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墨書 Inktalez
"Why? Why are you doing this?" I looked coldly at Captain Shi.
I had been searching for Captain Shi for five years, never wavering in my determination. There was a phrase he told me on my first day as a police officer:
"As a police officer, I share my oath with you. No matter how others see or think, as long as the Killer is still out there, we will pursue him relentlessly. Even if it means traversing mountains and rivers, we must bring the Killer to justice. Even if it’s the last breath I take, even if I bleed to death, I will seek justice for the victims."
I had always kept Captain Shi's oath close to my heart. If Dezi's goal was to become a police officer like his father, then my aim as a detective had always been to follow in Captain Shi's footsteps.
I had watched him go days without sleep, desperately searching for clues; I had seen him face the Killer without a hint of fear, charging forward even knowing he might get hurt because he bore the weight of responsibility; I had also seen him donate his own money to the families of victims, hoping to ease their suffering.
"So everything you said before was just nonsense!" I said, forcing back tears as I spoke each word. "Do you still have any beliefs left? What do you think our profession is?"
"Little Stone, do you remember?" Captain Shi didn’t directly answer me but instead asked.
How could I forget? Little Stone was Captain Shi's daughter. When she was very young, she often played with me. But after Captain Shi went missing, his family also vanished without a trace. Because of this, I believed there was something suspicious about Captain Shi's case, which is why I never gave up searching for him after getting out of prison.
Now that I think about it, Little Stone is already six years old.
"How could I forget!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out the charm that Xiaocao had given me in Baili Village. However, the contents had long been replaced with something else. I poured it out to reveal a small stone with a crooked character for "stone" carved on it.
"This engraved stone is part of a bracelet that Little Stone and I made for your birthday!" I threw the small stone towards Captain Shi. He caught it and examined it carefully before saying, "Yes, in order to let you follow Zhao Mingkun here, I entrusted this bracelet to him. I knew you would never forget Little Stone."
"What does this have to do with your killing?" I asked. "Do you want Little Stone's father to be a murderer?"
Captain Shi gently placed the small stone on a table by the bed and said calmly, "Do you know that Little Stone has a rare disease and won't live past ten?"
"What?" I could hardly believe my ears. I had watched Little Stone grow up; my relationship with Captain Shi was almost like that of father and son. I often played at Captain Shi's home with her. How could it be that Little Stone wouldn’t live past ten?
"Yes," Captain Shi shrugged as if trying to appear indifferent, but in his eyes, I could still see his worry and unwillingness. If I weren't there, he might have cried; this was a father's last show of strength.
Captain Shi continued, "When Little Stone was three years old, she was diagnosed with a rare blood cancer caused by genetic mutation. Major hospitals were helpless against it. Only three doctors in the country had seen this disease, and they all reached the same conclusion: Little Stone would not survive past ten years old. As she grows older, her blood will become increasingly viscous until it can no longer flow."
I fell silent, unsure of what to say. Life and death are part of heaven's design. We have danced on the edge of death several times but always emerged unscathed. Yet Little Stone seemed destined for an early demise from birth. Heaven and Earth are unkind; they treat all things as straw dogs—what can we do?
Seeing my silence, Captain Shi smiled faintly and said, "My wife took Little Stone to seek out renowned doctors during that time; remember when I said your sister-in-law and Little Stone went traveling? It was because I realized that even the top experts in the country couldn’t solve this problem—who else could we turn to? From that moment on, I became more cautious."
"Sure enough, six months later, there were no results from seeking treatment," Captain Shi said. "I heard from one doctor that America had been researching this medical dilemma for years but based on the situation at that time, it would take at least another fifteen years of research before they could control or extend the patients' lives."
"Fifteen years, do you know? I can wait, but Little Stone cannot." Captain Shi said slowly. "At that moment, a murder case occurred in Yuzhou City. I made a decision to take my wife and Little Stone away and create my own disappearance. I wanted to establish my own organization; I wanted to save my daughter myself."
"The case itself was quite simple; it was just that during the process, I tampered with things." Captain Shi said coldly. "That's why you could never connect the clues, and you could never understand who the Killer really was. I killed the original Killer early on, then arranged for a scapegoat and created the illusion of my own disappearance."
Captain Shi smiled as he continued, "I am your mentor; the plan was flawless. I also knew that once you discovered my disappearance, you would lose your mind. So you shot and killed the scapegoat who was about to escape, for which you ended up in prison. But until now, no one knows that I arranged my own disappearance."
"So you used me!" I clenched my fists, glaring at Captain Shi.
"Yes," Captain Shi replied. "I am your mentor; all your investigative experience was learned from me. Naturally, I know how to confuse you and how you would react. But at this moment, Wang Gang discovered some clues pointing to me. He had been with me for over a decade; he knows me too well."
Captain Shi sighed. "So, I had no choice but to kill him and dispose of the body. That's why you've been searching endlessly, thinking there is still another Killer out there, unaware that this Killer is your missing mentor!"
"Why didn't you kill me?" I asked. "If you could kill Wang Gang, who had been with you for over ten years, why not just kill me too? I've only been with you for a few years!"
Tears glimmered in Captain Shi's eyes for a moment before quickly vanishing. "If I kill you, no one will tell everyone that the Killer has escaped and that both Captain Shi and Wang Gang are missing. I need someone to speak on my behalf, to remove me from this situation; ideally, everyone should think we are both dead!"
"And what scares me most is Li the Tiger; however, after hearing it from your mouth, Li the Tiger believed it."
I stared blankly at Captain Shi, realizing he had become repulsive to me, a stark contrast to the Captain Shi I remembered. The man who had brought me into this line of work and cared for me like family—was he truly the same person standing before me?
"You know, as police officers, we always come into contact with dark things. Before, I eliminated them; now, I recruit them. Using the connections I've built over the years from solving cases, I've found many escaped psychopathic killers and numerous doctors expelled from hospitals. Most importantly, I've found MAX!"
"Together we established the Heavenly Domain Organization. I paid those killers to capture and torment people and then sent them to those perverted wealthy individuals on the dark web for funding. Most of the money went to support those daring doctors willing to experiment; the rest continued to go to those killers."
"Before long, I had amassed a lot of money. You know, every time I watched those doctors conduct experiments, I felt that my daughter had hope. If experts from China and America directly experimented on living subjects, the results would surely be much better! Yet they insisted on using animal testing and took fifteen long years for their research!"
I no longer recognized Captain Shi before me; he was a murderous demon—a selfish murderer who hoped for everyone in the world to sacrifice themselves for his daughter's survival.
"You traded innocent lives for your daughter's life!" I said in a low voice.
"Don't look at me like that!" Captain Shi sat by Juan Juan's bed. "I've told you before; people change. No one remains unchanged in this world. Take yourself as an example—can you honestly say you've never changed?"
I scoffed lightly and replied, "Yes, people change—they get fatter or taller; they become petty or cynical. But one thing many people never change throughout their lives is that they refuse to build their happiness on others' suffering!"
"Come back with me!" I urged. "Turn yourself in!"
Captain Shi looked at me as if I were a fool and said, "Go back with you? Turn myself in? It's been five years since I've heard those words. Can I go back with you now? From the moment I decided to kill the Killer, there was no turning back. From then on, my world only contained my daughter Little Stone; from then on, my world only contained Satan; from then on, I became a demon!"
Captain Shi clapped his hands, and at that moment, four or five people in white coats entered from outside.
They walked straight past me, and Captain Shi stood up as they pushed Juan Juan's bed towards the exit. It was then that I noticed the bed had wheels. Juan Juan had been unconscious for so long without waking up; something must be wrong.
"Shi Huacheng! What are you trying to do?" I shouted.
Shi Huacheng smiled and said, "What am I trying to do? It's quite a coincidence. I recently discovered that Juan Juan's blood matches that of the little stone by over eighty percent. Isn't it ironic? I've been searching for three years, only to find out that the person who could save my daughter was right beside me all along."
"Blood transfusion!" I yelled. "How dangerous is this? Don't you know Juan Juan could die!"
Captain Shi waved his hand, and a few people outside immediately restrained me.
Then, I watched as Juan Juan was pushed out.
"Yes, she could die, but as long as it saves my daughter, I won't hesitate to do whatever it takes!"
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