The two felt uneasy about it. Lin Dongxue called a colleague at the bureau and asked them to look at the surveillance footage.

After a while, a video was sent to Lin Dongxue's mobile phone. It was captured by the surveillance camera outside the bureau. Liu Hong had just got in the taxi when the young monk stopped a car, followed Liu Hong’s car, and disappeared to the left of the screen.

Lin Dongxue admonished anxiously, “This fool, what use is it to follow Liu Hong?”

“I remember the little master asked if Liu Hong would be arrested if he killed someone else. Surely he wouldn’t...”

Their horrible imagination frightened the two of them. They immediately rushed to the community where Liu Hong lived. At this time, they didn't care much about anything else. They went directly to Liu Hong's house and knocked on the door. Liu Hong was not at home though, and the dog in the house kept barking.

Chen Shi borrowed two hair clips from Lin Dongxue in preparation to pry the lock. At this time, someone came up from the stairs. It turned out to be Officer Liu.

Officer Liu said, “Looking at you two rushing in, I couldn’t even call out to you two. What's wrong?”

Lin Dongxue asked, “Officer Liu, did you see a young monk here during the day?”

“I'll help you find out. I know the security guard at the front gate.”

Ten minutes later, a security guard said that he saw a young monk during the day. He felt like the monk was acting suspicious. He hid behind a tree for a while and then behind a car.

Lin Dongxue asked, “Who was he following?”

“Oh!” The security remembered. “It looked like a woman wearing a scarf and sunglasses. She had a windbreaker on as well.”

“Which direction did they go?”

“Look at the surveillance to find out!” Officer Liu said.

The security guard found the surveillance based on his memories and pointed at the screen. “Look, it's him!”

In the picture, a tightly wrapped woman left the community and the young monk followed behind.

Chen Shi frowned. “Oh no!”

The three went to the intersection to find the next surveillance footage. The surveillance of a convenience store showed that the two went towards Wuyi Road one after the other.

The three people looked for the footage one after another and finally got to Gongzhou Road. There were very few stores here and there was no monitoring to check. Lin Dongxue called for back-up. Chen Shi looked around and said, “Let’s go to the surrounding neighborhoods!”

After asking three neighborhoods, a security guard said that he saw a young monk come in. Lin Dongxue asked, “Has he come out?”

“Uh, I'm not too sure.”

“Do you have a surveillance camera around here?”

“Sorry, our neighborhood is relatively old and the monitoring is broken.”

Officer Liu said, “It seems likely that he is still here. Your people will not be able to arrive for a while, so I'll call the security guards of our company to help!”

Lin Dongxue thanked him. “Thank you, Officer Liu!”

“You're welcome. I just hope nothing’s happened to him.”

Chen Shi thought for a while and then asked the security guard, “I see a lot of rental notices on the wall. Are there many people renting houses here?”

“There’s quite a lot.”

“How is rent charged?”

“Personal transactions. We don't get involved.”

“You have to collect the utility bills though. Let me see the utility bills.”

The security guard didn't know what he was thinking about. He took out the list of utilities for the year and Chen Shi looked down at the list row by row. Lin Dongxue asked, “What are you doing?”

“There is no monitoring here and the location is old. Liu Hong is likely to have rented a safe house here. People who are cunning usually have three dens. That’s always been his style.” Chen Shi's fingers fell on the paper. “The apartment that has a lower usage level of power and water as compared to the other units is likely to be Liu Hong's safe house! “

Lin Dongxue instantly understood and helped to find it together. The two found three apartments that used little electricity and water.

At this time, it was already 8:00 in the evening. The area was already dimming in light. They went knocking on the doors of the three apartments one by one, but there was no response.

The two of them left grumpily when Lin Dongxue's feet suddenly struck something. Picking it up, it turned out to be a monk bead. She held it in her hand and looked, “Is this bead his?”

Chen Shi turned to look for it and found a second one in the grass. “It's his! He's here!”

In a dark and cold basement, the young monk was sitting on the floor with his hands tied. His mouth was stuffed with strips of cloth and tears kept falling from his eyes.

There were no electrical appliances in the room and only a candle was used for lighting. A woman stood quietly, holding a sharp knife in her hand. The candlelight kept flashing on the tip of the knife.

The two stared at each other like this for an unknown amount of time.

The woman came over and tore off the cloth strips from the young monk's mouth. The young monk panted and said, “Mom, is it really you?”

Yin Wen stroked his face. “Are you... Chen Xuan[1]?”

“You are really my mom! Mom, I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

The answer he got was a sharp knife poking sharply on his chin. Yin Wen's eyes were empty as she said, “You shouldn't have come here with me!”

“Mom, the police are currently investigating that bastard. Don't...”

She slapped the young monk's face, and Yin Wen said in a voice without emotion, “You are not allowed to say this about him!”

“What's wrong with you, mom?”

Yin Wen made a cut on the monk's face with the tip of the knife, and warm blood dripped down. She said, “I'm his woman!”

The little monk felt like he had been betrayed and said with tears in his eyes, “Are you stupid? He is the murderer who killed dad!”

After another slap to the face, Yin Wen said like a robot, “Listen, I'm his woman! You shouldn't have shown up here. I'm going to kill you and make you disappear!” Yin Wen laughed menacingly and then immediately calmed down again. “I won't spare anyone who harms him, even if it’s you!”

The young monk glanced at the sharp knife on his throat and left his matter of life or death aside. “I'm not afraid of death. Before I die, please tell me. Do you still remember that night 13 years ago? Do you still remember dad?”

Yin Wen shook her head and pointed to her own head. “Your mother is already dead, sorry!”

Yin Wen licked off the blood on the knife and knelt down. She pressed the little monk's head to her chest with her left hand and held the knife on her right hand against his chest. She hummed a lullaby. “Sleep, sleep, my dear baby. Mother's hands gently rocking you... “

The little monk in her arms was crying as he shivered. He could feel the weight of the blade constantly pressing towards his heart.

At this moment, the door suddenly opened. Liu Hong came in with a bag of food. Upon seeing this scene, Liu Hong threw the bag and went over to kick Yin Wen. He dragged her hair and scolded, “Killing a person but you’re still so fucking slow, singing your motherfucking song. I could even hear it from outside. Why don’t you make a movie out of it?!”

Yin Wen endured Liu Hong's punches and kicks silently. She tried desperately to kneel and was kicked by Liu Hong again and again. After several times, she finally knelt down successfully and licked Liu Hong's shoes with her tongue.

Liu Hong was finally pacified and said, “Lie down!”

Yin Wen lay down like a dog and Liu Hong sat down on her back, causing her petite bones to crack. He looked at the young monk as the young monk gritted his teeth and bit down on his lips until the taste of blood filled his mouth.

“A dramatic scene. Thirteen years ago, you looked at me like this as well. Thirteen years later, you’re still looking at me like this. Watching me play with your mother and killing your father. You can’t do anything.”

“Liu Hong, you will definitely be punished by those above!” The monk cursed fiercely.

“Haha! If there’s truly retribution in this world, would things be like this now? What was that sentence again? There’s a golden belt around those who kill and set fire, but those who repair bridges and roads don’t even get to keep their corpses. There’s no right or wrong in this world. Just the strong and the weak.” Liu Hong pointed at himself with his thumb. “I’m very strong and you guys… Weak as fuck!”

1. The author wrote “Chen Guang” here which is the monk’s father’s name, but in later chapters, it seems like the author meant for her to say “Chen Xuan”, which is the monk’s (her son’s) name.