Chapter 732: The Killer Strikes Again

“Since you won’t let me in!” The old man suddenly knelt with a thud, banging his head loudly. “Please, I beg you, understand a father’s feelings!”

Seeing the elderly man in his fifties or sixties kneel before him, Chen Shi instinctively reached out to help him up, but then he hesitated. There might be a weapon on him, and he was alone here. Better be cautious.

So he said, “Please get up first, are you trying to cut my life short?”

“If you don’t agree, I won’t get up.”

At this moment, Lin Dongxue rushed over, shocked by the scene before her. Thinking that Lin Dongxue might soften, the old man turned to her and pleaded, “Officer Lin, please let me in!”

“Um…” Lin Dongxue looked troubled.

This was getting out of hand. Chen Shi said, “Who told you he was here?”

“No one told me.”

“Someone must have told you this information!” Chen Shi was convinced. Zhang Xiao did mention in the group chat that he was hospitalized, but didn’t specify which hospital. He remembered the hospital Wi-Fi mysteriously cutting off just now. Could someone have hacked in and found the address?

“Sir, please get up first! Let’s talk after you get up.” Lin Dongxue moved forward to help him.

Chen Shi stopped her, shaking his head slightly, signaling her not to approach. With only three of them guarding the hospital, they couldn’t afford any mishaps. He whispered, “Go find Captain Lin.”

Soon after, Lin Qiupu arrived. After a lot of persuasion, the old man finally made a slight concession. “I’ll just see him once. You can watch from the side. I swear I won’t do anything.”

“I can arrange for you to see him, but it must be at the police station, under our supervision, not here. How about tomorrow or the day after? Go home today and calm down.”

“Why should I!” The old man raised his voice. “I rushed over in the middle of the night, no car, took several hours on a motorbike. Can’t I even see him? I get it now, his parents are both prosecutors, he’s from a privileged family, so you’re protecting him like this. My daughter’s life was worthless, just wasted! Isn’t that right?”

“Hey hey, let’s take this outside. Don’t argue in the hospital,” a nurse reminded, coming over. The old man gave her a fierce look, scaring her into silence.

Lin Qiupu sighed. Reasoning wasn’t working anymore. He told the nurse, “Please call a few security guards.”

The nurse agreed and left. Realizing they might resort to force, the old man suddenly pulled out a knife from under his clothes, pressing it against his own neck and shouting, “Are you trying to kick me out? Anyone dares touch me, I’ll die right here! I must see him today!”

“You have a weapon and this attitude, we are even less likely to agree to your request!” Lin Qiupu said firmly.

The old man’s nostrils flared, and blood began to seep from the tip of the knife pressed against his neck. Several nurses ran over to watch, and even some patients and their families were woken up by the noise, complaining as they left their wards. Seeing people gathering around, the old man’s voice grew louder. “Police officers protect each other, protecting the son of a prosecutor who killed my daughter. Is there any justice left in this world?”

“You put down the knife, can we talk? We’ll listen to whatever you have to say, must you threaten your own life with a knife?” Chen Shi asked.

The old man became even more agitated. “My life and my daughter’s life are not worth as much as a prosecutor’s son’s. Let me see him! Otherwise, I won’t put down the knife!”

“I promise!” Lin Qiupu said.

The old man widened his eyes, seeming a bit disbelieving. “Are you lying to me?”

“I’m not lying to you. Put down the knife. Do you think you’re hurting yourself? Do you know you’re breaking the law right now?”

“You’ll really let me see him?”

“Of course!”

With some hesitation, the old man put down the knife. As he walked over, Lin Qiupu suddenly pressed him down on a bench, grabbing his hands from behind. The old man struggled hard but couldn’t break free from Lin Qiupu’s grip.

“Don’t shout, you’re disturbing other patients. Now I’ll let you see him.” Lin Qiupu said, “Dongxue, open the door!”

Lin Dongxue pushed the door open and suddenly found the hospital bed empty, the window wide open, the night breeze blowing in, lifting the curtains up and down. She rushed over to check. Originally, the window had a railing, but Zhang Xiao had miraculously broken one of them, creating a gap he could slip through.

Seeing this situation, Chen Shi didn’t say a word and ran out of the hospital department to ask the security guards at the hospital gate. They said that a chubby boy wearing hospital clothes had indeed just come out. When the security asked where he was going, he said he was going out to buy something and didn’t care. After all, this is a hospital, not a psychiatric hospital, and patients often go out.

Looking at the surveillance, after Zhang Xiao went out, he got into a taxi, and Chen Shi could only remember the license plate number.

The security guards escorted the old man to the nearby police station. The commotion in the hospital finally calmed down. Chen Shi explained the situation, and Lin Qiupu was annoyed, “This kid is really a handful.”

“Zhang Xiao must have been scared off, right? Hearing that Duan Lin’s father came to find him for trouble,” Lin Dongxue guessed.

“I think this is the killer using Duan Lin’s father. The killer knew he couldn’t get close to Zhang Xiao, so he told Duan Lin’s father the address and was busy fishing in troubled waters.” Chen Shi said.

“But Zhang Xiao left on his own.”

“He may have received a message from someone. For Zhang Xiao, the killer still uses his friend’s identity.”

“If that’s the case, it’s terrifying!”

Lin Qiupu said, “Hurry up and call everyone, confirm where they are now, and call them all to the bureau. Even if we can’t catch the killer, we can at least trip him up and stop him from doing anything.”

Lin Dongxue came up with a more convenient trick, calling each of these people one by one. In the middle of the night, receiving calls, these people were indeed asleep. Lin Dongxue asked them to take a selfie and send it over, making a special gesture in the photo to ensure it was taken at that moment.

These young men took the opportunity to tease, “Officer Lin, send us a selfie first!”

“Without Officer Lin’s WeChat, how can we send photos?”