Chapter 85: When demons are active among humans, they do not appear as demons.
Qin Ge was still discussing the case with Lei Chi.
Meanwhile, the Crisis Office personnel were tracking down the suspect based on clues they had gathered.
The suspect was a newly hired watchman at the fishing port, around thirty years old, claiming he had come here to join his relatives. The job of a night watchman at the fishing port didn’t pay well, so it was rare for young people to apply, making this young man quite memorable to the locals.
“They noticed something else quite odd about him,” Lei Chi said. “He swears a lot.”
“Swears?”
“Sometimes he’d suddenly blurt out some curse words, even if no one was talking to him,” Lei Chi recalled from their questioning. “But as long as he wasn’t swearing, he was easy to get along with, rather silent, not very talkative.”
The young man had not been working at the fishing port for long. Although the people around found him a bit strange, they hadn’t started to be wary of him yet.
He was no longer at his rented house, and his phone couldn’t be reached.
“Did he twitch when he swore? Like this,” Qin Ge twitched his neck and shoulders to demonstrate for Lei Chi. He tilted his head and suddenly noticed a gigantic golden beast rushing towards the shore from the sea not far behind Lei Chi.
A lion with golden fur was striding on the thin surface of the sea, its golden mane shimmering under the starlight.
Lei Chi also turned his head. Behind the lion, a speedboat was approaching the beach, and with his night vision ability, he quickly recognized that it was Xie Zijing.
“I’ll go talk to Xiaohai’s mom about Xiaohai’s situation,” Lei Chi quickly gathered the files from the car hood and grabbed them in his hand.
Qin Ge called out, “Lei Chi!”
Lei Chi replied, “If there’s anything to discuss, do it calmly, no arguing.”
When Qin Ge and Xie Zijing returned to the Crisis Office in the afternoon, Lei Chi had already noticed the tension between them. He walked over to Zhang Qian, “Xiaohai’s mom, come over here. I need to talk to you about some preparations for applying for the Talent Planning Bureau’s equivalency test.”
Zhang Qian stood up quickly, putting out her cigarette, “Okay, boss.”
Indeed, Lei Chi led her to the back of the motorcade, away from Qin Ge. The Barbary lion had already come ashore, shaking its head to rid itself of water, and slowly walked towards Qin Ge.
It looked majestic, like a divine beast descending from the heavens. Qin Ge stood still as the lion approached, its golden eyes meeting his. After a moment, the lion lowered its head, affectionately rubbing its nose against Qin Ge’s cheek.
This was a familiar gesture. Xie Zijing’s lion used to do the same, or it would pat his hand with its paw.
Sure enough, the giant golden beast raised its paw and patted Qin Ge’s hand resting on the car hood.
Qin Ge was deeply moved as he looked towards the dark sea. Xie Zijing had jumped off the speedboat, quickly wading through the shallow water and running across the beach.
The Barbary lion stood behind Qin Ge, nudging him forward. Qin Ge took a few steps forward, and Xie Zijing was already standing in front of him.
“Sorry,” Xie Zijing looked into his eyes, “I… I was a bit late.”
He raised his hand to touch Qin Ge’s ear. Qin Ge instinctively shrank back. This was also a familiar gesture: Xie Zijing used to often pinch his earlobe and then make some serious or playful jokes.
When Qin Ge realized what might have happened, his eyes turned red first.
Xie Zijing hugged him tightly, almost with all his strength, not letting him break free. He stroked Qin Ge’s hair, repeatedly whispering in his ear, “Thank you… you did it… you did it…”
He kissed Qin Ge’s cheek, kissed the tip of his nose. When he kissed the corner of his lips, he tasted the salty tears.
“You did it, Qin Ge. Everything you told me you would do, you did it all,” Xie Zijing’s eyes were also red, his voice low and husky, filled with heavy nasal sounds, “You rebuilt a city. Qin Ge, you saved me.”
Qin Ge finally hugged him back, fiercely exchanging kisses with him.
The mermaids’ song came from afar, the heavenly stars rotating one by one in the tapestry of time and space.
On the Whale Guard Rock, Quan Nu finally showed interest in Qing Meizi.
“Were you born without eyebrows?” he asked. “What about hair?”
“No eyebrows or hair, it’s very cool,” Qing Meizi replied with a smile.
Quan Nu observed the tattoo on his forehead.
“Does this tattoo have any special meaning?”
“I don’t know,” Qing Meizi confessed. “There’s very little research on Qing Meizi in our country, other than knowing we have accurate prophetic abilities.”
Quan Nu turned on his voice recorder. “Do the things you predict always come true?”
“Of course,” Qing Meizi said with a smile. “I am a messenger of God; my prophecies are divine commands.”
Quan Nu asked, “Do you believe in God?”
Qing Meizi remained silent for a long time. The mermaids had stopped singing, and one of them seemed not to be returning, leaping into the sea from the rock. A dozen silver figures gradually moved away, disappearing into the depths.
“No, I don’t,” Qing Meizi answered Quan Nu softly. “That’s why I intend to use my abilities to change the fate of this Qing Meizi.”
“Fate itself is a religious term, Mr. Qing Meizi,” Quan Nu reminded him.
“For us, fate is the process of choosing and being chosen. Life is picked over by others, but our choices can alter its original path.” Qing Meizi looked at the straight back of Haitong, then lifted his head to gaze at the sky above. “I don’t know if my prophecies are good or bad for people, but at least I saved him, and I have no regrets. If he has happiness and joy, it’s not because prophecy ruled his fate, but because he controlled his own life.”
Quan Nu put away his voice recorder.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Qing Meizi.” He extended his hand to Qing Meizi. “Perhaps we can become good friends.”
Lei Chi piloted the speedboat back to Whale Guard Rock. When everyone had returned to the mainland, Zhang Qian hurriedly came forward to greet her son.
“Did the mermaid leader agree?” she asked.
“Yes,” Xiaohai nodded.
Zhang Qian was very pleased. “He’s a good person… no, a good fish?”
Xiaohai: “He’s very nice. We’ve known each other for a long time.”
As Xie Weiran opened the car door and put the camera away, she suddenly saw a large lion standing on the other side of the car. She was startled and quickly leaned over to take a closer look.
On top of the lion’s head was a tuft of white fur, which, upon closer inspection, revealed two rabbit ears.
Xie Zijing and Qin Ge had been talking next to the lion, and when they saw Xie Weiran poking her head out, they both stopped talking.
Xie Weiran was worried. “Don’t fight.”
Xie Zijing replied, “We weren’t fighting.”
Xie Weiran looked at Qin Ge, who smiled back at her. When she pulled her head back into the car, she noticed the two men’s fingers intertwined.
She was startled again. Progressing this quickly? She felt she couldn’t keep up with the storyline.
While arranging the seating, Lei Chi received a phone call. Holding his phone with a serious expression, he grabbed Qin Ge’s wrist as he walked by.
“The suspect has been found.”
The young man sitting in the Crisis Office’s interrogation room kept his head down, his head bobbing as if he were dozing off.
Lei Chi and the others split into two groups: one escorted Quan Nu to his hotel, and the other returned to the Crisis Office. Qin Ge was supposed to accompany Quan Nu, but Lei Chi had him come along instead, citing, “We desperately need an adjustor.”
Quan Nu then became interested in Qin Ge as well. “So, you’re an adjustor?”
Qin Ge, somewhat confused, exchanged email addresses and phone numbers with him.
“My real mission is to find clues about Warehouse No. 0 in Jiang Yong’s sea area,” Qin Ge reminded Lei Chi on the way back. “Not to help the local Crisis Office branch with their tasks.”
However, after actually seeing the suspect, Qin Ge hesitated.
“Liang Tianlu, 31 years old, unmarried, unemployed,” Lei Chi reviewed Liang Tianlu’s file and raised an eyebrow. “Personality disorder, motor disorder—this falls within your area of expertise.”
Liang Tianlu’s records showed that he had Tourette syndrome.
“What kind of illness is that?” Xie Zijing leaned over to ask.
Lei Chi explained, “It’s a condition where the person twitches and involuntarily swears.”
Qin Ge hesitated for a moment. “…Well, more or less.”
They had no more detailed medical records for Liang Tianlu at hand. Since he was a guide, they were able to quickly pull up his information from the population database, but his specific medical records were not yet registered. Liang Tianlu’s household registration was not in this area, and the Crisis Office had already started the cooperation procedures.
“His hometown is where the first victim had their incident,” Lei Chi said, looking at the surveillance screen. “When they apprehended him, he resisted fiercely, and because of his constant twitching and spasms, they had to give him a sedative.”
“Using a sedative was the right call. Once he calms down and the stress dissipates, his symptoms will significantly lessen,” Qin Ge said, frowning slightly. “But it is indeed rare. This condition is more common in teenagers, and the symptoms generally decrease in adulthood. I’ve never seen a case like his at his age.”
During his studies and internships, Qin Ge had only seen Tourette syndrome in adolescents. It was his first time encountering someone over 30 with the condition. In the video, Liang Tianlu appeared very docile and harmless due to the sedative, but his hair was disheveled, and his clothes were messy, making him look rather unkempt.
The young man in the profile photo had a very ordinary appearance. Looking at the photo, Qin Ge suddenly felt a sense of unease. Seven women, each one weaker than Liang Tianlu—how could he have brought himself to do it? His methods were so brutal, and the way he handled the bodies showed not a hint of guilt or remorse. Dismemberment, burning… all his methods were extremely extreme.
When a demon walks among men, it does not show its demonic face.
Lei Chi looked at him. “Qin Ge, can you help?”
Qin Ge replied, “…I’m a adjustor from headquarters. If I conduct patrol work here, I have to follow protocol.”
Lei Chi said, “I’ll handle the protocol. Please help us out. We have too few adjustors, none here, and getting a confession through slow interrogation will take forever.”
Qin Ge finally agreed. “Alright, I’ll prepare.”
Xie Zijing, who had been by his side all this time, looked down and asked, “Section Chief Qin, if you’re going to patrol the ‘sea area,’ you’ll need a dive buddy.”
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Author’s Note:
Tourette syndrome is a comprehensive disorder that mixes mental and motor disorders. Recently, there was a horror movie called “Boarding School” (I didn’t find it scary at all, but it was quite interesting). One of the children in the movie has Tourette syndrome, which is a condition with very obvious external manifestations.
