Change Occurs

Chapter 41: A Sudden Change

The case itself was not complicated, but the social impact it caused was immense.

However, while the cause and effect were clear, the suspicious points remained.

Why did a young child like Hao Bowen suddenly possess such astonishing strength?

Why did Li Degang know someone would kill him? He even knew the time, location, and method of his murder with perfect clarity.

Moreover, knowing he would be attacked, he did not flee. What was he afraid of?

Bai Yanliang returned to Rongyuan Residential Complex, packing his things while lost in thought.

"Hey, are you leaving just like that? Are you going undercover again?"

Yang Yiyi stood to the side, watching him with a conflicted expression.

Bai Yanliang looked up at her and smiled. "That's right. When Uncle Yang gets back, please tell him for me. Thank him for all the care he's shown me. I'm heading out."

"If you want to say it, call him yourself. I'm not doing it."

Bai Yanliang paused. To be honest, he didn't know how to face that middle-aged detective; after all, he still carried the status of a criminal.

According to his original plan, he would have said his goodbyes once he found a stable job in the next few days.

But... he hadn't expected Yanren to leave him three hundred thousand in savings. That was enough for him to live alone in Ye City for a long time.

Bai Yanliang picked up his luggage and stood up to bid Yang Yiyi farewell.

"Goodbye."

Watching his back as he left with his luggage, Yang Yiyi suddenly had a premonition—a premonition that she might never see this person again.

"Hey! I'm going to become a detective!"

Yang Yiyi shouted at Bai Yanliang's retreating figure.

Bai Yanliang's frame stiffened slightly. He looked back at the awkward girl from the Polytechnic Affiliated Hospital and suddenly smiled. "Alright. Once you become a detective, maybe you'll come to arrest me one day."

With that, Bai Yanliang waved his hand and stepped into the elevator.

"I told you not to just smile at girls like that..." Yang Yiyi muttered softly as she watched the elevator doors slowly close.

After leaving Rongyuan Residential Complex, Bai Yanliang found a random hotel to stay in temporarily.

There was another reason he didn't want to stay at Yang Wanlong's house any longer: Yang Yiyi's father, that detective, had been observing him constantly.

He opened the door, scanned the room, put down his luggage, leaned against the bed, and took out his phone.

In the chat history, Bai Yanliang saw the name Feng Xiuxue.

In truth, Bai Yanliang found her sudden invitation very strange. As a newcomer to the Mist Gathering, he was certain he had no connection to Feng Xiuxue. In real life, it was even less likely; one was a young man burdened with a murder charge who had spent his entire long adolescence in a mental hospital, while the other was a star active in all major media, with fans across the country—even a little girl like Yang Yiyi was obsessed with her.

What was her purpose in inviting him?

Bai Yanliang had pondered this question more than once.

Thinking it over, the only thing they could be connected by was the Mist Gathering. Perhaps... she wanted to ask him about the last mission in person?

Gradually, Bai Yanliang felt a wave of fatigue. He had been running around all day, and he slowly closed his eyes.

He never imagined that Feng Xiuxue's reason for finding him had nothing to do with the Mist Gathering, and that the connection between them was, in some respects, deeper than ever before...

Ye City Police Department, Jiangbei Branch.

Officer Wang stared at the corpse before him, his face ashen.

Hao Bowen was dead.

He had died in the detention center.

But everything before them was so bizarre that it made the scalps of every officer who saw the body tingle.

"What... what is going on here?"

"Investigate! Get me the surveillance footage!" Officer Wang roared, and everyone immediately sprang into action.

This was simply too bizarre!

The skin and muscle on Hao Bowen's face were a bloody, mangled mess—it was terrifying.

Blood dripped from his wrists, and bloody foam bubbled from his mouth as blood pooled across the floor.

The first officer to see this scene had nearly been scared out of his wits. At his call, everyone rushed over, naturally including Officer Wang.

What on earth was going on?

This was the detention center of the police station!

Who could be so daring as to commit murder inside a detention center?

However, after checking the surveillance footage, everyone's expressions became even uglier, accompanied by... an indescribable fear.

Several officers couldn't take it; they covered their mouths and rushed out.

The footage displayed on the monitor was simply too horrifying!

Officer Wang's hand pressed against the desk, veins bulging, his eyes locked onto the screen. In the footage, Hao Bowen remained hunched over, sitting cross-legged in the corner of the detention cell, a patch of darkness where details were difficult to discern.

Suddenly, Hao Bowen began to move. He reached out with both hands and started clawing at his own wrists. His fingernails were sharp, piercing his skin with ease before hooking into the veins beneath; blood spilled across the floor in an instant.

He did not stop there. His hands continued to reach upward, and his face was soon reduced to a bloody, mangled mess.

Finally... his body, slowly losing its breath, lay twitching in a pool of blood. From start to finish, not a single person had entered the detention cell, and Hao Bowen had not made a single sound throughout his act of self-mutilation.

The silent footage played the process of Hao Bowen's self-slaughter on a loop.

The police station was deathly quiet, save for the occasional sound of dry heaving or someone swallowing hard.

Officer Wang's pupils contracted violently; this veteran criminal investigator, with years of service under his belt, was struggling to maintain his composure.

"Investigate..."

As soon as Officer Wang spoke, he realized his voice sounded dry and hoarse, like that of a strange stranger.

"Captain... Captain Wang... how are we supposed to investigate this?"

Officer Wang turned around. Although the officers behind him said nothing, their faces were etched with visible terror.

This matter was too bizarre, too eerie.

How could a human being be so cruel to themselves?

Hao Bowen looked as if... he had been possessed by a monster.

"Everyone..." Officer Wang suddenly felt a wave of powerlessness. Even he had no leads; how was he supposed to investigate this? Hao Bowen's death had been captured clearly by the camera next to the detention cell, but... could this news ever be released to the public?

"Do your best to investigate. Find out who he had contact with, what strange things he might have said. At the very least... we must find a reason for this bizarre suicide."

"Yes... Captain Wang."