Inquiries and Aftermath

Inquiries and Aftermath

In the mountain forest, Shen Ziming crouched down in front of Chen Sheng.

Muffled thunder rumbled intermittently in the sky above them.

It was going to rain.

"If I'm not mistaken, someone called the police just now."

"The nearest police station will take about half an hour to respond."

"Once the officers arrive, they'll infer that we're Qi Sense Users from the signs of destruction at the scene."

"Then they'll notify the Martial Security Bureau and begin going door to door with their investigation."

At this point,

Shen Ziming adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and glanced at his phone.

Then,

he looked at Chen Sheng.

Behind his lenses, his eyes held only the calm stillness of an ancient well.

As if he had not just killed a man, but slaughtered a chicken.

"We're lucky. It'll be raining soon, which will save us a lot of trouble."

"You have fifteen minutes to get home and clean off any traces on you."

"Other than coming here, tell the truth about everything else."

"The more lies you tell, the more holes there'll be. Remember that."

As he spoke,

Shen Ziming held Chen Sheng's head with one hand and pressed two fingers against the bridge of his nose.

"Bear with it."

Crack!

Chen Sheng's nose was set back into place.

"Your injuries aren't serious for a Qi Sense User. Don't go to the hospital; people from their organization might check the records."

"Just stay home and recover for a couple of days."

Leaning against a tree trunk, Chen Sheng listened to Shen Ziming.

But his gaze fell on the Pig-face Man nearby.

Blood continued to stream from the man's neck and seep into the ground.

His dull, lifeless eyes still retained the final emotions he had felt before death.

Resentment, fury, and disbelief mingled together.

I killed someone.

Chen Sheng suddenly realized it.

In his twenty-five years of life, he had never imagined that killing someone would happen to him.

He had personally snuffed out a life.

He should have been afraid.

Or panicked.

But strangely, Chen Sheng's heart was calmer than it had ever been.

And mixed into that calm was an unfamiliar emotion.

It seemed to be—

"Hiss—"

A sudden jolt of pain from his arm made Chen Sheng suck in a sharp breath.

It also pulled him back to reality.

Shen Ziming had set the bone in his arm as well.

"You seem pretty used to killing people."

Chen Sheng looked at Shen Ziming.

They had faced life and death together, yet knew very little about each other.

"If you do it often enough, you naturally get used to it."

Shen Ziming lowered his head and answered casually.

After a brief pause, he added,

"But everyone I kill deserves to die."

"Who decides that line?"

"I do."

"Fine."

As they spoke,

Shen Ziming helped Chen Sheng to his feet.

"Leave the rest to me. Go home first, and don't let anyone spot any flaws."

Chen Sheng did not leave immediately.

He looked at Shen Ziming hesitantly and opened his mouth.

What was it like to become a Qi Sense User? Why were some no different from ordinary people, while others treated human lives as worthless?

What exactly did the Pig-face Man and his organization want to do?

What were they looking for? And how had Shen Ziming come this far?

Chen Sheng had too many questions.

But in the end, he asked the one that troubled him most.

"After you Qi Sense Users kill enough people, do you all become indifferent to life and get the illusion that you stand above everyone else?"

Hearing this,

Shen Ziming smiled.

He seemed to see through Chen Sheng's doubts.

"You say that as if you aren't a Qi Sense User yourself."

"But you're wrong about that."

"Standing above all living things isn't an illusion. It's a fact."

"With our strength, we can do many things that others cannot and dare not do."

As he said this,

the indifference in Shen Ziming's eyes made Chen Sheng feel as though he were looking at a stranger.

But immediately afterward,

Shen Ziming changed the subject.

"But among those things, there are good deeds and bad deeds."

"What can be done, and what cannot."

"Who deserves to die, and who doesn't."

Shen Ziming tapped the spot over his heart.

"How you do it and what you choose is up to you."

As Shen Ziming's voice fell,

drip.

A raindrop fell from above and struck Chen Sheng on the tip of his nose.

As if reminding him that time was running out.

He gave Shen Ziming a long look, then turned and headed toward the riverbank.

"That settles the debt for the fruit and chocolate you gave me. We have nothing to do with each other from now on."

Before leaving, Chen Sheng waved his hand, as if drawing a clear line between himself and Shen Ziming.

He did not know why he had acted on impulse and come to save the other man.

Maybe he thought Shen Ziming was a good person who did not deserve to die.

Or maybe it really was because of those gifts.

In any case,

the two of them no longer had anything to do with each other.

Chen Sheng did not want to get involved in this messy business anymore.

He walked to the riverbank, picked up the Kitchen Knife and flashlight he had thrown away, and prepared to leave.

"Little Brother Chen."

But after only two steps, Shen Ziming called out to him again.

"I told you, I owe you my life."

"In a couple of days, I'll give you a big gift."

Chen Sheng froze.

"What big gift?"

Whoosh! Torrential rain came pouring down over them.

The sound of rain instantly filled the entire world.

Chen Sheng could only see Shen Ziming's lips moving.

He could not hear what the man was saying at all.

Afterward,

Shen Ziming ignored him and began searching the Pig-face Man's body.

Chen Sheng checked the time.

Twelve minutes remained.

He did not waste any more time and turned to run home.

Chen Sheng hurried onward.

Behind him, the downpour washed away every trace.

Ten minutes later.

Chen Sheng made it home safely.

The first thing he did was send Li Chenghu a WeChat message, telling him what had happened that night.

Just as Shen Ziming had said, he told the truth about ninety percent of it.

He only left out the part where he chased after Shen Ziming after the latter escaped.

After sending the message, Li Chenghu did not reply right away.

Chen Sheng took off all his clothes and tossed them into the washing machine.

Wearing only his underwear, he cleaned up the mud and water stains he had tracked in when he entered.

Only after finishing all that did he enter the bathroom to wash the bloodstains from his body.

Chen Sheng looked at himself in the mirror.

Every muscle on his body was sharply defined, evenly distributed across every part of him.

If he walked into a gym now, no one would think he was a beginner who had been training for less than two weeks.

"Hiss—"

Water ran over his wounds, making Chen Sheng grimace in pain.

Although the injuries on his hands looked like nothing more than bruises and swelling,

only Chen Sheng knew

that every blow from the Pig-face Man had sent Hidden Force into his body.

Now, even the slightest movement brought a needle-like pain from his injuries.

And that was only because the Pig-face Man had been ambushed by Chen Sheng, greatly reducing the power of his punches.

If the man had been at full strength, Chen Sheng felt certain that he would not have survived.

"A Hidden Force Warrior..."

"So strong."

Chen Sheng muttered to himself.

Water flowed over his body, carrying thin streaks of blood slowly down the drain.

After Chen Sheng left the bathroom, he pulled on a sweater to hide his injuries.

At this moment,

aside from his red, swollen, bloodshot nose, no other marks were exposed.

"Anyone home?"

Just then, someone knocked on the gate of the front yard downstairs.

Taking a deep breath, Chen Sheng calmed his slightly racing heart.

Then,

he picked up an umbrella and went downstairs.

When he opened the door, two police officers were standing outside.

Because it was raining and nighttime,

the officers had to shine their flashlights at Chen Sheng before they could see his face clearly.

"What's your name?"

"Chen Sheng?"

"What happened to your face?"

"I fell while practicing martial arts. I wasn't paying attention."

"Have you had any contact with this new neighbor of yours?"

"Yes. His name is Xu Ziwen. He's from a nearby school—"

"I've already told Captain Li Chenghu of the Martial Security Bureau about what happened just now. You can verify it with him."

"I'm his disciple."

Nine times out of ten, what Chen Sheng said was true.

He had also casually mentioned Li Chenghu.

After looking around the house and finding no clues, the two officers ended their questioning and moved on to the next household.