As his teammates busied themselves retrieving bodies around him, Liu Zhenhai took a short break and managed to stand up with some effort.
“You shouldn’t be up; your injuries are quite severe.”
Chu Hongxiu watched him with concern. The law-enforcement bureau always carried out dangerous missions, and Liu Zhenhai, being the strongest among them, was always at the forefront. However, to be injured like he was today was unprecedented.
“You underestimate me. This little injury is nothing.”
Liu Zhenhai puffed out his chest, but the motion pulled at the ghastly wound on his waist, causing him to grimace in pain.
Chu Hongxiu rolled her eyes at him; this guy always liked to play the hero. Yet, if it hadn’t been for Liu Zhenhai today, they would almost certainly all be dead.
After Liu Zhenhai had collected the evidence, he walked over to Garbage Hill and looked at the dissolved traces, drawing on his cigarette deeply.
“What do you make of this kid?”
Chu Hongxiu stood beside him, her thoughts returning to the quiet and handsome Xiao Chen.
“He’s a promising seedling. If his family were wealthier to lay a solid foundation for him to become an Awakener, his future would be limitless.”
“Is that all?”
“What else?”
Facing Chu Hongxiu’s puzzled look, Liu Zhenhai shook his head, choosing not to voice his thoughts.
Xiao Chen’s statements earlier had been watertight, almost without any flaws to be heard, but that was precisely the issue. He had been too meticulous in his thinking, too clear and precise in his answers.
No matter how well-prepared the kid was, or how much he had been through, he seemed too composed.
Answering those questions, it was as if he had thought of the responses in advance, closing off any doubts about himself. While this might seem unproblematic, for someone like Liu Zhenhai, who had worked at the law-enforcement bureau for many years and solved many major cases, this was the biggest red flag.
However, he kept silent. Regardless of what Xiao Chen might be hiding, he had become the savior of the entire squad.
If Liu Zhenhai insisted on questioning him further, it would likely dishearten the Deputy Captain and the other members.
“Maybe I’m just overthinking it.”
Liu Zhenhai shrugged his shoulders. At that moment, the team members managed to fish out No. 2’s half-dissolved corpse; the lower half of the body was almost entirely gone, leaving only the upper half intact.
Coated in much sludge, it looked even more ferocious and terrifying.
“This bastard almost killed me.”
Several team members, indignant, drew their knives and stabbed a few times, but they couldn’t penetrate very deep.
“This guy is tough! I wish I could become an Awakener.”
An offhand comment from one of the team members, however, caused Liu Zhenhai’s pupils to constrict.
He pushed past the team members to the front and examined No. 2 Infector’s face closely. Indeed, it was covered in bullet holes; even the jaw and mouth were shot to pieces, but… its skull was incredibly hard. There were two bullet holes with two bullets lodged in the skull, unable to penetrate further.
Liu Zhenhai remembered Xiao Chen’s words, his cigarette butt dropping to the ground.
At this level, No. 2 was far from dead. Though its mouth and jaw were destroyed, its brain was undamaged…
No one understood the terror of No. 2 better than Liu Zhenhai, and no one knew why he suddenly became so solemn. Liu Zhenhai called Chu Hongxiu over and whispered something in her ear.
Whatever she heard, Chu Hongxiu showed extreme distaste, staring at Liu Zhenhai for a long time, arguing with reason.
However, under Liu Zhenhai’s insistent gaze, she reluctantly snorted coldly.
Watching Chu Hongxiu’s departing figure, Liu Zhenhai narrowed his eyes.
He really wanted to know what Xiao Chen was hiding.
…
“I’m back…”
Xiao Chen had barely uttered the word when he felt a frail and thin body firmly embrace him.
Mu Xiaowan had changed out of her blood-stained clothes into a patched linen dress, with tear stains still on her face.
“Brother, did I kill someone?”
She trembled, her soft and white little hands helplessly wrapped around Xiao Chen’s waist.
Her body shook slightly, obviously terrified.
Xiao Chen’s expression softened as he saw the table laid with a few small dishes, the leftovers that they hadn’t finished before, which Mu Xiaowan had just reheated, still emitting a faint fragrance.
He didn’t speak, just stroked his sister’s smooth hair, and after a while, she calmed down.
“What are you talking about? That was an Infector…”
Xiao Chen had only finished speaking when he realized something was wrong. His sister treated the Infector as a person because she herself was also an Infector.
“If you hadn’t acted, I would have died. Do you want your brother to die?”
Sure enough, as soon as he said this, Mu Xiaowan’s head shook like a rattle.
“No, no, if brother died, I, I…”
She looked as if she truly saw herself losing Xiao Chen, her eyes rimmed red.
“That’s right, you did great.”
Xiao Chen sighed inwardly. Although his sister was mature for her age and could understand all his arrangements, she was a very smart little girl. But after all, she was only 13 years old this year.
“Come on, let’s eat, I’m hungry.”
Xiao Chen picked up the remote and turned on the old, faded home appliance, fiddling with it for a while until the snowy screen turned into a cartoon.
The siblings sat on the couch with plates in hand and started watching.
The television set was something he had scrimped and saved for at the city’s electronic waste factory.
However, it had become one of the few sources of happiness for the brother and sister.
Being young does have its benefits. After being comforted by Xiao Chen, Mu Xiaowan obediently sat on the couch, eating while watching the cartoon.
It wasn’t long before she was laughing at the humorous and interesting plot.
“Bro, Team Rocket is so dumb, they never catch Pikachu.”
“Yeah, two adults, not as good as Xiaowan.”
The siblings ate and watched, occasionally bursting into giggles, unaware that a shadow had quietly fallen by the window, carefully observing the scene inside the house.
The two siblings shared the few pieces of pork belly in the plate while watching the TV and emitting pure laughter. After a while, they seemed tired, leaning on each other, falling asleep on the worn old couch.
The sister leaned against her brother, and the brother wrapped his arms around his sister. The animated show on the television was intermittently covered by static, yet in this small room of less than thirty square meters, they seemed like two lonely souls supporting and warming each other.
The pair of eyes outside the window had, at some point, become somewhat red-rimmed. Quietly turning off the recording pen, they deftly departed.
She ran through the streets with fury in her steps. When Liu Zhenhai saw her, he was somewhat taken aback.
She had been fine when she left, so what had made her return in such a state?
“I really don’t know how your mind works. See for yourself!”
The person from before was none other than Chu Hongxiu. When she arrived, the siblings had already started their meal.
Liu Zhenhai connected to the screen and watched the siblings laughing over their modest meal and an animated film from decades past, then falling asleep on the simple sofa. For a moment, he too fell silent.