Chapter 87: More or Less a Touch of Brutality

Lv Zhongxin heard that and his eyes went wide:

"He's dead too?"

Yu Dazhang nodded and said firmly:

"He was the first one to die. I watched him breathe his last. The situation was urgent, so I could only…"

"That's enough, that's enough." Lv Zhongxin waved a hand impatiently.

He didn't want to listen to Yu Dazhang's nonsense anymore.

When he'd praised his disciple earlier, it was so the disciple wouldn't carry a psychological burden.

Put it this way—killing always leaves a shadow on the mind, especially the first time.

It has nothing to do with mental toughness.

Whether it's a soldier going to the battlefield, an accidental killing, or a deliberate one.

After the first kill, you feel nauseous, afraid, hollow.

Even a soldier hard as iron, who's felled over a hundred enemies on the battlefield, still feels some guilt every time he kills.

Are there natural-born killers who get restless if they don't kill for a day?

Yes.

But very few.

That kind of person has a mental illness—they're outside the range of normal humans.

Lv Zhongxin knew a few officers who'd had kill experiences.

According to them, first came sleepless nights on end—even if they fell asleep, they'd wake again soon after.

For a long time after, they were in a daze, unable to focus.

Without prompt psychological treatment, it could cause mental abnormality, even madness.

Lv Zhongxin used to believe this without a doubt—after all, it wasn't just one person saying it.

But today he was skeptical; those people had definitely exaggerated the aftereffects.

Insomnia?

Sleepless nights on end?

The disciple in front of him could barely keep his eyes open.

Looking at him, if you handed him a pillow right now, he'd just lean against the steps and pass out.

Now that he looked, it was he himself, the master, who'd been overthinking.

Half an hour later.

Medical personnel went up the mountain one after another and carried the two seriously wounded officers, Zhang Sen included, down on stretchers.

The person Zhang Sen had shot still had vital signs and was carried away too.

The house at the village head was a gruesome sight.

People lay scattered all over the yard, and in the cellar there was another body whose blood was nearly drained dry.

What made the on-site personnel's scalps prickle most was that among them were women, children, a young man, and a man just past fifty.

Whether by gender or age group, it was almost a complete set.

It showed that in the killer's eyes, these people were no different—treated equally by him.

Later, medical personnel confirmed: Seven deaths, three heavy burdens!

Apart from the two young men and the little boy who still had vital signs, the other seven had all stopped breathing and died.

Criminal investigators and doctors—these are the two professions most exposed to death.

One often goes to crime scenes.

The other often goes to rescue scenes.

What kind of gruesome scene haven't they seen?

But today, looking at these corpses, they still felt their hearts pound and their hands and feet go cold.

Too horrific.

The whole courtyard was thick with a sharp, choking smell of blood, enough to make one retch.

An hour later, the entire mountain village was sealed off, the mountain road fully locked down, an isolation cordon strung up.

Various excavation tools were also transported up the mountain.

After emergency interrogation of the people in the village, it was learned there were two places on the mountain specifically used for disposing of bodies.

Because the time span was too long, no one could say clearly what those two places were like exactly.

If only a few had died, then the number of people sold out of this mountain village was at least over a hundred.

At the same time, the Fenglin Town police station was also sealed off.

All officers at the station were taken away for investigation, and the beat cop Dong Bo was directly listed as a primary suspect in the trafficking case.

Even the town's security squad wasn't spared—the squad leader was suspended from duty and placed under investigation.

Yu Dazhang ate some food his colleagues had brought up the mountain and drank a bottle of sweet soda; his stamina recovered quickly.

He'd wanted to stay on the mountain and keep helping, but his master chased him down.

"After you get back, think carefully about how to write the report—base everything on the premise that your life was being threatened." The hint was this obvious; of course Yu Dazhang knew what his master meant.

The next day.

Yu Dazhang went to the hospital early in the morning to visit Zhang Sen.

As for his partner's behavior this time, to say he felt no resentment at all would definitely be a lie.

If not for Zhang Sen's impulsive moment and wrong decision, he himself wouldn't have had to risk going up the mountain.

But then again, Zhang Sen had only done a wrong thing, not been a wrong person.

From a professional standpoint, his behavior was reckless and extreme, entirely unbecoming of a qualified criminal investigator.

But from an emotional angle, he dared to walk alone into the tiger's den to save someone—how many men could match that?

Differences exist between people by nature; a hundred families raise a hundred kinds of people.

Where there are the calm, there are the impulsive; no profession can keep every person in absolute reason.

"Sen-ge, why is your leg still suspended up like that?"

Please... bookmark... 6... 9... book........!

Yu Dazhang sat on the edge of the bed, his eyes full of concern:

"Was the homemade gun really that powerful? It broke your leg clean?"

Saying so, he extended a finger and gently poked twice at the suspended leg.

"Hey, hey, hey, don't—" Zhang Sen quickly spoke up to stop him. He had wanted to sit up, but Yu Dazhang pressed down on his shoulder.

He lay back down properly, his gaze evasive, not daring to meet Yu Dazhang's eyes.

"Don't be so impulsive next time."

Yu Dazhang straightened his back, looked at Zhang Sen's pale face:

"You won't be this lucky every time."

The hospital room fell quiet, leaving only the breathing of the two men, a stifling heaviness drifting through the air.

After quite a while, Zhang Sen laboriously turned his face and, staring at Yu Dazhang, asked:

"How's my master?"

His tone carried a suppressed emotion, as though he had used every ounce of strength in his body to squeeze out that single sentence.

"He pulled through." Yu Dazhang's face bore a smile as he answered softly:

"He was very lucky. The doctor said that if he'd arrived two hours later, his life probably couldn't have been saved."

Before entering the hospital room, he had already inquired about the other two officers.

He also learned that the one among them who had been gravely wounded and on the verge of death was actually Zhang Sen's master.

Hearing that his master was fine, the suspended heart Zhang Sen had been holding finally settled.

"Thank you."

Some color returned to his face, but immediately he felt as though a stone were lodged in his heart.

"And... I'm sorry."

Arriving at the First Brigade, Yu Dazhang found that most of his colleagues had already returned.

Even Lu Zhongxin was at the station.

Yu Dazhang sidled over and asked:

"Master, what's the situation?"

"The city bureau has taken over." Lu Zhongxin answered:

"Our bureau's technical division has gone too. From today on, every forensic examiner in Songhai City is going to be busy!"

What do they need so many forensic examiners for... Yu Dazhang didn't catch on for the moment.

He had indeed killed people—seemingly quite a few of them—but he wasn't worried about it.

This time, not only were the people and the guns found, but those he had killed also had homemade firearms, and even that little boy had a dagger.

Therefore, Yu Dazhang shooting the criminals dead was a necessary act in the performance of his duty.

It was brutal to some degree, but also lawful and necessary.

Based on his experience, the scene investigation should have wrapped up yesterday—so why would they need so many technical personnel?

"Something new on the mountain?" Yu Dazhang looked at his master and asked.

At present, that was the only possibility he could think of.

Lu Zhongxin lowered his voice and said:

"I heard Captain Wei say that the city bureau organized an excavation through the night yesterday, and so far they've dug up seventeen sets of skeletal remains."

"And that's just from one pit. The bones inside are stacked layer upon layer."

"The bottommost layer has been dead the longest. According to the on-site forensic examiner's preliminary examination, it's been at least over twenty years."

Yu Dazhang calculated the time in his head.

That group went up the mountain to settle in '90—it's been twenty-four years since.

Which means, from the very start, they went up the mountain in preparation for future crimes.

Twenty-four years—and they actually killed this many people.

What about the ones they sold off?

That must be a terrifying number... Yu Dazhang didn't dare think it through.

He clenched his teeth and slammed his fist onto the office desk beside him.

"These animals!"

(End of chapter)