Chapter 3: Blood-Colored City

  Three months later.

  Zhao Shi rented a two-bedroom, one-living room apartment of over 60 square meters. Although it's not too far from the city government, he chose this place because of its convenient transportation and accessibility in all directions. The principle of "darkness under the lamp" also applies here.

  Now Zhao Shi is an ordinary police officer in the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Department. His fake file states that this 38-year-old police officer rose to the municipal bureau step by step, with no deep background, high school education, no parents, unmarried, simple origin, and nothing that would attract attention. It was just a coincidence that he entered the Municipal Bureau, as the Criminal Investigation Department needed to supplement its personnel, and a leader in the personnel department casually pointed him out, and this grassroots police officer started working at the municipal bureau.

  This person can do anything and doesn't complain, although he's a bit eccentric and quiet, not very close to anyone, but he doesn't seek credit or cause trouble, and won't speak nonsense. He does whatever I tell him to do, so the criminal investigation team is very happy to have such a good "old reliable" like him.

  Zhao Shi slowly opened the door to the basement, which was a stark contrast to his simply decorated living room. The basement could only be described as luxurious, with nanomaterial soundproofing and a large, long rectangular table in the center of the room. Several chairs were arranged around the table, and the floor was made of ordinary marble, which people generally no longer use in their homes due to its radiation. What's more, there were two secret doors that led to the city's underground pipeline system. One could be used for escape, while the other allowed for the disposal of garbage directly into the underground water circulation system, all without anyone noticing.

  At this time, however, the chair in the basement had a big live person tied up on it, a man in his 40s named "Jī Máo" (Chicken Feather), perhaps because he watched too many Hong Kong triad movies and got such a weird name. His real name was Bái Guóqìng, people born in the sixties seem to all have such a red and dedicated name.

  But this guy didn't have any thoughts of serving the country or the people, he was a small leader of S City's largest underworld gang, the Wild Wolf Gang. Zhao Shi chose to take action against him for two reasons: first, his position was very suitable, it was a transitional position, responsible for collecting profits from all entertainment venues in S City's southern district every month and then delivering them personally, he also controlled many "chicken heads" (informants), could see big shots, and had very timely information. Second, this guy was truly an insignificant small figure, if he went missing for a few days, no one would care about him.

  Information is just information, some things Jin Chengmin can't get his hands on, so Zhao Shi still has to take matters into his own hands.

  Bai Guoqing's body was stripped bare, his tattoos all over his body looked a bit dazzling, as if this guy was afraid that others would not know he was from the underworld, with hardly any empty space left on his body.

  Now that the summer has passed and students have started school, the weather has begun to cool down. If it were normal, it would be fine, but in the basement where sunlight is rarely seen, it's always dark and humid. With Zhao Shi turning on the air conditioner, blowing out a gentle breeze, and pouring a basin of cold water before leaving, this kid was still full of energy earlier, chattering non-stop. But after just one day, he has become shivering all over, probably struggling to utter a single word.

  Dealing with such a small fry didn't require him to put in so much effort, Zhao Shi glanced at Bai Guoqing with some disgust as he went down to the basement. The two of them were originally worlds apart, but now in Zhao Shi's eyes, his opponent was insignificant, like ants that could be crushed to death with just a wave of his hand. But perhaps because the memories of those years were too deeply ingrained, thugs and gangsters who fell into his hands had to suffer first before anything else.

  He moved a chair and sat down in front of his opponent, seeing that the opponent's head with a hood turned around immediately, apparently his body was still okay.

  "What... what kind of person are you? Which... which path is this, does anyone know who Laozi is?" Bai Guoqing's voice trembled as if he had Parkinson's disease. His heart was actually filled with indescribable fear. This method was usually used by police when interrogating prisoners, but this wasn't a police station. He was certain of that, but the more it seemed so, the more worried he became. Dealing with the police would always be easier than dealing with fellow gang members on their own turf. The opponent shouldn't take things too far, right? He had a glimmer of hope in his heart.

  A cold voice came, "I only need to ask you a few questions, if you answer correctly I will let you go, but if you deceive me, you will regret it."

  Don't bother answering for now, to save you from suffering, I can tell you one thing, I have a knife in my hand, very sharp. If you answer incorrectly once, I'll shave off a layer of your scalp. I've tried it before, with my skills, I can shave up to thirteen times, a rather unlucky number. Afterwards... well, you'll be able to see your brain and brains too. Hmm, not quite skilled enough yet, I remember someone who could shave up to sixteen times, but he was abnormal, and I'm not. I just want to know what I want to know. Before lying, take a moment to weigh it out, don't worry, we have plenty of time to play this game. The police and your Wild Wolf Gang brothers won't come to disturb us, you've only been missing for a day, and this month's account has just been reported, so no one should be looking for you at this time...

  Bai Guoqing's heart sank completely. Since the other party knew everything and also knew he was from the Wild Wolf Gang, and the other party wasn't a police officer, things had gone bad.

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  Zhao Shi came out of the bathroom, the bloody smell on his body had been completely covered by the scent of shower gel and shampoo. It was the first time in years that he hadn't gotten bloodstained. At this moment, he felt a little excited, but unfortunately, his opponent wasn't a strong warrior, not even a bit challenging.

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  The second missing person was one of those who invited Hu Weiguo to drink, this guy had to go on a business trip to G city, unfortunately became the second victim, because this person disappeared for three or four days and there shouldn't be many people suspicious.

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  It had been three months and fifteen days, and this day happened to be National Day. Except for the people on duty as usual, everyone else in the Municipal Bureau was on holiday.

  October 1st, the citizens and government officials of S city will forever remember this day. On that evening, four police officers were killed in an ambush, with one body not being discovered until six days later. By then, a string of murders had already taken place.

  First, the chairman of the Jade Stone Group, Duan Yongfa, also known as the leader of the Wolf Gang, was stabbed seven times in his mistress's home. The next morning, when he was found dead, his body had already stiffened. According to investigations, the murder weapon was an ordinary folding knife, and the technique was not professional, but no fingerprints or other traces were left behind. The killer was very familiar with the environment, broke in through the door, and the alarm sounded for a few seconds before stopping. Due to the negligence of the security guard, he did not discover anything, and even if he had discovered it, he would have thought it was just the owner accidentally triggering it, which is a very common occurrence.

  On the same night, Peng Ju, the big brother of the Wild Wolf Gang, was stabbed multiple times in a restroom at Minghai Entertainment City and died on the spot. The method was still clumsy and the murder weapon was not found. The scene was further destroyed by the crowd of onlookers who arrived later and the younger brothers he brought with him.

  Next, Li Shengli, who came with him, was stabbed five times in the chaos. In the chaos, no one even saw what the murderer looked like. The murder weapon was still the spring knife used to kill Peng Ju. The murderer's boldness and recklessness left people speechless.

  At the time of National Day holiday, although the police station tried to recall police officers after receiving the news, half of the personnel were still unreachable, which can be seen as a general sluggishness of national police officers.

  When some people started contacting Deputy Director Fang Guoli, his mobile phone was turned off and the home phone couldn't be reached either. Someone rushed to Fang Guoli's residence, but the originally lively Fang family mansion was eerily quiet.

  The first person to feel something was wrong burst open the door and rushed in. For a long time after that, this person's mind was somewhat abnormal, and his mouth kept saying things like "blood", "so much blood", "corpse", "so many corpses".

  But everyone who came to the Fang family's mansion later understood him. More than a dozen members of the Fang family, old and young, were all killed, even children were not spared. The murderer entered through the window and started attacking people in the house one by one. At that time, Fang Guoli's family, as well as his son and daughter's families, were all in the mansion, no one was spared. When people arrived, the murderer had just left, and even Fang Guoli himself had not died yet, his body was still twitching, until the ambulance came and he took his last breath.

  What shocked people the most was that on the front wall of the house, the murderer also left a few crooked words: "Know the law and break the law, the crime is increased by one degree."

  A shocking case that shocked the whole nation, a case that no one has dared to provoke the entire public security system so blatantly since the founding of the country. This is a naked provocation. As for the few words left by the murderer, they were naturally covered up intentionally or unintentionally.

  But that's not the end of it, just on the third night when people had just begun to realize that things were getting out of hand, three more police officers were killed, one of whom was stabbed multiple times in the back and died instantly while on duty. At the same time, the headquarters of the Wild Wolf Gang, also known as the Jade Stone Group's office building, was stormed by someone who killed all the leaders of the Wild Wolf Gang who were arguing at a meeting. This time, the killer's method was much more professional, with 24 people being killed with one fatal blow each. The last one didn't even make it to the door, and their underlings were still waiting in the parking lot downstairs, completely unaware of the abnormal situation upstairs. The killer left calmly, and as for the three security guards in the security room, they had already been killed when the killer broke in.

  This time, two people survived. One was Li Tao, the executive director of Yushi Group, who was on a business trip elsewhere and was rushing back when the incident occurred. The other was Huo Lan, the financial manager of Yushi Group, who had been sent out to sort out the finances. Both of them hid afterwards, too afraid to show their faces, until half a year later, when Fang Guoli's case gradually came to light, and the two were caught one after another.

  On the fourth day, Zhao Shi did not make another move. The police reaction was much faster than he had anticipated, and he was also summoned back to the police station. The risk of making another move was too great, and there were still fifteen people on his list, but he no longer planned to take action. Things had reached a point where even if he didn't make another move, those with ulterior motives already knew what was going on, and it would be impossible to cover up the fact that so many people had died, more than half of whom were police officers. This case was almost as big as the Wang Zhongwang gun murder case in the 1980s, and the Ministry of Public Security had sent someone to take charge of the case. As the investigation deepened, anyone who was implicated would definitely not be able to escape. Zhao Shi still had confidence in the efficiency of the national machine after it had been fully activated.

  Zhao Shi knew it was time to leave, his identity couldn't withstand investigation. The Provincial Public Security Department's director Fang Jun had already been removed from office and was under review. It could be imagined that as the underworld case unfolded, an audit of all personnel in S City Police Bureau would be inevitable. Perhaps in order to maintain stability in S City, the investigation might be conducted secretly in batches, but what was bound to come would eventually arrive.

  The National Day holiday had not yet ended, and he had already arrived at the train station. His destination was a small town on the China-Mongolia border. He carried 600,000 yuan in cash with him. He planned to cross the border into Mongolia and then enter Russia. This was his pre-planned escape route.

  But unexpectedly, Zhao Shi slowly walked into the train station ticket hall, first stopping at the entrance and casually scanning the crowded crowd in front of him. During the National Day holiday period, such scenes were very common, but his body immediately tensed up.

  A few people caught his attention, scattered around the entrance, dressed differently but all eyes fixed on the entrance, carefully observing everyone who came and went, with a tense and alert expression.

  They came so quickly, and at this time one of them saw Zhao Shi. His eyes lit up, and he took out a photo from his pocket. Zhao Shi didn't hesitate, turned around calmly, and walked out of the ticket hall before the man could shout. He took off his outerwear and threw it away, ignoring the strange looks of the people around him. He quickly disappeared into the crowd. A few people who followed him out stood at the entrance of the ticket hall, looking around, but Zhao Shi was nowhere to be seen. One of them immediately took out their phone and dialed a number. "Contact the Ministry of Public Security and have them issue a nationwide wanted notice. The suspect, Zhao Shi, is still in S City. Have all police officers in S City carry guns and seal off all highways, bus stations, train stations, airports, and inspect all hotels, entertainment venues, saunas... Be aware that we are dealing with a suspect who is a retired military personnel, has received special military training, and is highly skilled in combat and counter-surveillance. He may be armed and is extremely dangerous. Suggest that police officers shoot to kill immediately after confirming the suspect's identity, without any hesitation..."

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  Someone had betrayed him, and the slightly oily face of Jin Chengmin appeared in Zhao Shi's mind. He didn't feel much anger at being betrayed, as he never trusted that little brat from the capital anyway. So it was no big deal whether he was betrayed or not. Maybe he thought he was doing a great favor by betraying him? A cold smile floated to the corner of Zhao Shi's mouth.

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  "Dialing the phone number, 'Hello, I'm looking for Deputy Chief of Staff Jin at the Military Region Command. Tell him it's Zhao, his old comrade-in-arms, and he'll know who it is.'"

  After a while, Jin Chengmin's voice came over, but his voice was very low, "Stone?"

  I am.

  "Good grief, do you know what kind of trouble you've stirred up? The military district just issued an order, the special forces are on 24-hour standby, all because of you! You're quite something, I'll say that much. Only two people in the past could compare to you: Er Wang and Tan Chenglin..."

  "Brother, I'm asking you where are you now? The captain is right next to me. Even if not for the sake of our old friendship, but for the captain's sake, I should at least help you out a bit..." Just as he said this, the phone was hung up with a "click".

  Zhao Shi closed his eyes, and although he was cold-blooded and ruthless, at this moment, he still felt a pang in his heart. The captain, what a deep and profound comrade-in-arms! As for Jin Chengmin's words, he only believed one sentence - that the captain was right behind him. Jin Chengmin was still too young and inexperienced; back in their military days, he had been careless and lazy, and hadn't learned anything substantial. Before he could even say a few sentences, he started asking where he was? Like a foolish fool from a police movie, it was predictable. As soon as the captain heard his words, he knew he was in trouble, so he immediately hung up the phone, or else who knows what information would have been revealed to Zhao Shi?

  In the northwest direction of S city, Zhao Shi could imagine that there were many people waiting for him. Betrayal always makes people lose their minds, and warriors will always use blood to answer betrayal and selling out. Moreover, he had already given them a hint before, I will find you one by one, they should be thinking like this?

  A faint smile with deep sarcasm unfolded on Zhao Shi's face, but the last thread of warmth in his heart was completely severed. From then on, Zhao Shi was unencumbered and alone.

  He hailed a taxi and said, "Yin Yang Mountain." He handed the driver three 100-yuan notes. The driver didn't say a word and immediately started the car, heading towards Yin Yang Mountain in the southeast of S City.

  Yin Yang Mountain is also known as Ghost Mountain, with an elevation of only a few hundred meters. However, it has been passed down through the ages that this mountain connects the yin and yang worlds, with one half in the mortal world and the other half trapped in the underworld. Many ghost stories have been circulating among the people, saying that before liberation, a Japanese artillery battalion was stationed in the mountains, but one night, a thunderstorm struck, and fewer than ten Japanese devils were able to escape from the mountain. At that time, the common people were very superstitious, all saying that the Japanese soldiers had suffered heavenly punishment and been sent to the 18th level of hell in the underworld.

  After liberation, there were still a few archaeological teams or scientific expeditions that came here, but they didn't see anything unusual, so no one came again. Then it was the Great Leap Forward, the Great Steel Frenzy, and the "Ten Years". They said things like "We'd rather have socialist weeds than capitalist seedlings" and "Surpass England and catch up with America." Other places suffered greatly, and the mountains were all stripped bare, but no revolutionary youth dared to touch a single blade of grass or tree on Yin Yang Mountain. Firstly, it was because the old people stopped them, and secondly, some people who entered the mountain would often disappear. So until now, the vegetation on Yin Yang Mountain is lush, with many rare species remaining, including nationally protected primeval forests.

  Zhao Shi was going to cross the Yin-Yang Mountains and head to the southeastern coastal area, where dragons and snakes were mixed together, making it an ideal hiding place. If all else failed, he could even sneak abroad, which would be very convenient.

  After Zhao Shi entered the mountain, that night, a storm raged in the mountains with thunder and lightning, while S city nearby was calm and peaceful, as if it were two completely different worlds. The elderly people who knew about the unique weather conditions of Yin Yang Mountain would naturally say something like "someone has opened the ghost gate" and other superstitious words. Their children and grandchildren would refute them with irrefutable scientific facts, while experts would give even more incomprehensible explanations, talking about changes in magnetic fields and triggering thunderstorms, making people scratch their heads in confusion...

  No more idle talk, when Zhao Shi opened his eyes again that night in the mountain lodge, everything was different.