I See Murders Before They Happen

Chapter 324: Chapter 322: He Says Nothing

Soon, gunshots echoed from a short distance away.

From the sounds, she could distinguish Chu Xingrou and the others’ firearms, as well as the crack of a sniper rifle.

After confirming it was safe, Su Miaoyi and two other officers ran toward the sound of the gunfire.

By the time they arrived, the shooting had already stopped for a while.

A man was pinned to the ground. He wasn’t wearing a black robe, but he still had a ghost-face mask on.

Zhuang Yanzheng was sitting on a nearby rock, one leg crossed over the other, propping his forehead up with his hand. His eyes were half-open, and he looked like he could fall asleep at any second, all the energy he’d had when leaving the station completely gone.

Lu Zhishen was dusting off his clothes.

Chu Xingrou had put on gloves and was picking up the sniper rifle to examine it.

The others were standing nearby.

No one was hurt, and it looked like they had all been involved in the fight.

Su Miaoyi walked closer, her eyes first falling on the mask on the man’s face.

It was identical to the mask found at Tian Ming’s crime scene—very new, its color a vivid red.

Su Miaoyi pulled off his mask.

The man struggled.

An officer shone a flashlight on him.

The man squeezed his eyes shut.

"Twenty-one," Su Miaoyi said.

Hearing his code name, the man was visibly stunned for a moment. Then he snarled, "If there weren’t so many of you, you think you’d still be alive?!"

"We do have more people. So what? What are you going to do about it?" Su Miaoyi said. "What good is your marksmanship besides wasting bullets?"

The man struggled again, muttering a curse.

"Trash," Su Miaoyi said.

The man thrashed more violently and let out a furious roar.

Two officers held him down with force.

"Who was screaming for help over here?" Su Miaoyi asked.

"We already checked," an officer said, pointing to a nearby house. "It was the old woman who lives there. He pointed his gun at her and made her scream. She isn’t hurt, just frightened. We’ve already called the town doctor, and he’s on his way."

"Are you really the only one here?" Su Miaoyi asked, looking at Twenty-one.

"Otherwise, do you think you’d still be alive?!" Twenty-one glared at her.

"What’s with that look? Do we have some kind of grudge?" Su Miaoyi studied him. "Why do you hate me so much?"

Twenty-one just glared at her without a word.

Su Miaoyi watched him for a moment. "Who sent you? Why do you want to kill me?"

Twenty-one suddenly thrashed, trying to break free. "If you’ve got the guts, fight me one-on-one!"

Hearing this, Zhuang Yanzheng lifted his gaze to glance at them.

’I’ve never seen someone with such bizarre logic,’ he thought.

Su Miaoyi couldn’t help but laugh. "Is there something wrong with your brain? We’re arresting a criminal, not having a martial arts tournament with you. One-on-one? You look like a ’one-on-one’ yourself."

Twenty-one shouted again.

Su Miaoyi ignored him.

They started heading back with Twenty-one in tow.

Zhuang Yanzheng said, "When the nursery rhyme started playing, he must have been watching the station entrance from a distance through his rifle scope. You were his target. When he saw you, Xingrou, and the others head north, he also moved north from his position, found a suitable spot to set up his rifle, and then threatened that old woman into screaming to lure you over. The song playing from four directions was meant to split us up."

"I just looked at his rifle," Chu Xingrou said. "It doesn’t have a night-vision scope, which is why he only started shooting after we were within range of the streetlights."

Su Miaoyi glanced at the rifle.

Chu Xingrou said, "Good thing Sister Miaomiao reacted so quickly, otherwise..."

She trailed off.

When they were running east at that moment, she hadn’t sensed a thing.

Then, suddenly, Su Miaoyi had pulled her out of the way, and just as they dodged, she heard the gunshot.

If she hadn’t been so quick, something terrible would have happened.

"You sensed it?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

After all, Twenty-one was a good five hundred meters away from her.

Su Miaoyi nodded.

Zhuang Yanzheng nodded in admiration.

It had happened once before. She could keenly sense when someone was aiming a gun at her, even from a great distance.

Su Miaoyi brushed the dirt off Chu Xingrou’s shoulder.

Chu Xingrou glanced down. "Twenty-one threw it."

"Hm?"

"After we located him, we exchanged a few shots. Then Captain Zhuang circled around behind him, grabbed him, and threw his rifle away. The rest of us immediately jumped him," Chu Xingrou explained. "He’s a pretty good fighter, but there were too many of us. When he realized he couldn’t win, he started grabbing handfuls of dirt and throwing it at us."

"This sniper is a stubborn one," Su Miaoyi said, patting her shoulder again. "If I’d fired two shots and missed, I would’ve retreated."

"Maybe he was too confident in himself and didn’t expect to run into a group of such capable fighters," Zhuang Yanzheng said. "Or maybe he was so furious about missing that he lost his head. Or... maybe he had a reason he absolutely had to kill you today, even if it meant getting caught himself."

"But why me again?" Su Miaoyi said.

The other three all looked at her.

Su Miaoyi looked at the three of them and sighed.

Back at the police station, they began interrogating Twenty-one.

As it turned out, Twenty-one was completely uncooperative.

Aside from having his blood drawn for a DNA test, he said nothing.

Once in the interrogation room, he refused to say a single word, no matter what they asked.

They interrogated him in shifts until dawn, but they couldn’t get him to talk.

He wouldn’t even give them his name.

His main tactic was to ignore everyone and say nothing.

The next morning, everyone was having breakfast together.

Chu Xingrou bit viciously into a steamed bun. "He’s provoking us with his silence!"

"Have some soy milk. It’s sweet. It’ll help you calm down," Lu Zhishen said, handing it to her.

Chu Xingrou took a few sips. "If he’s going to be silent, he should just be silent! But that arrogant expression... I swear!"

Su Miaoyi gently patted her back. "Calm down, calm down."

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at her.

Su Miaoyi slowly ate her bun, her eyes glazed over, her mind completely consumed by a single thought: ’I remember Duan Wenrui saying there was only one eggplant-filled bun, a freebie from the owner’s wife.’

’So many buns!’

’Out of all of them, why did I, the one person who doesn’t eat eggplant, have to get it?!’

Zhuang Yanzheng glanced at her again. "Just toss it and eat another one."

Lu Zhishen looked at her bun. "What great luck. Here, eat this one."

Su Miaoyi swapped buns and started eating, then looked at Zhuang Yanzheng. ’I’m suddenly craving a home-cooked meal from his house.’

"What’s with that look?" Zhuang Yanzheng asked.

"I’m thinking about how to kick you out of the Zhuang Family," Su Miaoyi said.

"So you can take over the Zhuang Family?" Zhuang Yanzheng retorted.

Su Miaoyi nodded.

"Just for a meal?" Zhuang Yanzheng added. "You’re really just trying to steal my mom, aren’t you?"

Su Miaoyi didn’t answer, just lowered her head and took a bite of her bun.

"No wonder you and Shen Yanzhou could be siblings. He wants my mom to be his family’s private chef, but you’re even more ambitious—you want to take over the whole Zhuang Family."

Su Miaoyi smiled. "You’re all better. Your voice is even louder now."

"A good sleep without any medication did the trick," Zhuang Yanzheng said.

"Sigh—" Su Miaoyi heaved a dramatic sigh and threw an arm around Chu Xingrou’s neck. "Our quiet days are over so quickly."

Chu Xingrou smiled and glanced at Zhuang Yanzheng.

Zhuang Yanzheng snorted. "When we get back, I’ll have my mom make you carrots mixed with eggplant and watch you eat it."

Su Miaoyi looked at him and raised a hand, drawing it across her throat in a slitting motion...