Chapter 1: The Crime Scene

Because of Jin Ze's words, my curiosity regarding Bai Ye's true identity grew even stronger. Did he possess a vast amount of unknown information, just like the little loli Xia Tian?

Could it be that he deliberately lured me in, allowing me to replace Huang Quan, so that Huang Ju and Old Black could hunt me down more easily, thereby giving him the opportunity to step forward and end this case in such an explosive manner?

At this thought, my heart trembled involuntarily. If that were truly the case, then I had merely become a pawn used by Bai Ye—just as everyone else seemed to be using me. Even Jin Ze and the police force were utilizing me, which was genuinely a heartbreaking realization.

Yet, I soon dismissed this notion. Although I was not as adept at reading people as Jin Ze, I could sense that someone as aloof and detached as Bai Ye would disdain engaging in such manipulative conspiracies. From the moment he began committing crimes, while he was undoubtedly perverted and bloodthirsty, he was more direct and straightforward. Even if he possessed tactical cunning, it would not be this convoluted. Furthermore, I believed deep down that he would not use me; this was a conviction born purely of instinct.

However, once I accepted that Bai Ye had not used me and harbored no deeper conspiracy, it meant that everything was truly over, and that all of it had concluded the moment Bai Ye blew up Huang Ju's house.

The moment I thought of this, a particular sentence Bai Ye had spoken to me deep beneath Huang Ju's house flashed across my mind: "Chen Mu, get the hell out of here. If you don't leave, he will kill more people."

Looking back now, Bai Ye's words carried a double meaning. That word "leave" might have signified death, and what he perhaps meant was that he had to die. If he did not die, he would remain a depraved killer; thus, he chose to end his own life. Interpreted this way, Bai Ye's orchestration of that explosion took on an entirely different meaning.

My heart sank heavily once more, and I found myself wondering: if Bai Ye truly blew himself up, would he be reborn as a police officer in his next life?

A profound sense of emptiness and loss then washed over me. Suddenly, Jin Ze gently patted my shoulder and said, "Alright, Chen Mu, you don't need to dwell on these things for now. This was merely a worry born of my own intuition. Perhaps everything really is just this simple, and it's truly over. Besides, tomorrow is the case-closing and commendation ceremony, which Section Chief Fang will personally host. You need to attend as well, so get some rest for now, and I'll come pick you up tomorrow."

I did not answer Jin Ze; I simply forced myself to summon some energy and nodded at him before lying back down. Long after Jin Ze left, I remained wide awake, endlessly pondering whether Bai Ye was truly dead and whether this case had finally reached its end, allowing it to be officially closed.

Yet, no matter how I turned it over in my mind, reality did not bend to my will, and events continued to unfold along their predetermined trajectory.

The following day, the case-closing and commendation ceremony proceeded smoothly. Presided over personally by leaders from the provincial department, it was officially announced that both the "Killing Game" and "Return of the Dead" cases, which had cast a shadow over City X, were completely solved. Although the masterminds—Huang Ju, Old Black, Wang Zhen, and even Kong Yu and Huang Tianming—had all perished, it did not impede the official closure of the case. Both the leadership and the officers let out long sighs of relief.

As the direct commander of these two cases, Fang Qinghe received a promotion, being directly appointed as the head of the provincial cold case unit. Jin Ze was likewise transferred alongside him to the provincial cold case unit. Since City X was not the provincial capital, both of them were relocating to Capital City N.

As for myself, I was also singled out for praise. My identity was restored within the population database, but instead of returning to the military unit, I was directly inducted into the police system. However, rather than joining the cold case unit, I was assigned to the provincial criminal police department. Naturally, I started merely as an intern criminal police officer, and Miao Miao was transferred to the provincial department along with me.

In truth, I had wanted to remain with Jin Ze, as he could be considered my only friend in this world.

However, Jin Ze had quietly confided in me that I was originally scheduled to intern in the cold case unit under his command, but Fang Qinghe had personally intervened and suppressed that personnel assignment, insisting that I first spend time tempering myself within the criminal police department. I had no way of knowing whether Fang Qinghe's move was genuinely intended to cultivate and train me, or if he harbored other motives.

Naturally, I possessed no power to alter this deployment. To forget the past, I sold my apartment in City X and shifted the entirety of my life's focus to City N.

During my internship at the provincial department, I managed to acquire various investigative skills and techniques, though I had yet to participate in a true field operation, spending my time instead madly absorbing all manner of knowledge.

Solitude and pressure often threatened to suffocate me, and whenever these negative emotions overwhelmed me, I would recall the words Bai Ye had once said to me: "If the heart faces the sun, sorrow is meaningless." I was determined to be an upright person radiating positive energy, so I banished all negative emotions from my mind. Coupled with the fact that Jin Ze would occasionally invite me out for meals whenever he had free time, I slowly began to emerge from the shadows cast by the "Killing Game" and "Return of the Dead" cases.

One evening after work, Jin Ze suddenly came to my dormitory and told me he was taking me to handle a matter.

I followed him without question, but to my utter shock, he led me directly to a prison. It was only then that I learned a heavyweight criminal was to be executed today. When the hood was removed from the condemned prisoner's head inside the secret execution chamber, my heart skipped a beat, sending a jolt of terror through me.

This hardened criminal looked identical to me—meaning he was Huang Quan. Regarding Huang Quan, Jin Ze had previously mentioned that he had nothing much to confess, mirroring the situation with Huang Ju. This, too, was a primary reason the case had been smoothly concluded; Huang Quan was terrified of death and had confessed with remarkable speed, making him practically the sole surviving suspect.

Today, Huang Quan was scheduled to face a secret execution by firing squad. While lethal injection was more commonly used nowadays, for a heinous criminal like Huang Quan, a traditional and bloody firing squad execution was naturally deemed more fitting.

To my absolute astonishment, after coordinating with the higher-ups, permission had been granted for me to personally execute Huang Quan by firing squad.

I understood Jin Ze's well-intentioned underlying motive. He wanted me to confront my inner demons head-on and personally put Huang Quan to death, which would serve as a way for me to purge the gloom of the past with my own hands and embrace the future. It seemed Jin Ze had all along been aware of my suppressed state of mind and wished to relieve my burden.

Ultimately, I accepted the execution weapon and aimed it directly at Huang Quan's head.

Huang Quan saw me as well. He was truly terrified of death; I could clearly see the panic pooling in his eyes.

He hurriedly spoke to me, pleading, "Chen Mu, don't kill me. We are brothers, and there will come a time when you have use for me. I beg you, don't kill me."

Yet, my resolve remained unshaken by his words. For so long, Bai Ye had never appeared again, and I blamed all of that entirely on Huang Quan. I was going to shoot him with my own hands to finally bid farewell to the past.

I prepared to squeeze the trigger. Unexpectedly, at that exact moment, Huang Quan's expression shifted drastically, as if he had been possessed by a malevolent spirit. All fear of life and death vanished from him in an instant.

He suddenly flashed a grin at me, a smile so sinister it made my hair stand on end.

With a chilling smirk, he rasped, "Chen Mu, do you really think killing me puts an end to everything? Do you truly believe I am the one you are about to kill? No, you are killing yourself. In the end, you will murder yourself with your own hands."

Huang Quan's words were extraordinarily bizarre. Although I knew he was merely spouting nonsense and raving incoherently, it still made my skin crawl, leaving me with the lingering sensation that he was alluding to some colossal, terrifying secret.

Driven by an underlying panic, I finally pulled the trigger. The bullet tore through the air and struck Huang Quan squarely between the eyes.

It was not a catastrophic head explosion, but the impact tore a bloody gash in his forehead from which a geyser of fresh blood instantly erupted. His eyes remained wide open as he collapsed limply to the ground.

Huang Quan was dead, executed by my own hands, and he had died with eternal resentment in his eyes.

Once the execution was complete, I genuinely felt as though a suffocating, malignant pressure had been expelled from deep within my chest. Yet, instead of the anticipated relief, I felt even more oppressed, and Huang Quan's cryptic words continued to shroud my mind like a lingering shadow.

That night, Jin Ze broke protocol and brought me out to drink, and we both drank until we were completely intoxicated.

I had no recollection of how I eventually made it back to my dormitory. When I woke up in the middle of the night, I found myself lying in bed, stripped to my upper torso.

Right at that moment, my cell phone suddenly buzzed with a text message: Officer Chen, a sexual assault and homicide case has occurred at Room 404, Huanghai Gardens. There is a female corpse.

Reading those words jolted me completely awake.

A series of questions instantly surged into my mind: Who was the sender of this text, and how did they obtain my personal phone number? Why hadn't they dialed the emergency police line, choosing instead to contact me directly?

And my second question was: could this rape and murder case truly be an ordinary crime?