the crime of assault.
“No need, teacher, we can just talk here. Actually, there’s nothing much left to say.”
She was clearly a good classmate to others, but so mean to her.
Chen Jiaxi knew she had her own problems. If she didn’t have problems, today’s situation wouldn’t have occurred. But her problems weren’t a reason for others to bully her at will, nor a reason for boys to play such malicious pranks on her, nor a reason for the whole class to ostracize her.
Because she valued some things too much, she couldn’t study properly.
Chen Jiaxi thought, she might really need to change her environment to learn to adapt to some things.
She had thought a lot these past few days. She wasn’t very good at speaking, but her inner thoughts were actually very rich.
These past few days, she had also read a lot of inspirational things. Most importantly, her uncle had found her a psychological counselor.
Only when you truly become strong will no one bully you.
“Thank you, sis, thank you for coming to vent my anger. You were so cool just now, definitely my uncle’s colleague. I plan to transfer schools, I don’t plan to study here anymore.”
Chen Jiaxi, in front of her homeroom teacher, other teachers, and the department dean, did something that only delinquent students would do. She took out her mobile phone from her pocket and dialed her father’s number.
“Dad, something happened here. I don’t want to study at this school anymore. Can you arrange a transfer for me?”
“Mm, I’ll have someone handle it for you later.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
Her parents had always been easy to talk to, whether it was about money or other things. They wouldn’t control her, letting her do whatever she wanted, and they wouldn’t care about her grades or scold her. It was just that they never gave her the affection and companionship she wanted.
Chen Jiaxi sat back in her seat, picked up her schoolbag, and put her water bottle and other textbooks into it. Of course, she only took some notebooks and books with notes in them; she didn’t take the others.
“Goodbye, classmates. I won’t be back. I want to leave you with one last sentence: you guys are really annoying.”
The little niece’s situation was much better than she had imagined. Liao Qingjie breathed a sigh of relief.
“This male student, I have something I want to say to you.”
Su Xin normally shouldn’t have interfered, but she was just annoyed by something someone had said.
“This student, love should be free and equal. I was really annoyed by what you said just now. You currently think that two girls who are into girls are like that because they haven’t tasted a man. Well then, I think you should also go get f*cked by someone14, otherwise how would you know you’re not gay?”
Su Xin sneered. What trash talk.
When Liao Qingjie heard her say this, her heart leaped with joy again. Could it be, could it be…
The three of them left the school in high spirits. Liao Qingjie adopted such a direct and clear method mainly because Chen Jiaxi’s family was not very ordinary. If she were from a very ordinary family, then she would have adopted another method, directly blocking them on the way home from school. The school usually wouldn’t bother with things that didn’t happen on school grounds.
The matter was thus considered closed. After walking out of the school, Chen Jiaxi patted her chest.
“Thinking about it now, it really scared me to death! I didn’t expect myself to be so courageous.”
Chen Jiaxi tugged at her hair.
“This time, even if you hadn’t proposed transferring schools yourself, your uncle would definitely have arranged it for you.”
Liao Qingjie knew her good friend very well and naturally knew what his later plans would be. The atmosphere in this place was already so bad, how could he let his little niece continue to stay here? Even after she had vented her anger, those classmates would still look at her with strange eyes, whether disparagingly or fawningly.
The Captain was still trying to figure out the “withered vine” clue. Since things here were settled, they planned to immediately throw themselves into the busy work.
Withered vine?
Could it be in some remote mountain forest? That shouldn’t be right either.
If it was a tourist attraction with a large flow of people, for example, a mountain that many tourists climb every day, could that be related to “withered vine”?
Unexpectedly, just like the last game.
You think he’ll be in some remote, unknown place, but on the contrary, he’ll appear in a crowded area, with people coming and going, yet no one notices.
This trick had been used once, but it wasn’t impossible for it to be used a second time. Who could predict the killer’s thoughts?
If one could figure out the psychology of a pervert, and make synchronous deductions with him, then that person probably wasn’t far from being a pervert themselves.
Withered vine…
“Why don’t we go climb a mountain and see?”
This city did indeed have a mountain that was a tourist attraction. The peak wasn’t rugged or towering, it was very beautiful, and there was also a waterfall. Many people went there to climb and sightsee in their free time.
“Anything is possible. We shouldn’t let go of any clue. Perhaps the most obvious place is the most likely place?”
Other places really couldn’t be linked to “withered vine.”
They had roughly searched all places in the city related to “withered vine,” whether entertainment venues or restaurants, big and small, all circled on a map.
This time, the Captain didn’t directly contact the local police for help. Time was too short, only three days. If they were to dawdle with those guys from the police, who knows how much time would be wasted. Besides, he wasn’t very familiar with the people here; communicating and coordinating with them would take a lot of time. Moreover, they might not even believe him, and might even go complain to his superiors or something.
A day passed quickly, with no discoveries yet.
But to Su Xin’s surprise, on the second day, the Captain had already rescued the hostage.
“Captain, you’re badass!”15
“Having handled cases for so many years, I still have some experience. Sometimes, the stranger and more twisted a criminal’s thinking is, the more you have to let your own thoughts deviate.”
The Captain had once followed a case for four months. The suspect he had locked onto was a university Chinese teacher. That teacher liked to use poetry to express himself in his crimes, or rather, poems. He committed three offenses, and as he was preparing for the fourth, the Captain successfully apprehended him.
To catch this killer, to keep up with this killer’s thought patterns, the Captain had to brush up on a lot of ancient poetry.
He hadn’t studied for so many years; those things initially made the Captain’s head spin, so his impression was particularly deep, and he gnashed his teeth in hatred at that killer.
So, when “withered vine” was mentioned, the Captain first thought of poetry.
Ma Zhiyuan’s16 《Tianjingsha – Autumn Thoughts》17
Withered vine, old tree, evening crow,
Small bridge, flowing water, homes of people,
Ancient road, west wind, lean horse,
The sun sets in the west,
A heart-broken man at the end of the earth.
The Captain brought out a map of the city, then went to ask around and search for which places had both a bridge and water. There were three such places.
One of them was already an old area. It couldn’t really be called “small bridge, flowing water, homes of people,” because the stone bridge there was short and narrow, and had truly been abandoned for many years. The water flowing beneath it was sewage. There was an abandoned wooden house there, and inside was an unconscious man.
For the first time, the Captain thanked the killer he was facing for loving poetry so much, for liking to create such strange things, which had now successfully provided him with clues to solve the case.
This time it was so easy. Su Xin hadn’t even had time to do anything, and this kidnapping case was already solved.
It was simply… a cause for widespread celebration18!
Fortunately, this time the victim had only been starved for a day. Although the air wasn’t great, at least the place was quite large. He had no major issues, just unconscious due to drugs.
While waiting for this comrade to wake up, the three of them had a brief discussion.
“The killer might be a doctor. No, he has no identity information, unless he’s using a fake face19. But he must know someone who can access and use these drugs. However, this lead is too broad, not easy to pursue.”
“No need to pursue it. Just wait until the end, he will come out.”
“So certain? What if he runs away?”
“He will come. I can feel it.”
That crazed and twisted hatred, and also that deep love.
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• Advanced chapters of ALL ongoing novels
• Access to complete finished novels
• Ad-free reading experience
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• Advanced chapters of ONE specific novel
• Ad-free reading for chosen novel
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