After the explosion, the entire doorway on the balcony was in shambles, with almost all the glass shattered, and the air was filled with the residual smell of the explosion. Several fires were still burning on the grass outside the door, emitting thick smoke.

Mi Shu was the closest to the explosion, about eight meters away, on the edge of the safe zone. She was pushed forward by the shockwave and instinctively hugged the child tightly. Mi Shu fell to the ground, with some parts of her body cut by shrapnel. Then she turned her head and looked back at the flames in disbelief.

She also heard the gunshot just now, and she knew that Qin Yongchen was likely to have died inside.

Someone took the baby from her, and several police officers came over and handcuffed her.

Inside the house, due to Lu Junchi’s quick reaction, there were no serious casualties. Su Hui was protected by him, and Dong Jiaying was farthest from the balcony in the dining room, followed by Zhang Xiaocai, who was hiding under the dining table whose back was injured by the explosion. Although several people were slightly injured to varying degrees, fortunately, they were not seriously injured.

Only Qin Yongchen, who was standing inside the house during the previous explosion, was the closest. He was wounded by shrapnel and covered in blood.

Lu Junchi’s ears were still ringing, and his hands were still trembling. At that moment, his heart seemed to have pressed the pause button until the explosion ended, and then it seemed to resume beating. His arm was scratched by glass shards, but he first helped Su Hui, who was protected under him, and carefully checked him.

Su Hui was well-protected by him, and Lu Junchi wanted to further inquire about his condition, but Su Hui broke away from his hand and crawled a few steps to the severely injured Qin Yongchen, pressing his hand on the wound on his chest, trying to stop the bleeding.

Su Hui anxiously asked him, “Why did you kill those people? Did someone make you do this?”

In that moment of the explosion, Su Hui replayed the whole thing in his mind. Qin Yongchen was the aggressor, and Mi Shu and Zhang Xiaocai were the passive parties. This man was trapped by a question.

With limited information, Su Hui could not fully understand Qin Yongchen’s past, but at least in the past, he was like an ordinary person. What caused this person to become an extremely vicious serial killer?

Su Hui has not yet found this opportunity in his life experience.

This powerful grenade is clearly not something that an ordinary killer can easily obtain.

Is it possible that there is someone behind him…

“No one asked me to do this…” Qian Yongchen was out of breath, he coughed twice and coughed up a mouthful of blood, and grabbed Su Hui’s collar with his blood-stained hand. His voice was hoarse, “First tell me, why… why would you be willing to die for a stranger?”

In the moment before the explosion just now, he saw Su Hui’s action of trying to throw himself down to block the grenade without hesitation.

If it weren’t for Lu Junchi throwing the grenade out at the last moment, Su Hui might have been a dead person now, but Qian Yongchen couldn’t see any fear or regret on Su Hui’s face.

Many people can’t do things for their families, so why did he do it?

“Because your question itself is wrong!” Su Hui pushed his hand away and said, “Some people are willing to sacrifice their lives for strangers, while others would shrink even if their loved ones are in danger. Some people are willing to die with their families. This question is related to human nature and the person making the choice, and does not have a decisive relationship with family or love. Life always transcends love and family.”

After hearing his words, Qian Yongchen’s eyes flickered. This person in front of him seemed to know what he was thinking, and every answer he gave was answering his doubts.

Life is above love and family…

Why should someone be held to higher expectations or demands just because they are your family member or lover?

People can be blinded by hormones, the vows made during marriage or love, such as “I’m willing to die for you” or “I can sacrifice my life for you”, are just expressions of love that most people cannot fulfill.

And the promises between family members, such as “I will always protect you”, there is no such thing as forever.

After the gunfire and explosion, Zhou Ye struggled to climb out of the room. He and Dong Jiaying held each other and cried in pain. This young couple had been through a life-and-death test, endured hardships, and nothing could separate them in this life or the next.

Life is above family, but there is still love in this world that can withstand the test and survive, they just haven’t encountered it yet…

Looking at their embracing figures, Qin Yongchen’s mouth moved, “I… seem to understand a little…”

He had been obsessed with a problem for several years and had killed so many people in search of the answer. Now, he seemed to have finally found what he was looking for.

Su Hui became even more certain that someone was instigating and luring this man behind the scenes. He asked, “Who is it? Who asked you to find this answer?!”

Qin Yongchen was already very weak, he coughed softly twice, “Come closer, I’ll tell you…”

Su Hui leaned down and used his only remaining ear to listen to the man whispering.

Upon hearing his words, Su Hui’s pupils suddenly contracted…

In that instant, he suddenly felt something cold pressing against his abdomen. Su Hui was suddenly pulled up by someone with great force, and as he rose, that thing grazed his clothes, piercing through the fabric.

Su Hui turned around and saw that it was Lu Junchi. He then noticed that the knife that Qin Yongchen had been holding was now in Lu Junchi’s hand.

If Lu Junchi hadn’t pulled him away just now, that knife might have been stuck in his body.

During Su Hui’s conversation with the killer just now, Lu Junchi had been listening on the side, and he had noticed Qin Yongchen’s subtle movements. That was why he pulled Su Hui away at the last moment.

In an instant, Su Hui felt as if he had been pulled back to the world by the warm touch of his hand. It was then that he realized that the room was full of special police and police officers. Zhang Xiaocai had been caught, and the young couple had already been carried away on a stretcher.

Many people gathered around, including medical staff waiting to rescue Qin Yongchen.

A police officer stepped forward and handcuffed Qin Yongchen’s hands.

Qin Yongchen spat out a mouthful of blood and looked at Su Hui with a smirk. “Too bad, it was just a little bit off…” After saying this, his face quickly turned gray.

Several doctors squatted down, and one of them touched his pulse. “It’s too weak. His injuries are serious…”

Another doctor shook his head lightly. This criminal was very likely beyond saving.

Lu Junchi asked Su Hui, “What did he say just now?”

Su Hui shook his head. “I didn’t hear clearly. He probably didn’t say anything…I was too careless.” He lowered his head and looked at the blood stains on his hands.

Lu Junchi said, “It’s good that you’re okay.”

Su Hui replied softly, then coughed for a moment due to the smell at the scene.

Lu Junchi settled Su Hui and began to work on the scene. There were still many things that needed to be dealt with.

Su Hui sat on a wooden chair in the room and wiped the bloodstains off his hands with the tissue handed to him by a nurse. He was still a little dazed, feeling a chill that permeated his body and made him shiver.

The explosion just now was too close. Even if Su Hui wasn’t hit by any stray bullets, he was still affected by the shockwave. He now felt a dull pain in his chest.

Inside the room, there were police officers, forensic experts, and countless others moving around in front of his eyes. Someone was questioning him, and he could hear their voices.

Su Hui felt like he was seeing large blocks of colors moving in front of him, and his ears were filled with the sound of gurgling water. In his mind, there was always the phrase that Qin Yongchen had said to him: “Poet, your old friend asked me to greet you…”

Why did the killer know who he was?

And who could that old friend be?

The scene had been cleared and it was almost midnight. It was only then that Lu Junchi came over and patted Su Hui on the shoulder, handing him his cane. In the chaos just now, the cane had been buried under a fallen chair and was retrieved by the forensic team.

Su Hui didn’t say anything and took the cane, getting up with Lu Junchi.

On the way back, Su Hui was lost in thought, looking out the window like a zombie. Neither of them spoke.

When Lu Junchi noticed Su Hui’s silence, he realized that he had already fallen into a light sleep, leaning against the car window.

Lu Junchi called out to him, “Professor Su, don’t sleep, you might catch a cold.”

Su Hui seemed to hear him and replied with a vague “Mhm.”

Half asleep, he kept trying to find a comfortable position, but no matter where he leaned, it felt hard and uncomfortable. It sounded like someone was talking to him, so he changed his position drowsily.

Lu Junchi wanted to wake him up, but he couldn’t bear to. He turned to look at Su Hui and saw that his hair was all messed up from sleeping. He couldn’t help but reach out and straighten it, then turned up the air conditioning.

The car was about to arrive, so Lu Junchi woke Su Hui up. Su Hui was still groggy and, out of habit, reached for his cane and held it in his hand. He got off the car with Lu Junchi.

Once they entered the house, Lu Junchi took a deep breath and turned to him with a serious tone, “Su Hui, there’s something I want to talk to you about…”

Lu Junchi’s handsome eyebrows were furrowed tightly, and his narrow black eyes were dark and ambiguous, as if he was restraining some emotion. His overly formal and repressed attitude made Su Hui feel puzzled. “What is it?”

Looking at Su Hui’s pale and handsome face, Lu Junchi’s heart ached for a moment. He tried to control his emotions and said, “The grenade you picked up today, HG85, also known as ‘Pearl’, alias ‘Steel Ball Feast’. It can penetrate a steel plate that’s five millimeters thick. If it explodes while you’re holding it, more than 3,000 fragments will pass through your body in an instant…”

As Lu Junchi spoke, he grabbed Su Hui’s wrist.

Su Hui was startled.

His wrist felt a burning heat, and Lu Junchi held it so tightly, as if afraid of losing something. Su Hui’s wrist hurt a bit, and he furrowed his brows slightly. After a moment of silence, he said, “So…I wouldn’t have been able to save you guys at that time…”

The explosion was so intense that even if he had held it down, he wouldn’t have been able to prevent it from exploding. The decision he made at that moment might not have saved those people, and instead would have brought them all to hell because of his actions.

Su Hui lowered his head and said, “I’m sorry, it seems like I made things worse.”

Lu Junchi shook his head. “No one blames you, and you don’t need to apologize. It’s just…you should trust me.”

Just thinking about how Su Hui was in danger tonight, and how he almost lost him, made Lu Junchi’s heart tremble more and more. He had thought about this for a long time and decided that he had to tell Su Hui, so that the same situation wouldn’t happen again.

Then Lu Junchi slowly let go of Su Hui’s hand.

He realized that he had hurt Su Hui.

He reflected on how his emotions were too agitated, and how he didn’t want to hurt him or say anything harsh. He just pitied him.

Lu Junchi had seen the scars on Su Hui’s body and knew what he had been through. The person in front of him was pale and fragile, looking like he would break at the slightest touch. He wanted to know what kind of heart was in that body, what kind of courage he had, and how he could rush forward without hesitation in that moment, doing something that many people couldn’t do.

Lu Junchi calmed down his emotions and said seriously, “I hope you know that I will do my best to protect you, even if it costs me my life…”

Su Hui heard this sentence and felt a warm feeling in his heart. He whispered, “I won’t do it again next time.”

He remembered that the person in front of him had saved him tonight, and not just once.

He remembered when Lu Junchi held him in his arms, the flames and danger seemed to be kept at bay by his flesh and blood.

At that moment, it felt like the safest corner in the world.

TN:

Huh…new character unlocked. I wonder who this old friend could be. Is it one of his colleagues from  the Behavioural Analysis Team or someone he put in prison? I’m looking forward to finding out! Also we now have confirmation that Su Hui is Poet. Lu Junchi’s Poet!