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Upon hearing Old Shao's words, Li Dabiao suddenly burst into tears, like a child who couldn't find his mother. He cried with tears and snot streaming down his face, and since he was handcuffed, he could only wipe them on the collar of his shirt, making it look incredibly dirty.
After crying for a full five minutes, Li Dabiao finally calmed down. He sniffled, as if he had suffered a great injustice. "You finally caught me. I've had enough; you scared me to death. Every time I close my eyes, I think about what happened before. Why did it take you so long to catch me..."
The stench emanating from Li Dabiao was unbearable, filling the interrogation room with an awful odor.
Old Shao wrinkled his nose. "Not running anymore?"
"I'm not running anymore; I won't run for the rest of my life," Li Dabiao nodded heavily.
"Liu," Old Shao said to Captain Liu standing nearby, "take Li Dabiao to wash up and get a haircut."
Captain Liu nodded in response.
More than an hour later, Li Dabiao returned to everyone's sight, looking much more presentable.
"Do you know why we arrested you?" Old Shao asked Li Dabiao softly.
Li Dabiao nodded vigorously. "I know, I know."
"What for?" Old Shao prompted him to speak.
This time without handcuffs on him, Li Dabiao scratched his head and said, "I ran over someone."
On that fateful night, around eight forty as usual, Li Dabiao drove near the crematorium. To avoid taking a longer route, he drove onto Qingchun Road. This road was usually deserted. The dark crematorium always gave off an eerie feeling; despite having passed by many times, he still dared not linger.
He pressed down on the accelerator, and the van sped up to seventy miles per hour. Before long, he would be able to see Ladle. During the four or five years of making deliveries, Li Dabiao had developed feelings for Ladle. Although he had a wife and children, his wife had cheated first and even brought her lover home. Li Dabiao was an honest man who dared not voice his anger.
Fortunately, he had Ladle as a source of solace. Though Ladle was plump, she had a good heart, was helpful, and knew how to care for others.
Lost in a gentle reverie, Li Dabiao failed to notice a shadow appearing on the highway in the distance. This road was typically devoid of pedestrians, especially on such a pitch-black night. By the time Li Dabiao spotted the figure, it was already too late. He slammed on the brakes, but the car was moving too fast, and the stopping distance was far too long.
As he braced for impact, he swerved left. Yet, he still heard a loud "thud" as his vehicle collided with the person. The car spun several times in the field before finally coming to a halt. Li Dabiao gripped the steering wheel tightly, frozen in place.
He felt the trunk burst open, and entrails spilled out, scattering across the ground.
Sitting in the driver's seat, Li Dabiao was momentarily dazed. He was grateful he had fastened his seatbelt; otherwise, such a violent stop would have sent him crashing through the windshield. He turned his head slightly to look back into the distance and, through the darkness, he saw the figure lying motionless on the ground.
Li Dabiao remained still, his mind racing as he contemplated his next move.
Although there had been a loud crash when his car hit the man, in this isolated area, no one would have noticed. Li Dabiao knew this road well; it rarely saw any traffic and lacked streetlights or surveillance cameras. If he kept quiet, no one would ever know what had happened.
He glanced at his watch—there was still time.
Li Dabiao quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and jumped out of the car. He approached the shadowy figure and bent down to take a look. In the darkness, he could see that it was a man lying on the ground, blood pooling around him.
Li Dabiao crouched down and gently nudged the man with his hand; he remained unresponsive.
The man's head lay against the ground, blood continuously flowing from his wounds. Li Dabiao reached out to check for a pulse at the man's neck but found only faint breaths—barely any air coming in or out. A rough estimation told him that even if he rushed him to the nearest hospital, survival was unlikely—and he had no idea how much it would cost.
Next to the man lay a deep blue travel bag. Li Dabiao didn’t know what was inside but hurriedly zipped it up.
With a sudden resolve, Li Dabiao decided to bury this man alive.
He dragged the body into the field until he reached a spot where only a sliver of highway remained visible before stopping. Due to his years of transporting entrails, his car was equipped with steel rods and other materials for securing cargo. Ignoring the scattered entrails around him, he pulled out one of the steel rods and hurried back to where the body lay.
He began digging frantically, sweat pouring down his face. At that moment, nothing else mattered; he couldn’t let anyone find out that he had killed someone. If they did, everything would be ruined—his daughter would know he was a murderer, his wife would divorce him without hesitation, and even his new girlfriend Ladle would surely leave him.
After digging a shallow grave, he placed the body inside. The pit was far too shallow; it barely covered him. But right now, his priority was to deliver entrails to Ladle as quickly as possible. He checked his watch again—digging this shallow hole had taken nearly an hour; it was already past ten o'clock.
His phone rang incessantly; he knew it was Ladle calling him. Normally by this time, he would have already helped her unload her cargo and they would be enjoying some intimate moments together. He didn’t have time to answer; he tossed the travel bag into the pit and hurriedly covered the body with dirt, barely managing to conceal it.
Li Dabiao understood that this was not a solution, but he first needed to stabilize Ladle. Once he returned, he could deal with the body again. He hurried over to the side of the van, but at that moment, he noticed a light gradually approaching his van; it was the glow of a phone, and it belonged to a person.
Li Dabiao gripped the rebar tightly in his hand and slowly moved to the edge of the field. If this person sensed anything, they would definitely act. He had already killed one person; killing another wouldn’t be difficult.
Fortunately, what the other person said next made Li Dabiao breathe a sigh of relief.
“Who?” the person asked, somewhat frightened.
Li Dabiao lightly tossed the rebar away and replied slowly, “Brother, I’m the driver.”
“What are you doing?” the person continued to ask.
Li Dabiao adjusted his pants and pretended to be relaxed as he said, “Don’t be afraid. My name is Li Dabiao. I’m delivering entrails to the Sponge Factory up ahead. There’s a female chef named Ladle there; Internal Offal Rice is a specialty, and I’m delivering food for her. Sponge Factory, Ladle, Internal Offal Rice—do you know about them?”
“What happened?” the person asked as they looked at the entrails scattered on the ground.
Li Dabiao sighed, wearing a helpless expression. “It got dark too quickly. When I was driving here, a wild dog appeared out of nowhere, and I didn’t dodge in time; I crashed into a tree. I was startled and couldn’t hold it in, so I went to relieve myself in the field. The back of my van has been modified; the rear cover isn’t secure and popped open during the crash, spilling entrails everywhere. I need your help to clean it up, Brother.”
Seeing that the other person's expression softened, Li Dabiao finally felt at ease and started chatting with him. He didn’t know why he had been so clever at that moment; it seemed that people under pressure could indeed do things that even surprised themselves.
But he was also curious about why this person was here so late—what were they doing?
The other person asked again, “Do you always deliver this late? It’s already ten or eleven.”
Li Dabiao replied, “I got held up by some matters; I could only come at this time. What are you doing wandering around here?”
The other person smiled and said, “I work at the crematorium. A body just arrived today, and I’m nearby throwing some yellow paper and such.”
Li Dabiao felt uneasy; although he sensed inconsistencies in what the other person said, he didn’t dare to probe further and could only force a smile.
As the two of them picked up the entrails, they chatted, and he learned that the other person liked to eat intestines. Li Dabiao filled a bag with a piece and said, "Brother, I can't offer you much since we're both in the meat business, but take this intestine home; it should be enough for three or four meals."
With that, Li Dabiao hurriedly got into his car and drove away.
Through the rearview mirror, he saw that the other person did not call the police but left in another direction, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. He arrived at the Big Spoon Sponge Factory and finally mustered the courage to call Ladle to come pick up the goods. When Ladle saw Li Dabiao, she was excited and a bit anxious, questioning him about what he had been doing and why he was so late.
However, Li Dabiao was not in the mood for flirting. With everything that had happened, his mind was filled with thoughts of the bystander he had accidentally killed and that mysterious figure who had seemed so suspicious. These two issues churned in his mind, making it impossible for him to unload properly.
Ladle noticed that something was off with Li Dabiao, and he had to come up with various excuses to brush her off. In the end, he hurriedly kissed her on the cheek and left. Unloading took over an hour, and with Ladle clinging to him, it was already midnight when Li Dabiao finally left.
He drove away in a rush and returned to the middle section of Qingchun Road, turning off the engine and parking.
He used his clothing to scoop up some loess and covered the bloodstains with it.
Then he found the rebar behind a tree.
Finally, he arrived at the spot where he had buried the body, but what terrified him was that— the body had vanished.
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