Miss Forensics – Chapter 65.2

Don’t Cry

Choosing the lesser of two evils, since he was the one who led them out, it was necessary to bring all of them back alive.

Zhang Jinhai gritted his teeth, carrying a child on his back and dragging several young people who were facing live ammunition for the first time in panic as he ran forward.

Zheng Chengrui’s glasses were askew, wiping away tears that had unknowingly flowed down his face. He finally freed himself from the state of being weak-legged, weak-bodied, and overwhelmed by fear.

He quickly tapped the microcomputer on his right arm, wiping away the dust on it. The screen was already broken, but it could still be used, albeit barely.

He didn’t know where he found the strength, dragging his chubby short legs, and ran to the front. “This way, go this way. I’ll lead the way.”

After the dust and gun smoke settled, Lin Yan crawled out from under the toppled hospital bed. The room was in chaos, with bullet holes covering the walls and ceiling. The centrifuge was shattered, and crimson blood pooled on the floor. The room was engulfed in darkness, and the ceiling lamp hung right in front of her, having fallen down.

Once Lin Yan’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she felt her way through the broken glass on the floor.

She was searching for Song Yuhang: “Song Yuhang, Song Yuhang…” The usually carefree person uncommonly revealed a hint of panic, to the point that her voice slightly trembled.

A faint cough from a woman came from the doorway. Song Yuhang slipped off the black-clad figure, holding a spittoon in her hand, its mouth stained with blood.

In a critical moment, seeing the gun aimed at Lin Yan, Song Yuhang didn’t hesitate. Despite the dizziness and pain, instinctively, she got up from the ground. Disregarding her dizziness and physical pain, she instinctively pounced from behind, pressing the black-clad person to the ground. She grabbed his wrist and forcefully twisted the gun barrel in a different direction, making the bullet fire elsewhere.

The black-clad person struggled, and Lin Yan, fueled by an unknown source of strength, seemingly gone mad, grabbed the nearby spittoon and swung it towards his temple. Blow after blow, until fresh blood oozed from his mouth and nose, gradually silencing him.

Only then did Song Yuhang let go; both of them were not lightly injured.

The black-clad person’s head knocked against the ground, with a pool of blood forming beside it.

As she lay on her back, gasping for breath, her strength depleted to the limit, her whole body felt as soft as marshmallows. Even moving her fingers seemed difficult. When she heard Lin Yan’s call and tried to speak, she coughed up blood.

Lin Yan crawled over, cradling her face. She wiped the bloodstains on her face with her hands but couldn’t seem to clean them completely.

The voice choked up all of a sudden: “Song Yuhang, Song Yuhang…”

She had never seen her in such a wretched state before. Covered in blood, her black training suit soaked, her face bruised and swollen. One eye was congested and swollen, while her right hand lacked strength, hanging limply on the ground. The room was dim, and Lin Yan couldn’t see where she was injured. Nevertheless, with all her strength, she pulled her up. Song Yuhang was heavy, especially now that Lin Yan was also injured, making it impossible to carry her.

Lin Yan’s tears immediately flowed.

“Where are you hurt? Where are you hurt? Let’s go… let’s go to the hospital,” Lin Yan sniffed, herself swaying unsteadily. Nevertheless, she persisted in trying to lift her. Both stumbled a few steps before collapsing to the ground again.

This time, Lin Yan didn’t let her be a human cushion.

Song Yuhang leaned on her shoulder, coughing and laughing at the same time.

“Rare to see you cry for me…”

“But…” She weakly lifted her still functioning left hand, reaching to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eye.

“Don’t cry, though. When you cry, it hurts me.”

As she spoke, she uncomfortably furrowed her brow, “Wa,” and spat out a large amount of clotted blood, her face turning pale.

Lin Yan patted her back to help her ease her discomfort, suddenly feeling an unusual hardness.

She reached out and touched, gritting her teeth.

Song Yuhang, taking advantage of her injury, nestled in her arms, genuinely weak. However, her eyes sparkled, and she grasped Lin Yan’s hand, placing it on her chest.

“How about… you give me a kiss, and I won’t hurt anymore.”

Lin Yan raised her hand and delivered a slap, saying, “Damn, wearing a bulletproof vest and still playing dead, wanting to take advantage of me. Get lost!”

Song Yuhang closed her eyes, a smile playing on her lips, anticipating the incoming slap. However, Lin Yan’s hand hesitated and didn’t come down.

Instead, Song Yuhang found herself being pulled up by the collar, and she straightened up. Lin Yan’s warm lips touched her forehead, a fleeting touch like a dragonfly skimming the water. Yet, for Song Yuhang, that moment felt eternal.

Lin Yan embraced her head, her voice slightly choked, “You… you’re okay…”

Song Yuhang buried herself in Lin Yan’s embrace, surrounded by warmth and tenderness, feeling almost unable to breathe.

She had an instinctual feeling that if she wasn’t beaten to death, she might die from a rapid heartbeat, soaring blood pressure, and a brain hemorrhage.

Both of them were covered in the scent of gunpowder, nitrate, and the stench of blood, yet she had never felt so satisfied, as if all that pain had drifted away from her.

“Lin Yan.”

“Yeah?”

“So soft.”

“……” Veins popped on Lin Yan’s forehead. She pushed her away and turned to leave.

“Eh—wait for me, ah, hiss…” Song Yuhang limped to catch up. Although she hadn’t been hit by bullets, the steel plates in her bulletproof vest were bent. She suffered internal injuries, and on top of that, she couldn’t lift one arm. Blood seeped from a gunshot wound on her leg, just hit by a stray bullet.

Now, she felt the pain. The combination of being hit and hugged moments ago kept her adrenaline high, numbing her to the pain. But as she relaxed, the aftermath hit. Before she could stand up, the world spun around her. Lin Yan turned back and steadied her.

Meeting Lin Yan’s worried gaze, Song Yuhang forced a smile, “I’m fine… Is he still alive?”

Lin Yan helped her stand against the wall, bending down to take the gun from the black-clad person’s hand and removing his mask.

A face, almost too gruesome to look at, appeared before them. If she hadn’t miscalculated, Li Yang was just in his early forties this year. However, his face, marred by scars, made him appear much older and terrifying.

Except for his eyes and forehead, there wasn’t a single good spot on his face. The skin, wrinkled due to the scars, gathered together. His nose had collapsed, and his mouth protruded, not only ugly but also frightening.

Lin Yan felt nauseous just looking at him. Instinctively, she swung the butt of the gun onto his face.

Song Yuhang, holding her chest, reached out to pull her, “Let’s go. You go out and call for help. I’ll stay here and watch him.”

However, Lin Yan pressed the gun against his temple, speaking each word through gritted teeth, “He’s just unconscious. I want him dead.”

“Lin Yan!” Song Yuhang raised her voice slightly, leaning against the wall, panting heavily and trembling slightly. Her body felt cold, and blood continued to seep from the wound on her leg, forming a puddle of blood beneath her feet.

“Listen, go out first. He has done so many evil things, and he killed two detectives. The death penalty is inevitable.”

“I want him dead now!!!” Lin Yan’s eyes were bloodshot, and she pulled the trigger.

Intense coughing came from behind. Song Yuhang couldn’t hold on any longer and slid down the wall.

“He, he must die… but… don’t you want to know his motive? Even if you might hate me now, look down on me… think everything I say is nonsense…” She gasped for breath but kept looking at Lin Yan with gentle and soft eyes.

“Analyzing his motive and modus operandi is equivalent to leaving a valuable case at the Public Security Bureau. In the future… when facing similar cases or suspects… we won’t be powerless. We might even discover and prevent them earlier…”

“Chu Nan is not the first girl to be harmed, and she won’t be the last. Our goal isn’t to kill for the sake of killing; it’s crime prevention.”

As Song Yuhang spoke, she gritted her teeth and slowly crawled over, gradually moving Lin Yan’s gun away. She pulled her into her arms, and her breathing became heavier, resembling the sound of a bellows.

She struggled to swallow and felt her vision blurring. With great effort, she raised her hand to touch Lin Yan’s face, wiping away the tears at the corner of her eyes. She took the gun into her own hands, then retrieved handcuffs from her pocket and handed them to Lin Yan.

“Listen, Lin Yan, handcuff me to him, and then… and then go get help…”

Lin Yan didn’t avoid her, but Song Yuhang pulled her back. She held her head, soothing her emotions. However, she knew her time was running out, feeling hot tears falling into the hollow of her neck. Song Yuhang smiled, cupping her face, wiping away her tears with her thumb, but also smearing her pale face with bloodstains from her hands.

Song Yuhang reluctantly let go and said, “Don’t cry… I promise you… I still owe you a proper confession… and you still owe me… cough, cough…” She trailed off, not finishing her sentence. She forcibly opened Lin Yan’s hand, placed the handcuffs in it, and closed her hand around it.

“Go quickly… as long as I’m here… he won’t… won’t escape…”

Lin Yan looked at the intertwined hands of the two, glanced at Li Yang’s face, and when her gaze returned to Song Yuhang’s face, her trembling lips couldn’t hold back any longer, and she finally couldn’t help but cry out.

“Song Yuhang, you jerk!”

* * *

Through the dark corridor, they ran for who knows how long. Breathing heavily, Zheng Chengrui stopped, and they found themselves in front of the cells they had passed earlier.

“Go this way.” He led the way, and Fang Xin and Duan Cheng followed suit. However, Zhang Jinhai suddenly stopped in his tracks.

The others turned to look at him, “Captain Zhang—”

The child on his back seemed to move, and Zhang Jinhai’s body swayed slightly. He touched his neck, felt blood, and in the moment he let go, a gush of blood sprayed out.

Duan Cheng, closest to him, got splattered in the face. Unlike the blood of a dead person, the blood of the living still carried warmth and a metallic scent.

His tears burst out without warning, but his body had not yet recovered when he watched the little girl pick up a surgical knife and fiercely stab it into Zhang Jinhai’s neck.

Zhang Jinhai staggered and fell to the ground. Fang Xin immediately pounced on him, unable to stop the arterial bleeding no matter how hard he pressed. The young girl started crying, took off her police uniform, and used it to press on his wound.

Zhang Jinhai coughed, and blood foamed continuously from the corners of his lips. He hadn’t finished his sentence: “My… my daughter… is about the same age…”

The child threw away the surgical knife, climbed up from the ground in one swift motion, stepped on the accumulated water, and turned back to run.

Duan Cheng’s eyes widened, roaring from his throat, “Stop! Don’t move!!!”

He snatched the sidearm from the hands of Zheng Chengrui, who had already sat down on the ground, and aimed at the running girl.

But… but…

He gritted his teeth, struggled, his hand trembling, and unconsciously, tears had filled his face.

She was still so young, looking like she was not even twenty, and her height seemed more like a minor. How could she be so ruthless! How could she!!!

Duan Cheng let out a roar from his throat and, with closed eyes, pulled the trigger.

LP: Haha, there’s no way someone’s gonna die, right? … right? (◕‿◕)