214: Stigma and Rainy Night

"What is even more heartbreaking is..." Director Zhang on the TV took off his glasses and wiped the corners of his eyes.

"According to the preliminary investigation, the culprit behind this explosion is none other than the accompanying Deputy Captain of the Criminal Police Team, Su Qingxue. Based on the on-site investigation, Su Qingxue is suspected of being turned by a criminal syndicate, detonating the bomb, and brutally murdering Comrade Chen Mo."

Crash.

The bottle of iodine in Su Qingxue's hand fell to the floor and shattered into pieces.

"Bullshit!"

She rushed to the TV, wishing she could smash the screen. "He's spouting nonsense! It was clearly him... He was the one who gave the order to fire!"

"He is telling a story."

Chen Mo sat in the shadows, his voice terrifyingly calm. "A story with no living witnesses to refute it."

On the TV, Director Zhang put his glasses back on, his eyes peering through the lenses as if looking directly at them through the screen.

"Currently, the police have issued an A-level arrest warrant for the criminal suspect Su Qingxue and her accomplice, Ninth Master. If any citizens discover clues, please report them to the police immediately. We will never tolerate such scum who betray the police badge."

The screen froze on the ID photos of Su Qingxue and Ninth Master.

As for Chen Mo.

His photo had turned black and white, with the word "Martyr" written below it.

"Brilliant."

Ninth Master pulled a piece of joss paper from under his backside to wipe his sweat. "This move is fucking vicious. By hailing you as a martyr, you can't show your face. The moment you show your face, it's like a corpse rising from the grave; it makes you a fake. By branding the girl Su as a wanted criminal, anyone who helps her becomes an accomplice."

Su Qingxue leaned against the wall, her body trembling slightly.

She wasn't afraid.

She was disgusted.

That senior she once respected, that old man who represented the authority of the forensic world, was now using the most righteous rhetoric to weave the filthiest of lies.

"We've been isolated."

Su Qingxue turned around, her eyes red. "Right now, the police in the entire S City are looking for us. As long as we step outside, we don't even need Old Zhang to take action; the patrol officers will turn us into sieves."

"That's why we can't go outside." Ninth Master pointed to the ceiling. "We have to burrow."

"No."

Chen Mo suddenly stood up.

He walked over to a paper-crafted boy and reached out to touch its pale paper face.

"The dead have no say." Chen Mo said softly, "As long as I remain a 'martyr,' we are destined to lose this game."

"What are you planning?" Ninth Master looked at him vigilantly. "Turn yourself in at the TV station? Say you aren't dead?"

"I'm going to resurrect."

Chen Mo turned around, his eyes shining terrifyingly in the dim light. "Since he says I died in that laboratory, I have to go to a place where only the dead stay to prove that I am still alive."

Su Qingxue was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized. "The Municipal Bureau Forensic Center?"

"Old Zhang must be working overtime tonight."

Chen Mo pointed to his own ear. "I saw it in the video. He was performing surgery, but he wasn't wearing gloves. That wasn't to save a life; it was to retrieve something."

At the end of that video, Old Zhang said, "The seed has been planted."

If that "seed" wasn't in the manor's laboratory, then it must be in the place he trusts the most.

The S City Public Security Bureau, second basement level, Forensic Autopsy Center.

That is his absolute domain.

"You want to break into the Municipal Bureau?" Ninth Master shook his head like a rattle-drum. "Are you crazy? That's a nest of police! We're A-level wanted criminals now! We'd get headshot by snipers before even reaching the front gate!"

"That's during the day."

Chen Mo walked to the window and pushed it open a crack.

It was raining outside.

A torrential downpour.

Thunder rolled, and raindrops pounded on the tin roof, creating a loud pattering noise.

"In such a heavy thunderstorm, surveillance cameras will suffer interference, and the patrol dogs will also be ineffective."

Chen Mo took a deep breath of the damp air. "Most importantly, the thunder can mask a heartbeat."

"Mask whose?"

"Mine."

Chen Mo pressed his chest. "And it can also mask the sound of killing."

...

Two in the morning.

The S City Public Security Bureau building.

The rain was pouring down, and the entire city was shrouded in a thick curtain of water.

The Municipal Bureau building was still brightly lit, but most of the police force had been sent out to search for the "wanted criminals," so there weren't many people left on duty.

Second basement level.

This was the coldest place in the entire building.

The sensor lights in the hallway flickered on and off, and a faint smell of formalin drifted in the air.

Two young forensic interns pushed a cart, walking past while yawning incessantly.

"Hey, have you heard? That Chen Mo died."

"I heard. It's so tragic. I heard the body was blown to bits, and they only recovered a few pieces of bone."

"The Director was just crying in the autopsy room earlier, saying he wanted to piece those bones together personally to leave Consultant Chen with a complete body."

"The Director really is a sentimental person..."

The two chatted as they pushed the cart into the elevator.

The hallway returned to silence.

The moment the elevator doors closed, the grille of the ventilation duct was gently moved aside.

A black shadow slid down silently like a gecko.

When Chen Mo landed, his knees bent slightly, not even stirring up a speck of dust.

He was wearing a black hoodie he had swiped from the paper craft shop, wearing a mask, and his whole person seemed to melt into the shadows.

He closed his eyes.

His hearing was fully engaged.

Every sound was amplified and dissected at this moment.

In the duty room upstairs, a policeman was eating instant noodles, and the sound of slurping noodles seemed to be right in his ear.

In an office on the left, the humming of a computer fan.

And... the sound of heartbeats.

There were only three people's heartbeats on the second basement level.

Two were in the security room, with steady heart rates; they were likely asleep.

And one more, in the room at the end of the hallway.

Autopsy Room No. 1.

That heartbeat was very strange.

Thump—thump—thump—

It was very slow. Only forty beats per minute.

And every beat was accompanied by a subtle sound of mechanical friction.

Chen Mo opened his eyes abruptly.

That sound, and the sound in his own chest, were practically cut from the same mold!

"Found him."

Chen Mo pressed his earpiece and whispered, "He's inside. And he's not alone."

Su Qingxue's lowered voice came through the earpiece: "We are in position at the power distribution room. Giving you thirty seconds."

"Do it."

Snap!

The lights on the entire floor went out instantly.

The moment darkness fell, Chen Mo moved.

He didn't need light.

In his auditory world, everything around him was lines constructed by sound waves.

The echo of the walls, the flow of the air, and even the vibration of that single drop of water hitting the floor clearly outlined the terrain map.

He was like a gust of wind, sweeping across the long corridor.

He arrived in front of the door to Autopsy Room No. 1.

The door was unlocked.

Or rather, for the person inside, this door didn't need a lock at all.

Chen Mo reached out and gently pushed open the heavy stainless steel door.

A thick, pungent smell of blood rushed to his face.

Borrowing the light from the lightning flashing outside the window, Chen Mo saw clearly the scene inside the room.

A person was lying on the autopsy table.

No, that couldn't be called a person.

It was a body with its chest cavity opened; all the ribs had been pried open and folded to both sides by a retractor, like a pair of bloody wings.

Old Zhang was standing right in front of the autopsy table.

He wasn't wearing the white coat that symbolized authority, but rather a rubber butcher's apron, holding a scalpel that was still dripping blood.

The darkness didn't seem to affect his movements.

He was carefully stitching something inside that opened chest cavity.