Xiao Lou sat on the wooden bed, straining his ears to listen to the sounds outside.
The dimly lit cell had no glass windows; he could only see the light from the corridor outside through the bars on the iron door. He waited for a long time, and suddenly heard footsteps in the corridor. The person was wearing flat sneakers, not leather shoes, and their footsteps on the tiles were very light.
Xiao Lou looked up at the iron bars. In the blink of an eye, the man had arrived at the door of cell number 1, and the two locked eyes through the bars—it was indeed Xiao Wu, the young police officer who was interning with Yu Hanjiang.
Xiao Lou had been wondering why Yu Hanjiang arrived at the scene so quickly after Xu Mingyue called the police last night. Given the distance between the Criminal Police Detachment and the Music Conservatory, it would take at least an hour to drive there. Clearly, he and Xiao Wu were nearby at the time.
That would be too much of a coincidence.
Moreover, Hunter was able to accurately grasp the progress of the case investigation and frame him. Xiao Lou always felt that there was a mole in Police Station who was involved in the investigation of this case, so he sent Yu Hanjiang away in order to lure out that person.
Now, the mole has indeed appeared.
Meeting Xiao Lou's gaze, Xiao Wu paused for a moment, then quickly smiled and said respectfully, " Professor Xiao, Captain Yu went to Medical University and asked me to look after you. If you need anything, just let me know. Don't worry, once Captain Yu catches the murderer, you will be released without charge."
Xiao Lou stood up, walked to the iron gate, and asked in a low voice, " Can Yu Hanjiang catch the murderer?"
Xiao Wu replied without hesitation, "Of course..."
Xiao Lou looked at him: "Oh? Didn't you warn your companions to run away?"
Xiao Wu's smile froze slightly: " Professor Xiao, what do you mean by this?"
Xiao Lou chuckled lightly, "Stop pretending. You dare to come to me openly. You've already sabotaged the surveillance in cell number 1, haven't you?" His tone was very confident, and his gaze was calm.
Xiao Wu's face darkened. He looked to be only in his early twenties, usually resembling a recent college graduate with a youthful, somewhat naive appearance. But at this moment, his gaze suddenly turned icy and sharp, as if possessed by another person, and his voice became slightly hoarse: "You knew all along?"
Xiao Lou nodded: "In this world, the number of Hunters is no less than that of Challengers. Therefore, the third Hunter must be right next to Yu Hanjiang, so that he can keep track of the case's progress at any time."
Xiao Wu raised an eyebrow: "Too bad, you found out too late."
After saying that, he suddenly took out a gun from his pocket and pointed the muzzle at Xiao Lou's head.
Criminal police officers are armed, and with his colleagues distracted, killing Xiao Lou would have been a piece of cake.
With a gun pointed at his head, Xiao Lou remained calm and composed. He looked into the other man's eyes and slowly said, "This world is a world of hearts. I guess your mission is to frame me and Liu Qiao and send them to prison, using the police to get rid of us, rather than killing us directly. It seems you've run out of tricks, which is why you're resorting to attacking me face-to-face?"
Xiao Wu's eyes widened slightly, as if she couldn't believe that Xiao Lou could have guessed so much.
His expression gave Xiao Lou the answer— the world of Hearts indeed has some unspoken rules. Xiao Wu's direct assassination attempt was clearly a desperate, last-ditch effort. If it were Challenger, this approach certainly wouldn't have earned him an A grade or higher. As for how the Hunter grades, Xiao Lou currently doesn't know.
Xiao Lou laughed and said, "I guessed right? If you kill me directly, you won't be able to get a perfect score, right?"
Xiao Wu hesitated for a moment, then suddenly seemed to realize something crucial. He gritted his teeth and said coldly, "I don't want to waste my breath on you. You're the team leader. No matter what method I use, killing you is enough!"
He didn't waste any more time with Xiao Lou and simply pulled the trigger.
The pistol was silenced, so it wouldn't alert anyone. Xiao Lou hadn't expected Xiao Wu to be so decisive, firing without warning. In an instant, Xiao Lou felt a buzzing in his head, followed by a sudden wave of dizziness. Warm blood streamed down his forehead, blurring his vision.
A flash of blood filled Xiao Lou's vision as he collapsed onto the cold ground, his mind gradually losing its capacity to think.
Before he completely lost consciousness, he saw Xiao Wu take out something that looked like a "communicator" and whisper something in that direction. The young man's figure quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor, and Xiao Lou slowly closed his eyes behind him.
***
Tang Ci sped to the Police Station, parked the car on the side of the road, and whispered, "Xiao Liu, you stay here and watch Chen Mengmeng in the trunk. Don't let her get away. I'm going to find Xiao Lou."
Liu Qiao nodded: "Mr. Tang, please be careful."
Tang Ci closed the door and rushed to the police station, asking bluntly, " Xiao Lou is in danger, where is he?!"
Two Criminal Police Officers rushed to Cell Number 1, only to find Xiao Lou lying in a pool of blood.
Seeing this scene, Tang Ci also felt a pang of fear.
If Liu Qiao hadn't mentioned that Xiao Lou still had a witch's antidote, Tang Ci would have almost thought Xiao Lou was dead.
At this moment, Xiao Lou looked no different from a "dead man." His face was covered in blood, his eyes were closed, and his heart had stopped beating. The two Criminal Police Officers realized that something was wrong and immediately called Yu Hanjiang.
When Yu Hanjiang rushed back to the Police Station with a dark expression, Xiao Lou's "body" had already been carried out, covered with a white sheet.
The man squatted down and lifted the white...
Cloth's hands trembled slightly.
Xiao Lou's face, hidden beneath the white sheet, was as pale as paper, the bloody hole on his forehead a stark contrast to his white skin. Yu Hanjiang's hand clenched suddenly, veins bulging on the back of his hand. His eyes, bloodshot, turned as he roared like a raging beast, "Didn't I tell you to keep a close eye on him? What happened?!"
The two officers exchanged glances, and one of the policewomen said in a trembling voice, " Xiao Wu just delivered some takeout to us, telling us to eat first while he went to the duty room next door to keep an eye on things. We thought that with him watching, everything would be fine, so we..."
Yu Hanjiang stood up, his face ashen: "Are you all pig-brains?"
He took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to punch someone, and immediately picked up his pager, whispering in the communication channel, "This is Yu Hanjiang. Immediately notify all police forces in all districts to search for the suspect Wu Minglang at all highway toll stations, airports, and train stations. I will upload his information to the intranet. Patrol officers in all areas, please be aware. If you find him, arrest him immediately!"
After giving the order, he glanced back at Xiao Lou on the ground, his face extremely grim.
Tang Ci calmly said, " Captain Yu, do you now believe that he was framed?"
Yu Hanjiang paused for a moment, then said, "...I'm sorry."
Tang Ci said, "You'd better bring all the murderers back, otherwise Xiao Lou will die with regrets."
Yu Hanjiang clenched his fists tightly: "Of course, I will absolutely not let them get away with this!"
Tang Ci asked, " May I take Professor Xiao's body with me?"
All he wants now is Xiao Lou's "body." If a Forensic Doctor from Police Station were to dissect Professor Xiao, that would be terrible, as the witch's antidote wouldn't be able to restore the dismembered body.
Yu Hanjiang said, "According to regulations, I will notify his family to come and claim the body."
Tang Ci nodded and said, "Okay, please notify Xiao Lou's parents as soon as possible. Outside the forest, you should be able to tell who fired the shot from the shell casings left on the ground, right? His parents will definitely not agree to an autopsy, and they hope you will not touch him again."
"Okay." Yu Hanjiang nodded, bent down, and carefully covered Xiao Lou with a white sheet, saying softly, "I'm sorry."
Tang Ci looked at him; the man's face was full of guilt and self-reproach, but not much pain—he was indeed different from the real Yu Hanjiang. If the real Yu Hanjiang were here, seeing Xiao Lou have his head shattered by a bullet, he would never be so calm.
If it really is Yu Hanjiang...
Tang Ci dared not imagine the consequences.
He took a deep breath, turned around and went outside. He got into the car and asked Liu Qiao, "Have you met Xiao Lou's parents?"
Liu Qiao shook her head: "No, how about Professor Xiao?"
Tang Ci said, " Xiao Lou was shot in the head. Hopefully, he can take the antidote beforehand."
Liu Qiao said, " Professor Xiao is so cautious, he shouldn't risk his life. He should have the antidote under his tongue in advance so he can take it at any time. However, the witch's antidote only takes effect at night."
Tang Ci opened his laptop, quickly found Xiao Lou's mother's information, and pointed to the photo on the screen, saying, "This is a photo of Xiao Lou's mother. You pretend to be his mother and get his body out of the police station as soon as possible. I'll send Chen Mengmeng to the police station. We've only caught this one murderer; we'll have to rely on the police to catch the other two."
Liu Qiao nodded, pretending to be Xiao Lou's mother.
Half an hour later, she pretended to take a taxi to the Police Station and hurriedly went to find Yu Hanjiang: " Officer Yu, what happened to my son?"
Yu Hanjiang led her to the morgue. After lifting the white sheet and seeing Xiao Lou's face, Liu Qiao knelt down with a thud: "My son... how could you suddenly be gone..."
Although she was acting very hard, Liu Qiao was thinking to herself that it was fortunate that Professor Xiao was unconscious at the moment, otherwise, she would have directly called Professor Xiao "son", which would have been extremely disrespectful, as Professor Xiao was her idol.
Looking at "Xiao's mother" who was crying uncontrollably, Yu Hanjiang said with a face full of guilt: "I'm sorry, Auntie, I failed to protect him."
Liu Qiao: "What exactly happened?"
Yu Hanjiang briefly recounted the case to her. Liu Qiao listened, stunned. After acting for a while, she felt it was enough and sobbed, "Please, Officer Yu, you must catch those murderers who killed my son!"
She reached out and covered Xiao Lou with a white sheet, choking back tears as she said, "I want to take Xiao Lou with me, wait for his father to come back so I can see him one last time, and then give him a proper burial."
Yu Hanjiang said, "Okay, Auntie, please sign here."
Liu Qiao signed her mother's name and had the hearse take Xiao Lou's "body" back to Tang Ci's private residence.
The two carried Xiao Lou onto the bed.
Liu Qiao touched his cold wrist, looked at the wound on his forehead, and said helplessly, " Professor Xiao is too reckless. I hope he took the antidote beforehand, otherwise, I'm really afraid he'll beat himself up..."
Tang Ci stood by the bed, looking thoughtfully at Xiao Lou's "body" on the bed.
Seeing no response from behind, Liu Qiao turned around and asked, "What is Mr. Tang thinking about?"
Tang Ci frowned and said, "I'm wondering, what exactly is Hunter's background, and why is he always going against us? Also, in which world are our other teammates? How can we reunite with them?"
Liu Qiao said, " Professor Xiao speculated that the 12 of us were divided into several groups and placed in different worlds. We encountered a Hearts -type puzzle. Since the Captain Yu in this world is not the real Captain Yu, the real Captain Yu is likely in the Spade world."
Tang Ci nodded: " Xiao Lou's speculation makes a lot of sense, Ninth Brother..."
They might also be in a survival-type world. CEO Shao is in Plum Blossom, and Lao Mo might be in Diamonds? We don't yet know what rules govern the allocation of the others.
Liu Qiao said, "Just like with the K Secret Chamber before, as long as we solve the problems in each world, we will always be able to meet again."
Tang Ci looked at Xiao Lou on the bed, and after a moment, he breathed a slight sigh of relief and said, " Xiao Lou should be alright."
Liu Qiao asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
Tang Ci explained, "He is the captain and the owner of the contract book. If he dies, the contract book will be transferred to Yu Hanjiang, who is the second signatory. A pop-up window will appear announcing 'Captain has died, contract book transferred to Yu Hanjiang.'"
Hearing this, Liu Qiao breathed a sigh of relief: "If there's no indication, it means that Professor Xiao took the antidote and didn't really die. He'll wake up at dawn tomorrow."
Using himself as bait to lure out the last Hunter was a risky but effective tactic for Xiao Lou.
Under the full-scale manhunt led by Yu Hanjiang's Criminal Police Officers, Wang Yishen, who had fled to the airport, was quickly arrested. Xiao Wu, who was hiding, was also found by patrol officers at the station. In addition, Chen Mengmeng, who was personally delivered by Tang Ci, was also apprehended. All the perpetrators in this serial murder case were brought to justice.
The night was long, and neither Tang Ci nor Liu Qiao slept well. They sat anxiously by the bed, waiting for Xiao Lou to wake up.
As the first rays of sunlight streamed into the bedroom, Xiao Lou finally opened his eyes.
Seeing his teammates beside him, Xiao Lou smiled slightly on his pale face: "Thank goodness, you guys managed to get my body back in time, before Yu Hanjiang took it away to dissect it."
Liu Qiao was both amused and exasperated: " Professor Xiao, you still have the mind to joke around."
Xiao Lou reached out and touched the hole in his forehead: "Ahem, Mr. Tang, do you have a medical robot with you? I have a hole in my head, I don't know if it can be repaired."
Tang Ci and Liu Qiao: "..."
What kind of strange conversation is this?
Tang Ci said helplessly, "You've only survived so far; the bullet is still in your head. You can't be careless. My medical robot can only repair superficial wounds. Let's wait until we meet up with CEO Shao and Ye Qi and then use the Bug King Card to fix it."
Xiao Lou nodded: "That's the only way."
His head was still a little dizzy. Although his name was not a problem, a bullet lodged in his head was not a good thing.
I hope to reunite with CEO Shao as soon as possible.
[Congratulations to Xiao Lou, Tang Ci, and Liu Qiao for successfully completing the second stage of the relay mission!]
[The third ring is now open...]
At the same time, Shao Qingge opened his eyes.