“Ji Xun…” The Huo Ranyin who spoke these two words was no longer an iceberg; a volcano was about to erupt.
“It hurts,” Ji Xun grunted.
The erupting volcano was instantly extinguished. Huo Ranyin said calmly, “I wasn’t using any force when I held your chin.”
“My body hurts,” Ji Xun said.
“Where?” Huo Ranyin asked.
Huo Ranyin’s hand moved away from Ji Xun’s face. Ji Xun felt the hand pat him down all over, very carefully, obviously checking for any fractures.
Ji Xun knew his own body. After running such a long way at night, then falling and getting knocked around, a few bruises here and there were inevitable, as were a sore back and legs, but anything more—there wasn’t.
Ji Xun realized that Huo Ranyin knew what he was doing; feigning weakness would have limited effect. He stopped while he was ahead, pressing Huo Ranyin’s hand and saying, “It’s nothing. I just haven’t recovered from the fall. I’ll be fine after a little rest. No broken arms or legs.”
Huo Ranyin scrutinized him for a moment. “Can you move?”
Ji Xun: “I can move.”
“Are you sure you don’t feel anything wrong anywhere?” Huo Ranyin’s fingers lingered on Ji Xun’s chest and abdomen, pressing lightly. “Does it hurt?”
It didn’t hurt. But the hand made Ji Xun a little ticklish. Ji Xun let out a low laugh. “Ha…”
The hand was withdrawn. Huo Ranyin said coolly, “You seem to be in high spirits. You have great luck; even being buried alive couldn’t kill you.”
“Yes, so don’t worry. Come on, give me a hand, and I can stand up,” Ji Xun said. It had been a while since he had gotten out of the dirt. His mind was starting to clear, and strength was gradually returning to his limbs. He tried to push himself up from the ground with his hands.
Halfway up, someone took his weight. Huo Ranyin wrapped his arm around his shoulder and helped him stand.
Ji Xun stumbled a couple of times, then leaned against Huo Ranyin to steady himself. He tried taking two steps forward, and they were also steady. This human crutch, Huo Ranyin, was the right height, the right weight, and even felt just right—it was truly wonderful.
He walked two steps, leaning on the man.
The mountain was still the same mountain, but perhaps his mood had changed. The mountain range that had looked so gloomy before now seemed fine. The silver moonlight illuminated the path ahead, and the faint scent of fir wafted over, he couldn’t tell if it was from the trees on the mountain or from the person beside him.
“What’s the situation now?” Ji Xun asked.
“Gao Fang and Gao Yuan found the burial site you mentioned. The police and forensic examiners arrived subsequently and unearthed multiple sets of remains from the site.”
“…Nineteen sets.” Ji Xun had guessed it.
“Correct, nineteen sets, nineteen female infants,” Huo Ranyin said. “The nineteen eyeless dolls in Xi Lei’s home referred to this place, to the poor girls who lost their lives just after being born, before they even had a chance to open their eyes and see the world.”
After he finished speaking, he didn’t hear Ji Xun’s voice for a long time. He turned his head and saw that the other man’s expression was heavy, his gaze fixed on the road ahead, slightly lost in thought, as if he had remembered something.
However, before he could ask, Ji Xun quickly came back to his senses and said, “There’s something else you didn’t answer.”
“What is it?” Huo Ranyin asked. “I’ve answered everything.”
“You didn’t answer—didn’t you say you weren’t coming? Why did you come again?”
“There’s nothing much to say about that.”
Huo Ranyin was concise.
“I trusted you, so I came.”
Ji Xun was speechless.
He had to admit, those words sounded really good.
From the top of the mountain to the bottom, the distance wasn’t too far. Leaning on Huo Ranyin, Ji Xun walked and rested, reaching the foot of the mountain within half an hour.
When they reached the village at the foot of the mountain, the situation was lively.
A row of police cars lined the village entrance, their red and blue lights spinning, accompanied by the familiar sound of sirens, directly piercing and shattering the quiet and gloom of the mountain village. The men and women of the village were all out, controlled by the police in the large square used for drying grain. All the men were squatting, while the women stood to the side.
The women weren’t suspects and hadn’t participated in tonight’s events, so there was no need for them to all stand in the cold wind. But they all appeared anyway, gathering and standing quietly, their expressions indifferent, in stark contrast to the men who were constantly fidgeting.
But anyway—whether men or women, they were all being watched by the police.
Ji Xun glanced at them, then casually withdrew his gaze, heading purposefully towards the ambulance parked next to the police cars. That was where he should be focusing his attention.
Before he had taken two steps, a sharp cry of a child suddenly came from the direction of the grain-drying square. It was a boy of about seven or eight, with a sturdy build. For some reason, he had suddenly burst into tears.
The child’s sharp cries were no less powerful than a power drill.
The sound gave Ji Xun a headache, and he buried his head in Huo Ranyin’s shoulder.
“Uncomfortable?”
He heard Huo Ranyin’s voice by his ear, and then a hand cupped over his ear. The world became much quieter, with only Huo Ranyin’s voice remaining, unhurried and considerate in its arrangements.
“In a bit, you’ll get on the ambulance and go straight back to the city with it. I’ll handle the follow-up here—tomorrow, after you’ve rested well, you can come to the station to identify the suspects who chased and tried to bury you on the mountain.”
That sounded great.
The thought of being back home in a few hours, soaking in his massage bathtub with a glass of red wine to calm his nerves, then sleeping on a high bed with soft pillows, erasing all the unpleasant things like the deep pit and the dirt in his dreams, made Ji Xun’s sluggish steps much brisker.
“Wait a second,” Huo Ranyin called him again.
“What?”
“Regarding this place, is there anything you want to tell me?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“—What should I say? Isn’t the situation already very clear? Interrogate them about the infanticide, then interrogate them about who the trap on the mountain was originally intended for. Even if it was a long time ago and the chain of evidence is lacking, making it impossible to convict them immediately, at least their crime of collectively chasing and trying to kill me is fully supported by witness testimony and physical evidence, right?” Ji Xun replied. He turned his head to look at Huo Ranyin and saw a slight trace of suspicion in his eyes.
He clicked his tongue inwardly.
This guy is a complete hypocrite. When he was saving me, he was a desperate hero who spared no effort. When he’s suspicious of me, he scrutinizes every detail without missing a thing. I have no idea how he can hold both these mentalities at the same time and switch between them so freely without going crazy.
“Suspected of infanticide, suspected of buying trafficked women, suspected of controlling and harming these women…” Huo Ranyin listed them one by one. Anyone who came to the small mountain village and experienced what happened tonight could guess these things. “These are all related to Xi Lei’s background. What about the matters involving Tang Jinglong?”
“I don’t know—” Ji Xun shrugged. “Has Captain Huo forgotten? I only got involved in Xi Lei’s case because of a request from an old friend. I just need to figure out Xi Lei’s case. As for Tang Jinglong? A scumbag like him can die for all I care. Who killed him and how, what does that have to do with me?”
The suspicion in Huo Ranyin’s eyes did not disappear. On the contrary, more scrutiny emerged from beneath the suspicion.
“Is that so? Yesterday at the elevator, I saw you staring at the couplets in your neighbor’s bag. I thought you had thought of a clue about Tang Jinglong’s case.” He was clear and logical. “After all, I went back and thought about it again. The gold powder and red marks on the bags that wrapped Tang Jinglong’s body parts do look like they were rubbed off from spring couplets. But…”
He thought of the first crime scene that had been found and the missing Lu Ping, and didn’t press too hard.
“You’ve worked hard today. Go back first.”
To be honest, the medical staff standing by were tired of waiting.
Ji Xun felt he couldn’t let the medical staff work so hard. He took two quick steps towards the ambulance. Just as he was about to get on, he heard a furious shout from the grain-drying square—
“Get a woman over here to soothe the child! What are you standing there for, like wooden posts? Are you all dead?”
The child had been crying for quite some time.
The police were stern with the adults, but as patient as possible with the child. Wen Yangyang and another female officer, along with Tan Mingjiu, were all gathered around the crying child, taking turns to comfort him. Tan Mingjiu even offered his bald head, but unfortunately, it didn’t work. The child was still crying loudly.
It was under these circumstances that one of the men from the village lashed out at the women standing nearby.
The women were quiet. They were always quiet.
After this shout, someone from the group of women walked out. She was short, and her left leg had a slight limp. The crying boy looked taller than her. She walked over, step by limping step, to get her child.
She was already walking as fast as she could, but the shouting man was still furious. He was just looking for an outlet for his anger. He suddenly stood up straight and roared at the woman:
“What are you dawdling for? Get your ass over here! You give birth to a child who only knows how to cry! Cry, cry, cry, all day long you know how to cry! What the hell are you crying for? I’m not even dead yet and you’re already mourning! Are you itching for a beating? A good beating will teach you a lesson!”
The limping woman froze on the spot.
“…You dare to threaten to hit someone in front of the police? Get down!” Wen Yangyang stood up abruptly, her face red with anger, but her petite frame and youthful appearance didn’t carry much authority.
“I didn’t hit her, I didn’t hit her. Aiya, it’s just my stupid mouth. When I get angry, I say all sorts of things. This is just a couple’s quarrel, a family matter, a family matter,” the man said with a fake smile, then continued to speak to the woman, “Isn’t that right? Tell the police we’re just playing around.”
“Yes…” Chen Meilin said.
But just then, a long leg shot out from the side, kicking the man who had stood up in the shoulder, easily kicking him back to the ground.
Ji Xun emerged from behind the crowd. He retracted his leg, still looking listless. He didn’t look at the limping Chen Meilin, but spoke to Wen Yangyang, “Haven’t been a police officer for too long, have you? You’ve become as rough as a man. They’re standing, so you just let them stand? It’s the dead of winter, it’s so cold outside. Take them inside, boil some hot water, give them an extra layer of clothes. Wouldn’t that be more comfortable?”
Wen Yangyang came to her senses as if waking from a dream.
“…Police, the police are hitting people!” The man who had been kicked down was stunned for a long time, then shouted at the top of his lungs.
Perhaps because the night was deep and the dew was heavy, Huo Ranyin’s reaction was also slow. It was only then that he leisurely walked out. “He’s not a police officer, just an ordinary citizen who was chased by you for half the night and almost buried alive.”
After speaking, he turned to Ji Xun, his tone neither salty nor bland:
“Ordinary citizen, please control your emotions. Even if you are a victim, you cannot act excessively, or I’ll have to cuff you and take you back.”
“It’s fine, cuff me. It’s just a fight, right? At worst, a few days in detention. Get me a single room, and I can take the opportunity to organize my thoughts and write some novels to make a living,” Ji Xun replied in the same bland tone, as if he were both bickering and flirting.
His gaze swept over the group of men.
He had originally planned to go home and get lovey-dovey with his massage bathtub, red wine glass, and double bed, but he had been dragged back. Since he was dragged back, he might as well make everyone miserable if he was miserable.
Soon, Ji Xun found the person he was looking for. Among the men, he recognized the face of the man who had last spoken to him while they were filling the pit. He hadn’t realized it when they were face to face before, but this simple and honest yet grotesquely sinister face resembled Big Brother Ming’s. He was Big Brother Ming’s father, Xi Zhigao.
Now, Xi Zhigao was staring at him as if he had seen a ghost.
“Hey. Didn’t expect this, did you? The King of Hell doesn’t want me.”
Ji Xun was calm and composed, a wicked smile on his face.
“—Then it’s time for him to take you.”
