When the assailant’s first strike failed to land decisively, he swung the hammer again. You Mingxu already knocked to the ground, quickly ducked under the chopping board. The hammer struck the board instead, shattering it with a loud crash.

You Mingxu looked up to see Deng Yao standing there in the pale moonlight, hammer in hand, bare-chested with muscles like a black bear. His face was twisted into a grotesque expression, his eyes blazing with excitement – the look of a predator eyeing its prey.

So it was him.

He was the one who had been attacking young women in the darkness, torturing them repeatedly, then methodically breaking their bones with an iron hammer before folding them into boxes like some kind of personal artwork and disposing of them far away.

A man who had remained silent for many years, dwelling at society’s lowest rung, living off his parents in a putrid room – a dull-witted man.

You Mingxu gritted her teeth, about to lunge at his legs, but before she could move, she felt a sharp pain in her back. Knowing something was wrong, she glanced up at Fan Jia’s limp hand hanging down, feeling a stabbing pain in her eye socket. She turned and crawled toward the doorway.

Deng Yao tossed aside his hammer and threw off the chopping board she was hiding under, pouncing forward. He caught You Mingxu’s ankle in a grip like an iron vise, threatening to twist it off. You Mingxu turned, despite the pain shooting through her back, and kicked him in the head. He didn’t dodge or flinch – though it wasn’t an easy kick to take, he acted as if nothing had happened. He simply grabbed her other foot and dragged her out from under the table, lunging at her.

You Mingxu twisted away, causing him to miss. Though powerful and fierce, his weakness was his bulk and slowness. Driven by desperate courage, You Mingxu leaped onto his back like a monkey, quickly scrambling up to straddle his head. She locked her legs around his throat while raining down heavy blows on his temple.

Deng Yao was at a disadvantage now, his face turning red as he struggled to breathe. His eye was swelling from her strikes, and he staggered around dizzy. Though You Mingxu nearly fell as he swayed, she held on relentlessly, continuing to strike. Unable to shake her off, he grabbed her legs and began twisting violently. Despite the excruciating pain that made her whole body tremble, she refused to let go. She knew this stalemate would end badly for both of them – it was now a test of endurance as she waited for even the slightest chance to deliver a fatal blow.

An iron rod struck You Mingxu heavily from behind. Her limbs instantly went limp, and Deng Yao, sensing this, threw her off. She hit the ground like a rag doll, dazed and unable to catch her breath.

Something cold wrapped around her neck and yanked back hard. You Mingxu suddenly realized what was happening and tried to pull it away, but it was too late. The rope instantly tightened, choking pain spreading from her throat. Her hands desperately clawed behind her but caught nothing.

Then she saw an upside-down face.

An elderly face covered in wrinkles, as lifeless as stagnant water. She saw the white at his temples, his eyes dead as a fish’s. His face was almost expressionless as his hands continued to tighten the rope.

So he was the owner of those fingerprints.

Even at this moment, this thought flickered through You Mingxu’s mind. Father and son hiding in their unremarkable butcher shop in the busy market, concealed in this deep slaughterhouse. A bedridden wife, and a single son no one respected. They had been taking lone girls as sacrifices for their life’s work.

You Mingxu could no longer summon any strength, her vision growing increasingly blurry. Through the haze, she saw Deng Yao’s tower-like figure slowly approaching. He raised the iron hammer above her.

Just one strike.

One strike and she would join the others, skull crushed, falling straight into hell.

Strangely, You Mingxu didn’t feel particularly afraid at this moment – her mind was perfectly calm. She knew she had no chance of survival, and if death came, so be it. But when her gaze fell on Fan Jia’s body nearby, she felt an overwhelming grief, like a massive beast in the night ready to devour her whole.

I’m sorry, Fan Jia. I’ll die with you, I’ll go with you.

And…

A handsome, animated face appeared before her eyes. In that instant, countless images of Yin Feng flooded her mind: the confused boy crawling out of his sleeping bag, the dejected figure sitting in her building’s stairwell, the lonely man amid the four walls of deduction, his eyes full of joy after their kiss, and finally, her refusing to look at him as she lay on his arm, while he had already embraced her completely from behind…

Tears fell from You Mingxu’s eyes as her chest exploded with pain. This is bad, she thought, this is bad – how will he react when he learns of her death? Yin Jun will be alone now. But I, but I already have one foot in hell, I can’t climb out. I can barely breathe anymore.

The intense pain and suffocation made You Mingxu even weaker. Her hands grasped emptily at the ground.

I’m sorry, Yin Feng, was all she could think.

No one will be there to protect you anymore. You Mingxu was useless – she couldn’t even save her comrade, and now she too had fallen.

Death is death, loss is loss.

You better take care of yourself, and when your memory returns, perhaps…

You won’t hurt because of me anymore.

But why, why do I hurt so much, as if my heart has been torn apart, never to find peace again?

As Deng Yao’s iron hammer descended, You Mingxu closed her eyes.

—

When Yin Feng finished Fu Wenxiu’s lie detector test and walked out of the interrogation room, the sky outside was still pitch black. He stared at the empty hallway, momentarily stunned.

Fu Wenxiu had passed the lie detector test – he wasn’t the person they were looking for.

But where was Xu?

Yin Feng had put his phone on silent during the test. When he checked it now, his brows furrowed, and he turned to rush downstairs. Before he knew it, he was running.

His car was still parked in the police station courtyard – Chen Feng had brought it earlier. Afraid of upsetting You Mingxu, Yin Feng never brought his people to the police station. He drove alone to the Deng residence, pulling out his phone on the way to find You Mingxu’s number. After a moment’s hesitation, he put it down and instead called Xu Mengshan for urgent backup.

When Yin Feng parked and ran to the entrance of the alley where the Deng house was located, he suddenly heard a piercing, tragic scream coming from inside. The voice was distorted, but he recognized it as You Mingxu’s. Yin Feng felt his entire chest trembling, his nose beginning to sting. He rushed to the Deng house entrance like a madman, but the door wouldn’t budge when he pushed. He pulled out the lock-picking tools he carried daily, glaring at the lock with murderous eyes. His hands were perfectly steady as he opened the lock in two moves and burst inside.

A glance showed all three doors in the courtyard were ajar. There was a clanging sound from the slaughterhouse, and Yin Feng darted inside with a single bound.