Chapter 738: Either The Fish Dies Or The Net Splits[1]

Lin Dongxue said, "Guo Yang's sister was bullied by the local hooligan. He carried a hatchet late at night and snuck into the house of the hooligan and killed all three people in the hooligan’s family. This case has solid proof. Before he was arrested, he escaped and has been a wanted criminal ever since. I heard from the local police that the people in the county treated his sister coldly because of the homicide involved. One year after Guo Yang escaped, she could no longer bear it. Under the pressure of public opinion, his sister committed suicide by drinking pesticide."

"Is there no one else in his family?"

"Brother and sister only had each other to rely on. It’s said that his sister and the little hooligan who bullied her actually knew each other. The police speculated that his sister couldn’t support herself and Guo Yang, who was in high school, with just her meagre salary from the factory. Rumor was that she had secretly prostituted herself. This is what the local police said. Whether it’s true or not remains uncertain."

"Who can completely know the truth of what happened three years ago!" Chen Shi thought for a moment. "We should go find him now, but the reporters outside..."

"Follow me!"

Lin Dongxue took Chen Shi down the stairs to the underground parking lot. It turned out that several reporters also stood in front of the parking lot. The entire Long’an media had gone crazy, people from the satellite TV station was said to have come, and the interview car was parked outside the door.

"I remember that the windows on the second floor don't have grills." Chen Shi said.

"If you climb out and are seen, you will definitely be cross-examined."

"I’ll take the risk!"

Hence, the two went to the second floor and carefully climbed out from a window. Chen Shi went down first and caught Lin Dongxue. Fortunately, they weren’t discovered by the reporters and left quickly.

The car left in the parking lot couldn't be retrieved, so they had to take a taxi to Little Four’s. When they got to the studio, Chen Shi said, "Don't say anything when we meet him. Let’s try to find a way to restrain him. Did you bring your handcuffs?"

"I’ve brought them!" Lin Dongxue patted her waist.

It turned out that Little Four wasn’t in the studio. The people there said that he had applied for leave. Chen Shi had a vague bad premonition. He called the others and found that he couldn't get through to them. It was daytime, and having all their phones turned off at the same time was definitely no coincidence.

The two had to ask the bureau for help with trying to locate Little Four’s cell phone signal.

At this time, Lin Qiupu called and questioned, "I saw your text message. Who told you two to investigate the case without authorization?"

"Brother, Little Four should be the murderer. Now that this has happened, he’s likely to do some crazy things. We have to subdue him as soon as we can."

"Ai, the bureau is in a mess right now. We’re thinking of a way to deal with the reporters. Please pay attention to your own safety."

"Understood!"

After that, there was another call from the Information Department. Little Four's cell phone was turned off. Lin Dongxue asked them to check the other people’s phones. The result was that everyone’s phones had been turned off and couldn’t be geolocated at all.

Just when they were at their wits’ end, Lin Dongxue gasped. It turned out that she had received an address via WeChat. It had been sent by one of them half an hour ago. That location was a board game bar on Longhe Road.

"Okay, let's head there quickly!" Chen Shi said.

The two arrived there by car at dusk. The busy flow of people on the street was normal, and there were advertisements for the board game bar on nearby walls.

The board game bar was on the second floor of a building. Lin Dongxue held her gun in her hand and went upstairs with Chen Shi.

When they got to the door of the board game bar, they found that the rolling shutter was locked tightly. Chen Shi knocked on it a few times. Suddenly, there was an urgent "Help!" that came from inside, and then the voice stopped abruptly.

Oh no! It’s a hostage situation. Chen Shi thought.

"We’re the police, who are inside?!" Lin Dongxue shouted.

Nothing happened and Lin Dongxue continued to bluff, "Don't want to talk? We’re coming in!"

Chen Shi made a phone call gesture, and Lin Dongxue nodded, quickly sending a text message to the nearby branch to request back-up.

Chen Shi put his ear on the rolling shutter to listen. He heard the sound of footsteps getting closer and closer, then stopping behind the rolling shutter. The other person had stopped moving, as if he was also listening to the situation outside.

There were no gaps in the rolling shutter. The two sides stood with a sheet of galvanized iron between them, and the breathing of the other party could almost be heard. The atmosphere couldn't help but become tense.

"Was it Officer Lin who spoke just now?" someone said from inside the door.

"Who are you?"

"Can't you tell?"

This was Little Four's voice, but he wasn’t using his usual tone of speech. Lin Dongxue looked to Chen Shi for his opinion, and Chen Shi answered the person inside, "Little Four, since we have found this place, do you know what that means?"

"I do. It means that you already know my identity. I'm astonished. This one in ten thousand probability of an event has actually happened. Did Zhang Xiao say something? No, he doesn't have a head, so he shouldn’t have been able to speak. Did he write something?"

"It was the clues you left behind that exposed you."

"Hehe, I thought I had done a flawless job this time, but the result is... I am still too inexperienced."

"So what's the relationship between you and Duan Lin?"

"What's the relationship? I don't want our relationship to be defined by those boring titles. In short, I can do anything for her... I’ve already avenged her this morning, but I feel dissatisfied. I want to make some disgusting men all die so that they can no longer harm other girls."

"How many people did you kidnap?"

"Haha!" Little Four laughed. "All of them!"

The sound of footsteps left, and then a man called for help, followed by a second one. Five people called out in turn, and then the room fell silent again. Chen Shi guessed that Little Four had removed the gags covering their mouths one by one.

"Did you hear that?" Little Four shouted from inside. "I want to cut off their heads and see if they’ll be resurrected like Zhang Xiao! You must be looking forward to it too!"

What was this? After getting his identity exposed, was this a “either the fish dies or the net splits” situation? Chen Shi thought to himself that this murderer had always been very cautious in his impressions of him and had a strong sense of self-preservation. How could he so easily abandon himself to destruction?

Could this be another one of his plans?!

"Little Four, we know your past and understand your feelings for Duan Lin, but you can't make up for anything by doing this. You will only cause her name to be become associated with a serial murder forever. If she was alive, would she want to see you become like this?" Lin Dongxue tried to negotiate.

"What I do is my decision. It has nothing to do with my sister, Officer Lin. When you came into contact with this group of people, did you also think they were extremely disgusting? There’s invisible mold growing on them from head to toe! In fact, you don’t have to do anything. Just go down and have a drink or go to the toilet. Give me a little time and I will clean up this whole group of hazardous garbage, and then you can rush in and shoot me to death. Both sides will be satisfied!"

Hearing these words, Chen Shi silently went downstairs. Lin Dongxue was surprised and immediately followed.

Chen Shi walked some distance away so that he could observe the windows of the bar. He said, "What he said just now seemed to be begging for death!"

"He referred to Duan Lin as his elder sister, and it seems like he had substituted Duan Lin for his elder sister. He had completed his great revenge plan, so he doesn't want to live anymore!" Lin Dongxue guessed.

"No! He isn’t this kind of person. He took this extreme move because of the accidental incident of the corpse 'resurrection'. He thought he was exposed, but he could have just escaped just like the last time. So why did he do this? I think he has a back-up plan! Or a plan to cross the sea by a trick."[2]

"But how can this little bar cross the sea by a trick? It's impossible for it to fly away, right?"

"Who is the landlord here? I need to ask about something!"

1. Either party has to die.

2. Achieve one’s aim of deceit/camouflage through underhanded means.