Chapter 46

Following the procedure, Song Wen unlocked Xue Jingming’s handcuffs and handed him over to Zhang Dahai. Several policemen from the county police station escorted him cautiously.

Once the formalities were completed, the ambulance arrived. Since there were two injured individuals, the county hospital called for two ambulances. Dr. Li was lifted onto one, and Dr. Duan followed. Song Wen accompanied Lu Siyu onto the other.

A young nurse in the ambulance conducted the registration and asked Song Wen, who got on with them, “Are you a family member of the patient?”

Song Wen replied, “We’re colleagues.”

After signing a document, the nurse handed him a small folding chair.

As the ambulance started moving, the mountainous road made it a bit shaky. Song Wen sat on the small chair, watching Lu Siyu lying beside him with closed eyes. The nurse administered some intravenous fluids to Lu Siyu and connected him to monitoring devices for blood pressure and heart rate.

The ambulance was quiet for a while. Worried that Lu Siyu might lose consciousness, Song Wen struck up a conversation with him, “Look, the case is essentially solved. I’ll request leave for you later. Take a few days to rest.”

Lu Siyu’s hair was sticking to his forehead, and his eyes, like black jade, squinted. He curled his feet, saying, “I haven’t finished the report yet.” According to the regulations of the city bureau, a report had to be written after providing assistance, detailing the reasons, process, and results of the incident, though not as complex as a survey report, it still required several pages.

Surprised that Lu Siyu was still thinking about the report at this time, Song Wen said, “Don’t think too much. Rest well, put work aside for now. Don’t make it sound like I’m exploiting migrant workers.”

The ambulance entered a mountainous section of the road, which was a bit uneven. It was nearly 6 AM, and the outside of the window was no longer pitch black but showed a hint of dawn. The long night was about to end, and soon the sun would rise. The ambulance, not daring to delay, sped along the road as there were no other vehicles in the early morning.

With the swaying of the car, Lu Siyu felt drowsy and nauseous. As time passed, the medication he had ingested was soaked in blood, and the bleeding showed no signs of stopping. His stomach felt swollen and painful, as if it had turned into a container filled with blood. The ambulance was cramped, forcing him to lie on his side. Cold sweat kept pouring out, and his heart pounded rapidly. Initially, he chatted vaguely with Song Wen, but as time went on, he couldn’t hear clearly anymore and could only respond with a low “mm.”

Seeing that he seemed a bit delirious, Song Wen asked him, “Lu Siyu, how are you feeling…”

Lu Siyu’s hair was soaked with sweat, and his pale face frowned.

Checking the time, it was almost 6 AM, and they were close to their destination. Song Wen consoled him, “Hold on a bit longer. We’ll arrive soon.”

Lu Siyu knew he couldn’t sleep at this moment, but his will was like a kite flying farther and farther, no longer under his control. The cold and helpless feeling seemed endless, like it was swallowing him. Lu Siyu felt his body getting colder, and his stomach pain intensified, suddenly thinking of a certain five-letter word: death.

With just this thought, it felt like he stood on the edge of a cliff, with an abyss beneath his feet. Everyone was dead—his father, his mother, those strangers. Having seen so many corpses, he felt that one day he would become one of them…

It seemed like death was a relief.

But why was he still alive?

In Lu Siyu’s heart, he knew that sometimes, being alive was cruel beyond measure. All that was left for him was hunger and death… Awake, he felt like he was asleep; asleep, he felt like he was awake. The boundary between night and day became less distinct. Since that day, he had lost the chance to be considered a normal person; what remained was just a shell.

Things from his memories seemed to carry a flowing light as they flashed through his mind. His thoughts became increasingly uncontrollable, and everything in front of him was spinning.

In the darkness, Lu Siyu reached out somewhat blankly. There was a dead bird in his hand, with pitch-black pupils devoid of breath. He could feel the red blood on his hand, flowing down his wrist incessantly, unsure if it was his own or the bird’s. It seemed like people were pointing fingers at him, as if he were a monster.

Madman, pervert, lunatic… those words spewed from their mouths like sharp knives, stabbing into his body.

Song Wen had been observing Lu Siyu. Seeing his unfocused eyes, slight body convulsions, and his throat rolling incessantly, as if suppressing something, he urgently called his name, “Lu Siyu?!”

In an instant, Lu Siyu was seized by this voice. The sound seemed to come from a distant place. He blinked his eyes, gripping Song Wen tightly, afraid that if he let go, he would never open his eyes again. Words he usually dared not say suddenly felt like there was no more chance. Lu Siyu summoned a bit of willpower, mustering the courage to urgently call Song Wen’s name, “Song Wen, I…” His voice was reduced to a breathy sound, and as he opened his tightly clenched lips, blood overflowed.

Song Wen was afraid he might choke, so he wiped the corners of Lu Siyu’s lips with a white tissue that quickly turned red. He only heard half of what Lu Siyu was saying, thinking that Lu Siyu was in severe discomfort. He pulled him closer, saying, “Lu Siyu, don’t sleep. Look at me.”

At that moment, the instrument next to them suddenly lit up with red lights. The nurse said, “Blood pressure is dropping!”

Lu Siyu looked at Song Wen’s face, his beautiful eyes wide open. He wanted to say something, but the words were stuck in his throat, drowned by the blood he spat out. He felt that all his strength had been depleted. He blinked his eyes, gently closing them.

Song Wen’s mind went blank.

The doctor on the side remained calm. “The patient fainted. Get the hospital ready for a blood transfusion.”

Just then, they arrived at the county hospital. The ambulance came to a sudden stop, the back door opened, and medical staff were already waiting outside. They quickly moved the person from the ambulance, running straight to the emergency room. The whole process resembled a military operation.

The hospital was filled with white—white corridors, white ceilings, white-clad doctors and nurses—all intersecting chaotically. Song Wen wanted to follow, but he was blocked at the entrance, looking up to see three words posted above: “Emergency Room.”

Song Wen, having been a detective for so many years, had witnessed life and death countless times, but he had never felt so panicked and disoriented. It was like drinking a glass of ice water during the coldest days of winter, freezing his heart in midair. There was a breath he couldn’t take in, stuck in the middle. Yet, all the blood in his body was boiling. He could smell the mixture of a bloody scent and the hospital’s disinfectant, blood-red in his palms—Lu Siyu’s blood.

In that instant, Song Wen realized that identity, investigation, precautions—all of it didn’t matter anymore. Even if there were countless secrets, so what? Even if Lu Siyu might be deceiving him, so what?

Song Wen suddenly understood – he liked him. He didn’t want anything bad to happen to him; he just wanted him to be okay.

Song Wen stood at the door in a daze for a while, and suddenly, a coffee-colored small bottle rolled out of the bag he was holding for Lu Siyu. It was as if he was waking up from a dream. He squatted down, picked up the small bottle—it was a small coffee-colored medicine bottle.

Holding the medicine bottle, Song Wen sat on a chair outside, realizing that he hadn’t informed Lin Xiuran yet. He called him and briefly told him the whole situation.

Lin Xiuran, who had been busy with autopsy work yesterday, was awakened by Song Wen’s call early in the morning. Fortunately, the funeral home he was in wasn’t far from the county hospital, and he hurriedly rushed to the hospital at seven in the morning.

Lin Xiuran found the emergency room and saw Song Wen sitting at the entrance with his head down. He felt a pang in his heart. “How is the situation?”

Song Wen looked up and said, “He’s been in there for half an hour. Just had an examination, and now they’re giving him a blood transfusion. A nurse came out and said he’s out of immediate danger, asked me to sign a few papers, but I don’t know more than that.”

“I thought…” Lin Xiuran finally breathed a sigh of relief. Song Wen’s voice on the phone was trembling, and the situation seemed serious. He had thought Lu Siyu might sacrifice himself for the job this time. Running over, he relaxed when he heard the situation now. He comforted Song Wen, “Maybe it’s due to excessive bleeding from gastric bleeding, but since he’s out of immediate danger, there shouldn’t be any major issues.”

“The doctor said it almost caused gastric perforation.” Song Wen looked down at the ground; his hands were still trembling.

Seeing his unusually pale complexion, Lin Xiuran joked with a smile, “You don’t look like a colleague entering the hospital; it’s more like your wife going into the delivery room.”

This joke, intended to be light-hearted, struck at Song Wen’s thoughts directly. He remained silent for a while, then turned to Lin Xiuran and said, “Brother Lin, I was really scared just now. I felt my heart was about to stop.”

“You don’t need to be too nervous. Injuries to police officers are common. You’ve been to the hospital several times yourself… When was it ever a minor injury? This is the first time I’ve seen you so flustered.” Lin Xiuran, being a forensic expert, had long been accustomed to life and death, as well as the ups and downs of the human world. Based on his usual understanding of Song Wen, he had never seen Song Wen so anxious. He wondered why Song Wen lost his composure this time.

Song Wen shook his head gently and said in a low voice, “He’s different.”

Lin Xiuran comforted him, saying, “He’ll be fine.”

After a moment of silence, Song Wen took out the bottle of medicine from his pocket. “By the way, what is this medicine?”

Lin Xiuran took it curiously, looked at it, and had some recollection of the name. “It’s an imported strong painkiller. Why? Is it Lu Siyu’s?”

Song Wen sighed and nodded in agreement.

Seeing how severe the ulcer was, it was evident that it had been a long-standing issue. The busy work at the criminal police department and Lu Siyu’s reliance on painkillers for relief showed how he had been enduring it. With this realization, Song Wen began to reflect on his own lack of empathy.

At this moment, Lin Xiuran’s phone suddenly rang. He picked it up, glanced at it, and said, “The results of the investigation into that case are out. The cigarette butt and footprints were both left by Xue Jingming.”

Song Wen nodded. With this direct evidence and the testimony, they had effectively identified the murderer. The speed at which they solved this case was quite fast, and much of it was attributed to Lu Siyu’s analysis.

Lin Xiuran then asked, “As for who Zhou Cong really is, do you want to guess the result?” Nowadays, the police’s DNA technology was mature, typically taking 12 to 24 hours, or just 6 hours if expedited. The samples sent yesterday afternoon had results by this morning.

After a brief silence, Song Wen leaned his head against the hospital wall. “He is not Xue Jingming’s son.”

Lin Xiuran inquired, “Why do you think so?”

“No reasoning or theory, just based on intuition and my personal emotions…” A hint of indifference appeared in Song Wen’s eyes. “I don’t want Xue Jingming to be a vengeful father for his son; he doesn’t deserve it. I also hope that Zhou Chuguo killed his own biological son. That would be his punishment.”

After a moment of silence, Lin Xiuran understood his sentiment. His eyes returned to the screen of his phone, revealing the answer, “You guessed it right.”

In the rural area, there were two cases, four victims, and two ruthless murderers. Zhou Chuguo was unfit to be a father, and Xue Jingming was even more undeserving.

Sometimes, rumors could be deadly, and suspicions could turn into a lethal weapon.

Pity those innocent women and children who died in vain. Life was a precious thing, not meant to be trampled upon in such a way.

TN:

Zhou Chuguo should have been alive to realize he killed his own son. Can’t believe that people brainlessly flapping their gums caused the destruction of so many lives. I get that XJ is a bad person but he was honestly a better father-figure to Zhou Cong than ZC. If people hadn’t started those baseless rumors, ZC wouldn’t have killed his own son and XJ wouldn’t have massacred the entire family as revenge. I’m not trying to make excuses for them, they’re still shit people but all this could have been avoided if people just hydrated and minded their own business! And we’re done with another case! See you in the next one – REINCARNATION!!! It’s a long one, 27 chaps, so it might take longer for me to finish up. Probably next year honestly.