Chapter 68: Strange Phenomenon

Qi Xia listened and immediately pulled out a lighter from his own pocket; it was borrowed from Xiaoxiao.

He lit the lighter and held it out.

Officer Li was stunned for a moment, then covered the flame with his blood-covered left hand and leaned in to light his cigarette.

After a moment, he patted Qi Xia's hand.

"Hah—"

A thick plume of smoke exhaled, and Officer Li seemed to relax a bit.

"Feels good." Officer Li smiled. "Now, even if I die, I'm not afraid."

"What do you want to tell me?" Qi Xia sat down opposite Officer Li, looking at him with a slightly serious expression.

Officer Li didn't answer; instead, he asked, "Qi Xia, how did Tiantian and Qiao Jijing die?"

"They were killed." Qi Xia answered without hesitation. "Yesterday afternoon, they were beaten to death by the owner of this lighter."

With that, he handed the lighter forward and placed it in Officer Li's hand.

Officer Li looked down at the green plastic lighter, his eyes filled with a sense of loss.

"Is that so..." He lifted his head and said to Qi Xia, "When that person killed Qiao Jijing and Tiantian... was there anything strange about it?"

"Anything strange?"

Qi Xia stroked his chin and organized his thoughts. There were so many strange things, it was hard to know where to start. He briefly sorted out his words and recounted everything that had happened yesterday afternoon to Officer Li.

This included the woman's odd physique and the baffling poisoning.

Finally, Qi Xia added, "Oh, and before she killed them and after, I heard the 'bell' ring twice."

Officer Li listened, raised his cigarette, and took a shaky, deep puff. After exhaling clouds of smoke, he said, "When the bell rang, I happened to be in front of that huge display screen."

"What?"

"That enormous bell sound echoed in my ears, making me think the whole world had exploded." Officer Li said with a joking tone. "Do you know what was written on the screen?"

Only then did Qi Xia remember that the screen would randomly display text, so he asked, "What was written?"

"I heard the echo of 'jiahuo'." Officer Li said, emphasizing each word.

"Jiahuo?" Qi Xia murmured to himself in thought. "Before it was 'zhaozai', and this time it's 'jiahuo'..."

Officer Li handed the last cigarette from the pack to Qi Xia. "Want one?"

Qi Xia nodded and took the cigarette.

Officer Li lit it for him with his left hand.

"I knew you smoked." Officer Li said with a cigarette in his mouth, tossing the lighter back to Qi Xia. "Smoking's best for thinking, right?"

Qi Xia didn't reply. After catching the lighter, he took a puff of the somewhat musty cigarette.

Cigarettes that have been stored for a long time become harsh-tasting, and this one was no exception.

"I haven't smoked in many years." Qi Xia said.

"Yeah, quitting's good." Officer Li nodded. "Quitting's good for your health..."

After saying that, he paused, and the two fell into silence.

They slowly exhaled smoke, like classmates hiding in the restroom to smoke during their student days.

"What about the second bell?" Qi Xia asked. "Was there new text on the screen?"

"No." Officer Li shook his head with the cigarette in his mouth. "When the second bell rang, that line of text disappeared."

Qi Xia stared thoughtfully at the cigarette in his hand, feeling that the situation was still quite eerie.

"What does this mean?" Qi Xia asked. "That bell isn't a 'sangzhong', it's some kind of other warning."

"I'm leaving that question for you to think about." Officer Li leaned back against the wall helplessly, smoking the last of his cigarette. "I'm just telling you what I saw. You have a better chance of surviving here than I do."

"Why?" Qi Xia asked reluctantly. "Why can't you survive here?"

"Because I'm a police officer." Officer Li smiled and lifted his broken right arm. "I lost this arm trying to save Lawyer Zhang. I could have ignored her, but I couldn't just stand by and watch someone die. But you're different... Qi Xia, you have no burdens."

Qi Xia seemed to understand what Officer Li meant.

This man had wanted to save everyone from the beginning.

His principles had remained consistent throughout, never changing.

But those principles would be what got him killed here.

Qi Xia nodded heavily and asked, "You left me alone here; it's not just to tell me these things, right?"

"Yes..." Officer Li's face grew even paler. "Qi Xia, I have a secret in my heart that I've never told anyone. I don't want to take it to the grave, so I need to say it before I die."

"Why me?" Qi Xia asked, puzzled. "You could have told Lawyer Zhang."

"Because you're like 'him'—both are frauds..." Officer Li said with a bitter smile and a shake of his head. "Though you don't resemble each other at all, thinking about it, it seems like fate."

Qi Xia raised his cigarette and took a deep puff, then said, "Go ahead, I'm listening."

Officer Li stared blankly ahead with unfocused eyes and slowly recounted his "true" story.

For a full ten minutes, Qi Xia quietly listened as he finished everything.

Qi Xia's eyes flickered constantly, as if he had heard something completely unbelievable.

"Officer Li... so in the first game, you told such a huge lie?" he asked, his lips trembling slightly.

Qi Xia had found Officer Li's account back then a bit strange, but he never expected it to be built on such a massive lie.

"Yes." Officer Li's eyes turned instantly red. "That's the biggest mistake I've made in my life..."

"Just a 'mistake'?!" Qi Xia frowned and stood up; his previous admiration for Officer Li was gone. "You colluded with that fraud, always trying to help him escape, but you lied to us saying you were on stakeout back then...? I'm no saint myself, but in my life, I despise corrupt cops the most."

Officer Li tilted his head back, and hot tears streamed down his face.

"Yeah, a corrupt cop..." Officer Li gave a bitter smile. "When I ended up here, I wasn't surprised, because I felt this was my 'judgment'..."

"What..."

Qi Xia furrowed his brows and looked coldly at Officer Li.

"Maybe dying here is my redemption..."

No sooner had Officer Li spoken than a massive bell sound echoed from afar.

"Dang!!"

Qi Xia turned his head toward the outside, his face full of shock.

Why was the bell ringing again?

What was written on the screen this time?

Officer Li acted as if he heard nothing. He extended his trembling hand, picked up the empty cigarette pack from the ground, and pulled out another cigarette from inside.

He reached into his pocket and found a metal lighter.

Under Qi Xia's incredulous gaze, Officer Li lit the cigarette again, a relieved smile on his face.

Then, he slowly lowered his head and murmured to himself, "Qi Xia, my death is my redemption..."

Qi Xia was stunned. He looked at the pristine cigarette in Officer Li's mouth and felt the situation was extremely odd.

"Hey... Li Shangwu, don't die yet..." Qi Xia rushed to Officer Li's side, knelt down, and realized he had stopped breathing.

His mouth still held the cigarette, and in his hand was a somewhat worn ZIPPO lighter.