Chapter 11: A brutal death

Time always makes people mature to some extent. For example, if someone had slammed a table and cursed at me in the past, I would have been furious too. But this time I was very calm. I poured myself another cup of tea and slowly drank it. I understood what Zhao Hong was saying. It wasn’t the key at all. The key was the middle-aged man.

He looked at me and said after a long time, “Chen Chengyi, logically speaking, we really have no reason to force you, because you don’t belong to our department, and you are only a registered employee in that department. Of course, we can also use certain powers, but in that case, if you don’t do your job conscientiously, no one can do anything about you, right?”

I was silent, not knowing what the other person was up to, and it is better to say less.

Sure enough, the middle-aged man was not giving up, but continued, “Chen Chengyi, we will not investigate you, and we will not threaten you. It is foolish to threaten a cultivator, let alone your master. Your lineage has contributed to the country, and we can’t do that. I’m just expressing one idea. Why do you make money? I don’t care. If I say that this case won’t take up much of your time, and I’ll give you the opportunity to make money, will you do it?”

“What do you mean?” I raised my eyebrows slightly. To be honest, I still felt guilty about refusing this matter. No matter who it is, if the conditions permit, they will definitely be willing to do something positive for society. So when the middle-aged man said this, I was tempted.

Zhao Hong snorted, obviously he already had a bad impression of me, but I was too lazy to explain, I just listened to the middle-aged man continue.

“Let me put it this way. In terms of connections, the spiritual practitioners who are active in the community are definitely not as good as the official departments. If we stand behind you and make a few deals for you, whether it’s the price or the level of trust, it’s all different, right? In fact, overseas Chinese, or in Hong Kong or somewhere else, if they have a certain level of wealth, they still have a lot of dealings with the department. What do you think?” Some things can’t be said explicitly, and the middle-aged man said it very obliquely.

But I still understood what he meant. I smiled and said, “If I cooperate with you this time, will you introduce business to me?”

“Yes, introduce business! You can charge money in the name of the department, as long as you solve the problem, what do you think?” The middle-aged man also smiled, his smile was like a fox.

“Why did you pick me?” I asked, pinching my chin. I wasn’t in a hurry to say yes, because it was a bit strange that I was the one they picked.

“Haha… You fought in the Ghost Market twice. Don’t you think the news has spread? I think among the younger generation, you can be said to be the absolute leader in terms of tactics. Who doesn’t know that the Li family’s secret methods are excellent? Not to mention that you and your master have participated in several not-so-small operations, and you can also be said to be very experienced. If you want to find someone from the younger generation, who else would you find but you?” The middle-aged man said, and the reasons were very good.

But I was still slightly shocked. The two battles in the Ghost Market had such a big impact? Even the people in the secret department knew about it? At the time, I was just thinking that I couldn’t lose face for our lineage, but I am more ‘lonely’ at heart, I hate the hustle and bustle, and I like a quiet and peaceful life. It seems that I will have to be a little more low-key in the future.

I thought so, but the middle-aged man’s reasons were still not enough. I asked with a smile, “Even so, who in the older generation is not better than me? Besides, they are in the department, and it is only natural that you cooperate with them. Your reasons are not enough!”

“You really are a little fox.” The middle-aged man shook his head and laughed.

“Hey, I was cheated by my master a lot when I was young. Later, I found out that I was born with a life full of troubles, so I dare not be careless.” I took a sip of tea and said lightly.

“Forget it, I won’t beat around the bush. This is related to the case we are working on, because this case is vaguely involved in some international forces behind the scenes, as well as some underground, dark forces of cultivators in China. You know, in fact, a country can’t be clean everywhere. In some ways, you have to maintain a delicate balance in order to gain power, and then strike hard to wipe out some things in one fell swoop. Do you understand?” This middle-aged man is a government official, and he speaks without beating around the bush, but he still speaks in a roundabout way, which contains a lot of political wisdom.

But of course I understood the meaning. I said, “So the department can’t come forward, right? Especially the department where my master is! After all, it’s not time to tear off the face, we still have to maintain ‘peace’, at least don’t interfere with the lives of ordinary people, right? So, I guess I’m right, this Zhao Hong is also a new face, right?”

“That’s right, that’s what I meant.” The middle-aged man gave me a look of appreciation and then said to me, “Zhao Hong is a newcomer to the department. He is good at hand-to-hand combat, firearms, driving, and even computer networks. He also has certain investigative capabilities. He is a talented person and the most suitable candidate for this mission.”

“As for me, at least people in the circle know that I’m not working for the state, and I don’t belong to that department, right? Because people in the department won’t participate in the ghost market, and even if they do, they won’t dare to be high-profile, let alone fight two rounds like me. With these face-saving efforts, this case is a private act between me and Zhao Hong, right?” I smiled and said.

The middle-aged man smiled and said nothing, tapped his thigh with his hand, took out his briefcase, and took out a stack of documents, saying, “Let’s look at the documents.”

He was quite forceful. By handing over the information, he meant that the matter was settled!

But I finally took the documents Zhao Hong handed me, sighing to myself that I had taken on more work, and thinking that if it wasn’t a matter of principle, I could always change my mind.

But this is just self-comforting. Where is there room for me to regret?

There was a lot of information, and I couldn’t read it all at once, so I just flipped through it. But as soon as I saw the first photo, my brows furrowed. The first photo showed a woman who had died with a face so distorted it was terrifying. The cause of death was listed as “myocardial infarction.”

The second photo shows a man, or rather, a body that may not be a body, because it was crushed by a heavy object from a great height. The cause of death was, of course, an accident.

The third, the fourth…

There were all kinds of coincidences and suicides. When I got to the last one, there was finally a so-called murder. A woman was in a pool of blood, and I didn’t know how many times she had been slashed. That face, that body was already terrible to look at, and the blood was almost all over the floor. Next to her was a man, and that man was also lying in a pool of blood. There were not fewer cuts on his body than on the woman’s, and some of the cuts were so exaggerated that at first glance it was obvious that there was no flesh.

I endured the discomfort in my heart and pointed to the lump next to the photo and asked, “What is this?”

“This is a piece of meat. The ingredients of these pieces of meat include general muscle tissue, as well as half a tongue and a crushed eyeball.” This time it was Zhao Hong who answered me.

“So cruel?” I hadn’t had time to look at the results of the investigation into the case.

Of course, this is the so-called investigation result!

“This is not cruel. Do you know this case? This woman was hacked to death by this man, hacked more than seventy times, almost like a rag doll! But do you think this is cold-blooded and cruel? No! In fact, after the man hacked the woman, he committed suicide. But have you ever seen such a suicide? Instead of quickly ending his life, he tortured himself to death. You don’t have to doubt that the pieces of meat, including the eyeballs, tongue, and so on, were all from the man.” Zhao Hong explained to me.

I took a deep breath. This kind of fear is beyond the scope of normal human behavior. I put down the information and thought about it.

“What is the key point? The couple were very much in love. After the incident, we visited and investigated, and there was no infidelity between them. The couple’s relationship was not harmonious, but it was truly loving, not a facade! There was no motive for the murder. Was it a sudden madness? I think you are a Taoist priest, you know better than me.” Zhao Hong looked at me and said seriously.

“Suddenly going crazy is a very small possibility! However, crazy people are not insensitive to pain, and pain is a kind of instinctive self-protection!” I said simply.

“Yes, that’s it,” Zhao Hong said. “Do you know that the crime scene photos of this case are absolutely top secret? The brutal way of death and the truth would scare the people around. Fortunately, the person who reported the crime only saw the blood flowing out of the door and reported it, but…”

At this point, Zhao Hong paused for a moment and then said, “However, this crime scene scared a young police officer to tears, and scared an old police officer with more than ten years of experience to seek psychological counseling for a long time. At the time, this case was handled as an ordinary criminal case.”

“What was so special about it?” I believed Zhao Hong’s words, but I knew that there was a follow-up to this case, and that all the information collected together must be related. But I couldn’t figure it out, either. What could have done this?