Chapter 275: Xiao Liu’s Secrets Revealed

2022-05-20

We didn’t stop for a second. Zhao Mingkun fired up the motorbike, twisted the throttle and shot out of the apartment complex. The guards at the gate barely had time to react before we sped beyond their reach. Covered head to toe in blood, the two of us drew plenty of stares along the way. We were like fireflies in the night—impossible to miss. There was no way we’d find a place to change clothes now.

Zhao Mingkun looked tense, a rare sight. I couldn’t figure out what had him so rattled.

I broke the silence. “What’s the rush? This really isn’t like you.”

“Same thing I’ve said before: never think you’re the smartest person in the room,” Zhao Mingkun replied quickly. “Remember that security guard you dealt with earlier? He was pretty sharp. While Wang Xianduo was still in the hallway, he rounded up the other guards and came charging in. That means he was close by—watching us.”

I frowned. “What are you getting at?”

Zhao Mingkun kept going. “I’m worried he already called the police when we went to look for Wang Xianduo. There might be roadblocks set up, waiting for us to drive right into their trap. Didn’t you notice? There are only cars leaving this street, none coming in.”

I hadn’t thought about it before, but with Zhao Mingkun’s words, it clicked. The road only had cars heading out, none coming in. All around us, passersby looked at us with fear in their eyes. They probably thought we were fleeing the scene of some crime.

As I kept scanning the crowd, I spotted a few people who seemed out of place. They walked with purpose, never looking around, always staring straight ahead. I focused on one of them—he refused to meet my eyes. That was strange.

For a woman, if you suspect a man is following you, you might turn and glare at him. If he quickly looks away, avoiding your gaze, it’s a sure sign he’s tracking you. In those cases, head somewhere crowded—fast.

The eyes are windows to the soul. When you suddenly glare at someone who’s unwary, they’ll instinctively look back at you. But if they avoid your eyes, it means they don’t want to attract your attention.

I’d been staring right at that man for a while, but he just kept looking away, never meeting my gaze. Given my bloody appearance and the number of people turning to look, that just didn’t fit.

“Plainclothes cops!” I blurted.

As I spoke, Zhao Mingkun slammed on the brakes, stopping the bike so fast I slammed right into his back from the inertia.

“Off,” Zhao Mingkun barked.

I jumped off the bike. Without hesitation, Zhao Mingkun tossed the motorbike aside, grabbed my arm and bolted into a nearby alley. The plainclothes officers reacted, taking off after us from a distance.

Right then I understood—if it wasn’t for Zhao Mingkun’s sharp instincts, we’d have driven straight into a trap.

As we sprinted into the alley, I panted out, “If they’ve got this place surrounded, where could we possibly run to?”

“If I remember right, when we rode past here earlier on the motorbike, I spotted a manhole cover,” Zhao Mingkun answered.

“You noticed that?” I couldn’t help but be amazed.

Sure enough, a manhole cover appeared up ahead.

Zhao Mingkun shot me a grin. “Remember: always leave yourself a way out.”

The two of us hefted the heavy manhole cover together.

I went down first, with Zhao Mingkun following close behind.

Once the cover was back in place, everything was swallowed in darkness. Zhao Mingkun tugged me along down one side. In the pitch black, only our footsteps echoed back at us.

But the further we ran, the more uneasy I felt. Xiao Liu knew about the escape routes Zhao Mingkun and I always used. If he was the one who’d set up the ambush, he definitely wouldn’t overlook the sewer.

But for now, it seemed there were no officers stationed in the sewer.

As we ran, the sound of pursuit echoed from behind us. Both Zhao Mingkun and I instantly knew someone was closing in.

“If it’s Xiao Liu, there’s a good chance he’s set up an ambush down here too,” I said.

No sooner had the words left my mouth than we heard the echo of footsteps ahead as well. We were boxed in, with only one branching tunnel to our side. We didn’t hesitate—dived into it without looking back. Who knows how long we ran, zigzagging through the sewers, before we finally hit a dead end, blocked by a steel mesh.

A faint shaft of light filtered in through two tiny holes overhead.

“There,” Zhao Mingkun pointed to the manhole cover above.

I nodded and followed Zhao Mingkun toward it.

But just as we moved, Zhao Mingkun suddenly stopped cold.

I almost asked what was wrong, but then I saw—another figure was standing in his path. It was none other than Xiao Liu.

No one spoke. The three of us stood there in silence.

Dim sunlight barely touched us. In the darkness, we were packed in close enough to make out each other’s expressions. It’d been a while since I’d last seen Xiao Liu—he seemed older, more serious. He stared unblinking at Zhao Mingkun, who met his gaze just as steadily.

Xiao Liu let out a cold laugh. Without looking at me, he addressed me all the same: “Wu Meng, are you looking for death? This has nothing to do with you. Why insist on getting involved? If you really weren’t the killer, someone would eventually clear your name. But now?”

I looked straight at Xiao Liu, spelling out every word: “And now you’re saying this to me? If you hadn’t pointed the finger at me, I wouldn’t have ended up here. Turns out you were the best at hiding all along. Yama wrote everything in the diary, but you never mentioned a word about it—otherwise, we’d have known there was another split personality behind the murders. What did Wu Zui offer you for this? Why help her?”

Xiao Liu fell silent for a beat, then suddenly broke into laughter. “Wu Meng, didn’t you always think you were so clever? So why are you only getting it now?”

“So you really did collude with Wu Zui,” I spat. “When Gu Chen was taken, you were the first to step up and negotiate with her. I’m guessing you knew you were safe all along, huh? That stunt was just to show off in front of everybody.”

Xiao Liu kept quiet, so I pressed on. “You schemed your way into this position with Wu Zui’s help. Once you had real power, I’m sure she had some plan for what to do next. I never understood why Wu Zui kept targeting me—now I see that’s the reason you accused me in the first place.”

“Wu Meng.” Xiao Liu finally called my name, but then fell silent again. He looked like he wanted to say something more, but in the end no words came.

“What is it?” I asked, pushing him. “Nothing to say anymore?”

Xiao Liu frowned. “Wu Meng, stay out of this. We already had it all planned out—if you just held out for a few more months, then even if the truth never came out, we could’ve pulled some strings and gotten you released anyway. But no, you wouldn’t take the easy road—you had to throw yourself into hell.”

His words left me disgusted. Oddly enough, Zhao Mingkun had tried to warn me away from all this too. But both of them knew damn well it was Wu Zui coming after me—so why did they both want to keep me out of it?

One was the older sister who’d raised Wu Zui. The other was her contact within the team.

“You know something?” Xiao Liu’s tone grew sharp. “Wu Meng, if you keep this up, you really will get yourself killed, understand? If I wanted you dead, you’d already be gone—got it?”

At last, Xiao Liu couldn’t help but meet my gaze.

He stood there, voice low as he yelled, “Wu Meng, are you insane? Do you know who that woman standing next to you is? She’s Guan Zengbin’s enemy! Guan Zengbin came to Dongxing City just to catch her—hell, she became a forensic expert to chase her down!”

“And now—” Xiao Liu stared at me, fire blazing in his eyes. “You’re running around with her. If Guan Zengbin finds out, how do you think she’ll react? You know she likes you—so why are you doing this to her?”

“Shut up!” I snapped, teeth clenched. “You have no right to bring her up! If you’d just told us the truth, Guan Zengbin wouldn’t have been taken by Wu Zui! You colluded with Wu Zui and you even have the nerve to use her as an excuse now?”

Zhao Mingkun glanced behind us. “We’ve been here a while and nobody’s caught up. That’s strange. Whenever things don’t add up, something’s wrong. We shouldn’t hang around—let’s go!”

With that, Zhao Mingkun yanked Xiao Liu’s arm from its socket.

Zhao Mingkun hurried over to pry open the manhole. I started backing up slowly.

“Wu Meng, take one wrong step and it’s all downhill from there. Don’t make another mistake! Can’t you just trust me once?” Xiao Liu called out.

“I already trusted you once.”

Climbing up the steps, I glanced back at him. “I know even if I say you’re working with Wu Zui, no one will believe me now. But Xiao Liu, have a conscience. You know better than anyone what kind of person Wu Zui is.”

With that, I clambered out and shut the manhole cover behind me.