At nine o'clock in the evening, inside an alleyway in the Yuankou District.
It was still pitch-black here, with the only sources of light being the faint moonbeams and the glow filtering out from the windows of houses on either side.
“Captain Peng, will this really work? If I were the killer, why would I stay here to commit more crimes after causing such a massive scene?” a quiet voice whispered from a blind spot.
“Quiet down, stop talking nonsense!” From the shadows, Peng Fei, wearing night-vision goggles, crouched low to the ground as he scanned the area outside.
Behind him, two other men crouched in wait.
Peng Fei kept his eyes glued to the alleyway intersection ahead. Under normal circumstances, the killer indeed wouldn't return here after causing such a massive uproar. But with no other leads, staking out the crime scene is our only option.
The walls of the buildings flanking the alley were two to three stories high, rising six or seven meters. At night, only a sliver of moonlight filtered down, making visibility extremely poor.
Peng Fei had deployed dozens of inspectors throughout the entire district, divided into teams of three to six.
Tap, tap, tap!
The sound of footsteps echoed from a distance. A short-haired woman dressed in pink and carrying a bag walked down the street.
She kept darting glances at the surrounding darkness, her right hand slipped inside her bag, her expression tense.
With such a major incident occurring in the alley, ordinary citizens wouldn't dare walk here at night. She was actually an undercover officer deployed by the Inspector Bureau.
Step!
Just then, another footstep sounded from behind her.
The woman in pink paused. At this hour, there shouldn't be anyone else in the alley.
The owner of the footsteps didn't seem to notice anything unusual about her and quickly rushed forward.
Here he comes! Hearing the approaching footsteps, the woman in pink knew she would be in danger if she didn't act soon.
At the same time, from the blind spot, Peng Fei spotted the figure rushing toward the woman in pink and roared, “Apprehend him!”
His voice shattered the silence of the alley as he was the first to charge out.
Whoosh!
His shout acted as a signal, and a crowd of inspectors suddenly surged out from various intersections of the alley.
They held their firearms and sprinted forward at full speed.
The person who had been tailing the woman in pink seemed startled by the commotion and turned his head to look.
Before he could react, a tall, dark shadow rushed out from the darkness and tackled him to the ground.
“Ow, what the hell?!” The man cried out in pain as Peng Fei pinned him down.
Using the sound to guide her, the woman in pink turned and slammed the butt of her gun toward the man.
“Ah!” a scream of pain rang out.
The rest of the inspectors caught up and immediately subdued him.
“We got him! We got him! I can't believe this guy is so reckless. He actually dared to return after committing murder!” a young inspector behind Peng Fei exclaimed excitedly.
Through his night-vision goggles, he could see a dagger that had fallen to the ground.
Needless to say, anyone returning to the crime scene under these circumstances had to be the suspect.
Some of the nearby inspectors turned on their flashlights, illuminating the "killer" on the ground.
Pinned to the ground was a chubby, dark-skinned, balding middle-aged man with a bleeding head wound.
He stared in terror at the inspectors crowding the alley. He had only wanted to mug someone for a bit of cash; how on earth did he end up surrounded by so many inspectors?
“Cuff him!” Peng Fei ordered as he stood up.
The balding man was firmly secured by the other inspectors.
A middle-aged inspector pushed through the crowd, grabbed the balding man by his remaining hair, and sneered, “Hmph, you're finished. You actually dared to return after killing so many people? If we don't have you executed by firing squad tomorrow, we might as well hand in our badges!”
The balding man was dumbfounded and quickly pleaded, “Officers, please don't frame an innocent man! I just wanted to steal a bit of pocket money. How did that turn into murder?”
Slap!
The middle-aged inspector holding his hair delivered a harsh slap to his face, causing it to swell up instantly.
The middle-aged inspector dragged him outward by his hair, his voice freezing. “After what happened during the day, even a common mugger wouldn't dare come here. You've been caught red-handed and still want to talk back? Don't worry, once we're back at the bureau, I'll make sure you learn your place.”
On the other side of the alleyway, three inspectors were running at a brisk pace.
“Hurry up! They found the killer. If we're late, we won't get any of the credit!” The leader was a young man of about twenty-five. He looked anxious, an earpiece hanging from his ear.
Behind him, two young inspectors followed closely.
As they passed a three-way intersection, the inspector bringing up the rear habitually glanced to the side.
Through his night-vision goggles, he locked eyes with a pair of hollow, emotionless eyes staring out from a dark corner.
The owner of those eyes had only poked half of his head out, staring at him sideways.
In an instant, the inspector felt his scalp go numb. Before he could take a closer look, the owner of those eyes retreated back into the shadows.
“Brother Tan, there seems to be someone at that intersection!” he quickly called out to the young man ahead.
“Really?!” The running young man stopped immediately, raised his pistol, and strode back to the three-way intersection.
Through the night-vision goggles, the newly discovered passage was only about ten meters deep, easily seen in its entirety at a single glance. However, a small alleyway branched off to its left.
Tan Guo took a look, his expression turning vigilant. “Follow me!”
He was the first to approach the small alley with his gun raised. Behind him, the two inspectors fanned out and followed with their weapons drawn.
Encountering anything unusual at a time like this meant it was highly likely to be the killer or an accomplice.
As they reached the entrance of the small alley, Tan Guo couldn't help but feel tense. After all, this was a killer capable of taking down armed fugitives.
He suddenly lunged forward, arriving at the mouth of the alley, and aimed his gun inside, shouting, “Don't move—”
However, his voice cut off. The small alley was a dead end, only two meters deep, and completely empty.
“Damn it, you wasted my time. Let's head back!” Tan Guo turned around and ran back out.
The inspector who had spotted the anomaly scratched his head in embarrassment. “Maybe I was just too tense and saw things.”
With that, he also turned to catch up with Tan Guo and the other inspector.
Thump, thump!
Two soft thuds suddenly echoed from behind the inspector. Before he could even turn around to look—
Splat!
A black claw burst through his chest from behind. The young inspector felt a sudden, agonizing pain in his chest.
As he turned his head, he saw a deathly pale face with pitch-black eyes staring right back at him.
Xiang Ping's mouth stretched open to an impossibly wide angle, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
“He—”
Crunch!
In one swift bite, Xiang Ping tore away half of the inspector's neck, ripping out his windpipe along with it.
Blood sprayed in a crimson geyser, painting Xiang Ping's face red.
He expressionlessly withdrew his claw, using his other hand to pierce the adjacent wall, suspending himself about two meters up.
The young inspector's body collapsed forward. Beside him, Xiang Ping released his grip on the wall and lunged toward the other two who had yet to notice anything amiss.
Pat, pat, pat!
Up ahead, the other inspector heard the sudden, rapid sound of approaching footsteps behind him.
With a teasing smirk, he turned his head back. “Running so fast, did you get scared or something?”
But as his head turned, he only saw a dark red blur flash across his night-vision goggles.
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