CH 123

Translated by Crooked

Edited by Dust Bunny 

Gu Xizhou frowned, looking at the already dead Qiao Jian in shock. The fear and trepidation in his heart gradually waned. It was only a coincidence; it had nothing to do with him.

Even though he thought about Qiao Jian being impaled by the nails like that, it was only a thought. He didn’t actually do anything.

“I saw it, too.” Seeing Gu Xizhou’s gloomy expression, Li Yan, who’d rushed over with the others, raised a small hand and spoke. “It really was the criminal’s carelessness that made him slip and fall on the nail. Leader Gu, don’t think randomly! We’re all government workers. Even if he was very despicable, we wouldn’t cross the line of the law!”

Xiang Yuan was with his family today and wasn’t at the police department, so the forensic detective was Li Yan. Gu Xizhou looked at Xiang Yuan’s little apprentice and nodded faintly. He first arranged for everyone to handle Qiao Jian’s body. Then he hurried over to the hospital with Fang Zhi and a few other officers. 

A land rover pulled up and parked at the Third Hospital. The doors opened and four young people got off and jogged all the way in.

Inside the hospital ward, Wang Shu saw her father looking at her tearfully. With a sob, she reached out and lightly stroked his aged face. “Dad, it’s not your fault. Don’t blame yourself.”

Wang Ao’s tears immediately fell. In all these years as a police officer, he’d never betrayed his conscience. Not only him, but many other colleagues were all like this. Arresting criminals was their duty, but Wang Ao never thought that he could experience such terrible revenge!

When he was young, he was just like Gu Xizhou. Every day, he wanted to catch criminals to avenge the victims. Everyone he knew was like this. Even cases over ten years old were still being investigated, so that the victims wouldn’t die without knowing why.

Until the doctor verified that Wang Shu was alright, he still felt like his heart was hanging by a thread, and he still felt terrified. There had never been a criminal that could make him feel like this, but when he got that phone call, he felt like there were two invisible hands strangling his neck and nearly draining his life!

Seeing her father shed tears, Wang Shu wiped them away from his face. “Dad, you’re a police officer. When I was a kid, I loved to tell people that my father was a policeman. It’s no different now.

“There was a problem with his brain, and it had nothing to do with you. You were just doing your job. I believe my father won’t regret arresting that slag because of this.”

Wang Ao’s tears continued to fall. Wang Ao’s wife Kong Yue came over and wiped his face with a tissue. This was the first time she’d seen her husband so weak. She whispered, “Our daughter says she doesn’t blame you. How old are you, and you’re still crying like a child. Come outside with me. If you’re here, Xiao Shu still has to comfort you, and it will delay her rest.” 

Kong Yue pulled Wang Ao by the hand like he was a big child. After the couple left, they sat in the chairs by the door.

Kong Yue gripped Wang Ao’s trembling right hand with both of hers. At that time, she and her son-in-law, Huo Zheng, had called Wang Shu, but she never picked up. She subconsciously called her husband. After she told him the news, her heart had settled on the ground, but she didn’t expect that so much would happen in less than two hours.

After she picked up her husband’s call, he told her that her daughter was rescued and was already taken to the hospital!

Although she was worried about her daughter, she already knew that her daughter was rescued by then, and she hadn’t experienced the torment carved into Wang Ao’s heart and bones. 

This was all caused because a criminal who was arrested by Wang Ao wanted revenge. She understood her husband. She hugged him, patting his back lightly. “Okay, okay. Don’t be afraid, Lao Wang. Our daughter is fine; our daughter came back. You’re very good.”

“Wuwuwu… I was scared… I was really, really scared… fortunately…” Wang Ao was hugged by Kong Yue, and he also put his arms around her. His voice was heavy with sobs, and he could hardly get his words out.

Gu Xizhou and the others went upstairs and happened to see this scene. Gu Xizhou held up a gesture to stop them and subconsciously looked at Wang Ao’s back.

Kong Yue obviously saw Gu Xizhou. She nodded at him. After she consoled Lao Wang and saw that his mood had stabilized until he looked calm, she said, “Your coworkers are here. They’re behind you.” 

Wang Ao wiped the tears from his face. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and he didn’t dare to turn to face Gu Xizhou and the others. He asked, “Wh-when did they get here? Did they hear me crying?”

Kong Yue was silent. Then, she said, “You had just hugged me and started bawling when they showed up.”

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Gu Xizhou saw her crying and was immediately flustered. Her husband, Huo Zheng, and their son sat beside her and hastily hugged her. 

“Don’t cry, Xiao Shu. It’s alright,” Huo Zheng said warmly. His eyes turned toward Gu Xizhou with gratitude.

“Mama, don’t cry! Gu Shushu is here!” said Huo Xiaopang, grabbing her finger and shaking it.

After a long time, Wang Shu finally spoke. “Gu Xizhou, do you remember what I said to you before, about that dream I had?”

Seeing Gu Xizhou’s confusion, Wang Shu continued: “We were studying in junior high that year. A girl in my class was looking for someone to beat me up, and you walked me home that day. We were blocked by a few upperclassmen. They wanted to beat me up, but I was fine in the end. You were given a beating, and your head was smashed open. Then the upperclassmen ran away, leaving us behind. I was really scared back then. I saw you bleeding from your head, and I thought you were going to die. I was terrified. 

“After I took you to the hospital, I learned it was just a cut and you wouldn’t die. I let out a big breath. I thought that you would die because of me.

“Actually, after I went home that day, I had a dream. I dreamed that someone saved us, and you didn’t get beaten up. Your head wasn’t split open either.”

Wang Shu had a reminiscent look as she recalled it, but Gu Xizhou didn’t understand why she was suddenly bringing this up. He waited quietly for her to go on.

“When you showed up today, it was like a light dispelled the darkness. I vaguely felt like you and the person from my dream were overlapping,” Wang Shu said faintly. “Thank you…” 

So Gu Ji Ji and Wang Shu had a history like that. Even though the two childhood sweethearts had no instant connection, it didn’t affect the sentiment between them. It had nothing to do with love.

Gu Xizhou sighed in relief and said in his heart: Gu Ji Ji is definitely worrying about Wang Shu’s affairs at home, right?

After Gu Xizhou and the others chatted a bit with Wang Shu, repeatedly urging her to rest, they left the hospital. When Gu Xizhou came out, he saw Wang Ao. He thought about it and decided that he’d still better tell Wang Ao about Qiao Jian’s death.

“Chief Wang, there’s still something I need to tell you.” Since he wanted to talk about work, he changed the way he addressed Wang Ao. He lowered his voice. “Qiao Jian is dead.” 

Wang Ao was shocked. He looked at Gu Xizhou with suspicion, asking, “How did that happen? Didn’t you say he was captured alive? How did he die?”

He could still remember how they found Wang Shu. After Gu Xizhou went home, he took out a blank missing person poster and filled it out. Then, he directly stuck it beside his door and before long… right, before long, Gu Xizhou’s phone rang and he told him where Wang Shu was and brought him straight there. He didn’t know why… maybe it was just a fluke that he followed Gu Xizhou to that factory!

After they got to the factory, they heard the chair fall to the ground, and he saw himself watching the child Xizhou, all grown up now, rush into the building.

Gu Xizhou had no clue Wang Ao was thinking so much. He explained, “Qiao Jian was indeed captured but while walking away, he tripped and happened to fall onto the tip of a nail. The nail impaled his brain.” 

Wang Ao looked at Gu Xizhou and couldn’t help but gulp, apparently judging whether or not Gu Xizhou was telling the truth.

Then, one of the police officers who was there when Qiao Jian was escorted away saw Wang Ao’s look and said urgently, “Chief Wang, we really didn’t do anything wrong! Xiao Yuan and I were escorting the murderer, really, then he just fell and died all on his own! He was despicable, but we would never break the law on purpose like that! Please believe us!”

Wang Ao hesitated, then said, “It was you escorting Qiao Jian? Not your Leader Gu?”

“Ah? No! Leader Gu left first with Xiao Fang…” 

After hearing the police officer explain what happened, Wang Ao breathed a sigh of relief. Clearly, his heart had returned to his chest. Wang Ao turned to Gu Xizhou and said, “Xizhou, come with me. I have something to ask you.”

Gu Xizhou nodded slightly, following Wang Ao to a corner of the hospital.

Wang Ao still couldn’t feel completely at ease. He asked hesitantly, “Xizhou, did Qiao Jian’s death really have nothing to do with you?”

Gu Xizhou: “You heard it, too. When he died, I wasn’t even there. It had nothing to do with me.” 

Gu Xizhou thought: I only thought about it in my head, but it’s not illegal to just think about it!

Wang Ao believed that he understood Gu Xizhou as a person, and he believed in Gu Xizhou’s integrity. He wouldn’t cross the line in a moment of fury. He nodded to show he believed Gu Xizhou’s words. Then, he asked, “Xizhou, what was that missing person poster you put up?”

Gu Xizhou took a deep breath. He said, “Uncle Wang, there are some things that it’s better not to know.”

Wang Ao frowned. “I consider you as half a son, and I don’t want you to be involved in anything messy. I feel like that missing person poster is something fantastical…” 

“Uncle Wang, don’t think about it.” Gu Xizhou’s voice was cold as he spoke. “I have a sense of measure.”

Wang Ao seemed to want to pry further when Ma Qi, who’d been handling the precinct’s affairs, came out of nowhere. “Chief Wang, it’s great that you’re alright. Xiao Gu, you should hurry back to the department with me to write a report about the body.”

“Yes!” Gu Xizhou turned around and immediately followed Ma Qi out. As he escaped, he said, “Uncle Wang, I’ll leave first! I have to go back right away!”

Wang Ao: “You…” 

Gu Xizhou was saved by Ma Qi. He sighed in relief. Ma Qi looked at him with a heroic expression and shook his head. “I knew something was wrong. After I learned Officer Wang’s daughter was kidnapped, I oversaw the department. I remember tweaking my ears and scratching my cheeks, but as a result, you called and said you’d found Wang Shu in a mere half hour.

“What did you do?”

Gu Xizhou candidly and generously confessed. “I just used a single-time prop——a missing person poster.”

Ma Qi stared blankly at him. He knew about props, but hearing Gu Xizhou mention the missing person poster still stunned him. “You got a prop in a mission world?” 

Gu Xizhou nodded. He explained that he still felt this thing was strange. “Several worlds ago, I got it as a clearance reward. At that time I was just desperately trying to give medicine to a dead horse. This prop’s description is ‘one use per world’, so I thought, the real world is also a world, and I used it. I didn’t expect that it would actually work in reality…

“I just put it up when a man called me and told me where someone had spotted a suspicious individual…

“I used it in the last mission world, too. Back then, a ‘thing’ called me, but this time I feel like it was a living man. He was very flustered… like a normal citizen.”

Ma Qi was in complete shock. “Fuck, what kind of supernatural thing is this mission world? Show me your phone. I’ll try to investigate the person who made the call.” 

Gu Xizhou “en”ed and gave Ma Qi the phone number.

After Gu Xizhou left, he quickly returned home. The atmosphere inside was very gloomy. Gu Xizhou came inside and saw the chair was suddenly pushed out by a ghost. A notebook was squeezed into his hand, reading: How is Wang Shu? Are she and her son alright?!

It was nearly illegible because of the writer’s anxiety. Gu Xizhou said in his heart: Gu Ji Ji was really worried.

“Okay, don’t worry. They’re both alright. I just returned from the hospital…” 

Gu Xizhou didn’t talk about Qiao Jian wanting to use water to make Wang Shu’s stomach burst and die in agony. He straightforwardly mentioned that they were both alright. He would invite them over for a meal after Wang Shu recovered to let Ji Ji see them.

With this, Gu Ji Ji was convinced that Gu Xizhou wasn’t deceiving him, and he sighed in relief.

“Oh, and Qiao Jian is dead.” Gu Xizhou said indifferently.

Gu Ji Ji: What happened? 

Gu Xizhou: “He fell down and died.”

Gu Ji Ji: …Karma.

Gu Xizhou: “En.”

After seeing Gu Ji Ji’s writing, Gu Xizhou didn’t mention the matter about what he’d thought coming true. 

One week later.

Gu Xizhou looked at the time on his wrist. It was finally time to get off work. He just started to get up when he saw Ma Qi enter his office with a mysterious cackle. He said, “I investigated that phone call.”

Gu Xizhou raised an eyebrow. “What did you find?”

Ma Qi said, “The phone number belongs to a public phone near the factory. I had someone look at the security monitoring. The caller was a man called Hu Lian.” 

Gu Xizhou: “And then?”

Ma Qi said, “I went to ask him about it personally. He was driving through when he saw Qiao Jian’s vehicle. He saw him enter the factory and found it strange, but he didn’t think much. He drove down the road when he saw the public phone and wanted to make a report just because.”

Gu Xizhou: “He called, ‘just because’?”

Ma Qi: “Right. He said he called just because. I asked him why, and he said he didn’t even know why. He just felt like he needed to make that call.” 

Gu Xizhou: “Did you ask him about anything else? Like whether he enters the mission worlds?”

Ma Qi shook his head: “I asked, but his face was blank and he drove me out as a mental case… Relying on my many years of experience, I don’t think he was lying to me.”

Gu Xizhou frowned. A prop could have an effect like this, so what actually was the mission world? He was more and more curious.

The author has something to say:     The real world is the real world. It’s not a fake_(:3∠)_ 

Stealthily looking at the comments.jpg

Good night.

Crooked: I forgot to post last week; it’s summer so time no longer has any meaning

That means double update today