Hui Tian Ch32

Content Warning

Animal abuse. animal killing.

Chapter 32

Top hunter

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“Evolutionists, they’re Evolutionists!”

“That was so scary just now, really terrifying…”

Fortunately, Boyi High School was indeed not far from the Shenhai City Supervision Office. Someone arrived within ten minutes and quickly evacuated and cleared the entire block.

The probability of a high-level evolutionist appearing on the street was probably about the same as an international star. Many people were still busy taking pictures until they were evacuated. Whispers and discussions were everywhere. There were those who were excited, but more were wary, cautious, and curious.

Bai Sheng didn’t care. This person was born to be a social butterfly. Not only did he not care, he frequently nodded, waved, and smiled at the crowd, confidently displaying his handsome face, his physique honed by years of extreme sports, his unbranded but obviously expensive taste in clothing, and what he himself considered to be a friendly, perfect, and approachable temperament. He even took a photo with a few internet celebrities at their request amidst the flurry of flashes, frequently greeting them in a friendly manner. “Want an autograph? Got a pen and paper? Sure, sure, signing on clothes is fine too. Please remember to vote enthusiastically for the proposal for peaceful coexistence between Evolutionists and humans… Please delete the photos of the minor. Thank you. Love you all!”

A few dozen meters away, the minor Yang Xiaodao sat in the back of the command vehicle, his coat hood pulled up, watching the glamorous and preening guardian in the distance with a cold expression.

“…Do you ever feel embarrassed?” Chen Miao couldn’t help but ask.

Yang Xiaodao’s face was blank. “Often.”

The reluctant crowd was finally persuaded to leave by the supervisors. Bai Sheng, still wanting more, turned around and saw Shen Zhuo, his spirits immediately soaring. “Yo, still busy, Supervisor Shen! It’s high noon, why don’t we…”

“No photos, no autographs, no pen and paper.”

Bai Sheng grinned. “What are you talking about? I was asking if you wanted to have lunch together.”

Shen Zhuo looked at the stretcher and was silent for a moment. “You still have an appetite?”

The back door of the medical vehicle was open, and the stretcher was inside. The crazed man was also in his forties, his hands and feet tightly bound by restraints, but his head was still jerking upwards mechanically. His mouth, covered in blood, opened and closed, opened and closed, the gaps between his teeth filled with glistening, fresh meat shreds.

Bai Sheng fell into a rare silence. After a long moment, he stubbornly forced out a sentence: “…I can eat vegetarian.”

“Report, Captain Chen!” At this moment, an supervisor from the other side stuck his head in with an instrument and said loudly, “No ability residue, the entire block is clean, it cannot be identified as an ability crime!”

Chen Miao’s brow furrowed. “How is that possible?”

Shen Zhuo let out a breath, stood up from the side of the stretcher, and said, “The instrument just can’t detect it.”

Before he could turn to get out of the vehicle, Bai Sheng took three steps back, his face wary. “What are you doing? Don’t even think about dragging me all over the street to sniff around.”

“…” Shen Zhuo said, “I have no such intention. Don’t be so eager to provide inspiration.”

He got out of the car and looked around. The Supervision Office’s vehicles had blocked off the intersection. The deformed cement mixer had already been towed away for processing. The driver and passengers had been evacuated one by one. Fortunately, no one was injured.

Yang Xiaodao sat by the car door, his lean right hand wrapped in bandages. Several knuckles underneath were scraped to varying degrees—a result of the second violent impact from the bus. Luckily, it was only a flesh wound.

“Are you okay?”

The boy shook his head.

Shen Zhuo casually patted his head. “Then let’s pack up and go back.”

All rebellious teenagers in the world have a sensitive pride about their heads. Yang Xiaodao was just about to turn his head and say, don’t pat me, when he was held down by Bai Sheng’s palm on the top of his head, his head forcefully turned in another direction. Bai Sheng said righteously to Shen Zhuo, “What are you patting him for? He’s still a child!”

Yang Xiaodao: “?”

Before a rare trace of emotion could rise in the boy’s heart, he saw Bai Sheng point to the top of his own head. “I was the one who saved you. You should pat me. What’s wrong, can’t you reach?”

“…”

Shen Zhuo’s expression was complicated. After a moment, he raised his hand and patted Bai Sheng’s 1.9-meter-tall head, repeating, “Then let’s pack up and go back.”

Yang Xiaodao sat between his two guardians, covering his eyes and gritting his teeth. “I’ve blinded my own dog eyes…”

When exactly Supervisor Shen planned to give Bai-ge an official position and a salary was probably one of the biggest mysteries the entire Supervision Office wanted to solve. This behavior of dangling someone on a string while making them work for free was like raising a great white shark in the Supervision Office’s small pond and never feeding it. The skill was so masterful that even a world-class Casanova would be left in the dust.

“Let’s go, let’s go eat after we’re done.” Bai Sheng stood in front of Shen Zhuo, walking backwards with his hands in his pockets. “There’s a vegetarian restaurant across the street with good vegetarian lychee pork. Treat me to some vegetarian food.”

Shen Zhuo looked at his phone with a blank expression as he walked. “No money. The budget for this quarter has been exceeded by 400 million. I’ll treat you to the two-yuan vegetarian buns at the Supervision Office cafeteria when we get back.”

Bai Sheng was surprised. “Yo, those are two-yuan-a-piece vegetarian buns. Isn’t that a bit too extravagant?”

Shen Zhuo said, “It’s fine. I’m a generous person. After the buns, I can even treat you to some ginger and vinegar soup.”

“Oh, how can I accept that? Why don’t you just call your Director-General Nielsen a couple more times, and I’ll make the ginger and vinegar soup myself and treat your entire Supervision Office—”

Before Bai Sheng could finish, he bumped into something from behind and stumbled, being caught by Shen Zhuo.

“?” Bai Sheng turned around. Behind him was the short-haired girl who had just been attacked, her face full of alarm.

“I’m… I’m sorry…”

The girl was wearing a Boyi school uniform, about fifteen or sixteen years old. She had very beautiful features but a pale face. Due to the excessive shock, her voice still trembled uncontrollably. She bowed to Shen Zhuo. “Th-thank you for saving me, thank you…”

Being thanked to his face was probably a rare experience for Shen Zhuo. He paused for half a second before saying concisely, “Go back to class.”

The girl’s voice was tinged with a faint sob. “Thank you, thank you…”

Bai Sheng cupped his hands to his mouth like a megaphone. “Yang Xiaodao—! What did I teach you? What should you consciously do when you see a lady crying?”

Yang Xiaodao, at the end of his patience, rolled up his sleeves. “Go over and deal with the culprit who made her cry, you mean?!”

Chen Miao stood between them. “Dao-ge, forget it. It’s not worth it, Dao-ge…”

The girl was clearly very frightened and couldn’t recover for a while. Her slender body was still trembling with fear and lingering terror. Shen Zhuo offered a brief word of comfort. “It’s alright now. Don’t overthink it.” He beckoned over a supervisor and ordered, “Take her back to school.”

The girl nodded, trembling, and said thank you several more times before turning around under the supervisor’s gentle reassurance, the hem of her uniform skirt swirling.

In that instant, Shen Zhuo’s gaze suddenly caught something. “Wait.”

The supervisor’s steps halted.

The girl turned her head in confusion and saw Shen Zhuo plucking something from the shoulder of her dark school uniform. It was a tuft of brownish-yellow short fur.

“Do you have a pet at home?”

The girl was still in shock. “No… I don’t. I… I—”

“Have you fed stray cats or dogs?”

“No, I haven’t. I…”

The girl subconsciously looked down and found at least seven or eight more hairs on her clothes, all ginger-yellow and resembling cat or dog fur. “Huh, where did these come from?”

Bai Sheng’s expression also turned strange. He exchanged a look with Shen Zhuo, then looked back at the stretcher in the ambulance in the distance, the answer forming in his mind.

It got on her when that man pounced on her!

The two of them turned at the same time and boarded the ambulance with its back doors wide open. The medical staff were preparing to give a sedative to the man on the stretcher who was struggling mechanically. Before they could squat down, they were stopped. “—Supervisor?”

Bai Sheng knelt on one knee and carefully scanned the man’s disheveled body twice. Then, without a word, he pulled open the man’s clothes and searched inside and out, but found nothing.

How is that possible?

Bai Sheng’s brows furrowed, and his gaze fell on the man’s mouth, which was opening and closing, full of blood.

But just as he was about to reach out, he was gently stopped by Shen Zhuo. Then, the Grand Supervisor’s black-gloved fingers, with a crack!, dislocated the man’s jaw. Two fingers reached into the jaws that could no longer bite forcefully, rummaged around, and pulled out.

—On his blood-stained fingertips were several short, ginger-yellow animal hairs!

“What’s this, cat hair?” Yang Xiaodao peeked in from outside the car, puzzled.

Shen Zhuo’s face was as dark as water. “Chen Miao.”

Chen Miao didn’t even need to be told. He immediately took out his phone and made a call to the hospital. A short while later, he hurried back. “Senior, Director Wang had plainclothes officers immediately question the nurse. Yesterday’s victim, Wang Ping, had no hallucinogens or rabies virus detected in his system, but when the nurse was cleaning his wounds yesterday, she also found several short, dark brown hairs in the gaps between his teeth!”

Everyone’s gaze fell on the few ginger-yellow hairs on Shen Zhuo’s fingertips at the same time. Bai Sheng asked, “The hair I found by Wang Ping’s mouth yesterday, was it sent for testing?”

“Yes, it was.” Chen Miao swallowed, his tone tinged with a hint of surprise. “It was… dog hair.”

·

“Huang Kaiqi, forty-five years old, a maintenance worker at Boyi High School, lives alone in Yangzi Alley, Xiangshanfang, Shenhai City, divorced with no children.” Half an hour later, Chen Miao skillfully turned the steering wheel and read out the information on the second victim that Director Wang had just sent. “—Like yesterday’s first victim, Wang Ping, he does not have any cats, dogs, or other pets at home.”

Shen Zhuo, probably used to Bai Sheng occupying most of the back seat, sat by the car window with his chin propped up. He heard Bai Sheng ask curiously, “That man is a maintenance worker at Boyi?”

Chen Miao said, “Yes, that’s why the female student thought he looked familiar and kept staring at him when she passed by. She didn’t expect to be attacked.”

“Hmm,” Bai Sheng pinched his chin in thought for a moment. “The Wang Ping who had an episode at the high-speed rail station yesterday, did he also exhibit aggressive behavior before he started eating himself?”

“That… I don’t think so.” Chen Miao thought for a moment. “But it’s hard to say, because the surveillance cameras at the high-speed rail station have blind spots. Wang Ping was wandering around the station for a day and a night before his episode.”

At this moment, two beeps sounded outside. Chen Miao stepped on the brake, and the official car came to a screeching halt at the side of the sidewalk:
“Senior, we’re here.”

Not far away, on the road sign at the entrance of the alley, were a few wind- and rain-beaten characters: Yangzi Alley.

The second victim, Huang Kaiqi, rented a place here.

Director Wang had already rushed here with his men. His subordinates pried open the door and searched inside, not missing even a single hair. The narrow alley was packed with forensics technicians, and the courtyard walls, inside and out, and even the windows of the second floor were crowded with curious residents.

“—A lot, a lot.”

Director Wang pointed to the tray in the forensics technician’s hand. Several evidence bags contained hairs of different colors—yellow, white, brown, black—and different lengths. “A preliminary observation shows that these are all animal furs. Whether they are from cats or dogs will require detailed examination, but judging from the quantity, there are at least twenty or thirty of them.”

Shen Zhuo looked up.

It was a very old, two-story detached house, dark and damp, with its doors and windows tightly shut. The red bricks had been weathered to a dark brown by the wind and rain and were covered in vines. Most of the old buildings from that era had double-brick walls. Even though it was so dilapidated, the sound insulation was still very good. Even if something happened inside, the neighbors might not have heard it.

“Are there any animals inside?”

“No, none at all, inside or out.” At this point, Director Wang hesitated. “But a few neighbors said they had seen Huang Kaiqi coming home with cat and dog cages…”

Shen Zhuo had seen all sorts of scum that broke through the three views too many times. He actually already had a rough guess in his mind, but he didn’t say it out loud, just frowned slightly.

Behind him, Bai Sheng immediately asked, “What’s wrong?”

Shen Zhuo asked, “Did you install a motion detector on my face?”

Bai Sheng covered his mouth and whispered, “‘I truly wish to become the night, so that I may watch you sleep with a thousand eyes’—Plato.”

Shen Zhuo said softly, “Make sure that peeping tom named Plato turns himself in to the Supervision Office later.”

“Director Wang, Director Wang!” At this moment, a forensics technician rushed down from the second floor, his face looking very unusual. “We found something in the kitchen on the second floor!”

“What?”

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the forensics technician couldn’t say too much, only managing to get out a few words: “A lot… of blood.”

All over the floor, all over the walls, all over the sink. The entire kitchen and staircase glowed with a terrifyingly bright fluorescence under the luminol.

—It wasn’t just a lot; it was practically a slaughterhouse.

Director Wang stood at the kitchen door, pressing on his own philtrum, muttering a prayer, “Don’t be human, don’t be human, don’t be human, don’t be human…”

“It’s not human.” Bai Sheng, squatting by the trash can, timely rescued the nearly heart-attack-stricken Director Wang. “It’s a dog.”

Director Wang went closer to look. In Bai Sheng’s hand was indeed more than half of a canine skull, already cooked. “Huh? That kid was killing and eating dogs at home?”

In his youth, Director Wang had been through life and death with police dogs, so he couldn’t help but show great disgust. But he only saw Bai Sheng sigh. “I’m afraid it’s more than that.”

He stood up, his 1.9-meter frame almost hitting the kitchen ceiling. Fortunately, Shen Zhuo reached out to block him, so he lowered his head slightly to avoid the low, dirty ceiling. Then, in this somewhat awkward position, he opened a cupboard and pulled out a duffel bag from the very top, throwing it on the ground with a thud!.

Director Wang already had a worse premonition. “This is…”

Just as Shen Zhuo was about to reach out and open the duffel bag, he was stopped by Bai Sheng. “Come on, there’s no need for our great supervisor to get his hands dirty with this.”

Then he tightened his examination gloves, squatted down, and unzipped the bag with a swish. The smell of blood immediately filled the air. It was a bag full of bizarrely shaped, sharp torture instruments, caked with old blood rust and tattered fur.

“He not only ate them,” Bai Sheng said, “he also tortured and killed them.”

The scene was silent. Director Wang squeezed out a few words: “This scumbag…”

The dazzling array of torture instruments had a lot of blood and tissue residue on them. At first glance, it was shocking. There was even a small, dried-up, living cat’s paw on a steel nail splint.

For a moment, everyone present was speechless. Shen Zhuo’s gaze fell on a blood-stained steel needle for drilling into the brain. He suddenly asked Director Wang, “Does Huang Kaiqi have a computer?”

“The room to the south—what’s wrong?”

Shen Zhuo said, “I’ll go take a look.” Then he turned and strode out of the kitchen.

The room was dirty and messy, and the bedding gave off an indescribable smell. Shen Zhuo walked into the room like a whirlwind and opened the laptop on the desk with one hand. Bai Sheng followed behind him, covering his mouth and nose. “What’s wrong?”

“Did you notice that most of the torture instruments were manually modified?”

“…” Bai Sheng told the truth. “It was too disgusting; I didn’t look closely.”

“Human nature is to hunt, not to torture. Meaningless torture is an anti-evolutionary behavior. It’s normal to feel uncomfortable.” Shen Zhuo leaned over and tried various startup passwords, his ten black-gloved fingers tapping rapidly on the keyboard. Without looking up, he said, “And for the torturers themselves, their psychological pleasure comes from gaining a sense of power. Manually modifying the torture instruments, besides prolonging the pleasure, also gives the torture process itself a performative aspect.”

Bai Sheng’s heart stirred. “Performative?”

Smack!

Shen Zhuo pressed the enter key. He had figured out the password in less than ten tries and successfully booted up to the desktop. New message notifications were constantly popping up in the bottom left corner.

“They have a fully formed industrial chain.” Shen Zhuo clicked on the group message, his eyes flashing with disgust. “These people can profit from this.”

It was a full group of five hundred people, and at this moment, it was constantly refreshing:

 [Killed two cats this week, anyone want the clip?]

 [Live burial, skinning, burning, your choice. Custom orders accepted, one hundred yuan a minute, hehe]

 [13G team-shot of small animal performance art, available for a small fee]

 [The neighbor’s pet dog, I just took it home today. Don’t miss the live broadcast at eight tonight!]

…

Direct, lively, and undisguisedly overflowing with desire.

Some were sharing resources and previews, some were scanning QR codes for payment, and some were proudly showing off pictures. The nauseating gore hit them in the face through the screen.

Bai Sheng’s gaze was fixed on the constantly refreshing group messages. After a moment, he sneered, “…And humans think evolutionists are the hidden danger.”

Shen Zhuo didn’t answer. He used the webpage to log into Huang Kaiqi’s WeChat without a password and entered a string of phone numbers into the search bar.

Director Wang stood on tiptoe behind Bai Sheng. “This is?”

“Wang Ping’s phone number. It was in the file you gave me at the hospital yesterday.”

“…” Director Wang completely gave up on asking why he could remember an 11-digit phone number he had glanced at over 24 hours ago. “You think Wang Ping and Huang Kaiqi knew each other in real life?”

Shen Zhuo pressed search. “I don’t think so, I’m sure of it.”

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the webpage WeChat indeed popped up an existing contact, with the note name being none other than Wang Ping!

“The way Wang Ping and Huang Kaiqi had their episodes is too similar. There must be some connection between them. Combined with the fact that dog hair was found in Wang Ping’s mouth, it’s very likely they were accomplices in making torture videos.” Shen Zhuo stood up from the computer. “Whether they were infected with a new type of mutated virus or some unknown ability, at least one thing is certain—”

“What these two people encountered was a form of symmetrical revenge.”

Director Wang’s expression was a bit complicated. For a few seconds, he looked like he really wanted to call the hospital and have them undo the restraints, to let those two scumbags take a few more bites of themselves.

“Get the equipment back to the team. See if you can urgently locate the address of the live broadcast room,” Director Wang turned his head and ordered a technician. “Find those torturers for me.”

“Yes, sir!”

Just as the technician was about to come up and move the computer, the WeChat webpage suddenly dinged with a new message. It was from someone named Zhang Zongxiao:
[Huang-ge, that girl hasn’t sent any more photos for a few days. Is she not taking the bait?]

Photos?

Shen Zhuo and Bai Sheng exchanged a look.

Zhang Zongxiao continued to send messages:
[Is her cat still at your place?]
[Tell her if she doesn’t send the photos, you’ll skin her cat!]
[[Wicked smile][Wicked smile] How about we get her to take a full nude today?]

Everyone’s expression tensed. The technician took the mouse and clicked on the message bar, scrolling up through this Zhang Zongxiao’s chat history. After a moment, he cursed softly, “These idiots… they’re really the whole package of evil.”

Director Wang: “What?”

“This pervert pretended to be an adopter and took the stray cat from the little girl. Then he threatened her to send nude photos, saying if she didn’t, he would torture the cat to death and film it for her to see.” The technician had a disgusted look on his face. “How could someone think of something like that? This immoral piece of trash!”

The mouse scroll wheel stopped, and a half-nude photo of a girl appeared on the screen.

The moment the photo appeared, Bai Sheng raised his hand to block the screen, his pupils slightly constricted. “Enlarge.”

The technician, not understanding, double-clicked the mouse. The next second, the image was enlarged. The part of the girl’s body below her neck was firmly blocked by Bai Sheng’s palm, leaving only her face visible.

Shen Zhuo pinched his chin, his brow furrowed with a hint of surprise.

—Two hours ago, on the bustling city street, the girl in the high school uniform appeared on the screen.

This time, her face was no longer timid and tearful, nor was there any hint of coerced weakness or shame. She stared at the selfie camera, as if staring through the lens at the torture gang, her eyes cold, calm, and as firm as a rock.

That was clearly the gaze of a hunter staring at its prey.

__

Author’s note:

To clarify in advance, the photo was photoshopped by the little girl.

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