Chapter 118

On a chilly, windless autumn night in Nancheng, the deserted streets were shrouded in thick fog. Suddenly, a girl’s scream pierced the air, followed by an immediate silence.

Upon hearing the scream, Lu Siyu immediately deduced that it came from not far ahead and to his left. He stood up and began running, swiftly maneuvering through the dense fog.

Faster, he urged himself. Faster. Lu Siyu’s footsteps didn’t cease, but the scream did. The victim may have been subdued, and he needed to find them during this brief window of time, or there could be another unfortunate victim.

With a miniature camera installed on his body, the footage shook violently as he ran.

The white fog turned the city into a steel labyrinth, and the optimal window for rescue was fleeting.

Lu Siyu sprinted, searching for the victim’s location. He then radioed Song Wen: “Heading east now, veering off the main road.”

“Understood, I’m coming to find you,” Song Wen replied, turning into an alleyway, the closest point where they could meet.

“Be careful, they’re doing roadwork there,” Lu Siyu cautioned.

“Got it. Zhu Xiao, drive to pick up Xu Youyou, then come support us,” Song Wen instructed.

Only then did Zhu Xiao react, scrambling to the driver’s seat and starting the car.

During these few seconds, Lu Siyu followed the sound, but it only rang out once before vanishing, leaving the city quiet again, as if it had been a figment of his imagination.

In the darkness of the night, with no light around and surrounded by fog, Lu Siyu stopped in his tracks. He turned on the flashlight on his phone, but it only illuminated a few meters ahead.

The street was eerily quiet, with only the sound of his own footsteps and breathing.

All clues suddenly disappeared. Lu Siyu hesitated for a moment, closed his eyes, and lowered his head, trying to calm himself down.

If he were the ruthless killer… Where would he choose to strike a young girl? And where would he continue his crime?

He attempted to communicate with the perpetrator.

In the cold depths of the night, every sense was heightened.

Afterward, Lu Siyu opened his eyes, surveyed his surroundings, and quickly assessed: Where would be safe enough, yet secretive enough, for murder, for violence?

Relying on instinct, he turned into a nearby construction site, which was an ideal place for violence.

The place had recently undergone road construction, with some areas dug up and warning signs hung. Only a thin wooden plank served as a passage for the workers, beneath which lay a two-meter-deep pit. He paid no attention to these hazards, wearing high heels as he stepped up. The wooden plank creaked under his weight as Lu Siyu quickly made his way across.

Turning into the construction area, Lu Siyu finally heard some struggling and fighting sounds. His tense heart finally relaxed, and he quickly reported, “Song Wen, I’ve found them. It’s in the construction site diagonally ahead of Changzhou Communications Equipment Store.”

Navigating through the cluttered area, Lu Siyu arrived at the scene. By now, a young girl had been silenced by a man wearing black clothes and a mask, holding her mouth shut. The girl continued to struggle desperately, kicking and thrashing, but the vast difference in their strength made it futile.

Lu Siyu rushed forward, his first instinct to separate the girl from the man. He lifted his skirt and, disregarding appearances, delivered a swift kick with his leg, aiming the pointed high heel straight at the man’s face.

The man, wearing a mask and a hat, quickly dodged to the side, releasing his grip on the girl’s hand.

Lu Siyu extended his left arm to block the man’s incoming punch, then seized the man’s hand and pushed it down. Simultaneously, he rotated his waist to the right, executing a move commonly used in combat—a shoulder cut followed by a leg trip. The man fell to the ground instantly, raising a cloud of dust.

Sitting on the ground, the man reached for a discarded wooden stick nearby, one hand holding onto the fence while the other brandished the stick.

As Lu Siyu helped the girl to her feet and shielded her, he noticed a nail on the head of the wooden stick. He felt a slight scratch on his right leg, furrowing his brow and stepping back.

Fortunately, Song Wen arrived just in time. He vaulted over the fence and, taking advantage of the man’s evasive movement, grabbed the man’s collar and pulled him backward. The man lost his balance instantly. As he attempted to strike Song Wen with the wooden stick, Song Wen snatched it away in an instant. With a swift twist of his hand, Song Wen caused a crisp cracking sound from the man’s fingers.

Realizing he was no match for the two men in front of him, the man covered his injured fingers and attempted to flee. But before he could take a step, Song Wen forcefully brought him down and kicked him hard in the ribs. Then, Song Wen pulled his arms behind his back, pressing a cold, metallic object against his head—a gun.

Pointing the gun at him, Song Wen declared, “Police!”

The man instantly froze, ceasing his struggles. Song Wen retrieved handcuffs from his waist and secured the man.

The entire process was swift and efficient, taking just over a minute from start to finish.

Lu Siyu comforted the girl, straightening her hair and fixing her torn clothes. Then, he looked down and noticed that the girl wasn’t wearing stockings, furrowing his brow slightly. He sighed and turned to shake his head at Song Wen.

Song Wen looked at the man before him. Although he wore a mask, he didn’t resemble the assailant they had been pursuing.

The serial killer they had been chasing wasn’t this man. At most, this man was just an imitator, hardly worth mentioning.

Song Wen holstered his gun. “Let’s head outside. The car can’t come in here.”

Lu Siyu nodded and led the girl out of the construction site for a while, reaching a safe area. Song Wen followed closely behind, while the man, now handcuffed, remained obediently silent as he trailed behind.

Now standing under the streetlight, the surroundings were no longer pitch-black.

They were running along a small road, but the car had to take a detour from the main road, which hadn’t arrived yet. Song Wen used the walkie-talkie to inform Zhu Xiao of their exact location, instructing them to proceed slowly. Then, he turned to the man and the woman and asked, “What just happened?”

“I was walking alone on the road, and he suddenly jumped out from behind and grabbed my neck,” the girl, with her delicate and fair neck still flushed, described the situation just now with fear and uncertainty evident in her large eyes.

“Misunderstanding…it’s all a misunderstanding,” the man stammered, using his handcuffed hand to pull down his mask. His thin and elongated face shape was clearly different from the wanted suspect’s portrait.

To the girl’s surprise, she exclaimed, “It’s you?” She seemed to want to say more but hesitated.

The man continued, “Officer, you’ve got it wrong. I’m not a bad person. We know each other; I’m her colleague.”

Song Wen didn’t believe him, turning to the girl and asking, “Do you know him?”

The girl hesitated for a moment, then nodded and whispered, “He’s a salesperson in the department next to mine, at a major center… Tonight, a few of us colleagues had a gathering. I took a taxi back here and the driver dropped me off halfway because of the road repairs. My home is just at the next intersection. Shortly after getting off the car, I ran into him.” She pursed her lips, looking at the man with some fear. “He was also at the gathering tonight.”

It appeared that after the gathering, the man had followed her in a taxi. Song Wen snorted and continued to interrogate the man, “Does acquaintance justify an attack?”

The man looked nervous. “I…I didn’t attack her. I just wanted to say hello, make a joke, scare her a bit.”

Lu Siyu exposed his lie. “Scare her? What I saw wasn’t just a scare.”

The man had been trying to control the girl, exerting considerable force. Given the girl’s petite figure, she was clearly no match for him. Moreover, when Lu Siyu arrived, the man even picked up a stick to retaliate.

Only then did the man realize that the pretty woman in front of him was actually a man. He tried to force a smile, feigning drunkenness as he said, “Beautiful officer, I… I thought since I was coming back so late tonight, and with all the talk about the serial killer lately, I wanted to secretly protect her. In case anything happened, I could be the hero to save the day…”

The man continued to babble, “I wore a mask to avoid being recognized by her. It would be embarrassing if I didn’t meet any bad guys… I… I just wanted to do a good deed anonymously.”

Song Wen glanced at the girl, who looked extremely aggrieved, tears swirling in her eyes. Being a colleague, she dared not say much. She hadn’t expected that danger could come not only from a stranger, but also from someone close to her.

Fury surged in Song Wen’s heart. Even at this point, the man was still making excuses. He retorted, “You protect someone by choking them? You protect someone by grabbing their neck? You dare to attack the police when they arrive to help? You’re just afraid of being caught doing something bad, aren’t you?”

With that, Song Wen kicked the man hard. He felt he had been too gentle earlier and decided not to spare this scumbag.

In the gap between these sentences, Zhu Xiao had already brought the car over. Song Wen escorted the man forward and said, “Regardless, let’s go to the station and clear things up.”

Song Wen pushed the man into the car, and the girl followed suit, preparing to go to the police station to give her statement.

However, Lu Siyu remained standing at the intersection, hesitating to get into the car. Suddenly, he blinked and turned to look at the roadside.

In the midst of the mist, there was a quietude.

On the dark street, Lu Siyu stood tall and quiet, as if waiting for something.

“What’s wrong?” Song Wen, noticing his hesitation, leaned out of the car and asked.

Lu Siyu turned back to look at Song Wen, hesitated, and under the streetlight, his handsome eyes were tinged with an orange glow, illuminated by the light.

“Did you find something?” Song Wen asked again.

“Nothing…” Lu Siyu pursed his lips and shook his head. Just a moment ago, he seemed to have a feeling, a slight palpitation in his chest, a chill down his spine, as if a pair of eyes were watching them in the darkness, as if a wild beast was staring at the hunter in the dense forest.

But that feeling was fleeting, and when he turned back, he found nothing.

Perhaps it was just his imagination?

Where could that evil criminal be at this moment?

He was like a fierce beast, ready to pounce at any moment.

The police had woven a net in this city, but the city was too vast, with intricate pathways and corners, where evil dissolved into the darkness, hiding everywhere, sometimes just a hundred meters away, and one wouldn’t know what was happening nearby…

“Let’s head back to the station first,” Song Wen got out of the car and comforted Lu Siyu, reaching out to adjust his collar, “Tonight wasn’t entirely fruitless.”