Looking at the woman in front of him, whose hair was black and white, kneeling on the ground, holding the white cloth covering the corpse and wailing, Chang Erbing adjusted his collar and said solemnly, "Don't worry, we will catch the murderer as soon as possible."
Before he could finish his words, the woman interrupted him.
The word "murderer" triggered her nerves. She suddenly grabbed Chang Erbing's pant leg and asked trembling, "Who killed my child, why, she was only 20 years old."
Chang Erbing looked around at the gathered teachers and students; they seemed to be holding their breath, waiting for him to reveal the answer.
"Based on the clues at the scene, we have identified the murderer as Zheng Hang. He lured Wang Wei to the warehouse two days ago and brutally killed her."
Chang Erbing's expression was mournful as he deliberately concealed the matter of the Evil Sacrifice, speaking in a low voice,
"Students, teachers, if anyone has seen Zheng Hang or contacted him recently, please notify the Patrol Office immediately."
The scene was immediately abuzz, but soon the clever ones began their high-pitched discussions.
"I just knew it, how could it be such a coincidence for two people to disappear at the same time, it must be..."
"When I saw only one body being carried out just now, I guessed it might be... Tsk tsk, as expected, I guessed right….."
"..."
Feng Mu lightly pressed his lips together, subconsciously tugging a strap of his backpack, a strange feeling arose in his heart.
He thought, "Although I had disguised the scene to make it look like a false accusation, these Chief Constables solved the case way too quickly, they seem a bit irresponsible... don't they?"
Then he thought again, "Ah, no, Wang Wei was indeed killed by Zheng Hang, how are the Chief Constables being irresponsible? They clearly have sharp eyes and solve cases with divine insight."
"You're full of crap!"
Suddenly, a thunderous shout broke through the crowd, and a dozen or so men in short sleeves pushed through. Zheng Si, with a sullen face, strode up to Chang Erbing, his cold voice seeping through his clenched teeth, "My son couldn't possibly kill anyone."
His expression was sinister, and his fake eye, embedded with a glass ball, glistened dully as if staring at a dead man.
Chang Erbing's breath stopped, feeling as if a poisonous snake was watching him, a chill ran down his spine.
Li Shang walked out from the warehouse, pulled Chang Erbing back, and rudely blew a smoke ring in Zheng Si's face, sneeringly said, "You say your son didn't kill, but I think you hid your son. Do you think people will believe you or me, believe the Patrol Office?"
Zheng Si's forehead veins bulged, just about to retort when someone behind him tugged at him.
He turned and glared, seeing nothing but a bunch of suspicious, disgusted, angry, and fearful eyes.
With his villainous face and surrounded by tattooed thugs, who would believe him if he said his son didn't kill? The eyes of the masses aren't blind.
"Give me back my daughter's life!"
Wang Wei's mother suddenly climbed up from the ground and pounced on Zheng Si like mad.
Zheng Si's face twisted, and muscles bulged suddenly on his back, flowing towards his arms like a tumor. Just as he was about to swing his hand, the person behind him pulled him tightly again.
Li Shang remained still, his gaze passing through Zheng Si to someone behind him, frowning slightly.
Ma Bin, slender and with a gentle face, didn't quite fit the look of a gang member; he seemed out of place among the thugs.
He held Zheng Si tightly, avoiding his furious eyes, and signaled to a nearby thug with his periphery vision.
The thug gritted his teeth, quickly stepped forward, and slapped Wang Wei's mother with a palm as wide as a fan.
Blood mixed with a few broken teeth flew in the air, Wang Wei's mother fell to the ground headfirst, stopped her yelling, whether dead or alive was unknown.
Li Shang then belatedly took half a step, grabbed the assailant's arm with one hand, and with a pin and pull, tore it from his body.
Li Shang casually tossed the severed limb to the ground, ignoring the man writhing and wailing on the ground.
Li Shang flicked his hand, droplets of blood and strips of flesh from his fingers splattering onto Zheng Si's face, finally said coldly, "Daring to commit violence in front of the Patrol Office, courting death!"
Zheng Si's eyelids twitched; he always considered himself ruthless, but the brutality of the Chief Constable in front of him rivaled his own at least.
Moreover, the Chief Constable had the guise of authority!
Zheng Si's anger cleared slightly, glancing at Ma Bin.
Ma Bin then released his grip, stepping around Zheng Si and approaching Li Shang.
He didn't wait for Zheng Si to seize the opportunity to make trouble, first pulling a tissue from his pocket, offering it, and humbling himself, "The young ones in our gang aren't very bright. It's our fault for being impulsive. Please take him away for discipline, and our Cyan Wolf Gang will take care of the funeral expenses for the deceased's mother."
After saying that, Ma Bin stepped back two steps, picked up the severed limb from the ground, dusted it off, and placed it in the thug's arms, gently comforting, "Don't worry, after you go in, reform yourself well, your parents will be taken care of by the gang."
The wailing abruptly stopped, the thug hugged the severed limb, face ashen.
After the Cyan Wolf Gang left, Li Shang calmly sent the unconscious woman to the hospital, as for the man with the severed arm, he didn't receive such treatment, just had a layer of bandages wrapped haphazardly and was sent back with the vehicle to the Patrol Office.
Feng Mu hid in the crowd, watching the Cyan Wolf Gang leave, his gaze subtly pausing on Zheng Si and Ma Bin, thinking, "A brutal wolf and a cunning fox."
"And an evil tiger that swallows people whole." Feng Mu withdrew his gaze, finally looking towards Li Shang, who was putting out a cigarette with his fingers.
As if sensing something, the latter suddenly looked up toward the crowd, and Feng Mu discreetly lowered his head.
Even though there was a Chief Constable from the Patrol Office living at home, theoretically Feng Mu shouldn't be unfamiliar with the Patrol Office, but actually, today was Feng Mu's first time witnessing how the Patrol Office handled a case.
Feng Mu's understanding of this world deepened further.
"Dark, it's truly too dark. Each of them has a black heart and ruthless hands, very dangerous. I absolutely, absolutely cannot be targeted by them."
Feng Mu exhaled a breath, his mind suddenly drifting, pondering,
"Is Feng Ju's style of handling cases like this too?"
.....
In the afternoon, the class bell rang.
The students reluctantly returned to their respective classrooms, Feng Mu unobtrusively left the crowd and walked into the administration office.
The body had been discovered, the murder case confirmed, he had no reason to linger at the school any longer.
Within less than three minutes, he walked out of the administration office, stuffing the thin graduation certificate (withdrawal approval) at the top of his backpack.
He pushed his bicycle out of the campus, stopped to glance at the plaque of Academy 47, feeling a mix of emotions.
"In my previous life, though it wasn't at a top university, I at least completed full-time graduate school. Who would have thought in this life, I hadn't even finished college before getting kicked out, heh—"
It wasn't out of sentiment for Academy 47, Feng Mu had no particular affection for this alma mater, he was reminiscing about himself, about the version of himself in the ivory tower of his past life.
Never to see it again in this life!
Feng Mu turned his back on the school gate, pushed off twice, mounted the bicycle, and pedaled downhill, passing the district government building, passing the hardware store, passing the Patrol Office…
Screech.
The bicycle wheels stopped, shadows cast on the ground tilting, blending with the constant black smoke from the smokestacks of the crematorium blending back into the earth.
At the entrance of the crematorium, Wang Jian deep in a thick mask, pocketed his phone, and waved to Feng Mu.
The screen still on, showed a thread of read messages:
[04:04
Feng Mu: I didn't notice the group message earlier, congrats on getting into the crematorium, though it's tiring, you manage to get a bite after all.
Feng Mu: I'm out of luck, my dad favors my sister, doesn't care about me, I don't even know where to go to eke out a living after dropping out.
Feng Mu: Hey, is the crematorium hiring, I'm gonna go handle my withdrawal tomorrow, can I come by and have a look after?"
09:27
Wang Jian: Just woke up.
Wang Jian: The plant lost two of the Calamity Corpses burning workers last month, I'm replacing one, there's still one spot available, wanna come?"
13:27
Feng Mu: Someone died in school, scary.
Wang Jian: ???
Wang Jian: What happened, spill the details.
Feng Mu: Pulled a body out from the old warehouse, can't explain in a few words, will tell in detail when we meet in the afternoon.
Wang Jian: Alright, I'll meet you at the crematorium entrance then.
17:11
Feng Mu: I'm here.]