The massacre continued until dawn. The death mirror slowly returned to normal. The siren came from outside the hotel. Xin Lu Police met up with Han Fei inside the hotel basement. The members were all detained except for the woman in the death mask who had escaped.
“Han Fei, you are Butterfly’s target. You can’t do something reckless like this!” The leading officer knew Han Fei, but Han Fei didn’t know him.
“Today’s situation was rather special, but I’ll stay put next time,” Han Fei replied sincerely. Seeing the police, Shen Luo immediately stuck himself to them. No one could really understand who he felt.
“You’re quite an unlucky person. Stay away from the officers.”
“I won’t.”
Han Fei felt better as the sun rose. A new day started with him bickering with Shen Luo. The police checked the premise from 6.30 am to 9 am. Then, they brought Shen Luo and Han Fei to the station. When the officers who worked the morning shift saw Han Fei, they were not surprised. In fact, they even greeted him like an old friend. Shen Luo, who saw this, gasped, “How are you not a police informant? You know all of them!”
“You can think whatever you want.” Shen Luo and Han Fei were split into different rooms, and the questioning started at the same time. Han Fei and Shen Luo didn’t need to lie. They told everything that happened the night before honestly. Han Fei took out the BBQ store boss and the artist’s phone as well as the other evidence he found. Ever since he entered the clubhouse, he had been recording on the artist’s phone. Unfortunately, the lighting was very bad, so he didn’t get much. However, it was already a great help to the police. At 11 am, Li Xue and her superior entered Han Fei’s room. The leader had the others leave.
“This is ridiculous. Do you know what kind of people you were dealing with yesterday night?” The superior said seriously, “We encourage the citizens to help others, but that is under the premise that the citizens wouldn’t be in any danger.”
“I have no idea they were a criminal organization. I swear I wouldn’t do this alone again.” Han Fei promised.
“Based on our analysis, Butterfly is very likely to be a core member of the murderer’s clubhouse. It has been trying to kill you, but you’ve voluntarily walked into its lair. Thankfully, the Butterfly also didn’t expect you to be so brazen. Or else, you would have died in the club yesterday night.” The superior persuaded. He was really worried about Han Fei.
“Is Butterfly a member of the club? No wonder its crimes were all around the countryside.”
“Why else do you think Butterfly is so hard to catch?” The superior closed the door and sat down opposite Han Fei. “The murderer’s clubhouse has a lot of members, and they are very influential. They have normal jobs in the morning, but they will go to the countryside to commit murders at night.”
“Is the countryside that dangerous?”
“It has only become like this in the past few years.” The middle-aged officer nodded. “Technically, this has to do with the intelligent city’s emergence. The photon computer has used the citizenry database and criminal rating process to lower the crime rate in the city to almost zero. For normal citizens, the intelligent city is like heaven. It’s very safe. However, for the twisted criminals, the intelligent city is like an enclosed prison. They need to manage their emotions at all times and show no flaws. Eventually, this will cause some behavior deprivation.”
“Aren’t there counseling centers in the intelligent city? There are also games like Perfect Life for people to unwind.” Han Fei didn’t get it. The intelligent city was where everyone wanted to move to. It had the best service, top technology, and the highest real estate price.
“Everyone’s persona is different. That is the result of their experience. Normally, they can be cured through counseling, but some of them are like your friend. Butterfly uses various methods to lead them down a darker path.” The officer said with hatred in his eyes.
“My friend? Has Shen Luo been corrupted by Butterfly? Is there something on him that attracts Butterfly? Of course, Shen Luo has always been a special person.” Han Fei couldn’t wait to get away from Shen Luo, but Butterfly’s followers voluntarily approached Shen Luo. They were really gutsy. Thinking back, Doctor Bai’s two bases had been destroyed after he lured Shen Luo over to Sunday Night School. Shen Luo hadn’t done anything, but he had also done a lot.
“Based on what your friend said, he found Doctor Bai through an online advertisement. Doctor Bai led him to Sunday Night School, and then you brought him to the murderer’s clubhouse.”
“I was trying to protect him.” Han Fei explained, “I couldn’t leave him back at the Sunday Night School, could I?”
“I can understand that. But I need to tell you this. The normal members and high-class members of the club are just the lackeys. They are being controlled. They don’t know how the club is run. Only by capturing the core members can we bring down the murderer’s clubhouse.” The officer looked at Han Fei. “They are a well-organized criminal organization. The only core member we know is Butterfly, but that might just be a codename. You and Huang Yin are the only people who have managed to survive being hunted by Butterfly. Therefore, you have to watch your safety and don’t go anywhere randomly!”
In conclusion, he hoped that Han Fei would stay obediently at home.
“Don’t worry. I know how to protect myself.” Han Fei nodded. He knew the police were only concerned about his safety.
“You’re too stubborn.” The middle-aged officer knew that Han Fei was only saying yes on the surface. When something happened, he would be out there again. He sighed and glanced at Han Fei’s arms. “Where did you learn how to fight?”
“From the internet.”
“Are you self-taught?” The officer glanced at Han Fei and then at Li Xue, who had turned her head to the side. “I thought it was she who taught you, but then again, that’s not possible. I doubt she can beat you in a fight.”
“If there’s nothing else, can I go home first? I haven’t slept for a night, and my body is drained.” Han Fei believed the officer had seen through some things, but he didn’t expose Han Fei.
“Wait. There’s one more thing that we need your help with.” The officer used his laptop to enter the police database. “Yesterday night, a woman in a death mask managed to escape from Shi Shui Bay. Her identity is very suspicious. We suspect her membership is much higher than the normal high-grade member.”
“When I fought with her, I cut off a part of her mask, so I saw a small part of her face.” Han Fei knew this was his time to shine. “I can draw it out for you.” Han Fei used his photographic memory to paint out the woman’s face. “Unfortunately, that’s all I saw. But I feel like she’s very familiar looking. She probably has been on tv before.” Han Fei handed his drawing to the officer, and he immediately compared it to the database. After much filtering, there were three candidates.
Xin Lu University’s Student Committee Leader, Wen Yu; Fu Kang Pharma’s Vice CEO, Li Wei; B-rate singer, Ye Xuan. Of the three, Li Wei was the most suspicious. Many years ago, Fu Kang Pharma was a company that could rival Immortal Pharma, but now it was facing bankruptcy. It was reasonable for the vice CEO to hate immortal pharma and intelligent city. She had expressed a firm belief in ancient medical treatments.
“Okay. Leave the rest to us. You can go now.” The police immediately drafted the plan. Shen Luo hadn’t finished his questioning. Han Fei didn’t plan to wait for him. He called a taxi and headed home. Han Fei had been busy for the whole night. He lay down to sleep, but it wouldn’t come. His mind was occupied by the woman in death mask.
“How could such a frail-looking woman block one of my all-out attacks?” Han Fei searched for the murderer’s clubhouse on the internet, but all the info related to it had been taken down. Han Fei couldn’t stop now. Once he knew of their existence, he couldn’t just ignore them. Han Fei called Li Xue. Li Xue knew him very well. Before he said anything, Li Xue rejected him. Han Fei had no choice but to turn to his other friends.
This novel is available on bit.ly/3Tfs4P4.
In the end, Han Fei got something from Jin Jun. As Xin Lu’s best paparazzi, Jin Jun’s work was underground, so he knew many grey channels. After knowing Han Fei’s request, Jin Jun sent him to a home economics website. When Han Fei completed his registration, he followed Jin Jun’s instructions and clicked on certain things. After that was done, Han Fei saw the other side of the site. It was an online casino website. Han Fei entered the site with his virtual Id. He was led into the VIP room. Han Fei gave the waiter the password Jin Jun gave him. The waiter led him to the third layer of the website. After passing various assessments, Han Fei was given a third online address.
Han Fei logged into an old folks home’s website. He clicked into one of the grey online counseling rooms. The room was offline, but Han Fei could access it normally. He followed the instructions given and when he reached the sixth step, his screen shut down.
“Is that a virus?”
About ten minutes later, Han Fei’s computer screen came back on but the screen was all grey. A sentence floated up on screen. It said that Han Fei had entered the internet’s grey zone. A timer appeared. Han Fei only had ten minutes.
The grey zone was danger, chaotic and violent. The dark side of humanity was shown here. Han Fei explored a bit and noticed something serious. Compared to Sunday Night School and Murderer’s Clubhouse, the Death Chat Group that existed in the grey zone was the most dangerous existence.
“They seem to come from the same source.”