Chapter 771: I Shall Awaken

Lin Qiupu couldn’t take it anymore. He raised his gun and threatened, “Han Meng, surrender now if you want your daughter to see you one last time!”

Han Meng sneered and pressed the button on the remote control. The man chopping meat collapsed, convulsing on the floor, smoke rising from his hair due to the electric shock. Seeing the critical situation, Lin Qiupu shot Han Meng in the shoulder, causing the remote to fly from her hand.

With a crazed smile, Han Meng turned and ran. Lin Qiupu fired several shots, hitting only the nearby boxes. Using the boxes as cover, she escaped quickly.

“Chase her!”

The group rushed outside, only to lose sight of her. As they scanned the area, someone shouted, “Hey, she’s over there!”

Han Meng was climbing a nearby smokestack, with another person closely following her. The group checked their members and found that the person chasing her was Chen Shi.

The exterior staircase of the smokestack had a protective wire mesh, but the higher they climbed, the more dangerous it became. The two quickly reached the top, overlooking a sea of lights below. Even Chen Shi felt a shiver of fear.

Han Meng climbed out from the top of the protective mesh and spread her arms wide. Chen Shi had a bad feeling and shouted, “Don’t do anything foolish! Your daughter is still waiting for you!”

“Do parents always have to be responsible for their children?” Han Meng scoffed. “Someone like me can never be a good mother. My life was ruined long ago, and it was the desire for revenge that kept me going. Now, I have nothing left to hold on to.”

Chen Shi gripped the ladder tightly, wracking his brain for a way to stop her.

“But isn’t your revenge unfinished? You could sue those people or share your story with the public. As long as you’re alive, there’s hope.”

“Hahaha! You’re really trying hard to save me, Officer Song. You’re so cute… By the way, do you think you’re dreaming or in reality now?”

To buy time, Chen Shi engaged her, “We’ve talked in dreams before, haven’t we? Can you tell me what you said to prove you have that extraordinary ability?”

“I won’t prove anything. Proving itself is a sign of weakness. If you want to enter the realm of dreams, you must believe!” Han Meng sneered. “Even if you don’t believe, it doesn’t matter. Think of it as the self-consolation of a poor soul. Those who love dreams all have one thing in common—they’ve been abandoned by reality… Goodbye. I’m about to wake up. Maybe we’ll meet again in another dream.”

Suddenly, she leaped into the air, spreading her arms wide. Chen Shi watched in shock.

He returned to the ground, devastated. Han Meng’s body lay in pieces after the fall, her bones shattered, some even piercing through her skin. Yet, her face held a serene smile.

The gruesome sight gave many officers nightmares that night. Lin Qiupu sighed, “Let’s rescue the others first.”

They found four corpses at the scene. Three others were severely injured but survived after emergency treatment. The ordeal left them with significant psychological trauma.

Chen Shi volunteered to stay at the hospital to look after the survivors, needing time to process everything.

Lin Dongxue stayed with him. Late at night, in the quiet hospital, Chen Shi took a sip from a small silver flask. Lin Dongxue asked, “Aren’t you hungry? You haven’t eaten all night.”

“I’m fine. This is enough,” Chen Shi replied, shaking the flask.

“Drink less of that! So, what did you talk about on the smokestack?”

“Nothing much. I tried to convince her to live, but she was determined to die. We also talked a bit about dreams.”

“You don’t believe in that stuff, do you?”

“No, I don’t believe in things without evidence and logic. Can the subconscious minds of people connect? Please, this world is so full of suffering because people can never fully understand each other. Two hearts are two separate worlds.”

“Precisely because of those differences, discovering a ‘new world’ is fascinating,” Lin Dongxue smiled at Chen Shi.

“Let’s discuss the case. Liu Tao and Chen Fengde were pawns of Han Meng. Ten years ago, Han Meng used some means to coerce Chen Fengde into killing her classmates. She did it so meticulously that the police didn’t link the victims at the time. The large insurance payout Liu Tao received was likely used to pay a mysterious helper. This helper played a significant role. They were skilled in hypnosis and drugs. Chen Fengde and Liu Tao might have been brainwashed. Why them? What’s their connection to Han Meng? We may never know. Chen Fengde was caught because of his mistakes, but he never betrayed her. Han Meng’s revenge plan was shelved for ten years and resumed with the helper’s assistance.”

“Chen Fengde was the most pitiful in this whole case,” Lin Dongxue remarked.

“Could it be that Chen Fengde owed something to Han Meng? I feel he wasn’t entirely forced.”

“We still haven’t clarified Chen Fengde’s death. But the prison authorities are cooperating now, so we should have answers soon.”

Suddenly, a nurse rushed down the hallway toward the ICU. Lin Dongxue said, “Are the survivors in trouble?”

“Let’s check!”

They followed her to a room where an elderly woman was crying over a girl in a hospital gown. The girl, gaunt and with long hair, had large, vacant eyes and was sitting in a wheelchair.

Lin Dongxue asked the nurse what happened. The nurse, excited, said, “This girl, who has been in a vegetative state for ten years, suddenly woke up! It’s a medical miracle! There’s going to be big news at the hospital tomorrow!”

The girl, looking around dazedly, suddenly gave Chen Shi a knowing smile. The expression sent a chill down his spine.

“No, it can’t be. It’s just a coincidence,” Chen Shi told himself.