Chapter 178: Fated Confrontation

The night wind lifted a corner of his snow-white shirt; the blood spots on the clothes bloomed like peach blossoms under the moonlight, beautiful and dangerous.

The arc of the shadow cast by his brow bone and the line of his jaw were exactly the same as Qi Fei's.

Only his lips were thinner, sharp and dangerous like a blade, and those eyes were soaked in the dark, gloomy water of a deep pool. Under his thick eyelashes, the cold light of the moon made Qi Fei instinctively grip his service weapon—what danced in the depths of those pupils was the excitement only a hungry wolf has when tearing open its prey's throat.

"Xiao Fei, I've waited for you for a long time." Xi He's voice, with its trailing end like a snake's rose-colored tongue licking Qi Fei's eardrum, had coldness and tenderness intertwining and spreading through his nerves.

At this moment, Qi Fei was alone behind.

More than twenty years later, the two met again in this labyrinth.

As if by fate, they were destined to meet here.

Qi Fei knew that this chase was not his victory, but that Xi He had deliberately led him here.

"I killed many people just to get you back here. Xiao Fei, I missed you very much." Xi He expressed his longing for Qi Fei in the most evil way.

What made Qi Fei feel uncomfortable was that he actually understood Xi He's longing at this moment.

His hand on the gun never moved; this familiar yet strange blood relative and enemy.

Qi Fei tried his best to restrain the trembling of his voice and finally said his first sentence to Xi He: "Surrender. My colleagues are guarding every exit; you can't escape."

When this sentence reached Xi He, he only used his eyes to make it dissipate in the wind.

There was a kind of extreme, arrogant confidence in Xi He that Qi Fei had never seen before.

The corners of his mouth curled: "Xiao Fei, remember your compassion at this moment. Next time you see me, remember to draw your gun."

However, just as the words fell, a gunshot rang out in the labyrinth, coming from behind Qi Fei.

The bullet grazed his cheek and flew toward Xi He; the air blade it cut made his face sting.

He seemed to see Xi He's changing expression. In the blink of an eye, the white shadow flashed and disappeared at the end of the pitch-black passage.

"Damn it, just a little bit off." Behind him was Zhong Kui's voice of annoyance.

Separated by several walls, a police officer's voice shouted: "Someone snatched my gun!"

Qi Fei turned his head. A black muzzle was pointed directly at his face. Behind the gun was Zhong Kui's face, her murderous intent not yet fully retracted.

Yes, that kind of straightforward murderous intent was so similar to Xi He's.

"You know I want to kill him," Zhong Kui said righteously, "That won't change."

At this moment, Qi Fei had no heart to argue with Zhong Kui. His heart was in complete chaos. Xi He's face was deeply branded in his mind, like a black hole, constantly devouring his sanity.

Looking at his weak appearance, Zhong Kui's stubborn, unwilling-to-lose face finally revealed a trace of compromise. She put down the gun in her hand, grabbed Qi Fei's hand, and placed it in his own.

At that moment, Qi Fei didn't know if the person before him was Zhong Kui or Zhong Xiaoyu.

Xi He had escaped after all.

After Zhong Kui left the gun, she disappeared into the dark night of the labyrinth while Qi Fei was at a loss.

Outside the labyrinth, the sound of an ambulance came from afar. The dying Cui Nian took a lot of effort for the medical staff and police to carry out of the labyrinth.

However, Qi Fei did not leave.

He sat on the ground alone where Xi He had disappeared, leaning against the wall base as if exhausted, watching the moon set and the sun rise.

Only the investigation and evidence collection personnel remained at the scene, and the surroundings were so quiet that only the calls of morning birds remained.

His hand explored the bullet hole on the stone wall with the first ray of sunlight; the position hit by the bullet was more off-center than he had imagined.

After returning to Nancheng, the Guiyue Apartment was already empty.

Zhong Kui had returned to Sanwu Town without saying goodbye.

Qi Fei stood stunned outside the locked anti-theft iron door for a long time.

The situation of the confrontation with Xi He last night replayed repeatedly in his mind.

With Zhong Kui's meticulousness, that shot could not have been a mistake. Moreover, in that situation, perhaps coercing him was more useful than directly shooting Xi He with a gun.

By now, Qi Fei already knew the true intention of Zhong Xiaoyu driving Zhong Kui to approach him.

Xi He had once been Zhong Xiaoyu's patient; she understood Xi He better than anyone else.

In his cold world, Qi Fei and his mother were his few bonds and also his soft underbelly.

Qi Fei looked at the rusty door lock and sighed deeply—even so, even if he knew Zhong Kui was using him, he still couldn't feel resentment toward her.

And Zhong Kui's mistake last night made his mind even more unsettled.

He even vaguely saw Meng Apo's resentful eyes. He was the reason for the personality conflict between Zhong Kui and Zhong Xiaoyu; half of the injury from that stray bullet had fallen on Zhong Kui.

He knew she had returned to Zizai Shan to recover from her injuries.

And he was powerless to do anything about it.

After several hours of emergency treatment, Cui Nian's vital signs finally stabilized a bit.

When he was pushed into the ICU, Qi Fei turned his head and saw Li Jianjun's figure.

He didn't know when he had appeared in the hospital corridor.

Qi Fei took the initiative to greet him: "Lao Li, did the bureau notify you?"

"Yeah, Liu Tong told me. The murderer of the Demon Mirror Case has been caught." Li Jianjun's eye sockets were red, and his large hand landed heavily on Qi Fei's shoulder. He kept his mouth tightly shut and patted him hard twice.

"Well done." He took a deep breath after saying this, as if only then could he prevent tears from falling, but his voice was choked with sobs after all. "Even if I die, I'll have the face to see Lao Ye."

Afterward, he looked meaningfully at the tightly closed ICU door: "When interrogating this bastard, I want to apply to listen in. So many years, I've asked myself almost every day, what exactly is the reason that made him slaughter so many innocent women!"

When Li Jianjun left, he brushed past Chang Ying, who was rushing over.

Neither knew that their lives had intersected because of the "Demon Mirror Case."

Chang Ying walked up to Qi Fei, Pan Ting: "My dad..." This word "dad" seemed so difficult to utter at this moment.

"The doctor said that as long as he survives tonight, his life should be saved," Qi Fei said.

"I heard it was you who found him," Chang Ying said with a trembling voice, "No matter what, thank you for saving him... although, I know he doesn't deserve it..." She lowered her eyes, full of guilt.

"Any police officer would have done the same. Our goal is not to eliminate him, but to make him face trial."

"Is the person who took him away a family member of the victims?"

"No, it's his own kind. He wanted to replicate the murder ritual of the Demon Mirror Case on your father. Although we saved the person, his eyes have already been gouged out by the other party, just like..." Qi Fei stopped here and didn't continue.

Chang Ying bit her lip: "Just like what he did to those poor women. Why? I thought he was a perfect, good father..."

"Yeah, let's wait for him to wake up..." ===== CHAPTER 179 =====