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Chapter 77: Confrontation
Killed three people.
This sentence hit like a bolt from the blue, and Lei Zi felt half of his body go numb, his hands trembling like a sieve. Qiao Ruofei blinked curiously, looking up at him. “Have you really killed people? Is it true?”
Lei Zi tried to push away the fearsome female killer, but as soon as he moved, he felt a sharp object pressing against his waist, and he dared not move a muscle, his face turning pale. He had been boasting all over the place about having killed people and spent several years in prison, but in reality, it was all a lie. Even his blocking of the knife was fake, he had just been accidentally injured while running away. He was now regretting it deeply.
Now, the braggart had encountered a real killer, and the object pressing against his back was a knife, right? Why couldn’t he have just gone to college like a normal student and studied without all this trouble?
He Wei lit a cigarette and looked at Qiao Ruofei. “Has he become your fourth target? Does his name have the letters you need, or have you changed your strategy?”
Qiao Ruofei smiled sweetly and slowly moved her hand up from Lei Zi’s clothes. The fruit knife had already made its way to his back, pressing against his heart. “Officer He, I’m just a weak woman. Why do you keep talking about killing all the time?”
Lei Zi didn’t dare to move at all and was on the verge of tears. Didn’t this count as killing someone?! Can’t you please take the knife away first?!
“I was originally planning to play the role of a weak woman and kill him in bed, but you ruined it,” Qiao Ruofei complained.
He Wei debunked her act. “Aren’t you disgusted while saying so? We all know you’re actually a man, so stop pretending.”
“…?” Lei Zi was devastated and wished he could just pass out. Qiao Ruofei raised her hand and stabbed Lei Zi in front of He Wei. Blood instantly stained Lei Zi’s flashy shirt. Qiao Ruofei pushed him toward He Wei and screamed, “Help! Someone’s been killed!”
Her scream successfully attracted the attention of passersby, and Qiao Ruofei made a mocking face at He Wei before turning and running away. Lei Zi was caught by He Wei with a fruit knife sticking out of his back, his expression full of pain. “Officer, Sir! Help me! Save me, please!”
“…” He Wei saw Qiao Ruofei’s figure disappear into the crowd. He grabbed a young man who had been watching the commotion and waved his ID in front of him. “Watch over this injured person; call an ambulance quickly!”
He Wei quickly pushed through the crowd and chased after Qiao Ruofei in the direction she had fled. At a crossroads, He Wei looked around and quickly sent a message to Lin Heyu: [Qiao Ruofei, Changsheng Road, hurry!]
Lin Heyu received this message from an unknown number and waved to signal He Wei, who was currently watching the street surveillance cameras. He Wei’s pupils dilated suddenly, and he immediately picked up his car keys, saying, “Quick! To Changsheng Road!”
———
Qiao Ruofei’s escape route was quite unconventional. She knew that if it came down to a pure physical chase, she wouldn’t stand a chance against He Wei, and he would probably catch up with her within a couple of blocks. So, Qiao Ruofei found a spa salon, calmly walked inside, and was welcomed as a valued guest, guided to an upper floor.
Five minutes later, He Wei entered the salon, and the receptionist stood up. “Sir, may I help you with anything?”
He Wei briefly showed his ID and pulled out his phone, showing a picture of Qiao Ruofei. “Has this woman been here?”
The receptionist replied, “Yes, she arrived not long ago. She was planning to have a full-body treatment and is currently changing upstairs.”
He Wei intended to go upstairs but was stopped. “Sir, I’m sorry, but you can’t go upstairs. It’s a ladies-only area, and it’s not convenient for men to go up.”
“She’s a dangerous murderer. Do you want something unfortunate to happen to your customers?”
The receptionist was astonished and quickly called the manager, who rushed downstairs from the second floor. They sent someone to check the changing rooms one by one. However, Qiao Ruofei was nowhere to be found, and the ventilation window in the changing room was open, suggesting that she might have escaped from there.
He Wei stood by the window and observed below; this was the second floor, and there was an air conditioning unit below. It wouldn’t be too difficult to climb down. When the lights were turned on, there was even a black flat sandal on the floor, which seemed to be the one Qiao Ruofei was wearing. He Wei returned to the corridor and asked the manager, “What kind of rooms are in there?”
“They are all rooms for spa treatments, Officer. Didn’t she escape through the window? Do you need to check inside as well?”
He Wei nodded and asked her to notify the customers that the spa services were temporarily suspended, gathering all the beauticians in the lobby. Some customers were visibly annoyed, some were too lazy to change and came out in the spa’s robes, and others were in the middle of facial treatments with their masks still on, all expressing their complaints.
He Wei’s gaze scanned the crowd, but he didn’t spot Qiao Ruofei. Could he have been wrong in his guess? However, considering the traces of the so-called “escape scene” and the fact that she had left behind her sandal, it was clear that Qiao Ruofei hadn’t left the spa.
He Wei looked up the stairs; she must still be upstairs.
“Are you sure there’s no one upstairs?”
The manager nodded quickly, saying, “No one is up there; even the cleaning staff is here. Officer, please hurry; the customers are getting upset, and I have to open the doors for business.”
“Understood,” He Wei replied casually, and he walked upstairs to carefully check each room. He was about to push open the door of the third beauty treatment room when he noticed a shadow at the entrance.
Someone was hiding inside the room.
He Wei lifted his arm to cover his nose and mouth, pressed against the wall, and used one hand to slowly push open the door. The moment the door cracked open, a spray of insecticide was released, filling the room with a pungent odor that overwhelmed his senses.
“Qiao Ruofei!” He Wei rushed inside, only to find an open window and the black hair and gray clothing of Qiao Ruofei disappearing. He ran to the window; this room was on the second floor, and below was not an air conditioning unit but the awning of a small tobacco and liquor store. Qiao Ruofei had planned her escape well; it was much easier to get away from here than to climb the air conditioning unit.
The owner of the tobacco and liquor store was napping when he was startled awake by a loud noise. He had barely stepped out when there was another loud noise, and a person jumped down, nearly giving him a heart attack.
Qiao Ruofei had changed into a pair of sneakers, much more practical than the sandals she had worn before. She was running out of energy, scanning her surroundings and looking for a place where she could catch her breath and regain her strength, preferably a location where it would be difficult for a man to enter.
Just as she turned a corner, she heard another voice calling out, “Qiao Ruofei! Stop!”
Qiao Ruofei glanced back and saw Lin Heyu rushing towards her from the other side of the intersection.
With He Wei on the right and Lin Heyu on the left, Qiao Ruofei gritted her teeth and chose to continue running straight through the intersection. When He Wei spotted Lin Heyu’s figure, he hid around the corner and didn’t pursue any further. Let them deal with it.
With Lin Heyu here and the other He Wei probably nearby, the two of them working together would be more than enough to catch a single woman. No matter how cunning Qiao Ruofei was, she must be exhausted after their previous mental and physical struggles.
He rubbed his neck, turned around, and as he looked into the distance, he saw a tall and slender figure standing against the light with a pair of clear and bright eyes locked onto him.
Their eyes met, and it felt like an explosion, igniting a thousand thoughts and emotions in his mind. He Wei didn’t have time to think much; he turned and sprinted away, and the person chasing after him was also giving it their all. Once again, a life-and-death chase unfolded on the streets.
He Wei vaulted over a low wall in just a few leaps, and as he did so, he saw that Lin Heyu had already captured Qiao Ruofei and handcuffed her.
“Where were you going? Didn’t we agree to intercept her from two directions?” Lin Heyu began to say, but He Wei nodded at him and ran into a dark alley.
“Hey! He Wei! Where are you going?” Lin Heyu was bewildered and could only escort Qiao Ruofei back to the police station. As they reached the corner of the alley, he saw He Wei running towards them from the opposite direction, his face contorting in an expression of discontent.
“Did you see me?”
Lin Heyu nodded in confusion, “…Yes, I saw you. You’re right in front of me.”
“Take her back to the bureau.”
With those words, He Wei left, disappearing into the dimly lit alley.
Lin Heyu’s initial confusion gradually turned to astonishment, mixed with suspicion and disbelief.
In just a minute, he had encountered two He Weis dressed differently. The one who had jumped down from the low wall was wearing all black, while He Wei, who had been with him all evening, was in a light blue uniform.
Lin Heyu’s palms were sweaty. Although he had seen a lot in his life, this… was just too bizarre, wasn’t it?
———
He Wei ran into the dark alley, turned a corner, and realized that it was a dead-end. The wall blocking his path was at least four to five meters high, and without any tools, there was no way he could climb it. He spotted an air conditioning unit nearby, and although his brain hadn’t fully formulated a plan, his body was already in motion. He began to climb up the air conditioning unit.
“Don’t move!”
An angry shout followed, and He Wei turned around, illuminated by the faint moonlight, only to see another version of himself emerging step by step from the shadows.
“It’s really true,” He stared at the other He Wei and said coldly, “Why don’t you come down, and we can talk?”
He Wei ignored him and continued climbing upward; escaping was his top priority.
“I just warned you, don’t move!”
He Wei was taken aback because the other He Wei had pulled out a gun and was pointing it at him, his gaze becoming even colder. “Come down; I don’t want to hurt you.”
“…,” He Wei finally spoke, his voice low, “It’s better for both of us not to meet face to face.”
“But we’ve already met, so why don’t you come down and tell me what’s going on?”
“You’ll know in due time.”
“I’ve heard the word ‘later’ enough. I want to know now.”
“…” He Wei felt, for the first time, that he was surprisingly assertive and unreasonably stubborn.
The other He Wei on the opposite side shook the gun in his hand. “You being me, you should understand that I can really shoot.”
As if only he had a gun. He Wei also took a gun out of his pocket and pointed it at him. “Right now, we’re evenly matched, and it won’t benefit either of us if we fight.”
He stared at the gun, and gritted his teeth. “Did you really kill Cheng Zesheng?!”
“It wasn’t me.”
“The gun is in your hand. We have identified the bullet you left behind to save Zheng Youqing. The rifling is matched. This is the gun that killed Cheng Zesheng!”
He Wei furrowed his brow and whispered, “Do you really not trust yourself? What reason would you have to kill Cheng Zesheng?”
He was stunned for a moment, clearly unable to fathom the motive behind this. Meeting another version of himself was already too surreal, but since they were the same person, their thoughts, will, and character should all be the same. Even in the face of great hatred, they would center their actions around rationality and never commit such a foolish act as murder.
“I’m on the way to solving this mystery, don’t disturb me,” He Wei’s tone softened. “You knowing about this is enough; exposing it would be detrimental to the entire situation.”
The other He Wei still held the gun, refusing to lower it. “Then come down first, tell me what happened, and I’ll decide afterward.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Then I’ll have to force you down.” He lowered the gun, actually putting it on safe. He Wei’s forehead broke out in a cold sweat because he knew his own character very well, and at this stage, it was highly likely that the other He Wei would indeed pull the trigger.
“One.”
“Two.”
“Three.”
As soon as the countdown finished, a bullet whizzed through the air, aiming for the hand that He Wei was using to support himself on the air conditioning unit. He Wei immediately twisted his body to evade it. With a loud “clang,” the bullet hit the air conditioning unit, creating a flash of sparks in the dim alley. It was unclear where the bullet had landed.
He Wei was forced to jump down and was tackled abruptly. The two of them rolled on the ground together. In the midst of the scuffle, He Wei managed to grab the other’s wrist while his opponent’s knee pressed against He Wei’s leg. He Wei also managed to land an elbow strike to the opponent’s chest, but at the same time, he felt a sharp pain in his spine from an elbow strike.
Both men grunted simultaneously. He Wei managed to hold onto his opponent’s neck, pinning him down. He Wei’s chest was pressed against something cold and hard, and the barrel of a gun was pointed at his heart.
Their clear and bright eyes locked onto each other, and both exhibited a sense of dominance and refusal to surrender.
He Wei, unafraid, spoke first, “If you have the guts, go ahead and shoot.”
He managed to smile despite being choked, his voice slightly hoarse, “If you have the guts, twist it.”
In the dim alley, a bizarre and tense standoff continued.
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