After hearing Song Xiaotian out, Meng Yifan and I were stunned.
After all that, he was still a cop, and his original undercover assignment had also been to investigate the Seven Deaths for a Life case.
Only later had that assignment turned into a crackdown on Lanjiang City's criminal underworld.
"Do you know why I spared no effort to help you from the very beginning?"
Song Xiaotian turned to look at me. "When I told you about that string of murders fifteen years ago, you told me about Seven Deaths for a Life. You directly connected the serial murders to the family massacre."
"You connected so many things. I spent a year undercover without finding the killer, but you gave me the answer straight out. You told me Lü Zhengxian was behind every case, and that Du Ruhai was Lü Zhengxian."
I was speechless. It took me a long moment to say, "I could only connect them because you gave me the clues..."
Song Xiaotian smiled bitterly. "Maybe it was fate. Destiny brought us together and let us learn the whole truth, yet left us unable to bring that man to justice."
"Do you know why I walked out just now, when Du Ruhai tried to turn me?"
"To stall for time so someone could bring Li Xiumei's ashes up," I said.
He shook his head. "Not really. When I saw Lin Zhifeng with Du Ruhai, I considered continuing undercover at Du Ruhai's side. But when I thought it through, if I'd truly committed to going undercover beside him, I would definitely have told him straight out where Du Mingyang's ashes were hidden. Then there would have been no way out tonight. It would have been a death trap."
Meng Yifan was puzzled. "Why would it have been a death