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墨書 Inktalez
Zhao Mingkun lay on the ground, blood blooming into a red rose on the floor.
“Zhao,” Shao Shilin uttered a single word before falling silent.
I felt as if the most precious thing in my life had vanished, forever lost. There was nothing left in this world that I cherished.
Silence.
I held Zhao Mingkun's lifeless body, watching her fade away right before my eyes, yet I could do nothing.
“I hate you,” I said, looking at Shao Shilin.
Shao Shilin said nothing; a hint of sorrow crossed his face.
“What’s more important, capturing the Criminal or comforting a heart that is still Alive?” Shao Shilin murmured to himself.
I followed Shao Shilin in a daze, wanting nothing, doing nothing.
Climbing up to the surface, everything became bright. Unlike the darkness below, the ground was filled with light. It was as if up here, people never schemed against one another, as if evil did not exist at all.
No matter what, Shao Shilin was still smarter than any of us. Wu Zui played his games as if he were Sun Wukong in the palm of Tathagata Buddha; he thought he had reached the edge, but he would never escape Shao Shilin's grasp. Yet within this vast palm, too many innocent people were caught in the crossfire—Gu Chen, Guan Zengbin, Liu.
As police officers, we had long put our lives on the line, but when faced with the death of others, it was impossible to find peace.
“Captain Shao!” Wen Runzhi suddenly ran over and exclaimed, “It's bad! Teacher, Wu Zui has escaped.”
"What?" Captain Shao slammed his fist against the police car. "What's going on?"
Wen Runzhi quickly spoke up, "It seems that while we were putting on a show, Wu Zui figured out it was a trap. Just now, with all that thick smoke, when we went down to catch Zhao Mingkun and came back to look for Wu Zui, he had already disappeared."
"Weren't there a few people watching?" Captain Shao asked. "Did Gu Chen manage to escape?"
Wen Runzhi shook his head. "No, he's still under our control."
Guan Zengbin, it was always Guan Zengbin.
"Guan Zengbin!" Captain Shao slapped his forehead. "Where's Guan Zengbin? Shouldn't he be at the police station?"
Wen Runzhi shook his head again.
I couldn't let Wu Zui escape this time. If he got away now, who knows when I would have another chance to catch him. This was my last opportunity; I couldn't let Wu Zui slip through my fingers. I closed my eyes and desperately thought about where I would go if I were Wu Zui.
My head throbbed painfully. Each instance of Criminal Profiling left me with a splitting headache, but for the sake of capturing Wu Zui, I would risk becoming mentally unstable. This was a battle between me and Wu Zui; even if he were my biological brother, I wouldn't let him go.
I gritted my teeth, enduring the intense pain that accompanied Criminal Profiling.
In my mind, a map of the sewers in Dongxing City surfaced—this was something I had noted down from Mary's computer while trying to catch Zhao Mingkun.
If I were Wu Zui, there was no way he could go above ground. The streets had been blocked off by Captain Shao and the others. That meant the alley three streets away—the same alley where Zhao Mingkun had led me to escape—was the best route for him to flee.
That's right; Sister Mao had taken me there last time. Now, Wu Zui would surely appear there as well.
Thinking of this, I quickly ran towards the alley. I had never imagined I could run this far in one go; it turned out that human potential could truly be tapped into. At this moment, all I could think about was capturing Wu Zui, with nothing else on my mind—just a single conviction.
A familiar figure appeared before me; Wu Zui had just crawled out of the sewer.
I charged forward and kicked at Wu Zui. But it was as if he had eyes on the back of his head; he dodged to the side, and then an arm wrapped around my neck. At that moment, I was facing the sewer, where Guan Zengbin was looking up at me from the iron ladder.
I kicked hard at the half-pushed manhole cover, which fell into place over the opening, sealing it shut.
"You can't escape now," I said to Wu Zui.
"I didn't expect Shao Shilin to be so clever. No wonder he's a man who can contend with Shi Huacheng; he set a trap from the very beginning. If I hadn't sensed a hint of danger just now, I would have been a prisoner by now. But brother, you must have used your Criminal Profiling ability to find this place."
Wu Zui laughed heartily. "Do you know that with just a simple nudge from me, you could completely become a lunatic, indistinguishable from those foolish mental patients?"
"I know," I replied softly.
"Wu Zui!" At that moment, Shao Shilin also caught up, apparently having followed me here.
Shao Shilin slowly walked into the alley. "Look at you now; do you really think you can still escape?"
Wu Zui pulled out a gun and pressed it against my neck. "Don't come any closer. It's not pleasant to be toyed with. Now I finally understand how Wu Meng felt. Fortunately, I'm quicker on the draw than my foolish brother, who is always half a beat behind me. If you come closer, I'll blow his head off. Do you believe me?"
Wu Zui was not Zhao Mingkun; he always meant what he said and killed on a whim, unpredictable in his anger and joy.
"Put down the gun!" Wu Zui shouted.
"Put it down." Shao Shilin waved his hand, signaling the armed police around to lower their guns.
Wu Zui immediately spoke up, "I know that in just ten minutes, a sniper can be in position, so I won't waste time. You all stay right there and don't move; otherwise, I'll shoot immediately. Shao Shilin, you're clever, perhaps even smarter than I am, but you're not as ruthless as I am. You could easily frame me and Wu Meng for a crime and then shoot us both. What do you say? Want to play?"
As he spoke, Wu Zui pulled me back.
Wu Zui didn't truly believe that Shao Shilin would pull the trigger, and indeed, Shao Shilin did not do so.
"The hostages are a priority. No one is allowed to fire without my command."
Shao Shilin's voice was loud.
Perhaps Shao Shilin already knew that Zhao Mingkun would never kill me, while Wu Zui certainly would.
"Brother." Wu Zui pressed his head tightly against my neck, his body pressed against the wall beside us, ensuring he wouldn't be surrounded or hit by a sniper's bullet. He was truly clever.
"You've already lost," I said softly. "From the moment you targeted me, you fell into Shao Shilin's trap; there's no escaping now."
Wu Zui shook his head, his lips close to my ear. "Have I lost? No. As long as you're here, Shao Shilin won't dare to shoot, and I can escape. Gu Chen being captured means nothing; Guan Zengbin being captured means nothing either. Do you really think I have no other teacher besides Shi Huacheng?"
Suddenly, I remembered the dangerous hypnotist from Dongxing City Mental Hospital—the old man named Wei Demian.
"Wei Demian?" I asked.
Wu Zui laughed heartily, speaking in a tone only I could hear. "Yes, brother, that's right. You're always half a beat behind me. As long as we rescue Wei Demian, I can learn hypnosis techniques from him. At that point, we will naturally achieve our ultimate goal. So Wu Meng, you always overlook those seemingly insignificant details; yet often, they are the most important."
I suddenly remembered that someone had once slipped me a note while I was in the psychiatric hospital. At the time, I thought it was just a prank by a patient. But now, upon reflection, that might have been the most trivial detail related to Wu Zui. If I had taken the time to look into it back then, perhaps everything would have turned out differently.
Wu Zui is truly terrifying. At just over twenty years old, if Wu Zui learned Wei Demian's hypnosis techniques, who could possibly stop him? If Wu Zui reaches thirty or forty, will there still be someone as cold-blooded yet just as Shao Shilin to calculate his moves and capture him?
I felt that there was no hope left.
"Where there's life, there's hope," Wu Zui said, pulling me along as we neared the end of the alley. "Do you really think I have no backup plan? I've killed everyone who helped me; do you think I've left no one who could assist me in a critical moment? Wu Meng, this time you and Shao Shilin merely delayed my plans. We will meet again."
"Brother," I suddenly spoke up.
"Brother?" Wu Zui replied. "This is the first time you've sincerely called me that. Wu Meng, when we meet next time, you will be in even more pain than before. You have nothing—your friends are fake, your family is fake; everything is a lie. Only the hurt and suffering are real. You've always been alone, Wu Meng. Stop deceiving yourself; you and I are on the same path, sooner or later."
I ignored Wu Zui's madness. "Brother, let me tell you a story. When someone dies, they become a star in the sky..."
"If more people remember them, that star shines brighter, right?" Wu Zui interrupted impatiently. "Zhao Mingkun was my sister; she told that story more than once—nonsense. Zhao Mingkun is definitely dead now; doesn't that make you feel terrible?"
"But you don't understand," I insisted seriously. "I was arrogant before, then lost in confusion; now I have nothing, but suddenly I've found the answer to a question."
"What answer?" Wu Zui asked.
I replied, "People often asked me why I so desperately wanted to become a police officer. I could never answer that question until now."
With that, I suddenly grabbed Wu Zui's gun and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
The bullet pierced my neck while simultaneously entering Wu Zui's head, which was pressed tightly against mine. We both fell to the ground together.
The aorta was severed, leaving me with less than a minute to live.
I looked up at the white clouds above, devoid of any stars. The people I had met, the things I had seen, the paths I had walked flashed through my mind like scenes from a movie.
It is the stars that prevent the night sky from being entirely dark.
Some people are born in darkness but strive to become stars, illuminating even just a small part of the world.
Zhao Mingkun is that star, and so am I.
This is why I wanted to become a police officer.
I felt everything around me growing increasingly blurry.
I sensed darkness closing in, yet amidst the haze, there seemed to be a star shining brightly before me.
I was tired.
I had finally come home.
(THE END)
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