Chapter 8

"Hmph, it doesn't matter. Isn't it just ten years in prison? It's too worth it to exchange for that woman's life. And Zhu Qi, he participated in the dismemberment, doesn't he have to go to jail too?" Zhu Ming'en raised his head, unscrupulous.

"If you really have guts, save these words for the court!" Qi Fei put his hands on the handles of the wheelchair and said to Zhu Ming'en.

That night, Zhu Ming'en slept exceptionally soundly. The last thing that needed to be hidden was also unraveled, and he was "peacefully" evil.

A bone-chilling cold awakened him from his deep sleep. He wasn't in the ward, but on a cold stainless steel table, wearing nothing, his limbs fixed again.

Strange, he had been moved here without noticing at all.

Unable to move, he could only look to the side with the corner of his eye. There was vaguely a doctor there, wearing surgical scrubs and organizing equipment.

"What kind of tricks are you playing again?" Zhu Ming'en said irritably.

That person seemed not to hear, appearing very focused.

Zhu Ming'en turned to the other side. There was an empty stainless steel table with three words marked on it that made him panic instantly. The three words were: "Dissection Table."

Just at this moment, that person had already arrived at his side, hat, mask, goggles, tightly wrapped. The person held a sharp scalpel in his hand, shining with a chilling light under the strong light.

"You, you stop playing, I confess, okay?" The cold and fear made Zhu Ming'en shiver.

The only response to him was silence.

"Save..." He was about to pull his throat and shout for help, but the scalpel had already pierced his throat. This didn't kill him, only made him unable to make a sound. He could only watch helplessly as the other party took out more knives, gesturing at his various joints, seemingly considering where to start.

The other party even put on headphones, vaguely hearing some kind of classical music, with intoxication. His butcher knife fell toward Zhu Ming'en's thigh...

Qi Fei had just left the hospital not long ago when a black shadow suddenly darted out from the bushes, blocking his way. It was a huge cat, with blue-gray fur and golden eyes shining in the dark night, staring at him.

This image was unforgettable; it was definitely the cat by Zhong Kui's side.

However, when he wanted to remember the cat's name, the crisp sound of wind chimes rang in his mind first. Yes, as long as he thought about things related to the mountains, there was always the sound of wind chimes blocking the front, making him unable to remember many details.

Zhong Kui had tampered with his brain. Accompanied by the sweet floral fragrance drifting in the evening breeze, it was a scent that didn't belong in winter.

"You haven't left yet." Qi Fei put his hands in his pockets, his tone heavy. The big cat "meowed," turned around, and walked forward, its posture elegant, exactly the same as Zhong Kui's.

Qi Fei followed the cat forward, turned a corner, and it was the oldest area in Nancheng, the entrance to the Central Garden that had existed since the Republic of China era. Behind the white marble unicorn statue, bare feet were dangling and swinging freely.

The big cat quickened its pace, walked to Zhong Kui's side in two or three steps, leaped onto the high marble steps, and sat down, snuggling up to Zhong Kui.

In the dark night, Zhong Kui's face was still hidden behind the unicorn, but her delicate voice had already come: "I was right, Zhu Ming'en's inner demon was himself, not something I could drive away."

For some reason, Qi Fei suddenly wanted to open his heart to this woman in front of him. He sighed: "Do you know? The serious criminals we encounter rarely truly repent. As a policeman, I do my best to make them receive the punishment they deserve, but..." He stopped talking here.

"Redemption." Zhong Kui said the two words Qi Fei couldn't say, and then chuckled, "Be careful not to get lost if you go too far. It's so late, I can't go back to Sanwu Town. How about keeping me company and finding a place to have a drink?" As she spoke, a can of beer was tossed toward Qi Fei.

Qi Fei agilely caught the beer. This sudden invitation surprised him. It was the first time he had seen Zhong Kui invite him so generously, so he didn't stand on ceremony and walked to the steps to sit down.

The sound of a can opening came in the quiet night.

"Since that's the case, I want to ask again, how did you know the Zhu family stuffed Chen Xiaojing's body into a wine jar?" Qi Fei asked, and before Zhong Kui could answer, he added, "Don't tell me Chen Xiaojing told you. No matter how much you play god, I won't believe in the existence of ghosts and monsters in this world. If there were, my job would become much easier."

"If I told you, wouldn't I be telling you the secret of my business?" Zhong Kui held the beer in one hand and stroked the big cat's head with the other, lowering her head to say to it, "Luosha, am I right?"

Oh, right, this cat was named Luosha. Qi Fei remembered after hearing it and suddenly felt a bit unhappy: "What did you do to me? I can't remember many things in the mountains. A policeman's memory is very important. I won't allow you to do this to me next time."

"Because of burning paper money." As if to appease Qi Fei's dissatisfaction, Zhong Kui, who clearly said she wouldn't tell him, suddenly relented, "Of course I won't know everything in advance. Before I decide to accept an order from the merit box, I will do some homework in advance. Zhu Ming'en is no exception. He didn't have anything, but I found Xu Li, oh, that is his mother, went to that old courtyard to burn paper money. Sanwu Town is different from Nancheng. People in the town have lived there for generations and know each other very well. You can know it by asking around a little. The place where Xu Li burned paper money was where Zhu's second uncle's 'Nu Er Hong' was buried. Later, you caught Zhu Qi, and you know more about Chen Xiaojing than I do. I just associated Zhu Ming'en's secret with the fact that you couldn't find Chen Xiaojing's body."

"Heh, so your meat soup was just playing god."

"This is a means. When I saw Zhu Qi's reaction, I knew I had guessed right." Zhong Kui drank a large mouthful of beer toward the sky. For some reason, there was no sense of pride in these words; instead, it made Qi Fei hear a trace of desolation, a desolation hidden under her flamboyant appearance.

"You're good material for being a policeman; it's a pity to be a charlatan."

"Heh, you don't earn as much as I do from fortune-telling," Zhong Kui said disdainfully.

Qi Fei looked at Zhong Kui's arrogant expression and retorted: "I don't believe you gave me clues several times just for money."

Zhong Kui, however, smiled: "Logically speaking, you shouldn't be this naive."

"Naive?" Qi Fei laughed out loud when he heard this word, "This is the first time someone has used these two words to evaluate me since I grew up."

"Ding-ling-ling," the sound of wind chimes that made Qi Fei helpless rang out. Zhong Kui didn't know when she had taken out the bell and was shaking it.

Qi Fei didn't want to be fooled so easily this time. He stood up like a policeman capturing a criminal and went to grab the bell, but unexpectedly grabbed Zhong Kui's hand.

In the winter night, her hand was ice-cold. At that moment, he actually subconsciously gripped this hand, wanting to warm it up.