CH 72

Edited by: Dust Bunny

The dishes on the dining table were delicious. Gu Xizhou ate until he was perfectly satisfied and stretched himself out lazily. 

Si Yu and he spoke a few words, and he turned toward Fang Zhi and clapped him on the shoulder. Fang Zhi jumped and started to quiver. Gu Xizhou said with a grin, “What’s the matter with you? Are you spacing out?”

Fang Zhi turned around mechanically and was stunned for a moment. Then, he voiced his thoughts to Gu Xizhou. “Just now, inside the door, In the memories, I think I saw…”

If Yu Xue had told the police about her theft of Su Xiaomian’s identity when Lin San was reporting her missing, maybe Su Xiaomian wouldn’t have died… and those things that happened afterward wouldn’t have come to pass either.”

Gu Xizhou’s eyebrows slightly raised as he said, “There are two things in this world that you can’t look straight at: one is the sun, and the other is what’s inside people’s hearts.” 

Fang Zhi understood the meaning within Gu Xizhou’s words. Because they were police officers, they often saw the darkest side of human nature, and in the future, they would only see more and more. In the end, he only sighed.

“Why did the door appear when Yu Xue admitted she wasn’t Su Xiaomian?”

“Her wish should have been to tell Lin San that she was already dead, so he wouldn’t look for her anymore.”

He was silent for a moment, then he asked, “Then her wish was granted?”

Gu Xizhou thought to himself. He still didn’t know if the supernatural worlds were real or fake in the end, or what the significance of their missions inside was. Up until now, he’d discovered nothing, not even the reason for his own resurrection.

Now, the only thing he knew was that every time he succeeded in a mission world and escaped, the time of his life remaining would increase.

“That isn’t what we should focus on right now,” Si Yu said indifferently. It seemed he felt the topic was meaningless and was unwilling to discuss it.

Fang Zhi sighed. He knew that his question didn’t actually have an answer. The mission world itself and their present life countdowns suspended in the air both exceeded the limits of human comprehension. Inside these worlds, they were only ants struggling to find a way to survive. 

“Oh, that’s right, Si Yu, how much time did you get after clearing the mission?” Gu Xizhou asked Si Yu, breaking the silence.

Si Yu was silent for a moment as his line of sight suddenly flicked upward. Afterwards, Gu Xizhou heard Si Yu say, “The reward time is normal.”

Just as he thought, Si Yu’s time was deducted because he cheated and found those ghosts to ask for the solutions. Beating ghosts up doesn’t affect the reward. Gu Xizhou nodded, and the three people chatted for a bit again before Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi said goodbye and took their leave.

Gu Xizhou and Fang Zhi had just got to the car when Gu Xizhou’s phone started to ring. 

He looked at the name on the caller ID as he sat down in the driver’s seat and started to rub his brows as a headache emerged. He answered the phone, “En… What happened? Someone’s dead? The perpetrator escaped?”

“En… en, en. I got it. I’ll head to the scene right away.”

Gu Xizhou hung up the phone and said to Fang Zhi, “There’s been another incident. Someone was killed in the middle of the street. I want to go to the scene and take a look at the situation first. You…”

Fang Zhi nodded and interrupted Gu Xizhou, “Okay… Gu Ge… Let’s go together.” 

Gu Xizhou agreed. Originally, he wanted to let Fang Zhi go back and rest, but seeing as Fang Zhi didn’t want to leave, Gu Xizhou started the car and sped straight for the scene of the accident.

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The police officers to the side gathered the material evidence and presented it to him. There was a chalk outline surrounding the body on the ground as well as a vegetable knife dyed with blood. 

“Who’s the killer?” Gu Xizhou asked.

In response, the police officers showed tangled expressions. After less than half a minute, one opened their mouth with difficulty to say, “According to the statements of the two people traveling with the deceased, the one who attacked the deceased was his father, Xue Youxue.

“The killer is his father?” Gu Xizhou was surprised. He raised an eyebrow and said, “It’s confirmed?”

“They’re certain. The two people both said it was indeed the deceased’s father.” 

Gu Xizhou nodded and said, “Take the eyewitnesses to the station for questioning. Notify all the others to hunt down and arrest the perpetrator.”

Gu Xizhou looked around and noticed there was a camera above the supermarket entrance. He went inside with Fang Zhi.

The clerk inside was sitting on a chair, curiously looking outside. Gu Xizhou knocked on the desk and took out his badge, saying, “Hello, I just saw that your door has a surveillance camera. It should have recorded the scene of the perpetrator’s murder. We need to see it.”

The aunt stood up from the chair. She wore a long-sleeved black shirt under an yellow-orange coat marked with the supermarket’s logo. She enthusiastically helped Gu Xizhou bring up the video. 

Due to the violent crime taking place directly in front of the family supermarket entrance, the newly purchased security camera clearly recorded the scene of the perpetrator’s homicide.

The killer was an old man about 70 years old, and he was awfully thin and small. His skin was wrinkled and sagging. His actions were very clear. He came to find the deceased and the two began to argue on the road. The old man in the dispute drew out a vegetable knife from the back of his waistband and stabbed the deceased’s body.

The two people who came with the deceased were struck dumb, frozen in place. In the video, the old man continuously waved the knife. After chopping a dozen more times, the old man forced his way across the road and fled.

There was nothing brilliant about the old man’s criminal actions, just a simple and cruel attack with a bladed weapon out in the open. 

During the argument, Gu Xizhou heard voices from inside the monitor. Because of the distance, it was naturally indistinct, but some things could still be made out.

“Did you finally find your conscience?!”

“Conscience? What conscience?”

“Give me the house back and get lost! Get lost!!!” 

“What, your house? Open your dog eyes and get a good look at whose name is written on it!”

“Pa!”

Here, the deceased slapped the old man on the face. Then, the old man drew the knife from his trousers, but because of the sound of the surrounding people shrieking, Gu Xizhou was unable to hear what else the man said.

“At that time, I saw that old fellow chop someone down with my own eyes! It was too frightening!” The cashier seemed very afraid, but then she questioned Gu Xizhou in the spirit of gossip. “Police officer comrade, I just heard people say that the old slasher fellow was his father. Is that true?” 

One of the other employees clicked their tongue and sighed, saying leisurely, “Weren’t they arguing over a house in the video?” But in the end, it’s his own son. How could he do that?”

“Police officer comrade, what’s going on now?”

Gu Xizhou didn’t satisfy the aunt’s curiosity. Instead, he let the other officers copy the surveillance video and bring it to the station.

After returning to the station, Gu Xizhou hadn’t even warmed up his seat when he received a call that said the perpetrator had turned himself in. 

The old man showed up at the police station. Gu Xizhou looked down at the old man who was less than half his height. His eyes were dull, and one was suffused with an old yellow color. His hair was white, and he looked unwell. Once was detained and taken inside the station, he began to continuously cough.

Inside the interrogation room, Gu Xizhou sat opposite the old man, pushing a cup of water in front of him. The old man drank two mouthfuls and seemed to feel better, as he ceased to cough.

Gu Xizhou asked, “Speak, ba. Why did you commit murder?”

He didn’t raise his head and spoke while looking down. “Can I have a cigarette?” 

Gu Xizhou let a coworker outside bring in a cigarette and light it before handing it to the old man.

The old man took the cigarette and said thank you, taking a slow draw from it with a pleased expression. After a moment, he opened his mouth and began to speak in embarrassment. “Thank you. I haven’t had a cigarette for many years… I almost forgot what they tasted like.”

Gu Xizhou didn’t speak, calmly looking at him and waiting for him to talk about his motive.

After a moment, the old man finally opened his mouth to confess about the cause of the murder. 

“He’s not my son,” said the old man with a nostalgic expression. “At that time, I was homeless and couldn’t afford to marry a wife, so I married a divorced woman. He is the child that she brought from her previous marriage.

“I lived with that woman for less than two years. She disdained my poverty and abandoned Xue Chaoguo to run away with a wild man outside. Xue Chaoguo and I had lived together for two years, so we had some affection. I didn’t have the heart to abandon him, so I supported him through school and watched him start a family. I thought that everything was perfect. Even if I didn’t have children myself, I regarded him as my son.

“I worked a casual job these years to earn money for him, and in my leisure time I helped look after his child… After the farmland behind our house was occupied, there was a pretty good primary school built. He was very good to me at the time. Later, he asked me to transfer ownership of the house to his name under the pretext of sending my grandson to study there. I thought I could rely on him for the rest of my life… In any case, it would be set aside for him in the future, so whether it was early or late didn’t matter. I put the house under his name.”

The old man was silent for a moment before he continued. “After giving the house to him… his attitude toward me changed entirely, a complete 180. 

“He actually beat me, and he even drove me out of the house! In this lifetime, I gave everything to him even though he wasn’t my child. I had no ability and no money, but I raised him for so many years. How could he hit me and kick me out?” The old man suddenly began to weep silently. “I didn’t demand anything of him, ah, I just hoped for him to give me a room, a quilt, and a bite to eat…”

“I raised him for so many years. How could he act like this? I lived in a hole under a bridge, feeling very cold for a few sleepless nights. The more I thought about it, the more angry I got. Actually, if he was kind to me and spoke with me when I found him, I wouldn’t have killed him…” The old man’s voice was nasally, and he choked with sobs.

The old man confessed to the crime, plus there was the surveillance tape. The evidence was conclusive. Gu Xizhou was silent for a moment, then he went outside and bought two packs of Chinese cigarettes.

Fang Zhi gave Gu Xizhou a strange look and asked, “Gu Ge, you started to smoke again?” 

Gu Xizhou shook his head and said, “No, these are for that uncle.”

Fang Zhi: “He just said he hadn’t smoked for many years.”

Gu Xizhou: “Do you know why he hasn’t smoked for many years?”

Fang Zhi: “?” 

Gu Xizhou’s answer was to let Fang Zhi take the cigarettes to the old man.

Outside the interrogation room, Gu Xizhou heard Fang Zhi’s voice. “Can I ask you a question?”

The old man had an amiable countenance. It was unimaginable that someone like this would kill a man in the middle of the road. “Of course.”

“Why did you say you hadn’t smoked for many years?” 

The old man was undisturbed, and his whole mood was completely serene now. He answered, “Because I had no money. I wanted to support him.”

It went without saying who the ‘him’ was.

Fang Zhi came out and looked in at the crying old man inside the interrogation room who was smoking in silence. He looked very sad, and his eyes were red.

Gu Xizhou patted Fang Zhi on the shoulder and said, “Really, you can think about it a different way. His wish could be regarded as granted. It’s really unlikely he would get the death penalty at this age. In the future, he’ll have a place to live, a quilt, and a bite to eat.” 

“Okay, the case is cracked. Everyone worked hard, let’s go home, ba.”

Gu Xizhou returned home. He just opened the door when he saw his dog son running eagerly toward him. The dog squatted at his feet, cheerfully wagging his tail.

Then Gu Xizhou felt someone grab his shoulders and spin him around, apparently inspecting his body.

Gu Xizhou: “……” 

“Ji Ji, are you worried I lost a piece of meat somewhere?” Gu Xizhou teased. “Don’t worry, I’m not a weak chicken like you.”

After that, the door opened with a click, and he was kicked out along with his dog son.

“Hey, you’re throwing a fit again? You little angry ghost!” Gu Xizhou covered his ass painfully. Then, he recalled that when he had just gone in, he’d thrown the key inside the hallway cabinet…

He really wasn’t angry at all. Isn’t it just being kicked out by a ghost? 

Ah, ah, ah, ah! Angry, ah! Next time he absolutely won’t throw his key aside!

Just when the door closed, it suddenly opened again. Gu Xizhou thought that the ghost got over it and planned to go in… the dog rope steadily dropped from the sky into his hands. There was a small sticky note attached to the end.

The little note said: Walk the dog ^_^

Gu Xizhou looked at the little note while the dog son anxiously wound circles around his feet with its tail wagging like a little electric fan. 

“What are you wagging for?” Gu Xizhou rubbed the dog son’s head and tied on the leash. “If you keep wagging, it’ll snap!”

Bunny: Gu Ji Ji is the only ghost who can beat up GXZ

Crooked: I feel like this case was too easy