The Real Awakening - Chapter 7: The Other No. 13

2:45 PM, Nanshan Prison.

The cold and stuffy interrogation room was abnormally tranquil.

Two criminal investigators and one prisoner, with none of them speaking.

The sky outside the window was dusky and dark clouds enveloped everything with a heavy pressure as though rain would be imminent.

The lighting inside the room was not very good; the old light above their heads continued to flicker. Under the random flashes, the emaciated young man sat motionless in a chair like a statue. His head was buried under his crossed legs to hide his face in the depths of the shadows.

There were still rusted fetters on his bare ankles, and he was wearing the same white straitjacket as before. But now, there was a large, shocking crimson bloodstain dyeing the chest area of his clothing.

Of course, this dried blood was not his own.

Sitting across from the youth with the table between them was Ye Xiao, who used one hand to prop up his chin and the other hand to hold a pen.

He was silent for a very long time, and maintained his patience for a very long time. But ultimately, he couldn’t bear it any longer and poked the tip of his pen at the blank notebook lying on the table to restrain his barely containable frustration. He had already asked questions multiple times, yet he asked once again.

“No. 13, what is the reason you bit off Officer Chen’s ear? Don’t tell me it was just a moment of venting?”

The youth merely kept his head lowered without even raising his eyes, like he had not heard anyone speaking to him.

He had maintained this state for over three hours now.

Since the moment he had taken a seat in the interrogation room, he had not uttered a single word.

Ye Xiao placed the pen down and leaned forward to ask, “You ate Officer Chen’s ear, didn’t you? Officer Chen was just delivering your dinner and had no intentions of harming you. Why did you do this? Are you aware that his hearing has been damaged as a result and he might not be able to stay as a police officer anymore?”

The young man remained still, though his head seemed to drop even lower.

After waiting for a moment, Ye Xiao helplessly sighed. “Also, you told us you were innocent last time, but you had clearly given your print on the confession statement. Why? Could someone have pressured you?”

The youth shuddered slightly, but did not speak.

Ye Xiao massaged his forehead in dismay and shot a pleading look at Su Mu, who had been standing next to the window the entire time. Su Mu remained silent with a blank face. This entire interrogation had felt like a one-man show by Ye Xiao.

He couldn’t help but feel his expression drop as he shot an indignant glare at Su Mu.

At this moment, the interrogation room’s door was abruptly kicked open by a man who aggressively charged in. There were multiple white bandages wrapped around his face, and it was startlingly evident through the bloodstains on the right side that there was an ear missing.

This person was the prison officer whose ear had been eaten by No. 13 two days ago: Chen Yao.

Chen Yao furiously barged in before Ye Xiao could stop him, and grabbed the front of No. 13’s clothes before throwing a fierce punch.

“Bastard! Spit my ear out!”

No. 13 was thrown off his chair by the blow, and half of his face instantly swelled up.

Beside himself in fear, terrified trembles shook through his body as he lay sprawled on the floor. Finally, he opened his mouth to stammer, “No….N-no, it wasn’t me…I-I-I don’t know…”

“Shut up! You scum! Hurry up and spit my ear out! Spit it out!”

Radiating an aura of loathing, Chen Yao stomped forward to begin angrily kicking the shivering, curled-up youth.

Deng Wei Ning belatedly rushed in with another prison officer to hurriedly pull the man back and fight to dissuade him, “Xiao Chen, don’t be like this! Calm down a bit! Calm down!”

Yet Chen Yao seemed to have lost all reason, his emotions uncontrollable as he let out raged shouts while grabbing the gun at Deng Wei Ning’s hip. With a click, the black barrel of the gun was aimed directly at the youth hiding in the corner.

Beyond terrified, No. 13 screamed and shakily wailed, “N-no! S-s-save me….Ye! Officer Ye! S-save me! Save me!”

“Stop!”

Ye Xiao roared out and ran out to stand between the gun and the youth.

Chen Yao viciously glared at Ye Xiao and gritted out, “Move aside! Let me end this bastard!”

Ye Xiao stared him down with blazing eyes. “I know you’re extremely angry, but you can’t just kill him like this.”

“He killed so many people, that kind of person’s crimes cannot even be wiped out by death alone!”

“Even if his crimes cannot be wiped out by death, he needs to be punished by the law! Besides, we still don’t know whether he really killed anyone or not.”

“What-what did you say?”

Chen Yao stared at Ye Xiao in disbelief.

Ye Xiao matter-of-factly explained, “No. 13 told me before that he was wrongly accused.”

“Hah, what a joke! You actually believed the words of a convict on death row?”

Chen Yao let out a derisive sneer.

Ye Xiao coolly looked at him and said, “Yes, before the situation has been investigated to the end, I believe him.”

“Ha-haha! You’re crazy! Completely crazy!”

Chen Yao shot a mocking glare at Ye Xiao and ground out through clenched teeth, “I think you’re messed up in the head.”

Ye Xiao stiffly maintained a serious expression without replying.

“Alright, alright, Xiao Chen, you should cool down too. Give the gun to me.”

At this moment, Deng Wei Ning took the chance to whisk the gun back from Chen Yao’s hands and together with the other prison officer, pushed and shoved the still fuming Chen Yao out of the interrogation room.

Ye Xiao couldn’t help but let out a bated breath after watching them leave.

In reality, he was not certain if No. 13 was guilty or not. However, he preferred to trust in the innate goodness in people.

Su Mu stood off to the side in an uninvolved manner without expressing any thoughts the entire time. After a while, he flatly commented, “Seeing as there haven’t been any results from today’s interrogation, I think you should just end it here for the day.”

Then he turned to push open the door and walk out, leaving only Ye Xiao and No. 13 in the vacant interrogation room.

Gradually, the pitter-patter of rain sounded out from the window. The murky sky felt exceptionally oppressive, and the light above them flickered a few more times before completely cutting out.

The interrogation room sank into darkness.

After watching Su Mu’s back disappear from the doorway, Ye Xiao helplessly stood there and scratched his head before turning to look at No. 13. The latter was curled up on the floor, head buried while lying still.

“Oi, how are you, are you okay?” Ye Xiao crouched down and patted the youth’s shoulder. “Are you injured anywhere? Do you need me to carry you?”

But despite asking multiple times, No. 13 did not respond.

Ye Xiao furrowed his brows in confusion. Right as he was about to bend over and help the man up, he heard a strange, muffled chuckle. Between the intermittent laughter, a voice muttered, “Officer Ye…ha, haha, you…you actually believe in that guy’s words? Pfft…hahaha…you-you are really interesting…hahaha…”

Stunned, Ye Xiao frowned down.

The youth’s head faced the floor, hiding it from view. Laughter shook his entire body as though something beyond hilarious had just occurred. The laughter gradually increased in volume, growing brighter and sharper. As the neurotic, ear-grating laughter continued, the young man slowly raised his head in the dim shadows to reveal malicious and callous eyes like those of a snake.

He titled his head in rumination as he studied Ye Xiao.

Ye Xiao felt goosebumps from that gaze, his mouth opening in shock yet his words failing him.

Wh-what is going on?

The No. 13 in front of him seemed to have instantly become another person.

No, he’s not No. 13! He’s not No. 13 at all! Who-who is he?

Amidst his astonishment, Ye Xiao abruptly recalled He Zhi Dong’s previous words.

“That person is…uncommunicative, crafty and sinister…shrewd to the core.”

Don’t tell me that-that this is his real face?

Ye Xiao was dumbstruck as he gaped in disbelief at the youth before him, who was now a completely different person.

The young man stood and curled his pale lips upwards in a chilling manner while strangely scrutinising Ye Xiao’s stupefied expression. Then he let out a burst of laughter and teased, “My beloved Officer Ye, if you want to find your lost memories from over a decade ago, then make sure to come meet me alone next time.”

As he spoke, the youth stuck out his long tongue and licked Ye Xiao’s cheek.

Ye Xiao’s eyes immediately widened into a shocked stare, as though he’d been struck by lightning.

The youth peered back at Ye Xiao with a dark smirk.

At this moment, two prison officers strode in through the door and greeted Ye Xiao. Then they each grabbed one of the youth’s arms and pulled him up from the floor, making him stagger as he was dragged away.

Upon reaching the door, No. 13 turned his head with mirth in his eyes as he cast Ye Xiao a meaningful look.

Ye Xiao remained blankly rooted in place, with one knee still on the floor. Even after a long time, he did not snap out of his daze.

That’s right, I don’t have memories from before I was ten. But how does No. 13 know that?

No, that’s impossible. There’s no way he can know that.

Ye Xiao had never mentioned his past to anyone.

But No. 13 stated it clearly just now…

Could it be that…that he knows the past that even I can no longer recall?

Why? How can that be?

Ye Xiao remained in a muddled stupor all the way up until Su Mu clapped him on the back, finally pulling his thoughts back to reality. He stared at his partner as if he’d just been woken from a dream.

Su Mu furrowed his brows and asked, “What are you doing? Still not leaving?”

Ye Xiao finally stood up from the floor and blankly followed Su Mu out of the interrogation room.

In the following days, Ye Xiao remained in a muddleheaded state. He was constantly unfocused – if he wasn’t doing something wrong, then he was forgetting about something. Even when he was called to the leader’s office and scolded, he remained out of it.

Su Mu seemed to detect his partner’s abnormality, but did not question it.

In reality, Ye Xiao was striving hard to maintain a clear head and rationale, repeatedly warning himself that No. 13 couldn’t possibly know anything and that it was definitely a lie, definitely a trap. But no matter how much he thought about it, he could never convince himself.

After all, he had never stopped searching for his lost memories in the past fourteen or so years, either intentionally or otherwise.

A person without a past was like a dead leaf that had broken off from its branch, floating about with the breeze without any idea of where it would ultimately land.

No parents, no relatives, no friends, no idea of his own identity, no idea where he came from, and no idea why his parents had not wanted him. He was a single person in the lonesome state of being separate from everyone else from beginning to end.

It was an extremely unpleasant feeling.

And now, someone had actually declared they could help him find his past. It was undoubtedly a deadly temptation.

Despite clearly knowing it might be a trap, Ye Xiao could not resist. Hence, on an afternoon of a heavy, pouring rainstorm, Ye Xiao evaded Su Mu and snuck out to Nanshan Prison by himself.

Deng Wei Ning had a suspicious expression when he saw Ye Xiao arrive unaccompanied, but did not question it as he sent two prison officers to bring No. 13 from the cell to the interrogation room.

The broken light in the interrogation room had not been replaced, and it was currently emitting buzzing static noises in the dark and narrow space. The youth sat serenely in a spot where light and shadow intertwined. Only when Ye Xiao pushed open the door to enter did the man shift and shoot a smug look at the young officer in front of him, letting out a low muffled chuckle. “You ultimately came as expected, my beloved Officer Ye.”

The youth narrowed his eyes, his grin sinister and crafty as he deliberately glanced around and feigned ignorance, “Ohhh? That cool partner of yours didn’t come with you today? What, did you ditch him?”

With a taut face, Ye Xiao silently sat across the convict.

The youth clicked his tongue and commented, “That frosty face really doesn’t match your personality. No need to be so grave, relax a bit—”

“Cut the chit chat, you know why I came today,” Ye Xiao interrupted.

The young man shrugged, then made a comical expression before suddenly leaning forward and staring into Ye Xiao’s eyes. In a malicious tone, he asked, “Is that the attitude you should have when asking for a favour, my-be-lov-ed-Officer Ye?”

Ye Xiao looked straight back into the other man’s eyes with a burning gaze as he scoffed, “Might as well go straight to the point then. No. 13, I actually don’t believe you know anything at all.”

The youth snorted, then tilted his head and mockingly asked, “Oh? You don’t believe it? Then why did you come here today? Don’t tell me…it’s because you missed me? Hahahaha, hahahaha….”

He laughed without any restraint, the mirth convulsing through his entire body.

Amidst the crazed laughter, Ye Xiao coolly sat there and stared him in the face, patiently waiting for the chuckles to subside. Then, he took a deep breath and slowly stated, “Officer He Zhi Dong stabbed his own eye with a fountain pen in the middle of an interrogation. Officer Luo You Wei strangled his sleeping fiancee and then committed suicide by jumping off a building. And Officer Kang Lei suddenly went insane during an interrogation.

“These three were officers that had previously been responsible for your case. In the beginning, someone told me that their accidents were all related to you, and I didn’t believe it. But now, I think that you must’ve told them something, or perhaps used some type of crafty trick.”

Ye Xiao leaned back against his chair and calmly continued, “This time, your target is me. Am I right?”

Immediately following these words, the youth began to chuckle again. He crossed his shackled, bare feet atop the chair and grinned, “I did not misread you; you really are interesting, Officer Ye…But you were slightly wrong, let me correct you.”

He slyly fluttered his eyelashes and unhurriedly continued, “Actually, I did not use any type of crafty trick. I merely elaborated some unknown facts to them.”

“Unknown facts?”

Ye Xiao snorted and shot back, “Don’t tell me you want me to believe that you’re telepathic?”

“Yes! That’s right! That’s exactly it!”

The youth’s voice shifted to a higher pitch as he leaned his upper body forwards against the table in his excitement, then mysteriously declared, “I not only am telepathic, but I can also find out others’ pasts. Do you believe me, my beloved Officer Ye?”

“Don’t try that trick on me.” Ye Xiao coldly met the other’s gaze and firmly warned, “Save the supernatural act. No matter what you say now, I won’t believe—”

“Ye Xiao!”

The young man suddenly shouted his name, his eyes locked onto Ye Xiao’s as he darkly murmured, “Ye Xiao, Ye Xiao, Ye Xiao…oh, truly quite a good name…it’s just a pity that…”

He thoughtfully studied Ye Xiao, then emphasised each word, “It’s just a pity that…this name…does not belong to you.”

Ye Xiao froze and could only give a dumbstruck stare.

The youth smirked and slowly added, “My guess is that you intentionally chose that name for yourself to commemorate a specific person, and this specific person died because of you. Am I right?”

Ye Xiao’s pupils instantly contracted in shock as his eyes widened in astonishment at the youth.

The latter pursed his lips together to chuckle quietly again, but eventually, the chuckles turned into hearty laughter.

While still furiously laughing, he jumped up from the chair onto the table, crouching to peer down intently into Ye Xiao’s eyes that were quaking with fear. Then in a teasing tone, he asked, “How about it, do you want me to continue talking, my adorable and kindhearted Officer Ye? Hm?”

Ye Xiao’s body was rigid in his seat, unable to move, unable to speak.

The young man unhurriedly raised a brow, appreciating the amusing change in expressions. After a while, he leaned towards Ye Xiao’s ear and said in a low, malicious, and condemning tone, “You’ve been both a thief and murderer, bearing the responsibility of three human lives. How can you continue shamelessly living on, my beloved Officer Ye?”

The moment these words were dropped, an involuntary shudder ran through Ye Xiao. He gritted his teeth and wordlessly glared back at the youth. Despite doing his utmost to control his own emotions, the slight trembling of his shoulders betrayed him.

“What, did I say something wrong?”

The young man continued to softly whisper into Ye Xiao’s ear, “Actually, you don’t think you have the qualifications to be living in this world either, right? You personally witnessed it that day, didn’t you? How that young officer who wanted to save you, and his beautiful wife that was eight months pregnant, died so tragically?

“Ah, right, it seems like…it just so happened to be pouring rain that day like it is today. That young woman with dishevelled hair, kneeling in the rain with her large stomach, hysterically shaking her already dead husband while wailing in grief. Those heart-wrenching sobs accompanied by strikes of thunder, ripping through the skies again and again.

“And you, the main culprit that caused her husband’s death, just stood less than ten metres away, standing in the rainstorm, blankly watching them. The ground was covered in blood, that young police officer’s blood, as well as his wife’s blood…”

“Enough! Don’t say anymore!” Ye Xiao shot up to his feet.

Seeing Ye Xiao’s crumbling expression that he was starting to lose control of, the young man flashed a satisfied smile and leisurely crossed his legs on the table. Then he provocatively asked, “My beloved Officer Ye, a murderer must pay with one’s life, using blood to cover a blood debt. Such sayings aren’t foreign to you, no? Do you not have a single shred of guilty conscience? Have you never heard the wails of the deceased souls? Have you been able to sleep peacefully at night?

“That’s enough! Shut up right now!”

Ye Xiao painfully closed his eyes and unsteadily took a step back with one hand cradling his forehead and one hand clutching the corner of the table. Finally, after much difficulty, he just barely restrained his rampaging emotions. He glared at No. 13 in bafflement and fury while biting out through clenched teeth, “Why? Why do you know this?”

“Why? Pfft…”

The youth laughed in amusement and replied, “Didn’t I tell you from the start? I’m telepathic and I can find out others’ pasts. I can also predict their future. How about it, do you believe me now?”

“Hmph, predict their future?” Ye Xiao grabbed the convict’s lapel and sneered, “Then why don’t you try predicting your own future? Are you going to spend the rest of your life in prison, or will you die on the execution grounds?”

With this, Ye Xiao shoved the man away and then strode out of the interrogation room without a backwards glance.

The youth remained calm and composed on the table, legs still crossed as a subtle and eerie smile formed on his face. His sinister gaze remained locked onto Ye Xiao’s back as he muttered to himself, “Running away is useless, my adorable and kindhearted Officer Ye. I hope you have a pleasant trip.”

As Ye Xiao staggered out of the interrogation room in a sorry state, he bumped into Deng Wei Ning in the corridor. The latter was bewildered at the former’s daze, but before he could say anything, Ye Xiao silently quickened his pace and exited the building to charge into the rain.

Ye Xiao sat in the driver’s seat of the police car for a long time, gasping for breath as he tried to calm himself down. But the hand gripping the car keys continued to shake uncontrollably, and it took him several attempts before he successfully turned the key and started the engine. Then he pressed down on the gas pedal and left Nanshan Prison as though running for his life.

When it was nearly evening, the darkness began to gather prematurely and envelop the top of the mountain without a sound. As the light gradually faded away, the road became more difficult to drive along. The rocky terrain and the shadowing trees flickered around him, and the car’s wheels would skid along the mud every so often. However, Ye Xiao was too occupied to pay any mind to this. He also did not realise that the speed of the car was constantly rising with his agitated emotions. Before long, the car was speeding along the precipitous cliff like an out-of-control horse.

The skies turned darker and darker.

The rain turned fiercer and fiercer.

Torrential downpour descended from the heavens, causing bean-sized raindrops to lash down sharply and loudly on the windows like a whip. The deafening clamour that arose gave Ye Xiao a splitting headache.

With one hand holding the wheel, he used the other hand to massage his temples. Right as he was about to take a deep breath and force himself to calm down, there was a clap, and the explosive burst of thunder was accompanied by a dazzling flash of lightning that struck past his eyes. Like a piercing blade slicing through the sky, it instantly illuminated the world in white light.

Ye Xiao jerked in fright, and he seemed to dimly hear mournful cries amidst the storm.

It was a young woman’s sobs. Grief-stricken, she wailed until her voice was hoarse.

“Save him! Save him! I beg of you, save him…”

“No! I don’t want this! Ah Xiao, don’t abandon me!”

“Wake up! Wake up! Ah Xiao! I beg you, open your eyes and look at me…”

“Ah Xiao! Ah Xiao!”

The heart-wrenching cries lingered around his ears. Like a sharp saw, it relentlessly wore down the nerves in Ye Xiao’s brain that were on the verge of collapse. He furiously shook his head, trying to shake off the hanging sobs. But it was useless – the more he wanted to break free, the deeper he became entrapped.

“Sorry, sorry, sorry….”

He repeatedly muttered this to himself as he closed his eyes in extreme anguish and he broke down, tears flowing down his face.

The instant he was about to reopen his eyes, a blinding flash of lightning shot down. In his daze, he seemed to…seemed to suddenly glimpse a young woman with a large stomach in front of the car…

The woman was crawling along the ground in heartbroken despair to cradle a man’s corpse while silently crying…

Ye Xiao sucked in a sharp breath, and jerked his hand to hurriedly turn the wheel.

But it was all too late.

With the ear-splitting screech of brakes, the car spun 180 degrees and violently skidded out at a speed of over 100 kph, crashing into a tree before uncontrollably rushing towards a very high cliff.

In that moment, the entire world seemed to be spinning…

Time seemed to stop flowing…

The entire world was deathly still…

Darkness enshrouded everything…

He could not see anything, could not hear anything. All that remained were the unending echoes of the rainstorm.

Pitter patter, pitter patter…

The torrent of raindrops slid across his face like buckets of ice water being dumped over his head.

Ye Xiao did not know how much time had passed. With faint shivers, he gradually gained consciousness in the freezing curtain of rain.

“Ye Xiao! Ye Xiao!”

Someone was grabbing his shoulders and shaking him non-stop as a familiar voice repeatedly rang through his ears.

Ye Xiao choked as he coughed out a mouthful of salty liquid.

When he opened his eyes, an extremely familiar facial outline appeared in his blurry vision.

That person was soaked to the skin from standing in the rain, and had one hand supporting Ye Xiao’s body while the other was gently patting his face. Upon seeing Ye Xiao wake, the person’s tightly knit brows finally relaxed slightly for a moment, but it was immediately followed by a frosty scolding.

“Hmph, I just knew nothing good would come out of you going to visit No. 13 alone. It really was just as I expected! I’ll make you pay for acting on your own later. For now, you’d better pull yourself together, do you hear me!”

Ye Xiao blankly stared at him in the endless rain, but when he opened his mouth to speak, he suddenly choked out another load of blood.

It hurts. It hurts so much. Every single part of his body hurt; the pain was as though all of his bones had shattered.

However, it was precisely this pain that made him clearly realise that he was somehow still alive.

Ye Xiao motionlessly laid there, struggling to gasp for breath. When he squinted through the downpour, he was shocked to discover that he was currently suspended between overhanging precipices.

Based on his visual estimate, he was at least thirty metres above the ground. Fortunately, a protruding rock had just happened to block the fallen car; otherwise, he would likely have been completely crushed at the bottom of the cliff ages ago.

At the moment, despite having been thrown out from the open car door, he still had one leg trapped inside the deformed car seat and could not pull it out.

Su Mu was currently trying to figure out a way to lift the seat off, but each of his attempts resulted in failure. Moreover, if he wasn’t extremely careful with his movements, it could lead to both person and car falling over the precipice.

The rain was getting worse and worse; a peril could occur at any moment.

Ye Xiao watched Su Mu in terror, then endured intense pain to grab hold of Su Mu’s collar and gasp out, “Leave me…go…I don’t want…to cause your death too…”

Su Mu stopped in his motions, his expression steely as he turned and snorted, “You think much too highly of yourself. You’re nowhere close to being capable of causing my death.”

Ye Xiao couldn’t help but choke as he was left speechless. He could only close his eyes in silence.

The icy rain forcefully struck downwards, lapping his wounds that were dripping with blood. And the trauma deep in his memories gradually grew clearer under the cleansing rain.

He quietly said, “That day, after we got out from the abandoned village…at the hospital, you asked me who I was, and I didn’t answer you…Actually…it wasn’t that I didn’t want to reply, but…but because…I don’t know who I am either…I…I don’t have memories from before I was ten…”

Su Mu froze at these words and turned to stare at Ye Xiao.

With closed eyes, Ye Xiao continued to pant in pain, and then coughed out more blood.

Su Mu hurriedly supported his body and urged, “Don’t talk anymore, preserve your strength.”

Yet Ye Xiao faintly shook his head, taking a slow breath before brokenly stating, “Since the start of my memories…I roamed homeless alone on the streets, always hungry and cold…until one day, I fainted from hunger on the streets and was picked up by a stranger…That man gave me food to eat and a place to stay, so…so I began to follow him and steal to make a living…

“I stole many things…cellphones, wallets, necklaces, watches…I’d steal anything that could be exchanged for money…because if not, I’d be viciously beaten instead…until eventually, one day, I went after stealing…and just happened to see that man being stabbed to death by someone…At the time, I was completely stupefied and before I could react, I was knocked out by the killer…

“But…but what I hadn’t imagined was that…after waking, I was shocked to discover…I had been locked up by the police…with the murder weapon, fingerprints, and motive for the crime all collected…The evidence completely pointed to me as the murderer…I told the police that I hadn’t killed anyone, but…but no one believed me…Naturally, everyone believed the words coming from a thieving child would be lies…Only one person…only one person believed I wasn’t lying…”

Ye Xiao paused for a moment, his breaths rushed as his brows furrowed in pain.

He slowly continued, “That person’s name was…Ye Xiao…He was a young officer with a kind smile…Only he firmly believed that I had been wrongly accused…and in spite of everyone’s dissuasion, he bailed me out from that ice-cold juvenile prison…and brought me home…And his wife who was eight months pregnant even specially made warm milk and delicious porridge for me, gave me clean clothes, gave me a warm bed…

“Although I only lived there for six days, they treated me like family…This was…something that I had never dared to hope for during all those years…the fortune of having a home and its warmth…But…but…”

Ye Xiao’s anguished eyes gazed up vacantly at the horizon that was pouring down rain. The icy drops fell onto his gradually paling face before sliding down in a stream like tears.

He murmured in a low, choked voice, “Afterwards…Officer Ye tracked down the true murderer. But that person…was someone from a crime syndicate…and Officer Ye didn’t hesitate to brave danger by himself to prove my innocence…B-but..in the end…he was cruelly killed by that murderer…seventeen stabs….When the body was found on the roadside, all four limbs had been broken, every inch of his flesh mutilated…”

At this point, Ye Xiao could no longer form words, tremors running through his body under the storm, his eyes glistening with tears.

Su Mu pulled Ye Xiao’s leg out from underneath the car seat and wordlessly held Ye Xiao up by the shoulders.

Whether it was due to the pain from his wounds or because of his upset emotions, Ye Xiao’s entire body was shaking intensely. A long while passed before he finally calmed down a bit.

“I remember…it was raining badly that day…I was sobbing as I ran to the scene, only to see…Officer Ye’s wife crying from extreme anguish before fainting by his bloodsoaked body…And their unborn child was miscarried as a result…Three days later, Officer Ye’s wife ultimately decided to jump from the hospital’s eighth floor, unable to bear the sudden loss of her husband and child. She died instantly…

“They…they were supposed to have been a very happy family of three…It’s all because of me…It was me…It was me that killed them…”

After disjointedly saying all this, Ye Xiao no longer had the strength to say anything else. He wordlessly stared up at the night sky, and the tears he had held back for a long time slowly leaked out from the corners of his eyes.

Su Mu had not uttered a word the entire time. He continued staying silent for a long while after Ye Xiao finished speaking before quietly saying with an unprecedented gentleness in his tone, “You did not do anything wrong, so don’t blame yourself. Pull yourself together and continue going on with your life. You living well is the greatest reciprocation you can give to those who have passed away.”

Upon hearing these words, Ye Xiao could not stop the tears streaming down his cheeks.