Alma Espejo Antigua

Capítulo 43

He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and threw the photo into the trash can.

After a while, he opened his eyes, couldn't help but pick up the photo again, and examined it closely for a while. He picked up a book from the table, turned to a page, carefully tucked the photo away, and was about to close it when he suddenly stared blankly at the words on the cover: "Jealousy is the most terrifying negative emotion of mankind; it can give rise to sin, anger, hatred, despair, fear..."

~~~~~~

Hawke's situation dealt a significant blow to Xu Haicheng, but he was never a sentimental person and always maintained a rational attitude towards people and events. His depression dissipated considerably after leaving the psychological rehabilitation center. As darkness fell, he rushed back to the municipal police station. Pan Xiaolu was already in a detention interrogation room filled with surveillance cameras; the upper window was open, illuminated only by a small lamp.

Pan Xiaolu was calmer than anyone expected, and was even reading a book.

During the event, everyone watched an interview from the cultural festival. The interviewee was Tu Chunfang, Dean of the School of Humanities at Nanpu University. He spoke eloquently about the origins and current state of Nuo culture, focusing primarily on Manxi culture. Even the detectives, who had no background in cultural studies, listened with great interest. After the interview, the police officers who had been secretly monitoring the area near the television station called back to report that they hadn't noticed anything unusual. The plainclothes officers who had escorted Tu Chunfang home also reported nothing amiss. This further confirmed Xu Haicheng's suspicion that not all members of the cultural festival organizing committee were the murderer's targets, and also reaffirmed that the deaths of Huang Yisen and Lei Yunshan were related to their archaeological excavation of the ancient Manxi tomb.

At midnight, several people stared wide-eyed at the screen, their eyes bulging like saucers. The air seemed to freeze, and time itself seemed to stand still, each second passing more slowly than usual. Dawn finally arrived, belatedly. They exchanged glances, a sense of bewilderment running through them. Had nothing happened?

Did the other party know this was a trap?

Despite his fatigue, Xu Haicheng convened a meeting to summarize the oversights. Everyone offered their rambling, incoherent opinions, but no one could provide any constructive suggestions; they did, however, smoke quite a few cigarettes. As for the plainclothes officers who had been keeping watch, they hadn't brought back any good news either. After eight days of frequent murders, this day was unusually peaceful, leading everyone to wonder if it was just the calm before the storm.

With only one day until the Mansi Cultural Festival, Pan Xiaolu once again used herself as bait that evening. The festival interview that night focused on getting closer to Gan Guodong and exploring Nuo culture. The real Gan Guodong was taller and thinner than the imposter, and spoke with a Beijing accent, which was quite interesting. Police officers were still secretly protecting him, but nothing happened.

It was nearly midnight, and all was still calm. Xu Haicheng couldn't stand being in the detention interrogation room any longer, so he went outside for a smoke and slowly paced down the corridor, lost in thought. He heard soft voices coming from the duty room, and he overheard the words "monitoring room." Curious, he went over and saw a police officer on duty making a phone call, head down, focused intently, his voice soft.

Xu Haicheng calmly picked up another part of the phone from the table next to him. The voice of the police officer on duty came through the receiver: "There are surveillance cameras in the third room on the right, the window, and the room itself..." He was shocked. When he listened to the other end of the receiver, he could only hear barely audible breathing.

After the officer on duty finished speaking, a strange murmur came from the other end of the line. He then put down the phone, stared blankly for ten seconds, and then, as if suddenly waking up, looked at Xu Haicheng and said, "Captain Xu, what are you doing here?"

"Who did you just call?"

"I was on the phone just now... Oh, right... Who called?" The officer on duty scratched the back of his head, frowning as he thought.

Xu Haicheng didn't press the matter. The phone he'd accidentally knocked over conveniently answered his questions. How the murderer had found Xu San among the numerous interrogation rooms, and how he'd found He Qing, was now clear. He called the technical department, asking them to trace the source of the earlier call, then went back to the conference room and got a good night's sleep, knowing nothing would happen that night.

As expected, nothing happened overnight. The next day, when Xu Haicheng opened his eyes, the first thought that flashed through his mind was that the cultural festival was opening today.

Chapter Fourteen: The Void Calamity, Part Four

St. James said that faith without works is dead. Feuerbach said that the entire essence of religion is expressed and concentrated in sacrifice. Therefore, he offered himself as a sacrifice to the most revered God, through the cycle of life and death, for the soul is immortal…

(Excerpt from "Police Detective's Diary")

On November 10th, almost every resident of Nanpu City woke up thinking about the opening of the Cultural Festival, thanks to the ubiquitous media. The streets were plastered with promotional flags, television broadcasts of the festival, and web pages automatically popped up with promotional links…

The serial murders on November 2nd were handled well. Although there was some speculation among the public, mainly due to the sudden disappearance of the host, He Qing, it didn't cause much further discussion or panic. If the public knew about the existence of an elusive killer, the cultural festival would likely have become a "panic festival." For them, the cultural festival actually had little cultural significance; it was just a leisurely holiday with something to do.

At the morning meeting of the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Criminal Investigation Division, the technical department reported on their findings from tracking the phone calls made last night. The calls were made from a public phone booth near the police district, and a total of four times were made: twice last night and the night before, and the other two times were the night Xu San and He Qing died. The officers who answered the calls shamefully admitted that they had no recollection of the calls, let alone the content of the conversations.

With such powerful hypnosis skills, Xu Haicheng naturally thought of Lao Tu Mao, but he was well hidden and was not discovered during the last crackdown.

The general consensus was that the calm of the past two days, especially the fact that all the interviewees from the three cultural festivals were unharmed, indicated that the perpetrator was not targeting the cultural organizing committee. Of course, some people raised objections, saying that it was because the police had been protecting the interviewees more closely recently.

Xu Haicheng presented his carefully considered idea: there was no doubt that the murderer was a descendant of the Mansi people; the reason for killing Lei Yunshan and Huang Yisen was because they led an archaeological team to excavate an ancient tomb thousands of years old; their other target was Yu Congrong. The murderer would likely choose to strike at the opening ceremony of the cultural festival, as he had no other opportunity. The Yu family villa was equipped with infrared surveillance everywhere, and four bodyguards stayed by Yu Congrong's side whenever he went out. Only at the opening ceremony of the cultural festival could the murderer possibly get close to him.

Everyone debated his idea for a long time. Finally, Deputy Captain Feng made the decision to send two officers to secretly protect Yu Congrong, and ten officers to disguise themselves and infiltrate the opening ceremony of the cultural festival, carrying pictures of Lao Tu Mao, Lu Mingjie, and Wu Dajun, to report any unusual activity to the bureau immediately.

The opening ceremony is scheduled for 5 p.m. at the convention center.

Xu Haicheng arrived at the convention center at 3 PM to familiarize himself with the surrounding area. Although the convention center was not open, a large number of tourists had already gathered nearby, their flashes going off intermittently. Many people were busy at the makeshift open-air stage, doing final checks on all the equipment—this was a live broadcast, and there was no room for error.

The overcast weather only accentuated the magnificent decorations of the convention center, making it stand out like a bright-eyed, white-toothed young woman against a gray background. Xu Haicheng strolled around casually, observing the movements of the crowd. However, most of what caught his eye were the enthusiastic eyes and carefree smiles of the tourists, which made him a little envious. He was always the busiest during holidays.

"Captain Xu."

A soft shout came from somewhere, and Xu Haicheng stopped and looked around. He saw an old man pushing through the crowd and hurrying over. Upon closer inspection, it was Song Sanping. He immediately realized that Song Sanping would be performing the oldest mountain god worship ceremony with eighty other Nuo dancers to open the conference.

"Captain Xu, I've been wanting to see you. I went to the Municipal Bureau the day before yesterday, but they said you weren't there." Song Sanping said a few words of small talk before getting to the point, "How's the investigation into my son Xiaoduo's matter going?" His eyes were full of expectation, shining with hope.

Xu Haicheng sighed inwardly. This was a rather difficult matter for him. If he told the truth, it would ruin the lives of the other eight members of the Tongtianling Altar Archaeological Team. If he didn't tell, how could the Song family bear it? After thinking for a moment, he said, "I've already found out. I'll tell you after your performance."

"Is our Xiaoduo..." Song Sanping was too nervous to finish his sentence.

Xu Haicheng patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don't overthink it. It's not what you think. Song Duo wasn't murdered. The matter is more complicated, so I'll tell you in detail later."

Song Sanping sighed, his expression a mixture of relief and disappointment. Although he firmly believed that Song Duo had died unjustly, he didn't really want to believe he had been murdered. Xu Haicheng watched him walk through the crowd toward his Nuo dance troupe, where a large crowd had already gathered. Some of them had changed into their performance costumes, looking like shamans.

Xu Haicheng answered his phone after several rings. It was the plainclothes officer monitoring Lu Mingjie. "Captain Xu, Lu Mingjie is heading towards the underground parking lot. His movements are suspicious." Chen Chen had already submitted the report, along with Lao Chuntou's statement, to the Municipal Bureau and requested his reinstatement. The city leaders replied that they were too busy recently and would discuss it after the Cultural Festival. Xu Haicheng was still suspended, but his teammates had gotten used to his leadership, and he was the first person they thought of when something happened.

Xu Haicheng slammed the phone down, looked around, and halfway there saw Yu Congrong's two bodyguards rushing towards the underground parking lot. One of them was He Aimin. Xu Haicheng was taken aback and quickened his pace as well.

He walked quietly down the stairs to the entrance and peered through the half-open door. The parking lot was already full of cars, and the dim lighting added to the gloom. He could faintly hear people talking, hurriedly, as if they were arguing. Xu Haicheng, with his back against the wall, quickly peeked out but didn't see anyone. Instead, he saw two twisted, elongated figures on the wall, pulling at each other.

"It has to work, even if it doesn't work." Lu Mingjie's voice was a little loud, revealing a hint of ruthlessness. Xu Haicheng's heart pounded, remembering what he had said a few days ago: I am not kind.

"You..." The other voice was much weaker, and his words were unclear.

Xu Haicheng had already determined the direction of the two men with a quick glance, so he crouched down, using the car as cover, and walked towards where they were standing. He hadn't gone far when he heard Lu Mingjie say "Sorry," followed by a thud as something heavy fell to the ground. Startled, he peered under the car and saw a person lying on the ground about ten cars' width away, with another person standing beside them. The standing person crouched down, looked at the lying person, and sighed softly. Judging from the back, it was Lu Mingjie.

Xu Haicheng was trying to approach him silently when he suddenly saw two legs, about four cars away, also moving towards Lu Mingjie. Seeing the black trousers covering half of the legs, Xu Haicheng's heart skipped a beat. Could they be Yu Congrong's bodyguards who had rushed down earlier? But what business did they have with Lu Mingjie?

Just as he was pondering, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps followed by a soft shout: "Lu Mingjie, hands up!" Xu Haicheng recognized the voice of a plainclothes officer and inwardly groaned. He certainly didn't know that besides Lu Mingjie, Yu Congrong's bodyguards were also present. Although he didn't know what the bodyguards wanted, their furtive behavior probably wasn't good. He instinctively reached for his waist to draw his gun, only to find it empty, remembering that he had turned in his service weapon that morning. Even if he had a gun, it wouldn't be of much use; the nerves in his right hand hadn't recovered yet.

Xu Haicheng thought for a moment, then decided to crawl on his knees towards Lu Mingjie. This way, he could remain silent while keeping an eye on his surroundings. He saw Lu Mingjie slowly get up, but couldn't see if he raised his hands. He heard the plainclothes officer's footsteps approaching steadily, and saw the bodyguard's lower leg never stop, getting closer and closer to Lu Mingjie.

Suddenly, two consecutive low, muffled thuds were heard.

Xu Haicheng was horrified. He knew that sound all too well; it was clearly the sound of a bullet entering a body. There was no gunshot; the bodyguard's gun was equipped with a silencer. Who had been shot?

He quickly saw half of the lower leg retreating, and then he saw Lu Mingjie's two lower legs swaying.

"Who's there? Stop!" came the voice of a plainclothes officer. He quickened his pace and ran towards them, making no attempt to hide. Wasn't he just going to become a target? Xu Haicheng couldn't hold back any longer. He shouted as he crawled faster, "Quick, crouch down!"

The hurried footsteps stopped abruptly.

Then came another "thud" as a bullet pierced flesh.