Chapter 136 - 119: Surrender? Another Surrender

Liu Bo was dead.

The honest, simple man in Zhang Wei’s eyes—the one who worked tirelessly, gritting his teeth through the most grueling training without a single complaint—was dead.

The killer had modified a construction nail gun, making it astonishingly lethal. A single shot to a vulnerable part of the body was all it took to kill instantly.

"Back then, he was sent to my unit because he broke the regiment’s records for Firearms assembly and target shooting."

October 31st, 12:30 PM.

A voice suddenly broke the silence.

"He trained for the same reason as everyone else—to become an officer, to get a promotion."

Inside a funeral home in Zhaozhou City, serving as a temporary morgue, Zhang Wei fell silent as he stared at what lay before him, then began to speak.

"But for him, it was about getting a bigger severance package when he was discharged."

"He never ate much good food as a kid. Advisor Xu, you should understand what life was like thirty, forty years ago."

"Barely any meat all year round. The only fruits he’d ever eaten in his life were oranges and apples."

"He said apples were delicious, that his daughter loved them, so he wanted to plant an apple orchard. But the truth is..."

At this, Zhang Wei paused and shook his head.

"There are countless fruits that taste better than apples."

"But back then, apples were all he’d ever known. The taste was seared into his memory. He thought they were the most delicious thing in the world, so he wanted to save them all for his wife and child."

"Life plays such cruel tricks..."

Zhang Wei muttered on, while Xu Huo, Li Jianye, and the others listened from the side.

They were in the morgue of a funeral home.

After recovering Liu Bo’s body in the early hours of the morning, they had temporarily stored it here.

Liu Wen’s body was here as well.

At the crime scene, Liu Bo had held her in his arms, gazing at her for a long time before taking his own life. The police had tried to separate them but couldn’t; even in death, his grip was astonishingly strong.

Only now had they finally been separated, lying side-by-side on two mortuary slabs.

On the left was the adult, his face weathered and full of integrity.

On the right was the smaller girl. She bore a slight resemblance to him, was as thin as a skeleton, and had passed away at the age of nineteen...

From a certain perspective, the plan had been a success.

The plan to lure Liu Bo was, by all accounts, perfect.

He fought desperately, facing dozens of dark muzzles. He took three bullets, and in the end, he finally saw his daughter’s... corpse.

To be honest, the plan was full of holes. The fact that he threw an irritant smoke grenade first proved he’d already guessed there was an ambush inside.

He also knew Liu Wen was dead.

But he came anyway.

This was an entrapment operation—one where the bait mattered more than the plan.

"I’m going out for a smoke."

Li Jianye was silent for a long moment. A heavy feeling settled in his chest as he walked outside.

"I’ll go too," Xu Huo said with a nod, also heading out.

Zhang Wei paid them no mind and continued muttering to himself.

Outside the funeral home, the two of them sat down on the steps by the road.

"Want one?"

Li Jianye pulled out a cigarette and offered it to Xu Huo.

Xu Huo didn’t stand on ceremony. He took it, lit up, and felt the nicotine fill his chest before exhaling heavily.

The negative feelings dissipated slightly along with the smoke.

"Tsk, how did he end up dead...?"

Li Jianye’s eyes were glazed over. He seemed listless, almost as if he were drunk.

"I never actually thought he would die..."

"Zhang Wei has his sense of camaraderie, so he would never have drawn up a plan to eliminate him. The armed police wouldn’t have used heavy firepower, and the guy was unarmed..."

"So how did he end up dead...?"

Li Jianye murmured.

Xu Huo glanced at him.

The man was clearly dejected. He hadn’t done anything wrong, and there was no fault to find or moral high ground to take.

But he still felt a heavy weight on his chest.

"Alright, enough. I’m the one who proposed the operation, and even I’m not saying anything. And here you are, rambling on."

"Once the case is closed, we’ll arrange for the funeral. Take it out of my bonus."

Xu Huo stood up and patted the other man’s shoulder reassuringly.

Li Jianye let out a long breath, threw the cigarette butt on the ground to extinguish it, then tossed it into a trash can. He paused for a moment before giving a wry smile.

"I’ve been a criminal investigator for almost twenty years... and here you are, a young pup, trying to comfort me."

"Hey, this young pup isn’t the one muttering to himself while smoking."

Xu Huo retorted cheerfully, completely unfazed by the other man’s reddening face.

For a frontline investigator, there are only two ways to solve cases without developing psychological issues.

Either you’re cold as stone, or you learn to control your own emotions. Li Jianye was the latter; he could regulate his feelings very quickly.

Otherwise... the most likely outcome is resignation, followed by a descent into depression.

Li Jianye opened his mouth to retort.

But just as he looked up, he saw a few people, paused, and the words died on his lips.

"I’m going to handle the case wrap-up."

With that, he practically fled the scene.

Xu Huo followed his gaze and saw several people in plain clothes.

They weren’t young; they looked to be at least thirty-five.

They had crew cuts, dark complexions, and resolute eyes.

’No doubt about it,’ Xu Huo thought. ’These must be Liu Bo’s old comrades from training or from missions they ran together.’

"Brother Guo..."

The men weren’t overly emotional, just a bit downcast. They asked quietly after seeing Xu Huo.

"He’s inside."

Xu Huo gestured toward the funeral home behind him. The men fell silent but went in anyway.

Seeing this, Xu Huo looked away and sighed.

Then, he got into the police car.

Wrapping up a case was always a hassle.

Just on the surface, quite a few people were involved: the school, the private academy, the means by which Cheng Yu attended school, and Cheng Yang himself.

And you had to remember...

It was the school that had taken the initiative to suppress Shen Miao’s information!