36: Chapter 36 A Lone Hero

When he followed Director Lu Feiming into the evidence room and saw the familiar items before him, Li Changsheng fell into silence.

His first thought was that he was finished—was he looking at three years to life?

But on second thought, that wasn't right. He hadn't done anything wrong, had he?

However, Li Changsheng didn't dare say much at this moment. The more he said, the more mistakes he'd make; it was better to understand the situation first.

"Mr. Li, these are physical evidence from a series of serial cases. We initially categorized them under the 'Magician' case, but subsequent developments led us to redefine it as the 'Feng Yuxiu' case."

Director Lu Feiming's opening statement left Li Changsheng even more bewildered.

Feng Yuxiu? It sounded very familiar.

"Look, this is the evidence we found in the first case. If I remember correctly, Mr. Li was also present at the time."

Lu Feiming smiled and gestured, "Mr. Li, please follow me."

With that, the two entered the adjacent conference room, where many police officers were already seated.

This was the first time Li Changsheng had seen so many police officers; it felt very strange.

"This is Mr. Li, an expert in Traditional Martial Arts. Mr. Li will serve as our technical consultant and assist us in the investigation. Everyone, let's give him a warm welcome!"

Following Lu Feiming's introduction, enthusiastic applause rang out in the office. Li Changsheng only nodded faintly; the situation was bizarre, and he was a bit unsure.

"This is Captain Zheng from the Armed Police Brigade. He used to practice a bit of Traditional Martial Arts as well. I hope the two of you can cooperate sincerely to solve this case together."

Immediately after, a dark-skinned middle-aged man with a square face smiled and nodded at Li Changsheng. Li Changsheng could only respond woodenly.

He felt like things were gradually spiraling out of control. How did just coming in to give a statement turn into this?

"Alright, let's start reviewing the cases. Everyone, look, this is the first case. A third party appeared at the scene, which drew our high attention."

As Director Lu Feiming spoke, the large screen began playing footage.

Looking at the screen, Li Changsheng became even more silent. Wasn't that him?

So I'm assisting in investigating myself?

Li Changsheng didn't dare say anything now, silently retreating to a corner without a word.

Meanwhile, Lu Feiming continued, "Then there's the second case, the Auntie Mei case. At that time, we captured the nationally wanted fugitive Auntie Mei and some of her accomplices, who had evaded capture for years. But similarly, there were signs that the mysterious person had acted again.

"Therefore, we paid even closer attention to this individual and made a bold guess: this is a dangerous element with extremist justice ideologies!"

Extremist justice? Dangerous element?

Li Changsheng's legs trembled slightly.

But just as Li Changsheng's heart was sinking and he wanted to cry out his innocence, Director Lu's voice continued.

"We thought the other party would lie low for a while after that case, but we found that it was only the beginning. Everyone, look, this is the third case!"

As he spoke, a new piece of footage began to play.

The footage was blurry roadside surveillance. It was a corner of an upscale residential area; no one was around except for a man standing there silently smoking.

But then, a person wearing a hoodie appeared in the frame, their face hidden under the hood.

At this point, it was clear that the smoking man didn't pay much attention to the appearance of the person in the hoodie.

However, just when everyone thought the hooded man would walk straight past the smoking man, that person suddenly struck.

The person kicked off, snapped their knees, aligned their hips, and twisted their waist—storing energy before releasing it in a fierce strike. A series of fluid movements that seemed like many steps, but when linked together, they were incredibly fast.

The waist bent sideways into a semi-arc, and both fists blasted out like cannon hammers.

One strike!

Looking at the smoking man again, his body flew back like a tattered sack, landing flat on his back in the flower bed. His body didn't even twitch; he was clearly dead.

Seeing this, Li Changsheng's brow furrowed instantly.

"The incident occurred in an upscale residential area in Nanshan. The deceased is named Chen Zhong, the owner of a private enterprise, and his other identity was one of the descendants of Choy Li Fut."

Lu Feiming spoke and then clicked on another video.

"This is the fourth case. Look, it's the same mysterious person, and again, a one-hit kill! The deceased was one of the descendants of Mo Family Fist."

Sure enough, on the screen, this time it was at the corner of a wet market. Similarly, no one was around. A person suddenly rushed out from the dark corner, and it was the exact same scene as before: both fists striking out together, a killing blow in one punch.

Seeing this, all the police officers had solemn expressions, and the entire conference room was shrouded in a dark cloud.

"Combining the four cases, our police station now has a theory. Captain Zhang, why don't you explain it?" Lu Feiming nodded toward Captain Zhang.

Hearing this, Captain Zhang stood up, looked around, and said in a heavy voice:

"From the first and second cases, it's not hard to see that this is a dangerous element who knows Traditional Martial Arts and has an extremist vigilante mindset. But from the third and fourth cases...

"We can see that this mysterious person is no longer satisfied with being a hero in the shadows; he has begun to develop in a more extreme direction. He might be a martial arts fanatic!

"Everyone should have seen that Feng Yuxiu movie. We now have reason to suspect this is that kind of person. As for why he changed from upholding justice to acting for personal desire..."

"I believe it might be because he is no longer satisfied with killing ordinary people."

"No longer satisfied with killing ordinary people? Are you saying he wants to challenge the entire Southern martial arts world? Or even the national martial arts world?" Captain Zheng, who knew a bit of Traditional Martial Arts, spoke up.

"It's possible," Captain Zhang nodded.

"But why doesn't he challenge them publicly? Why use such a dark and bloody method?" Captain Zheng asked suspiciously.

"Because true Traditional Martial Arts is for killing enemies, not for performance!"

Suddenly, a voice drew everyone's attention. Everyone looked toward the source and saw it was the previously silent Consultant Li.

Li Changsheng's face was a bit pale. He finally understood; he had been caught in the crossfire.

His actions were acts of bravery, but by some unfortunate coincidence, there happened to be a martial artist committing crimes at the same time, with less than a month between them. It was hard for people not to make a connection.

"Consultant Li, do you have any insights now?" Lu Feiming asked expectantly.

Everyone also looked at Li Changsheng, their eyes filled with hope.

Being stared at by so many pairs of eyes, Li Changsheng felt some pressure. After a slight hesitation, he said, "I practice the Half-Step Crushing Fist, which is one of the Xingyi Five Elements. His style does not belong to this category, but looking at the fist routines, it should be a style from here in Guangdong Province."

Being able to offer this insight was thanks to his recent conversations with Elder Zhang.

Elder Zhang had lived in Shenzhen for a long time and had gained some understanding of the local martial arts world; Li often heard him mention things about local styles.

"Southern Fist? Can you tell which specific style it is?" Captain Zheng was curious. He came from a Shaolin background, which is Northern Fist, and he really didn't understand Southern Fist."}],