Duan Jun

The police station received an emergency call.

A terrorist attack had taken place at the Black and White Apartments.

A terrorist had been throwing grenades wildly on the sixth floor, and the explosions had left the whole building on the verge of collapse.

Public security in the old district was terrible because the consortium didn't allocate enough funding to it. There weren't many police officers here, much less advanced gear like the robotic cops produced by the Suzuki Consortium.

Even so, a terrorist attack was a major incident.

Several police cars came racing up and stopped outside the Black and White Apartments.

The door of the lead car opened, and two men, one old and one young, stepped out.

Both wore bulletproof vests and carried pistols at their waists. One was over fifty, with a dispirited look on his face.

His name was Yang Dehai, a senior inspector at the old district police station.

The other was young and seemed to have only just joined the force. The righteousness on his face had yet to be worn away by reality.

His name was Duan Jun, a probationary officer.

They stood in front of the car and looked up at the apartment building.

The sixth-floor windows were shattered, and the walls had cracked. Thick black smoke still drifted out through the windows and into the night sky.

But the explosions had already stopped.

The terrorist who had thrown the grenades seemed to have fled.

"Good thing he ran. Kid, come with me. Let's go clean up the mess."

With that, Yang Dehai waved to Duan Jun, drew his pistol, and walked into the building.

Duan Jun followed close behind, his expression grave.

The two entered the building and climbed the stairs through the dark corridor. By the time they reached the fourth floor, they could see cracks in the walls.

This terrorist attack had been no small one.

By the time they reached the fifth floor, the stairs had even collapsed. The two men formed a human ladder to reach the sixth floor, where they were met with broken walls and rubble. Several apartments had been blown apart, and it seemed some residents had been caught up in the blast. There was no telling how many had been killed or injured.

"You're finally here."

A voice suddenly rang out in the corridor.

Duan Jun switched on his flashlight and shone it into the darkness. He saw a tall, thin, naked young man sitting on two corpses piled atop each other, playing on his phone out of sheer boredom.

The sight made Duan Jun's eye twitch and Yang Dehai narrow his eyes.

The two corpses beneath the young man had been mangled beyond recognition. They seemed to have taken the full force of countless grenades, their limbs mutilated and their bodies burned black. The strange young man sat on them just like that, his skin stained black and red.

"Hey, hey, hey. What are you spacing out for?"

The young man spoke again, finally bringing Yang Dehai and Duan Jun back to their senses.

Two pistols pointed at Xia Lin. He clicked his tongue with a smile and raised his hands helplessly.

"Listen, I'm the one who called the police. I'm also the one who killed them, and I threw the grenades too."

"Yeah, I guess I'm the terrorist from the emergency call. I'm turning myself in now, so let's put the silver bracelets on me first. I'll go back to the station with you, take a break, and get some sleep."

As he spoke, Xia Lin bared his teeth and looked toward his apartment.

There was no doubt that the apartment had been blown to pieces... Xia Lin had nowhere to sleep tonight.

At that thought, Xia Lin turned back with a smile.

"Your station has beds, right?"

"Name!"

"Xia Lin."

"Age!"

"Twenty-three."

"Occupation!"

"Unemployed... Well, you could also say I'm a reserve Fierce Martial Arts fighter."

The words "Fierce Martial Arts fighter" made Yang Dehai and Duan Jun look up at Xia Lin.

Xia Lin had changed into clean clothes by now.

But his somewhat slender build was hard to associate with a Fierce Martial Arts fighter.

Just then, Xia Lin yawned, making Duan Jun frown.

He didn't like Xia Lin.

From the very beginning, the man had shown a lack of respect for the law and those who enforced it.

The way he talked about going to the police station, it sounded less like submitting to justice and more like finding an inn.

Killing people and destroying a building didn't seem like breaking the law to him either, but more like an everyday activity such as eating or drinking.

"So, are you done asking questions? If you are, find me a bed. I'll take a quick nap. I won't have any free time after this."

Duan Jun laughed in anger.

"Just what the hell do you think this place is, kid!?"

Xia Lin raised an eyebrow. "A police station. What else could it be? So you do have beds, right?"

Duan Jun said, "You fucking killed people..."

Xia Lin nodded. "Yeah, I killed two."

Duan Jun said, "Five! Five people!"

"Oh, oh, oh. Five, then. But I didn't mean to kill the other three."

Duan Jun's face grew redder and redder.

He really wanted to slap Xia Lin across the face a few times.

Yang Dehai, however, merely sighed softly.

"North Wind Consortium?"

Xia Lin looked at Yang Dehai and smiled.

"North Wind Martial Arts School."

"But you're not wrong, either."

Expressionless, Yang Dehai continued like a cold machine. "The deceased have been identified. One was Li Zaishui, leader of the Zaishui Gang. The other was Huang Yue, a retired Fierce Martial Arts fighter who fought twelve low-level Savage Martial Arena matches and one Intermediate Savage Martial Arena match."

With that, he shook his head, unwilling to say anything more.

He simply tugged at Duan Jun and stood up to leave.

Then Xia Lin's voice rang out again.

"A bed."

Duan Jun was furious and had just reached out when Yang Dehai moved after him but got there first, grabbing him.

Still expressionless, he looked at Xia Lin and squeezed out four words through his teeth.

"Go to the rest room."

Duan Jun froze.

Xia Lin, however, smiled.

Still wearing handcuffs, he stood up and walked over to Duan Jun.

"Lead the way. What are you waiting for?"

Duan Jun didn't understand what was happening. He turned to ask his senior about it, only to see that Yang Dehai had already left the interrogation room, his back growing more hunched.

Two sentences reached Duan Jun's ears.

"Listen to me."

"And listen to him."

In the small rest room, Duan Jun sat in front of the bed, looking at the handcuffed Xia Lin.

Soft snores sounded.

Xia Lin seemed to have actually fallen asleep.

Thinking of the five lives lost in the building and seeing Xia Lin's sleeping face, Duan Jun felt as though a knife were twisting in his heart.

"What's wrong with this world!?"

But it wasn't Duan Jun who said it. It was Xia Lin, lying on the bed.

Duan Jun stared at Xia Lin in surprise and saw that he had opened his eyes and was grinning at him.

There was something wicked in his gaze, and something strange about his smile.

"I'm doing a voice-over for you, saying what's in your heart," Xia Lin said with a smile. Then he looked away, turned his gaze to the ceiling, and continued, "The dead are lying in a cold morgue, while the killer gets to lie in a comfortable police station rest room."

"And it's foreseeable that the killer won't be punished by the law."

"No, you're wrong," Duan Jun said coldly. "You will be punished by the law."

Xia Lin smiled and shook his head. "Actually, I won't."

"Kid, you haven't thought enough, and your thinking is too idealistic."

He sat up in bed and leaned toward Duan Jun, who instinctively leaned back, trying to put some distance between them. "I'm older than you."

When he said that, Xia Lin shook his head again. "I'm calling you a kid not because of your age, but because of your understanding of society's rules."

Looking at the young police officer in front of him, whose eyes still shone, Xia Lin sighed softly and spoke slowly.

"Let me give you a brief rundown of what's going to happen next."

He glanced at the electronic clock on the wall.

"After all, I'll be leaving soon. We don't have much time left to chat."