Bai Song had a headache. In their original operation plan, his looks, build, and personality had been the closest to Zhang Youzhi's, making him the best candidate to play her pretend boyfriend.
Unfortunately, Li Douyu had no interest in him.
Their repeated "chance encounters" at North Lake Park had already thoroughly infuriated the target.
If Gu Yu hadn't held her back, the target probably would have charged over and beaten him up.
From that moment on, he had known this mission probably wouldn't succeed. Unlike their previous targets, Li Douyu had clearly been under sustained mental strain for a long time. She was hypersensitive to the slightest disturbance and regarded most strangers with hostility.
Their appearance had only pushed Li Douyu closer to a breakdown.
She would never trust anyone again.
Honestly, Bai Song felt rather sorry for her.
A girl had taken a train all alone to an unfamiliar city a thousand li away. Everyone around her had ulterior motives, and she had been followed and watched for over half a month... yet she was still trying to find someone to lean on, someone she was destined never to find...
At noon that day, after his partner Gu Yu had been reduced to tears of frustration, a disheartened Bai Song had reported to Si Weizhe and requested that they stop deliberately approaching Li Douyu.
They would be better off visiting her openly, offering a sincere apology, and calming her down. They just needed to hold out until the hypnosis expert arrived tomorrow...
Everything would get better.
Carrying bags of various sizes, Bai Song passed the attic Li Douyu rented out of habit and unexpectedly spotted a filthy, disheveled man furtively peering toward her lodgings.
"What's he up to?"
Bai Song frowned and folded his arms, watching him coldly from a distance.
Perhaps sensing someone watching him, the creep turned around and spotted Bai Song.
"Heh, heh." The man gave two awkward chuckles, nodded and bowed to Bai Song, then ran off.
Watching his retreating figure, Bai Song instinctively started after him, but glanced at the gifts in his hands and stopped.
"Forget it. I'll head back first and come over tonight."
Darkness soon fell.
Li Douyu was a little hungry. She couldn't cook. Usually, Zhang Youzhi cooked and she washed the dishes; they each had their assigned chores.
She needed to go out for food.
Li Douyu put on her sunglasses and mask out of habit, added a sun hat, and headed out in a trench coat.
Although Li Douyu was making a real effort to watch her surroundings, she still missed a few things. That repulsive man clearly knew the streets and alleys here better than she did.
Carrying a takeout container, Li Douyu hurried back.
She soon noticed someone following her, but kept her composure. Copying what she had done that afternoon, she ducked through the streets and alleys, trying to shake the stalker behind her.
This time, however, she had miscalculated. He clearly knew the area better than she did, and with it being nighttime, she was having trouble finding her bearings.
As the footsteps drew closer, the girl began to panic. She broke into a jog, trying to reach somewhere crowded.
It was already too late.
The filthy, disheveled man stepped out of the shadows in the alley, drooling and giggling, blocking the only way through.
"Who's there?"
"Heh... heh, heh. Let me touch you. Just once, and I'll let you go." Grinning like an idiot, the man spread his arms and began jogging toward Li Douyu.
"Your whole fucking family must be dead. Get the hell away from me." Li Douyu hurled her takeout container into his face, splashing broth all over him.
The man didn't care. He even picked grains of rice off his clothes and stuffed them into his mouth.
"Just one touch. Let me touch you once and I'll let you go."
Goose bumps rose all over Li Douyu. As the man approached, a vicious resolve took hold of her instead. She pulled a fruit knife from her pants and pointed it at the pervert, her eyes red as she screamed at him to get lost.
The creep paid no attention and lunged at her instead.
Li Douyu's resolve hardened. Rather than flee, she charged straight at him, driving the fruit knife toward his heart.
"Crazy bitch!" Startled, the creep barely dodged it, then pointed at Li Douyu and cursed her.
"Don't you fucking dodge!" Her hair hanging loose, Li Douyu looked utterly crazed as she raised the knife and slashed at him.
She slashed sideways and downward. The creep evaded several strikes, but one finally caught his face, drawing a vivid line of blood.
"You fucking bitch! I'll kill you!" Furious, the man threw himself at her.
Li Douyu didn't back down one fucking inch. Screaming that they would die together, she drove the fruit knife toward his throat.
Her movement was exactly like Zhang Youzhi's when he had stabbed Master Fang. Even the vicious determination behind it was identical.
Li Douyu grunted as the man kicked her away. Landing facedown, she struggled to push herself up.
"Ha ha ha ha ha!" Li Douyu laughed wildly.
The creep clutched his throat in disbelief. Blood spurted around the sharp fruit knife as he slowly collapsed, his body twitching uncontrollably.
Sirens rapidly approached from the distance. Li Douyu crawled to the body, washed the knife's handle in the pool of blood on the ground, then pressed the man's fingers onto it. Once she had finished, she tore open her coat, mussed her hair, and burst into loud sobs.
Li Fei rushed over with several officers. Li Douyu had actually called the police right at the start.
Li Fei and the others, who had been patrolling nearby, had responded very quickly, but they were still too late. They arrived just in time to see the scene before them.
"Quick, restrain the suspect," Li Fei ordered.
Several officers immediately pounced like cheetahs, pulled Li Douyu aside to protect her, then swiftly pinned down the corpse to stop him from moving.
Li Fei: ...
Elsewhere.
Half an hour earlier.
After returning, Bai Song had remained uneasy. At his insistence, the five-person team decided to visit Li Douyu ahead of schedule.
Three men and two women stood beneath the attic Li Douyu rented, carrying bags of food. Looking up at the dark window, they all felt the same ominous premonition.
"Bai, where is she?" Si Weizhe asked.
"Hard to say. Maybe she went out to buy food. Her file says she can't cook," Wen Xuanjing answered from beside him.
"She'll probably be back soon." Nanmen Yingyun idly turned the Wangzai gift pack around in her hands, unconcerned.
"No, something's wrong." Bai Song's brow furrowed.
"Based on her habits, she should have been back long before now," Gu Yu added, further confirming Bai Song's suspicions.
"Given the suspicious person Bai described, the target may be in danger," Si Weizhe analyzed calmly.
"Put down the food. We'll split up and look for her."
At his command, the five of them split up.
Soon, sirens rang out, and all five ran toward the sound, one after another.
"Captain Fei, she's fine. The corpse is already dead, and we didn't find a suspect at the scene," a young officer reported, coming up to Li Fei.
Li Fei said, "Have you considered the possibility that by 'suspect,' I meant that girl?"
The young officer glanced at the pitiful, helpless girl. "Huh? Surely not."
"Right, of course not. How could she possibly be a suspect? Who's this dead man? He looks familiar," Li Fei asked.
"A local lowlife. He's been locked up six times for molesting passersby. No family, and because he was mentally ill, we could only hold him for two weeks before letting him out. Good riddance," the young officer said indignantly.
"Understood. Bag the fruit knife and take it back for fingerprint testing..." While the two were talking, something happened.
Long staff in hand, Nanmen Yingyun stormed into the alley, only to exchange an awkward look with an officer who was examining the scene with a flashlight.
"Who are you?" Li Fei demanded.
"I, I'm, um, a friend of my best friend. She called me, so I came to save her." Nanmen Yingyun pointed at Li Douyu, who was being comforted.
Everyone turned to look at her.
Li Douyu shrank back in fear and firmly shook her head. "I don't know her. She's been following me around lately."
The officers turned their attention back to the woman holding the staff.
Nanmen Yingyun flew into a rage. "Oh, come on! This is the seventh time we've met! How many times have we told you we mean no harm? Why are you so damn stubborn?" As she spoke, she slammed the end of her staff down, producing a dull boom in the alley.
"D-don't hit me." Li Douyu hid behind a young officer.
Nanmen Yingyun: ???
Who said I was going to hit you?
Li Fei snorted. "Take this woman in too."
Startled, Nanmen Yingyun held her staff across her chest and assumed a fighting stance, startling several officers. For a moment, she looked as though she was about to charge over and snatch Li Douyu away.
Clack, clack, clack.
A chorus of pistols being cocked sounded in front of her.
Nanmen Yingyun promptly put down her staff and squatted on the spot with her hands over her head, cursing under her breath.
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