CH 138

Translated by Dust Bunny

Edited by Crooked 

“Do you think I’m gonna believe that?” Gu Xizhou said as he paced, not forgetting to sneer, “Do you think I’m stupid?”

Si Yu shook his head, displaying his palms in front of him helplessly, “I really took it at random.”

After calling his colleagues, he went to the building that Si Yu had pointed out. The downstairs was full of empty bottles. As for Si Yu’s leaflet, there was only one bundle placed in the innermost part. At that moment, a middle-aged woman with a big belly walked out with a bunch of papers. From a distance Gu Xizhou could see the leaflet on the top of the stack of waste paper.

Gu Xizhou flashed his badge and said, “Excuse me Da Jie, but can you tell me where those pamphlets came from?” 

The middle aged woman saw that it was the police and immediately put down the stack of papers in her hands. “These pamphlets? Oh, I picked them up on the road!”

When the woman finished speaking, two people dressed in factory clothes came over to see why the police were back, watching Gu Xizhou and the others anxiously.

Gu Xizhou glanced at the pamphlets which said: Do you want to change your fate? Whether or not life’s suffering is already too much to bear, fate can…

There was nothing special in the leaflet. The gist of the pamphlet was that if you became a part of the organization that you could change your fate, that sort of thing. The black and white pamphlet was very crude and simple, making people feel uneasy, like they weren’t holding a black and white leaflet but a black and white memorial photo.

There were also lots of people coming and going. The construction workers had already taken off their muddy clothes after coming home, putting on their slippers and gathering around them with curiosity. Some had rice bowls in their hands and stood next to them while eating.

After questioning them thoroughly, they learned from the woman where the pamphlets had been distributed. A good citizen also raised their hand and said, “I know about that! It should be about three days ago that someone came to give a lecture! They spoke by the roadside. I was passing by at the time and listened in!”

“Can you summarize what it was about?” Gu Xizhou asked in a low voice, eyebrows arching into mountains. He felt subconsciously that this clue was very important!

The good citizen took a moment to remember it before saying, “I remember it was a lot of straight up nonsense on how to change your fate. One of the ways was to donate money to the organization and you would be blessed. I said: Isn’t this just cheating people of their money?” 

Gu Xizhou asked him again, “You said that was one way, so what are the others?”

The man looked a Gu Xizhou before continuing, “The other way is even more stupid. I called it out for being stupid as soon as I heard it. The workers who were with me also called it straight up stupidity.”

“What was said?” Gu Xizhou asked.

“En. I remember clearly saying that there was another way to change your fate. That if you killed a close relative everyday for three consecutive days, then their luck will be transferred to you and that in this way you could change your fate… etcetera, etcetera, ba. Who would believe such nonsense, ah? Who would believe it in this fucking age?” 

The man swore while talking, speaking like it was a joke, but the hearts of all the criminal police men instantly sunk to their lowest point.

Maybe they’d discovered the reason why no one had reported anyone missing.

Gu Xizhou suddenly remembered the thin man from just now. He had said that his wife and son had just returned to their hometown! He also remembered that inside of the man’s room was a lot of discarded cardboard. Obviously he would collect trash and bring it home, but Gu Xizhou hadn’t seen any pamphlets!

He cursed silently before turning to the other officers and saying, “Let’s go, follow me!” 

“Team Leader Gu, what’s wrong?”

Several people looked doubtful as Gu Xizhou hurried up to the door of the small man’s house.

“Dong dong dong!”

“Dong, dong, dong!” 

“Who’s there, ah?” A slightly sharp voice came from inside, “What do you want?”

“Hello, please open the door,” Gu Xizhou replied.

“Eh….” When the thin man opened the door and saw Gu Xizhou and all the police officers crowded around his door his forehead broke out in a sweat. “Officer Comrade, What are you doing back here? My family’s kid hasn’t gone missing.”

Gu Xizhou glanced at him and said, “Please call your wife to confirm, ba.” 

“Confirm? That’s not necessary!” The thin man’s attitude suddenly became hard. I’m going to pick my son up from school so I won’t tell you.”

Gu Xizhou blocked him and said, “Still, you should call, ba. You can use my phone.”

With an impatient look on his face, the man pushed Gu Xizhou and swore, “You’re sick, ba. How is it any of your business whether or not I call my wife, ah?”

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“Tbe…” Ktf wjc gfnfjifv j tfiqifrr fzqgfrrlbc jcv rjlv, “Yxjs, yj. P’ii ulnf sbe atf qtbcf cewyfg jcv sbe mjc mjii atfw.”

The man gave them a string of numbers, cursing as he said, “There’s something wrong with you cops. Really! You’re so strange, what are you even trying to do?”

Gu Xizhou interrupted him and said, “I just want to confirm the safety of your child… don’t be offended.”

The thin man’s lips curled as he walked back into the house, “Hold on, I’m gonna go grab something…” 

The phone number looked like a landline number, and Gu Xizhou didn’t think too much of it. When he dialed the number the busy tone sounded from the other end. After waiting a little while, no one answered, and he hung up. Gu Xizhou was about to ask the man when a loud sound suddenly came from inside the house.

Kuang Dang—

A loud noise rang out as something heavy dropped to the ground. Several of the officers walked to the side of the third floor staircase and jumped onto the roof of the first floor building next to them. They walked around the back of the building and saw the panic-stricken man lying on the ground. The man had stepped on a loose brick on the second floor and fallen to the ground. His whole body was wracked with pain.

Gu Xizhou handcuffed him without saying a word. 

“Kacha!”

The thin man’s hands were twisted behind his back as he scolded, “Fuck your mother! Why are you arresting Laozi? Laozi didn’t break the law!”

Gu Xizhou said, “If you didn’t break the law, why did you jump out of the window?”

“You stopped me! I have to go pick my son up from school!” the man explained begrudgingly. 

Gu Xizhou pressed him down, raising an eyebrow, “Why did you need to climb over the wall then? En? I said I’d let you go as soon as I made the call.”

“I- I was in a hurry to pick up my kid!”

Gu Xizhou didn’t feel like talking nonsense with him and said, “Okay, you want to pick up your child. I’ll let my subordinates go with you and then you’re gonna tell me the phone number!”

The man cursed him out, “You’re fucking sick, ah! If Laozi doesn’t hit you, what can you do to me…?” 

Gu Xizhou interrupted the man, unable to stand his language, “I really can’t do anything to you. I can only examine your DNA to determine your relation to that child.”

“You bullshitting motherfucker. You’re still relying on me for that dead child?” The man’s appearance was ferocious, his eyes scarlet red!

“How did you know that the child was dead? From the beginning we never said that the child was dead, we only said that we had found a child that might live nearby,” Gu Xizhou asked.

“Eh—” The man’s body suddenly went rigid, and he had nothing to say in explanation. 

At the same time, the several officers who had stayed upstairs came from the house happily, saying, “Team Leader Gu, we found black plastic bags and face masks!”

“Ah,” Gu Xizhou smiled coldly and turned to the man, “Do you still want to say something?”

“It’s normal to keep plastic bags in the house for trash, ah and Ningqing is covered with smog, why would it be weird for me to have a mask?” The man asked in fury.

Gu Xizhou was about to speak when he heard the sound of metal clattering to the ground. 

A knife fell from the pocket of the man’s pants. When the man saw the knife he was stunned before abruptly becoming excited.

“Mind your own fucking buisness, ah! So what if I killed my son, why do you care, ah? I gave him his life, I’ll take it back if I want! Why’d you arrest me, you motherfucker!” The man’s face was filled with rage and he kicked his feet incessantly, “I only need one more and I can change my fate!”

“I’ve got it, you guys are afraid I’ll change my destiny and become rich! Ah…!”

It wasn’t cold, but when everyone heard what the man said, they shivered. 

At that moment, a six year-old child came out of the crowd. The kid looked at the deranged man blankly before rushing over and kneeling on the ground. “What are you doing?! Why are you arresting my baba?!”

Everyone looked at the small child and couldn’t say a word. If they hadn’t seen the pamphlet today… This child would be…gone.

When they brought the man back to the police station, everyone’s hearts were weighed down with an unspeakable depression.

Gu Xizhou left Si Yu in the hall, taking a deep breath before he entered the interrogation room. When he looked at the man, he couldn’t help but feel disgusted. The man’s maliciousness made people feel sick, and his stupidity made him feel even more nauseated. 

Cruel and Stupid.

After judging the man silently in his heart, Gu Xizhou sat down at the table. Next to him, Lao Guo opened the note taking app on his computer. Gu Xizhou asked perfunctorily just like he did everytime, “What’s your name?”

“Liu Cai.”

“How old are you this year?” 

“Forty Eight.”

When Gu Xizhou heard what he said, he raised his eyebrows slightly. When he saw the man he only thought that he was old, but looking at the age of his kids, apparently forty wasn’t too late to start…

“Why commit murder?”

“To change my fate, ah!” the man named Liu Cai said as if it were natural. 

“Is this all a game to you? Are you…” Gu Xizhou refrained from asking if there was a problem with his brain when he caught sight of the monitor.

“Who was your first kill?”

“My wife.”

“How did you kill her?” 

“She’s not very smart. I swindled her from another family in the village. After leaving we came here. After hearing the lecture I hesitated for a day, then I decided to kill them. When I got rich, I would buy them a good grave. The next day I asked her to go out with me. We went to the river and I stabbed her in the neck with a knife.

“She squeaked twice and then didn’t call out anymore.”

As it turned out, the deceased, Wang Jinrong, was not actually Liu Cai’s wife. She was Liu Cai’s neighbor’s wife. Liu Cai tricked her away because of her bad brain. After that Wang Jinrong gave birth to two children for Liu Cai, so it was impossible for him to take her back to his hometown!

Lao Guo stopped typing before he steeled himself to continue taking notes. 

Gu Xizhou felt a little unwell and said, “And your little boy?”

“My little boy, ah… Killing him was actually really hard, but when I thought about changing my fate, I still killed him. The day after I killed Wang Jinrong, my little boy kept crying and trying to find his mama. I thought that since I’d already killed one of them, I couldn’t stop halfway. At once I set about finishing the task. Originally I wanted to kill my eldest son first, but he left for school really early that day.”

Gu Xizhou: “…Why did you choose to dump the body so far away?”

With an expression of complete indifference, Liu Cai said, “God said that the first one should die in a river, the second southwest of my home… and that the third should die at home and this would change my luck. 

Wang Ao was standing outside listening to the monitor with everyone else. He felt cold all over and said, “Where is this pamphlet? We have to settle this matter. We have to arrest these people! They really are bastards spreading stuff like this!”

The officer next to him said quickly, “We brought back one of the pamphlets. We’re already checking the number on it!”

The veins on Wang Ao’s forehead bulged and he lowered his voice, “Good, be as fast as possible! We have to arrest these guys! I’ll go back to my office and call now!”

Xiang Yuan also worked overtime to run a DNA test, confirming that the man was definitely the child’s father. He tested the residual blood on the knife, the evidence and the confession all matched. Gu Xizhou didn’t even want to look at Liu Cai who had been brainwashed. 

Liu Cai’s eldest son was still sitting in the hallway holding the ice cream some of the other officers bought for him. Seeing Gu Xizhou come out with the others he leaped out of his chair and asked, “Uncle, when can me and my dad go home, ah?”

For a long time Gu Xizhou didn’t speak, not knowing how to answer. Finally one of the female officers pulled him to the side and said, “Little friend, you must be hungry, ba. Jiejie will take you out to eat!”

Several female officers lead the child away. The others turned to look back at the interrogation room and immediately felt sick.

Gu Xizhou said in a low voice, “Have Liu Cai lead us to the river where he dumped Wang Jinrong’s body.” 

“Okay!”

It was getting dark, so the residents along the river also helped Gu Xizhou and the others look for the body.

“Found it! Found it” In the midst of the shouts, Gu Xizhou saw Wang Jinrong’s corpse, already pale and swollen. Part of the body was missing, clearly her body had been partially eaten by the fish and shrimp in the river.

“Alright, let’s take the body back, ba.” Before he left, Gu Xizhou gave Liu Cai a long look, his expression was apathetic and indifferent, and he was filled with an inexplicable feeling of disgust. 

Exhausted, Gu Xizhou left the crowd to immediately catch sight of Si Yu leaning against the door of the car. Si Yu waved at him and said, “You solved the case, you still aren’t happy?”

Gu Xizhou shook his head, “That Liu Cai is so cruel and stupid, he really believes in that kind of stuff! One word and I know it’s nonsense…”

“En,” Si Yu’s lower lip curled as he said to Gu Xizhou, “There are some people who won’t wake up if you call them. No matter how many times you try to persuade him, he will only regard your words as nonsense, whether its stupid or not doesn’t matter.”

“Okay, how about getting an early dinner?” 

Gu Xizhou shook his head and said, “Not hungry, I’m not ready to eat.”

“Then I’ll take you home?”

“Okay.”

“Get in,” Si Yu said lightly, lips curling slightly. 

Gu Xizhou didn’t want to be polite to Si Yu either. He’d already been driving him around the whole day, what was one more trip? Gu Xizhou just got in the passenger seat.

After Si Yu started the car, Gu Xizhou suddenly said, “Good thing you discovered that pamphlet, otherwise that kid would be in danger.”

Si Yu said mildly, “My luck has always been good. You can see with me around, the case was solved in a day.”

“Pei…” Gu Xizhou spat, “I don’t believe this is luck. I bet you have a prop like Li Yan’s PHS, right? You can see the future and that sort of thing…” 

“I have a prop, but it can’t predict the future,” Si Yu said casually as he drove.

Gu Xizhou was stunned, turning to look at Si Yu inquisitively. He hadn’t asked Si Yu about this in depth before. “You really do? What is it?”

“A die,” Si Yu replied.

Gu Xizhou’s eyes widened. Looking at Si Yu, his tone changed slightly, “En? A die?” 

“I took out the die left on the table in the gambling world,” Si Yu explained, pulling over and stopping. He took out a transparent box from his bag. Inside the box there really was a die. “This.”

Gu Xizhou lowered his eyes, glancing at the die in Si Yu’s hands and said suspiciously, “This die doesn’t seem like it’s made out of plastic? Also it’s a lot smaller than the ones on the gambling table.”

Si Yu shrugged with an expression of ‘I also don’t know how it turned into this’ before tipping the die into Gu Xizhou’s hand. “For you.”

“For me? You want me to keep it,” Gu Xizhou said faintly. 

Si Yu: “On this die, numbers 1-3 represent bad luck, 4-6 represents good luck. The higher the number, the better your luck will be. The numbers I throw are random. If you threw a one, wouldn’t you die faster?”

“You always throw a six, so it’s just right for you.”

It really was fitting… Gu Xizhou bowed his head to look at the die in his hand. He shook it and the number he rolled really was a six. Gu Xizhou hesitated before nodding, “Alright then.”

Gu Xizhou rolled the die all the way home, and it was always a six. 

“Why don’t you try?” Gu Xizhou asked, “You’re the one who brought it out afterall…”

Si Yu was so angry he could laugh, “What if I suddenly roll a one and have an accident, what would you do then? You’re not afraid of getting into a car crash?”

Gu Xizhou held the die in the palm of his hand. This thing really… in the event that it really could work in reality, it would certainly be troublesome, it was best not to touch it.

The car pulled up at the apartment. After Gu Xizhou and Si Yu exchanged a few words, Gu Xizhou got up to leave. Si Yu approached Gu Xizhou and hugged him. 

Gu Xizhou looked up at the 7th floor guiltily before pushing Si Yu away saying in a low voice, “Let go quickly, I’m going upstairs.”

“Okay, ba.”

After Gu Xizhou went upstairs, Si Yu who was standing next to his luxury car downstairs raised his head to glance up at Gu Xizhou’s balcony, the corner of his mouth curling.

Standing on the balcony, Gu Ji Ji stiffened, eyes wavering, his hand tightening on the banister. This was the third time he and Si Yu had made eye contact! 

He was certain this guy could see him!

And that parting embrace just now… it couldn’t be to provoke him could it?

The author has something to say: Then the next question is: This die is—?