As blood mist billowed, even standing outside, one could feel the chilling evil aura within.
From inside came the sound of something moving, it sounded like the clash of metal, yet also like the mournful cry of a cicada.
A muffled sound echoed from the blood mist, and then a white light flew out from it and fell heavily not far from them.
Dust rose from the ground, and a vague figure could be seen staggering a few steps from within the dust.
Before the dust could settle completely, the figure rushed straight back into the blood mist.
The person brushed past Bai Lixin, and a familiar demon mask flashed by.
“Was that person wearing the demon mask one of yours?” Bai Lixin looked at the thick, impenetrable blood mist and asked White Wuchang beside him.
He was acting alongside the ghost messengers, did they know him?
“What do you mean, one of ours!” Before White Wuchang could speak, Black Wuchang who was standing beside him couldn’t hold back. He pointed angrily to where the demon masked man had vanished, “We’re still trying to catch him!”
Bai Lixin blinked.
The arrogant handsome young man shook his head, “A force field appeared in the mortal realm, trapping souls without a way out. It affects the underworld’s ability to find departed spirits. This person took advantage of the chaos to capture many souls for his use, forming a Ten Thousand Ghosts Formation. Although he hasn’t committed murder, he obstructs departed souls from their journey. He hasn’t violated the laws of the mortal realm, but he has violated a major taboo in our underworld.”
“We’ve been trying to find him, but he has a weapon that can conceal his identity completely, so we haven’t been able to locate him.”
“Just now, while in the underworld, we suddenly sensed a distortion force field that was different from others. We realized that mishandling this force field could affect both realms, so we hurried over. Unexpectedly, this guy was here too. I smell a blood aura here, so there are probably many dead souls inside. This guy is probably trying to take advantage of the chaos to capture more dead souls.”
Black Wuchang grew angrier as he spoke, and he turned to the dozen or so ghost messengers behind him, “Let’s go in too, neutralize the force field, and capture this criminal disrupting the balance between yin and yang!”
At Black Wuchang’s command, the group responded with a shout and instantly disappeared into the blood mist.
In the blink of an eye, only Bai Lixin and White Wuchang remained outside.
White Wuchang calmly pulled out a notebook from the void, leisurely opened it, and wrote a few words inside.
Bai Lixin leaned over curiously and took a look at the content:
[In the year of Jiazi, in the Geng month, Black Wuchang acted without authorization and received disciplinary action. Three months’ salary was deducted, and was forced to copy “Code of Conduct for Underworld Civil Servants” ten times. He had to take a re-assessment again before he could be re-employed.]
Bai Lixin: “……”
‘What kind of love-hate script was this?’
The barking behind him grew closer, and Gan Tai leaped past Bai Lixin, diving into the blood mist as if he had discovered something.
Seeing this, Bai Lixin no longer hesitated and followed Gan Tai’s figure into the blood mist.
At first, everything was blood-red, then everything plunged into darkness.
Sounds surrounded him—sometimes it was the bark of a dog, sometimes the clash of metal, sometimes mournful cries, and sometimes the howling of wind.
Faintly, Bai Lixin even heard the cries of a baby and a woman’s calls for help.
After a complex array of sounds, Bai Lixin’s vision returned.
Before him was a mixture of red and white mist and visibility was extremely low. In the thick mist, Bai Lixin always felt something swaying around him.
He scanned back and forth, but could only see a vague mist, and nothing more.
Just then, a familiar dog’s bark pierced through the dense mist, reaching Bai Lixin’s ears clearly.
Immediately after, Gan Tai’s dashing figure appeared before Bai Lixin, as if guiding him.
—————————-
In the live broadcast room
[Gan Tai is like a Long Aotian.]
*Long Aotian means a really cool/impressive character in a novel. I think it’s the equivalent of Gary Stu.
[Border Collies are black and white. In the metaphysical stories that have been passed down, aren’t there many stories that evil spirits are afraid of the barking of black dogs? Is it because of this that Gan Tai can thrive here??]
[…I suddenly have a bold idea, could it be that the big boss is actually Gan Tai?]
[…Um, how about guessing that the big boss is the demon masked man?]
[No way, I disagree! Demon Mask was trying to kill our God Xin at the time. That wasn’t a joke; I don’t accept such a son-in-law!]
[Big Boss: Son-in-law???]
[Let’s consider another possibility. At this point, the big boss has not appeared yet, is there a chance that there’s no big boss in this copy at all?]
[How could that be? The big boss appears in every copy without fail.]
[What if he’s not choosing to be absent but is unable to? For example, the big boss is a bug in the system. The system detected this bug and fixed it, so he can’t appear anymore?]
[BE? This mother-in-law doesn’t agree! Absolutely not!]
[Spit, spit, spit, crow’s mouth.]
—————————–
No matter how fast Bai Lixin accelerated, Gan Tai’s figure always ran about four meters away, neither too close nor too far.
The air carried a pervasive foul smell, like that from a sewage ditch, mixed with the stench of corpses in a morgue.
After walking for who knows how long, a drop of something warm fell from the sky, landing squarely on Bai Lixin’s cheek.
He subconsciously wiped it gently with the back of his hand, and the back of his hand was instantly dyed red.
Crackle!
Crackle!
Crackle!
The blood-red liquid, perhaps blood or red raindrops, suddenly poured down violently from the sky.
Within a few moments, except for Bai Lixin who summoned a shield in advance to block his head and was unharmed, everything around him turned into a glaring red.
The crying sounds that flashed by earlier resounded again, filled with despair and pleading.
“Please, don’t do this.”
“I promise you, I promise you anything, just stop.”
Accompanied by the girl’s pleas, the blood-red water turned into mist, and as the mist dispersed, three blurry black figures gradually appeared before Bai Lixin.
These figures were formed from mist, showing only vague human silhouettes, their features could not be clearly seen.
Two of the figures were entangled with each other, while not far from them, another figure was crawling on the ground, appearing weak.
Of the two entangled figures, one looked heavier and the other was weaker.
Judging from the movements, the tall and heavy figure clearly had the upper hand. He pressed the weak figure to the ground and kept shaking his arms, as if he was tearing the weak figure’s clothes.
The weak figure crawling over struggled and reached out, seemingly trying to intervene.
Amidst the struggle, there were squealing sounds like pigs, but due to the mist, Bai Lixin couldn’t determine which figure the sound came from.
The black shadows gradually dissipated into the air, and the blood mist returned to the surroundings again.
Bai Lixin opened his eyes and looked around. There was no blood-red all over the ground, and no blood rain.
The blood raindrops he had just seen seemed to be an illusion.
Bai Lixin couldn’t figure out whether what he had just seen was real or an illusion, nor could he determine what the figures represented.
Were they the fleeting memories of the souls who died in the crematorium?
Or remnants of memories lingering here?
Or… memories within this blood mist?
Just as Bai Lixin was puzzled, Gan Tai’s bark brought his thoughts back.
The blurry black shadow of the police dog stood about four meters ahead of him. After he stopped, Gan Tai didn’t move either, seemingly waiting for him.
Bai Lixin put away the shield and closed the distance between him and Gan Tai.
Sure enough, Gan Tai, who had already stopped, started running forward again.
[It is really leading you, Lord Host.] S419M’s voice sounded in his mind, [Where does it want to take you?]
Bai Lixin: [Can you scan the map and location of this area?]
S419M shook its head slightly: [No, there’s interference in this blood mist, and all my functions are disabled.]
It paused slightly, [Except for the chatting function. Lord Host, rest assured, I will accompany you twenty-four hours a day ~ whether you’re tired, hungry, or sleepy, S419M will be here to chat with you.]
Bai Lixin: [……]
‘That’s really unnecessary.’
Bai Lixin found that Gan Tai wasn’t walking straight in one direction.
Due to the distance, he could only see a blurry outline.
Gan Tai sometimes turned its head left and right, sometimes turned around, sometimes lowered its head close to the ground, as if it was trying to determine the direction.
Bai Lixin followed Gan Tai for an unknown duration, when he suddenly heard sounds of fighting ahead.
At this moment, Gan Tai barked excitedly and howled a few times, then accelerated suddenly.
Bai Lixin hurried to catch up and vaguely saw two figures fighting back and forth not far away.
One figure looked like the demon masked man, while the other was unknown.
The other person was surrounded by a black mist like an eggshell, which made him look somewhat bloated.
The demon masked man, who had fought equally with Bai Lixin, lost his advantage in front of this opponent. He was soon overpowered and fell into a disadvantage.
Gan Tai rushed forward and quickly joined the melee.
It lunged toward the eggshell figure, seemingly favoring the man with the demon mask.
S419M exclaimed, [Lord Host, something’s odd.]
Bai Lixin: [What’s odd?]
S419M: [Why does Gan Tai seem so close to this demon masked man? Isn’t Officer Wang the one who’s close to Gan Tai? Could the demon masked man be… Officer Wang?]
Bai Lixin: [……]
—————————–
In the live broadcast room
[I think I know who the demon masked man is, family!]
[Who is it? Let’s hear it so we can all have a laugh when you’re slapped in the face.]
[It’s definitely correct! As everyone knows, dogs are humans’ most loyal friends. Gan Tai is a police dog, and its closest friend is Officer Wang! Therefore, the demon masked man is Officer Wang!]
[Damn! That kind of makes sense. Who’s going to refute this?]
[When the demon masked man appeared, Officer Wang didn’t.]
[Yeah, whenever Officer Wang was around, the demon masked man didn’t appear.]
[And most importantly, the demon masked man knows that God Xin once visited the morgue at the police station. If he wasn’t already there, how would the demon masked man know?!]
[666! This logic is quite coherent! I’m starting to believe it now, but Officer Wang is a cop.]
[His public identity is a police officer who protects humans, and his hidden identity is an exorcist who captures evil spirits. It’s not contradictory.]
[I can’t argue against that. Could the demon masked man really be Officer Wang?]
————————
With Gan Tai joining in, the demon masked man became even more formidable.
He, who had just been at a disadvantage, slowly gained the upper hand, and beat the other person into embarrassment.
The demon masked man forcefully slammed into the eggshell figure, causing him to stagger back two steps until he came in front of Bai Lixin.
Bai Lixin glanced at the person and found him somewhat familiar. After thinking for a moment, he realized this person looked very much like Su Hong, who had disappeared not long ago.
Or perhaps, this person was Su Hong.
But there were also some differences.
The Su Hong before him had pure black eyes, dark purple lips, and his nails had turned into ghostly black claws.
Just as he was looking at “Su Hong”, the other party turned his head and roared at Bai Lixin. His voice was like that of a wild beast, not like that of a human.
“Be careful!” A yellow talisman was placed horizontally in front of Bai Lixin, causing “Su Hong,” who was reaching out to attack, to recoil two steps.
“Su Hong” glanced at the yellow talisman fearfully, then he refocused his attention on the demon masked man on the other side, roared and pounced.
S419M: [Lord Host, are you going to help?]
Bai Lixin had just lifted his foot when the demon masked man shouted at him, “Don’t come over! He’s no longer human, he’s possessed! If he scratches you, you’ll definitely die. It’s very dangerous!”
Bai Lixin hesitated and then withdrew his raised foot.
S419M watched the excitement without worry: [Go on! lord Host, you’re invincible, you’re the fiercest. What are you afraid of? How dare he roar at you? Beat him to death!]
Bai Lixin remained unmoved:[If you can do it, go ahead.]
S419M fell silent.
On this side, Bai Lixin treated himself as a wooden stake, while the battle on the other side was still in full swing.
The two wrestled and separated several times. Finally, the demon masked man spoke sternly, “Su Hong! You were born human, yet you slaughtered your own kind and greedily consumed human flesh. Today, I will uphold justice and capture you!”
Su Hong roared repeatedly, his voice unclear and slurred, as if his tongue couldn’t straighten out: “Die, die, die, all of you die. Delicious, human flesh is delicious, delicious, fragrant, so fragrant. I want to eat, eat you, eat you.”
“Su Hong’s” words seemed to enrage the demon masked man. He became extremely angry, and the yellow talisman in his hand flew out like it was free. The evil ghosts in the soul-calling banner flew out, and rushed at “Su Hong.”
“Su Hong” on the other side also became furious. Like a wild bull without any skills, he rushed straight towards the demon masked man with his mouth wide open. Incredibly, he grabbed an evil ghost with his bare hands and stuffed it into his mouth, biting and gnawing.
The scene was chaotic.
“Su Hong” seemed unsatisfied with killing one at a time, so he directly opened his mouth wide toward the densely packed evil ghosts.
His mouth seemed to turn into a vacuum cleaner, and all those evil ghosts flew towards his mouth unconditionally and were swallowed into his belly.
Tens of thousands of evil ghosts were swallowed by “Su Hong” in an instant.
“Su Hong” extended his dark tongue to lick the corner of his lips, and an indistinct “hehehe” came from his mouth. Seemingly not yet satisfied, he walked towards the demon masked man, apparently intending to swallow him too.
The demon masked man was furious, and the yellow talismans in his hand flew out instantly, turning into countless golden sharp blades.
The two forces collided again, and with a loud “boom”, a cloud of blood mist and white light exploded around them.
The powerful impact hit, and Bai Lixin only saw two figures flying out in opposite directions.
The sound of fighting ceased in that instant.
Suddenly, the surroundings became quiet.
Footsteps rang out behind him, and White and Black Wuchang hurriedly arrived with their subordinates.
It’s unclear what White Wuchang took out, but he threw a long-necked white jade bottle into the sky, and refreshing rain started to drizzle down.
Unlike the blood rain from earlier, this rain was not harsh on the eyes or nose. It slowly purified the surrounding blood mist
The blood mist gradually dissipated, and the surrounding scenery became clear.
Whitewashed buildings.
Desolate courtyards.
Mottled red bricks.
Leaves strewn all over the ground.
“There’s someone here!”
Someone shouted, and Bai Lixin followed the voice to see a figure lying stiffly in a corner.
Approaching with others, he easily recognized the person’s appearance.
It was a bloated figure in a hunched posture. The eyes gradually faded from black to a scattered white, the black nails started to shrink, and the purple lips slowly turned pale.
Beside him lay a tattered soul-calling banner.
It was Su Hong.
Dead Su Hong.
His eyes were staring straight at the pitch-black sky, it was unknown whether out of reluctance or inertia.
“He has a heavy ghostly aura.” Black Wuchang covered his nose and looked at the body on the ground with disgust. “How many ghosts did he eat?”
Bai Lixin: “If I’m not mistaken, probably tens of thousands.”
Black Wuchang looked at the tattered soul-calling banner on the ground in astonishment. “Could it be that he swallowed all the ghosts in the soul-calling banner?”
Bai Lixin nodded. “That is what I saw.”
“Queen Dowager.” White Wuchang called out politely, and the solemn faces around them became a little subtle. “We walked into the blood mist together earlier, but after entering, we lost our way. But it seems you witnessed everything. Could you tell us what happened just now?”
Bai Lixin nodded and recounted to everyone what he had witnessed.
After listening, White Wuchang looked thoughtfully at Su Hong’s body and the tattered soul-calling banner on the ground. “So, the exorcist’s soul-calling banner has been destroyed by Su Hong.”
He squatted down, opened Su Hong’s mouth, and examined something inside.
A few seconds later, he slowly stood up.
“The exorcist was right. This person named Su Hong has devoured human flesh and fallen into evil. Evil is the nemesis of ghosts. Those ghosts he swallowed are now dispersed. But…”
White Wuchang paused, glanced at Bai Lixin, and continued, “But Su Hong’s soul has also dispersed.”
He picked up the fragments of yellow talismans scattered around Su Hong. “The exorcist made his soul disperse.”
Black Wuchang looked around. “What about the exorcist?”
White Wuchang: “After this battle, the exorcist should also be seriously injured and it will be difficult to recover in a short period of time. Even if he does recover, with the injuries he sustained today, he won’t be able to abuse spells like he did before.”
“From now on, if he doesn’t use spells, we won’t be able to find him. Once he uses spells, he’ll have nowhere to hide.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
White Wuchang bowed respectfully to Bai Lixin. “Your Majesty Queen Dowager, since the matter here has come to a conclusion, we will return first. This body will be handed over to the living world for processing later.”
Seeing that White Wuchang was about to leave, Bai Lixin stopped him. “What happened to Young King Yama?”
White Wuchang and Black Wuchang paused their steps, and everyone looked at each other.
White Wuchang: “Lord Yama has been in seclusion all along, nothing has happened.”
“Don’t lie to me.” Bai Lixin didn’t believe it. “When I was in another world before, Young King Yama knew I was there and came to see me specially. I have been in this world for a long time and he hasn’t come to see me once.”
“Moreover, there have been so many distorted spaces appearing in the real world, and these distorted spaces directly relate to the underworld. This is not something you ghost messengers can handle. He is the one responsible for such matters yet he has not appeared.”
“It doesn’t seem normal no matter how you look at it. If you tell me he’s in seclusion, I don’t believe it.”
The group exchanged glances, clearly hesitant.
Finally, Black Wuchang said impatiently, “His Majesty Bai Lixin has figured it out. There’s no need to hide it any longer, White Wuchang. Your Majesty, you’re right. Lord Yama is indeed in trouble.”
The sound of sirens was approaching, followed by the chaotic sound of footsteps.
Bai Lixin had already transformed from his human state to spirit state. As the police officers concentrated on searching the scene, they were unaware that a dozen invisible “souls” were watching them nearby.
The police soon found Su Hong’s body.
“The deceased is Su Hong, who went missing recently. He was previously linked to the missing case of Su Xiaohua.”
A police officer wearing latex gloves searched Su Hong’s body and pulled out a few things from his pockets.
A few pieces of dried meat.
A white plastic medicine bottle.
A crumpled medical record sheet.
A torn yellow piece of paper.
The dried meat looked similar to the one Cao Ji’an ate back then.
The white plastic medicine bottle had a string of foreign words on it. According to S419M’s translation, this was medication that inhibits cancer cells. However, this medication, if taken in excess, has side effects of mental confusion and hallucinations.
The medical record belonged to Su Hong, showing he was in the late stages of lung cancer.
The torn yellow paper had some words on it, looking like a folk remedy torn from some evil book. The general meaning was that if a part of your body is sick, eating the corresponding healthy part can improve your disease.
The police began a thorough search of the surroundings. Unseen by them, Bai Lixin was waiting for White Wuchang and Black Wuchang’s response.
Seeing that Black Wuchang had taken the lead, White Wuchang also stopped hiding the truth.
“First of all, the timeline in the underworld is not the same as in the mortal world.”
“In the underworld, a year ago, Lord Yama suddenly fainted without warning. After that, he slept for a whole day. You must know, before this, his rest time was just the duration of a single incense stick burning.”
“He has always been a workaholic. At first, we thought he was just exhausted, and even felt relieved that Lord Yama had finally taken a break. But later, we realized something was wrong.”
“Lord Yama’s unconsciousness and sleep periods kept getting longer. From initially one day, it extended to two days, three days… until eventually, a whole month.”
“We sought doctors everywhere for him, but we could never find the reason.”
“Then, two months ago, Lord Yama fell into a coma again.”
“The attendants went to take care of him in the palace as usual, but came running out screaming…”
White Wuchang licked his dry lips.
“The attendants discovered that Lord Yama had vanished into thin air inside the palace, and was replaced by…”
Bai Lixin’s expression turned a bit strange. “A red fruit?”
White Wuchang was stunned for a moment, then quickly nodded. “Yes, a red fruit!”
“…” Bai Lixin, “Where is that red fruit now?”
White Wuchang: “We guessed that maybe Lord Yama went out to find a way to save himself and left the fruit to guide us with a clue. Fearing the fruit might spoil, we froze it in the refrigerator.”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘Um.
Uh, this.
You freeze your Lord Yama in the refrigerator?’
———————————
In the live broadcast room.
[Hahaha.]
[“The Case of the Harmed Lord Yama”]
[Don’t laugh, my handsome and diligent King Yama turned into a fruit. Can someone tell me why!]
[Yes, why? I just want to know if our Young King Yama can turn back from the fruit.]
[… I have a bold guess that King Yama’s transformation into the fruit might have something to do with the big boss not appearing.]
[Say it! Say it!]
[You should all remember that this fruit appeared in the previous [Red Apple House] copy, and it is called the Karma Fruit. It becomes human by absorbing peoples karma. At that time, it absorbed God Xin and the big boss’s karma, which is why it calls God Xin “Papa” and the big boss “Dad.” Although this Dad’s love seems like a stepfather’s, it’s undeniable that the Karma Fruit became human because of God Xin and the big boss.]
[As I mentioned before, if the big boss is a bug, and the system fixes the big boss, then traces that belonged to the big boss will also be fixed. This trace is reflected in the Karma Fruit, which is the Young King Yama, so Young King Yama turned back into a fruit.]
[If my reasoning is correct, to turn Young King Yama back from a fruit, the big boss needs to reappear and infuse karma into him again.]
[From your theory, I sense two pieces of bad news. First, the big boss has disappeared. Second, Young King Yama has disappeared… This is really bad news!]
[If that’s true, what will God Xin do?]
[No way!!!! I’m really going to cry. Weren’t they fine in the last copy? How did the big boss suddenly disappear? He’s so powerful, how could he be a bug? Ah, I don’t believe it!]
[If he’s not a bug, why can’t we remember his name? Do you know what the big boss’s name is? He can’t be called the “big boss” in every copy, right? In role-playing copies, he would have a name, right? What is it? Can anyone tell me?]
[… I don’t know.]
[I didn’t remember either.]
[Neither do I…]
[If your previous reasoning is all correct, and if the big boss has been a bug from the start. Can I understand it this way: the big boss exists for God Xin? Even if as a bug, he would appear in every copy to protect him. No matter which copy he’s in, he can find him.]
[Oh my, this beautiful love, wuuu, I’m crying, suddenly it’s a tragic ending, I can’t accept it.]
[Stay calm, everyone. Did you forget? If someone dies, we lose the memory of that person! But we still remember the big boss! This means he hasn’t died! Sisters, we must believe in miracles!]
[Wow, sister, you’re right, we still remember the big boss!]
[Ah, God Xin is so smart, the logic we figured out, God Xin surely has guessed it too.]
[I’m heartbroken for God Xin.]
———————-
Bai Lixin’s eyes flickered for a moment but soon returned to calmness.
“Give me that fruit. I’ll find a way to bring the Young King Yama back.”
Black Wuchang and White Wuchang exchanged a cautious look. White Wuchang was still hesitating, but Black Wuchang exclaimed, “Why are you still hesitating? Hurry and give the fruit to His Majesty. If His Majesty can’t bring Lord Yama back, do you think we have any other chances? Lord Yama suddenly disappeared, and then His Majesty Bai Lixin appeared in this world. Isn’t it fate telling us that His Majesty is here to save our Lord Yam?!”
White Wuchang hesitated for a couple of seconds. “Actually, I was thinking that the fruit might be Lord Yama himself, so I hesitated.”
“But thinking about it, how could that be possible?”
Bai Lixin: “…”
‘It’s not entirely impossible.’
White Wuchang sneaked a glance at Bai Lixin and asked cautiously, “Queen Dowager, did you give birth to a red fruit?”
Bai Lixin’s lips instantly pressed into a sharp line: “…”
‘Absolutely not!’
White Wuchang didn’t carry the Karma Fruit with him, so he said he would go back to fetch it.
Bai Lixin watched them leave. Still in his spirit state, he followed the police as they searched the crematorium.
The crematorium wasn’t very large, but not very small either.
The search lasted the entire night.
It wasn’t until dawn that the police found freshly disturbed earth in the woods behind the crematorium.
After digging into the ground, they discovered a tool buried there — a chainsaw.
The police immediately sent the evidence back for analysis, and within a day, the results matched perfectly.
The wounds caused by a chainsaw were identical to the marks from the cuts on Shen Shukuang’s body. Not only that, they also found Shen Shukuang’s blood and DNA, as well as Su Hong’s fingerprints on the chainsaw.
From this, it can be inferred that Shen Shukuang’s dismemberment was carried out with this chainsaw.
They questioned the crematorium staff, reviewed surveillance footage, and finally discovered that Su Hong had appeared near the crematorium a month ago.
Following his path, they found an abandoned house hidden in the woods.
Inside the house, things were scattered randomly, piled up haphazardly, and the wall paint was scraped off in places, creating a messy scene.
The two-meter-long table was clean, and based on the length, it was just enough for one person to lie down.
The floor was clean with no traces.
But when the police shone their UV light in the room, everyone was stunned in an instant.
On the walls, on the table, on the chairs, on the floor…
Wherever the naked eye could see, there were all ugly blue mottled marks like scabs.
The police extracted DNA from the abandoned house, and finally confirmed it as the scene where Shen Shukuang was dismembered.
As for whether this was the primary crime scene of Shen Shukuang’s murder, no one knew.
All the evidence pointed to Su Hong as the murderer.
Now, Su Hong appears to have committed suicide out of fear. The true motive behind the murder remains unknown; the police could only make deductions based on existing clues.
The most likely clue obtained was that Su Hong suffered severe psychological trauma after his son’s death.
Afterward, he discovered that he was suffering from cancer and was dying soon. Under the dual effects of the side effects of medication and his will to survive, he began to believe that consuming the healthy lungs of others could cure his own lung cancer. So, he killed Shen Shukuang, dismembered him, and consumed Shen Shukuang’s lungs.
“This is great, senior,” the young policeman said to the middle-aged policeman beside him. “This murder case is finally solved. If Chief Wang knew, he would definitely be pleased.”
The middle-aged policeman was a policeman who had been responsible for Xiao Hua’s missing case with Chief Wang. There was no sense of relief on his face like the young policeman; instead, he looked a bit solemn.
Everything seemed logically sound.
Yet, it also made one feel that everything was too much in line with expectations.
It was as if someone had set up the evidence like building blocks in front of them, making them accept this outcome.
“How is Chief Wang doing now?” the middle-aged policeman asked as he looked at the report in his hand.
“He’s out of intensive care, but still in a coma. The doctor said Chief Wang’s surgery was very successful, and he might wake up tonight. I’ll go to the hospital again tonight to check on him.”
The middle-aged policeman frowned, focusing on the report in his hand. “When you go, don’t tell Chief Wang that the Shen Shukuang murder case has been solved, and certainly don’t tell him that Su Hong is dead.”
The young policeman was puzzled. “Why? Chief Wang has always been concerned about these two cases. Now that a weight has been lifted, his cerebral hemorrhage might just improve.”
“I still think something’s fishy. Chief Wang is the best investigator in our team. I have a feeling we missed something. The day we received the call from the public to go to the crematorium, if Chief Wang hadn’t suddenly had a cerebral hemorrhage and been hospitalized, he would have led the team. If it had been him, perhaps we would have made another discovery.”
The young policeman frowned, mimicking the middle-aged policeman’s expression. “What kind of discovery?”
Cupping his chin, the middle-aged policeman flipped through the physical evidence in his hand. “If I knew that, would I be so worried?”
Suddenly, a piece of paper fell from the table.
The middle-aged policeman bent down to pick it up. When the paper came into his hand, he paused suddenly and his eyes suddenly lit up.
He slapped the case file on the table, making a loud “bang” and startling the young policeman next to him.
“No, something’s wrong here!” The middle-aged policeman tapped the paper with his index finger. “If Su Hong killed Shen Shukuang to obtain healthy lungs, it means Su Hong was afraid of dying. How could someone who would go to such lengths to survive give away the only hope he had to someone else to taste?”
“He had no reason to send Shen Shukuang’s dried meat to Cao Ji’an!”
“It simply doesn’t make sense at all!”
