Chapter 166: Wang An’s Revenge

2022-05-20

Without concrete evidence, we could only detain someone for twenty-four hours. Even though all the clues pointed to Zhang Bin, none of them were definitive—we had to verify each one ourselves. So, after twenty-four hours, we had no choice but to let Zhang Bin go.

Today, it felt like all of Yumu City had gathered at the entrance. Zhang Bin had never seen such a crowd before. He tried to shield his face with his clothes, as if terrified someone might recognize him. The crowd didn’t care—they surged forward, desperate to get a clear look at Zhang Bin.

Someone standing on top of a car shouted through a loudspeaker, “Stay calm! There’s no evidence yet to prove Zhang Bin is the killer. Everyone, keep your cool—if Zhang Bin isn’t the murderer, that means the real killer is still out there. Don’t get reckless!”

But emotions were running too high—no one was listening.

Some in the crowd blocked the car, refusing to let Zhang Bin get in. He huddled under his coat, dodging left and right, but all his efforts were useless—the moment came when the crowd finally got a full view of him.

“Look at him!” someone shouted. “As a kid he looked almost decent, but now he’s a wreck—this is what the killer looks like! Folks of Yumu City, remember his face. Justice might be late, but it never misses its mark.”

That one line sent a rush of heat through the crowd. Everyone started chanting, “Justice might be late, but it never misses its mark!”

Tears streamed down Zhang Bin’s face as he screamed, “It wasn’t me! I swear it wasn’t me!”

An older woman spat at him. “Ugh, with that ugly face you still dare to claim innocence? We’re civilized here, we don’t use our hands—but our mouths, oh, we’ll let you have it!”

We stood beside Zhang Bin, but a fair bit of the spittle aimed at him ended up hitting us too.

“It wasn’t me!” Zhang Bin shouted, voice cracking, his whole face flushing as frustration and helplessness hit him. But what else could he do?

Suddenly, a child darted from the crowd, charging at Zhang Bin with two kitchen knives. I happened to be standing right beside Zhang Bin and saw Wang An running full tilt at us. A kid bursting out of nowhere with knives was strange enough to stop everyone cold.

The crowd parted instinctively, forming a straight path to Zhang Bin.

“Zhang Bin! You killed my sister, then my brother! This is it—I’m coming for you!” Wang An yelled.

“It’s that boy! Poor child… poor child! Heaven must be blind!” Some bystanders recognized him as the boy from the rumor post—the tragic little boy everyone had read about.

Gu Chen stepped in front of Zhang Bin, frowning as he saw Wang An barreling toward them. I’d known Wang An was prone to violence, but I never imagined he’d go this far—rushing forward with knives in front of a crowd.

Gu Chen tried to intercept him, but the angry crowd, pent-up for too long, suddenly erupted. Several people rushed in, pinning Gu Chen down. By now, Wang An had already reached Zhang Bin. The first time, he’d slashed Zhang Bin’s left arm twice—this time, he looked intent on killing him.

Zhang Bin scrambled to dodge and, in his panic, grabbed someone at random as a shield. As I caught a proper look, I realized the person he used as a human shield was Guo Feng—Ms. Zhao’s mentally-challenged son.

Guo Feng must have come just to watch with Wang An. But when chaos broke out, Zhang Bin grabbed him, using him as cover.

Wang An, no matter how determined, was still just a child—he couldn’t stop in time. He spotted Guo Feng but it was already too late.

There was a sickening slash.

A single tear hit the ground.

A fat boy collapsed onto the pavement.

Guo Feng stared at his belly, the shock slowly dawning before he began to bawl. Wang An, too, broke down crying, clutching Guo Feng’s arm, all fight gone from him. In the confusion, Zhang Bin disappeared—I rushed to check Guo Feng’s wound.

“He killed someone! Zhang Bin killed someone again—he killed again!” someone shouted.

It was all chaos—out of the corner of my eye, I saw Zhang Bin run inside the entrance. The place he’d been most afraid to go in before had become his only refuge.

Guo Feng’s stomach bled freely while he sobbed on the ground, and Wang An howled beside him.

“An ambulance—get an ambulance!” I yelled wildly, searching for Guan Zengbin. “Guan Zengbin, where are you? Someone’s hurt!”

But the noise was deafening—I could barely make out my own voice. My mind felt totally blank.

“Wang An, I just want to sleep… Wang An, it hurts…” Guo Feng whispered, gazing at his friend.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be all right! You’ll pull through!” Wang An pressed his small hands tightly against Guo Feng’s belly, staunching the blood as best he could.

“Don’t cry, Wang An—don’t cry. You always said you couldn’t stand crybabies,” Guo Feng said, reaching to wipe Wang An’s tears.

Wang An choked back his sobs. “Yeah, I’m not crying. I won’t cry.”

Guo Feng forced a smile. “You promised, once this was over, you’d play with me. Is it over yet?”

“It’s done.” Wang An managed a smile, but it looked worse than a grimace.

“Pinky swear.” Guo Feng stuck out his little finger.

“Pinky swear,” Wang An hooked his finger in Guo Feng’s.

Then Guo Feng closed his eyes, as if slipping into a sweet sleep.

The urgent wail of an ambulance siren echoed close by.

“Make way! Make way—ambulance coming through!” came a shout, but there were just too many people—packed in tight, no space to move. It took five full minutes for the ambulance to finally get through. They carried Guo Feng into the ambulance, Guan Zengbin following close behind.

Wang An tried to get in too, but someone stopped him. He turned and shot that person a fierce look like he might explode at any second.

I knew how close Guo Feng and Wang An were, so I spoke up quietly. “Let him go with them.”

After seeing all this, the crowd slunk away, one after another.

In minutes, the angry mob was gone—a bloodstained pair of kitchen knives left by the car, a pool of fresh blood slowly trickling along the pavement cracks. In barely a minute, a tragedy had unfolded that never should have happened.

“It’s all my fault,” Gu Chen cursed. “If I’d caught on sooner, that kid wouldn’t have been hurt!”

I patted Gu Chen’s shoulder. What happened was over in a flash. Wang An never meant to hurt Guo Feng, and Zhang Bin clearly didn’t want to die—he just acted on instinct and grabbed the nearest person. Tragically, that was Wang An’s best friend.

But whose fault was this, in the end? No question—the crowd would blame Zhang Bin for this death. Today, Zhang Bin became completely infamous in Yumu City. This wasn’t a big city, and from this moment on he could never live a normal life here again.

Even if we still had no evidence to prove he was actually the killer.

Zhang Bin, peeking out from the doorway, was still covered in spit. He stepped out, face pale, and stammered, “I—I didn’t do it on purpose. I only acted on instinct—that kid really wanted to kill me. I’ll admit it, I was scared.”

All the arrogance Zhang Bin had when first brought in was gone. Sometimes, it’s not the ones who shout the loudest who are truly ruthless—the real dangerous ones barely give you a chance to hear a word from them. Wang An was proof enough of that.

I looked at Zhang Bin and said, “Right now, there’s not enough evidence to charge you, so you can go. But until the case is cleared up, you must not leave Yumu City. If you do, we’ll arrest you. And for your own sake, stay out of sight—if people see you now, you know what’ll happen.”

Zhang Bin nodded, worn and defeated. He looked at us and said, “I’ve told you everything I know. The rest…I really didn’t do it. I don’t know why everyone thinks it’s me, but—I swear I didn’t do it. Can’t anything those thieves said be true?”

“Do you believe me?” Zhang Bin’s voice trembled on the edge of crying.

None of us gave an answer.

Zhang Bin managed a bitter smile, turned, and walked away. Under his breath, he murmured, “Not one thing those thieves said could be true?”